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Tweak says, "titty sprinkles!"

Dr. Jemma Simmons (drsimmons) wrote in paradisolog,
@ 2016-04-01 02:27:00

Entry tags:

~jemma simmons (drsimmons), ~ray palmer (_atom)

WHO: Jemma Simmons and Ray Palmer
WHAT: Teatime
WHEN: Thursday afternoon
WHERE: At the little firepit Jemma has made in a clearing
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Closed/Complete

It was fascinating how even the smallest bit of familiarity could bring such comfort. Jemma had chosen to be here, of course, but there had still been anxiety due to the change in setting and the grand decision she had made to leave her old life behind. It had been a big step, and while she didn't regret it, it had almost brought tears to her eyes to find something as simple and familiar as...a bush with tea leaves. Of course, a lot of things made her cry lately. Ever since getting sucked through the monolith and experiencing the trauma that had been that planet, since losing Will - perhaps the only person who truly understood what she'd been through there - well, she just couldn't cry enough. Even when she ran out of tears in the evening, she knew that there were more to shed.

She was getting better, at least in the eyes of others. She was finding joy in things before. She'd embraced her science again. She was getting out of bed. She was even finding hope sometimes. But she had a feeling that the darkness of that place would never truly leave her. No matter how much she sometimes felt like her old self.

She had this afternoon, finding herself in this vibrant ecosystem with the most amazing variety of plants and insect life. She'd given in to her excitement, which had allowed her to relax, and almost be hereself for a moment. She hoped that was a sign of the things to come, and that in this place maybe that ball of darkness at her center could shrink to the point that she hardly knew it was there.

She didn't even dare to hope that it would disappear.

It was really such a big part of the reason she'd come here...after being stalked by death for what had felt like years (even though it had only been months), it was incredibly appealing to have a chance to make life.

She'd managed to make a fire and had managed to hollow out a coconut rather messily with a broken-off stick. It made a rough sort of bowl for her to boil the water on, although it was taking far longer than she'd hoped, since she was afraid it would catch fire if she got it too close to the fire. She'd have to make her way down to the beach and collect some shells; it would be a far better material for cooking.

She heard steps in the woods and looked up.

"Ray? Is that you?"

Yes, perhaps she was a little more anxious than usual at sounds in the woods, but she couldn't help it. Not after what she'd been through.

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_atom
2016-04-01 04:01 pm UTC (link)

Immediately, Ray had felt an intellectual connection with one Dr. Jemma Simmons. They were like-minded in that they both intended to be intentional and selective with the choices they made for with whom they were going to reproduce when the time to do so came. She wanted to do a molecular study to see what, if any, alterations had been made to their surroundings by the gods to benefit their project and Ray wouldn't have thought of that, but since she'd mentioned it, he couldn't help thinking it was a really good idea and he hadn't even thought twice about offering his assistance, wanting to participate. Of course, they'd need the tools to do so, but Ray was confident that this island wouldn't be primitive forever. Eventually, the gods would have to offer them something more modern to work with if they wanted the community to expand outside of the primitive culture and, really, the only way to survive over the course of centuries rather than simply decades was to grow. They couldn't grow if they were never changing.

In any case, Ray found that he enjoyed talking to Jemma and when she invited him to share some tea she'd found, he was more than happy to accept that invitation. Beyond that, she wasn't in camp and hadn't found it yet, so Ray took note of the direction he was moving, notching into trees with a sharp stone he'd found every so often so that he wouldn't lose his bearings without a compass. Following the sun was possible, he knew that, but it wasn't ideal because he wasn't necessarily that good at it, given the sun moved through the sky throughout the day. He'd have to keep the sun at his back in the afternoon, he knew, if he was heading back to camp, but Ray thought it was just...better to have a backup plan in case his sense of direction completely failed him. There was probably little worse than to expect someone to lead you to camp only to find that they'd gotten themselves lost and Ray had mentally added Jemma to his list of prospective reproductive partners; he had a feeling that would be a good way to get himself blacklisted from hers.

Hearing the sound of her voice, Ray smiled and moved a little faster. "Yeah, it's me, sorry. I'm coming, hold on," he called back, because he still wasn't right there, but it was good to get a more specific location via the sound of her voice. The smoke led him generally; her voice led him directly. A moment later, he appeared from out of the brush with a great big smile. "Sorry I'm late," he said, "I didn't miss tea time, did I?"

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drsimmons
2016-04-01 06:15 pm UTC (link)

Jemma's face both brightened and relaxed when he appeared out of the bushes. She had been silly to worry so! Although, she told herself darkly, it wasn't that she didn't have reason. She had plenty of reason after what had happened. But! This place was different than that. It was her chance to put all of that behind her and take her place as one of the progenitors of an entirely new society. One that didn't have to be bound by the rules of back home. Hopefully, one in which they could correct the mistakes that they'd made the first time through. There was so much hope in this place, even her dark mood couldn't last for long.

"Oh, no, no," she said, looking at her fire with a bit of a pout. The water was sending up tiny bubbles, but it was nowhere near the rolling boil it needed to be to properly steep black tea.

"It seems that electric heat warms much faster than fire," she said. Or it could have been that she'd simply used the wrong fuel to get the fire going as hot as it needed to be. "But it should be boiling soon. I'm sorry I don't have any cream or sugar." That brought her mind in a different direction. "Have you seen any livestock on the island? Cows? Sheep? Goats?" All of them could be a source of milk and cheese - high in protein and good for growth.

She slid her hands a bit nervously into her back pockets and smiled at him.

"Ever since I arrived here, my mind is moving so quickly! So many things to do, so many things to figure out." It was a little overwhelming, but amazing too. That was exactly how Jemma liked it best.

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_atom
2016-04-01 08:10 pm UTC (link)

At the acknowledgement, Ray moved closer, finally coming to stand beside her. "The things we'll be learning that we've been taking for granted our whole lives," he laughed. He held up a hand and shook his head a little. "I don't put anything in my tea when I drink it, that's fine."

Ray was just glad to have something that might give him a little bit of a caffeine boost. If he couldn't have coffee, he'd take tea.

Lifting his eyebrows with interest, Ray shook his head. "No, no I haven't. I don't supposed they'd do well in this sort of climate, would they? Although, I don't know. I wouldn't know. I only got here yesterday, anyway, I haven't had a whole lot of time to look around, just yet," he said, "I've been working on my shelter and trying to sort out my subsequent priorities," he explained, a way of letting her know he understood where she was coming from. It was overwhelming, but probably in the best possible way.

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drsimmons
2016-04-01 11:23 pm UTC (link)

Yes, it was a very positive way. There was much to be done, much to figure out, but at the same time everything was...new. And exciting. And that was an amazing way to look at the world. Their society back home was based on thousands of years of experience and failure, and was often so steeped in traditions that making changes to the way things were (even for the best) was nearly impossible. Everything was in flux now, everything was theirs to change. And Jemma was here for the beginning of it all. She loved that.

"Yes," she said. "Everything I've learned...well, it's not useless, but I am having to recalculate everything and discover new ways of doing things that I used to be able to do at the flick of a switch. Like boiling water for the tea, for instance."

She shook her head. "Likely not, I suppose I was just hoping. Since they would make such a rich and renewable food source." Babies, of course, should be fed on breast milk, but cow's milk was good for growing children.

"I'm not sure yet what I should work on first. Once I have my basic needs covered, that is."

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_atom
2016-04-01 11:42 pm UTC (link)

Ray hummed amusement at that, nodding. He was learning that same thing. Everything was so easy back home that it became a whole different level of difficult, in the end. When things were too easy, people got restless and when people got restless, well. Suffice it to say, Ray was thrilled with the idea of being part of something fresh and new, a society that they could all build on their collective ideals and ideas; a society that they'd be building from the ground up which could be built on the foundations of the things they'd learned from the failures of their own worlds. There was something so exciting about that, Ray felt high off it and had since he'd arrived.

"Well, I guess time will tell. I'm not a zoologist, I have no idea if there are some species that might actually do all right in this climate. I guess we'll find out eventually. And if they're not, then I'm sure we'll think of an alternative," he offered with a charming smile.

That was something Ray had thought about rather a lot over the past twenty-four hours. "I'm not sure, either. I'm torn, I have to admit. The science side of me thinks that once the basic needs are covered, we should expand into creating luxury items and creature comforts for ourselves. The logical part of me thinks that we should start sorting out our prospects and begin breeding attempts, just because we have no idea how long it'll take for the pregnancies to take and we know how long a pregnancy runs, so it would be more efficient to start the process and take advantage of the time between conception and birth to then tackle the task of making this place not just functional but comfortable. But...I just got here. I haven't had as much time to think about it as I would like to have."

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drsimmons
2016-04-01 11:49 pm UTC (link)

"Yes!" Jemma said, clearly excited. "I have been thinking very much the same thing. So much of pregnancy is a waiting game that it would be far easier to start that part first, and while the child is gestating, we can work on the more...luxurious items that we might want. It's the most efficient use of time, really."

Almost against her will, her eyes looked at him, assessing. He very clearly had good genes. A strong and masculine build, obviously fit, no obvious skin lesions or bodily defects, an obviously brilliant mind. He seemed like a perfect choice to her, truly.

"And," she said, drawing her eyes away, "We really shouldn't waste time. Nine months to bear a child, eighteen years after that to true sexual maturity...I would like to live to see this place become something, so I don't want to be so very old when I conceive."

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_atom
2016-04-02 12:23 am UTC (link)

With so many of their fellow volunteers appearing to be so young, it was kind of a relief to Ray that Jemma was looking at everything from such a clinical standpoint. It made him more comfortable to think of it that way, so having someone else on the same page was ideal. He grinned. "Yeah? So maybe I was thinking in the right direction then; nine months is a long time to work on making ourselves more comfortable, right? That's plenty of time. So yeah, maybe once the basics are all set, then we should start choosing partners and...get to work, so to speak," he said.

It was good to know that he wasn't the only one trying to logically and clinically think things through before committing. They were going to have to raise these children, after all, and there ought to be some thought being put into the process of that. If people were choosing their partners solely based on their looks or personalities, things were bound to go downhill quickly. Ray was interested in finding someone both attractive and intelligent; someone he thought he would work well with when it came time to raise the child, and someone that he thought would be a good, nurturing mother. So, to learn those things, Ray needed time.

He looked back at Jemma. "Those are good points," he agreed. "I would think that we should start before we hit a one year anniversary in this place. And that's being highly generous. I can't imagine that we can't establish some basic, sturdy and safe community within a couple of months, or maybe less. I think it's foolish to wait too long, although maybe that's why there are so many young women and men mixed in with us. They'll have more time for it than the rest of us will." He paused. "I think that we should probably keep track of who is breeding with whom so that we don't end up spreading the gene pool too thin and making avoiding inbreeding in the next generation or two completely impossible."

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drsimmons
2016-04-02 12:29 am UTC (link)

"Yes," she said. "The young and impetuous ones are likely to reproduce first and far more often unless we're able to come up with some sort of birth control. There are some herbal supplements that can work in that sense; I'll have to see if there's any pennyroyal growing around here.

It was a sad fact of human breeding that the young and uneducated chose the wrong partners and reproduced far more quickly, polluting the gene pool with weak offerings, while those who were educated and thought things through made far less of a numerical contribution. She would have to make sure that she gave birth to many children during her time here.

"Yes," she said. "We definitely should do that. Do you think people would be amenable to voluntarily offering that information?"

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_atom
2016-04-02 12:44 am UTC (link)

"I don't know," Ray said, "I didn't know that was a thing, actually, so look at that, you taught me something new, Jemma," he beamed back at her. Ray was ever the eager student just as much as he loved to be the teacher.

Tilting his head slightly in thought, Ray gave a little shrug. "I don't know. I would think that if presented the reason for the question, people would respond favorably to it. I can't imagine that anyone wants to intentionally narrow the gene pool for the future generations, although I doubt many of them have thought that deeply into it at this juncture. It couldn't hurt to present it?"

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	drsimmons 2016-04-02 12:48 am UTC (link)
	"Would you like me to do that?" She asked. "I could present it to the network and at least see what sort of feedback we receive. As you said, I doubt that anyone would intentionally doom our little experiment but there are many young people here and they don't always think before acting rashly and irresponsibly." There was no avoiding that. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_atom 2016-04-02 01:06 am UTC (link)
	Ray gave Jemma a small smile. "It would probably be perceived as more clinical and less creepy if it came from a beautiful woman and not a man old enough to be most of their fathers," he admitted with a laugh. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	drsimmons 2016-04-02 01:19 am UTC (link)
	"Perhaps technically, but you are not as old as you think you are." In fact, if she was going to judge him aesthetically, she found him very attractive indeed. She looked away from him, down at the water and gave a bubbly shriek of delight. "Look! It's boiling!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_atom
2016-04-02 01:28 am UTC (link)

Grinning as he looked back at her, Ray shook his head. "I'm practically ancient to these kids," he pointed out. "But I appreciate the compliment. I do try to cling to the shreds of my youth."

Her excitement drew his attention away from her and to the water and, if it was even possible, Ray's smile grew.

"Great! I guess it's tea time, then?" he asked cheerfully. "How can I help? I'm used to teabags."

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	drsimmons 2016-04-02 01:32 am UTC (link)
	Jemma was very used to teabags too, and she bit her bottom lip as she looked between the tea leaves and the water. "I suppose we just...put them in the boiling water, let them steep for five minutes or so, and then try to strain them out?" Even making tea in this place took effort and problem-solving. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_atom
2016-04-02 01:37 am UTC (link)

That seemed like as good a plan as any to Ray, so he nodded and gestured for her to get that started while he got up and started to look for a way for them to strain the tea. ...or something to put their tea in to drink it from, ooh...he hadn't thought of that until just now.

"Do you have anything for us to drink it from...? Or at least something for us to strain it into?"

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drsimmons
2016-04-02 01:40 am UTC (link)

Jemma had actually thought of that, although coming up with a good solution was a different thing all together. She picked up another coconut that she'd cut in half and hollowed out while she'd been waiting for him to arrive. It wasn't perfect, but she did believe that it was better than nothing.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think this will work? It's all I could come up with. I'm thinking clay shouldn't be so hard to come across, though?"

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	_atom 2016-04-02 02:12 am UTC (link)
	"Seems like just as good a solution to try as any," Ray decided as he looked back at her. "We can try that later, the clay. I think we'll want to form it and then leave it in the sun for a few days to solidify before we use it, wouldn't we?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	drsimmons 2016-04-02 03:01 am UTC (link)
	"Yes, I believe that's how it works. I've never actually done it before, but I do know the theory." She had the feeling she was going to put a lot of theory to action during her time here. "Actually, that would be a very useful thing to start making. Dinnerware and cookware." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_atom 2016-04-02 01:47 pm UTC (link)
	Ray had the very same feeling, but that was all right with him; that was half the fun. "Probably, yes. But for now, we can just share the coconut," he said with a small smile. "...we should probably put this fire out, though, and take the tea to go, so that we don't risk losing the light, right?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

drsimmons
2016-04-03 02:56 am UTC (link)

Jemma had apparently lost track of the time - she hadn't noticed how late it was getting. But when she saw how far to the west the sun had already fallen, she nodded in agreement.

"Yes...I don't want to be out here at night. Not until we know more about the animals here."

It was lovely during the day, but Jemma had learned more than to trust her surroundings, in any case.

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	_atom 2016-04-03 02:59 am UTC (link)
	He gave her another small smile and nodded. "Exactly my line of thought. All right, let's head back, I'll show you the camp." [ooc: wrap?] (Reply to this) (Parent)