crossing_lostrp | [Faith] Weirder than Sunnyhell? Hell yeah (tag George, Daniel, Locke, open)

(Grim Reaper?) Faith thought, (There’s one I haven’t heard before. Takes all kinds, I guess.)

“A. Grim. Reaper?” Daniel was trying hard, but Faith could hear – and see – the man’s disbelief. And if she could see it when she had only just met him, she supposed he was a lot like a siren going off to George. (And John too,) Faith decided as she cast a glance at the other man, noting his stoic face and calm acceptance of George’s words.

Faith shook her head, but grinned lazily at Daniel, “All that vampire stuff just went right over your head didn’t it?” She turned the amused grin to George, “Always thought you were supposed to have a black cape and a wicked sickle. Be a skeleton too, but I guess that’s right up there with vampires turning into bats, huh? Except Dracula. I hear he did the whole bat and smoke thing.”

“Vampires?” Daniel asked, with that same level tone which said that he wasn’t precisely certain how serious to take Faith’s – or George’s words – or how not seriously to take them.

With a sigh, Faith rolled her shoulders. If George was really a Grim Reaper (and wouldn’t Giles and Wes be all over that like the clap on a cheap ho), then her supernatural weirdness couldn’t be anything to hide. (‘Sides, the Doc told me to tell them my story.) She looked mostly at Daniel, but included John and George in her gaze, “Pay attention, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once. Vampires are real. Demons are real. All those things that go bump in the night that you think were just kid stories and scary movie shit, all of it’s real. And if all that’s real, who’s to say that our girl Georgie isn’t all about what she says she is?

“But for the record, Georgie, considering that those two Watchers had threatened to put a friend of mine outta commission if I didn’t play their reindeer games, I don’t really give a damn if they do stay trapped in their rotting bodies for the rest of eternity. But Johnson and the pilot, they don’t deserve that.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Locke allowed himself a small smile from Daniel's graceful maneuvering of Faith and George into the mission leaders. He wanted to go as well, but needed to start digging the boar traps. With luck Dr. Pierson would declare him well enough to get back to work today. Staying on the beach with Daisy was more than enjoyable, but didn't feel like he was pulling his own weight.

Daniel had also maneuvered around George's question about Powell's SGC patch. Locke decided to give him a nudge. "Makes sense," he commented about not having two groups in the field. He studied the soldier/scholar for a moment. "What is this SGC, Daniel?"

"Secret Government Compound," Daniel answered without missing a beat.

Faith snorted. "It's not so secret if you're tellin' us about it."

"It is if you don't know where it is," Daniel replied. He kept a straight face and didn't look at Blaise once. He knew that not a single person there bought that explanation. Daniel just hoped that they realized it was all the explanation that he was willing to give. It wasn't time yet to throw all his cards on the table; eventually, he knew that it would be ... but the longer he could avoid having to line fifty people up to sign non-disclosures, the happier everyone would be.

Yeah. This was me too.

George watched Daniel and Faith go back and forth on the topic. She was curious, but she didn't care all that much about it. When they were done, George looked at Faith. "I guess it's you and me, then," she said.

"...and Quentin and Dr. Pierson and probably Carlos," George added. She suspected Carlos wasn't about to let her go off into the wild without him. And that was fine by her.

*nudge* ^.^

At the name of Carlos, Faith's attention perked, "Who's Carlos?"

Blaise said with a bright grin, "Carlos? That's George's new boyfriend."

He was rewarded with a deadly glare and laughed. "Sorry, George, but you blush so prettily." And she was blushing now, which really diminished the effect of the glare. But that was enough teasing.

Blaise looked at Faith. "Carlos is another survivor. He was alone in the jungle for the first few days, and only joined us here on the beach recently. Ex-military, too, so he's been a handy addition to the watch rotation. I expect he'll want to go along to keep an eye on George."

Quentin noticed the signs of a cover story recited by rote in Daniel's answer to Locke, and wondered again where he recognized Daniel's name from. This time it came to him, and the memories the realization brought up made Quentin shiver.

Quentin gave Daniel his polished 'gotcha' smile as he spoke. "I've been racking my brains since we first met just *where* I had heard your name before Daniel, and I think I've got it. You're the infamous archaeologist that flamed out a promising career by suggesting the Egyptian pyramids were built as landing platforms for alien spacecraft."

Quentin was enjoying the looks that people were giving Daniel, but he was not finished. "So, can I assume that your association with the military and the intense secrecy that seems to surround those 3 letters means that your theory might not have been as far out as most people thought? I mean, on this island it seems all bets are off as far as what we should and shouldn't expect."

(OOC- Just wait til Quentin mentions his familiarity with Ra...then Daniel will *really* squirm)

Hooray! Someone's finally putting Daniel on the spot! *bounces*

What surprised Daniel was not that Quentin somehow knew of him, but rather than being startled, he was simply frustrated and exasperated. That was an ongoing annoyance with him; the fact that he *knew* he was right but couldn't tell the world at large.

Daniel gave a tired half-smile. "Actually the theory stated that there was evidence of a cross-pollination of early cultures that could possibly have been influenced by an external source, which is plausible when one considers the evidence that ancient civilizations, particularly Egyptian, is older than historians assert."

Daniel didn't actually expect that anyone heard much of what he said beyond the first few words, but it didn't really matter. He didn't know why precisely Quentin felt the need to bring up something of *that* nature, no matter what his suppositions. He certainly couldn't think that Daniel was going to tell a beach full of people, normal people with every day lives for the most part, that aliens had influenced early human development and visited earth for countless centuries.

"I currrently work for the United States Air Force in a linguistic capacity," Daniel went on. "Unfortunately a good portion of the work I do, including locations and bases, is confidential and protected under provisions of national security.

"My work, past or present, has no bearing on this island, however. But I would safely say that this place has proven to be unusual enough that we really should brace ourselves for the unexpected. But I think that most people have figured that out."

He gave Quentin a hard look. If Quentin wanted to spout theories, and debate Daniel in private that was fine. If he wanted Daniel to reveal the Stargate Program to the entire island, the man had another think coming.

Quentin listened to Daniel rattle off the specifics of his theory on ancient civilizations. Quentin had, of course, read the entire paper -- after an encounter in Egypt about four years ago, he had sought it out. Most of the specifics had gone way over his head, but Quentin had been able to read between the lines. The "external sources" could only be aliens, the evidence of which Quentin had seen with his own two eyes.

As Daniel continued with his cover story, Quentin did his best to keep from rolling his eyes at the obvious obfuscation. It was obvious that trying to drag something out of Daniel at this time was a lost cause, and the look that Quentin earned put the exclamation point on that. Perhaps at a later time Quentin would bring it up in private.

"At least I was right, you are the person I thought you were. Secret government involvement aside, you are an expert in ancient Egyptian culture. One of these days I will have to ask you about Ra worship, and people coming back after apparently dying during a Ra worship ceremony."

(Great, rogue sarcophagi,) Daniel thought, but he kept a straight face. "That would definitely be something that I would be interested in hearing about in the future." (Because if there's a loose Goa'uld healing device or sarcophagus out there, I definitely want to know where it is.)

[Faith] Weirder than Sunnyhell? Hell yeah (tag George, Daniel, Locke, open)

[Locke] Not off the hook (tag Carlos, Quentin, Daniel, George, Faith, open)

[Daniel] Not off the hook (tag Quentin, Locke, George, Faith, open)

OOC

[George] The Odd Couple (tag Faith, open)

Re: [George] The Odd Couple (tag Faith, open)

[Faith] Who? (tag George, open)

[Blaise] Who? (tag George, Faith, open)

[Quentinl] Not off the hook (tag Daniel, Locke, George, Faith, open)

OOC applause

[Daniel] Not off the hook (tag Quentin, Locke, George, Faith, open)

[Quentin] Not off the hook (tag Daniel, Locke, George, Faith, open)

[Daniel] Definitely Interested (tag Quentin, Locke, George, Faith, open)