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]

The destination was always an unknown factor. The artifact in question has been on Earth since at least the Byzantine empire. It was used as a form of execution -- but that's just the misunderstandings of savages who didn't understand what was at their fingertips.

It was an academic leap of faith. [It was his rock bottom.]

[interspatial]

I see.

[ this seems like there's a lot of unpacking to do. ]

Ms. Simmons activated it, and was the only one affected?

[hypoxic]

She was the only one in the lab when it went off.

[He'd left her. It should have been them both from the start.]

[interspatial]

Well, I've got one record of her name on the network so far... from a couple of years ago.

[ jane's eyes move back to her device from her laptop, where jemma's very first video plays silently. ]

Look. I can't discount that she came here because of alien technology, but I'd like to stress that many people from many worlds have come here and left via some unknown force that none of us have solved for yet. Even I've been here before; but if you search Jane Foster on the network, not all of the entries are mine. This me, I mean.

[hypoxic]

[She's asking him to confront things that don't automatically fit into his current hypothesis. He should be willing to accept that. It's their responsibility to uphold the scientific method. But he's still raw and intensely in denial. It's easier to set that new data aside and shift focus to the other interesting thing she mentioned.]

I'm sorry, did you say Jane Foster? As in Dr. Jane Foster, astrophysicist? I'm familiar with your work -- when I was studying spectroscopy, I encountered your research everywhere.

[interspatial]

[ jane nods, mouth opening and then closing again. while she usually prickles at this point, this man's frame of reference is much different than most of the people who recognize jane on sight. also-- kree is from her world? so that's four, now? asgardian, chitauri, dark elf, and kree. jane really wishes she'd had more opportunity to study while she was in asgard... ]

I-- yes. God, that research was probably some of my earliest work... Uhm, when are you from? The time in spacetime isn't exactly something the mechanics of entering Wonderland seems to be particular about.

[hypoxic]

If we've indeed been traveling cross-dimensionally, one would imagine that time is a bit more arbitrary, yes...

[He nods, because that all makes sense. Also, it's making sense with Jane Foster, and that's really cool (but not as cool as TALKING TO CAPTAIN AMERICA what is this world even).]

It's September of 2015 as far as I'm aware. Is there a local calendar that better matches the perception of time as it exists here?

[interspatial]

So far, the timestamps on the network have been relatively reliable.

[ the other option being figuring out who's been here longest and determining if there are other methods of time keeping than trusting the fake sunrises and sunsets so ... no thanks. and crafting atomic clocks means trusting that the atoms in this dimension operate in the same way and that they're not all just computer simulations or brains in jars. (ALSO EXCUSE YOU CAPTAIN AMERICA IS WAY LESS COOL THAN EXTREME MYTHBUSTER HERE THANK YOU VERY MUCH) ]

When I arrived several months ago, it was 2012. I just returned and came back after some more time passed. It's November 2013 for me now. But I was apparently in Wonderland prior to this, where that me was actually from what is my personal future, now.

[hypoxic]

Reliable for our perception of spacetime, yes, though that perception appears to be exclusive to our immediate area. Given the pull of our current dimension, this could result in our temporal experiences being fully arbitrary.

This is clearly someone's idea of "whimsical."

[interspatial]

[ jane nods, and shrugs to accompany her small smile. welcome to wonderland. ]

There are plenty of theories floating around-- you should take some time to examine them. It's certainly a case like no other.