Hell in a Handbasket

Spoiler

It's a shared feeling. By the way, do you want to skip to when they're done with the chores? I feel bad for making Kara wait so long. ^^"

"That makes sense." He had done the same the last time he had owned chickens, though that had been nearly a century ago.

Spoiler

Yeah, sure!

It takes them a while to finish up, and he ends up having to help Rowan clean out the rooster, which she kills for that evening's dinner and puts in the fridge. The dogs follow them the entire time, even while they fix the fence. By the time they're done with everything it's early afternoon.

The work took longer than he had expected to, but that was alright. There was still time left in the day to explore the town. He would just have to spend it wisely and avoid getting distracted. He would need to find hardware and electronics stores, as well as check if there was an open room in the bed and breakfast. It was nice spending time with Rowan, but he needed to complete what he came here to do.

"Could you drive me back into town?" he questioned.

She nods. "Yeah, sure thing. How long are you sticking around?"

He wasn't sure if she meant just for that day or for staying in the town in general, so it seemed like answering both questions would be the polite thing to do. The problem? He didn't have an answer for either of them. He didn't know how long he'd been shopping today, and he had no idea how long it would take to fix The Lotus. "I'll probably spend the rest of the day in town," he finally replied. It sounded like a reasonable answer, and keeping things vague certainly helped. "And I'll probably be here for a week or two."

"Not a big planner for your, uh, sightseeing, are you?" Sightseeing her foot. A tourist with this lack of a plan? With this many secrets? No, there was far more to this man than met the eye.

Shoot! He had forgotten the lie he had told her! Now he had to come up with something that didn't make it so obvious that he was lying. But lying on the spot had never been a talent of his, and he struggled to come up with a good response. "I, uh, really enjoy just playing it by year! I've always been that way." He gave a nervous little laugh. It was a terrible explanation, but at least it was something.

She turns, that emerald gaze boring into him. "You're a terrible liar when it comes to improvisation, you know that?"

His shoulders slumped. Was it really that obvious? He could always try to come up with something else, but his lie had already been spotted once. He'd just have to deal with consequences of his weak story. "So now what?"

"Now you tell me the truth. The full truth."

He eyed the few exits in the room. There was the door, and there were several windows. He would hate leaving her with the damage, but what else could he do? He couldn't tell her the truth. His essence ached as he tried to decide what the best escape route was. He could lie again and come up with something that made sense, but he could never let her know who he really was. The SGC would inevitably find out, and the last thing he needed was them as an enemy.

Think of something!

If it meant escaping, should he risk changing his guise? The surprise could give him the opportunity he needed. He started to inch over to the door.

"It's kind of a long story," he started. He moved over a little more. She was smart enough to pick up on his lie, so he doubted that such an obvious attempt to leave would be missed by her. But if he pretended like that was his plan and made her fall for it, the windows would be left unguarded! He could shift his guise into a bird and break through one.

"Try to run and one of my beasts will be on you in an instant," she informs him. "Goshawk included. Talk." She crosses her arms, done with this nonsense.

Could I escape her pets? He knew of fast guises, and they wouldn't be able to easily track him with his ability to change form. But did he have a noticeable scent? It was something he had never needed to consider before, but now he wondered if he had control over something like that. He vaguely recalled the Ancients lecturing on something along those lines. But it had been a very long time since then, and the memory was foggy.

He sighed. There really was no way he could avoid this, could he? He could make it sound like he was lying again. Would something like that actually work? He would just have to make it seem over dramatic and cliche. He knew sci-fi. That would be easy!

"Alright," he admitted. "You got me! I'm actually an alien. I need to fix my flying saucer, so I came to a human town to get the supplies I needed. This isn't actually my true form; I'm pretending to be one of you."

It wasn't technically the truth, but it was close enough. He was from another dimension, and his "flying saucer" was a stolen Goa'uld ship. But she didn't need to know that much.

She just blinks. "Huh. Well, that's a first. Welp, we've already got me 'n Lochy 'n Melven so don't see how one more will change much."

He gawked at her. "Y-You believe me?" he somehow managed to get out, struggling to comprehend how she could be so accepting of what he had just said.