[day 151]

[somereliance]

Who: Watson and Open. (with a thread for Sherlock)
When: Day 151
Where: Kitchen and various.
What: John has found his footing a bit, but more puzzles have arisen.
Warning: none.

[for sherlock; kitchen]

John was making tea. It was something of a ritual, in fact. He found something different to look at every day he was here, but in the end, tea was always there for him. John was rather fond of tea.

There was someone else he suspected that he was rather fond of, though he couldn't say exactly how it was so. It was something that he needed to discuss with Sherlock.

Sherlock.

Everything else faded a bit when he thought about that too. Well. Now that John was able to think of his friend without wanting to crush his tea cup he thought maybe it was high time to actually see the other man, so he sent a short text, informing Sherlock of his location. Whether the infamous consulting detective would show? That was anyone's guess.

[open]

At some point in the day, John thought it might be nice to stop by the Hydroponics Lab and visit with Meja. She was a nice woman and one could never have enough of those in one's life. Until then, John's feet led him in search of another nice woman. The one that was unforgettable. Only, John seemed to have forgotten her.

He wanted to know why these memories were missing. She was a mystery. Not the kind that could be solved like a case. But.. the kind that took a lifetime to unravel. Here he was thinking thoughts that had no business being tied to strangers but.. well, John was a man of particular quirks of his own. Getting attached far too fast and far too easily was the very least of those.

In the meantime. He looked out for a door with Mary's name on it.

Comments

[wolfofmidgard]

In the late morning, before she could begin her rune experiments, Meja was easily found in the lab. There were new seedlings coming up and, as a nice surprise, they hadn't tried to take over the lab as the mistletoe had. The little green stalks were just peeking over the top of the dirt, and it was hard to tell what they were going to be. Too early, yet.

She glanced up when the door opened, smiling at the familiar sight. It was always a sort of lottery, around here.

"Hei hei, John," she greeted him. "How are you?"

[somereliance]

This sort of visit would probably become all too familiar to Meja, as John settle in and worked himself into a routine of sorts. Depending on daily circumstances, there really wasn't much else to do but socialize. It was a strange sort of status quo that the doctor was tempted to call 'peaceful' except that really, it hadn't been anything of the sort.

"Can people wind up missing chunks of their memory here?"

Watson sighed, offering a slightly apologetic look for skipping across the pleasantries.

"Sorry, that came out quick. What I meant to say was 'good morning, Meja'"

[wolfofmidgard]

Meja grinned a little, laughing to show that she wasn't in the least bit offended. "Good morning. And yes, they... certainly can."

Whether it was coming or going, the Center seemed to enjoy tampering with the minds of its inhabitants. She was certain that to those who had been here the longest, it was going to end up all too normal to deal with.

"Do you seem to be missing yours?"

[somereliance]

He relaxed a little. Good to know that she had a sense of humor. Not that he suspected otherwise, John had just... been surprised by a few people in the past few days. He found the current company a welcome relief from all of that.

"Either that, or someone is deliberately lying to me." Not that it had been the first time.

John moved to help with some of the plants. He didn't really know what needed to be done, but he hoped proximity would give him some hints.

[wolfofmidgard]

Seeing him hovering, the Valkyrie offered him a mister. Most of the plants seemed to enjoy it. For some, it was all the water they wanted.

"Is there someone from your world here?" she wondered curiously. "Or was it something from an acquaintance?"

[somereliance]

At least he understood the general idea of a mister. That was a step in the right direction. John grinned a little and went to work.

"Two people," His world, that was a funny way to put it. But the more that John turned the phrase over, the more it seemed to ring true.

"One that seems to know me well, even though I've never met her."

[wolfofmidgard]

"Hmm." Meja considered, trying to think back on all of the conversations she'd witnessed around here. "Well, if they are telling the truth, then they could be from your future. From what I understand, this place seems to grab at random. Time doesn't seem to be an issue."

It was only thanks to her exposure to the Aesir, and their way of looking at things, that made her comfortable with that statement. Time was a funny thing.

[somereliance]

John's reality was a fixed thing. Except that.. it had occasionally been shattered. By his own experiences in the war, and by his best friend who, just happened to be here where he wasn't supposed to be.

Believing in the facts seemed to be a thing of great convenience sometimes.

"I'd like to think they are. It would.. be nice." Because the idea that someone was there. For him.

Well. Who wouldn't want that?

[wolfofmidgard]

"If they do know you from the future, I'm sure they'd like to get things straightened out," she noted reasonably. "It might be painful for them, you not knowing them I mean — but the sooner you do know, the sooner you can both move along."

If she were a more jealous person, she would probably feel a pang of jealousy about someone from his world being here. No one from the Nine Realms — her Nine Realms — was here. No Eloise to lift her spirits, no Fenrir to pass on his wisdom, no Muninn to banter with. She liked those she'd met so far, John included, but it wasn't precisely the same. There was a tiny void in her where her friends and comrades had been.

[somereliance]

It was helpful advice and John nodded. He'd have to think about it, but eventually Meja's words would drive him back on the search for Mary's door. So they'd see what happened.

In the meantime. He is happy to shift along, misting the plants and marveling at the differences in them. John's never really been a plant kind of person. It's all new to him.

"What are these ones?"

[wolfofmidgard]

Meja comes over to see which plant he's misting, and smiles at the younger plant. It's one of the more recent that she and the others have germinated.

"I don't know," she has to admit. "It's not from my world. But the leaves are sort of fragrant. Almost like perfume, don't you think? When it's a little older, I'm going to see if it's edible."

[somereliance]

It was a natural instinct, but John leaned over to sniff the plan when she asked him about it. "Yes, actually." Though he couldn't quite place what perfume it reminded him of.

Possibly something that his sister wore, or something she'd once worn.

"Going to run a few tests on it?" Or was she the type to just nibble and see what happened?

[wolfofmidgard]

"If I knew how the technology in the labs worked, I probably could." That did, on the other hand, come with the idea of using it. And she wasn't sure any of it was safe, alongside not having much of a head for it. "But no, I was just going to eat some, probably. I'm..."

How to phrase it?

"...much more durable than a human being," she noted, cautiously. Now that John had been there for a while, maybe he wouldn't find it alarming that she was no longer truly human.

[somereliance]

"Ah."

It wasn't alarming, though it was a bit of a surprise. He'd come to expect strange things from the people here, but Meja was different. Mostly likely because she seemed to be the most open. Of course, John realized that they were all thrown into something of a survivalist situation.

He offered her a soft grin. "Well, as your doctor- did I tell you I was a doctor?" Regardless of her other humanness, John was still going to weigh in with is opinion. "As your newly appointed doctor, I'm going to have to recommend some lab tests first."

What was the point of having strange scientific equipment if they couldn't use it after all? And it might give Sherlock something to do to keep him from a state of irrational bored behavior.

[wolfofmidgard]

Meja laughed softly. It was probably safer to wait, she supposed, even if that meant waiting for someone else to crack the labs.

"All right, then, Doctor Watson. I'll try to remember." She took note of the surprise on his face and added, "I was human. This is how I looked, when... well. I'm a Valkyrie. We're resurrected after death, when we... die to save others. We're soldiers, more or less."

It was a lot to swallow, but now that John appeared to be slightly more settled with his environment, she felt no need to hold back the truth. Better that he know, in case he ever needed assistance.

[somereliance]

More or less a soldier was something that John knew very well.

"Like the mythology?" It was far fetched, but then again, what about this place was actually sensible or normal, a lot of nothing, that's what. John had encountered a very friendly dog-person-boy from another world not so long ago.

A woman who was potentially from his future, and a snide and tricky man with a penchant for pulling disappearing acts (not Sherlock, but that too).

[wolfofmidgard]

"That's right." Meja smiled in an encouraging manner. She'd grown up on the mythology herself; she knew how strange it likely sounded. But the real thing wasn't exactly like the stories. "Mostly, at least. Have you read them?"

[somereliance]

"Not in a long time." But he remembered some of the basics.

John shifted to the next row of plants in potential. "What is it really like?"

He wasn't a mind reader, he was just a curious man who had to find ways of dealing with the impossible. Asking seemed like the best way.

[wolfofmidgard]

She hrmmed quietly, trying to find the right words to describe it.

"It's a little more gritty, I suppose. Not that the Norse myths are idealized, quite the opposite, but it's all there, you know. Nine Realms on the branches of a... well, sort of a giant tree. Most people see Yggdrasil as a tree, but not all. Dwarves, elves, giants, dragons. When I first woke up as a Valkyrie, it seemed impossible that nine worlds could be small. But they're jam-packed with all sorts of life. It's almost relieving that I was simply relegated to one of them."