Come As You Aren't by Asturiet

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Title: Come As You Aren't
Author: asturiet
Rating: PG (for mild language)
Disclaimer: Not mine, SO not mine, wish they were mine, still not mine.
Summary: Parties improve solidarity.
Author's Notes: Just an excuse to put the team in costumes -- sorry it's a bit sappy. It's also, um, a tad long...sorry. Also, 'tis my first challenge response -- no need to be gentle, though.



"Look, this was not my fault!" Rodney said, his voice pitched dangerously high. John winced in sympathy for Rodney's poor vocal cords, but leaned forward anyway, his retort on the tip of his tongue. If Rodney hadn't been spouting off, AGAIN, the Tyrrio wouldn't have tossed them out on their asses. Again.

John had made it as far as drawing in breath to speak when Elizabeth beat him to it, her tones firm yet even.

"In the end, it doesn't matter whose fault it was -- what matters is that this not happen in the future."

"Rodney," John added under his breath, unable to help himself. Honestly, he was almost as bad as the physicist, whose face had started to turn an alarming shade of purple.

"Moving on," Elizabeth continued, glaring at Sheppard as she cut off the scientist's incipient rant. "It has been drawn to my attention that we are nearing the end of October, using the Earth calendar."

Rodney snorted. "Which is pointless -- we aren't on Earth, so that method of time-keeping is completely meaningless."

Weir shot Rodney a look that Sheppard couldn't quite read, but whatever it was, it worked -- Rodney's mouth snapped shut, though he suddenly sported a glare and his arms were firmly folded over his chest.

"As I was saying," Weir said pleasantly, ignoring Rodney's pouting. "I have received some suggestions as to a...party of sorts. For Halloween."

"Halloween?" Teyla asked, one eyebrow arching upward.

"An infantile holiday based on the idea that scaring people and the destruction of large gourds is fun," Rodney groused, still glaring.

John smirked. "I would've thought you'd like Halloween, Rodney," he said. "You've been trying to get chocolate from strangers for months."

"Yes, well, the people in this galaxy seem much more inclined to trick than to treat, so you'll forgive me if I'm not overly interested," Rodney grumbled, adding under his breath, "Besides, we're out of chocolate."

"Not everyone views the holiday in quite the same way," Elizabeth said, glancing from John to Rodney before settling her gaze on Teyla. "It began as the night before a religious holiday, a night where the spirits of the dead walked the earth." She shrugged. "Now it's more an excuse to dress up in costumes -- to pretend to be something you aren't." A slight smile crossed her features and she called up part of the Ancient database. "In fact, the Ancients had something similar -- they called it the Festival of Being."

"The Ancestors celebrated this...Halloween?" Teyla asked.

Elizabeth smiled tightly. "Not exactly. The Festival was a chance to 'follow a life-path not taken.'" She glanced at her notes again. "I get the impression it was something like a giant job fair. Anyone who wanted to participate picked a partner, and for four days one would shadow the other. Then they'd switch."

"Shadow as in...everything?" John asked.

Weir nodded. "It was supposed to be a way to gain insight into other ways of life."

"It sounds like the Kohmahni," Ronan rumbled, and Teyla glanced at him, nodding.

"Many of the worlds my people have visited have a similar custom," the Athosian said. "The Kohmahni is used to assist young people in discovering what they wish to do with their lives."

"Yes well," Rodney cut in, his arms still folded over his chest. "As much as I want to participate in some Ancient Career Day, I really don't." He glanced at Elizabeth. "Do we really have to do this?"

"I think most of us could use a celebration of sorts, and this is a good way of remembering our ties to Earth." Elizabeth tilted her head to one side, peering at Rodney as she tried not to laugh. "Of course, I'm not going to force anyone to participate. It's just a party." Leaning back in her chair, she folded her hands together. "Now, if there's nothing else..."

***

News of the impending Halloween party spread like wildfire across the city. Soon everyone was talking about costume possibilities, trick or treating memories, and even favorite horror movies.

The party was on everyone's lips when John and his team sat down to lunch in the mess three days before Halloween. For a few minutes the team avoided the subject for Rodney's sake, chatting amiably about the last mission, upcoming missions, and what was going on in the labs. Silence quickly fell among them, though, and Rodney rolled his eyes.

"I appreciate the effort, but you obviously want to talk about Hooligan's Night. Don't let me stop you."

"Hooligan's Night?" Ronon rumbled.

"He means Halloween," John said, dropping his fork. "And I have the greatest costume."

"Then perhaps you could help me find one," Teyla said, her own fork toying with her mashed potatoes. "I am having...difficulty in that area."

"I can probably help you, Teyla," Weir said as she walked up with her tray, taking the seat next to the Athosian. "It may take a bit of imagination given our limited supplies, but I'm sure we can think of something."

"Yeah, Teyla, it's easy," John said, grabbing his fork to aid in gesturing. "You just think of something that scares you."

"Oh please, Colonel," Rodney said, rolling his eyes. "If everyone did that there would be a party full of people dressed up like wraith."

"Well, you don't HAVE to be something that scares you," John conceded. "The whole point is to pretend to be something you're not."

"Or something you are, but don't seem to be," Elizabeth added, her eyes sparkling. "A side of yourself that you don't often show to the world."

"Exactly," John said, turning his lopsided grin on Teyla. "See? Easy!"

For a long moment Teyla simply sat in silence, her eyes wide. "I think I have more questions now than when we started."

"Don't worry," Elizabeth said, patting the Athosian's hand. "We'll find something perfect for you."

"What about you, Ronon," John asked, digging into his potatoes. "Need any help with your costume?"

"No."

***

The day before the party John showed up in the labs to ask Rodney to help the chemists with their dry ice machine.

"Unlike some people, Colonel," Rodney replied, "I have work to do. The water filtration systems have been lagging and if you want us to survive the next wraith attack, we need some kind of operational shield. I don't have time to help you pull off some stupid parlor trick."

"Come on, Rodney," John wheedled. "It'll take them forever to figure out the problem, but you...are you telling me you don't have five minutes to spare?"

"Yes, Colonel, that is EXACTLY what I'm telling you," Rodney replied, carefully turning a tiny screw inside the machine he was adjusting. Four other boxy little machines that looked pretty much identical sat on the lab bench.

"Well, you ARE going to the party at least, right?" John asked. He waited for a moment, but Rodney was ignoring him, immersed in his work. "It'll be a good team experience," he continued doggedly, lacing his hands behind his back to keep them from grabbing the screwdriver out of McKay's hands -- that wouldn't endear him to the physicist, and he was TRYING to be nice. "It should be fun -- I hear Kavanaugh's got some amazing costume, and Teyla said she and Elizabeth figured out something pretty good for her..." John trailed off again, waiting...but Rodney just kept working. "Even Ronon's got a costume."

"Good for him," Rodney mumbled, picking up a soldering iron.

"Oh come on, Rodney, you can't be THAT anti-Halloween."

"I just don't see the point in pretending to be something you're not," Rodney said, finally glancing up at John before returning his gaze to his work. "I happen to LIKE who I am."

"Well, you heard Elizabeth -- you could just show a side of yourself you don't normally."

"I hate to break it to you, Colonel, but this is the only side of me there is. What you see is what you get."

"That might've worked two years ago," John said, finally giving in to impulse and snatching the soldering iron out of the scientist's hand. "But not anymore. I've seen you do way too much, McKay."

"Well then you know more about me than I do, now can I please work in peace?" Rodney held out his hand for the soldering iron, which, after a long moment and an eyeroll, Sheppard handed over. He started towards the door, but paused halfway there, glancing over his shoulder.

"You're SURE you don't want to come?" he asked. "Everyone loves Halloween..."

Rodney finally pulled his nose out of his work long enough to glare at John. "Well of course YOU like Halloween -- you get to dress up as some oversexed He-man and be even more ludicrously flirtatious than you are under normal circumstances -- why WOULDN'T you like Halloween?"

"Hey! I do NOT flirt!" John squealed as Rodney turned back to his work.

"Right. And I'm Mickey Mouse."

John swallowed, desperately trying not to picture McKay wearing little red shorts, white gloves, and mouse ears. "What is that thing, anyway?"

"Nothing I care to explain right now, thank you," Rodney replied, turning one last screw before closing a little door on the side of the device. "Now if you don't mind...?"

***

The party was set to begin at sunset on Halloween. Not long after sunset, John strolled into the large meeting room set aside for the party and found the room all decked out and already partially full. It was actually kind of impressive -- there were the normal orange and black streamers and a large buffet table set with black linens, enormous amounts of food, and punch bowls that were smoking like the darkest witch's brew.

I see the dry ice has been put to good use, John thought, watching the white smoke flow over the sides of the bowl to disappear into the fog that was coating the floor.

"Huh," John said, watching the thick fog coiling about his feet. "I didn't know we had fog machines." The fog wasn't the only surprise, though -- someone had obviously gone out of their way to make the room as Halloween-y as possible. The lights had been dimmed from their normal brightness to a softer, distinctly greenish glow. Low screams from the far corner drew Sheppard's attention momentarily to the screen that was currently playing Psycho, but most of the room was filled with what sounded like organ music -- Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, if John wasn't mistaken. Nothing like the classics.

Once he'd taken in the layout of the room, Sheppard sauntered farther in, nodding and smiling at people as he passed. The array of costumes was almost as impressive as the room itself, especially given the fact that they were quite a ways from the nearest specialty store. There were, of course, the predicted wraith, but plenty of people had gone for the more traditional Halloween monsters -- Zelenka made a disturbingly good vampire, though he wasn't quite as impressive as Caldwell's version of Frankenstein's monster.

Eventually John spotted Elizabeth chatting with a small group of Athosians (some of them had decided to see what this strange Earth custom was all about) and made his way in her direction, snagging her when the little group broke up.

"Wow," he said, running his eyes up and down. "Great costume."

Elizabeth smiled graciously, but her eyes sparkled with pure, unadulterated mischief. "It's actually quite comfortable. I might take to wearing it all the time." John's mouth went dry at the thought of Elizabeth doing mission briefings in the little leather top, gauntlets, and long, slitted skirt.

"That might make meetings more...interesting." John said, desperately hoping he wasn't crossing any lines. "I take it Teyla helped you with that."

Elizabeth nodded, doing her best not to laugh. "She did." Taking pity on her poor, stunned military commander, Elizabeth turned her gaze to the rest of the partygoers. "I think a lot of teamwork went into tonight."

"The decorations are certainly impressive," John said, gesturing at the room in general. "Your volunteers did all this?"

"Actually, no," Weir said, one side of her mouth quirking up in a half-smile. "We did the food and the streamers, but the fog rolled in by itself around sunset, and the movies and music started not long after.

"What about the lights?"

"Those were like this when we got here," she replied. "I think we have a secret helper in the city."

"Probably one of the scientists," John murmured. "They're a lot more into this than they let on." He paused for a moment, considering his next words carefully. "Speaking of scientists, how did Ronon find a science uniform to fit him?"

"I have no idea," Weir replied, equally quietly. "But I'm more concerned with where Kavanaugh got HIS costume."

John's eyes flitted over the crowd, searching for the tall scientist, and when he found him, the soldier's hazel eyes went wide and round. Pink frills, a super-sized shepherd's crook, and what appeared to be a perfect little bonnet. "Don't you have to be little to be Little Bo Peep?"

"Apparently not."

"I think I'm glad we don't usually see that side of Kavanaugh."

"Agreed," Weir said, her eyes continuing to roam before catching on a newcomer. "Ah, there she is."

John glanced toward the door and smiled, seeing Teyla standing there, taking in the decorations. Excusing himself to Elizabeth, he went to meet his teammate, his sure strides slowing as he drew closer and the details of her costume became clear.

The hair on one side of her head was crusted into place with what looked like dried blood, trails of which ran down that side of her face to drip off her jaw. A perfect white flower graced her hair on the other side, nestled behind her ear. The rest of her costume followed the theme -- black and slick and smeared with more of the blood-like substance on the left, and pale and floating on the right.

"Wow," Sheppard said as he finally reached her, his eyes wide. "Teyla, you look...amazing."

Lowering her eyes, she graced him with her wide smile. "Thank you, Colonel -- Dr. Weir helped me put it together. I am supposed to be one of my people's old gods -- Arisha, Goddess of the Harvest."

"A Harvest Goddess, that's appropriate." He paused for a moment, finding his eyes drawn to the overabundance of the strange red stuff. "Harvest dieties on Earth tend to be a bit more..."

"Kindly?" Teyla asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was going to say "brown," but kindly works." Gesturing with his free hand, Sheppard continued. "They usually have lots of fruit and gourds and tend towards browns and golds and reds..." he paused, his eyes roaming over her again. "Though you seem to have the red under control."

Smiling again, Teyla's hand reached up towards her crusted hair, but did not touch. "Arisha did not embody the fruits of the harvest -- though some of the old gods did. She symbolized the things that went into the harvest -- light and growing things," she gestured with the hand clothed in the gauzy, floating garments, "and death and blood." The other hand gestured briefly.

"Death and blood?" Sheppard asked, his eyebrows high.

"Long ago, my people gave blood sacrifices to ensure a good harvest." At John's frozen expression, Teyla's smile grew positively dazzling. "We have not done this in many generations."

"Good, that's...uh...good," John stammered, and Teyla bit her lips, trying to keep from laughing. "Uh, so what's the blood made out of?" John continued, desperately trying to change the subject.

"It is the sap of one of the trees on the mainland. I believe there are many people who will be using it tonight." Pausing, Teyla's dark eyes roamed over Sheppard. "And who are you supposed to be?"

John opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off by a familiar whine. "An overblown celebrity who has been given much more credit than he was due," Rodney said, appearing behind Teyla.

"Hey!" John said, straightening his white, rhinestone-studded jacket. "Elvis was SO the King!"

Rodney snorted. "As if popular music would have died without him." The scientist paused, squinting so hard that Sheppard shifted uneasily under the scrutiny.

"What?" he said. "Do I have something in my hair?"

"As if anything could penetrate the layer of gel you have in there," Rodney said. "No, I was just thinking that you actually make a pretty good Elvis. You've certainly got the cocky womanizing thing down."

"For the last time, I am NOT a womanizer!" John glared at McKay, ignoring the stares he got from the people around him. "Besides, you don't get to criticize my costume if you didn't wear one of your own." It was true -- Rodney was sporting the same blue-and-beige uniform he'd worn all day. "I thought you weren't even going to come to this."

"I wasn't," Rodney replied, trying on a scowl of his own. "But everyone in the mess is here, so this is the only place to get food tonight. Speaking of which, excuse me," and Rodney was off to the buffet table.

***

The party was a hit. People filtered in and out all night, most of them sticking around for at least an hour. Some socialized, some watched one or more of the movies that played endlessly in the corner, and at some point one of the botanists even set up a little tarot table.

Elizabeth watched it all from the shadows, having retired from the fray after circulating for a few hours, playing the gracious hostess. She leaned on the wall behind the mostly picked-over buffet, her eyes bright and considering as she watched the others in the room, sipping her drink.

Though she often professed to have no knowledge of the various pranks and mischief that went on in Atlantis, in actuality there was very little that happened in the city that she didn't know about (though she, quite happily, really did have no idea where Kavanaugh had been hiding his costume). The party was no exception.

For example, she knew who had fixed the chemists' dry ice machine so that the punch bowls could froth and bubble. She knew who had convinced the city to play the movies in the corner (currently The Ring), who had turned the lighting an eerie green color, who had made the fog machines placed strategically around the room. She knew whose collection had provided the creepy organ music, and who had ordered the case of candy from Earth.

She leaned against the wall behind her, her eyes following Rodney McKay as he circulated through the crowed, a plate of hors d'oeuvres in one hand, ostensibly not wearing a costume. Suddenly a smile broke out on her face, one of the real smiles she so rarely allowed herself.

Not wearing a costume, she thought. Right. He's wearing the same costume tonight he's been wearing all week, pretending to be something he's not.

Laughing to herself, Elizabeth watched Rodney McKay pretend not to care about Halloween.

Comments

[ceitie.livejournal.com]

This is so cool and a fairly realistic version of what would happen if Atlantis did Halloween. I really love Teyla's costume, and of course Rodney's. Oh, Rodney.

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Realism is often a goal of mine, and though I couldn't imagine Rodney NOT liking Halloween, I also couldn't imagine him admitting it.

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

Like Halloween in Antartica. Very good.

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hmm...Halloween in Antarctica -- why am I seeing penguins with little orange bow ties?

[b7-kerravon.livejournal.com]

That was so in-character! I love it!

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I aim to please!

[dr-dredd.livejournal.com]

An excellent job! Everyone was very much in character, especially Rodney. And imagining Caldwell as the Frankenstein monster was the icing on the cake!

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Don't you just see bolts? I mean, Caldwell is already so STIFF...

[dr-dredd.livejournal.com]

I see the bolts. Unfortunately, I can't stop thinking of him as FBI Director Skinner!

[meret.livejournal.com]

Awwww! This is delightful! Great story. :)

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've been hoping for an "awww." (No, really, I have.)

[larianelensar.livejournal.com]

HA! I wondered what Sheppard would wear! Very enjoyable story!

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Like I said in my notes, I think the whole point of this fic was to get everyone into costumes...that's an acceptable reason to write fic, right?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/]

Hee. I liked this! :-)

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's wonderful to hear!

[korilian.livejournal.com]

I really loved this story. Teyla and Ronon had awesome costumes, but Rodney pretending to be an ogre while he set the whole thing up was great.

[asturiet.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it -- it was fun to write. Who wouldn't like to put the team in costumes?