I'm glad you liked that bit! I threw that in totally intuitively -- that little piece of dialogue was just *there* in my head, and I thought, "Hey, that doesn't sound like anything we've ever heard Ronon say," but it just sounded so right in my ear that I developed this idea around it that I came out really liking. I think it not only provides an interesting twist to that laconic thing that he does, but it also really struck me as interesting that he's very literally sloughing off his military training at the same time that he's unlearning these habits acquired from the point at which he entered this taskmaster/favorite relationship -- like he's somehow becoming, or at least getting a glimpse of the Ronon Dex he would have been if he'd never joined up and never been shaped (or warped, depending on how you want to see it) by that military ethos. Anyway, as random as it began, I really came to love that detail and the sense of going one layer deeper into Ronon's past -- so I'm glad someone else liked it, too!

The Ronon/Rodney relationship is really taking on an interesting life of its own for me. Hopefully further parts will answer some of the questions you have. Or...not, but at least hopefully keep you curious *g*