likesthecoat | (no subject)

Ianto smiles as he spoons sugar into the cups. "I like that."

[ooc: Break? Eyes are tired.]

Teyla smiles softly. "It is a very appropriate sentiment. The ceremony looks to the past, the present, and the future." She nods to the cups. "The tea next."

[ooc: Sure thing.]

Edited 2009-01-12 01:44 (UTC)

He pours the tea again and hands her her cup.

Teyla takes it with a nod of thanks. "It is customary at this time to offer a prayer to the Ancestors that they will watch over those we have lost in their journey beyond this life."

"Um . . . perhaps you ought to do that. I'm not one for praying."

"I confess," Teyla says, "I am not as accustomed to praying as I once was."

She sets her cup down on the floor in front of her, rests her hands, palms up, on her knees and closes her eyes. "Pere lume tempo e teri, we ask your blessing on those who have traveled beyond this world, that they may find peace and rest in their journey."

Ianto places his hands in imitation of hers and watches Teyla, solemn.

Teyla opens her eyes when she finishes, smiles softly at Ianto and picks up her cup, sipping the sweetened tea.

"So . . . the Ancestors. Who are they, really?"

He sips, too. The mint tea is much better with the sugar in.

"They were once very much like you or I. Rodney says that they were the first evolution of this form. They built the great cities of my galaxy and seeded it with life, but several thousand years ago, they ascended."

"What does that mean, ascended?"

"It is the next stage in our evolution. They reached a point where they no longer required physical bodies and they exist now as pure energy." She pauses, sipping her tea. "That is, of course, the scientific explanation, but I understand there is a spiritual component as well."

"Really," Ianto says, and his expression, a bit more eloquently, says he doesn't like the notion of being pure energy much at all.

Teyla's expression is similar. "It is...very strange for me to think of it, but yes. When I was younger, I believed the Ancestors to be gods who watched over us, kept us safe when they could."

"What do you think of them now?"

"Now I know that they can keep us safe, but they choose not to. And when they were like us, they were curious, but arrogant, and this was their downfall."

Ianto chuckles dryly. "That sounds familiar."

"Oh?" She cocks her head a bit.

"Lots of civilizations have fallen out of arrogance, that's all. It's a common theme in history."

"Ah. Yes." She sips her tea. "I would not exactly say that they fell, though. They...fled. They were caught in a war they were losing, so they chose to leave the galaxy, rather than be defeated."

"Run away, run away," Ianto murmurs with another dry chuff.

Sadly, no one has ever introduced Teyla to Monty Python. As a result, she gives Ianto a confused and slightly amused look.

"Sorry. Um, that's from a film. A parody of the Arthur legend. The knights tend to bravely run away when things get too rough for them."

He sighs. At least Jack has been around for a century--he's got a vague idea of cultural references. It's hard to remember with someone who'd know nothing about them.

"I see," Teyla says, though she really doesn't. (It probably doesn't help that she doesn't know who Arthur is either.)

Ianto would sing Sir Robin's song if the mun could remember the words.

He says, "Sorry. More Earth stuff." He sips his tea.