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[shieldmonkey]

He's been working on more and more lately.

It started with the arrows for Clint. He knows that there was someone else doing it back home. For the other Agent Barton, that is, but in Darrow, even though they're facing different threats, he figured it was the sort of thing that might be appreciated.

From there, it had spiraled. Over time, his hand has started getting better, and though it still shakes, it's not nearly as severely as before. Words have started coming easier most of the time. And as such, Fitz has started a project.

The people who say they were taken from their homes and brought to whatever dimension Darrow is in have said that they've been around for over three years now. And though he's sure that in that time, people have tried researching the nature of the city, he's decided to give it a shot himself. And as such he's started working on a prototype.

Sitting on a couch in his flat, Fitz is surrounded by various components, some repurposed from appliances on-hand, others purchased from stores in Darrow with the meager money that's deposited into his bank account every month, and he's working on a device that will measure various electromagnetic fields in the city.

Maybe back home he hadn't had much of a purpose, but he's trying to find one here, at least. Even if it means looking for a way out.

Comments

[whenindoubt]

Jemma nodded - she didn't say the words for him; not because she was making an effort not to correct for him, but because she was currently wrapped up in her own worry about if Fitz would actually eat it.

"Right. Although the pesto's a little... different, because I wasn't able to find the right-" she pauses, and shakes her head once. "Sorry, it tastes very nearly the same, I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference, to be honest." She hates just how awkward everything is, but she doesn't know what else to say. "The words - it's okay. It's understandable, given what's happened.

[shieldmonkey]

It's not okay. It hasn't felt okay ever since Simmons arrived in Darrow, even though it should. Mostly because Fitz knows he's not the person she remembers, and the more he tries to correct that, the less it works.

He realizes then that he hasn't answered her question, her offer to come in and be his company for lunch. Offhand, Fitz can thin of a dozen reasons why he might say no; his apparently is currently a tip, he doesn't know what he might say to her, and things have been a bit weird between them since she turned up.

But in the moment, none of them matters much.

"If you're sure, then you could... I wouldn't mind company for lunch," he says.

[whenindoubt]

The relief on her face when he says he wouldn't mind company is palpable. She's been so worried that he'd turn her out on her ear, that he'd take the sandwich and then just leave her standing there awkwardly since she's had no idea about how exactly they were anymore.

Fitz was her best friend.

Given what he'd said just before he'd saved her life, it was even more than that, but she didn't even know how to bring that up, much less the rest of it. Instead, she flashed a smile at him, and nodded, moving into his flat when he'd made space for her. "Brilliant! I know you're likely busy, I'd just thought that it could be a good... new thing. A new good... thing." Inhaling, she tried not to outwardly chew on her lip, although she worried it with her teeth where it was less visible. "So! are you working on anything? I mean, if you want to... talk about it. And if not, it's fine, I do understand." Even though she mostly didn't, and she just hated how she didn't even know where to put herself. The awkwardness was.... well. It was a trial, but that didn't mean it was unsurmountable.

[shieldmonkey]

Simmons walks into his flat and he shuts the door behind her, and his stomach seems to flip in a way that he's not certain should be attributed to hunger or nerves. Maybe it's a bit of both. Either way, it's the first time she's been inside, and his makeshift workspace is a great deal less tidy than they'd kept the lab on the Bus.

"It's a, um," he starts, and though he knows what he's been tinkering with, can't find the word again. It's frustrating, because so much of the time, it feels as if he's worse around Jemma.

"I thought I should get a real read on Darrow. Take... readings."

He shuts his eyes for a moment, already disappointed with how this seems to be going.

[whenindoubt]

"Oh," she says with a nod, because even though that's not particularly descriptive, she'll take whatever she can get. He's going to talk about readings? Honestly, she is curious-- she's more than a little concerned about this place, and readings for any anomalies is likely the first course of action. Taking a deep breath, she follows him in and she's looking around largely because she can't help herself.

"What are you looking for?" Her fingers itch to flip through the stack of paper that's on the edge of his table, but she refrains right now because she really is truly hungry, and instead perches herself on his sofa, opening her own sandwich. "I've been curious myself - especially with the temporal and locational teleportations, or... whatever they are, exactly."

[shieldmonkey]

"A... um... anomalies," Fitz says, pleased that he's able to come up with the word straight away, "Markers, evidence of dimensional instabilities."

Simmons takes a seat on the edge of his sofa, though Fitz is a bit more hesitant to do so himself, pausing for a moment before he sits on the opposite side. The wrapped sandwich in his hands, he lifts it up to his nose for a moment and breathes it in, as if he doesn't quite believe it's what she's said it is.

It absolutely is.

[whenindoubt]

Noticing the hestiation, Jemma tucks the information away as her eyes flick over to him once then back to her sandwich, her head still bent. She's seemingly preoccupied with unwrapping it as she tries to figure out the best thing to say that wouldn't be far too awkward. The good thing was that he'd given her exactly what she was looking for.

"Have you found them? Is there any indication-" Pausing, her brow furrowed. "Is there any indication that when people just... appear here.... do you know if it's just them? I mean - I would assume that it's also teleporting the air in their lungs and the bacteria on their skin," she mused to herself, but then shook her head just a bit. They were having a discussion, not just what Jemma pondering on the plague problem.

"What have you found?"