Young Writers Society

He ducked his head down in embarrassment. "I see. So, uh, when did you realize that the rest of the world wasn't like this place?"

“When i first moved here! I just felt off and I decided to investigate. Then I found our friendly sea monster and it just escalated from there!”

"Lake monster, he's fresh-water," Rowan corrects softly.

He glanced back at the lake monster in question, smiling as he caught a brief glimpse of it before turning back around. He had seen many strange things during his travels, but there was just something about seeing something odd on his Earth that made his heart soar.

"I wonder what the history of this town is..." he mused, more to himself than to the others. How did all of these supernatural and bizarre people end up one place? Had it been planned, or had it happened accidentally?

Xi smiles. She knew all of the history, but she wasn’t about to say it to this land-wallower.

"I don't know much - never looked into it - but I do know it's always been a place where hunters don't come. That's how a lot of us ended up here, including me," Rowan says.

“Yeah.”

A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. That sounded...nice. He was overcome by the urge to stay in this little town; here, he wouldn't be so abnormal. He would be accepted for who he was. But even as he toyed with the idea, he knew it simply couldn't work. He had to return to the rest of the galaxy. He needed to get justice for Annie and her people's deaths, and he yearned to explore more worlds.

"Have you ever met another alien before?" he abruptly asked. If they had, maybe he could talk with them or find out how they had left...

“No, I don’t think so,” Xi says.

It wasn’t exactly a lie. She had never MET one, but the fact that she WAS one was a different story.

She tosses the rest of the deer to Lochy, who takes it before delving back into the depths of the lake.

Crossing his arms, he tried to think of another thing to ask. That had gotten him nowhere. He needed something to go off of: a clue of some sort, though he wasn't sure what. It took several minutes of thinking for him to come up with something. It was risky to talk about it with people who would never have security clearance, but he doubted the SGC would come searching for someone they didn't even know existed if he let the world's biggest secret spill.

"What do you think of gods?"

Rowan raises an eyebrow at the inquiry. "That's an odd question, Maahes."

“Gods? I’m a bit of an agnostic on that one.”

Xi knew she needed to be careful what she said. If she slipped up, even once, she was done for.

A sigh escaped his lips before he could even really think about it. He had been hoping that one of them had known something about the "gods" of the universe, but he should have known that it was a bit of a stretch. Gods, after all, were nothing more than stories to the average person. And the Goa'uld were even more elusive than their mythological counterparts.

"I was just curious," he hesitantly said. "I've...encountered some before."

She whistles, impressed. "Damn, that sounds like quite the tale."