Ghosts

[Pinkie]

John Kawalsky was just as surprised that he went through with this as Eledhwen seemed to be to see him at her door.

Eledhwen said:

"Discomfited... Yes, you could say that. What think you of him Sir? You seemed similarly... discomfited... but not I would imagine for the same reasons as I. You surely have ne need to hate his race as I do?"

She was rather sharp when she wanted to be. John glanced down at her along the length of his nose, cocking an eyebrow in mild amusement as she jutted her jaw to the side. The stubborn look suited her marvellously and if it had been his 'thing', John would have grinned. Instead he just relaxed his shoulders a little and stepped towards the wall, leaning the ball of his shoulder against the stone a little bit away from Eledhwen as he thought about what she said.

The soldier clicked his tongue and folded his long arms over his chest, his yellow eyes narrowing in consideration of how to put this to her without being entirely insulting.

"I dislike aliens." he said finally, unable to articulate his hatred for aliens the way he wanted to so settling for something much tamer. His eyes, however, seemed to ignite, liquid gold, and he tapped a thick finger against the crook of his elbow, tilting his head at Eledhwen. Aliens would include her. Hell, it included him now! "Things that should not be, beings that should not exist. The Elf... ? What can he do that we do not know about?" John asked, baring his teeth a moment in distaste for the hidden abilities of a creature as ancient as an Elf would be. He recalled himself to the situation however and bowed his head. His teeth were ... well, they were fanged, sharper and paler than normal teeth.

Kawalsky cleared his throat again and licked his lips, looking at Eledhwen.

"What's your excuse?" he asked her then. Why she disliked the Elf was inconsequential to Kawalsky raelly -- it would not change his dislike of him.

[Pinkie]

Moral to a fault!! Faramir was so moral that he could not even bear to issue any sort of a retort to his wife when she demeaned him, unfavourably comparing him to another man. He was so moral that he never spoke up against his father's scathing comments. But something was swarming around his mind when Boromir threw his arm over his shoulders.... Faramir bowed his head, a boyish smile on his lips, his reddish hair falling forward like a curtain over his face.

It was something that Miriel had said, about living in his brother's shadow, about him being good enough on his own without needing the shadow of ihs brother to define him...

Boromir said:

"Come brother, let us go to your chambers that I can hear this message and fill you in on all the things you missed, And if I find this is simply a ruse brother, I will kill you myself, not leave it to the Orcs to mess up again."

The younger brother gave a chuckle at his brothers empty threat. He looked over his shoulder at the blonde woman who was not even watching their departure. She would not have been good for Boromir. She was too similar to him... and Faramir would tell Boromir that now in fact. Now that the woman was out of earshot.

"She is no good for you Boromir. She is like you only prettier and female!" Faramir guffawed, pushing open his door and walking in ahead of Boromir. A steaming bath waited for him and he tossed his dinner jacket onto the bed, undoing his shirt whilst he toed off his boots. He turned to face his brother -

"The news from Osgilliath is not good. My men have caught sight of a troop of Orcs making their way towards Minis Tirith - but what concerned me even more are the Rangers that didn't return. They were the ones that ranged close to Osgilliath. I am fearful of what that might mean. Have you spoken to Haldir? Has his elf senses picked up anything?" Faramir asked, sitting down on the bed to pull the second boot off, his breeches the only clothing he now wore.

[Pinkie]

Thrace had to hand it to Boromir - he certainly did leave her in the mood. Watching him throw his arm around his brother's shoulder and walk off to deal with business, she couldn't help but grin, shaking her head ruefully. She would ruin the poor man... probably best that they hadn't taken this any further. His offer to continue their affair whenever possible was dismissed by the blonde. If it didn't happen tonight then it wasn't going to happen. The moment had passed.

She was sucking her bottom lip when she turned and her whole demeanour altered when she set her hazel eyes on Nathan Lake. Thrace took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. What the fuck did he find so fucking funny?!

The blonde stalked up in front of the Captain, rolling her tongue against her bottom lip threateningly, readying herself for a fight. She tilted her head to the side, fists balled up on either side of her thighs.

"What?" she snapped at him, her voice quiet but menacing all the same. "You're pathetic Nathan Lake! Is this how you get your kicks? A little bit of a voyeur in you? Or were you just lingering in the hopes of picking up the scraps?" she said in a sneering tone, blowing out a sharp breath adn turning her head to the side, looking the opposite direction to where Boromir had gone. She didn't want Lake to think she was pining after him or anything. She wasn't. She was just fucking fine.

[Pinkie]

((ooc: have to think about this Haldir post! .... why's that guy called willy? ))

[Bogwoppit]

((Because he was originally Willy Nilly, what with him running round like that I s'pose, but I couldn't be bothered to write the whole thing down when I was putting him on the board! ))

[Bogwoppit]

"Sure! Wow - your room is so much bigger than mine. Guess they thought that someone my size doesn't need much room eh?"

Oh... damn... Not that he didn't want her here, but as soon as the invitation had passed his lips he had realised that with her here it was going to be nigh on impossible to make himself decent without it being obvious, like, having to ask her to turn her back. But hey, she was here now, and he grinned at her reasoning, even as he eyed his underwear hopefully.

At least he could put a shirt on, and he padded across the room to retrieve his sleeveless T-shirt from the floor where he had dropped it before getting in the bath. Then he realised he would look pretty dumb sitting there in a T-shirt and a towel, so he picked up his khaki pants too.

"Ahhh --- my bed is much more comfortable I must say. Softer. Though I suppose with your back... So ... what do you think of this place then? People are a bit strange dontcha think?"

He gave her an old-fashioned look of indulgent tolerance as he turned to face her, clothes held loosely in one hand.

"You know what?" he commented. "I don't know why I put up with you for so long, they must have sent you with me as a punishment."

He grinned, happy that they could so easily fall back into the gentle teasing they had enjoyed on the way here, even after his encounter with Thrace and her briefing from her 'boss'.

"I guess they are a little odd," he continued, sucking one corner of his bottom lip as he thought about it. "They seem to be in some sort of Medieval era, but West told me they have all kinds of strange creatures here apparently, Elves and Dwarves and something called Orcs... Ahm... d'you mind...?"

He held up his pants and shirt, indicating that she might like to turn around and allow him to get dressed. She looked cute laying there on his bed, all wide eyes and rosy cheeks, dark hair drying in waves. But God she also looked so young, he shouldn't be thinking along those lines, even if it had been months since he'd had a girl in his bed.

[Pinkie]

West said:

"Woah, hang on, back up a bit. Firstly, before we even start to get into where this resting place for your people might be and why it would be such a disaster for the bad guys to find it, what d'you mean 'disabled'? Because I've just been told that the DHD... the round dial-y thing with all the symbols on it? It's not there. Tell me that's what you meant by 'disabled' because believe me, that would make my life a hell of a lot easier right now."

It was a terrifying sight to see a being as seemingly indestructive as an Elf shut their eyes in anxiety and bow their heads in solemn regret at news. Yet that is precisely what Haldir did now. Whatever Joe West felt about the situation at hand was nothing in comparison to the depth of feeling that Haldir had invested in it. This was the very security of his entire race that he protected and sought the help of strangers in protecting. That part didn't sit well with him. Humans were so weak, so fickle and young - how cuold they possibly be the ones to save the Undying Lands? And yet the prophesies... Haldir had lost the one person he had ever loved because of the prophesies.

"No... no that is now what I meant, Joe West." Haldir said slowly, raising his eyes to meet the Major's. His eyes were narrowed however, as if he were listening to something far away, and in a sense, he was. Elves - such beings of inner light, could sense darkness, they could feel it and Haldir felt it now. Closer, so much closer than it was before. He could not tell what it was that pushed the darkness so fast but he knew that come tomorrow, they would all know.

Haldir took a deep breath and ran his fingertips against the palm of his hand, turning frmo West towards the window, looking into the distance even though it would be hours yet before the orcs appeared. And the city was ill prepared for such an attack...

"I must make you understand this as quickly as possible, Joe." Haldir said, bowing his head and turning it to the side so that he watched the Major from the corner of his eye. "There are two gateways in Middle Earth. One that you came through, and one that will bring you to the Undying Lands where my kind pass when their time on Middle Earth is complete. We will not die unless struck down, Major West. And in the Undying Lands we are truly immortal. The Dark Lord, Sauron, would find this place and destroy it. If he succeeds it would corrupt infinitely. Can you comprehend that? If Sauron reaches the Undying Lands he will possess our light." Haldir said, frowning. The words were not quite right but they were the only way he could express how destructive it would be for Sauron to reach the Undying Lands.

The Elf turned to face Major West, his face serene despite the traumatic outcome of events he had just spoken of.

"By tomorrow afternoon these lands will be awash with Orcs, the foot-soldiers of Sauron. I can get you and your team home - but first we have to, not only repel the minions of the Dark Lord... we have to destroy the Dark Lord himself." Haldir said, knowing he should go to Boromir immediately with this news. But he felt that Joe West and his team were going to be pivotal in the coming battle, that Joe West and his team would be the leaders of the Winning Side.

[Bogwoppit]

Lake couldn't help but stand and watch as the drama unfolded. He hadn't followed Thrace and Boromir on purpose, hadn't even seen them leave in fact, he'd been getting another drink. But when he saw them walking down the corridor together he couldn't resist staying behind them. Thrace's face had been an absolute picture when the other bloke had taken Boromir away, it would be worth the hangover he was going to have tomorrow just to have witnessed that.

He leaned against the wall, smirking, as the two men left, and didn't move as Thrace approached. His arms were folded over his chest and his blue eyes lazily looked her up and down.

"What? You're pathetic Nathan Lake! Is this how you get your kicks? A little bit of a voyeur in you? Or were you just lingering in the hopes of picking up the scraps?"

He straightened, the smirk slipping and a sneer taking its place as he studied her with hooded eyes.

"And why the fuck would I want the scraps?" he snarled, "I wouldn't even want you first, let alone after that fucking caveman."

He wasn't really pissed off, in fact he was still in a pretty good mood, seeing as he had had his fill of alcohol for the night. The fact was that he enjoyed seeing Thrace mad, and he always reacted to it in a way that made her worse, because he thought it was funny. Well, mostly he thought it was funny, unless she took it too far. He was very good at winding her up, it made him feel alive to fight with her, even, or especially, if the fight turned physical.

He uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands in his pockets, baring his teeth in the semblance of a smile as he pushed himself away from the wall.

"So, d'you want me to walk you back to your room? You never know who you might meet down these dark passages... Oh yeah, sorry, that's probably what you're hoping for ~ some hairy fucking guard to catch you wandering about on your own. He'd think it was his birthday, wouldn't he, and you wouldn't even make him pay."

Why did it bother him so much that she slept around? He didn't know; when he had been flying F-22s there had been a couple of female pilots there, and neither of them had been Mother Theresa, but that hadn't bothered him in the slightest, he had been mates with both of them, even shagged one before he got married...

[Pinkie]

Mark said:

"You know what? I don't know why I put up with you for so long, they must have sent you with me as a punishment."

Gypsy grinned so wide anyone would have thought Mark had complimented her! Her pearly whites were no match for the brightness of her eyes. They shone with happiness and sincerity. She shrugged her shoulder with mock sheepishness and pursed her lips.

"Oh you don't mean that." she laughed, waving a hand at Mark and looking obliviously at the clothes in his hand, waiting for him to get dressed. It was like when she lived in the Middle East and she was too warm and she would dive into the cool water of the Red Sea being with Mark! It was so refreshing and natural and calming. His dimpled smile and crinkly eyes were enough to make her heave a sigh of relief, a feeling of 'home' coming about her. She wondered, for no reason other than curiousness, if he had a girlfriend. He seemed the type of guy to be engaged, to have a Fiance tucked away somewhere. A real classy woman who wore cocktail dresses and diamonds.

Mark said:

"I guess they are a little odd, They seem to be in some sort of Medieval era, but West told me they have all kinds of strange creatures here apparently, Elves and Dwarves and something called Orcs... Ahm... d'you mind...?"

"Hmm?" she murmured, dragging her eyes away from his bare arms which she had been staring at fixedly whilst pondering his relationship status. Odd that she wondered about it now and not ever before. A vision came into the girl's mind of Mark in a tuxedo at a dinner party wearing a dicky bow. Gypsy grinned, thinking that Mark would be the type to have a spinning bow but not tell anyone.

"What? Oh!" her brown eyes widened and she put her hands up over her eyes to give Mark some privacy. Even with her face covered her jovial mood was still evident, her feet kicking the air with childish levity.

"Hey Llewelyn... have you ever worn a dicky bow?" Gypsy asked innocently, stifling the giggle that threatened. And without even thinking about it, and not sure whether it was genuine curiosity or something more intense, she secretly parted her fingers, peeking out at him just as he dropped the towel. She caught sight of him from the side but it sent a peculiar shudder through her chest and middle. Gypsy hitched in her breath but covered it up with a cough, her eyes shut tight now, squeezed as tight as they could be, her cheeks flushed red.
Old man he might be, but he had a fine bottom!

[Bogwoppit]

"She is no good for you Boromir. She is like you only prettier and female!"

Boromir blew out a snort of amusement. His brother was probably right, the woman was too independent, too firey, but the sex would have been fantastic. He followed Faramir to his room and closed the door behind him as his brother began to disrobe. Sitting in an overstuffed chair by the fire he put his booted feet up on a chest and closed his eyes, leaning his head back as he listened.

"The news from Osgilliath is not good. My men have caught sight of a troop of Orcs making their way towards Minis Tirith - but what concerned me even more are the Rangers that didn't return. They were the ones that ranged close to Osgilliath. I am fearful of what that might mean. Have you spoken to Haldir? Has his elf senses picked up anything?"

Boromir opened his eyes and tutted, bringing one hand to his mouth to bite the skin around his thumb nail.

"No, Haldir has spent most of the evening outside with one of the strangers, the one with the eye glasses. I believe he was quite interested in our history so no doubt they had much in common."

He paused to think, getting his mind back onto military matters and off women.

"I will speak with him in the morning," he said. "We must prepare for an attack. We still do not have enough men to hold Osgiliath."

He looked up at Faramir thoughtfully.

"What is the Dark Lord planning now?" he asked, not really expecting a reply.

[Bogwoppit]

"I dislike aliens. Things that should not be, beings that should not exist. The Elf... ? What can he do that we do not know about?"

Eledhwen looked up sharply as the tall man bared his teeth, her mind registering something not quite right, something out of sinc with the way things should be. With those strange eyes and the unusually pointed canines he looked almost wolf-like.

She did not take offense at his explanation, she of all people could understand distrust for anyone different, hadn't she felt it herself ever since that She-Elf had insinuated herself into their lives, pretending to be her friend? She nodded slowly in agreement to his question about what other talents Haldir might have of which they were not aware.

"What's your excuse?"

She regarded him shrewdly, then made up her mind, straightening up to walk away from him into the room. With her back to him, and facing the darkness beyond the window, she told him about her father's abandonment and the witch who was responsible.

"I will not rest until I have found him, and her," she snarled the last, swinging round to face him. "I should have killed this male Elf while I had the chance. Even if he knew where they were I would not ask him, nor would I listen to his advice should he give it. His words are poison!"

She stood tensely, nostrils flaring as she breathed heavily in her anger. More and more she was beginning to realise that Haldir might be of some use to her, and the thought made her even more furious. The attraction she felt for him was pushed far back in her mind, deep down beneath the hatred, which was by far her strongest emotion... for now.

[Pinkie]

((ooc: I did tell you that I was going away from Sunday right? For a week? To Madeira? ))

She hit her mark... Lake's smirk vanished into a sneer and Thrace could do nothing but grin in response, victorious.

Lake said:

"And why the fuck would I want the scraps? I wouldn't even want you first, let alone after that fucking caveman."

The blonde laughed throatily, shaking her head and wrapping one arm over her stomach. She balanced her other elbow on that arm and lifted her hand, pinching her bottom lip in mild amusement at Lake's vehemence. She was sick to her stomach that he had witnessed what he had - and twice! Twice rejected by 'the caveman' - and Lake had been there to see them both. She was pissed off about that but she didn't want Lake to see just how pissed off she was. He got too much of a kick out of that.

The bastard.

Lake said:

"So, d'you want me to walk you back to your room? You never know who you might meet down these dark passages... Oh yeah, sorry, that's probably what you're hoping for ~ some hairy fucking guard to catch you wandering about on your own. He'd think it was his birthday, wouldn't he, and you wouldn't even make him pay."

That was too fucking low!

Thrace's tugging of her bottom lip became angry as he spoke and she found her upper lip pulling back from her teeth in a snarl at his attitude. He was just so fucking .... ! GOD!
The blonde was already balling up her fist before he ever got to the bit abuot her not making him pay. Fury raced through her veins and saw the punch land square on Lake's jaw. She knew it was a bad idea as soon as she had formed it in her brain but Thrace was Thrace. She rarely listened to that inner voice that offered so much wisdom. In fact, most times she went against said inner voice because she was terrified of it and it's coaxing her to good action.

"What the FUCK do you know?!" she spat at Lake, readying herself for his hit back because she knew he would. What she didn't know, or rather, what she was unaware of was, the heat of her body as she waited, the way her heart beat faster and her breathing quickened, hardened in anticipation of his strike. She looked forward to it! It made her feel alive and able, equal.
She had tried this with Mark too - wanting to rile him into such a passionate whirlwind that he reacted on pure instinct like she knew Lake would now. Lake wuoldn't think about it - he wuold just fucking hit her and hard.

[Bogwoppit]

((Ooc: Yers ye did I'm away next weekend anyway ))

[Bogwoppit]

"No... no that is now what I meant, Joe West."

West closed his eyes in an echo of Haldir's own expression, pinching his temples between two fingers briefly as he resigned himself once more to the fact that they weren't going home any time soon. He took a deep breath and blew it out hard, puffing his cheeks out as he looked up at the Elf again.

"I must make you understand this as quickly as possible, Joe. There are two gateways in Middle Earth. One that you came through, and one that will bring you to the Undying Lands where my kind pass when their time on Middle Earth is complete. We will not die unless struck down, Major West. And in the Undying Lands we are truly immortal. The Dark Lord, Sauron, would find this place and destroy it. If he succeeds it would corrupt infinitely. Can you comprehend that? If Sauron reaches the Undying Lands he will possess our light. By tomorrow afternoon these lands will be awash with Orcs, the foot-soldiers of Sauron. I can get you and your team home - but first we have to, not only repel the minions of the Dark Lord... we have to destroy the Dark Lord himself."

So... they were here to win a battle. That much West did understand, and that much he was quite capable of doing. He was a veteran of Iraq, Afganistan, and more than a few minor South American drugs related skirmishes, not to mention the wars on other planets he had inadvertantly been thrown into while at the SGC, so this was one thing he understood.

"Ok, we'll help you beat this Sauron guy," he replied, making a snap decision, although it looked as though he really had no choice in the matter. "You know they'll be here tomorrow? These Orcs? How many men are there here? Are they prepared?"

He knew he was asking a lot of questions, but once in was in soldier mode his sole purpose became to defeat the enemy, to achieve the purpose of the battle. How hard could it be to defeat this Dark Lord? They had guns and grenades, these guys had swords and arrows.

"My men need some sleep," he admitted reluctantly. "I should talk to whoever's in charge of the army though. Is that Boromir?"

He stifled a yawn as he spoke, covering his mouth with his hand. He needed sleep too, but this was important. If they wanted to go home then they had to make sure they could win this war.

"So who has the DHD?" he asked, speaking almost to himself, then looked up at Haldir again. "You say there are two gateways here? You mean two stargates? Doesn't the other one go anywhere too? Or just to your... Undying... place?"

[Bogwoppit]

"What? Oh!"

It hadn't gone by unnoticed by Mark that she had been staring at him, and it brought a funny little tingle of pleasure that she had been so distracted when he spoke. It was always good to feel attractive, especially when the one person you had ever loved had rejected you so finally and completely. Maybe he wasn't so past it after all, although obviously Gypsy didn't really find him fanciable. How could she? She was about twenty years younger than him! But it was an ego boost all the same, and he grinned at her as she covered her eyes with her hands.

"Hey Llewelyn... have you ever worn a dicky bow?"

It didn't occur to him that she would want to look at him naked, so he had no qualms about dropping the towel to pull on his pants, but her coughing fit caused him to glance up at her with a frown. A dickie bow? Sometimes he wondered just what went on in her mind, she seemed to forever be coming out with random crap, which in itself was... nice. Except that it reminded him of the way Katee had been in the beginning. That was what had attracted him to her in the first place, her cheerful demeanor and her wacky sense of humour. Maybe it was his fault that she had changed so much... maybe he was old and stuffy and had dragged her down to his boring level, only succeeding in making her rebel.

He buttoned his pants as he thought about it, and realised that he was still watching Gypsy with a thoughtful frown. Blinking, he sat down an the edge of the bed, torso still bare and pants hanging low on his hips with no belt to hold them up. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to get back the levity of the moment before. He may have made the mistake of being too serious with Katee, he wasn't going to make it again. Not that he looked at Gypsy that way... God no... she was cute but way too young, and anyway she probably had a boyfriend.

"Yes," he replied to her strange question, "and don't you dare laugh! I had to wear one when I got my degree. It was all professors and doctors and high powered guys drinking champagne. I hated it. For a while they expect you to fit into their crowd, the rich and brilliant, but it wasn't my scene. I only go to the parties I can't get out of now."

He grinned down at her again, and automatically reached out to smooth down a particularly wild lock of hair.

"You look about twelve laying there," he teased, eyes roving down her slim back of their own accord, taking in the curve of her butt and the small expanse of bare flesh where her fatigues had pushed down to her hips and her vest and jacket had ridden up her waist.

Narrowing his eyes, the frown was back for an instant as he saw for the first time a small rose tattooed on her pale skin. He swallowed roughly and looked away, biting his bottom lip hard. Well, at least he wasn't thinking about Katee... that had to be a good thing...