[Open] an equation of variables

[hypoxic]

Who: Leo Fitz and/or Jemma Simmons AND YOU?
Where: All over -- Hopefully not around the dinosaurs? (but maybe around the dinosaurs)
When: Feb. 9th - 11th
Rating: Will mark if anything goes above PG13.
Summary: Jemma and Fitz are revisiting a near-death experience they had together. They’re slightly less than okay, but that seems to be going around right now.
The Story:

[ early event ]

[Ten days ago, they’d both been trapped underwater. There’d been an incident. Friends betrayed friends. They’d narrowly avoided death. Twelve hours ago, they’d been coping with the longterm repercussions of that, when a moment of sacrifice has the potential to turn into something much more permanent. Ten minutes ago, they were in the med bay. He’d been sitting up. She’d been trying to help him speak full sentences.

And now they’re here. Wherever “here” even is. They stay together for a lack of other options. And though they’re both easily recognizable by those who know them from Wonderland, there’s a particular sort of freshness to their faces. They’re substantially less weathered, even in their open discomfort. They’ll be cautious and curious both as they explore, though when approaching others, Jemma might be the one who does most of the talking.]

[ Jemma ]

[And there is quite a bit to talk about -- where the hell are they, who are these people, why are they here -- the questions are dizzying and almost endless and fade into the background almost immediately.

Fitz becomes her first priority, and she can sense that this grates on his nerves. Though they were told both the aphasia and nerve damage to his hand could improve with time and therapy, it’s still very fresh and frustrating. She wants to help, but that help seems to do little and less to improve matters. Still, in this strange place, she’s not going to lose track of her best friend and let him shove her away completely.

There is a lab that has traces of her and Fitz inside. She’s never seen it before, but if she could dream up a lab space, this looked very close to what she might come up with. There’s a library, a nice quiet space to sort through thoughts and find lots of books, which have given her comfort since she was a child. A girl’s gotta eat, so look, a kitchen (it gives you whatever you want! It’s almost too good to be true). And -- are those dinosaurs outside? Jemma’s not going to go out there to check (she’s had quite enough adventure for a while, thank you very much) but she’ll definitely be looking out windows and might venture up to higher floors to get a better look at them from the top. If she has to go looking for Fitz, she could end up just about anywhere.]

[ Fitz ]

[Sometimes when Jemma is absorbed with everything, Fitz sneaks off for space. He’s fully aware that he’s a liability like this. He’s holding her back, and possibly keeping her from solving the problem of getting them all home. She’s wasting her time taking care of him instead of handling the situation. So he’ll stay by himself as well, holing up in a lab that has his name everywhere (even though he can’t remember ever being here before), or sneaking down to the kitchen for snacks. He might even peek outside to check on the dinosaur issue for himself. He’d like to be helpful, if he can manage it.]


[OOC: Liz and I will both be tagging this post. Please specify if you’d like to thread with Jemma, Fitz, or both. (respective plotting comments linked) Our schedules tend to clash, so the “both” option will probably result in a slower thread. Sorry in advance!]

Comments

[hypoxic]

Not that one. [ there's a Jemma here. He bothers her. She needs the space sometimes. ] She needs to. She's. [ he fusses with the pile of raisins to give his right hand motion. ]

She's going away soon. I have to become. Ac -- Ac. Cus. Tomed. [ he has to think the longer word through one syllable at a time, speaking it as it arrives before it has a chance to leave him again.

[mucked]

[ -- her confusion shows plain on her face. peggy could hide it, perhaps, but she's only the hiding sort when what she wants to hide could hurt her. and although fitz has no way to know it, the prime source of her confusion is this funny little implication that somehow peggy wasn't talking about the right jemma simmons.

after his struggles with accustomed, she pipes up: ] Would it help if you substituted something else for a word you can't find? A -- gesture, maybe. Or another word?

[ peggy doesn't know what he's fighting, exactly. but she knows codes. given context and enough wit, she might be able to spare him the pause at every term he can't remember. ]

[hypoxic]

I can do it.

[ his retort is immediate, offense clearly taken. Is she testing him. ]

I need to do it myself if I'm going to get better -- you know that.

[ it's a fight he has with himself frequently. The protests practically roll off his tongue. ]

[mucked]

Of course.

[ but ugh, that's so tedious -- when she'd gamble that in a few days' time everything will back to tickety-boo. normal. but the prospect of explaining so to him just seems so...unhelpful. more so than everything else. ]

But is it such a sin to suggest a touch of protocol should -- heaven forbid -- an emergency arise?

[hypoxic]

Nobody will come to me in an emergency and you know it.

They think I'm going to... um. Going. To... Oh, you already know.

[mucked]

[ peggy shakes her head. ]

I know I would.

[ four words -- short and sweet. he might have difficulty with his side of the conversation, but hers is achingly simple: she absolutely would come to him in an emergency. ]

[hypoxic]

[His eyes drop then.]

Shame you're not real.

[What sorts of emergencies can a hallucination ever really have?]

[mucked]

[ -- ah, well. that explains some of it. her mouth twitches into a frown, only for a moment, and that's the closest she comes to expressing her disappointment in his verdict. ]

You're not the first to suggest that this weekend. [ ... ] However, I'm afraid I'm very real. Impossible to prove, perhaps, but -- you'll figure that out in your own time.

[hypoxic]

And now I've made you cross.

[His kinder Jemma is frequently cross with him, but never as extremely as the real one is.]

You aren't going to leave, are you?

[mucked]

This isn't me being cross, Agent Fitz. [ a little formal once again. ] You'll know when I'm cross with you -- that's a promise.

[ a strange one, perhaps. ]

But no. I'm not leaving. Not yet. Arguably, I will have to eventually. There's someone waiting for me.

[hypoxic]

[His left hand quivers, and he'll summon a little dish to house the rest of their mutual snack, pulling his bad hand close to his waist again.]

I don't like to be alone. That's why Jemma's been so important lately. Jemma and now you, I reckon. You make me feel like it might not have to be like this forever.

[mucked]

[ rather vaulted company, isn't it? jemma and now you. peggy hums her brief confirmation that, yes, she's heard what he has to say -- but maybe she doesn't know how to accept it. ]

Like I said -- I have every confidence you won't be. But quite apart from that, you're still as clever as ever beneath it all. Aren't you? I'd like to think you are.

[ this assumption brought to you by the fact that peggy's been learning a lot of about stephen hawking of late. ]

[hypoxic]

There's a word nobody's used for me in a while. They've got loads of staff more... Um. More... [Bollocks, she's just said the word.]

[mucked]

They've got loads of staff more articulate. [ she provides him his word -- cheeky, almost, because she knows damn well it's not the one he's looking for. ] But I'm afraid that's not the same thing as clever.

Easy mistake to make, however.

[hypoxic]

You think they'll let me back in the field someday? Maybe... maybe if I solve this. [All this. If he can bring everyone home from here.]

[mucked]

Truthfully, that will never be my call to make. [ not least of all because this whole situation is temporary. but also because she's no leader of his. not his shield. ]

More importantly, I want to caution you against seeing this place -- Wonderland -- as a test. [ an old itch presents itself. something she's been inching towards, courting the corners of, but never quite saying: ] I daresay you could be the one to get us out of here, you know. But not because it's a hoop you need to jump through.

[hypoxic]

Everything's a test. [He shrugs lightly.] 'm always proving myself. Taking the easy way out is what Hydra does. [They were so sure about everything.]

[mucked]

Something can be difficult without being your own personal Gordian knot.

[ -- then again, how often has she had this conversation with him? the ongoing debate over how much of your own self-worth is healthy to feed into tasks and tests and tribulations.

although: ]

Try not to think too hard about getting out of here. [ he's not going to like that advice. she knows it. but she also knows that it would be a far worse sin to take his ignorance, now, and put him to work on a problem he doesn't want her to force him to solve. ] At least not until you've found your feet.

[hypoxic]

I can do it. It'll help me get better.

[Everything will. Every stumbling block is just another thing to help with therapy. Isn't it?]

[mucked]

[ considering what the last stumbling block did to him... ]

I'm afraid that's not always the case. [ not every knockdown comes with a silver lining, cold as it might be. ] Doesn't change the fact that I agree you may very well be able to do it.

[ a position she's held firmly for some months now. ]

But you've only just arrived, haven't you? [ a necessary fiction. ] Only fools rush in.

[ but she lacks a touch of conviction. ]

[hypoxic]

[He nods, softening.]

You're right. Before any of that, I should finish building the... [He snaps his fingers impatiently, waiting for Peggy to present the name of his current project.]

[mucked]

[ she does her level best to mitigate his disappointment that she doesn't know the answer: ]

I'm the wrong person. [ he thinks she's not real. he thinks she should be able to supply the right words. but: ] '47 rather lags behind your year. Whatever you're working on, I daresay I probably don't understand it. Perhaps you can explain it to me.

[hypoxic]

[That makes as much sense as anything else his psyche has thrown at him. He nods.]

We might not have the resources here, but if we can manage to send a signal home, then we can touch base and get help.

[mucked]

[ -- still to near to the problem, she decides. but perhaps she can play dumb for his sake. ]

What, like a radio?

[ tie him up in explanations she doesn't really need. make him talk, use his words, but also run down the clock. this event can't be more than a few days. can it? ]

[hypoxic]

Yes, like that. A distress call would allow others to make up where we lack. Skye's injured. And I'm... like this. It's too much for Jemma to field on her own. She needs competent backup.