diana prince | wonder woman (believesinlove) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-11-25 14:07:00 |
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Elizabeth felt like her eyes were burning. At this point in her life, she considered herself a professional at sifting through blocks of text and information. There was some kind of wall in her brain, something that was keeping her from accepting this as reality. What were the odds? They seemed so infinitesimal that they might as well have been impossible. She’d stopped a few hours into her research to stretch her legs and explore a bit outside of the tower. The more she saw, the more she realized it may very well take her the full week to see everything Atlantis had to offer. For all the knowledge she’d gained, she still had so many questions, and she knew too well the dangers of those. The sky had started to darken and Elizabeth made her way back to her room. Luckily, she was on the first floor, and the number of her apartment had been simple to remember. Barely a step through the door, Elizabeth released a long, deep sigh. She tried to relax, but this place felt worse than the motel she’d been living in. There was such an effort to make it homey that it made her all the more anxious. Give it time. You’d know by now if something was wrong. She had to have faith in her instincts. She’d just slipped off her blazer, throwing it on the back of an armchair, when she heard the click of a door opening. Elizabeth spun on her heels, body tense and ready for whatever had entered the space. She looked over the tall (and, admittedly, gorgeous) woman with a questioning expression. “Hello?” Diana had been out when Elizabeth had first arrived. Spending a lot of time stuck indoors wasn’t in her nature, especially here. In Atlantis, there was always something to do or explore and then there was the matter of her team. Rebekah was newly re-arrived without any memory of being here in the past and she had wanted to be sure they would work together well the next time they were called to go into the field. She couldn’t help wondering when they might be. When she made it back to the apartment, she was surprised to see someone else standing in it. Perhaps she would have seen an alert if she had taken her tablet with her today, but it laid untouched in her room. Her surprised expression relaxed into a friendly smile as she realized she now had a roommate. “Hello,” she said. “I’m Diana. You must be my new roommate.” She relaxed a bit at the word roommate. It didn’t change the fact that the woman standing in front of her was a complete stranger, but at least she was supposed to be here. “Diana,” she repeated back, cementing the name in her mind as she did so. “Yes, I’m Elizabeth.” Stepping forward, she extended her hand in greeting. Even if she was only going to be here a week, it wouldn’t make sense to alienate the person she’d be sharing a living space with. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Even if the circumstances are a little strange.” When she took back her hand, it went to the bridge of her nose, nursing the beginnings of a headache that were forming. “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around all of this.” Diana grasped the hand firmly, shaking it in greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Elizabeth,” she said, offering an empathetic smile. She had been in Atlantis for a few months now, but she could remember clearly how startling her arrival here had felt. She could remember clearly having picked up the coin, but waking up in another world had been a complete surprise. The choice to stay and fight had been an easy one for her, made easier by Steve’s arrival here some weeks later, but that didn’t mean settling into life in Atlantis had been easy. “It takes some time to get used to all of this,” she offered, “but Atlantis is a very beautiful city. If you choose to stay, I believe you will enjoy your time here.” So far, everyone she had met had been incredibly sympathetic to her status as a new arrival. Being rattled and confused by this place must have been as common as not knowing how to pay for things or how to find your way around. Just one week, and I’ll be back to the familiar. Considering the way she had left things, it was tempting to stay where her most complicated problem was learning how to use her new tablet. “I was able to walk around a bit earlier, and you’re right, this place really is amazing. If it weren’t for the mentions of war, I would think I was brought her for some kind of vacation.” She was surprised she even remembered the meaning of the word. “Do more people decide to stay than not?” There must have been something to this place that made Diana speak of it with such warmth. Her words didn’t feel like empty compliments. Diana nodded her head. “Most of the arrivals stay, at least for some time,” she explained. “We have those who have been here for a year or a little longer, but there are others who only seem to last about a month. I suppose it depends on the individual, whether they find this is someplace they want to stay long term.” Stepping over to their shared sofa, Diana sat down and made a gesture suggesting that Elizabeth should do the same, if she wished. “Their fight affects all of us, so I, for my part, think it’s a worthy mission. Even if that weren’t enough to keep me here, there are people here I would not know in my own home world and a promise that I will be returned to exactly the moment I left if I choose to return home at any point. None of us are truly losing time by being here, which makes the choice to stay easier for some, I think.” She wasn’t sure which category she fell into. All evidence pointed to possibility of her being long term. Elizabeth had thought that her position with the task force would be for a limited time, but when Reddington wasn’t pulling her back in, she kept finding reasons to show up. The truth was that she wanted to do good, to be useful, and it didn’t really matter where she did it. Elizabeth followed Diana over the sofa and took a seat at her gesture. “Why do I have a feeling that one of your skills involves rallying?” She smiled warmly at the other woman. It was meant as a joke, but there was a sincerity to it. Elizabeth wondered for a split second if she’d been placed with Diana just to be convinced to stay. “Regardless of whether I accept the fact that my… world is a place of fiction,” the words felt bizarre coming out of her mouth, but she stumbled her way through them. “I can’t ignore that there’s a threat to everything I know. If that’s real, I can’t sit back and do nothing.” Elizabeth wasn’t sure what that meant for her exactly. If she stayed to fight, how long would she even be here? “So, all they’re asking is that we stay and do our part? That’s all they -- the Atlanteans -- want from us?” Diana laughed at the assessment. It wasn’t entirely inaccurate. “And one of yours involves reading people,” she noted, smiling back. It was easy to see that Elizabeth was very perceptive. It was an admirable skill and a useful one. She leaned back comfortably against the cushions while keeping her body angled toward her new roommate, watching her as she spoke. The prospect of being a work of fiction was unsettling and one she didn’t always find easy to grasp. She could appreciate someone else struggling with the idea as well, but she could also appreciate the inability to sit back and do nothing. She was much the same way. “That’s all they want from us,” she confirmed. “Our assistance in the field or here within Atlantis to defeat these COS and eliminate the threat to the multiverse. In return, they are generous with both credits and amenities. Even those who choose to stay but not actively fight in the war, they have been generous.” |