Authors's Note, May, 2011: Originally written for the Literary Challenges in "Stargate SG-1" forum /bulletin board in 2002-2004. That board is now unavailable on the Net. Many thanks to shadowmaat for giving me access to her personal archive of Literary Challenges.

Posts other than mine deliberately omitted. None of the original authors followed the "copy/paste the previous paragraph" instruction. I have corrected /refined my original text.

Posts 1 & 2 established the premise: SG-1 of Season 6 (with Jonas Quinn) spending a day at a Renaissance Faire, wearing appropriate costumes. The sixth poster opened the door to a familiar face performing Middle Eastern dance [1] (OK, OK, belly dance), and this former ME dance student pranced right in.

Challenge #30: This week, let's try a "round robin" format. Each submitter is to copy/paste the previous paragraph into their new post and *add* a paragraph.

7. ****By: baterista9 ****

"Weh-ell, hellooo there, Doctor Frasier. You're looking...ah…good." Jack O'Neill removed his medieval helmet to lazily salute the woman leaving the stage.

"Indeed," added Teal'c. Without dislodging the monk's hood covering his tattoo, he raised an eyebrow in appreciation. Jonas Quinn, looking like young Henry the VIII, nodded agreement from behind a giant turkey leg.

"Thank you, I think." Janet Frasier grinned and led them further from the stage. "I'm not in the next two dances. Glad to see you guys take a day off."

"I hadn't realized that you'd gone this far with Middle Eastern dance lessons." Sam Carter touched the fabric of her friend's ghawazee coat. [2] Nice, better than Sam's serving-wench costume. The coat reminded Sam of the blue gown she'd worn when...ugh. Not a good memory. [3]

O'Neill turned to his second-in-command. "You knew about this?"

"About the lessons, yes, Sir." Carter indulged in a tiny smirk.

"And you didn't TELL me?" O'Neill feigned outrage. His reward was wholehearted laughter from the women and a bemused smile from Quinn.

"I did not know that the Tau'ri practiced dances like those of Chulak, Doctor Frasier," said Teal'c with his usual aplomb. "I see that males also participate. The cape-sword duel was most interesting."

"Yes, we've got a few men in our class," Janet said. "You're welcome to drop in, Teal'c, if you're interested." She grinned wickedly at Sam and turned to the men. "You too, Colonel, Jonas."

"Ah, no thanks. I'll just, um, sit here and look at the scenery." He nodded towards five women currently on the stage. The costumes were sequined, beaded, and covered significantly less than Frasier's did. [4]

Quinn outright stared at the women. "Why are they dressed so differently..." he trailed off, motioning vaguely between Janet and the stage troupe.

"It's a question of style, Jonas," replied the medic. "Different dances call for different costumes. I prefer the 'tribal' dance forms; they dance 'cabaret' style." [2, 4]

"I do like their 'style'," O'Neill drawled, nodding toward the stage. "The one on this end would work for you, Frasier. That scarf-thingie right across her b..."

"Hips?" Sam inserted, winking at Janet. Somebody needed to save O'Neill from himself.

"Uh, yeah. Why not, Doc? You've seen all of us, so to speak."

Janet rolled her eyes. "I'm a doctor, Colonel O'Neill, not a…" She avoided the Sci-Fi cliché. "Look, I'm in the next dance-will you stay and watch?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"There's a workshop this afternoon, if you'd like to give it a try," Janet spoke to Teal'c, but her gesture included his team. "The teacher is excellent, very patient with beginners."

"We'll, um, keep it in mind," O'Neill replied, scanning for an escape route.

"I'm sure you will," Janet smirked. "You'll have to lose the armor, though."

"Ya think?"

NOTES:

1. Gatecon 2002: Teryl Rothery confirmed for me that Janet would probably be a ME Dancer.

2. Please Google for images of "Ghawazee coat" and "tribal style Middle Eastern dance"

3. SG1, S1/Ep. 103, "Emancipation"

4. Please Google for images of "cabaret style Middle Eastern belly dance"