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

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[Having to move back and forth between the city and the mainland took its toll on them, I'm afraid. As much as they love the Lantean's it was a little difficult to set down new roots.] And her feelings on the whole thing are bitter-sweet, and slightly torn.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

And as much as he is still bitter and wary and on edge and all those things, the underlying sentiments are too familiar to be ignored.

[It is hard, when the world keeps changing around you, forcing you to keep up with it. Especially so when you have nothing that remains the same to cling to.] Ah, there's the bitterness. [You do, at least, have each other.]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[And yet I continue to find myself torn between the people I lead and those that I follow. I often wonder what my life would have been like had Colonel Sheppard not arrived on our planet three years ago.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[You would have been an excellent, strong leader.] No question but that he believes that.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She smiles. [Thank you. Many feel that I am still that leader. Only instead of working within the community, I work with our allies to help protect them.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[But you still miss them. Being in the community, being with them.]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[I do. Very much. I imagine it is a very, very small fraction of what it is you feel now.] Emphasis on the very, very small.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

He doesn't actually say anything to that, but it hurts. Not from her words, just a sharp stab of loss that runs down his spine.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She withdraws a little. [I am sorry. I didn't mean to cause you more pain.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

[It's not your fault.] He means that on several levels.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

[Tell me?] Anything, everything...whatever.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

His voice is almost... small. [I don't know how to be alone.]

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

Her reaching out in this way is still clumsy, at best, since it's not directly related to verbal communication, and he's not giving her anything to really mimic, but she does try to send a reassuring tendril to him.

[You are no longer alone, Michael. You merely need to learn how to hold the knowledge that there is someone out there that cares for you,] the sensation of me, Teyla underlies someone, [within you.]

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

It does seem to calm him; as strange as mind-to mind contact is with her he seems to be getting used to it. There's almost a smile in return, more like the sense of a smile than the smile itself.

[That's good to know.] Still soft, or small, one of the two. Or both.

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

She's trying to get over the fact that he hasn't tried to influence her yet, or used this mental connection to his advantage. She still isn't sure what she was expecting with this plan of hers, and now she's past the point of her planning and trying to wing it.

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

Really, he's not much for the influencing. When he feels threatened, or sometimes when he's on uncertain ground. Enemy territory. He's still on uncertain ground, but it doesn't seem to be enemy territory, and he's pretty sure that trying to do anything of the sort now would lose him the last ally he could possibly make.

Also, the fact that she contacted him mind to mind makes him much less certain of his ability to control her, even with it being a very new skill for her.

He looks around, the movement not as abrupt as the impulse. "So much has changed in the last year and a half or so..."

[shepcrew.livejournal.com]

"It has. For many people."

[notmichael.livejournal.com]

"My life had not changed for... a very long time. Hibernation nonwithstanding."