RP: Visiting New Athos

[shepcrew]

[some time after this and this.]


She's still stinging from the conversation she had with John following the Marine sweep of Michael's base of operations. She had expected it to be unpleasant, but never had one of their arguments been so violent. She tried to reconcile his uncharacteristic behaviour during the mission with the aftermath as she waited for Chuck to dial the 'Gate. She was returned to her people for several days, a subtle request granted by a concerned Doctor Beckett.

That John was hurt and betrayed by her lies was no surprise; still, why a part of her had underestimated his ire was beyond her. She should know better.

The wormhole sprang into being, and Teyla barely registered the sounds. She repositioned her pack on her shoulder, double checked to make sure she had her GDO and then stepped into the glistening puddle.

She was met by her people as she stepped out on the other side. She forced a smile and allowed them to escort her back to the settlement, giving vague answers to their questions. She smiled at Rane, the young Athosian man she had decided would be the go-between for her and Michael, and headed to the tent her people had set up for her.

Once she had refreshed herself, she took a solo-hike out to the drop-point to make sure the place was still as hidden as she had remembered it. Satisified that all was in place, she sat down to meditate, hoping that the solitude would help calm her already frayed nerves.




[Um, I just realized that we forgot to do the "Beckett's dead bit" in the other RP, so, um, he'll be alive and we can kill him when Atlantis flees Lantea. Keller's presence is easily explained by stating that she was there for field experience and to work under Beckett so she could be more effective in her stint at the SGC and ends up being permanently stationed on Atlantis as Beckett's replacement.]

Comments

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

He listens, wondering. Tired, and maybe a little saddened by what she says, although he isn't sure why. "You didn't have to do that," he says quietly, after a moment. She didn't have to protect him, didn't have to warn him. He wonders why she did. Especially at the price she is paying.

And then: "I did not intend for you to do that, and risk..." Whatever it is she's risked. He doesn't know Sheppard all that well.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She closes her eyes briefly before fixing him with a steady look. "But I did," she says.

[Can you deny that you would have captured me and held me out of spite for what we had done to you, if I had not?] There is no accusation or anger or anything directed at him in the statement. It is merely a question, meant for him to understand what she was protecting.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

Her lack of rancor invites the same on his part, keeps him calm. Helps him admit, equally calmly: [I would have captured you, used those of you who I could, and the soldiers would have taken the rest.] It is no more and no less than the truth.

And he wonders how easily she slips back and forth between speech and mind-speech. She wasn't like that the last time they met.

[I could tell him that, if you like.] Slight smile. He sighs. [Turn myself in. Throw myself upon the mercy of Atlantis.] That one word, mercy, is deeply laced with sarcasm.

On the plus side, if he does, they're probably more likely to just kill him now instead of pump drugs into his system.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[No.] She shakes her head lightly. [I think even a tiny part of Colonel Sheppard realizes what would have happened, had I not done what I did.]

Which is why she was tossed into the infirmary and not the brig.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[No?] That surprises him, a little. It would have been hard to mistake his sincerity and willingness to turn himself in. [No...]

Mmm. Strange. [Well, he's not an idiot. And he participated extensively in the whole... experiment.] Now that's a word loaded with distaste. [He should remember how I felt, and be able to imagine what would happen if I encountere you again.] You lot, that is, not you-Teyla.

He isn't sure what he wants to do with Teyla.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[No, he isn't. And yet I still turned him into one when I chose to try and contact you rather than walk blindly into your trap.] This is stated with the same neutrality as before, and perhaps a bit of a speculative note to it, as if even she can't believe she did what she did.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[Why did you not simply tell him what you were doing from the beginning?] he asks, now curious. Even he knows her well enough to know that this isn't like her. Much as he appreciates the outcome.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She sighs. [Because he did not approve of the plan when it was suggested to him. He doubted that risking myself in such a way would be beneficial. ...And, as much as he trusts me, he did not fully trust the source of our information, stating that there was a possibility of being deceived.]



[Not sure if you want the LC to be mentioned, so she won't. Because it's the best kept sekrit of Team Sheppard and Doctor Wier.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

He doesn't ask about her source, presuming she would like to protect her people as much as he would have protected his, had he any. [Ah.] Pause. He isn't sure how to take that.

[You did take a great risk.] He ... isn't sure what he would have done, had she tried any other approach. He doesn't know what other approaches she might have tried. Still, he has been, sometimes still is, a very angry Wraith. With nothing whatsoever, he believes, to lose.

[Probably easier that way. Especially so we don't have two Michaels wandering in and out of the LC]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

A tired smile. [I had faith.] The unspoken implication adds the words in you to the end of that sentence.

[Colonel Sheppard, not so much. But one can hardly blame him.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[Not really, no.] Again the faith. Why? Why does she persist in this, insisting that he is better than he feels? It makes him...

... uncomfortable, somehow, and a little afraid. Of his own impulse to live up to her expectations, of his emotional reaction to her sentiments.

[Not so big a risk.] It's unexpected, almost the mental equivalent of blurting, although quietly. [I doubt I would have hurt you...] You-Teyla, not you-Atlantis team. An admission of feeling he isn't sure he wants her to know.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She ventures a hand on his knee. A reassuring physical touch to go with the mental. [Why would you have captured me, then?]


[She's going to end up with two Michaels, isn't she? And, um, other thread: Michael's computer: Tablet-style computer or laptop style computer?]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

He makes himself not stare, for that. [Leverage. Ronon Dex would shoot me on sight.] But it's obvious, or may be considering he's still getting used to her increase in telepathic skill, that that's not the only reason. He could capture McKay for leverage, and it would probably be easier.

[*snickersnort* Most likely. *sighs* He's so, so alone. And she's the only one who ever shows him any kindness. And, tablet.]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She's amused by that. [Ronon would shoot you regardless.]


[*sigh* See what being nice gets you? Groupies. ;) ]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

Slight smile. [He might hesitate if he thought I could harm you before he could shoot me.] He's relaxing a little. Which is probably what makes him say what he does next.

[Possibly just to talk. Possibly... I don't know.] Looking down. [I do not know.]

[*g* Yes. Also, HEE Kaylee! Maybe she can meet Michael now!]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[Fair enough.] She won't press the issue. And something of her relief at seeing him safe and at rest may leak across to him. She isn't that adept at her newly refurbished skills.

And there may be something else that makes it across, something undefinable to those who don't think it possible.

[Oh dear :) If McKay makes her cry, Shep is going to be coming to the rescue, so feel free to tag along in that if it happens :)]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

Even the hint, the under-tone of what she feels is enough to shake him. It's so different from what was before. He isn't sure what to do with it.

[What happened to you?] he asks, softly, wondering and afraid and so very, very skittish right now.

[HEE! Okies, I'll keep an eye. *g*]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She tilts her head curiously. [Nothing, I...oh.] she suddenly realizes where her thoughts had been straying and she blushes. She sighs deeply. [I have had certain...things...made clearer to me in the course of my travels. Among them were things that you and I have already touched upon. Others...]

How did she explain this?

[It is complicated.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

She's blushing. He can't quite believe it, but she's blushing. It's strange.

[Complicated.] It makes him a little angry that she won't tell him, won't explain. Mostly it just makes him... more upset than angry. It's a change, a big change in the way he understood himself percieved by the world, and it rattles him.

[The last time we met I was your prisoner. My choices were the retrovirus or death, and of those, death was preferrable, and you didn't even...] He might be winding himself up a bit. [Grant me that. It would have been perfectly safe for you, for Atlantis, and instead you chose to lock me into a living torture like this, this ... state. I find myself in, by giving me the retrovirus again. And now...] Now. Now things are different and he isn't sure what or how or why.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

Another sigh, this one self-deprecating. [I am sorry. I come to you to put the past behind us, and instead of giving you the honesty you deserve I fall back into old habits.]

She thinks a moment, before, [I have obviously had time to re-think my position on a number of things. Not the least of which are my personal relationships and the boundaries that encompass them.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[And what conclusions have you drawn, if any...?] The apology disarms him. Again. He just stares at her, tired, confused, helpless.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[That the way in which I care for certain people are not what I had expected. Some were discoveries laced with sadness.] And here she's thinking about Sheppard. [Others were with pleasant surprise.] Here she's thinking about him. Michael.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

He listens. To the words under the words; he wonders how any of this is possible. It almost doesn't seem real.

[I understand.] He does, a little. Now that he's just listening.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[I was hoping that maybe, you and I could reclaim what we had begun to build when you lived with us.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

That is close to a lie but not enough of one for him to call her on it. And he isn't sure what to say. Except. [You seem to be further along than I am.]