So I want you to understand the full meaning behind my words -
-E-
"How come no one told me you can read and write Ancient?" Rodney paced in front of them. "Doesn't matter. Wasn't counting on needing help but these ruins are pretty twisty, it's easy to get turned around."
Ronon smirked at her, and even she couldn't resist grinning back. Rodney had led them on a merry journey attempting to navigate the ruins looking for a specific room that he thought might hold any technology that was still around. He'd attempted to blame getting lost on the crude layout of the map not lining up with the signs the ruins presented at major crossings. Between referencing the map and second-guessing the signage, he'd managed to turn them completely around.
Imagine his surprise when she had grabbed the map from him, walked to the nearest intersection, and pointed to their exact location.
He may be a genius, able to do complex math in his head and solve ridiculously complex problems in a matter of seconds that would take a normal human being of above average intelligence at least a few solid minutes (if not hours), but he hadn't spent four years studying the architecture of the Ancients, immersing himself in hundreds of years of architecture research as she had. Sarif Sur may not have been as technically advanced as the Lanteans were, but Ruins had been plentiful, and understanding how the Ancients had accomplished their massive feats of architecture had been something of an obsession of hers.
"When we get back, you should really stop by my lab. See what you know or can understand. Never know where knowledge might come in handy. Where'd you learn all this anyway?"
She was vaguely annoyed that his tone implied surprise at finding out that she knew something he thought she shouldn't know, or was incapable of knowing. "I wasn't always a Runner," she replied rather tersely, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No no, of course not. I didn't mean to imply that you were because, frankly, the notion is rather ridiculous. Still, sounds as if your civilization was more advanced-"
"You might want to stop talking," Ronon suggested, effectively cutting Rodney off.
For her part, Eva rudely snatched the map back out of Rodney's hands and stalked down the hallway towards their destination. It took a not insignificant amount of restraint to not slap him.
Honestly.
She muttered darkly under her breath and cast a few dark expressions at Rodney who maintained a safe distance behind her as she navigated them through the ruins. He clearly wanted to take charge, but didn't want to risk pissing her off anymore than she already was.
How unbelievably ignorant it was to assume that just because she wasn't on his level of intelligence, she couldn't compete with him in her own right. Sure, she wasn't smart like he was, but nor was she stupid. She liked him better on those rare moments where he seemed to forget that he was the smartest person in the room and let his humanity take the lead. He could be surprisingly caring, something she grudgingly admitted in her current state.
A thought struck her, halting her steady march through the tunnels. Ronon peered at her inquisitively, but she ignored him.
Was she being the jerk now? Perhaps not initially... but could she be overreacting?
She wasn't exactly familiar with apologies. In fact, her social graces were probably on par with Rodney's now that she thought about it.
That brought a dry chuckle to her lips.
She shook her head and continued on at a reduced pace, preferring to take the Rodney approach of not apologizing, but ceasing the jerk-like activity.
The epiphany and self-evaluation was... new. She mused over the changes. Just over a month ago, she'd never have thought of herself in terms of being a social creature responsible for social adjustment. The very concept would have made her laugh.
Living a solitary (and lonely) existence had made it hard to integrate back into normal society. While the mind remembered what belonging and social interactions felt like, it lacked experience. And, as she'd quickly discovered, experience was key to just about everything. Her actions and words had long lasting consequences, and when that idea didn't frighten her to the point that she considered shutting herself in room for the duration of her life, it turned her into a nervous wreck.
Fortunately, she displayed emotion just about as well as she knew how to interact. Most people thought her stoic and 'Ronon like' which she took to essentially mean the same thing.
Her lifestyle forced her to be adaptive. This was no different.
It was just uncomfortable because she wasn't used to self-scrutiny.
"We're here," she announced, halting near the entrance to the room Rodney was looking for. She glanced at him, "You want to open it?"
He beamed, though she was sure it was more because he loved being the first to do something and not because she'd ceded the honor to him, and pulled the door open.
The room was empty.
Oh, there were panels and a few research consoles, but they'd long since lost power and were covered in a thick layer of dust. This room hadn't seen any kind of human contact in years.
She followed Rodney into the room, marvelling at the design and envisioning how each piece fit together to form the oval shape of the ceiling coupled with intermittent arches, while Rodney lamented the fact that there was absolutely nothing useful. He smacked a couple of the consoles in irritation and only succeeded in puffing dust into the air.
She continued her circuit around the room, puzzling over its parts, trying to create the whole in her mind.
This trip may have been a pointless endeavor for the Doctor since he didn't find anything he was hoping to find (namely a ZPM), but it most certainly hadn't been for her.
She ran her hand along the cool surface, a small smile on her lips.
-E-
AN: Thank you everyone for the well wishes :)