fateandfortune | Just two vampires, traveling the galaxy... [For Todd the Wraith]

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Just two vampires, traveling the galaxy... [For Todd the Wraith]

[continued from here]

It was a pleasant surprise to glance over and see Todd asleep on the bed, relaxed and peaceful. He can't have gotten much quality rest the night before propped up in the chair as he had been, certainly not when he'd been woken by her nightmare. She hoped that didn't happen again tonight, he had important things to take care of tomorrow; she didn't know all of the details, but with a civil war going on between his people, he needed his wits about him.

To that end, Rogue forced herself to stay awake for hours into the night, eating the dinner he'd brought for her and looking through one of the books from the collection he'd shown her before their sparring session. She didn't recognize anything on the pages, but it gave her a topic for conversation with the voices in her head, providing ample entertainment to pass the time. Eventually she fell asleep herself, the book held carefully to her chest as she curled up in the armchair, her boots set on the floor beside it. It was a fairly deep sleep, and she didn't dream for one of the first times in many weeks, something she was eternally grateful for when she awoke.

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"Thanks," she replied with her own smile. "I don't know if it's my injury or I'm just out of practice from our days off ship, but it sure took a lot out of me."

She felt really accomplished, though. The meal had turned out well, her students had seemed pleased with their progress. All around, it was a good evening.

It'd been a busy week for her, it was understandable that she was exhausted.

After they cleaned up, and the newbies thanked her, the commander and Rogue headed back to his chambers for some well-earned rest.

He decided not to argue about the bed, as it was probably easier on her ribs to lay on a flat surface than the rippling shifting of it anyway, and it was only for a couple nights at most, tomorrow he'd find her her own quarters. He provided her with plenty of blankets and all the pillows she wanted.

It wasn't until he was sitting down when he realized that they'd forgotten something.

"Guess we won't be reading anymore of The Once and Future King." he grunted

Rogue had been about to start the process of lowering herself to her quite pleasant makeshift bed (she'd taken quite a few pillows) when he made the comment. She grinned at him, having been waiting for this moment since before dinner.

"I may not have shown you everything that I got earlier," she commented slowly, her excitement showing through. Grabbing the backpack where she'd set it by her 'bed', she fished around for a moment until she was able to grasp the bulky worn paperback tucked at the bottom. She tossed the bag back on the floor and walked over to hold out the book to him. The Count of Monte Cristo. "I'd told Colonel Sheppard that Dumas is one of my favorite authors; apparently he paid attention."

So not a total loss of something Atlantis had.

The wraith chuckled, "He does indeed. Feel like reading a bit tonight?" he asked.

It'd been a long week and Todd wouldn't blame her for putting it off until tomorrow, but if she was up for it, so was he. He enjoyed listening to her, and was patient with him when it came to trying to understand why humans made of fake stories.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," she agreed, smile still in place.

She went back to her bed and curled up on the pile of blankets, propped up on the stack of pillows. "Fair warning: you'll probably have even more questions with this one," she advised before opening the cover and turning to the first page. Dumas was a master at creating complex, compelling stories that had stood the test of time, and she was quite looking forward to seeing what Todd's reaction would be to the tale of a man out for revenge against those who had wronged him.

As always, Todd was an attentive listener. But by the first chapter's end, he had a better grasp on the story than he had with Once and Future King, and thus asked fewer questions.

About five chapters in, he asked her to stop for the night, he could tell how tired she was and he did want to get back to their training tomorrow. Shame sparring was off the menu until her ribs healed though.

When they'd both settled down with only the haze of blue from the sky light filling the room, he asked, "Do humans often seek revenge for those they are affectionate for?"

If a female carried out or attempted murdering a queen and the queen's commander got to her before her own did, sometimes he might retaliate and kill her, though it was rare because that would mean the hive would have no female. So a new one who'd murdered the old was better than nothing.

Revenge among males however was different as he knew all too well. Prior to the completed gene therapy, seemed like an endless cycle of his underlings going off on their own with his hard work and attempting to end his life.

"It's one of the most common elements of human nature," she confirmed, a little drowsy from being nestled in among the blankets in her extremely comfortable new pajamas, but awake enough for a good discussion. "Sometimes revenge is just for something done to the individual, but it's a powerful thing when the crime is committed against a loved one."

She adjusted a pillow slightly and sighed quietly. "I supposed it's probably a difficult thing for you to grasp, with how different human and wraith relationships are."

There had been few times in her own life that she'd felt a yearning for revenge, but she certainly had in the days following Remy's death. He had talked her out of it though; he knew firsthand what that all-consuming rage could do to a person, and he wanted more than that for her. So she had simply grieved - though there had been nothing simple about losing what felt like the other half of your soul.

"Yes, that is true" he confirmed "The loss of another is complicated among wraith. We live for so long that if we were to ever feel as humans do when they lose someone, I believe we'd all be grieving masses unable to go on. I suppose, to put it better, we mourn the deaths of others differently than humans because we have it in us to not let it consume our minds and drive us to self destructive means...most of the time. Oddly enough though, humans aren't weaker for it."

Todd gave a small chuckle, "But oh we do enjoy getting back at those who betray us."

Wraith did like some payback, but it was hard when it was a death. It boiled down to one thing: Was the death necessary for the health of the hive? If not, then retribution was quickly brought down on the killer, but more often than not, it was just taken in stride.

She let out a breath that was almost a laugh, but not quite. "I can see that," she acknowledged, though she was sure that mindset presented its own complications for his species.

"For humans, death and mourning are... It's always difficult to lose someone, but the circumstances can make it more so. If a loved one dies of old age, peacefully, then at least you have the knowledge that they were able to live their life. But if the loved one is young, if their death is violent, if you haven't had much time together..." Her voice wavers slightly at the last, and she pulls in a shaking breath. "I really don't know how we survive it."

She didn't know how she had survived it.

"You did." He pointed out, "And you will continue to."

He fell asleep soon after that. Atlantis was pleasant with its sea air and waves lapping at the distant pier, but the hive was familiarity, and home.

The days passed and the mutant and wraith fell into a regular rhythm. Morning was for Todd to make his rounds about the ship and for Rogue to meditate and calm herself. Upon his return, they'd train. Sometimes the sessions were as good as those on Atlantis, sometimes he ached for the rest of the day thanks to a lapse in concentration, though those moments were fewer and farther in between. When the sessions ended abruptly or Rogue broke it off before they could end badly, they walked to help her familiarize herself with this end of the ship.

Finding her her own quarters had taken far longer than he thought it would. He had to find somewhere nearby his own that weren't the queen's nor another wraith's. Eventually he decided the old worshiper quarters were best. It was nearer the kitchen but had all the amenities she needed, unlike several of the underling wraith ones which were basically glorified closests by comparison.

The room was about the size of the sparring room on Atlantis, and the walls had beds within that could be pulled out, seven in all, and in between each of them was a panel for clothing storage. The bathroom was the same size as Todd's, but he insisted that she continue to bathe with him until the modifications to it could make it into a shower, which were coming along well, surprisingly, as hive ships were hard to adapt and change from their original design.

Rogue's ribs were healing but still at a rather agonizingly slow pace-by wraith comparison especially-and he wanted to get back into sparring, so he took her to the arena and taught her wraith weapons. Full out fighting would have to wait, but he could still train her in slow motion and what weapons were best suited. Wraith favored stunners, as the goal of fighting was usually to capture your opponent alive for one reason or another. Handheld and the larger ones that the drones typically carried were the two types, but they also had a variety of blades.

The daily time allotted for Rogue to meditate and center herself was incredibly appreciated as they progressed with her training. Without it, she very much doubted she would have been able to make the progress she had, now being able to hold her control for a much longer time while being distracted with conversation and reading. She could do it almost without thought some days, but it was like physical exercise in that while she pushed herself to go further each time, sometimes she overdid it a little. It was nice that Todd still salvaged that time by walking with her so she could get to know the ship better.

It was strange having her own space within the hive ship. The design of the room reminded her of those first days at Xavier's school, when she'd shared a room with a few of the other girls, before they'd realized just what her powers could do and the students were afraid to get too close to her. That there wasn't going to be anyone else in those beds was possibly the strangest part, and it reminded her somewhat of the war, of all the people who had been lost. She tried not to dwell on thoughts like that, though, because they didn't do anyone any favors.

Learning about the wraith weapons was something she hadn't expected, but she enjoyed it. It didn't compare to the physical satisfaction of their normal sparring sessions, but it was an adequate substitute.

"We need something new," she said one afternoon when they were having a particularly good, and easy, training session. "Something to challenge me." She worried that her progress would stagnate if she didn't make a real effort to mix things up on a regular basis.

"Unfortunately with your injury, there's not much else to be done" he said, getting up from the floor where they sat for her training. "Why? What did you have in mind?" He asked

Walking through Atalntis while touching had been the next goal, but as activity on the hive was comparatively silent, it wasn't much of a boost or change to her ability, and thus not really worth doing.

Sparring gloves-free would be a good challenge, but he didn't want her to further injure herself. It was best to save that challenge when her ribs were completely healed.

Rogue stayed on the floor, her legs crossed, arms resting atop them, and sighed heavily. "I'm not sure," she admitted, frustrated. "But I need... something."

She frowned, and decided thinking aloud might be the best option. "I can't spar yet," she was just as annoyed by how slowly she was healing as he was, "but I need to do something active instead of just sitting here. Walking around is too simple, but what about the taiji forms I've shown you before? The slow martial art I use during meditation sometimes?"

It was much less strenuous but still required a great deal of focus and attention. "We could work on my response time for turning off my power instead of how long I can hold it that way. It would be good preparation for when we are able to spar again."

Todd thought a moment on it. He supposed it was better than nothing, and perhaps it was better to start out with something slow than to jump into sparring as soon as she healed.

"Very well." he nodded once. He'd watched her enough to know the basics.

"Shall we start now?" he asked. They hadn't been at the day's training long so getting started right away seemed only logical.

Nodding, Rogue removed her shoes before carefully standing and removing the grey shirt she'd been wearing, leaving her in a sports bra-like undergarment.

"My hands move a lot in the form, as you've seen," she explained as she set the shirt aside. "This will be easier. You can touch anywhere that's not covered, I don't mind." It would make it more of a challenge if he mixed things up a bit, after all.

Todd evened the field by removing his coat and boots as well, and so that not only did she have to concentrate on making sure where he touched her would not shock him, but also so that any touches she made on him were also under her control. Or attempted to.

He nodded at that and they began their new training session. The temptation or want to speed things up kept getting in the way but eventually the wraith fell into the slow rhythm with her.

It was oddly calming once he got into it and so far, each brush of the hand or finger or block with the arm was met with "normalcy". No gut-wrenching jolts or the like.

It took all of Rogue's focus to stop her power from working at each touch, quickly scaling back the transfer of energy until it ceased completely. Combined with moving in a precise manner, including favoring her injured side, she tired more quickly than during their regular sessions. The fatigue was more physical than mental, though, so she pushed herself a little further, not ready to give up on the progress they were making.

The change in her vision was sudden and entirely unexpected. With a hissing breath, she pulled away from Todd, stepping back and covering her eyes. There was a slight burning as she felt them physically change, and when she looked up at him again, it was with the eyes of a Wraith.

They'd theorized that something like this might happen, that she might temporarily take on wraith genetic changes based on how much she absorbed, but it hadn't happened before now. Apparently those brief periods of pulling his lifeforce into her had added up quickly.

He quickly pulled away when she did, not wanting to deal with another day of aching limbs, but he quickly realized her loss of control was not why she'd stopped.

Todd stared at her a long time, not quite understanding, then remembered she'd taken on physical characteristics of those she absorbed before, and all their sessions together had been enough to change her.

The dim of the room would not be such a hindrance, in fact it was far easier to see everything, even the rolled up papers in the normally black cubbies above the desk. Everything was also far more sharp and little details stood out more. Todd himself even looked a bit different with her new eyes, the dark veins in his skin were far more pronounced, the color of his hair, the face tattoo was far more bold.

Wraith might look a lot alike to humans, especially the males, but through the eyes of one another, it would be like lining up Ronon, Sheppard, Keller and Teyla, the differences were far more noticeable.

He got a feeling that he need not tell her something had changed about her. Instead he asked, "How long do the physical changes last?"

The nature of the changes to her vision were disorienting for Rogue. Seeing everything in such clarity compared to before, the differences in his appearance, the way the lack of light was no longer such an issue. She stared at him for a moment, taking in everything before she let out a deep breath and turned away.

"It varies," she answered quietly, moving to lean against the desk as her strange new eyes wandered over everything around her. "A few minutes, hours." Days. If she had full control over the abilities she absorbed from others, she might be able to switch it off at will, change her eyes back to their usual human shape and color, but that wasn't an option.

"Well, so much for more training." he sighed. He figured it'd be best if they took a break from it and let the side effect go away, or risk more traits showing up.

Last thing he wanted was to give her the hunger of a Wraith.

No sparring, no training. Her ability and injury were certainly not making the trip all that fun.

Rogue had other ideas though.

"No, let's keep going," she countered, stepping away from the desk and back toward Todd. "We knew this might happen, there's no point in waiting to continue. For all we know, this'll just happen again next time."

She was worried about other potential changes as well, but the only way to completely avoid them would be to cease training altogether. And she wasn't about to do that.

Todd wasn't too keen on this.

"If we continue, there is the very real possibility of you developing the need to feed." he pointed out, and he didn't think he had to tell her how serious that could become.

"I think we should wait until this clears up, then we can gauge how long it takes exactly." it would be boring, but better than the alternative.

Rogue wanted to argue, point out that the possibility of that particular side effect was lessened because genetically he had been altered to not need to feed himself, though he was still able to physically do it. But she decided against pressing the matter, not wanting to fight. Her ribs were feeling slightly more tender than usual from the exertion anyway, so a break would probably do her some good.

Even if it did frustrate her to no end.

"Fine," she finally agreed, though her expression and tone made it very clear that she wasn't happy about it. "We'll wait." And she grabbed her shirt from where she'd left it, wincing slightly as she pulled at her side while tugging it on.

He knew she was unhappy about it but he had to keep firm on this and not take risks.

After pulling his coat and boots back on he let her lead the way as usual to the kitchens. By now she could do it perfectly, but he still wanted her to do it as often as possible without his help. Since they were done for the day, they might as well get dinner started as they'd be feeding quite a lot of the crew tonight. They settled on making stew as it was the easiest to cook a lot of.

Tomorrow they would return to the rendezvous point for the commanders and Todd wanted his warriors in top condition in the event their possible queen decided to inspect the ranks. Which also made him think of another issue. Should he allow her to meet Rogue or wait? Distracted, Todd cut his finger with the knife he'd been slicing potatoes with. He hissed in more annoyance than pain and quickly withdrew to wrap a towel around it to avoid dripping black blood everywhere.

Rogue was startled by Todd's sudden withdrawal, having been concentrating on her own tasks of measuring out spices, trying to vary the flavors from the last time they'd had stew. The streak of blood on the knife he'd been using caught her attention and she was at his side not a few seconds later.

"Are you alright?" she asked quickly, concern apparent. It wasn't like him to be so careless. It wasn't like him at all.

Just two vampires, traveling the galaxy... [For Todd the Wraith]

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Hope the jump is ok

Perfectly okay!

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