[Ash] Who Da Man?

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Who: Ash
When: Immediately following Cause and Effect
Where: Kitchen/Cafeteria #1
Invited: Anyone
Status: Complete

Ash struggled out from under the tangle of chairs and tables, groaning. He'd have bruises from this, no doubt about it. Getting to his feet was more difficult than he'd expected. Casting that spell had really taken it out of him. But it had worked. He had his memory back. And by the excited sounds drifting through the closed doors of the kitchen, so did others.

"Who's the man?" Ash asked the empty room. "I am!"



Ash danced around a little, feeling giddy with delight. He shadow boxed a little. He could just imagine how happy everyone would be to have their memories back. And by everyone, of course, he meant the ladies. All the lovely ladies.

"Who's the man!?" Ash said, more loudly this time. "I am!"

He paused in his dance to glance over at the table. The bowl of coffee with detritus floating in it, including the five candles. Blobs of soft wax on the tabletop, along with the sigils he'd drawn around the outer edge of the table in black marker. The page of instructions torn from the magic book he'd The big circle of salt he'd poured out on the floor.

It suddenly occurred to him that maybe he ought to clean up the mess. He dismissed the thought just as quickly. He was going to enjoy being a hero. Someone else could clean up. Ash grinned at the thought of what sort of hero's welcome he could expect. He could hardly wait.

And...since he could hear a lot of activity outside, and lots of raised voices--why wait?

Ash strode over to the double doors of the cafeteria, unlocked them, and threw them open. "Who's the man?" he cried, throwing his arms up in triumph. "I'm the man!"

Comments

[Ripley]

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

"Who's the man? I'm the man!" echoed down the hallway.

(Ash,) Ripley thought. She ran as fast as Sam's weak, human body would carry her in his direction. The numbnut stood outside the cafeteria doors, chest puffed out, arms flung wide.

Using her momentum to her advantage, Ripley rushed Ash, caught the neck of his shirt in both hands, and slammed him against the wall. The son-of-a-bitch was *taller* than her now.

"Yeah?" Ripley growled. "Well so am I. You did this?!"

[Ash] Still Not Getting It

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Ash said, pushing Sam back, "don't think I'm not flattered, but you're not my type."

"And, yeah, I did this," Ash said, poking himself in the chest with a thumb. "You've got your memories back and you have me to thank for it!"

[Ripley]

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

Thanks to her current wimpy body Ash was able to push Ripley back. He was so self-satisfied that he missed her snarl.

"You've got your memories back and you have me to thank for it!" Ash crowed.

Ripley mustered what little patience she had left. "Well, thank you oh so much for restoring my memory, Ash." She began closing the distance between them as she continued. "And since you're so goddamned pleased with yourself you haven't noticed that you're not talking to a British cop." Her voice rose as she finished, "You're talking to Ripley. Originally -- and I do mean *originally* -- " Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, ident number W5645022460H, and I WANT MY FUCKING BODY BACK!"

[Kenzaki]

[estirose.livejournal.com]

Kenzaki was walking around, having no clue as to who the body belonged to - probably another new arrival - and seeing if he could find his own body, or at least something to that effect.

He heard somebody yelling in the corridor and rushed to see what was going on. Ashu-san was looking happy, Sammu-san - one of them, anyway - looking pissed off. He was yelling at Ashu-san, and all Kenzaki really got was the numbers, the word "officer", and "Ripuri".

"Ripuri?" he asked. The voice, while it sounded like Sam's, actually also reminded him of Ripuri's way of talking. "Ripuri? What's going on?"

If it was Ripuri, she was switched the same way he was. Maybe she'd be able to find out what was going on around there, and how to get his body back. And maybe find out what the girl whose body he was in was named.

[McKay]

[lost-mckay.livejournal.com]

McKay in Radek's cloth-- er.. body entered what was rapidly becoming the building's muster area, that is, the large cafeteria. Whatever happened on this island, the survivors and whomever else the island happened to trap on any given day seemed to congregate there. As a result?

McKay moved down the corridor to the cafeteria, not that far, really, and as he entered, there was.. some sort of altercation occuring. Pushing up the damnable glasses How does Radek put up with these?!, the next moment, he took them off and blinked in an attempt to focus. No good, and he put them back on, only to have them begin their descent once more.

"Hey, hey... hey! What is going on?" Also a common refrain in this particular room, though it was really strange coming from this particular body.. with a voice that was a touch lower in tone than his own.

Memories.. he had Ash to thank for his memories, but... "You're playing horseshoes with us?" Better that analogy than grenades? "Are you insane?"

[Tara]

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

TARA ENTERS

Tara had already been hurrying when she heard Ripley-in-Sam escalate to screaming. As the words "I WANT MY FUCKING BODY BACK!" echoed down the hall, she broke into a full-on run, picking up her skirts and dashing towards the source of the noise.

She charged into the smaller cafeteria in time to see Ripley-in-Sam about to throttle Ash, who looked like a scared rabbit. As Tara took in the scene, she spotted the lone table in the middle of the room, the circle of salt and the candles sticking out of the concoction.

It didn't take a genius to figure this one out. Even if she couldn't feel the remnants of the spell or see the residue in the culprit's aura - although it was cloaked a bit by the necromantic taint, it was definitely there - she could have figured it out anyway. "Ash! What did you do?"

[Ash] What Did I Do?

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Ash stood up a little straighter. Sam--or Ripley's--initial assault had taken him off guard, but he'd had a few moments to recover his mental balance. "What did I do?" Ash repeated.

"I got everyone their memories back, that's what I did!"

Without waiting for the outraged expressions and remarks, Ash continued. "Okay, maybe I didn't get every single detail exactly right, but I did it! We all know who we are now, and--okay, there's some details to be ironed out, but that's not a problem."

"I'll figure this out. How hard can it be?"

[Ripley]

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

"I'll figure this out," Ash stated. "How hard can it be?"

Ripley rounded on the well-intentioned idiot. "Oh no you don't. You've done enough. Someone who has a clue about magic will fix this." She looked around the gathering crowd for someone who fit the bill. The shy witch was the obvious candidate. "Tara!" She cocked her head. "Are you Tara?"

[Tara]

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

"Every single detail?" Tara echoed in disbelief. "The-the details are what matter in a spell like this. All it takes is phrasing something wrong, or not being specific enough, or using salt instead of sugar. You could have gotten someone killed!"

She blinked as Ripley's question sunk in. "Yes, I'm-I'm still me. Willow and Isabel didn't switch either. But we're the only ones I know of who haven't."

[Chloe] and Faith

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Showering had taken longer than Chloe expected, despite a minimum of groping and kissing. Washing her hair was more of a chore than she'd anticipated; she'd forgotten that Faith's hair was considerably longer than hers. But now she was clean, dry (mostly, her hair was still damp) and dressed in some of Faith's clothing.

Faith undulated down the hall beside her, also dressed in some of her own--Faith's--clothing. Nothing Chloe owned had struck her as sufficiently...enticing. As they walked Chloe kept looking sidelong at her. She had no idea her body could move like that!

Chloe walked through the security door that separated the two sections of the bunker. Voices caught her attention and she saw a crowd milling around near the entrance to the smaller kitchen/cafeteria. She walked toward them, Faith in tow. "Hey!" she said, "What's going on?"

The babble of voices made it difficult to get the facts until Faith gave an ear-splitting whistle to shock everyone into silence. "You," Chloe said, addressing Sam Tyler, who seemed to be more or less in charge, "what's going on?"

Only it wasn't Sam Tyler. It was Ripley. Chloe and Faith explained what had happened to them, and to Jack and George. Kenzaki and Miho had swapped places. McKay and Zelenka had switched, and Charlie had apparently swapped bodies with Shannon--who was back at Camp Crash.

(Damn,) Chloe thought. (It's not only local. It could be the whole damn island.) And Ash had done it. Ash. He seemed proud of himself, and rather belligerently defensive about the "minor side effect" of his spell. Ash, Tara, and Willow were the only people present who hadn't been zapped into the wrong body.

When Chloe questioned that assessment, she got an uncharacteristically forceful earful from Tara and Willow, who were adamant that what he'd done had been insanely reckless and dangerous. Since they were the resident experts, Chloe was willing to accept their word for it. It sounded just like Ash.

Chloe sighed and exchanged looks with Faith--and only then realized how casually the two of them were standing together with an arm around one another. (Like...lovers,) Chloe thought. Then she shrugged. (Truth in advertising, as George put it.)

"So I assume you girls can fix this?" Faith asked.

[Isabel]

[nohatmatt.livejournal.com]

"I certainly hope so," Isabel said, entering behind Faith. She took in the scene, feeling uncomfortable ripples of what Ash had done here. Evidently she had gained a minor sensitivity to magic in the integration of her past life's memories into her own.

"I'm still Isabel, fortunately. The last thing we need is another person in a body with powers they don't understand. We had enough of that yesterday."

"I'm still Kate," Kate piped up from her largely ignored space by the wall. Isabel gave her a smile.

"Good," she said. She turned to Willow and Tara. "Now, is there anything any of us can do to help you figure out how to fix this?"

[Oona]

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

Oona had shot awake from her odd dream at her dream father's words. Why would her dream incorporate Adam? She had only seen him in passing. True, she had thought him attractive, but that dream wasn't THAT kind of dream. Maybe it was his sword calling up dreams of her father that her mother had shared with her. But there was something to it, a flavor that was more than a dream. A hint of magic. And she knew dream magic.

She knew who she was. Her eyes widened. She could remember.

She heard arguments outside and down the hall. She padded, barefoot, out the door. The loaned cotton nightgown she wore fell to the floor, so she was decent enough.

After hearing what was going on, and hearing Isabel's question, Oona stepped forward a bit.

"I'm still me. And I have some small magic, and a working knowledge of spells beyond my own power."

[McKay in Zelenka] Hold your horses! No more Voodoo!

[lost-mckay.livejournal.com]

"Wait-wait-wait-wait..." McKay in Zelenka began, his hand waving in the air for attention as he stepped forward. "You want them to fix it... with magic? Isn't that just a little dumb? Obviously, the problem WAS magic, and last I noticed," A glance was given to Ash before he continued at the 'newly arrived'. "It isn't an exact science." Voodoo... and medicine. "What's to say something worse doesn't happen?" It was obvious that he just didn't like the entire idea. Something unmeasurable, untestable... Given time, he was sure, maybe, that something could be done.

"Look. It hasn't been long. We don't even know where everyone is yet." As his idea of actually grabbing a headcount had gone unheeded. "And who is affected and who isn't. If there are people who are unaffected, wouldn't it be smart to figure out WHY and work from there?" A scientist's perpective, certainly.

[Isabel]

[nohatmatt.livejournal.com]

"And how do you propose to understand the effects of magic without utilising the knowledge of people who have experience with it?" Isabel countered. "Perhaps there is a scientific solution. To be honest, I don't mind what the solution is, but it seems to me that using magic to understand magic is a very good starting point."

She held Zelenka's - McKay's - gaze for a heartbeat. She'd be damned if he wasn't just as irritating in someone else's body.

"We do need to gather evidence, of course. We need to know who's switched with who, who's unaffected. And since Shannon appears to have switched from the beach camp, we need to find out what else has changed there." She looked around. "Did any teleporters retain their bodies or their powers? It would be easiest if one of them could go."

[McKay in Zelenka] Stop the magic!

[lost-mckay.livejournal.com]

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'," was Rodney's retort. "You're assuming I've never seen this before, and you'd be wrong. Only... it was a technology that we'd never seen before. Ask Dr. Jackson." Well, perhaps he was stretching it a little... He hadn't seen it first hand, he'd read about it in the mission reports, had gotten the machine in at Area 51, where most of the other little do-dads that SG1 bring home go to rest.

"I don't care what you little spell-casters do, but it seems to me that it's causing most of the problems on the island. The EMP field is easy, if we find their power generation units. The-the-the machine that is keeping us out of phase... that's easy, if we can find it. It's the stupid magic that keeps blowing up in our faces."

So sayeth Dr. Rodney McKay... and he pushed up the little round glasses up his nose once more in irritation, his slight body remaining in an area out of the fray, his arms crossed against his chest.

[Faith] Ami Baiting

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

"Actually, A, it *is* sorta funny," Faith grinned. She raked her eyes over Blaise's body and licked her lips in appreciation. The marine was fine specimen any day of the week, but totally out of reach. However, now that the house had a squatter … this whole situation had more erotic potential than two porn stars with dildos and whipped cream.

"Faith?" Ami/Blaise blinked.

"In the flesh," Faith winked and shook her hips and breasts in an attractive shimmy that did Chloe's body quite proud. "Obviously not mine though. Still, it's got its perks."

"Maybe for you," Ami folded her arms across her chest. Her pout was out of place on Blaise's face. "You get to be a hot blonde."

Scott/House made a noise beside Ami and she harrumphed. "Oh please, everyone thinks it about her. I just said it aloud."

Faith chuckled, "Yeah, but you get to be a hot blonde too."

"I'm a man, Faith!"

"And you aren't just a little curious about how it all works?"

Ami's very girly squeak was oh-so-wrong coming from Blaise's body.

[George] Joining the Party

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

ENTER GEORGE

Walking around in Jack's body was...different. He was taller than she was. Enough taller that her perspective on everyone else was just a little bit off. It was slightly disorienting. George followed the sound of voices to a big crowd near the cafeteria.

Chloe--no, Faith in Chloe's body--was closest, flirting shamelessly with...Blaise? No, that was Ami. Faith was trying to rouse her curiosity. (Not gonna work, girlfriend,) George thought. (Even if she was interested, she's too tied up with Scott.)

George couldn't resist the opportunity to slap Faith on the ass as she joined her. "Don't you ever get enough, you hussy?" George demanded.

[Faith] Makes Her Own Fun

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

"And miss out on the chance to finally get a piece of that hunk of burning marine?" Faith smiled shamelessly. She indicated George in Jack's body with a flick of her head, "See, George is exploring all the options. She's taking Jack for a test drive and I didn't hear any complaints."

Ami made another girly noise and buried Blaise's very red face in pink hands. "Faith, just. Go. Away."

"Oh come on, now, don't be like that. You know you've got taht secret fantasy about knowing how the other half lives. Now's your chance to find out. Scottie can join in if he wants. I'll bet House hasn't thought of half the good games with that cane that I have," Faith gave a lascivious wink and widened her gaze to include Scott.

[Aeryn] - Joining the fray

[tweets.livejournal.com]

Aeryn smirked slightly, as she remembered Jack hitting on her. "Given the desperation I saw on some of those faces last night, I wouldn't be surprised. The guy, umm, Captain Jack? He seemed interested in frelling the both of us at the same time!"

With a little laugh, she easily followed John's long strides, towards the noisy crowd. Coming to a stop, she watched with wide eyes as the throng seethed and argued. OK, this was... confusing?

[John] - Joining the fray

[magicalelf.livejournal.com]

John stood beside Aeryn watching as what seemed to be the rest of the entire encampent shouted and yelled at one another. There was much finger pointing and blame going on and John tried to follow it all with a confused frown furrowing his brow. "What the hell's going on?" He asked under his breath to Aeryn, "It seems like everyone has gone stark raving mad now that they've gotten their memories back. Maybe we should just back away slowly before whatever it is infects us too"

[Dean] But of course!

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

Faith/Chloe's flirtatious teasing of the psychic lovebunnies had Dean chuckling. Scott/House pleading for Magic Mouseketeers to right the situation was even funnier.

"Course they can," Dean assured him between chuckles. "Sammy 'n me do shit like this all the time."

Sam frowned at him. "We do?"

Dean sighed dramatically. "No, not *exactly* this, but, you know, mojo. No problem."

"Easy for you to say," Sam muttered. He nodded at the half-finished list in Dean's hand. "List?"

"Workin' on it." Then he caught Faith/Chloe's eye, openly ogling her. "Babe, if you got an itch, I'm happy to scratch it for ya. Right after I finish this," he amended, holding up the notepad.

John and (smokin' hot) Aeryn appeared in the doorway. "Hold up!" Dean called. "Are you you?"

The couple's brows furrowed. "Huh?"

"What do you mean?"

Although Dean knew that Aeryn was an alien, she somehow sounded British. Their stances and mannerisms seemed right, too. "Yeah, you're you." He turned to the rest of the crowd. "Okay! This is taking forever. Everyone who's swapped bodies, move to this side of the room." He motioned toward the side where the exhausted-looking Scott in House's body sat. No need to make the guy move. "The rest of ya, over here."

[Doctor/Rose/Jack]

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

The Doctor-in-Daniel's-body looked at Rose and shrugged. The kids seemed to have a decent enough Idea. He crossed to stand by Blaise and House, who were clinging to each other in a way he was pretty sure was not typical of either of them. Although what they did on their own time...

He caught some of the conversation with Jack and Chloe. He had to smirk.

"And I just bet Jack had to live out his own personal narcissistic fantasy, eh?" He grinned. Leave it to Jack to take every advantage of a situation.

Just then George joined them, freshly showered and loaded up with Jack's kit.

"You bet your sweet ass I did. She needs a bit more practice, but it was fun. I know that stance and grin anywhere. Lookin' good Doc. Any chance you'd be interested while I'm a girl?" George smirked.

"No," the Doctor crossed his arms.

"I'll buy you that drink."

"No."

"I'll invite Rose."

That earned Jack a death glare, which still transferred quite well in Daniel's body.

***

Rose moved over to the non-swap side. She couldn't understand what the magic types were doing, but they all seemed to be themselves. Well, except for the fact that Molly didn't usually do painful and slow acrobatics.

"I'll return as soon as proper accounting has been taken." Molly broke off and moved to the other side of the room.

"River, right?"

Trying to Make Sense of It All

[magicalelf.livejournal.com]

John quirked a frown at the Winchester brother, watching him order more than half of the room to one side while others started to slowly make their way to the other. "Switched ... bodies?" he asked, a small hint of humor starting to creep into his voice. He looked over at Aeryn beside him, "Hey .. that happened to us once, remember? Right after that strange space-type-thingy. I was you and you were me and I have to tell you ... that was ... awesome" he grinned widely at her before clearing his throat and nodding seriously. "But this is no laughing matter now so ... yeah."

He moved to stand where the rest of the "non-swapped" people were standing, watching the rest of the procedure with a troubled frown. He noticed that the Doctor had moved to the "swapped" side of the room, and that didn't bode well for what he and Aeryn needed.

[Alia]

[nohatmatt.livejournal.com]

Alia moved to the side of the room with the other people who hadn't swapped bodies.

Perhaps I should go over there just to confuse them, she thought. But then, I've not really swapped bodies with anybody, I'm still in my own body... I just happen to look like Kate Austen to everybody here. The real Kate's body is in the future.

Suddenly she wished she could Leap back right now. This island was just too bizarre to stay on it much longer. If only Daniel Jackson hadn't swapped bodies, she could kill him now, but she needed to know whether to kill his body or his mind.

Perhaps she should do both... but then the removal of this Doctor from the timeline might have undesirable consequences. She'd have to check with Zoey when she came back.

Oh man....

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

While reading this, I just smacked between the eyes by a wicked evil plot bunny. I may have to confer with fikgirl on this....