Shadows and Mirrors

 Episode Name:  Shadows and Mirrors

   Written By:  Spider

         Cast:  Spider, Stewart and Tera.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Spider

     Aired On:  Sat Aug 28 02:50:08 2004

     Stardate:  54345.4

Time: Sat Aug 28 00:56:09 2004

Stardate: 54345.2

Stewart emerges from the shuttlecraft, blinking a little in the light, and stops in the open shuttlecraft door, leaning against it to one side. He looks out towards the main base itself first and foremost, not really paying attention to his surroundings at the moment, as he's still a bit groggy.

Sitting at the base of one of the humongous tree-plant-things that surround the shuttle, Tera is idly throwing rocks at a small shrub across the way, thoughtfully so. In this world, as in the other, her aim is quite deadly, and she knocks leaves off, one by one.

. o O Tera feels mellow.

It takes a couple of seconds for Stewart to notice the sound of rocks clattering, but then he turns his head and just looks for a moment. Blinking, he shakes his head to himself, before starting down the ramp and towards where she's sitting. Fioravanti says, "Wow, someone else who's frozen. :)"

. o O Stewart thinks "Is that... wait, not my Tera. Not that the real one is either, but..."

There's a flash of recognition, and then a quick shadow of disassociation in Tera's eyes as she looks up at him. A little nod of her head, and she pitches another rock rather expertly, snicking a leaf from the shrub. Snick. "Hi."

. o O Tera thinks "It's not. It's just not."

"Hi," Stewart echoes, as he leans up against a tree near her. Though not /too/ near, a nice, casual distance. Very carefully selected. "So..." He lets that hang silently in the air before saying, "I'm glad you're on our side in this world."

"Am I?" replies Tera carefully, looking up at him with a rather guardedly curious expression on her face. "Are you?" And another rock. Fwing-snick. "It doesn't sound like your group is on anyone's side but their own individual ones."

Stewart sighs to himself, and says, "Well, I can't really say that doesn't apply. Or to me, either. I'm off hiding away because I can't deal with them any more, and really, they shouldn't be trying to deal with me either. It's just causing problems." He shrugs again, and says, "So I suppose I just mean on the side I'm unlikely to have to be shooting at."

A soft ah from Tera, then, and she throws another rock. "It's always nice to not be shot at by you, or someone who looks like you," she replies, as the rock goes wide and hits a woody-stalked plant about the height of fully-grown corn.

"Not sure I could do it," Stewart replies, more or less aimlessly, before adding, "Sorry, just rambling. But hell, I'll apologize for being the wrong me if you'll apologize for being the wrong you."

"No? That's kind of a pity," answers the RRT-lookalike, reaching up a hand to absently push a chunk of hair out of her eyes. "I'd always thought you could do that, if you had to. Maybe /you/ can't." She looks up at him through her hair, which obstinantly falls back in her eyes, and queries, "Why would I do that?"

. o O Tera thinks "Let's not have this get weird."

Stewart looks at Tera for a long moment before finally looking away, "Never mind. Not really something to bring up. My apologies if I'm a little odd. Because first and foremost, I am. And because I've spent the entirety of the time thus far either in stasis, or spending time with a large group of people who are either convinced I'm dangerous, a liability, and unpleasant to be around, or else who are dating people who do. And you're a familiar face."

Tera raises an eyebrow slowly. "Everyone's a little odd." She, for example, makes a habit of flinging rocks at perfectly harmless leaves that never did a thing to her. Fwing-snick. "I suppose I am. So are you." She watches him patiently, apparently waiting.

"You'd think that when we're in a universe that is only tangentially related to our own, that everyone else would have more allowance for oddities," Stewart says, as he takes a seat with his back up against the tree. "But it's less so. By the by, if I'm bothering you, just let me know. I do have a stasis pod I can run off to."

"If you were bothering me, Jim, I'd tell you," Tera tells him, looking around for a moment for a rock to fling and finally just settling her hands in her lap. "People think a lot of strange things." She tilts her head back and looks up at him.

Stewart nods to that, quietly, and says, "Yeah, I guess they do." Stewart drums his fingers on his knee, and says, "So in this universe, you're seeing the charming version of me?" He chuckles a little, and adds, "It's kind of odd, really, finding out about what the other me has been up to, and is like. I feel like I've just found out I'm the evil one."

"In this universe, yes. Charming? Somewhat, though I suppose it depends on your definition," Tera answers carefully, relaxing against the tree and looking up at him. "Driven, really, is the better word for it. Ever since Wendy died... "

Stewart nods quietly, saying, "Either your James Stewart is a very different man, or your Wendy Tyler was a very different woman from the analogues in my world. In that I don't much care for the one in my universe."

Tera wrinkles up her brow slightly and looks off into the forest. "I think it's highly probable that both of those things and neither of those things are true. Wendy saved all of our lives over and over, and we did the same for her."

"Whereas our Wendy is both the cause of, and maybe, possibly the solution to all of our problems," Stewart says, picking up a rock of his own and pitching it towards the plant. "Well, not all of our problems. Just the really giant ones."

"And here, at least, we think that solution is our you," replies Tera, wrinkling up her nose slightly, and getting to her feet. She stretches her arms up over her head and shrugs a little, letting her arms drop, shake out, and hang loose. Her eyes examine his face. "Funny how that works out."

"Well, if all goes well, you can trade up this version of me for the other version of me, and then you're back in business," Stewart says, adding, "Which is the best I can do, really. Back in my universe, closest I got to rebel leader was that I was put in charge of a combat team for about... half a week."

Tera raises an eyebrow slightly. "I see." What, exactly, she sees, she doesn't specify. Her hands hang loose at her sides, fingers idly flexing.

Stewart just nods slightly to that, and adds, "Yeah..." He leans back a little further, where he's sitting, and says, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll have him back directly."

She looks down at him for a moment, and then reaches over to idly adjust a piece of his hair. "You're not the evil one. No one is." With this said, Tera smiles briefly down at him, and then turns to walk back into the compound.

Stewart looks back up at Tera, and says, "If you say so," before getting back up to his feet, watching her go, and then turning to head back into the shuttle.

There's a brief glance over her shoulder, and a vague, thin smile, before Tera slips through the hole in the rock face and disappears into the underground compound.