Young Writers Society

James looked between Cameron and Maahes, trying to follow their conversation. They had been talking about Nye, which probably meant they were talking about him, which probably meant Maahes filled Cameron in on details so Cameron was up to speed. If that was what Maahes did, James hoped that Cameron would be less... wary of him, though he had a feeling he shouldn't expect much. They were still complete strangers, and it sounded like Cameron was still dealing with the secrets Maahes had revealed earlier, if not more while he was asleep.

He found himself staring at Cameron's food curiously. It reminded him of stickers bars - but nonetheless, made him hungry. And at about the same time he had that thought, his stomach made a loud noise that was something like a growl and he found his face hot again, though he showed no other visual signs of embarrassment this time.

He decided to ignore his stomach and insert himself into the conversation.

"I don't know what priors and Ori are. But in general, here in Nye, it's best to not speak of magic around humans."

"No magic, then," Cameron agreed. He added in a nod for good measure before unwrapping another one of his bars. For a military man who should have been trained in the art of conserving food, he sure had an appetite - though Maahes suspected this was because he had assured him only minutes ago that they were plenty of resources on Nye. "I'd gladly take that over having to deal with the priors again."

"Yeah," Maahes quietly said. He couldn't agree with the sentiment, but there was no need to bring that up now. They had more important things to deal with.

Namely James and his need to eat.

He had no idea if it was a good thing for James to eat again, but Cameron was digging into his makeshift breakfast and there was no reason that James couldn't join in as well.

"You should try one of the energy bars," Maahes said, his voice louder and more cheerful than before. He didn't have any on him, so he leaned over and grabbed one from Cameron with a quick apology for taking it in the first place. He held it out to James. "They're good."

At least, that was why he had heard from the other members of his team. He had obviously eaten them to pretend to be human, but it was nearly impossible for his essence to do anything but reel in disgust at what he was putting in it.

James looked at the energy bar, admittedly engrossed in the idea of eating it. He took it with a grateful nod, quickly figuring out how to tear apart the peculiar wrapping around it and taking a bite.

It was... amazing. He proceeded to eat the rest of it very quickly.

Maahes and Cameron looked at each other when they saw how quickly James was eating the energy bar. Maahes gave a small smile, but Cameron's evidently got a bigger kick out of it than he did - he was trying his best to hold back laughter. "I guess good old Earth's got some perks after all," Cameron said, settling for a grin instead of the laughter that was still threatening to break free. "Who knew that energy bars would be our saving grace?"

Maahes raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Cameron's grin faded ever so slightly, but it was clear he was still amused by what he saw. "I forgot," he said, "you haven't been around long enough to read through all of SG-1's mission reports. People from other worlds love our energy bars." He gestured at James. "And your friend James is one of them."

James wasn't sure if Cameron was poking fun at him in a friendly or a condescending manner. Logic told him it was lighthearted and well-meaning. His first-impression-based gut said otherwise, but in an effort to give Cameron the benefit of the doubt, James tried not to think the worst of him. He simply nodded as he swallowed, having already finished off the energy bar.

"Well, it was good," he said quietly.

Cameron gestured at his bag. "I've got some more in here, if you want. Leo did say that you haven't eaten in a few days, but I'm sure another bar wouldn't hurt."

Maahes hesitantly nodded in agreement. He didn't want to test that theory out, but Cameron was the human. Not him. He'd understand James' limitations far better than he ever could.

James nodded, finding himself more timid than he was ever accustomed to being. He wasn't quite sure how to act around... Cameron. With Maahes there.

"That would be... nice. Thank you."

"It's no problem," he said. That was a bit of a lie - it would be a problem if they couldn't find any other food, but Leo had assured him that there was plenty of food to forage in the woods they were in, and likely more in whatever towns they inevitably came across.

He grabbed another one of the bars out from his bag and unceremoniously plopped it into James' hand. "There you go."

Then he waited, studying James in a not-so-discreet way; he was sure James had already picked up on him doing it before, and Leo had definitely noticed from the way he had been so eager to tell him all about James after he had awoken. The discrepancies in the story had finally started to make sense, given the strangeness of some of the past encounters James and Leo had. Leo still hadn't given an explanation for why James hadn't eaten in several days, so that was still a cause for concern, but he was sure it was because it had something to do with James' personal life.

In a surprising twist, it wasn't James that he was really worried about now. It was Leo. He didn't want to go as far as saying that Leo had it in for him; he wasn't willing to forsake his teammate so readily. But he could tell that Leo was withholding information. It wasn't hard to, not when he had known him for even a little bit of time. He paused for an incredibly brief moment every time Cameron asked anything remotely personal, only to give a vague answer or a hesitant one that Cameron knew wasn't true.

It was an unnerving thing to notice, to say the least. Teams were built on trusting each other. He didn't even know what Leo looked like - he wasn't stupid enough to not notice that Leo had changed his appearance right after he arrived. James clearly knew Leo better than Cameron did. The only reason he would change it was so it would match what he thought Cameron wanted to see - Leonardo Cartwright, member of SG-1. Add in the fact that, upon retrospective, Leo was a distinctively Earth name, and that Leo had admitted to living on Earth for a period of time that no one at the SGC knew it, and it was looking more and more likely that Leonardo Cartwright wasn't even his real name.

So, yeah, he was just a little bit distrusting of him right now.

James ate the bar again, but this time a little slower. He watched from the corner of his eye as Cameron observed him and tried to bring his thoughts to a focus now that he had food in his system.

Cameron was caught up on Nye and was up to speed enough to know that Maahes and James were friends with history. That left only the arguably harder part left to figure out. One, hey had to find Mickey again, but two, they had to manage long enough unti then. That meant that Cameron and Maahes couldn’t really be wearing what they were. As... uniform as it was, it was going to make them stand out like a sore thumb as soon as they left the cave. For Maahes it wasn’t and issue since he could change forms and clothes at wiil. But in order to get Cameron new clothes that would require stealing. It was something he didn’t prefer, but he had few other options. He didn’t have any money on him (since it was all stolen from him by the bounty hunters) so buying was out of the cards.

He finished chewing.

“Well, if we’re going to get moving, you’re going to need clothing that’s more discreet. Something that doesn’t make you look like you’re from another world. Because the last thing we’ll need is to draw unwanted attention. You can never bet on people here being kind to outsiders. Not to say I’m the only exception, but - it’s just better to play it safe.”

"But we are from another world," Cameron protested. shoving the wrappers from the energy bars into the pocket of his uniform's pants. "I don't know what Leo has told you about what we do, but Stargate Command's goal is to explore the galaxy and meet people of other planets."

Maahes looked between James and Cameron. From what he remembered of Nye, James had a strong point. The best shot they had at easily moving around here was looking like some of its people. On the other hand, Cameron was right - it was their mission to be diplomats of sorts with the people on alien worlds.

He took a deep breath he didn't truly need.

"I think James is right," he said. He looked back over at Cameron. "Nye isn't like a regular planet, and this isn't like a regular mission. We don't even have a stargate we can show them, and the most advanced piece of Earth technology we currently have between the two of us is your walkie-talkie."

Cameron glanced in James' direction. "James doesn't have anything extra on him."

Maahes nodded.

"Neither do you."

Maahes nodded again.

"So where exactly are we going to get our hands on this world's clothing?"

Maahes blinked, then turned to James. "James...?" he slowly started. "Where were you planning on getting clothing from?"

James stared back at Maahes, realizing the fault in his plan. He didn't have anything on him. He would have even a week ago, but his things were taken from him.

If it was just Maahes, Maahes might've been more... flexible and not objected to stealing as much. Cameron, however, seemed too morally bent on peaceful and lawful ways of going about things. He swallowed, dreading their apparent only other option.

"We'd... have to buy some. Or trade."

As he tried to figure out where they could get the money or items from, he absentmindedly slipped his hand into his pocket. His fingers brushed against the bag that was nestled inside of it. If Cameron had been less distracted, and if James had been in a better state, either one would have likely noticed the bulge in his pant pocket. But they hadn't, and it had admittedly slipped his mind until this moment.

He pulled out the bag, its contents clinking together as he eyed it to see how much he had left. He tried to retrace his footsteps. He must have used at least four of the coins in the time between when he left the SGC for his search and now, which still left at least twenty of them.

He placed the bag down on the cave's rocky floor. Popping it open, he stuck a hand in and felt around. Yup, there were still a lot of them left. He pulled one of the golden coins out and showed it to James. "Would this be enough to get him an outfit?"

Cameron gawked at him from his side of the cave.

James stared at the pouch of gold with a suspicion he wished wasn't there. He had no reason to doubt Maahes's integrity, but he didn't know how Maahes would've gotten that much money. Did he snatch it off one of the bounty hunters when he wasn't paying attention? Did he already have all of it when he got there?

It didn't really matter in the long run. If Maahes had stolen it, it wasn't like James's alternative was any better anyway. He gave a brief look over to Maahes, squinting his eyes, but ended up just nodding.

"More than enough. Gold isn't something we have in abundance, so it's worth a lot."

He faltered when he saw the suspicion on his friend's face, surprised and a little hurt that James wasn't trusting him after everything they had been through. He slipped the coin back into the pouch and put the pouch in his pocket. "That's good," Maahes said. He didn't meet James' gaze. "I'm guessing I'll probably be the one to go into town when we get there, right-"

"Are we really just going to ignore the fact that Leo has a bag of gold coins?" Cameron suddenly interrupted, gesturing at the pocket Maahes had put the pouch in. "Where did you even get those?"

"A couple of different places," Maahes said. He got to his feet and stretched. He didn't really need to do that - changing his guise would have been more helpful - but he did so anyways. "I got some from my village, and others from worlds I visited. Some were given to me. Others I found in ruins of old civilizations. I have a lot more hidden back on my ship."

"I can't believe you're rich and never said anything," Cameron incredulously commented.

James blinked when he saw Maahes falter, and immediately he realized his mistake. Suspicion was not something you were supposed to feel towards a friend. That wasn't normal. That wasn't normal.

He too looked at the ground as Maahes explained the source of the gold. Maahes hadn't stolen it or anything. Of course he hadn't. James was ashamed for even considering the possibility. Maahes wasn't like him. Of course Maahes wouldn't stoop to stealing. He hadn't compromised his morals. Not when he had a choice and his own free will (because he did remember that Maahes had been forced to serve cruel people in the past).

He stared at the dirt.

"Forgive me," he said quietly, wishing Cameron wasn't there but desiring to clear up any tension caused by one hurtful glance before it was forgotten and remained only as internalized offense. "I assumed wrongly -that - that you're rich for other reasons. I'm sorry."