"Listening to others, considering well what they say" (Part 3: Maingate Hotel)

[cityship]

The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her.

They were all teleported from the main teleport pad of the hotel into the conference room, which was a large enough room to be able to hold a group their size and had plenty of chairs arranged in a circular pattern so they could mostly all face each other or whoever was in the middle of the room.

Everyone had to settle down so they were all able to talk, and the meeting itself would have to be carefully controlled so they wouldn't all talk over each other. But they were up for the task, right?

[ooc: Guardian Setup, General Mingling, Clone Checkup, Newbie Briefing, General Briefing, More Mingling, Back to the Meeting, and The Idea Guy sections are open. Backup characters introduced to the plot can join in the mingling subthreads if they want. The opening of new subthreads will be announced here and the ooc. Please read the linked OOC post for a plot timeline.]

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[hi_there_aliens]

Just the man he was looking for. The archaeologist caught a glimpse of him coming into the room. Dick looked worn out, almost as if he'd just aged ten years in under an hour. He didn't blame him. As leader of their section for this mission, a lot of responsibility fell on his shoulders.

While Daniel preferred to go off, work on his own, he recognized that this was a group effort. Before the SGC, Daniel had always been been more of a loner at heart when it came to work. Sometimes there wasn't time to tell people what he had in mind. Sometimes it was just easier to do it himself. And sometimes people didn't care, or saw it as pointless, or useless, which meant most of the time you had to do it on your own anyway. There were colleagues, Sarah, Steven, but he'd always just gone ahead and did his own thing. He still tended to do it.

It might account for why Jack's quickly going gray, Daniel thought guiltily.

Which probably wasn't the best idea right now, at least, without telling Dick he was going off. Daniel didn't particularly want to wait for approval, but one, they weren't going anywhere right now and two, it was in everyone's interest, especially the clones, if they actually worked as a team.

Daniel made his way through the crowd as quickly as he could, trying not to bowl anyone over in his hurry.

"Dick!" he called out over someone's shoulder as he got closer.

[goddamnwingman]

His name made Dick look up, blinking before he straightened. The weariness seemed to melt away, stowed for a time when he could actually do something about it. He was actually looking forward to getting a couple hours of shut eye, but that would happen when there was time. Not now. Now it was time to rely on some of that training Bruce had instilled in him years ago, work past the rest of it and be on your game NOW.

"Daniel," he said, inclining his head forward in recognition. "Just the man I wanted to see, actually."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel finally got past the last two people-shaped road blocks, reaching Dick. By then, Dick seemed to have gathered some energy from somewhere. Or he'd tried his very best not to look like he'd been run ragged. Daniel felt guilty about approaching him right now, especially when he had so much to do, but he didn't think there was a right time to ask. Certainly they couldn't wait around for a good time, not with everything that had come up, and with what needed to be done in response. Honestly, Daniel didn't even want to wait around here, much less sleep. Personally, he'd rather stay for the briefing, then start poking around as soon as possible afterward. Sleep could wait, and he intended to tell Dick that.

To be honest, when Daniel started to get into his rushed all-business mode, he wasn't usually met like that. Most people either glazed over when he started his argument in a flood (not that he had a chance to yet, but he'd been just about to) or brushed him off, because they didn't have the time or patience for an archaeologist-shaped debate. Daniel drew up short.

"You do?" he echoed.

[goddamnwingman]

Really, Dick needed to look more together than he was at the moment. There was still the meeting to get through and he was going to be at the head of that.

The joys of being the commanding officer.

Dick nodded, trying not to smile at the startled way that Daniel drew up short. He actually did enjoy that sometimes. Too long as the leader of the Titans.

"Yes, I do," he said, waving Daniel closer. "You're an anthropologist, right? Which makes you pretty uniquely qualified for the mission." To Galilee, not whatever Dick had in mind. "And you showed interest in the Mother Brains, waiting to look into that closer."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel obliged, coming closer. Honestly, he hadn't expected Dick to have time for him right now. Especially with everything that had come up, listening to his request seemed like his lowest priority, much less actually giving time to seriously consider it.

"Yes, I am," he answered. Although he preferred having chance to do some prep research, but sometimes that just wasn't possible. Some cultures you encountered on accident or without prior notice, and then you had to wing it, observe, listen, and learn. However, that wasn't the case with the Galileans. They were such a presence on their world, and not exactly hidden or reclusive, that Daniel couldn't see any good reason why they hadn't had more in the way of information on their culture beforehand.

The processing centers, Mother Brains, even their markets and factories. In his book, anything and everything could be relevant towards understanding this culture.

"So I've got the go ahead to investigate as soon as possible?"

[goddamnwingman]

"As long as you think you can do it safely." Dick frowned, glancing around. "And I'd feel better if you weren't alone. After all, I fully expect you to be as nosy as possible, which is not likely to make you popular with our hosts." Not that Dick was all that interested in being popular anymore, but he'd rather not have another one of their people in trouble, either. "I know Doctor McNinja expressed interest in seeing the same things."

He held up his hand to forestall any argument. "I know it may not be what you're used to. But we've already had our people compromised once on this mission. Somebody to watch your back wouldn't be a bad idea."