tumbataure | 143rd page

Yeah, I'm guessing it was like that for everyone.

[except for derek, he actually seems less mopey than before, which would seem unfair except he was so mopey that really the only way to go was up.]

Gods.

[what can you do shrug.]

Can't live with them, can't live with..out them...?

[scrunches nose. no, they can probably live without them.]

So why'd you drop the bazooka then? You look kinda naked without it.

[expert on naked]

Apparently not.

[can't live with them, no longer allowed to k.o.s.]

That's kind of why. It's not really—

[the road is still not helping him finish any sentences.]

I guess I'm not really feeling the... "bazooka..." right now.

Did she take it. You can tell me.

[leans in with a serious tone, puts a hand on his shoulder to console him. only semi-mocking because obviously not from the way he's kicking at the dirt like charlie brown.]

No, it's—

[looks at bo like she's grown a second head and it has glowing eyes.]

It's not my— You think I'd— You think she took my gun? Are you kidding?

[stops for a moment and actually looks at bo, instead of just staring.]

...Oh. You are kidding.

You seriously need a drink.

[my goodness. pats him and drops hand away.]

Maybe. I dunno. I've never really been a drinker.

[featherweight. even all through graduate school. it's kind of embarrassing.

tries a smile at bo.]

You are such a nerd.

[smiles back, the awe in her voice teasing.]

Thanks.

[dry as abydos. which. was a desert world.]

[laughs and shakes her head]

Don't sound so bummed about it. Every functioning group of scooby doos needs the nerdy one. Who would read all the dead languages and be exposition guy otherwise?

You're like, action nerd. You should have an action figure.

Thanks again. I guess I'm used to the role of "action nerd" being a little more evenly distributed.

[misses sam, like, a lot, for a minute. jack died and cam and vala were still new friends, but he keeps getting the feeling that if sam had some through with him they'd all be home by now.]

I do love being exposition guy...

See. Even though she took your gun, there's still something to live for. Exposition guy.

[elbows him. cheer up emo kid.]

She didn't take it.

[does cheer a little. she's like vala but without all the relentless hitting on him and the untrustworthiness and the stealing and actually never mind bo is nothing like vala at all.]

I'd just. Really rather be exposition guy than action guy. Might not be the popular choice, but hey, you kill fewer people, so there's that.

And by people you mean things other than people, right?

[are you some kind of serial killer. does she need to take her elbow back]

Well, I.

Oh.

Yes. Yes! Aliens mostly, evil gods and enemy combatants and people who were shooting back at me.

[ninurta wasn't shooting back.

winces.]

Which. Aren't not people. I guess I've found myself in a mindset I never thought I'd occupy, and yet... Here I am, pretty firmly in it.

[ali

ens. does a quiet double take]

...You mean shoot first?

[i'm sorry pot what were you saying to the kettle about werewolves?]

Yeah. Sometimes we can't afford to wait for that, but yes. We try, and it's not like. We don't just charge in and shoot people. Didn't, I guess.

[sidelong look.]

You know the uniform's not entirely for show. I'm not. Not in the military, technically, but everyone I work with is. Well. Almost everyone. I guess at some point I got used to it.

[doesn't exactly sound happy about it.]

The space military?

[slow blink. i mean yeah, when you've seen banshees predict someone's death and fae puberty involving complex acid trips for inner self growth you think you've seen it all but it doesn't mean you're not gonna bat an eyelash when you find out e.t. is real]

So you're future exposition guy. Your resume's really filling out here.

Well, sort— Oh. No, no, I live on Earth. Colorado Springs, actually.

[points to patch on sleeve.]

We travel through a series of portals called stargates that... Take a long time to explain. But no. Colorado. Earth. Stargate Command is... Technically a secret, but I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume we're not from the same version of Earth, so I think it's probably OK to talk about it.

[not to mention they might not get home to spread the news. actually, better not mention that ever.]

I don't think I'm from the future? But apparently the English guy thinks it's 1988, so you never know. Last I checked it's 2007.

So past guy. That's a plot twist I didn't see coming.

[also you're really living up to your name here exposition guy. at least he's not moodily staring at the road anymore.]

Colorado. Earth. Kills aliens. And gods? Not military, but you are military. And stargates. Did I get it all?

Past? You're from the future too?

[like clara? but you seem so... normal. albeit canadian.]

We don't—

It's not like we're an alien extermination squad, any more than these people are a, a—[gestures agitatedly, looking for a common thread to their misadventures]—statue extermination squad. Or whatever. Sometimes aliens want to invade Earth, or some other planet, or what have you, and, and...

[just stops, because this is pretty exactly what he was feeling awful about, and now he's defending it.]

We were supposed to be explorers, but the universe is sometimes so, so... Hostile.

Of course it is. All you have to do is look at us to know that.

[pauses and considers, maybe not the best thing to say. she didn't mean it like that. besides, she can tell he's upset about something, and his verboseness is starting to paint a picture for her.]

Not us us, just.. Earth. Someone's always trying to take over something. It can't just be that humans are the only power trippy ones.

[laughs, not particularly cheerfully.]

Oh no, believe me, you haven't met power trippy until you've met someone who pretends they're a god long and hard enough they actually... Believe it.

[runs out of steam a little there toward the end, because of course bo has.]

[just gives him a duh look. yeah you think about what you've done.]

...

I'm part of an ancient race of creatures that thinks humans aren't good for anything but being slaves, chewtoys and entrees.

[says it in a you think you have it bad kind of way. there there.]

[he's hardly been able to think of anything else.]

[stares at bo.]

A...ah. Ah-hah.

[pretty sure if she was a goa'uld she would have done something goa'uldy by now, like snapping his neck when he mentioned the whole bringing down false gods thing.]

[pretty sure.]

I'm guessing you don't share the opinion of your people?

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