Sobek the Immortal [Closed]

[hi_there_aliens]

Planet Designation: Kalimba Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Unknown
Sentient Life: Ruins and step pyramids suggest the presence of intelligent life at some point. Currently: Unknown.
Water: 70.2% of the planet's surface. Heavy rainfall/monsoons.
Climate: Earth-like.
Landscape: Primarily jungle and swamp, some plains, severe arctic conditions in northern and southern poles.
Air: Type I (breathable)
Sky: Blue-green.
Warnings: Medium to high levels of megafauna. Watch your step. Conditions in the atmosphere make several forms of orbital scans and equipment unreliable.
Mission: Archaeological investigation of step pyramids and ruins, investigate for signs of source of abnormal energy signature in target area.

The first thing the group would notice was that Kalimba's air was humid and heavy, with a light breeze. The morning had long since burned off most of the mist, and in the distance, clouds lazily drifted onwards towards the horizon. The typhoon season was a long ways off.

The undergrowth was tangled and dense, seemingly impassable in places. Vibrant flowers and vines took up residence where some of the tree cover faltered. With limited sunlight available, it was every plant for themselves. Disturbed by the archaeology group, "birds", each easily half the size of a person and more salamander than avian suddenly took to the air in a flash of brilliantly colored wings. They were gone almost instantly, slicing through the air and leaving only the ear-splitting shriek behind.

The hill sloped down. The cover of trees broke as they came out onto the stone remains of path that must have once been heavily used. Now, just like everywhere else, massive roots and tanglers tore at the ground, slowly swallowing any signs of civilization back within itself. There were trees of all shapes and sizes as far as the eye could see, a rolling wave of jungle and rainforest. Tan and dirty gray step pyramids, all more massive than those found on Earth, and the occasional obelisk rose through the canopy cover like claws, dotting the landscape.

Stac's scans indicated much of the planet was covered in these structures, with the largest in this location. Aside from the archaeological mission, her scans also indicated the presence of an abnormal power that may be of interest.

Comments

Ur-Niwa: Sanctorium of the Crocodile

[hi_there_aliens]

Stacy’s limited scans narrowed down the abnormal power signature within one of these three structures, three step pyramids, several obelisks all surrounded by the remains of a town. On its own, it was a find. He only had to take one look at them to know that this civilization had collectively shamed the most advanced engineers and architects back home. For being thousands and thousands of years old, he’d certainly seen pyramids and buildings in far worse shape. The jungle was on its way to engulfing them, but the people that built these things to last.

Daniel surveyed the interior of the largest step pyramid. Captain Eneesh, with the limited number of her own crew, immediately started on setting up an impromptu base camp. Satisfied she could handle it on her own, Daniel turned to look at the rest of the main hall. He took in the solid blocks. Each brick that comprised the wall was easily twice his size and the pillars, stretched upwards. He guided a flashlight over one of them. The beam caught what looked like an angular decoration of something that just might be a crocodile. It made sense, considering the crumbling statues they’d passed on the way in. Considering the jungle and swamps, these people might have revered and feared them.

There was a lot of ground to search through and record in this step pyramid alone. There was also the power signature to check around for, something that seemed more up the Doctor’s alley.

This was something of a test: a milk run, so it they weren’t running into a politically charged zone like Galilee, so they didn’t have to worry about causing a war while two members of the archaeological crew could get their feet wet. He found himself looking at the back of Vala and Eva’s heads, mentally forming the groups as he did so. Eva was with him, Daniel decided. Better to have her where he could keep one eye on her. The chances of terrorists or anything along those lines was low. Actually, aside from the megafauna, probably nothing but structural integrity to worry about. It made the chances for Eva snapping like she did even lower. Next to zero. But not at zero. Once burned, Daniel found it a little hard to let it go, especially when what happened wasn’t exactly a simple argument gone too far or a misunderstanding. Maybe working together was a step in the right direction. If he was lucky, he could get her interested in something besides how she didn’t have much of a job as a gunner anymore.

As for Vala, this was her first off ship mission. Definitely milk run labeled all over. She probably knew it too. As an SG-1 member, someone this General Landry trusted, she had to have some experience on alien worlds. Aside from joking (he hoped) about wanting to shoot Nezaitben, she’d probably do fine in the bizarre and wild. Knowing Vala, she’d get bored by a dead civilization and her ruins, which was too bad. Vala didn’t want to get cooped up on Stacy. She didn’t, as he saw it, much room to complain.

[Groups: Eva and Daniel, Master and Jamie, Vala and Master until end of Part 1]

[Master and Jamie]

[hi_there_aliens]

[Master and Jamie]

[bonnypiperlad]

"Doctor! Doctor! Och, he's gone." Jamie glanced around the area where he was supposed to meet up with his partner with a frown. He had assumed he'd be paired up with the Doctor, but the Time Lord wasn't here. He must have left with someone else, then. And most of the others seemed to have gone as well, which left him wondering what, exactly, he was supposed to do now.

It looked like his options were to either wait here and see if there were any more stragglers he could team up with, or go back and ask Captain Eneesh if she could spare one of her crew to go with him while he explored the area. He could go it alone, he supposed, but having someone at his back would be preferable, given the size of those bird-lizard flying beasties that he had seen when they first got here.

With a sigh, he started to look around again, but a glint of light caught his attention, reflecting off the holographic tracking bracelet Captain Eneesh had given him the last time he had seen her. He had forgotten he had put that on before they came down here, actually, and while part of him could have kicked himself for that, the rest of him was just grateful it was there. Carefully, he pressed the controls to activate it - it was a pretty fragile device, and he didn't want to risk breaking it. A little adjustment and a series of small dots popped up - a group at the camp where Captain Eneesh and her crew were, two dots in one of the step pyramids, two dots in the other, a dot for Jamie and one left over.

So there was someone else around he could team up with. The question was, who was it?


((Note: for tracking purposes, assume this is bendytimed so as not to conflict with current ship-wide plot.))

[syncopath]

The Master was beginning to suspect that he was getting grouped with the Doctor for Stacy's missions on purpose. That stinking, rotting, bitch of a ship probably thought it was a good idea for the Doctor to keep an eye on him. Or perhaps she just thought it was funny.

Or-- and this was the worst thought of all-- perhaps the Doctor was specifically requesting it. It seemed just the sort of thing he would do, and though on the highly awkward shuttle ride over the other Time Lord had shown no signs, the Master was sure that he was internally gloating. As soon as they'd landed he'd managed to slip off on his own while the rest of the party unloaded their equipment.

If it hadn't been for the mysterious power signature on the planet, he'd have shirked the mission entirely.

The Master pressed a shot of Anetrizine to his neck and glanced around the landing area, shoulders relaxing as the tension rapidly dissipated. No sign of the Doctor, which of course meant little. What there was was a certain young Scotsman with a tendency toward gullibility, looking around in vain and calling for his Doctor like a lost lamb. A young Scotsman he'd had the dubious honor of saving from a Dalek. The Master smiled and began to stroll in his direction. This could end up being fun after all.

"Well, if it isn't my good pal Jamie," he called in lazy greeting. "Keeping out of trouble?"

[Eleven and Vala]

[hi_there_aliens]

Re: [Eleven and Vala]

[makeherblue]

The Doctor didn't mind a good tromp through a bug-infested, possibly crocodile-infested swamp. Forest. Swampy forest.

He did mind when it was labeled an "Archaeological Dig" (typical archaeologist) and there was probably something about proper names and a bunch of boring numbers that he didn't bother to pay attention to when Daniel was going over the briefing one more time on the transport down. Captain Eneesh, he noticed, had been paying the human her full undivided attention, the bug leaning forward and going still with those feelers of hers pointed in his direction, almost close enough to touch his hat. Actually, he was sure he'd seen one feeler dip close enough to stroke it, almost longingly. She loved this, the Doctor thought. Probably wished she was an archeologist in another life. For now she was quite happy to set her crew to securing a camp for them.

The Doctor twisted and untwisted his hands together as he glanced at the ruins stretching up over the canopy and then at that human he was partnered with. Vala. The one he'd met briefly back on shore-leave, right before the tumble into that ravine and that...business with the Master. She looked like she could outrun a crocodile, and he didn't mean that to be polite. Valuable skill, outrunning crocodiles! She might even give him some tips. It's loads more relevant than numbering and cataloging and numbering some more if digging holes all over the place wasn't enough for you.

The Doctor counted himself lucky he hadn't been partnered up with Daniel or Captain Eneesh. They'd only be irritatingly efficient at their jobs.

For now he sized up the archway they were about to duck under, the sonic screwdriver in his hand as he waited for Vala to finish climbing down the steps after him. Deep dark tunnel leading into who knew where, moisture dripping in the distance. All in all, normal, if not humid. After Stacy, he's used to humid, the Doctor reaching up to wipe a bead of sweat before it could trickle down his cheek.

"I do love a tunnel," the Doctor said, half to hear himself speak, half to get a conversation going with his new human. "Best things are in tunnels, you know."

[Eva and Daniel]

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva spends the preparation part of the mission knowing she's being watched. Not by Eneesh and her crew, who have no special interest in her besides as another part of the mission team, but by Daniel. The idea rankles her. She tries to remember that he has a perfectly good reason to be watching her, and that pushes her from oscillating between irritable and melancholy to a good old-fashioned cranky.

Well, that and the fact that she's been chasing imaginary cake for a few weeks.

And to make it all worse, whatever ancient race they're studying didn't have the forethought to make this interesting for her. The architecture is certainly impressive (although Eva is reluctant to admit that anything could make her more awestruck than Machu Picchu), but that's never been the part that's interested her most about cultures. And given that she doesn't speak whatever native tongue there might be here, much less read it, she's already finding herself scrabbling to feeling interested in something in greater depth than 'oh, pretty crocodile statue, I wonder if I can fit in its mouth'.

Stacy should dump her in an Earth library if she wants Eva to have a good time.

She's going to have to rely on Daniel or the Doctor to be any use for this mission, and she hates having to lean on others. She'd rather stay with the Doctor, if only because he doesn't treat her like a) a time bomb primed and ticking or b) a Very Very Bad Girl who needs to sit in the corner with her hands tied and a stupid hat on. Unfortunately, the Doctor and Vala seem to have wandered off, and the way Daniel's looking at her tells her that he's already fixed an imaginary leash around her neck. Not that he shouldn't, and that's what she hates most about it. She earned this treatment with her bare hand.

She walks over and stands next to Daniel, in the shadow of the decoration of a crocodile he's been looking at. Strange, that a place so far removed from earth should have similar wildlife. She adopts an air of being totally casual, two acquaintances admiring the native artwork rather than two whatever-they-ares.

"You should moonlight as a jail warden," she says, cracking that facade. "So what do you think of the art? I'm trying to remember if the Yeerk trade ships ever mentioned exporting crocodiles to far-off planets, but I can't seem to figure out how they got here. Maybe it's just some type of cosmic coincidence that they look the same."

Re: [Eva and Daniel]

[hi_there_aliens]

"Archaeology's a full time thing for me," Daniel replied. Maybe he could've been a little more discreet about keeping an eye on Eva. Hey, the alternative was sitting around, stuck on Stacy. Fresh air, new surroundings, history and ruins, he didn't see any reason to say no. Daniel wasn't nearly as familiar with the ship politics, but Leon might have an eye on Eva's performance too. On second thought, that was something he probably shouldn't bring up. No pressure. Daniel's attention returned to the decorations. They were stylized, reminded him vaguely a cross of Mayan art. This one showed two of them devouring a man, while letting a group cross a river. There were a mass of bodies bowing to them on each side of the shore. "I think they both fear and worship this animal. I doubt it's Yeerk though," unless Eva hadn't told him something. Maybe the Yeerks had a secret love for transplanting animals across galaxies. "It is a multi-verse, maybe this is similar to our own."

Maybe it could even be an alternate Earth. Now that was an interesting theory. They could be looking at Earth developing on another line. Or it really was just another planet. There were so many possibilities.

Rather than dwell on the artwork longer, Daniel continued in the opposite direction from Vala and the Doctor. Eneesh had things under control. It left them free to immediately cover ground. Eager to begin was putting it lightly, Daniel was everything short of chomping at the bit. Without an impending bombardment coming down on them, they had time to start. In this line of work, or really any, more time was still never enough. Eagerness aside, Captain Eneesh had something to do with it. Not that there was anything wrong with her. The opposite actually. While Eneesh had been friendly, the perfect audience when it came to a briefing, one who, unlike Vala, actually paid him her complete attention, there were a few moments here and there where it felt like she was getting just a little too friendly with his boonie for his liking.

"Come on."

Daniel took them through the tunnels in silence, ducking a massive root that had burrowed its way through the cracks or side stepping a fallen section of wall. Late afternoon light filtered weakly through some cracks. The beams would alight on several more carvings, more decorative, geometric than anything that looked like the crocodiles. He continued on, peering into a chamber as they passed. Aside from what looked like a brazier toppled over, nothing. They'd come back to the room and investigate more thoroughly if nothing else panned out.

"Is this your first mission off of Stacy?" Daniel asked as they continued. He motioned for her to split up, carefully, so they could peek around the latest branch of rooms.

Re: Ur-Niwa: Sanctorium of the Crocodile

[hi_there_aliens]

[ after this]

The step pyramid around Eva began to hum, a low throb at first. It was barely noticeable, registering at first as ambient noise. It quickly rose into something more like a high pitched whine. The interior and exterior walls of the step pyramids suddenly washed with a faint sickly yellow glow. This glow ran through the ground, snaked its way through tunnels and corridors, before winding its way to the top most point of the building. All across the planet, one after another, a large beam of white light burst from the tops of the structures and pierced the heavens.

Even the jungle seemed stunned into silence. Then something shrieked, faint in the distance. It was a jagged sound, someone crying out, followed by more wails as more voices joined in from the jungle surrounding the step pyramids. More voices took up the call as the alert spread. The wails grew more and more frenzied, excited, and closer with each second.

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The room was empty by the time Eva arrived. Nearly hidden on the disturbed slope were small shards of glass recently bloodied. Further down were the remains of the canopic jar and a puddle of thick, blue-green mucus, with a drying streak leading towards the slope.

Something slid down from the slope, several gold pieces and jewelry dragged out from the clumsy slide. There was also a faint trail of blood leading towards one of the doors. This trail swiftly grew less and less, vanishingly completely after what had to be several steps. But it was clear enough to narrow down which door to try out first.

[Eva]

Re: Ur-Niwa: Sanctorium of the Crocodile

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva's been running around for nearly thirty minutes when she finally takes the right door. The guilt is eating her up inside, like some cancerous, malevolent entity in her stomach. She should have gone back for help, but by the time she realized how lost she was in the dark maze of the pyramid's bowels, she was too far to find her way back, either.

"Daniel?"

Her first thought, and if she had to assess herself she would call it naive, is that he must have regained feeling in his legs and started looking for a way out. But no, as much as Daniel is headstrong, he would have left her some way of knowing he'd left.

She crouches down and picks up a piece of the bloodied glass, as if begging it to reveal some other fate, and then follows the trail of blood. Somehow horror has locked itself into her guts. She has no reason to believe Daniel's dead, but she does have reason to believe that they are not alone in this temple.

"Daniel?" She opens the door.

Part 2

[hi_there_aliens]

PART 2: Courtyard of Scales/Ur-Niwa

The sky darkened to a deep purple, the clouds tinged with pink and orange from the bonfire and braziers reflecting off the buildings. For the first time in thousands of years, the site was occupied. Bodies crowded in, trying to pack the square as tightly as possible as each one tried to catch just a glimpse of him. Drawn to the signal, people traveled from afar to see the rebirth of their long dead God. Tens of thousands of his children came, with more arriving each minute.

The ever present hunger, he noticed, was still there. Sobek let the chanting from the crowd wash over him, numb the need to rend and tear, to feed, just a little. He would have plenty of time to satisfy the urge once he set about restoring his empire. He’d start with that cat-headed bitch first. The thought alone was nearly enough to hold him over.

Sobek was watching the dancers when he felt the host start to become aware again. There was a black out period with most species after the initial bonding and Daniel Jackson was no different from the rest. It gave Sobek time to take the rest prisoners without letting them see the host coming to. And just like all of them, Daniel started to struggle inside. Normally he relished the struggle that always came next. This time, however, was different. With all his effort put into slowly healing their spine and keeping him in control, even letting the host get any sort of foothold so early on could undermine everything.

He didn't hesitate. Sobek generously showed him what he'd missed, the looks on companion’s face as he turned on them. Sobek then went for the jugular. The System Lord let Daniel experience the full genetic memory of their race all at once. Every act of greatness and horror, every wonder and atrocity they and all those before them committed. Every minute, hour, day. The Goa'uld had been alive far longer than his mongrel race. Thousands of years. what's happening--shock and awe- I don't--, the human's mind strangled out. Daniel shut down almost immediately under the information overload.

Sobek liked that. 'Shock and Awe'. He returned his attention to the worshipers below. He basked in the glow of the devotion as if it were sunlight. Soon his vessel would learn to submit, just like the others before him.

PART 2: Prison cell

[hi_there_aliens]

PART 2: Prison cell

The crew was dumped into a prison cell overlooking the celebration, with the proceeding visible through metal bars. Compared to the rest of the ruins, the cell is extremely sparse, no decorations, and a rotting wood container for water. The one for food didn’t look that much better. There were no blankets or anything to keep warm. The two Jaffa stationed outside the cell didn’t look inclined to give them any or to converse with them. They looked as immoveable as the stone making up the walls.

From the limited view of the outside courtyard and the celebration, several small figures on the largest step pyramid are visible, several large Jaffa and one slightly smaller, more wiry figure, dressed in something far more elaborate than the crowd or any of the guards. Light glinted off the helmet and the jewelry. This group looked down on the crowd. Every now and then, the Jaffa on the platform barked something out in the gravely language. The chanting, wailing and singing echoed through the room, rising and falling but never ceasing. The smaller figure spoke up once in the same language. The crowd roared the moment he was done, and thousands of feet stamped the earth, the sound rolling through the stones of the jail cell.


Thread order for prison: Eleven, Vala, Eva, Jamie, The Master

Re: PART 2: Prison cell

[makeherblue]

Under normal circumstances, the Doctor would say his face had been replaced with one of those human punching bags.

In other words he was faintly surprised to find he still had a nose after getting a spear-butt to the face. For having so many squishy bits, he'd be the first to say that the chin and hair didn't do very much -- make that anything at all - at cushion duty. The Doctor groaned under his breath as he came to, giving a little jolt as his nose decided it had enough waiting around for the rest of him and began to throb and ache and generally made a nuisance of itself. His head pounded while he floundered a bit on the cold stone floor of the cell, finally blinking awake as he clapped a hand to his head and cradled his nose, in that order.

"Ow," the Doctor said, poetic as always. He tried again. "Ouch!" Okay, so Ow and Ouch didn't do much to help the pounding in his head. Worth trying! The Doctor floundered a bit more like a...well, like an oversized flounder, until he finally managed to roll unsteadily to his side and sit up.

He could see even with the poor lighting that most of the others were there with him. Everyone but Daniel Jackson who (he hoped) had the sense to run and hide instead of adventuring right into the guards like he had. Might want to watch out for the staffs. Listening to the chanting, which, by the way, he ought to recognize except for the part he couldn't, the Doctor went to check on their cell, patting his pockets only to come to the conclusion that his sonic screwdriver was missing. Lovely. If he believed in curses, he'd say this had to be cursed -- first sharks, then explosions, and now this! His old sonics suddenly seemed so much more reliable in comparison. The guards may have taken it, although he doubted they knew what it was and he was hoping they at least didn't toss it away.

PART 2: Throne room

[hi_there_aliens]

PART 2: Throne room


More Jaffa came eventually and dragged them all out, herding them along several winding corridors and rooms, before finally reaching their destination. The throne room was massive. Water lined the walkway, which in turn was also lined with Jaffa as the group and Eneesh were dragged up to the platform like so much offerings. Each one was forced on their knees before the occupied throne.

Sobek was already there with a group of the most faithful of his followers. They varied in age, from their teens to their thirties and forties, and all in their peak, all beautiful and completely devoted, ready to die for him if he wished it. They practically draped themselves around the God's throne, while others stood behind like a guard, all staying at a respectful difference

The host had come to him a disgrace. Awkward, half blind, and unable to carry himself with even a hint of the elegance that was befitting a god. Sobek, on the other hand, had made it an art. The System Lord made sure to rectify the flaw and dressed in his finest. He wore a helmet, a metal that was fashioned into the same twisted shape of crocodile, with deep set eyes that glowed a diseased green. It was probably the only part of him that was completely covered. The rest Sobek flaunted. The ceremonial shendyt had been perfectly preserved, and highlighted his host’s build, leaving very little to the imagination. The System Lord tapped a finger on the throne. A golden device wound around his wrist and finger tips, a beautiful gem set in the palm that complimented the rest of the jewelry. On the second tap, he could feel his host coming to again. This Sobek let him bit by bit. Daniel’s confusion and fear bled in first, poisoned with a panicked hatred that was nearly blinding as he was forced to look around.

His eyes went from each member of the party, digging through his vessel’s mind for what he knew.

"You live for the moment because your God allows it," Sobek rumbled. He wanted to find out more about them. He would allow them this chance they had to prove themselves more than mere trespassers or thieves.

[Subthreaded for differing schedules, but assume all threads are taking place at the same time and the same room until time skips. You can hear the other threads]

PART 2: Throne room -[Jamie]

[hi_there_aliens]

[Jamie]

PART 2: Throne room [Eva]

[hi_there_aliens]

[Eva]

PART 2: Throne room -[Vala]

[hi_there_aliens]

[Vala]

PART 2: Throne room - [The Master]

[hi_there_aliens]

[The Master]

PART 2: Throne room -[Eleven]

[hi_there_aliens]

[Eleven]

Time Skip

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Somehow, the last few hours have cured her twitching and fidgeting. She lies on the ground, perfectly still. Moving her body, asserting control over it, seems such a petty thing to worry about now when she has so much self-flagellating to do.

Besides, it hurts too much to move. And the best self-loathing is done not through physically abusing yourself, but through lowering yourself into the darkest pools of your thoughts like a slab of meat on a tenderhook.

For a while she just sinks in the realization that she did this. This is what she did to Daniel and by that virtue, to everyone else. Including Jamie and Vala, people she likes. The Doctor, someone she cares very much about. 'John Smith', an enigma in her repertoire of relationships, but one she can never claim to be apathetic about.

All because she pushed a button. She didn't even realize she was pushing it. She didn't even feel the moment her hand slid over it and clicked something into life. Maybe she should have studied archaeology after all.

She bruised and broken and staring at the ceiling when they come for her.

Jailhouse Blues: Eva and Eleven

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

They haven't fixed her yet. She knows they could, but, for whatever reason, they haven't. Maybe you have to be infested to heal, like Daniel - it's possible, she thinks, that the healing power belonged to Sobek and other Goa'uld alone, and if that's the case she'd much rather keep the broken bones and the puncture wounds.

Now that the rage has drained from her and she's left her warm dark go-away place, it really hits her what she's done. She knows the others are receiving equally harsh treatment, if not worse, except perhaps the Master, although she suspects he'll get what's coming to him. Turncoats usually do.

But as she thinks about the others she knows she's responsible.

It was an accident, she thinks, as if that will absolve her.

And she prays quietly in the corner, crunched up like a used and discarded piece of person. Like a tissue. The damage to her torso has made it impossible to straighten herself up; that proud head is turned and twisted at an awkward angle, neck muscles working around snapped foundations. Her spine is all crooked. Her eyes are closed, exhausted of this cell she's been in for hours. Her mouth hangs open like a perpetual scream, except instead of sound only the occasional string of bloody drool and ragged wafts of air make their way past her lips. How pathetic.

She hears footsteps and opens her eyes. Someone to take her to a round of Sobek Says? Or one of her comrades being brought from their own time as Sobek's plaything?

Re: Jailhouse Blues: Eva and Eleven

[makeherblue]

The door creaks open. There are the harsh guttural groans and sharp tones of Goa'uld -- guards, talking to each other, and then the sound of what has to be boot scrapping against the floor. The door opens, two of the guards tossing the Doctor inside.

He's starting to come to from whatever got him in the face back in Sobek's thrown room, just in time to hit the floor, narrowly missing landing on Eva as his human cushion. He registers that ow doesn't really describe what he's feeling right now as he sprawls on the floor. It's not the worst pain he's ever been through - try regenerating -- but it's certainly...inconvenient. His arms and legs shake, trembling on him as he tries to squirm awake in the dark. Considering how active he is normally, his squirms are feeble in comparison and rather clumsy considering how much practice he has at exactly this sort of thing. It's hardly impressive. The Doctor's eyes flutter open. Blurs. Mostly between light and dark, color seems to have stepped out for a moment and it hasn't even had the courtesy to leave a note telling him when it will come back.

Focusing past that high-pitched whine in his ears, the Doctor realizes he can hear someone breathing in the dim light. Wheezes. It takes another moment to realize that it's him. Whatever that terrible like weapon was, it exactly the same as getting mule-kicked in the lungs several times for good measure. The Doctor struggles to prop himself up, (wheezes under his breath) and waits for his hearts to stop jittering on him.

"Who's there? Human, by your breath rate." He casts about in the dark. Make that female human. Probably Eva or Vala.

Cell - a week in, [Healing Device Available] Open

[valaunbound]

Of all of them, Vala had been sent for last. For easily a week she'd simply been left to rot in the cell. Her food and water rations had been kept to the very bare minimum and she'd grown gradually weaker by the day. The angled lines of her cheekbones were more prominent, their hollows shadowed and there was a dullness in her eyes that failed to reflect the daylight that seeped into the cell each morning when the planet's suns rose. She hadn't been afforded the luxury of being able to clean herself since Eneesh's innards had rained a cascade of blood and gore on the group since that day in the Throne Room. Vala's hair was matted with dried bloody chunks of flesh and exoskeleton, and despite her regular protestations when her energy allowed it, she'd been ignored.

After being gone for what can't have been much more than a couple of hours, Vala was unceremoniously thrown back into the cell, dragged along corridors by her arms with nothing left inside her even to walk. Her exhausted body crumpled as she hit the unyielding dirty floor, she didn't attempt to move, nor did she cry out as her face hit the floor. She simply lay there, staring off into the middle distance vacantly. She was somewhat cleaner but clearly broken. A bruise was already blossoming on the side of her face where Sobek had overcome her, but apart from that and four parallel angry scores on her neck, she was injury free. The guards tossed in a palm sized orange jewel with two metal crocodiles wrapping their jaws around it after her, Vala didn't turn her head to look and see what it was, not even when the Jaffa barked at her.

Vala was lost in her own nightmare, she'd used the Kara'Kesh for the first time since her own time as a host, and all she could see in her mind was the agonised terror in Daniel's face as Sobek had let him take the brunt. His face as he clung to his life seemed burned into her memory in some hideous continual replay.

"Mid'cha, Bi'bo!" Pay attention, do you want it? Vala barely heard them or even saw who else was in the cell with her.

Re: Cell - a week in, [Healing Device Available] Open

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva's beyond words when Vala joins her. Granted, words are pretty difficult, anyway, with a jaw broken many times over and most of her teeth knocked out. Her mouth and broken nose are like one gaping wound, and they still ooze, even days after Eva's effective ragequit on Sobek.

She turns her whole body to look at Vala, since her neck muscles are torn and mangled and one side of her face has been blinded. She wonders what it was, exactly, whether she punctured something or did herself brain damage or just splattered her eye across the floor. She hasn't been able to see a mirror and she knows better than to touch it. Probably good she can't see herself.

Vala's not looking so good either. Not as gory, certainly, but her punishment has clearly been the soul-breaking horrors of starvation and malnutrition. It doesn't surprise Eva that Vala lies on the floor right now.

Eva crawls over on her hands and knees to Vala. It's agonizing work. Degrading, even. And Vala has her pride too, and Eva doesn't want to intrude on that. Eva doesn't touch her, but she holds a hand out in case Vala would like some help to sit up.

Aid. Not pity. Not charity. Eva waits for Vala to say more.

Re: Cell - a week in, [Healing Device Available] Open

[bonnypiperlad]

Over the past week, Jamie watched Vala growing weaker and weaker, that lack of food and water taking its toll on her. Despite his best efforts, there hasn't been anything he's been able to do about it until now.

Near the end of the period where she's gone, the Jaffa had brought a meal and shoved it through to him like they had done so many times before. It wasn't much of one - Jamie's attempt to try and set food aside before had been noticed, and while he hadn't been set on absolute minimum rations like she had, his own portion was still smaller than it would be if he had been on his best behavior.

He was still eating when she returned, and as they tossed in some bit of odd jewelry with her he glanced up. They seemed a little bit more focused on her than was usual, and when they said something in that language they couldn't understand, he took advantage of the slight distraction to wrap a bit of bread in the folds of his kilt.

Once some time had passed and they resumed their posts, he made his way over to her, keeping an eye out to see if they made any moves to come and separate them. They didn't, and as surreptitiously as he could, he went over and crouched next to her, trying to press the bread into her hand, if she let him. "Here, take this," he murmured.

Whether or not it would work without the guards taking it away, he didn't know. All he knew is he had to at least try to get it to her.