Meat n' Greet

[cityship]

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. They are also told they must read

Comments

i am so sorry, this got out of hand. 8D

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel was tired. He was sore. Annoyed and upset. Probably even had that face Jack gave him so much crap for, the one he called That Really Pissy Archaeologist face, which made Daniel usually want to shake the Colonel half the time and run down a catalog of what he thought of the faces Jack made at his back during long briefings, when he thought Daniel wasn't looking. The man should know better. It was something all lecturers developed within the first year teaching: eyes in the back of your head, and Daniel had them

[valaunbound]

Well that was charming, Daniel. She'd been through an entire array of emotions in the few short moments he'd been by her side. That initial relief and genuine pleasure to see a familiar face, and someone that was on her side, had briefly sidetracked into self indulgent 'is he checking me out?' thoughts. Only to be metaphorically slapped in the face by him pretending to not know her and then accusing her indirectly of stealing the device.

As if the events previous to arriving here hadn't been traumatic enough on their own! And then the whole pod slime business, not to mention the tentacles.

Vala is in no mood for your shit, Daniel. Her reaction is knee-jerk with little pause for consideration or processing anything, she just can't help herself when he's like this with her.

"What do you mean, where did I get it? Where do you think I got it? I'm pretty sure it wasn't delivered to me by your Earth Santa person, Daniel!"

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel lurched back slightly on his feet, taken completely by surprise. His mouth dropped open slightly. This was worse than River. Doctor Song left you with the same sensation of a whirlwind passing over. This was a little different. Not a little, a lot. At least with Doctor Song, you dealt with just flirtation. It still made him blush, especially considering how much older she was, but ultimately, it was harmless. Actually, he was getting used to it after the dig.

He looked the woman over again warily. Was he going to get slapped or something? Daniel felt like he'd just had the feet knocked out from under him, and he hadn't a clue what he'd even done to earn it. It was a perfectly good question. As far as he knew, there was only one Goa'uld healing device on this entire ship and it was supposed to be sitting in a lab. What just happened?

Where do you think I got it?! Oh well, that was easy. From the lab we just put this in. Daniel almost blurted it out and stopped himself in time

[valaunbound]

What was wrong with him? He hadn't reacted to her like this since, well since the Prometheus. His jaw dropped look of bewilderment was not dissimilar to when he'd called her a fruitcake, but then again with hindsight she supposed that wasn't without good reason. She still didn't quite get the reason for the metaphor though, despite knowing its meaning.

"Same thing," she replied irritatedly at the correction, "fat man in a red suit who doesn't actually exist!" Her irritance was cut off short though, the way he searched her eyes for some kind of recognition was disconcerting. Being torn between the pleasure of the intimate moment and the realisation that he really didn't remember her hit her simultaneously.

"You don't remember me? Daniel, it's me, Vala." Perhaps Athena or the Trust had got to him too, but why would they? She ventured a small smile and a quip to lighten the conversation "I'm guessing you've been here a while. They don't appear to have hairdressers."

[hi_there_aliens]

"Well it's not like we've encountered other similar figures yet, so there's no need to define it by planet. Anyway, some legends have him in a gray suit or a bishop's app. It's not always a red suit," Daniel pointed out. If anything, he was an amalgamation of Nikolaos of Myra, a saint, and Sinterklaas, a figure from the Netherlands, Flanders. He could even have drawn his roots from Odin. But it wasn't like red or fat fit into every version of him

[valaunbound]

Well there was no doubt it was Daniel, regardless of the fact he didn't seem to know her; which could be attributed to any number of causes, all of which Sam would probably have reeled off in an instant. She was standing dressed in a suit that seemed to have its own respiratory system, on a ship that was apparently alive and they were all being drafted in to fight to save their universes... and HE was giving her a quick 101 on Earth myths and legends as if it were just another day at the SGC.

"I'm sure that on another day I'd find your stories of Earth culture myths infinitely fascinating, Daniel. I'll pencil you in my diary, perhaps we can discuss the rabbit that delivers chocolate too. But right now I'm far more concerned with getting off this ship, preferably wearing something slightly more flattering than this abomination

[hi_there_aliens]

Floppy? What, like a mop? And why didn't he believe her when she said it was nice?

"It always been this way." Actually, it was a little longer back when he first started college, but he wanted to forget he thought that was a good idea. But this hair length was good. Besides, he couldn't see himself with the military cut everyone else had. Not going to happen

[valaunbound]

When he mentioned that his hair had always been like that, Vala was thrown. "How could it...? I distinctly remember the last time I saw you, your hair was most definitely short. It's always been short, ever since I held you..." She was about to say hostage, but quickly changed tack and continued with "met you on the Prometheus."

She was about to answer his question about their relationship with an ambiguous reply. One that would neither confirm or deny anything with any clarity for him, deliberately of course, this was too easy. Hang on a minute, was he wearing his old glasses too? The ones she broke when she sat on them? None of this was adding up at all. Vala squinted in confusion.

"Your glasses too. Daniel, I broke those glasses, you replaced them."

[hi_there_aliens]

Vala, you are not helping. Ever since she held him... held him what? How? Daniel very much hoped she was going to finish the sentence with either 'unconscious', 'prisoner', 'for money', or anything else that wasn't where his mind was going, which was straight to the gutter.

....He wasn't doing himself any favors either. Vala's plantsuit wasn't making things easier, which wasn't something she had any control of.

"It's been like this for a few years. I've never had it short." Daniel said, deciding his hair was a much safer topic than the topic of their intimacy. If he had it his way, he'd never listen to the other guys' advice on it too. "What's the Prometheus?" It almost sounded like a ship. Maybe something naval? As far as he could see, he had no reason to deal with something like that.

"No, you definitely didn't break these. Believe me, I'd remember that," and the pissiness that followed would've been known all the way to the topside of the base if she had broken them. Bad enough he got them damaged every now and then on a

[valaunbound]

If Vala had even got a whisper that Daniel's mind had ventured into the gutter, she'd have probably treated it like a personal victory.

"The spaceship? Property of the SGC? Granted it was a little basic, well compared to Goa'uld, Asgard or Ori ships, but it

[hi_there_aliens]

They didn't have a spaceship. What was she talking about? Granted, she was the only person so far who knew about the Goa'uld...

Daniel gaped at her, taken aback. He expected her to tell him something else, at least give him a story about how she'd found it. Not this cheerfully blase' answer.

Was she even actually from the pods? Daniel looked her up and down again, eyes narrowed. Just because she was here didn't mean she'd just awoken, she could've come down with the others. There was absolutely no way he knew everyone on board. There were just too many people. Not everyone covered the plant suit like he did. And frankly, the fact that she'd done everything but answer his first question at first was pretty suspicious. Even if she apparently knew him or the Goa'uld

[valaunbound]

"I see." She answered curtly, tongue slipping into her cheek, the way it always does when she's thwarted and needs to feign nonchalance. Vala was annoyed that he was more bothered about a silly little device that he wouldn't be able to operate anyway, than the fact she'd just announced they were close and he wasn't offering to help her at all. Or that's what she told herself caused the blunt reply. She wasn't hurt by his assumptions at all, or by the fact the one person in the entire galaxy that believed in her - no longer did. And that most definitely wasn't why she'd resorted to sarcasm.

"Going with the 'I stole it' option, then," Vala added, mocking the predictability of it all. "Fine! Have it then." She thrust it towards his hand forcefully. It was no great loss, after all.

"Good luck operating it without me."

sorry, had to rush this during a break *sob*

[hi_there_aliens]

The healing device was pushed into his hands hard. Daniel wrapped his fingers around it protectively and blinked owlishly at her. He just couldn't figure out what Vala's deal was. She almost sounded upset. Annoyed, he could get why. She got caught in the first place. But almost hurt? That was new. Was he supposed to feel guilty for catching her? Maybe he felt a little bad about it because she supposedly knew him, but theft was theft. And an artifact was an artifact.

Daniel shrugged. Guess so, yeah, he was going with the "Vala stole it" option. Seeing as it was highly likely that's what happened.

"I didn't want to have to call security, so thank you. For not making it harder on yourself," Daniel clarified. It was going to be his trump card if she'd refused. He didn't want to have to press charges or anything, and he wouldn't have, but getting security involved in anything usually got messy. "Is that why you stole it? You thought you could make it work?"

[valaunbound]

"Perhaps you should alert them anyway, just incase I decide to get my sticky fingers on anything else." She shot him a tight lipped forced smile dripping in sarcasm. Well if you didn't get Vala's deal before Daniel, you definitely won't now.

"Forewarned is fore..fore.. well fore something anyway." Damn it, why did she have to screw up on an Earth phrase now? Correct her at your peril, Daniel. "Oh and for the record, I can make it work. But maybe I'm lying about that too."

Vala turned on her heels as haughtily as she could muster. Really she just wanted to get away from him. Her entire world had just come crashing down around her, and she needed space to let it all sink in and review her options. All that time spent gaining his trust, and for what? To end up right back at the beginning again.

[hi_there_aliens]

"Forewarned is forearmed," Daniel finished for her. "Why would I want to do that-"

It wasn't like someone made her steal it. Something was going on here, something more than just getting caught. He got the feeling it was extremely personal. Before he could say anything else, she ditched him. Just like that, she turned on her heel and left, making sure to leave her extra bombshell behind. Could she really make it work?

This was quickly growing out of his control. Daniel had to wonder if he even had any control to begin with over what was happening in front of him. He was leaning towards a very heavy 'no, not really'. Mostly just the illusion of control, but wasn't that life in general. Right then, Daniel wished especially Teal'c were here. If anyone knew how to diffuse any situation, it was Teal'c. He might be the resident linguist and anthropologist, but there were times when having a mastery of language didn't make any difference. Like right now.

Daniel hurried to catch up to Vala. "Wait. Wait, stop." He planted himself

[valaunbound]

The short space of time that Vala's hasty exit had given her before he'd caught up with her was enough to compose herself. A barrier of emotional denial firmly in place, and any tears defiantly bitten back. The look on her face when he stopped infront of her was nothing short of 'I've heard it all before, now are you quite finished?'

"So am I." Was all she said in reply, and then she really did make her exit, making it quite clear to him that this conversation was over. She had to, her resolve was close to breaking and there was no way she was going to let herself get upset.