Who: Jack O’Neill and Six What: Jack is worried about Six When: Sept 19 Where: Hallway Rating: low
Jack took one look at his room and then was out on a mission. He didn't know who his roommate was except that he knew it wasn't Six and that was important. This place was filled with creepy clowns and Jack realized he had no idea if Six was scared of them. He knew she was from a terrible place and creepy killer clowns didn't seem too far off the things that she had seen.
He was the quintessential picture the parent who lost a child in a shopping mall and was desperately in search of them. It was a bit quieter than someone shouting the kid’s name, because Jack had years of experience being worried and scared and not showing it, but if you looked hard enough you would see the panic.
When he caught sight of the small girl, he shouted her name to get her attention, then jogged to her. “Six, hey.” He pulled her in automatically for a hug - a big ‘you’re safe’ hug - before pulling away and looking at her. “You okay?”
–
Six wasn't exactly scared of clowns. Honestly, she was more afraid of regular adults. At least, she used to be. It had taken her a while until she got used to Sam and Jack and even longer to get used to others like Daniel. She still wasn't sure about anyone else but she wasn't hiding from them at least.
So while she wasn't scared, waking up in a random motel full of creepy clowns made her uneasy. It didn't help that she remembered what that other girl said a while back, about this clown that eats people for fun. Another thing is she apparently wasn't sharing a room with Jack, which would not do.
She didn't even see who her roommate was, she just got up and left. She ended up in the hallway, walking around until she heard a familiar voice. She didn't move at first when Jack hugged her, but she slowly wrapped her tiny arms around her. "I'm fine but I still don't like this." She paused then asked, "You don't think the clowns will eat us, will they?"
–
That was a tough question. He wanted to say ‘no’ and in the real world that would be the answer too, but since Jack had no idea where they were or why they were here, he had no idea. It was very possible there was a killer clown around here.
His lips pressed in a line before he decided on an answer. “I haven’t seen any real clowns yet and if they try, I have my gun.” Which he did, thankfully. “But not all clowns are evil.” It felt weird to say that since Jack was disturbed by clowns himself.
–
Even if he had said no, Six still wouldn't have believed him anyway. She knew he would just be trying to make her feel better and part of her appreciated it, but in her experience, things were never really as okay as people say they were.
"Okay, good." She wished she had a gun too but she had a feeling Jack and Sam would say absolutely not. Maybe she'd just stick to Jack's side as much as possible. Hopefully she didn't get sent back to her room every night like they did on the cruise.
"Right. Like not all people are evil?" That was something she had to learn and was still learning at times. She didn't think people were evil but she still had trouble trusting them.
–
Six was definitely right about them not letting her have a gun. She should prepare herself for an epic freak out if Jack ever caught her near one that wasn’t on a person. Probably one day he’d tell her about what happened to Charlie, but it was a hard thing to bring up. It had taken Jack years to be able to admit what happened to himself fully. There was definitely a part of him that was worried what Six would think of him once she learned he was the cause of his son’s death.
He nodded. “Exactly. Pretty sure the original intent for clowns was to make people happy and kids laugh. They just… I don’t know. Wear too much makeup?” Now that Jack thought about it, he wasn’t really sure why clowns were so unnerving, he just knew that they were. He was sure Daniel knew the answer to that though.
“Why don’t we try to find Sam and maybe if there’s a way out of here. It looks like we’re somewhere that’s like a desert from what I saw out a window. Maybe Nevada or Arizona?” He had no idea though. They could technically be on a weird alien clown planet too.
–
Six nodded. "Makes sense." Clowns were colorful and when she thought about it, they did look silly. She had no idea how they became so creepy or why, but they were.
"Okay." If this was anything like the cruise ship, then Sam should be in the hotel somewhere. Hopefully no clowns were bothering her. If they were, Six would have no problems biting one if she had to. Now she wondered what clowns tasted like. "What's Nevada or Arizona?" she asked, never having heard of those places.
–
Clearly they needed to work on geography with Six. Of course, they had mostly spent the last several months working on getting Six to be a functioning human and letting her have kid experiences. So far Six hadn’t demanded not to leave school and never go back, so that was a start. Sure, she’d gotten into some fights, but she only bit one kid so far - that was improvement.
“They’re places in the US. They’re deserts.” He paused, then went with. “You remember some of those scifi movies we watched? The weird big red rocks? They film there. The grand canyon is there too.” Jack now really wanted to bring Six to the real grand canyon. “Which means we might be in the middle of nowhere for a while.”
–
It had taken Six quite a while to get used to school. She wasn't used to being with lots of people all at once, always having preferred to be alone. She didn't even like being around one person at a time and it took her a bit to get used to being in a classroom. She still preferred being alone but she did try to be friendly. For the most part. She still got into fights and stuff, but only with kids that were bothering her.
She nodded as they walked. "I remember Sam mentioning the grand canyon before. I want to go there." It looked interesting. "Not sure I like being stuck in the middle of nowhere with all these clowns."
–
“Maybe we can have a bonfire with all the paintings. I’m sure a lot of Madison would be okay with it.” Jack had to assume that the Dome chose this place to mess with them in an unpleasant way. He just hoped it was more of a creepy way and not a threatening way. Of course, then his mind reminded him that it had been a while since they had been thrown something truly dangerous and he cursed himself silently.
“Did you check out your room? I saw mine had a stocked fridge. Not sure what we’re going to do with the few steaks I saw in there…. I’ve never had microwaved steak before, but I don’t think it’d be any good.”
–
"As long as I can roast marshmallows or eat s'mores." Otherwise, what was the point of having a bonfire? Well, maybe there were other reasons for having one. But as far as Six was concerned, the best thing for a bonfire would be marshmallows and s'mores.
She shook her head. "I didn't really look. I just left to go find you and Sam." She didn't even bother to see who her roommate was. "Me neither. Sounds kinda gross." Sure, she was able to eat meat now after Jack and Sam finally convinced her that no meat into town contained human remains. But a microwave steak? It sounded almost as bad as vegetables. "I hope that isn't all there is to eat."
–
He wasn't sure there were marshmallows to roast, but you could guarantee that Jack was going to look for some for Six now. He'd figure something out.
"Me too. Or a barbecue somewhere. I'd take that too." Thankfully Jack would be happen when they went outside and saw the barbecue. Small mercies.
"Let's head to the lobby and start from there. And on the way we can make note of anything super creepy we want to keep an eye on." In case they came to life or something. "I'm sure Sam is around here somewhere." She better be.
–
"Yeah." Obviously Six wanted marshmallows or something sweet but she suppose she'd settle for a barbecue if she had to. At least it was better than vegetables.
"Okay." She followed Jack. Hopefully they'd find Sam sooner rather than later.