Tenth Gate [Video]

[forsometimenow]

Who: Jennifer Keller and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: N/A
When: Now

A year, huh... [Jennifer looks distant and sounds a little sad.] How... [She hesitates.] If you've been here for a while, what kinds of things do you do to cope when you're really, really missing home? Because I've been thinking about my friends back home a lot lately, and having been the only person from my world here this entire time... [She trails off, and decides to just wait for responses.]

Comments

[forsometimenow]

Especially when they've shown that they can control us, to some degree. [She tapped her augment.] They can give us new knowledge, make us go to sleep at will, and God knows what else. Sometimes it IS easy to forget that they hold the cards.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Someone always seems to be holding the cards...

[Wanda states out loud, yet the look on her face almost suggests that she's speaking more to herself, to her own experiences, more so than simply trying to make a point.]

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer sighed.]

But one of these days we'll be dealt something we can use. They can't be all-powerful, no matter how much it looks that way.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Jennifer's optimism helps clear the air somewhat, brightening Wanda's mood. She sits back up, reaching for another chocolate.]

A year is a long time. There must have been some bright moments in all this, yes?

[forsometimenow]

Making friends with you was definitely one of them. I've met a lot of great people here, but I'm especially glad to have people I feel close to. I'm not exactly the most sociable person, as you've probably figured out... it's hard for me to make friends.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[A big blush and embarrassed smile appear on Wanda's face.]

It is not easy for me to make friends either.

But I too am glad to have you as one.

[forsometimenow]

[And here comes a hug.]

Even if the circumstances were a little rough... relationships can develop fast during times of crisis. Or stressful situations. And it feels pretty great.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda stiffens for a moment as Dr. Keller begins her motion to hug, but it only lasts for a moment. She smiles, and returns the hug. It had been a while since she had experienced something like this. The warmth of a hug shared, not in a time of needed comfort, but just as a gesture between two people who care about one another. It lasts for a few seconds before Wanda pulls herself apart, her expression noticeably darkening a bit, and her tone sounding more serious.]

It makes it all the harder though when people leave...

[Annnnddddd way to spoil the mood Wanda...]

[forsometimenow]

[And that made Jennifer's face fall a little bit, too.]

... yeah, it does. I try to tell myself it's not that much different from real life... because you never know what might happen to a person. But on the other hand, back home I'm also not at the mercy of Atroma's whims.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda realizes what's she's done, and, feeling guilty, tries to swing the conversation back towards a positive.]

I suppose that is true. People can come and go from our lives, sometimes quite suddenly.

[She flinches a little at that, but she tries to remain dedicated to keeping things moving towards a positive.]

Felix and I spoke of this earlier. He said, simply because the heartache of losing someone is possible, it should not keep us from forming those valuable relationships.

[She blushes a little as she remembers their conversation, and almost giggles a little as she imagines Felix's reaction if he knew she was paraphrasing his words.]

[forsometimenow]

Yeah, exactly. I might miss my friends, I might be scared of losing them, but... they've also made me the person I am today. If I'd never taken that first step and decided to go to Atlantis, I'd still be living in Wisconsin, being comfortable never knowing what was going on outside my personal bubble. I wouldn't have seen things I'd never imagined and met so many amazing people.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

We are certainly a long way from Wisconsin now.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah, seriously. I thought Atlantis was far away from home, but the Drift Fleet really IS out there.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda helps herself to another chocolate. Seeing a new avenue for conversation, she decides to try and move things off of the Fleet.]

Atlantis... like the fable? The lost city buried beneath the sea?

[forsometimenow]

The very same- it's where I lived and worked back home. In my universe, it was never actually lost, it was just in another galaxy and sat beneath the waves for centuries before humans, being the curious beings we are, discovered a way to get to it and sent a scientific expedition there. I was head doctor for said expedition.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

"Just in another galaxy?" Well, I suppose that is one way for a city to stay hidden.

[forsometimenow]

Yep! And to be fair, most of humanity still has no idea it's there. The U.S. military and the U.S. government very tightly control who's even aware it exists, probably to prevent the place and the galaxy it's in from being overrun. When I joined the Stargate program, I had to sign a list of nondisclosure agreements a mile long.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

The U.S. Government trying to tightly control something? Why am I not surprised.

[She says it dryly, yet a bemused grin remains on her face. If only you knew Wanda... if only you knew...]

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer laughed.]

I know, right? And they're keen on it staying under control from now on- not just to keep ordinary people out, but to stop baddies from other planets and galaxies from getting in.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

I suppose that's good then. [Though, she's saying that more to be polite, and not entirely convinced of it herself.] I can't imagine what home would be like if the portal over New York had somehow stayed open, or somehow came under the control of the U.S.

[forsometimenow]

What was coming through YOUR portal?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Aliens. An Asgardian demi-god or two.

[She says it completely flat, off-hand. Watching for Dr. Keller's reaction, trying to contain her own giggles.]

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer blinked.]

... demi-gods? I'm... not sure if that's better or worse than what we had.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Well, I was not actually there to meet both of them. I have only met one of them, and he... he's not so bad. The other one, I've heard, was more of a problem. In fact, he's here in the fleet. Or, a version of him at least.

[forsometimenow]

Wow... I guess, like people, they can be good or bad, though.