SG1 - Alphabet Soup and Other Snacks
Disclaimer: Stargate and all of its characters, locations, etc. belong to their respective owners; I'm just borrowing. No copyright infringement intended!
Author's Note: I read a dedicated Vala alphabet soup recently, and it inspired me. This one is team-y; I love my team and what they do and I love writing banter. There's no particular rhyme or reason to how I'm doing them; friends give me the letter prompts and I write what feels right. "A" was fun; it was a lovely excuse to write some banter, and to fangirl about one of my other favorite series in a fic and get away with it ;). There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Dave the Barbarian reference, just for kicks.
Hope you like it!
A is for - Arwen
"Arwen!" Vala stated triumphantly, waltzing into Daniel's office as if she owned the place. It was a combination of the tone of her voice and the particularly sharp click of her boots – heels? – that forced Daniel out of his academic haze. He glanced up at her, blinking and looking rather owlish. Vala liked owls; they were fascinating creatures unique to Earth, and were quite fashionably depicted in jewelry at the moment. And anything that reminded her of Daniel was an automatic bonus.
"What did you say?" he asked with a mild frown, derailing her train of thought.
Vala shrugged a slim shoulder, grinning brightly. "Arwen," she repeated. "That's what I want to be."
"...Be?"
"You know, for that party tomorrow night? The yearly festival of costumes and sugar that everyone on base seems to be so taken with? Which one is it, again? It gets so hard to keep track. Arbor Day...?"
"Halloween," Daniel corrected, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's called Halloween, and I'd give you the etymology of the word if I thought you would listen. Also, how do you even know about Arwen? I would think that mid twentieth-century literature would be a bit outside of your field of interest –"
"Literature?" Vala wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about? Teal'c showed me those wonderful movies that your culture is so fond of; Arwen is quite the heroine! She saves the hobbits and Aragorn, carries an impressive sword, has a gorgeous king willing to do anything for her – you could learn a lot from that, Daniel! – not to mention the stunning physical resemblance." She flipped her dark hair and winked suggestively. "It's the perfect character for me to play!"
Daniel closed the Ancient text that he'd been studying and swiveled his chair. "Technically, the books came significantly before the movies," he explained, settling into full-on professor mode. "And while Arwen was an important figure, in the original story she didn't even have any dialogue until the second half of the last book. Her purpose as a character was more of a beacon of hope for Aragorn; someone to fight for and live for even when everything else seemed lost. But she didn't carry a sword or fight their battles like she does in the movies."
The expression on Vala's face when he paused was something between a pout and a smug grin. It concerned him. He rolled his eyes. "What?"
She shrugged again. "I like the one in the movies better," she said non-committally. "Also, Teal'c and I are about to come into a bit of money from Colonels Carter and Mitchell." Vala studied her nails primly. "We had a bit of a bet."
"A bet?" Daniel repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What bet?"
"...It was nothing important."
"Vala!"
"Oh, alright!" she huffed, crossing her arms. "We might have made a small wager with them concerning your depth of book versus movie knowledge. Teal'c and I were firmly convinced that you could hold your own with the experts, of course; but Cameron in particular was certain that you would be too buried in your Ancient texts to even realize that the movies had been made. And in the interest of being honest – that's something that I've been working on, you know – I think Samantha only bet against you to lead him on. Quite a neat little con, actually... I might have to buy her a drink for that one..."
"Vala," Daniel interrupted with strained patience. "Why were you betting on me in the first place?"
"Hm?" She glanced at him, doing her best to look innocent. "I always bet on you. Loyalty and all."
"I mean why were you betting at all?" he pressed. "You couldn't possibly have gotten that bored that quickly."
She bit her lip, eyes shifting away. "Okay, here goes that honesty thing again; I'm a bit short on funds, and I didn't think you would appreciate me borrowing your credit card in order to purchase my costume for the party. I was actually trying to do the right thing, in a way; you should be proud of me! Besides, I bet in your favor." She folded her hands under her chin, looking pleading even though she didn't need to.
Daniel signed, cleaning his glasses on the hem of his shirt as he searched for a response that suitably carried across his feelings on the matter. "I'm not mad at you," he assured her. "Not that I particularly approve of you and Teal'c scamming Mitchell..."
"Oh, that's just harmless fun!"
"...not that I totally approve," he repeated firmly, "but your heart was actually in the right place. Besides, I actually think a little Arwen might be good for you."
Vala perked up immediately. "Really? You think so?"
"Yeah, I do. She's a good influence."
She laughed. "By your usual logic, she's just a fictional character. What influence could she possibly have?"
Daniel shook his head, smiling fondly. "Ask Teal'c about Star Wars sometime," he suggested knowingly. "So, let's see it."
Vala regarded him cautiously at the sudden switch in topics. "See what?" she asked.
"This Arwen costume that you had to con Colonel Mitchell to get the money for."
Bouncing off of the desk, Vala's mild suspicion gave way to her signature blinding grin. "Where's your laptop? I found the most fantastic online shopping website with all sorts of Arbor Day – Halloween costumes. I even found one for you!"
"I'm not wearing it if it's leather," Daniel warned, which was not the same thing as saying 'no'. He turned the computer so that she couldn't see the password he typed in.
"Well, try to keep an open mind, darling... After all, this festival is one of your major Earth rituals..."
Note: I fully intend on finishing this fic, but on account of NaNoWriMo updates might be sporadic for a bit. But I promise to work my butt off to get this done!
