175th page

[curseshit]

The rain stops eventually and you find yourself in a forest much younger than the one you just walked through. The moss is nearly gone and the sun shines through the branches.

They're not just any other trees. They're apple trees! Cute, right? Judging by the (somewhat) straight lines someone planted them. Underneath the trees you find baskets full of freshly-picked apples and since you can hear voices, the people who picked them aren't that far away. The map isn't showing any tracks of your next destination yet, so you might as well ask if they know of a B&B nearby.

[ mission: inspect the voices. ]

Comments

[armedarchaeologist]

Oh, wow, thank you, that's.

[they're so nice. why are they so nice. nobody's been this nice to them.

well ok, the circus people were pretty nice. it's just been a while.]

Thank you, Erik.

[wrong name sympathy.]

[dinkyroyal]

Everyone! Come over here, let's raise a glass to your bravery!

[ turns around and raises his voice, asking for everyone's attention. ]

[armedarchaeologist]

[embarrassedly raises the glass to about chest height. yay. there's way braver around. people who didn't fall into holes. people who actually solved the problem.]

[wolfsoul]

This is apple pie...?

[ smells the drink when he's handed a glass. it's made out of apple. ]

[armedarchaeologist]

[stares at graham like he doesn't know whether to pity him or... no yeah we're going with pity.]

Oh you poor man. No, that's, that's an occasionally alcoholic drink made from apples. Pie is... Pie is something different. That's cider.

[takes a sip if it seems like a culturally appropriate interval.]

[wolfsoul]

[ uh huh. watches him drink. ]

... Thanks, I could have almost sworn it was cake.

[ eventually takes a sip too. ]

[armedarchaeologist]

I can't actually tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

[but i hope you are.]

[wolfsoul]

Yeah, I was...

[ oh god does he try. ]

[armedarchaeologist]

Oh thank God.

[smiles apologetically. definitely relieved.]

Sorry, I meet a lot of aliens, I try not to assume anything necessarily means the same thing to anyone else, which... Can get condescending. Sorry.

[wolfsoul]

Aliens?

[ repeats him in disbelief. he already found out that most of these people are from wacky places but still. that's. just shakes his head. ]

[dices]

[ bg char eating apple ]

[armedarchaeologist]

You know it always confuses me when that's where people draw the line, because really You were just magically-or-otherwise transported to an al— to another planet, everyone just died and was resurrected at the whim of a vengeful maybe-god, maybe-goddess, maybe-Ori, and everyone suddenly decides that the possibility of life on other planets is what's weird?

Really?

[takes another swig of cider to slow the rant.]

[noshoes]

[ didn't understand a word of what he's saying, just eating an apple cheerfully next to him. forgot all about the dying bit because kiwi never finished the thread. let's say trauma amnesia. yep.

also yes, aliens. you have one here. one alien mermaid. ]

[wolfsoul]

Well, you have to draw the line somewhere. Might as well be the green men.

[ apple consuming montage in this thread. cider or not. point his glass at him. ]

Wait, the next thing you're telling me is that they're not green either?

[armedarchaeologist]

No, some of them are, but the majority aren't.

[good thing he didn't bring up roswell grays.]

[wolfsoul]

That... was sarcasm too.

[ he's so bad at this. ]

[noshoes]

[ offensive sarcasm ]

[armedarchaeologist]

Well, some of them are green. Some of them are gray. Most of them look like us, though. Most of the non-Tau'ri. The, uh, non-Earth people I've met are human, they're just...

[cuts himself off before graham can.]

You know what, never mind.

[pats neri's shoulder. never mind the weird scruffy guy.]

[wolfsoul]

[ oh what's wrong. ]

Is it something I said?

[ that was a joke too. it couldn't have been. ]

[noshoes]

[ tilts her head to him and just smiles, before picking up another apple ]

Good apples. [ chews ]

[armedarchaeologist]

[looks down for neri's lead, shrugs when she smiles. if she ain't mad i ain't mad.]

No, it's nothing.

[this is some good cider. i like this place.]

So what did you do? Do, I mean. What do you do when you're home? Which is, I assume, Earth.

[wolfsoul]

I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that.

[ looks at his glass. ]

I was a sheriff, kind of. In Maine.

[noshoes]

[ looks up at scruffy ]

Like the sheriff in the desert? [ she's not sure exactly what a sheriff is ]

[armedarchaeologist]

Which, last time I checked, was on Earth.

[not as sarcastic as you might expect, but then everyone here comes from some kind of individualized freaky alternate universe.]

[wolfsoul]

Yeah, but that's not where I was originally from. I come from Enchanted Forest.

That's not on Earth.

[ driest tone. he really shouldn't talk about this before the ouat plot. ]