Shore Leave: Geartopia [Open to All]

[meat_mooks]

||Attention all crewmen, shore leave is now in progress, attention crewmen, shore leave is now in progress...||

Stacy's voiced called the entire crew, until all of them were gathered at the Obs Deck. Then, a dossier appeared on the screens, along with the image of a rotating planet.

Planet Designation: Geartopia
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-

Comments

[valaunbound]

Vala's day had been exhausting for very different reasons. She'd tried to track Daniel down earlier in the day, well by tried she means she did actually manage it. But when she'd seen he was partaking in hard labour just for the fun of it, she'd run a mile. Why would anyone in their right mind volunteer for that? Mind you, it was Daniel we were talking about - he was probably trying to get to know the locals and learn about them or some such nonsense. Unless they had hidden treasure stashes, Vala didn't see the point

[valaunbound]

Vala sighed, this was hardly the right time and he was buzzing in her ear like a fly that wouldn't go away. She considered just ignoring him, pretend she was already flat out and maybe he'd just give up, but the bigger part of her knew it was only fair to answer his questions, even if she wasn't up to her usual standards of elaboration. She'd want to know her future if she was in the same position, and she'd probably be far more annoying about it, she considered. She doubted she'd have been able to wait this long before she started to press.

"Yes, they're all still there," Vala sighed, not hiding the fact that answering was a trial despite her feeling she owed him this. "Muscles, Samantha, Jack's moved on but he still comes by from time to time. Daniel, I really need to sleep, can't this wait?" She held her hand to her forehead, somehow hoping that would stop the spinning and him.

[hi_there_aliens]

"You only stole my bed. So no, it can't," Daniel rolled over onto his back, looking at the line of her spine, which, if he judged it right, indicated she was very much not asleep. And if she started to, he was just going to shake her away until he got some answers. No passing out on his watch, he wasn't done pestering you. He was perfectly ready to go to sleep earlier. Vala ruined that, so the least she could do is talk a little

[valaunbound]

He had a point but it didn't make it any less irritating. There was a reason she stole your bed Daniel, a very good one. One that was insisting she slept.

"Fine," Vala groaned concedingly, contemplating hiding her head underneath the pillow and drowning him out. But then he went quiet and she found herself opening her eyes and trying to look over her shoulder without actually moving. Was he done? He'd gone very quiet. Oh thank god for that. She settled back down again flipping onto her front with a humph and buried her face into the pillow, letting the mass of black hair serve as a cover - a cover that he wouldn't be able to see her making faces at him underneath if he did persist.

Maybe she shouldn't have had that thought process, because as soon as she thought it he piped up again. "Nothing happened, he's just a General now, spends most of his time in Washington."

[hi_there_aliens]

With a stolen bed comes consequences and a disgruntled archaeologist is one of them. Maybe this will be a lesson to go back to your own room instead of sneaking into his

[valaunbound]

Whilst Daniel's thought processes were long and convoluted, Vala's weren't. Her's consisted of nothing more than 'there were no direct questions there, nothing I need to answer. Thank the gods of archaeology for that!' and that made her smile too, probably at the same moment he did but for very different reasons. Part of her smile could also be attributed to his less than convinced reply regarding Jack, he didn't strike her as the general type either and Daniel's reaction amused her, enough to get a small snort of a laugh.

Still, she could rest now. Question time was over. Maybe in the morning she might realise what he was getting at, but for now she passed it off as nothing more than curiosity. Annoying curiosity that she'd be happy to discuss at length in the morning!

[hi_there_aliens]

Oh no. You're not going to sleep yet. Daniel actually reached over and poked her in the shoulder. Then even harder just in case the first didn't go through. Come on. He wasn't done yet.

"So the only reason I stayed at the SGC is because I was effectively stuck there?" He asked. As much as he wanted to know what Sam and Teal'c were doing in the future, at least he knew they were working alongside him. Safe and sound. Sort of, but maybe they drifted apart, if he felt like he had to take off to Atlantis and leave everything he knew behind. Maybe they'd been with each other so long, it was just that time to go their separate ways. Not the most comforting thing to think of in the middle of the night. He didn't have family, and those two were the closest he got to one.

[valaunbound]

Okay, that was it. If poking her in the shoulder hadn't been enough to make her want to headbutt the mattress repeatedly, his question was. Vala lifted her head completely and propped herself up on her elbows to be able to face him with a heavy sigh. She couldn't see much, but it was the principle of the thing.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't what's meant by pillow talk you know Daniel. I mean I might not be an expert on Earth phrases but please shut up."

[hi_there_aliens]

It was a perfectly valid question. Besides, he didn't think he'd get another chance to ask her questions when her inhibitions were down.

Daniel also rolled over to face her, got up on one elbow and glared myopically at Vala. She was close enough he didn't have to squint, which would've ruined the whole glaring thing if he had. This was his room! He wasn't going to get told to shut up, much less in his own bed here! Maybe it wasn't his bed per say, but for this shore leave, to all intents and purposes, it was all his. Assigned to one Doctor Daniel Jackson, Archaeologist. He didn't see any Vala Mal Doran, Miss Drunken Pain in the Ass, in there anywhere.

"Door's that way if you can't take it. I'm sure you remember where it is."

[valaunbound]

He was insufferable sometimes, he really was. It infuriated Vala. It also curiously made her want him more at moments like this. Maybe it was her stubbornness but when he glared at her and challenged her like that, she felt slightly accomplished that she'd managed to push his buttons.

Her tongue fell into her cheek like it always does when she's thwarted and she considered her options with a frustrated humph.

"Fine," she finally offered sarcastically. "Ask away, just don't ask me about our nights of unbridled passion because I'm not sure you can take that."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel didn't bother to hide the building annoyance as he searched her eyes for an instant. He tried to ignore the mussed hair or the way it made her eyes stand out this close and instead focused on something better, which was reconsidering hauling her butt out of bed instead of sharing, like he'd been graciously doing until now. He tossed the idea out immediately. For one, his muscles wouldn't take it. No, don't even think about it. No bodily hauling her out off the bed or booting her out of the room.

Maybe he could just push her off. Then take over the rest before she even had time to realize what happened. Minimal effort on his part and just as satisfying.

Christ. He was usually more mature than this. Daniel bit his lip, the urge to say something incredibly rude and immature with it and snorted instead. He rolled onto his back and took her bluff. "Considering it never happened, I think I'll manage."

[valaunbound]

"You don't know that." Vala said flippantly and pulled a decidedly immature face at him before throwing herself back onto the pillow like a petulant child. "It's not that preposterous a notion."

Ow she really shouldn't have done that, the sudden movement made her head literally throb like someone had set off a gong inside it, which only served to irritate her further. He caused that, if it hadn't been for his incessant questioning she'd have stayed lying down properly in the first place and wouldn't have thrown herself so abruptly.

"Well go on then. Carry on with your French Inquisition."

[hi_there_aliens]

"Of course I know it. You're just saying that to get me to shut up; of course it's preposterous, I couldn't sleep with you-" Daniel felt nothing but bleary satisfaction at proving that he was right, she was wrong and he hadn't fallen for goading, right up until the words left his mouth.

Not 'wouldn't', which was what he meant to say, but 'couldn't', as in 'something's stopping me', 'would if I could', on and on. Vala was, as he was learning, a lot of things, but unattractive wasn't one of them. If you put pain in the mikta and a bed hog in too. Daniel replayed the exchange. He definitely meant 'wouldn't'. It was a simple brain to mouth mistake. Anyone could've made it. He was tired, more so than he thought. Vala was confusing him. That was definitely it. Daniel wanted to roll over onto his stomach and bury his face in the pillow. Hopefully she was too drunk to pick up the slip or make anything of it.

"Spanish Inquisition," he sighed. "So what you're saying is, the only reason I stayed at the SGC is because I was effectively stuck

[valaunbound]

He couldn't sleep with her, why couldn't he sleep with her? Vala was on the brink of saying something inflammatory in response -- and that's when realisation hit her. It hit her so hard it made her go cold, goosebumps rising on her skin and a lump of emotion tightened in her chest making her feel sick. Any drunken feelings were knocked out of her like she'd been winded of them. For all she'd known he was years behind, it hadn't occured to her that his wife was still alive. Oh God. Of course he couldn't if that was the case, and she was hardly going to ask him. She remembered how he'd spoken about her on the Ori ship, how utterly devastated he'd been for such a long time and was only just coming out the other side

[hi_there_aliens]

"Oh

[valaunbound]

"Me?" The question seemed to come out of left field for her, she wasn't expecting him to ask after her. People asking her that usually threw her for a loop and sent her into kneejerk denial, but even more so when the reasons for her not being fine weren't even about her. That was completely new to her.

"Apart from being obscenely drunk, why wouldn't I be?" It was as flippant as she could muster, whether he believed her or not didn't matter, as long as he dropped it.