video;

[hypoxic]

[There's some fumbling with the camera then, the usual motion blur that can be associated with a newcomer exploring unfamiliar technology.]

Right, so that's the camera there. And the microphone is... Oh, well that's a bit on the nose isn't it? I suppose that would make it easier for the lay user.

[A bit more shifting then, until he sets his device on a flat surface. The image is a small, softbodied man with a pointed intensity in his eyes. He speaks softly, in a thick Scottish brogue.]

H-hello -- to whomever might be listening. I apologize for this interruption, but I'm searching for someone in particular. I have reason to believe that Jemma Simmons has been staying among you. If you know her, it's imperative that I make contact with her. My name is Leo Fitz -- I followed her here.

[He doesn't mention SHIELD or their duties, though. The agency is such a touchy issue in the public eye, it might be a condemnation to draw unnecessary attention to it. There was no telling what kind of people lived here.]

Oh, I hope languages won't be an issue. Though I suppose it should be fine if we utilize this text function...

[His stare shifts pensively from the display to the camera and back again. His instinct is to pull apart this hardware and improve upon the flaws, but that would be entirely counterproductive to his means.]

Comments

[hypoxic]

[Visible hesitation then. The S-word means a lot of things to a lot of people.]

SHIELD's been disbanded.

[As far as the general public knows, at least.]

[actualwizard]

[Well that seemed to sorta be an answer. At least it told him about what timeline Fitz was from.]

Ok. So I'm going to assume that was a yes then. I don't think Jemma is here. She was here, about a year ago, maybe more, but I don't think she's returned. Has anyone told you what this place is?

[hypoxic]

[He freezes for a completely different reason then. Something cold runs through him, followed by a flash of heat.]

You mean there's a possibility that our quantum leap could have involved temporal abnormalities?

[actualwizard]

[ Yeah, Billy doesn't speak science. But he thinks he gets the gist. ]

Yeah, people who come here can be from different times. Different worlds too, some parallel universes.

[hypoxic]

[But he was trying to dumb it down, even... :(]

And those of us who left from the same time could have arrived in completely different ones.

Did you know Jemma when she was here? Was she all right?

[actualwizard]

[Dumbed down enough that he got the gist. Except Billy isn't sure Fitz totally gets what's going on.]

Well. I mean, you don't really know you're getting pulled here until it happens, but yeah, I guess that's possible. Though you wouldn't know she was also pulled here at the same exact second you were.

[Now he's confusing himself. But Jemma, Jemma is an easier topic.]

I did know her, we were friends. She wasn't here that long, a couple of months maybe, but she was ok. Coulson was here for a while too, but I didn't know him as well.

[hypoxic]

[He knows that he can make this fit into what he needs to be true. That's enough. It's not entirely scientific, but he needs this.]

It wasn't the same second. It's been months of study.

-- Coulson? [Trapped here, after he'd let Fitz know about his malfunctioning limb...]

How did he get on with his situation?

[Maybe he ought to have repaired it properly before he left.]

[actualwizard]

[Wait, what?] You've been studying how to get here? How did you even know this place existed?

[Billy is the most confused tiny wizard.]

Coulson was fine, I think? Like I said I didn't really know him. Only spoke to him a time or two.

[hypoxic]

I didn't. It was linked to a Kree artifact Jemma and I were trying to decipher. She triggered it accidentally several months ago. [AND SHE IS NOT DEAD.]

It's fortunate that he was able to adapt. I hadn't had the opportunity to modify his prosthetic to his liking.

[actualwizard]

[He blinks. Then he blinks again. Once more.]

Has anyone told you where you are? Explained this place to you yet?

[At this point Billy is thinking the answer is no.]

[hypoxic]

I've received the handouts, if that's your concern.

[There's no reason for the two theories to be mutually exclusive. "Magic" is just science that they don't understand yet.]

[actualwizard]

Then you know you can't really follow anyone here, mostly because for you she was never gone.

[ Or they had all been so wrong for years now. ]

[hypoxic]

I know it's improbable, though that's never stopped anything from being impossible. If she reached this place by abnormal means, then my ability to replicate those circumstances could suggest that there's a reliable method of interdimensional transport, regardless of the way you presently understand the conventions of spacetime as it is experienced here.

The troubling portion is merely that it seems to exclusively function as a one-way voyage.