#cleanwhiteroom

We got chapter six of Ad Noctum this week, WITH REWRITES – and so you all know what that means! Time for another cwr essay with Taka, hooray! Next thing you know, I’ll be forcing @taardisblue to make a cwr podcast with me. I’m thinking we could call it ‘CWR Didn’t Give Us a Comment Section’. Very snappy.

Anyway, let’s get to it – as usual, it’s all under the cut

I’m not gonna structure this with anything fancy – I’m just going to go through the chapter in order, discussing the rewrites. But I’m also going to throw a thought in at the very end that I missed out on my previous Ad Noctum post (which you can find right here). As with that post, I’m going to be mentioning parts of the chapters of Ad Noctum that haven’t actually been posted on the blogspot yet (chapters 7 and 8), which I expect anyone who is reading this has already read…but if not,and you want to avoid spoilers, then turn away now.

The first section of this chapter – from Volker sitting with Rush in the ring room to them leaving to go to the Second House base – has only got a few small changes in, and none of them are really anything of note. But, for the sake of completeness (and because most of them amused me), I shall briefly go over a few of them. We had:

• In Telford’s note to Volker about Rush, everything is the same except that he’s now underlined: Don’t let him do anything stupid
• Volker upgraded himself from being “…the space pirate lab technician of a crazy person…” to “…the Space Pirate Lab Manager of an eccentric egomaniac.”
• Volker’s list of ‘Ways To Not Die’ has more question marks in it (and a title)
• The chapter list in Jackson’s has three extra chapters: Chapter Eight—Directions. Chapter Nine—So You’re About to Be Made A Host. Chapter Ten—Bargaining. We also get some footnotes!
• Telford actually explains what an X-302 is
• Volker gets much further into his book in the new version, making it all the way to chapter six rather than chapter four when Rush snatches the book off him in the ring room before they transport down.

Obviously not much to comment on, but I do like that we can now draw parallels from AdNoc!Volker to Math!Volker. I feel like Math!Volker had something of an advantage over AdNoc!Volker, since I think we can assume that he had some knowledge of the Goa’uld and the Lucian Alliance before being kidnapped through the gate – although, that said,maybe he didn’t, since we know that he only joined the SGC programme more recently, thanks to them discovering about his genetics. So maybe he doesn’t know that much about everything. But anyway, regardless, the point is that when we see Math!Volker in chapter 60 and 61, it’s after a good few weeks/months with the Lucian Alliance. He is, as Telford describes him: “…the kind of guy who can make it through the LA’s initiation ritual and a genetic modification bath while still holding onto his sanity and his astrophysics PhD. You’re the kind of guy who can learn to fight. Who gained twenty pounds of muscle and a mean right hook…”. Comparatively, when we see AdNoc!Volker, he’s just been dragged into this with absolutely zerocontext and knowledge about anything – so he’s definitely on the back foot, here. But what I love is that we get to see the start of what makes him the person we see in Math in this chapter. We see him make these decisions that, no, he’s going to do everything that he can to survive. And he’s going to do that by doing what he does best – learning.Gaining knowledge. Because he knows that knowledge is the thing that is going to save him the most, in this situation. And, I don’t know, I just really like that, in this fic, we’re seeing this process of him becoming this character we see in the latest chapters of Math. And I think that’s emphasised by cwr adding things like having him get further into the book on goa’uld. And we’re also going to see that ‘mean right hook’ in Chapter 7, of course, which I’m looking forward to because I love that scene for many reasons. (I’ll talk a bit more about that scene later, though)

The only other thing to really highlight is those extra chapters of Jackson’s book, namely chapter nine – because, considering the way that Telford uses Volker as goa’uld bait in chapter 8 of Ad Noc, I think that ‘So You’re About to Be Made A Host’ is a bit on the nose and that’s probably very intentional on cwr’s part hahah. And we also get some footnotes – which I think, along with Telford explaining what the X-302 is, might be partly because cwr is realising that not all of their readership are that well-versed on Stargate lore, and so don’t have things like ‘Jaffa – KREE!!’ imprinted into their brains hahaha

There are a few more dialogue changes too. When Volker and Telford are talking, and Volker asks if he thinks Rush has been brainwashed, which doesn’t really change much but I think the little added extra line is very nice and also painfully true, so I wanted to highlight it:

Original

“Do you think he got—” Volker trailed off, the words dying as Telford turned to give him an intent stare “Well. You know. Brainwashed.”

“There would be,” Telford murmured, “Almost no way for us to tell.”

“Yeah,” Volker said dully.

“But, for the little that it’s worth, I would say no.”

Rewrite

“Do you think he got—” Volker trailed off, the words dying as Telford turned to give him an intent stare.  “Well. You know. Brainwashed?”

“There would be,” Telford murmured, “almost no way for us to tell. He’d probably figure it out before we did. Don’t think he’d take it to it very well.”

“Yeah,” Volker said dully.

“But, for the little that it’s worth, I’d say no. He hasn’t been brainwashed.”

There’s also this minor rewrite from when Rush woke up that makes me very sad and also even more concerned about what Rush has had to deal with than I was before:

Original

“Metaphorically fucked,” Rush said in one slow, derisive pull.

“Well—hey. I mean—you were—um? I was just concerned that—”

“Stop talking.”

“Okay.”

Rewrite

“Metaphorically fucked,” Rush said in one slow, derisive pull.

“Well—hey. I mean—you were—um? I was just concerned that—”

“Not unreasonable. But stop talking.”

“Okay.”

We’ve also got some dialogue in goa’uld, which was there in the original, but I thought I’d tell you guys what it translates to. Actually, I should probably briefly go over the Ancient in the other recent chapters too, although I imagine most people were able to figure it out purely from context – in Chapter 61 of Math, Sheppard’s little foray into Ancient is just the lyrics of ‘Call Me Maybe’, and then in the prologue of Ad Noc, Rush just says ‘no one smokes in space’. Goa’uld is a bit trickier because you can’t just stick it into a Latin translator, but this website basically has all the phrases that cwr used in this chapter.

Gal al’quel – an order to hand over an item

Shak’na kree – an order to surrender or die

Shal’nok – never

And then, there’s one key one that I’ve left out, and that’s:

“How are you feeling?” Volker asked.

“Ona rak ja’do,” Rush sighed, and, while the words were dry, there was an undertone of regret there.

(Please note – in the original version, we just get the dialogue, and the description of howRush says it is only in the rewrite)

Ona rak ja’do – There is nothing you can offer to change your fate. I will destroy you

Which, um, is a lot– especially with an undertone of regret? And this brings me to wonder about, for the millionth time, what Rush’s planis regarding Volker, and why he kidnapped him in particular. That’s something I’ll get onto a bit later, but Rush saying this sort of thing suggests that he has a pretty clear idea of how things are going to end up playing out, and knows that Volker isn’t ever going to go back to his life from before – that’s he going to come out of this completely changed. And that makes sense, considering those ‘extra’ excerpts of Ad Noctum that CWR used to post on their tumblr blog, which showed that AdNoc!Rush and Volker both end up on Destiny.

THEN.

We start getting into the second section – aka, the rest of the chapter, when they start their mission in the Second House base. The first thing I want to talk about isn’t actually a rewrite, but rather something I’ve been pondering for a while – which is, namely, what is withthis Kassa dust stuff? Because the really interesting thing is that it only seems to be affecting Rush and Volker – and Rush and Telford seem to have a good idea as to why. Consider:

Chapter 6

“We need to abort,” Rush hissed, his tone edgy. “Modified X-302s aren’t the only thing being manufactured here.”

“You worried about the dust?” Telford asked softly. “We’ll be fine.”

“Oh yes. You’ve convinced me with your baseless fucking assertion.” The words were clearly meant to be delivered in a dry, sarcastic manner, but there was an undertone of unease that brought a sympathetic chill to Volker’s bones.

Telford heard it too. He looked over at Rush, the movement sharp in the darkness. “You think it’s affecting you?”

“I know it’s affecting me, David, you should fucking well realize—“

“Hey,” Telford said, his tone deliberately soothing. He raised a hand, palm out. “I do,” he whispered. “Okay? I know. This won’t take long,” he whispered. “You can do it. And, if everything goes well, you can set this shit on fire on our way out. The whole place. I’ll even help you.”

“All right.” Rush sighed, readjusting his glasses. “All right.”

I have to wonder – because we know that Rush must know something about his unique genetics (and I can really argue this now since he talks about DNA later in the chapter, thanks to the rewrites), and we know that Volkeralso has the Ancient genes. But Telford does not. And Telford is the only one who isn’t affected. So, then, is there something in this dust which is related to identifying those who have that gene? Because if it is, you know what that reminds me of? The gas in Math that the Lucian Alliance pump through the SGC. The gas that only affects those with the Ancient gene, causing a physical reaction – which is what results in Math!Volker getting captured by the LA in the first place. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but the implication here, to me at least, definitely seems to suggest that the reason they’re affected is because of the gene.

And then, after they leave the main room and head into the corridor, we get some rewrites – which I was absolutely delightedabout, because this whole part proved me right about what I said in my last post about this chapter before it got posted. The main thing is that cwr makes it much clearer that Rush puts his glasses back on – and the interesting thing is that the part where Telford asks Rush if he’s seeing or hearing anything suddenly comes over completelydifferently to how it did in the original version, because Rush saying ‘not exactly’ now feels like it refers to the fact that, yeah, he has been seeing and hearing things since he pulled himself out of that gel, but those things are real ascended beings, it’s just that no one else can see them. Interestingly, the line where Telford asks Rush if he’s sure he can do the mission has been cut out of the newer version – I suppose it comes over as Telford being more prepared to call off the mission if Rush is compromised in the old version, whereas in the new version, he seems more determined to push him on anyway. Maybe? It’s a very small change, so maybe cwr just felt like the new version flowed better without that line.

That said, I forgot to show in the previous post on Ad Noctum – the thing with the glasses. Because now we know that taking the glasses off means that he can see any ascended beings in the vicinity – and Maddy (@taardisblue) very kindly found all the places where they’re mentioned in the new version of the fic. And each time, a couple of lines were added in after Rush took his glasses off:

Chapter 2 – Original

“Many reasons.” Telford said shortly. “For one, the initiation procedures for outsiders are—extreme.”

“Extreme.” Volker couldn’t help the sudden chill any more than he could help glancing at Rush.

The mathematician’s expression was utterly neutral, his stance uncharacteristically still. He did not look back at Volker.

Chapter 2 – Rewrite

“For one,” Telford said shortly, “the initiation procedures for outsiders are—extreme.”

“Extreme.” Volker couldn’t help the sudden chill any more than he could help glancing at Rush. The mathematician’s expression was utterly neutral, his stance uncharacteristically still. He didn’t look back at Volker. He seemed to be studying empty air.

Chapter 3 – Original

Rush stood, entirely still, staring into the air in front of him, as if it could save him from whatever it was that was going to happen when he met Kiva. One hand came out to press against the nearest wall. Volker had never seen anyone so clearly terrified. He couldn’t help the sympathetic thrill of horror that seemed to constrict like a band around his lungs and his throat. Rush didn’t seem like the kind of person who would scare easily.

“What—” the word was inaudible. He tried again. “What is this Kiva-person going to do to you?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Rush said quietly.

Chapter 3 – Rewrite

Rush pulled his glasses off. He stood, frozen, staring into the air in front of him, as if it could save him from whatever it was that was going to happen when he met Kiva. One hand came out to press against the nearest wall.

Volker had never seen anyone so clearly terrified. He couldn’t help the sympathetic thrill of horror that seemed to constrict like a band around his lungs and his throat. Rush didn’t seem like the kind of person who would scare easily.

“What—” the word was inaudible. He tried again. “What is this Kiva-person going to do to you?”

Rush didn’t reply, just continued to stare into nothingness. Like there was something there he could see.

“Rush, Volker insisted. "What is she going to do to you?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Rush said quietly, slipping his glasses back into place.

Each time, he’s studying the air. He’s seeing something. And, of course, we can guess what that something is. But I do have to wonder – is he seeing fod!Rush or fod!Young? Or is he seeing the ‘locals’ – the Ancients and the Ori who are so interested in him from his own universe, or maybe even beyond. I said in my previous post that I was pretty sure that the other ascended being – the blonde one in the Air Force uniform – was probably ‘Riley’, aka the ascended being who we see in Force Over Distance who comes from a d-brane where the Ancients became observers and protectors of the multiverse. Someone suggested the idea that it might actually be Math!Volker – which is a pretty good suggestion because it would explain the one thing that’s really bugging me, which is that the ‘Air Force uniform’ that he’s wearing is different to FoD!Young’s, which doesn’t really make sense because if he looks like how he appeared in Force Over Distance – i.e. looking like Riley, in Icarus uniform. Because, well, from Ad Noc, we know that Telford has spare Air Force fatigues, so it’s quite possible that before the end of Math, we’ll see Volker wearing something like that. I think the main thing that makes me think that this isn’tVolker is the way fod!Rush seems to group him with the other two, calling them ‘the locals’ – and the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any interaction between Rush and this blonde ascended being, despite the fact that we know from Math that fod!Rush and math!Volker have interacted a lot. Which suggests to me that there’s a lot more distance between these two – lending itself more to multiverse!Ancient!Riley instead. Of course, as always, I could be wildly wrong about this!

But anyway, the point is that we know that Rush in Ad Noc has been seeing ascended beings intermittently – and that they, presumably, are interacting with him enough to be distracting when he can see them (unless Rush just likes having staring contests with ascended beings…which is possible).

And then, we move onto the biggest set of rewrites – which was where I expected to find rewrites, but not NEARLY as many as we ended up getting – the scene where we see Ad Noctum Young for the first time.

I’m not going to copy and paste all the rewrites, because I would basically have to copy the entire scene, the whole thinghas changed quite dramatically. But let’s consider what these changes mean for the dynamics between the different characters compared to the original, and what my theories were before that I mentioned in the previous post I made:

Rush and Young (and also Rush and Telford)

So, thanks to the prologue, we now have a very different context for Rush meeting Young in this chapter than we did in the original version. In the original, as far as we can tell, this is the first time that Rush has seen Young. He seems to be focused much more on the fact that Telford knows Young, which means he’s from Earth – and therefore poses an opportunity to communicate to the Air Force that they’re in this situation when they shouldn’t be, in the hopes that maybe someone can get them out. He seems to act in a way to make himself memorable, presumably with the purpose of getting Young to remember his face, and actually looks into who he might be. In the rewrite, however, this scene feels completely different – it’s no longer about Young being from Earth so much (although that is definitely there as an undercurrent), but predominantly about the fact that it’s Young.It’s the person he saw in the prologue, the person he wants to find, and he suddenly has a chance to find out who he is because he doesn’t even know his name.And the intensity of his desire to find out who Young is gets ramped up, which results in him staying longer even after Telford tells him to go, and also results in Telford threatening to kill Young just to shut Rush up – because Telford recognises that it’s about Young,specifically. I am so so interested to see Chapter 7, because I’m pretty sure that there are going to be some more rewrites in the first scene where Rush and Telford have a bit of a standoff after Volker tries to attack Rush for what happened, and I can’t imagine that the strangely intense exchange between Rush and Young isn’t going to come up, considering how Telford ended up reacting in the new version compared to the old version.

Also, just as FoD!Rush said in the prologue – AdNoc!Rush definitely sees Young as his ‘mythic romantic ideal’, what with the whole ‘my love’ and that little wave that he gives him, and then of course the whole ‘cosmically assigned significant other’ thing, which made me nearly choke when I read it (and I was at work, for the record, so THAT was a mistake). The fact that AdNoc!Young also seems to be somewhat amusedat Rush is also absolutely killing me – I absolutely cannot waitto see how this dynamic ends up developing. I’m certain it’s going to be completely volatile – and I’m also 100% expecting Rush to actually frame Young for murder, or more likely blow his cover somehow, considering the conversation in the prologue again. I just think that would be perfect and also very in character – and I also am banking on these two having their own version of “…we’ll never be done…” since all the other version of them in different d-branes got theirs.

And on a more emotional note, I honestly just wanted to cry for Rush in that scene – his desperation to find out who Young is, and for him to know who heis, is just so palpable and so much more so than in the original. That look he levels at Telford, which Volker describes as “…with more naked hatred than [he] had ever seen on a human face.” It’s just….augh.He’s not okay, in ANY way, and he’s just so desperate for a way out, and Telford won’t let him go.

On that note –

Young and Telford

So, in my last post, I said that when I first read Ad Noc, I thought that Telford was still working with the SGC, whilst also definitely working with the LA, but that I’d changed my mind and decided that, at the divergence point we get in the prologue between the different d-branes, that Telford must have blown his cover and ended up working solely with the LA.

I have now definitelychanged my mind backagain.

For sure, Telford is still considered ‘in deep cover’ within the LA. From the way he interacts with Young, and the way Young reacts to him, we can see that the animosity between them is definitely more for show, rather than something more genuine. There’s a little more silent communication between them, and a little more evidence of comradery. Telford definitely seems to be invested in Young not knowing who Rush and Volker are – which he is in the original too, but (possibly because of how Rush’s dialogue changes) it seems to be even more crucial to him here, which suggests that he doesn’t want the SGC to know what’s been going on. So that’s really interesting. It’s also very interesting that Young is undercover here – I know he was in the original, so this is more of a general note, but compare this to what goes on in Math, where Young ended up going on a mission to rescue Telford – a mission that clearly hasn’t happened in this d-brane, presumably because of Telford kidnapping Rush, and the attack on Anubis’ lab that we saw the aftermath of in the prologue, clearly made things go down very differently.

Anyway, I’m really hoping that some day we get to see at least some of what the conversation is that we don’t hear between Young and Telford when Rush and Volker go into the other room. Like, what on earthdoes he tell him to gloss over what’s been going on? And does Young believe it? I really hope that some day we get an AdNoc!Young pov chapter because I am just so fascinated to see what’s happening on his side of things.

Afterthis,we get the scene with Rush and Volker, which also contains a bunch of rewrites, some small and some bigger. Obviously, there are a BUNCH of lines that are related to what we saw in the prologue – with Rush clearly recognising Young to be his version of that ascended being he saw before. His panic is much more potent here, to the extent that he ends up kneeling on the floor, and Volker wonders how on earth he’s going to get Rush to calm down enough to do what they need to do. It’s also interesting that in the original, the moment where they decide to make the nonogon out of fire changes slightly too:

Original

He tried to get a hold of himself, tried to think of something.

“If this Everett guy is with the SGC,” Volker said, “Telford won’t kill him. Probably.”

“Probably not,” Rush whispered.

“Which means he’ll report back. Can we—somehow—”

“Yes,” Rush hissed.

“Something he’ll recognize,” Volker murmured. “Something that will mean something to the SGC.”

“A nonogon,” Rush whispered. “For the gate.”

“That would do it,” Volker replied. “But how do we construct it?” he asked.

“With fire,” Rush hissed. “With fire.”

Rewrite

Volker tried to get a hold of himself, tried to think of something. “If this Everett guy is with the SGC,” he said, “if they know each other—Telford won’t kill him. Probably.”

“Probably not,” Rush whispered. “Not a given, but probably not.”

“Which means, if Telford lets him live, he’ll report back. Can we somehow symbolically—”

“Not a bad idea.” Rush looked up, detangling his hands from his hair, clearly hopeful.

“Something he’ll recognize,” Volker murmured. “Something that will mean something to the SGC. Something associated with you. Why were they trying to recruit you?”

“A nonogon?” Rush whispered. “For the cyphers?”

“That would do it,” Volker replied. “But how do we construct it?”

“With fire,” Rush said. “With fire.”

In the original version, it seems more like an idea that they come up with together – or, rather, that once Volker starts to suggest it, Rush takes the idea and runs. Whereas, in the newer version, a lot more of it seems to come from Volker. Rush is a lot more wrapped up in his panic. I also think it’s really interesting that cwr changed it from ‘nonogon = gate’ to ‘nonogon = cyphers’ – I’m not sure if that’s just because it’s clearer (since Rush was initially asked to help the Air Force figure out the cyphers), or because cwr shifted focus more onto the cyphers after writing the original version of this chapter. But it’s interesting.

There are also a few lines added that relate to the changes that Rush has gone through, thanks to the gel, such as the one about him being better at estimating arc lengths, but also more crucially the one about DNA being a kind of crystal, and Rush musing about whether he’d be able to learn to hear it. I can’t help but wonder – can he already hear it? Either way, he’s clearly aware that it would be an advantageto hear DNA, suggesting that he knows what he’s listening for – namely, the Ancient genes that both he and Volker carry. Because I’m pretty certain that the main reason that Rush went for Volker,rather than any other scientist, was not just for his dataset. As Volker asks himself, why didn’t Rush just steal the data? Why take Volker too? And I think it’s got to be because Rush knows about his DNA. Possibly, he finds out the same way that Telford found out about him (and, presumably, how the SGC found him in the other branes) – through the national bone marrow registry. This would make sense, because it would explain why Rush would target Volker specifically, and then decide that he can use his data as an excuse for why he needs him – but then, surely, Telford would recognise the name from the list as well? However, there’s also the possibility that Rush didn’t know – that he went to meet with Volker to steal his data, and that he sensedthose genes, somehow? Heard them, like he talks about here? And then decides to kidnap him becauseof that, perhaps? Not sure, I just think the fact that cwr specifically adds this line about Rush hearing crystals and DNA being crystals is kind of crucial – because we knowRush was in that stuff for way longer than he should have been, and that it’s had a serious impact on him physiologically. I also don’t trust him not to lie, especially in THIS d-brane.  

There’s a bunch of other changes in this scene as it continues into the part where Rush makes Volker figure out how to open the door. Volker thinks things like ‘just when he thought he and Rush had some common ground’ compared to ‘just when he thought that Rush wasn’t psychotic’, and Rush’s line in response to Volker about proving that he’s not afraid/that’s he’s a pathetic excuse for a human being is met with the response “…I’m not trying to prove anything…” compared to “…do I really need to prove that to you?”. The changes are quite subtle, but to me they seem to make the whole thing read less as Rush just being an asshole (although, it DEFINITELY still reads like that) and more him being quite…laissez-faire with his life, especially in the context of the line from the previous section with Young, where he says that shooting him would solve a lot of problems. It’s almost like a retaliation against the thing that’s been made abundantly clear to him – that he has no control over his life. That Telford is in control of what happens, even as he fights against it with everything that he has, even if those ways are not the best thing to do.

Another change is that, in the new version, Rush goes back for the crystals. Not a surprise, considering what happens in the prologue, and the fact that we know he can hear them. And then, of course, Rush laughing the way he does when Volker decks him is completely new – in the original, Telford just pulls Volker off him and drags them both out of there. Again, I think cwr is just emphasising here how Rush is just…not okay in any way at all, rip. But then we also get this interesting bit with Telford taking the cigarette off of Rush and crushing it under his boot, which cwr added into the rewrite [to note – the cigarette was there in the original, just not Telford grabbing it off him]. Now, this is probably me reading into the whole thing too much, but there’s like…I don’t know, this nice recurring motif of Telford, Rush and cigarettes across the three fics. We see it in Force Over Distance, where Telford gives Rush a pack of cigarettes as a power play when they manage to successfully dial Destiny; and then, of course, in the shared prologue of Circuit, we have Telford smoking whilst leaning against Rush’s car. It’s just a little detail, but I love this repeating motif of Telford trying to control and manipulate Rush coinciding with the cigarettes. In Circuit and Force Over Distance, he’s trying to get Rush to do what he wants, to work with him. In AdNoc – especially in the context of this chapter – he’s trying to keep as tight a grip around him as he can, and keep him under his thumb. The way he tells Rush that no one smokes in space – the way he crushes Rush’s cigarette before dragging him away…I don’t know, like I said, I’m probably reading far too much into it. But I really love it. Especially considering how much more Rush seems to be Not Dealing Well With Things in the rewrite (not that he was doing well at all in the original haha).

That’s all I really have to say on Chapter 6! I just wanted to throw the last thought that I had at the end about the prologue that I forgot to talk about before, and that’s Rush speaking Ancient. First off – I think it’s weird that the genetic changes mean that Rush develops the ability to speak another language? Because, obviously, in FoD he ends up speaking Ancient, but I honestly assumed that this was because Destiny dumped the language into his brain when it trapped him in and did the genetic changes. But maybe it was the changes themselvesthat did something? I also wonder if what the chair did to Rush on Destiny is actually continuing the process that got started (and interrupted too early) in the Force Over Distance brane…and so, therefore, would AdNoc!Rush need those changes, when he ends up on Destiny? HOWEVER, we do know that this is a thing that Ancient tech has done in the past. It came to my attention the other day (thanks to Maddy, who is less well-versed in all things stargate since I dragged her into this fandom by shoving Force Over Distance in her direction before she’d even seen SGU, let alone the rest of the show) that there’s a bit about Rush speaking Ancient in chapter 7 that might be confusing to people. There’s a bit when Rush yells at Volker in Ancient under duress, and Telford immediatelylatches onto it and seems very unnerved. And I think the reason for this, for those who don’t know stargate so well, is probably because there are multiple occasions during SG-1 where the team have run into some rather aggressive Ancient technology which has downloaded a ton of information in someone’s brain, resulting in them gradually speaking Ancient and being unable to understand English at all, before gradually their brain stops functioning properly entirely because the information in there is too much. Obviously, this is not what’s happening to Rush here, but I think that Telford would be thinking of these scenarios, and that’swhy he’s so worried. I also wonder if maybe the reason Rush can speak Ancient has something to do with where he is on the ‘ascension spectrum’, as FoD!Rush calls it – like he can see all these ascended beings, so maybe there’s some kind of…I don’t know, a psychic overlap which means the language is just…in his brain now? I have no idea. We’re probably not meant to think about it so hard hahaha – but I do really love it when Rush and other characters start speaking Ancient, especially when they start struggling with English too. Don’t ask me why, I just really love that particular arc in Force Over Distance haha

Anyway, hope you found these thoughts interesting! I am afraid I am quite tired, and as a result I’m not proof reading this thing at all. I hope it is not riddled with errors, but if it is, I apologise. And feel free to send me any thoughts!