what's in a wonderball????

[thebarkside]

Who: Wonderducks and pals!
Broadcast: N/A!
Action: On the Wonderduck! IT'S A MINGLE
When: From now until whenever the next mingle is. :')

[ ARE YOU A WONDERDUCK? are you a friend of a wonderduck who might actually be on the wonderduck ship at any point?? then this mingle is for you! top-level and tag around, idgaf as long as it's on the bird ship. ]

Comments

[dancingmd]

Trust me, I've seen a lot weirder.

[forsometimenow]

I bet. It wasn't very pleasant, either- the tentacles were sentient, took over my brain and formed a mass that tried to consume the entire city. Thankfully my friends were able to stop it, but it was scary.

[dancingmd]

Oh yes, I remember you told me about this.

[A small frown.]

I'm not sure what it says about us that we have bonded over aliens taking over our bodies.

[forsometimenow]

Oh, I remember that now... [Jennifer laughed.] Either way, I'm glad we did find each other. Being separated from home... from my friends and my dad... it's been hard on me.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly wraps one arm around Jennifer's shoulders and pulls her in for a sideways hug. (We know, we know, two hugs in five minutes, that's just how she rolls. Eat your heart out fangirls).]

Me too. It's awful, isn't it?

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer smiled a bit at the comfort.]

It is. I was always a homebody and hated being separated from my folks for very long, and Atlantis was the first time I'd been out of contact with home for extended periods of time. Even when I went to college, I was only a few hours away so I could always go back home if I needed to. So this separation has been killer.

[dancingmd]

The physical separation I can deal with: can't say I like it, but I'm used to that. We have very little control over our assignments in Starfleet, and sometimes we can be weeks and weeks away from the nearest Federation ship or outpost. But even then, I could always call or write, there was always some way to maintain contact. Not like here.

[She releases Jennifer from the hug and instead loops one arm around Jennifer's and starts to walk towards the clinic.]

I know it sounds trite to say "at least we're not alone" but trust me, I've been the lone person in an entire universe and it is not something I ever care to relive.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer follows, internally shuddering at the thought of literally being alone in the universe.]

Yeah... I had e-mail. Video calls. And I could go home even if it required a 3-week trip on one of our ships to get there. But here... I don't even recognize any of the planets we've landed on. It really increases that feeling that I don't belong here.

[dancingmd]

[She nods but doesn't respond right away. What she's about to say, she hasn't given voice to before this, for fear of insulting or alienating someone.]

You know, I've had people here tell me how lucky I am, because I come from a universe like this, but... while I don't want to dismiss the advantages I do have because of my familiarity with space travel... this isn't like home. Oh sure, there are a few similarities but none of it feels right, and the similarities just serve as a reminder of what I'm missing.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah... I feel the same way sometimes. Sure, we are a bit better off because we know a bit more about what's going on, but... that knowledge hasn't really given me a leg up in a lot of ways. Like, I still had to learn how to use some of the ship's equipment despite that and my augment. It felt a bit like I was back to square one.

[dancingmd]

Exactly! [Someone understands.] I mean, I had to relearn to pilot a shuttle, which is something I've known how to do for... twenty years! You can't expect technology to work exactly the same between universes.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah- that should be evident by all of the different people from different places who have been brought here. I guess it's easier to assume it's all the same if you're not from a place like us, though- if this is far beyond someone's reckoning, or all the exposure they've had to something like the Drift Fleet is sci-fi shows.

[dancingmd]

Very true. After all, I've done the same thing in conflating many of the magical realms together, even though there are some profound differences.

[Her forehead wrinkles.]

Magic is very confusing.

[forsometimenow]

Tell me about it. I'm glad we have it, but I'm not sure I'll ever understand it.

[dancingmd]

Physics has never been my strong suit, but I'm sure there is some scientific explanation behind it. Danya was explaining some magical theory to me before she left, but we never got very far in our studies.

[forsometimenow]

Usually there is- part of the reason we were on Atlantis was a scientific study, because the civilization that built it left behind a lot of technology we didn't understand. Some of it seemed like magic, but there was always some sort of logical explanation behind it. Usually discovered by Rodney- he's one of the world's top astrophysicists.

[dancingmd]

Too bad we don't have someone like him around. I'd love to know how this all works.

[forsometimenow]

Me, too. He might even be able to figure out a way to send us home.

[dancingmd]

I bet if we had both our teams here, we'd find a way out.

[She smiles a little.]

Probably why Atroma took us doctors instead of the physicists.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah, that's true. I feel rather boring compared to the rest of my team, but at least I won't be the one to cobble together a bunch of spare parts and open up a portal or something.

[dancingmd]

[She laughs.]

No, doctors aren't particularly known for our abilities to rip holes in space and time. I think the fleet is safe from us.

[forsometimenow]

We're just here to fix people and occasionally give sarcastic color commentary.

[dancingmd]

Exactly.

[Speaking of fixing people... They have totally arrived at the Wonderduck's sickbay by now. Beverly points at Jennifer's Atroma issued scanner, seeing as she doesn't have her own tricorder on her.]

May I?

[forsometimenow]

Go for it. [Jennifer sat herself on the exam table, then lay down on her back, arms folded across her chest with her hands linked together.] Here's hoping us two geniuses can figure it out.

[dancingmd]

[She snorts.] I'm hardly a genius, so you may have to pick up some of the slack.

[Once she's gathered the appropriate equipment from around the lab, she begins Jennifer's scan. It takes longer than the tricorder would have, but it's good enough. When the results come up, she turns them to Jennifer to see as well.]

No unusual neurological activity, no sign of any viruses or bacteria. By all accounts, you're perfectly healthy.