#atlantisstuck

[kalicofox]

AtlantisStuck (some more)

Guys. It’ been 85 years. Here, have some more AtlantisStuck.

The first temple they came across was explored in uncharacteristic silence. Rodney said nothing as they dutifully took pictures of the murals and carvings, and if his hand lingered over the carving that looked most like the patch on his shoulder, well, John wasn't going to say anything.

After that, it was like some sort of dam had broken, and all of the away teams were being led to temples by enthusiastic locals; even on planets they'd visited before. Teyla hid it well, but John could read her amusement in the slight tilt of her lips as they were led to yet another temple by another group of allies. Even deserted planets had temples; crumbling ruins with faded murals and cracked, broken statues. It was in the oldest of these temples that they found the Altars.

Altars weren't uncommon, but they were usually placed front and center; easily seen and used by worshippers. The Altars, however, were always hidden, and usually people who didn't feel some sort of connection to the temple couldn't even find them. They'd see the Altar once it was pointed out to them, but they wouldn't see it on their own.

That discovery led to a re-exploration of all of the temples that seemed to have been built at around the same time.

And then, of course, someone had to go and die on one of them.

[kalicofox]

AtlantisStuck- John; Hear Something

John’s not flying yet, but he’s gonna get there sooner or later!

Living on Atlantis, John decided somewhere along the line, was weird. It started weird, it was probably going to end weird, and it'd just keep getting weirder every step of the way. He'd acknowledged that, accepted it, and made peace with it.

What he hadn't made peace with was the idea that as some point, he was going to be part of the weirdness.

Oh sure, weirdness happened to him. Just look at the Iratus bug incident. And then the other bug incident. And that weird, partial ascension thing. And th- you know what, just. Weirdness happened to him. He knew it. Got it. Accepted the weirdness into his heart and life, blah-de-blah, it was good. He was, if not okay with it, then at least resigned.

So when he started hearing conversations between people that he knew were on the other side of the city? His first call was to McKay.

"Are you and Zalenka fighting over the coffee again?"

Rodney falls suspiciously silent mid sentence, and John barrels on. "Because if you are, and you still haven't gotten any sleep, I swear I will drag you to Carson myself and have him sedate you."

"How did you even know that?!" Rodney demands, and John runs a distracted hand through his hair.

"Yeah, that's the other thing. Have you or any of the scientists unearthed some sort of longer range communicator or something? I'm in my room and I could hear you two bickering like a couple of five year olds."

"Not that I know of." Rodney said distractedly, and John could hear the sound of shifting paper in the background. "No. Nobody's found anything that could be used for communication. You said you were in your room and could hear Zalenka keeping me from having the coffee that is rightfully mine?"

John rolled his eyes. "Yes Rodney, that is exactly what I'm saying."

"Huh..."

John could almost hear McKay's frown, and rolled his eyes as a soft breeze swept through John's room, bring the fresh scent of seawater and rain with it.

"Maybe you should go to Beckett?" Rodney suggested after a moment, and John's eyebrows raise of their own accord. "Just to see if you were exposed to something weird on that planet we visited the other day?"

"Nah." He's not going to give the Doc another excuse to poke and prod, "He saw me at the post mission check and I was fine. It's probably just another Atlantis thing. Like an intercom or something. I can't hear anything except what's coming through the comm now, so it's fine."

"If you say so..." Rodney says doubtfully, and John resists rolling his eyes again.

"I do. And I also say to go get some sleep. We've got a mission in the morning. Sheppard, out."

And with that, John taps his comm off, tugs it off his ear, and tosses it onto his bedside table.

Wait.

Something about his room is off...

The breeze cuts off abruptly, and John frowns, stripping out of his jacket and tossing it onto the nearest chair.

He'll figure it out later. Right now he's tired, and he does have a mission tomorrow.

It isn't until he's almost completely asleep that it hits him, jolting him back to wakefulness.

His balcony door was shut the whole time.

There was nowhere for a breeze to come from.

[kalicofox]

Prompt request

Hit me up with prompts, please! I’m kinda in the mood to write Trolls, but I’ll still write anything from Aftermath or AtlantisStuck.

[kalicofox]

Part 2 of the Ronon prompt

Seven years as a Runner taught Ronon a lot. Most of it stuff he'd never wanted to know before. Stuff like, how long he could keep moving without food and with only a little water before he collapsed (four days). Or how long he could safely stay on a planet before the wraith trackers showed up to start hunting him. (Between two hours and a week, depending on how many gates he jumped through before settling on a planet.) It taught him how to feel the dark, blood red well of power in his chest; how to see the bonds connecting wraith to each other, and, after a few failures, how to sever those bonds. He learned how to hide, and what would lead wraith to him faster. And then, after seven years, he met a man with ridiculous hair, and a woman with kind eyes and a sad smile, and learned about Atlantis. It took him a week before he noticed the thin, barely there tendrils of his Gift reaching out toward his new team, and for a moment he was tempted to pull them back. To avoid the entanglements and to treat living on Atlantis as simply a job. But watching Sheppard nag McKay into eating something, and catching sight of Teyla standing a few feet away, watching the two with a fond smile on her face, he changed his mind, and turned his attention away from his Gift. The bonds could develop on their own, or not at all. But he wouldn't stop them if they did.

[kalicofox]

AtlantisStuck Prompt #6

So... um. This sorta escalated quickly. -_-;

I could write more on this one, and I probably will, but this is a good stopping point and I’ve got a thing pretty early tomorrow.

Shadowwood- Ronon discovering his classpect :D

When he was ten years old, Ronon Dex, along with thirty four other ten-year-olds, was shepherded through the Ring of the Ancestors in hopes of receiving a Gift. Everyone knew that those with Gifts lived longer, and had more opportunities in almost any field they chose to go into, and so it had been a tradition for centuries that children on the cusp of puberty would go through the gate to a planet with one of the ancient temples and make a pilgrimage. The shepherds, a mixed group of priests and teachers, would accompany each group to the temple and back. Afterwards, if any child showed signs of a Gift, they and their parents would report to the nearest shrine or temple on Sateda, where they would be tested by a Seer, then passed on to someone with the appropriate Gift for training. Out of the thirty five children who passed through the gate in that group, only eleven awoke with Gifts, and Ronon was disgusted to find that he had one of the most useless gifts he could think of. What use was a Knight of Blood? He didn't want to be a matchmaker, or a couples mind healer! He wanted to be a mighty warrior! A proud soldier of Sateda! Someone who could fight and defend his home and his family, and be a hero! Nothing his trainer said could convince him that Blood was a Gift that was well suited for his dream; he'd seen too many vids, and heard too many stories that all led to the conclusion that Blood was a weak gift, given to the soft hearted and those incapable of fighting. He hated it, and so, he locked his awareness of it away, throwing himself into trying to become the ideal Satedan man. It wasn't until the wraith attacked Sateda and he felt the bonds between himself and his cohort, and himself and Melena fray and snap that he understood. And by then, it was too late.

[kalicofox]

AtlantisStuck Prompt #5

Holy. Crap. This is long. Wow.

othercat2- John figuring out more about his classpect! (flying!) Elizabeth or Teyla demonstrating theirs!

"Doctor Farmer?" Elizabeth tapped gently on the door frame with her knuckles, then poked her head into the office. It looked like a tornado had hit the room. There were books in piles on the floor, loose sheets of paper covering every flat surface, (including the walls) and a couple of whiteboards stood across the room from each other, covered in sloppy writing in what looked like four different languages. "Yes?" A head popped out from behind the desk nearest the back wall, and a broad smile broke out across the man's face as he scrambled to his feet. "Doctor Weir! How nice to see you! You're here for your patch, yes? I remember, I remember! I've got it around here somewhere." Elizabeth raised one eyebrow as the short, slightly dumpy man bounced happily across the room, shoved a pile of paper off a shoebox sized box, opened it, and started to rummage through it. "My patch?" She asked, and he paused, peering at her through the thick lenses of his glasses. "Yes, your patch! You came in, two, no three, days ago, and asked if I would mind finding you one like I had for Peter!" Doctor Farmer was starting to look a bit worried now, and Elizabeth frowned. She did want a patch, but she hadn't come down to ask him to make her one. That was why she was coming down now. She'd only seen Peter's patch an hour ago. "Of course." she said, and let her gaze rest thoughtfully on the teal symbol the man wore on his right shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'd forgotten." The man waved her apology away and cheerfully went back to digging through the box which was, she saw now, full of patches in all kinds of shapes and colors. "Would you mind telling me about them?" she asked, "How did you come up with the designs?" "Well," Farmer hummed thoughtfully, "it's my job, in a way! I'm a linguist, you know, and the Mind wants to understand things! So I Looked and Looked, and I found the concepts- the things that make us, us! And the concepts came with names and signs of their own, just like the aspects did!" "I see..." Doctor Weir (who did not, in fact, see,) said, and tilted her head slightly so that she could see into the box more easily. "When did you find the time to make all of these?" Farmer looked surprised, then he laughed, "No no! I didn't make them! Before, when we were on Earth, I knew we would want them eventually, so I went out and had them custom made! Ah-ha!" He grinned triumphantly as he held up a patch with a pair of teal swords crossed over a golden shield. "This one! This one is yours!" "What does it mean?" She asked curiously, taking it and running her fingers over the embroidered blades of the swords. "Oh, many things. Many things." Doctor Farmer said airily, hopping up to sit on the desk facing her, "That you are a protector. That you will fight to defend yourself, or your home, or your people. That you will use your most valuable weapon in the defense of what is precious to you. That you will use other weapons to defend your most prized possession." Elizabeth frowned slightly, looking up from the patch to watch the man, who's smile had faded to a wry twist of his lips. "I will be honest, Doctor Weir." He said, and shifted slightly so that Elizabeth could see the patch on his left shoulder. "You are a Knight. Protection is what you do. It is a part of you, and I need your help." he gestured at the patch, an open eye, with the teal symbol from his right shoulder replacing the iris and pupil, "I am a Seer. I see many things, but I am not a fool. You did not come in three days ago. Peter only got his patch yesterday. But he could have gotten it three days ago, and you would have been here, in my office, asking me similar questions, and receiving similar answers." Farmer sighed, "I am a Seer of Mind. I see the outcomes of decisions, and there are many and more decisions being made, every minute of every day. I see the meaning behind words, and deeds, and words and deeds are being spoken and done every minute of every day. It is... very difficult to keep track of what has happened, what has yet to happen, and what will not happen anymore." Elizabeth's frown deepened with concern. "What do you need me to do?" Doctor Farmer lit up, and he slid off the desk, "So you'll do it! Wonderful! Thank you so-" "Hold up!" Elizabeth said, raising one hand to cut him off, "First, explain. What would I need to do to help you?" "You are a Knight!" Farmer said, as though that explained everything, "Protection is your thing! Your schtick! It will come to you like a fish drinks water!" "Uh-huh­." Elizabeth raised one eyebrow skeptically, then sighed as Farmer started to droop with disappointment. "No, don't- all right, fine. I'll try. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try." She had to resist rolling her eyes as the man immediately brightened back up and stared at her expectantly. She'd been telling the truth, she really didn't have any idea how to go about doing this. The only clue she'd ever had that she actually had an ability was an uncanny knack at telling if someone was the host of a Goa’uld or not, and the driving desire to keep something with the symbol she'd been sketching obsessively close. Protection, he'd said. A knight. Knights wielded swords, but they also used shields. She already knew her sign was Mind, so that meant... what? That she protected minds? That she protected people with her mind? Well, that was certainly true, in a sense. Even before she'd gotten her ability she'd been doing her best to keep people safe by using her brains, rather than any brawn. But how would that help Doctor Farmer? His sign was Mind, too. But it was like he couldn't filter it properly? Could that be it? Something niggled at the back of her head, and her eyes narrowed. That had felt... distinct. Cautiously, she prodded at the feeling, like she was trying to remember something just at the tip of her tongue, and slowly, what felt like another sense unfurled. "Holy-" she gasped, and took a step backwards, her eyes wide. She could feel everyone. Every mind in Atlantis glowed in her mind's eye, and the rush of (protectlovecaredefendsupport) almost knocked her flat on her back. Carefully, she tried to draw her mind back, reeling in her awareness of the minds around her until all she could 'see' was Doctor Farmer's teal tinted presence in front of her. It looked ragged, at the edges. Like it was being pulled in too many directions, and when she peered at him with her physical eyes, she finally noticed the bags under his eyes and paleness of his skin. He looked stressed in both views, and it was making the back of her mind itch, so she did the only thing she could think of. Carefully, so, so carefully, she reached out, and wrapped a thin layer of...something, around him, creating a barrier between his mind and everything else. It wouldn't keep out everything, she could tell, but it would act like a sort of buffer. Elizabeth pulled that weird awareness back all the way, packing it away in the back of her head and wondering how she'd missed it's presence all this time. When she finally looked back at Doctor Farmer, he was beaming at her. "Thank you, thank you! It feels so much better already! But I know," he said quickly, "I know. I'll talk to someone soon enough! I just needed a breather!" And before Elizabeth could even blink, she found herself hustled out of the office by a chattering whirlwind, and the door shut firmly behind her.

[kalicofox]

Prompts?

Anyone have anything they want to see from Aftermath or AtlantisStuck? I’ve got nothing better to do for the next few hours, and feel like writing!

[kalicofox]

AtlantisStuck

It's Elizabeth who tells him. They're in the middle of a meeting about something, John doesn't even remember what, and he's doodling idly on the pad of paper he's supposed to be using for notes while pretending to listen to Rodney McKay ramble. They've only been on Atlantis a week. What could McKay have possibly found that's so important he had to call a meeting of the senior staff? He's managed to fill an entire page with nonsense angles and swirls and random shapes by the time Rodney's done and they're all free to return to their lives, but Elizabeth catches his sleeve before he can get too far and invites him into her office. When they've settled into the chairs, her behind the desk, and him in front of it, she places the notepad he'd been using on the desk. "Major Sheppard," she starts, her voice serious, "was coming to Atlantis the first time you've been through a Stargate?" "Ye-es?" he says, frowning, and Doctor Weir sighs slightly. "That's right, you were a late addition. You wouldn't have gone through on the training missions." She frowns for a moment, then clasps her hands on the desk and leans forward. "Were you briefed on the Stargate?" John nods, looking slightly bewildered. "What did they tell you?" Elizabeth prompts, and John shrugs awkwardly. "Just that it was an old method of transportation between planets. They were built by an ancient race of aliens that everyone calls Ancients, and they're pretty power draining. Oh, and not to stand right in front of it while it's activating, or I'll get vaporized." he frowns, then says, "I'm starting to think they might have left something out, though." "They did." Elizabeth agrees, "Let me explain. A few years ago, we noticed that people who traveled through the Stargate were exhibiting certain abilities. These abilities varied between individuals, but many fell in similar themes. Some people developed what seemed to be a sort of precognizance, others could heal themselves or others, and some could hear or see things far out of range of normal human perception. It was decided to keep the development of these abilities quiet, to protect the soldiers and scientists who had developed them from rogue elements in the NID and the IOA. As far as we can tell, there is no technology, no gene, and no physical cause of these abilities. They just... develop." "Okay..." John said slowly, "So you're telling me this because...?" "Because typically, the abilities emerge after a person's first trip through the Stargate." Elizabeth said, her face serious as she leans back in her chair. "And you think I might develop, what, some superpower?" John grinned, shaking his head. "You already are." Weir said, and tapped the notepad. "Look here, and tell me the first word that comes to mind." John raised his eyebrow skeptically at her, and the woman smiled crookedly back. "Humor me." "All right, but I don't know what you're thinking is gonna happen." John leans forward and looks down at doodle Elizabeth is pointing at, a pair of graceful, curving lines swirling from right to left. "Breath." John hears himself say distantly, and he leans back with a frown. He hadn't meant to say that. Though, looking at it, he can kinda see how it might be, if there was a face drawn next to it. Elizabeth looks satisfied, and John scowls at her instead. They talk for a while longer, and John still isn't full convinced by the time he's left her office, but he does promise to let her know if he notices anything strange going on around him. She doesn't say anything about the fact that, when he leaves her office, he takes the notepad with him.