❪ introlog: #6 ❫ city of secrets

[natha]

You've spent the last few days on Thesa Station, taking in the knowledge that your world is no more. Now, the time to put all your survival training into practice has arrived: El Nysa needs you, and you're here to help the planet thrive. Are you ready? THE DESCENT     All refugees on the station are called to the hangar, where a large-scale teleporter awaits. Simply step onto the space between the arrays and wait; everyone will be sent down to the planet together. Before they depart, all refugees will be given a cold weather survival kit with warm clothing, rations, and bedding. The arrays build into a brilliant wash of light, creating a column that travels all the way from Thesa Station to the surface of El Nysa, teleporting the refugees to the planet on an aurora. Once on the planet's surface, refugees receive one last message from Darma. It has been a long, perilous year for you, refugees. And yet we must ask you to brave further peril. Within Nadril are the secrets to how poor Ysverai's revival was hidden from our sight and how this disaster has come to our star. Find the first refugee from beyond this planet, a man named Magda. He will not speak to us, for much has come between us, but to you… If you prove yourselves, he may be willing to answer your questions. We beseech you, for there is a veil over Nadril that hides all within from us. There may yet be more untold dangers waiting to befall this planet. For the good of all who make this world home, we ask you to lend us your aid. There is yet one more favor we would ask of you. In warding off the Storm's encroachment, the physical aspect of ourselves that you call Thesa Station was damaged. We must remain to continue repairs to El Nysa and to deal with Ysverai, but there should be suitable technology within Nadril that could be used for spare parts. If you have the chance to find it and can return it to us, it would hasten— Darma's message crackles with static, another image overlaying hers — her broadcast is cut off and replaced with another. A more sullen and alien voice takes Darma’s place, overlapping on itself in an ominous reveal. It has been a long, perilous year for you, refugees. And yet you’ve only just arrived here. To say I’m not disappointed in your… generation would be to lie, and I am nothing if not an honest creature. But I suppose these have been unusual circumstances. You must ask yourself this — are you only here as Darma's lapdogs? I can assure you, it's not worth being on the Natha's leash. With time, that will be something you'll have to learn for yourself. If you're so determined to come find Nadril, then follow the path north, and you'll find the border. What awaits you is revelation, if you're up to the challenge. A FROZEN LAND     The refugees land on a literally frozen world, both in temperature and time. Curls of icy wind hold swirls of snow aloft and an uncanny silence is broken only by the crunch of hoarfrost underfoot. Only Darma's protection allows the refugees to move through this frozen world — and movement is very necessary. Bitter cold sneaks through even the thickest clothing and without warning, a snowstorm rises: unnaturally quickly, a wall of white howls directly in the refugee's path. Bizarrely, the way back is perfectly calm; it's obvious that this storm is no product of nature. Magda's challenge becomes clear: the only way to Nadril lies through this storm. Visibility within the storm is near zero, the whiteout hiding any landmarks from view and making navigation near impossible. The only guidance refugees have is a sporadic path of faint, greenish lights, easily lost in the raging storm. Refugees need all the survival skills they practiced on Thesa Station to survive, for getting lost alone is a death sentence. Luckily, those separated from the group can happen upon guiding lights Magda has planted throughout the tundra. These blue-white sparks cause frostbite if handled recklessly, but they also serve as directional anchors, turning into ghostly flames that lead lost souls back to the path to Nadril. The trek through the storm will be no mean feat and will last for the better part of three days. By the time the refugees reach Nadril's gate, most will find themselves exhausted and running on fumes. As the snowstorm dies away and a gap in the glittering forcefield around the city opens to usher the refugees inside, it's clear that Nadril is a different beast. A WARM(?) WELCOME     I. Despite the unforgiving journey, entering Nadril is painless. Once inside, characters will be greeted by their predecessors: the original refugees who made this advanced city. They'll immediately be offered medical attention, as well as warm cider and blankets. But it's obvious that the Nadril citizens prefer higher tech to fend off the weather: they also offer wristlets and ear cuffs that that double as mittens and earmuffs by creating warm bubbles of air. The earrings also feature a few quality of life programs, such as timed alarms and thought-to-speech messaging. However, both programs are in beta stages so it's not unusual for a stray thought to accidentally slip through or an alarm to accidentally ring at an inopportune time. II. Refugees are offered free lodging in a large, crystalline building crafted from ice. Despite the coarse building material, the ice is unmelting and surprisingly well-insulated, and the beds are as warm and cozy. The rooms are, however, small. The sleeping quarters house two people, and are some cross between an igloo and a capsule hotel. Though built for efficiency over comfort, all rooms are also outfitted with the latest Nadril AI, RoboAlfred, or Ralf for short. This helpful program is installed in practically all the furnishings: the closet tells guests to bundle up, the bathroom sink reminds them to brush their teeth, and the mirror offers helpful fashion tips. Ralf's personality matrix still needs polish, though: it may very well insult your clothes and passively-aggressively question your lifestyle choices for the entire stay. III. Though not as advanced as Thesa Station, the colony has technology far beyond the rest of the continent, such as rudimentary AIs and mechanical transportation. Nadril's skyline is a point of pride — refugees can take a (literal) lightrail that gives an aerial view of the colony, which is hewn almost entirely from ice and rock. Despite its tech, Nadril is much more sparsely populated than Olympia and Wyver, and its residents stay near a central hub: a Natha refugee drop ship, Central, which has crashed and long embedded itself into the earth. Central is similar to an older, smaller, grounded model of Thesa Station, in functional order with round-the-clock solar power. Within Central are lounges similar to ones on the Station, though many of the damaged areas have been converted. They include repair stations, different wings dedicated to science, botany, astrology, and mechanics, and a research and history facility, which has a smattering of technology from planets beyond El Nysa — including your own. The staff here don't mind if anything is sampled and studied, but objects cannot be taken from the labs. IV. On the outskirts of the central hub, many will find several curious looking bots with insect-like wings perched about high traffic walkways. Simply passing the bots will cause a dizzying flash before a series of photos print out. Upon closer inspection, people will find that these images reflect stills taken from their home worlds as they remember it. Unfortunately, these photos only last a couple of hours at best. At that time, they will revert back to regular pictures of the refugees. People will be encouraged to share these images of their worlds. The residents of Nadril comprehend the value of remembering one's origins, and will be pleased to see that people still hold memories of old homes close to them. RECREATION IN NADRIL     I. Small, mechanical creatures scampering through the city are a common sight. Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you that they come from a shop called Paws About Town. They’re very useful, as companions, gophers, and couriers (though the more mischievous will note that they’re just small enough to keep tabs on people without being noticed). Premade robotic pets are available on display inside the shop. They come in all shapes, but small sizes; one may be able to find robots that even look like miniature creatures from their homeworld. These are a part of a new, highly customizable line with programmable personalities. Customers have the chance to take pets for a one-day trial run. Those who don’t know how to program may want to enlist more knowledgeable aid, but the pets come with instructional pamphlets for basic personality traits such as obedience, helpfulness, playfulness, and bloodthirst. For returns, the switch to wipe the robot's personality to a blank slate is on the back of its neck, right between a switch to invert all traits, and a switch to have them learn by observing. Try not to press the wrong switch — you might wind up with a pet with a mind of its own! II. A. The Frosty Tap Cantina is a thriving hub of activity, but one of the major draws is the self-service bar: molecular mixology is wildly popular here. Playing with drink compositions can be a game in and of itself, and newcomers to the cantina will find that the bartender — a cheerful woman with lilac skin and three eyes — is always happy to give them a few tips on how to use the wide array of tools within reach of the barstools. All manner of drinks are possible — from glowing, layered cocktails, to clear drinks with colored, spherical bubbles and vividly-colored shots that give off their own smoke. There's a nightly contest in the cantina for the most creative drink created by a team — this may be as good a time as any to partner up with someone and see what can you come up with. Winner gets all their drinks for the night free! And, hey, even if you don't win, you get to drink whatever you make. The well-lubricated patrons of the bar are eager to challenge anyone nearby to a different sort of drinking game… Just how well can you hold your liquor? B. Holo-screens in the cantina are nearly always broadcasting some match or another of a game that looks very much like hockey, albeit played with sticks that light up and a puck that changes shape from time to time. Colonists here merely refer to the game as "the sport," and one of their favored pastimes is betting. However, they don't use currency — they wager dares. Nadril colonists are a tough, weathered lot, and they prefer to speak with actions over silver. Colonists will urge the refugees to take part as well. Common dares range from the ridiculous (lead a sing-a-long, attempt to make someone with a poker face smile) to the suggestive (kiss the person in the cantina you find most attractive, strip off a piece of clothing), to the outright reckless (venture out into the snow for a certain amount of time, and no one will judge if you find some company to keep warm). The colonists are unfazed by even the most insane or tawdry of dares — but you'll certainly be called a killjoy for refusing too often! Why not grab a friend and give it a whirl, or challenge a rival to a dare yourself? THE MISSION     I. On the outskirts of Nadril is the communications tower of the old refugees. This is where Magda resides, monitoring Nadril's technological protections, the extent of the Natha’s influence, and running his own personal projects for El Nysa’s technological advancement. It is isolated, filled with research labs and relics of the past refugees who have come to El Nysa — a living mausoleum of worlds swallowed up by the Storm whose peoples have refused to forget where they came from. Crew photos line the walls of the tower: pictures of alien families and friends, the refugees who came to Nadril before you. Each group of photos gradually becomes smaller in number, and the most recent of the pictures are from half a century ago. Magda's picture can be found among the first group of refugees, an unusually small cluster of photos dating back centuries in El Nysa's past. I have been on this planet for nearly two centuries. Life has come, evolved, and collided in an ever expanding culture. But Darma fears interference, and made this place a prison, with she our warden, stifling the growth of the creatures native to this world rather than encouraging them to flourish. She sent you here for answers in her stead because she knows I'll spurn her, and after seeing what that fool Raysc has wrought, I'll give you them — not for Darma's sake, but because I trust after all the Natha have done to you, you'll understand my decision. Mistakes were made, and I won't hide them. You've made it here so there's some mettle to you, and unlike the Orbiters, I'm not interested in hiding the secrets of the dangers we face. I gave Raysc what he needed to keep his actions hidden from Darma's eyes — what he needed to advance the primitive magics the Natha had doomed him to. It was old Natha tech, Darma's very own used against her. Hilarious, isn't it? Raysc learned of Nadril, and like you, braved the snow to find his way here. He proved his worth and his determination, and he spoke of a brighter future, El Nysa coming into its own, its people realizing their true potential, unhindered by the shackles that had been put upon them. I believed him. He had vision — or so I thought. In truth, he was a fool. A madman. He wasted the opportunity I gave him on his petty vengeance. But not everyone on this planet is such an idiot. Surely you lot aren't. The Natha are hiding things from us — about the Storm, about everything. And here in Nadril, we're going to find all those secrets. What's it going to be? Will you help us, or are you going to stay obedient dogs on Darma's leash? Magda isn't too talkative yet; after all, the new flock of refugees may just be here as eyes and ears for the Orbiters. But what he has said leaves you with plenty to talk about, and if you can earn his trust by helping out around Nadril, he doubtless has a great deal more to reveal. II. Central isn't the only Natha ship that made its way to El Nysa — another, crashed just outside Nadril's borders, is little more than a junk heap. It's here that you'll find the spare parts Darma asked you to retrieve for Thesa Station. What remains of the ship's hull serves as a windbreak, and snow has built up against it, turning the piles of old Natha tech inside into something of a snowy morass. Holes in the deck offer would-be scavengers passage to the ship's innards, barely illuminated with flickering lights — the tech is old, but hardy enough to withstand a crash landing, the severe weather, and the passage of centuries. Deep in the wreck are the remains of living quarters, research labs, VR arenas, mecha bays, cafeterias, and a host of other rooms, many of which may seem familiar from Thesa Station, albeit with a decidedly older feel to what remains of the smooth curves and sleek surfaces of the Natha architecture. Most of the ship's systems are damaged and the technology is nonfunctional, but that just means there's plenty of spare parts to be found. The wreck isn't in the best shape, its structural integrity damaged, and the drifting snow threatens to block off exit routes. Be careful while exploring and be sure to bring a partner. As it turns out, Darma isn't the only one interested in the wreck — Magda is also eager to get his hands on Natha technology. In his own way of taking some responsibility for Raysc, he's asking scavengers to bring him parts, muttering about seeing what he can do about Ysverai's curse. Bring him anything that looks useful, and he may have a chance to succeed, though whether he'll be more effective than the Natha Orbiters is up for debate... FINAL OOC NOTES     An AC-eligible thread with a new character as a participant for 2 NADRIL REP POINTS may be submitted from this log. SUBMIT THE THREAD HERE BY AUGUST 5TH, 11:59 PM EST. As always, feel free to create your own prompts and explore the Nadril location page! There are a variety of activities made available, including fishing and cave exploration! Please direct questions to the questions thread below! Thank you! QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● lore ● map ● npcs taken ● atp/emp ● application ● rep/acp calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

Comments

[ukase]

"This would be the first time I've been a medical mystery. I'm pretty straight forward previously," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. This was definitely outside of the realm of what he would expect as a simple cryostasis hiccup, and he made a mental note in order to tell Ava about it. She would scold him fiercely if he kept the information from her.

He left his hand flat on the table and accepted her assistance in washing the wounds even if he could do so himself. She was a medic, so he expected great things from her. Plus, despite himself, it was difficult to find other openly military types, and often, like felt most comfortable with like. He wasn't about to chase her off anyway.
"Better than throwing dirt in them," he agreed.

He looked at the bones, and he reached out to take one of the four that had been removed. He turned them over in his fingers, noting how they were tapered and almost seemed to have a rough edge to them. That wasn't how bones looked normally. He glanced at her and shook his head. "No, I'm awful bland and normal, or at least I was until this last stint in cryostasis where occasional weird stuff like this has started to occur."

[stargatemedic]

As soon as she'd done as much as she could with his wounds, it appeared they weren't going to need much bandaging after all and she left his hand where it was on the table. Something he'd said, however, caught her attention and she tilted her head at him.

Wait, your last stint in cryostasis? How many times have you been--?" She wasn't sure the politest way to ask, but she'd heard several different stories since she'd arrived and she was curious about his story. If he'd been and then put back; if his memories remained intact, if they'd changed, if he remembered his world disappearing... there was so much she wanted to know but this didn't seem like the right moment to pepper him with questions.

"For the record, soldier, I don't think any of us are bland and normal. Not anymore." She tips the rest of the bones into another napkin and folds it in half before sliding it in his direction. In case he wants souvenirs.

[ukase]

"Twice as far as I can remember," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, since there was no point in hiding it. He had heard stories of people returning to cryostasis and not recalling anything that they had done. Something-something-Storm-something, but the two wakings he could recall hadn't been anything too special. They simply had been. "It may have been more, but I don't remember those."

Rumlow was very much aware of his world disappearing, had forced himself to endure the pain of the Storm more times that he probably should have. He hadn't garnered any real information from the experience aside from it hurt like hell being pulled apart.

He set his hand to then napkin full of bone and tucked them into one of the many pockets of his fatigues. "So what's your special power if you're not bland or normal, huh?"

[stargatemedic]

After he tucked the fragments away, TJ turned and pulled her stool closer so she could finish her conversation and keep an eye on his hand in case it decided to do something interesting again without his say-so. It was his question that had her shaking her head, though.

"I think the fact that we're all here is enough to point out that we're not bland or normal, Corporal," she says with an eyebrow raised. "I don't have bones pushing through my skin, if that's what you mean."

Though, it begged the question, from the different people she'd met, if he was someone who had more than one special power that he wasn't sharing. He might not have known that his bones sometimes liked to exit his body without his okaying it, but perhaps there was something more that he did know.

"What about you? Anything special besides this?"

[ukase]

He made it a point not to clap or bang his hand on the table this time when another dare came to an end in the pub. He wasn't about to risk being known as the guy who could literally go to pieces if he was too rough on the furniture. He was used to being an unknown entity after all, and until he decided if he actually liked this place enough to stay, he would prefer to keep it that way.

One thing he found interesting was her use of his rank, something he had not used in many years. It was formal, but it was a call back to simpler times as well. "It seems to me that our choice to be here is rather random, Lieutenant. There are far stronger and more important people than I who aren't even in the pods, and yet somehow I made it."

Well, he hadn't seen any people with bones pushing through their skin randomly. He smirked at her all the same, and he took a sip from his drink. "Hardly. Aside from working for the government, I was a normal guy. I assume you're from Earth? Any interesting missions you've been on?"

[stargatemedic]

"Missions?"

TJ laughed and reached for her drink, taking a healthy gulp from the side, shaking her head as she shook her head. "You know we don't call 'em that, right? They're deployments, just like every other branch of the military." She wasn't going to give in to the slight wording change and tell him about Icarus or the Destiny. Instead, she took another drink before setting the glass down. "I was actually on my way back to the Seattle area for med school."

Before her unexpected side trip. And now this.

[ukase]

"In the government, we call them missions; they only last up to a week but usually just a twenty-four hour period," he remarked. When he was actually serving as a Corporal, he had of course been deployed with the rest of his unit, not that he was allowed to talk much about the details of that.

"I assume you saw combat," he said airily. "Probably tied to a platoon of jar-heads. Where you're from, do they arm their medics? I heard some worlds didn't to prove they were only on the field to assist dying military personnel."

Seattle, huh? He nodded his head in appreciation. "From medic to actual doctor, huh?"

[stargatemedic]

TJ watched him as he talked, listened to how he talked about the military and decided that there was more to him than he was saying. Missions, jar-heads... it was all something she'd expect from someone in the Army but there was something else. Something more about him that just made her wonder.

"I did," she admitted, "and yes, I was armed." She had her weapons with her here, as a matter of fact. "Not everything I did was exactly stateside," she finally confessed. "But I eventually wanted to go to school to become a doctor and instead, plans changed."

[ukase]

He nodded his head, assuming that if she had served and seen active combat, she was likely not stateside for it. Wars on the United States had waned. It was generally the policy to take the fight to the enemy, especially if civilian casualties were expected. A sour and shitty policy, but... he supposed it made sense.

"Where did you serve then?" Since she had opened up the way for him to ask, he decided to take her up on it. "Plans changed? Lieutenant, it's not nice to bait your inferiors with non-details like that. I'm a curious man and now you have my curiosity stoked."

[stargatemedic]

He was baiting her and she knew it. However, for a moment, TJ thought about it. Thought about telling Corporal Rumlow all about her trials and tribulations off planet and letting him know just what it was like out in the wilds of space. She thought about telling him what that kind of combat was like and seeing what a normal, human reaction to it might be.

Unfortunately, there was still one person in their current situation who still outranked her and that was Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. So, while TJ hadn't quite decided if being away from a home that supposedly no longer existed meant that her security clearance no longer existed either, she figured she better err on the side of caution.

That hesitation and uncertainty showed on her face for a brief, shining moment, and then she gave him an apologetic look.

"Unfortunately, Corporal, I'm not at liberty to say." Which, again, felt silly when she wasn't sure that home (or the Destiny still existed). "It's classified."

[ukase]

He could practically see the debate roll across her, had seen that look on many people's faces when they had to make the security clearance level choice. He worked in the intelligence department; he knew all about compartmentalization and secrets that prevented people from saying what it was that they had done, the accomplishments that they had managed. Even if they received awards, the reasons were often glossed, stamped with terms of 'bravery', 'fortitude', and 'courage in the face of unbeatable odds'.

He chuckled softly when she was going to hold her own, and he lifted his drink to his lips and gave her a little soldierly salute with it before having a sip of it.

"I understand," he replied easily and without any offense. "And your need to keep classified information to yourself is good. After all, what are the rules anymore with a dead planet, right? Best we uphold our duties of silence where we are required to."

[stargatemedic]

For the speech and the salute, he got a smile. A genuine, full blown smile.

"One day, Corporal Rumlow, we'll sit down and have the conversation. I promise. You'll tell me your secrets and I'll tell you mine." She took a drink from her own glass, but this time it wasn't nearly as healthy as before. She had a feeling that drinking in large gulps might have the opposite effect of keeping quiet. "Not the fact that your bones suddenly pop out of your skin kind of secrets, either. The good stuff. And when we get that far, I'll tell you a lot of things that may or may not blow your mind."

His mocking of her silence is what had amused her so much because he wasn't wrong. She wasn't entirely sure that keeping quiet even mattered any more.

[ukase]

He snorted and rolled his eyes mildly at her because, like her, he had plenty of secrets that he had to keep. Here or there, they were his skeletons, and he was safe-guarding them in order to prevent too many people from outright hating him for his attempts for better change. No matter, they had an understanding and that was good for him.

"It's a deal, I suppose. Of course, lady's first would be appropriate, if I'm being a gentleman even in secrets," he replied cheekily. He chuckled at the notion she was going to put in an effort to blow his mind, but maybe he could do the same. Maybe they just had wild and wonderful stories that would make them both bang their fists on the table and yell 'it can't be true'. Who knew.

[stargatemedic]

Honestly, she wouldn't want him to bang his hands on any table if he's just going to lose random bone fragments again, but the idea of sharing wild and wonderful stories with someone who might get it - that not everything is perfect and rosy in the real world - is kind of appealing. Hell, she probably won't have to yell that it's not true because she'll likely believe most of what he tells her.

"I can do ladies first, but you'd have to promise not to hold back," she countered. "None of this, 'oh, I can't, I'm too special to tell', BS." Okay, so maybe the alcohol was having a little bit of an affect.

[ukase]

At this point, he was planning on being careful of where he put his parts and how. He was not looking for a repeat performance, especially with the reminder of it rattling around in his pocket. Of course, it wasn't all bad. It had earned him good company, and it seemed that his future was going to require the use of medics all the time if this was happening.

"Promises are a little childish, don't you think? How about I give you my word that I won't hold back?" As far as he was concerned, if she was in the military and been in active combat, she was no slouch and that earned his respect. "I'm nothing special, Lieutenant. I'm a soldier who served my country, just like you."

[stargatemedic]

A promise from TJ was as good as her word, but she could see how a man who'd done time in the Army might figure that the word held less weight so she nodded.

"I won't hold back, either. You have my word, Corporal, just name the time and the place." And then she smiled at him. "And everyone who served is special." She nodded toward his hand. "Some of us more than others, apparently."

Looking at her empty glass, she took a breath and then at the various dares in the room. Quite sure that it was for the best she didn't get sucked in, she made an attempt at an exit. "I should probably go before it turns even more rowdy in here."

[ukase]

"Hey, you set the terms, Lieutenant. After all, you're the one who was pleading for secrecy right now," he pointed out with a smirk. "So you name the time and the place when you're ready to spill your guts about all the juicy details of your life and tours."

He flexed his hand, then closed it into a fist gently. Nothing happened, the bones, tendons and muscles moving together in perfect unison as they should. "There's nothing special about laying down your life for the freedom of others."

He looked around, noting the new round of dares and glanced at TJ. He grinned at her and leaned back in his chair comfortably. He had already been playing a part in the dare scene, having no shame and needing the exhilaration at this point. "What, you don't like rowdy? Damn tame Air Force people." He was teasing, a cheeky grin appearing on his face.

[stargatemedic]

"You're the one assuming it's all excitement with my tours and life," TJ said with a wry smile of her own but then gave in with a shake of her head. "Tomorrow night, that not-so-quiet corner over there." She nodded to a place that was currently occupied by a group that was engaged in dares of their own. "No dares necessary."

She watched him flex his hand and was glad to see that nothing out of the ordinary happened as he did so. She wasn't sure what to think about a man who had extraneous bones slide out of his skin like it was nothing and then had no real visible wounds to show for it twenty minutes later.

"Oh, well," she demurred, "I'm not a dare kinda girl. Rowdy is a different story." Despite the fact that she knew he was teasing, she felt her cheeks warm, internally blaming it on the alcohol.

[ukase]

"You hardly seem like you would tolerate being made a paper-pusher, so I imagine you had to at least have seen one or two interesting things," he replied before glancing over to the table that she had indicated. So soon? Here he thought that he would be waiting awhile. "Here I thought you were holding classified secrets that you had to clear with a commanding officer or something." A commanding officer that wasn't yet awake, really.

He set his hand flat on the table, wiggling his fingers next. Still nothing. It didn't even feel different from when he had banged his hand on the table either. Everything felt as it should have been. This was going to need to be written down so he could track how often it was happening.

He smirked at her little flushed state all the same. "No? What kinda girl are you then?" He leaned forward expectantly. Ignore the potential for flirting; he could be shameless.

[stargatemedic]

"There's someone here that outranks me and I'll probably discuss it with him, but he's not--" How to explain? It didn't even really make sense to her. "He's Air Force, anyway. I'll ask." And then probably do her own thing anyway. Maybe.

Watching him as he watches himself, she gets the impression that he's just as interested in his hands as she is and she adds, "And if that happens again, come find me." It's followed by a grin now that she's gotten over the initial shock of his teasing, despite his attempt at expectation.

TJ leans a little close, too, like she's going to impart some great classified information right then and says, just loud enough for him to hear, "One that should really go before the real trouble starts."

He gets a wink as she makes it clear that he's the trouble and she steps away.

[ukase]

"Oh, you have a commanding officer after all. Well, that sucks, but I guess it gives a kind of stability in the command structure," he said as he tapped a finger on the table considering. She had enough interesting stories where she actually thought to ask permission from a ranking officer? That had to be juicy.

He glanced at his hand and sighed heavily, a bit more under the impression that this may be a reoccurring theme for him. He wasn't looking forward to it, but at the same time, maybe he should experiment? He'd start alone and hope for the best in case this weirdness turned absolutely catastrophic.

"You want to pick more bones out of me? That's an odd kindness, and I'll keep you in mind." Especially if his head tried to roll right off. God, this wasn't what he wanted in the least.

He couldn't help but smirk at her because yes, he freely admitted that he was trouble. "You're missing all the fun, Lieutenant! Your loss," he called after her, making no motion to stop her from slipping away.

[stargatemedic]

"Not my commanding officer," TJ corrected carefully, "but an officer that outranks me. Outranks us both."

From TJ's perspective, in most things, it was easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission, but since Colonel Sheppard had had an assignment like hers, she wondered how he got around telling people. How much he told. She wasn't really going to ask so much as see how much she should tell.

Giving a wave over her shoulder as she left, she tossed him a smile as she hit the door and then disappeared.