A is for Alien (G)
This is not the fic I wanted to write, but since poor Teal'c has been waiting for me to finish that particular story since 2009, he will hopefully be patient with me for a little longer. At least he gets to be in this one, too.
Written for On-world Alphabet Soup!
Cassandra isn't so sure that she's going to be able to fit in properly on Earth, but Teal'c, her fellow alien, can be very reassuring. 560 words. Rated G.
A is for Alien
Despite her dutiful refrain about being "from Toronto," Cassandra was genuinely worried that she was going to slip up and somehow reveal her alien status. Never mind the larger sizes of the three moons back on Hanka, or the different technological level that still had her gaping at things like electricity. There was so much she didn't know about on the cultural level - religious beliefs, common manners, children's games, fairy tales, even nursery rhymes! Surely someone would notice the way she tapped her right shoulder as a gesture to ward off bad luck, or her half-aborted curtsy to any bearded man as an automatic acknowledgment of his assumed authority. And what would happen then?
She remained tense and anxious about a potential disaster for months, cringing every time she thought she'd given herself away. But no one seemed to care, beyond an initial startled blink, if she'd never heard of Superman or didn't know that birds fly south for the winter. Her friends or teachers simply explained the reference and continued talking as if nothing had happened.
She quietly voiced her concerns to Janet, once, but her surrogate mother only smiled and hugged her.
"Don't worry about it, Cassandra," Janet told her. "You're forgetting that most people here on Earth have no idea that there's life out there. Why would they imagine that you're from off-world?"
Cassandra thought about Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Power Rangers in Space, and Dragon Ball Z. Janet would no doubt say that everyone recognized them as fiction, though, so she decided not to argue. But she continued to worry.
It was Teal'c who finally allayed her concerns one summer day, as they stood near the Uncle Wilber Fountain in Acacia Park.
"Look around you, Cassandra Frasier," he advised softly, his voice a velvety murmur to avoid being overheard. "The Tau'ri come in much variety. Are you and I truly so noticeable?"
Cassandra pivoted slowly, scanning the crowds. Most were speaking English, but a welter of accents twisted common phrases into unfamiliar sounds in her ears.
"I guess not," she admitted, watching a man, dressed in the hat and frock coat that Sam had once identified as Hasidic, shepherd a group of children across the plaza.
"There are thousands of languages spoken on this planet," Teal'c continued. "Daniel Jackson is considered a great linguist, yet he speaks perhaps twenty of them. Each language belongs to another people with their own beliefs, habits, and ways of living."
Cassandra considered this. Hanka had been little more than a string of small villages, all united with one culture - one directed by Nirrti, even if they hadn't known it. The United States of America was only one country, but it had so many people, so many different ways of thinking. Add the rest of this teeming world into the mix, and, well... How noticeable could her little errors really be, after all?
Teal'c wrapped his large, comforting hand around her own small fingers. "In all this vast crowd, Cassandra Frasier, I believe there is room for the two of us."
She leaned against him, feeling very safe. "Room for ice cream, too," she suggested, and watched his face bloom with that special, gentle smile that he always saved just for her.
"There is always room for ice cream," he agreed gravely, and together, they went to find some.
Written for On-world Alphabet Soup!
Cassandra isn't so sure that she's going to be able to fit in properly on Earth, but Teal'c, her fellow alien, can be very reassuring. 560 words. Rated G.
A is for Alien
Despite her dutiful refrain about being "from Toronto," Cassandra was genuinely worried that she was going to slip up and somehow reveal her alien status. Never mind the larger sizes of the three moons back on Hanka, or the different technological level that still had her gaping at things like electricity. There was so much she didn't know about on the cultural level - religious beliefs, common manners, children's games, fairy tales, even nursery rhymes! Surely someone would notice the way she tapped her right shoulder as a gesture to ward off bad luck, or her half-aborted curtsy to any bearded man as an automatic acknowledgment of his assumed authority. And what would happen then?
She remained tense and anxious about a potential disaster for months, cringing every time she thought she'd given herself away. But no one seemed to care, beyond an initial startled blink, if she'd never heard of Superman or didn't know that birds fly south for the winter. Her friends or teachers simply explained the reference and continued talking as if nothing had happened.
She quietly voiced her concerns to Janet, once, but her surrogate mother only smiled and hugged her.
"Don't worry about it, Cassandra," Janet told her. "You're forgetting that most people here on Earth have no idea that there's life out there. Why would they imagine that you're from off-world?"
Cassandra thought about Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Power Rangers in Space, and Dragon Ball Z. Janet would no doubt say that everyone recognized them as fiction, though, so she decided not to argue. But she continued to worry.
It was Teal'c who finally allayed her concerns one summer day, as they stood near the Uncle Wilber Fountain in Acacia Park.
"Look around you, Cassandra Frasier," he advised softly, his voice a velvety murmur to avoid being overheard. "The Tau'ri come in much variety. Are you and I truly so noticeable?"
Cassandra pivoted slowly, scanning the crowds. Most were speaking English, but a welter of accents twisted common phrases into unfamiliar sounds in her ears.
"I guess not," she admitted, watching a man, dressed in the hat and frock coat that Sam had once identified as Hasidic, shepherd a group of children across the plaza.
"There are thousands of languages spoken on this planet," Teal'c continued. "Daniel Jackson is considered a great linguist, yet he speaks perhaps twenty of them. Each language belongs to another people with their own beliefs, habits, and ways of living."
Cassandra considered this. Hanka had been little more than a string of small villages, all united with one culture - one directed by Nirrti, even if they hadn't known it. The United States of America was only one country, but it had so many people, so many different ways of thinking. Add the rest of this teeming world into the mix, and, well... How noticeable could her little errors really be, after all?
Teal'c wrapped his large, comforting hand around her own small fingers. "In all this vast crowd, Cassandra Frasier, I believe there is room for the two of us."
She leaned against him, feeling very safe. "Room for ice cream, too," she suggested, and watched his face bloom with that special, gentle smile that he always saved just for her.
"There is always room for ice cream," he agreed gravely, and together, they went to find some.