Jemma Simmons is a terrible liar (needanewplan) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-09-03 07:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jemma simmons, twelfth doctor |
Who: Jemma and Twelve
What: Removing the senses inhibitor
When: 3 September 2018
Where: Jemma and Cosima’s
Warnings: Lowish
Status: Log | Complete
It wasn’t surprising really that making an escape would be difficult. Between the kill switch in the senses inhibitor being activated and the emergency surgery Fitz had to perform on her, the ship he had shown up on exploding, finding the others, teaming up with some punk who sold Daisy to Kasius, Yo-Yo and Mack staying behind with Flint and none of them knowing how to fly a spaceship? Well, the fact that the landing was going to be rough really was to be expected. Just another dream full of action and no time to breathe.
Waking up, Jemma still couldn’t hear though she could feel blood from her ear. That…. Well, she wasn’t sure what it meant but if they were able to remove the inhibitor in the dreams than they could do it here as well. That was her main priority right now. Checking to see if Cosima were around, she stumbled as she felt pain in her head and a loud ringing.
“No no no no….”
Even though the bloody thing had been removed early on in the dream, it appeared as though the kill switch was activated. Thankfully near her mobile, she sent a message to the Doctor. They needed to remove the inhibitor. And fast. For now it was leaning against a wall to remain somewhat steady, wincing as she gripped her head.
The Doctor had been putting a lot of thought into how to deactivate the device in Jemma’s ear. He’d poured over the scans of it that he’d taken, and had a list of everything that they’d tried, which had failed. He felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere, and yet also getting somewhere. After all, just because things were being crossed off the list didn’t mean they were running out of things to do. They just had to think outside the box. They had to think like aliens.
Or, in his case, think like different aliens. He wished one of the species was here so he could talk to them, get a feel for the race and what they were capable of. That alone would no doubt give him enough insight to figure out how to best help Jemma.
Or she could text him. Normally, he didn’t keep his phone on him, but he’d long ago hooked it up the TARDIS’s communication systems. Now anything that went through his phone came through the TARDIS. Frowning, he quickly went to the console and set course for wherever Jemma was. The Doctor didn’t exactly remember where he’d parked the TARDIS, if it was at the Agency, in his flat, or just chilling somewhere in the world. Either way, the TARDIS materialized close to Jemma and he popped out of the door.
“Jemma, oh no, no this isn’t good.” Which was obvious. He saw the blood coming from her ear as he went over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. Clearly they needed to get the thing out now and not later.
While the Doctor would like to have a Kree here to talk to them and get information on the device, Jemma was more than happy that there were no Kree here given their whole...domination angle and wanting to rule over all other races. No, she’d rather deal with this stupid thing without their input. Okay right now she was more focused on just surviving long enough for the Doctor to get there. She was not dying like this before she and Cosima got married. Like bloody hell.
Feeling the hand on her shoulder, Jemma jolted but let out a breath when she realized it was the Doctor. Logically that made sense, but given her dreams and that she hadn’t grabbed the glasses to be able to see when someone spoke to or was near her, her immediate fear was that it was Kasius. No one said she was completely logical right now thanks to everything in the dreams and the whole….splitting headache as if her brain was literally trying to rip apart.
Before she could say anything, she doubled over as another blast of ringing and pain coursed through her head.
Knowing they had no time to spare, especially when Jemma doubled over, the Doctor acted quickly. He picked Jemma up and took her to an area more conducive to removing alien devices from someone. Luckily, he believed he figured out how to not kill Jemma while removing the device.
Maybe. Possibly.
Okay, so it was theoretical because it wasn’t like he had other test subjects aside from Jemma to test. He’d done simulations, of course, but even simulations could be unreliable. Even moreso when the device in her ear was largely unknown to them. So he took a quick scan with his sonic screwdriver to see if anything about the device was changed now that it was doing this. His next move would be based on what readings he got.
Jemma was not a fan of this but there wasn’t much that she could do. All she could do was trust the Doctor to have found a way to remove the device. In the Dreams, there hadn’t been much fanfare, just go in and rip it out. Which okay, not great as it had thrown her balance yet again. But that was the price to pay to not have it kill her.
The readings that the sonic screwdriver would pick up on were high frequency as the electricity was working to fry Jemma’s brain through pain and over stimulus, kill switch activated.
After looking at the readings, the Doctor knew time was of the essence. High frequency electricity was working to fry her brain. Alright then, drastic times called for drastic measures. He knew exactly how the device was connected to her thanks to the various scans and so forth they’d taken after she’d woken up with the thing in her ear. And luckily he was used to working under pressure.
As such, he made certain that Jemma was at least sitting down, if not lying down, while he worked quickly. He had a feeling her balance would be off once the device was removed. Inner ear being the balance point was always an odd thing to him, but human anatomy could be strange sometimes.
He made quick work of getting the device out, severing the ties to her. Given the kill switch was already activated, it couldn’t activate again, so he pulled it out, hoping it didn’t hurt too much. Once it was out, he looked down at Jemma.
“Jemma, can you hear me?” He asked, keeping his voice softer in the event the influx of sound was too much for her to take after being deaf for a while. He also did another quick scan of her brain with the sonic screwdriver to see if there was any permanent damage or anything else he needed to try and reverse.
Jemma knew enough to be laying down for this. At least that was what she had ended up needing to do in the dreams and so it made sense that would be the proper course of action once again. That was what was weird, she had woken up feeling all the ramifications of removing the inhibitor the way they had. The dizziness and nausea as she had to refind her balance. Of feeling like she was moving when she wasn’t.
Even on the table, the room was still spinning though she supposed that made sense. But what she was more aware of was sound. Even with the Doctor making sure to keep his voice soft, it was still loud.
“Yes. Yes I can. And everything else.”
The sounds of birds and cars. Electrical currents. It was overwhelming in a way, similar to the way sound had been overwhelming once she’d returned from Maveth.
Wincing, she sat up, gripping the table to stay steady. Thankfully there was nothing in the scan that would show permanent damage. Right now it was simply readjusting to sound and regaining her sense of balance.
The Doctor had actually held his breath until Jemma had responded to his question. Good, that was a good sign. And the fact that the scan showed no permanent damage was also a relief and he let out the breath he was holding. And he actually smiled.
“No doubt that everything must be too loud to your ears right now. Do you want something to muffle the sound until you re-adjust?” He asked softly. It was a similar approach people sometimes took when they’d been in a dark room for a while and turned on a light. One didn’t just flip on the light and immediately be able to see and move.
Though when she sat up, he gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Take it slow. You undoubtedly know this already, but it’s going to take some time for you to adjust to having your hearing back. Funny how balance is centered in the inner ear,” he quipped.
It was loud and she took a slow breath before shaking her head. Okay not a good course of action given the whole vertigo and everything spinning around her. She could feel it even with her eyes closed.
“No thank you, this is hardly the first time I’ve had to adjust to sound again.” Maveth had been different. Will had been there but even still, returning to Earth had been an adjustment in terms of sound and light. And then when she’d been there here as well. Only trapped in stasis, uncertain, seeing Trip…. No. Jemma was all too familiar with having to adjust to sound again.
A faint smile was given at the comment about it being funny that balance was tied to the inner ear.
“Quite.”
The Doctor nodded a bit. Jemma was rather resilient if this wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with adjusting to sound. Though perhaps it was far more than any person should have to go through. However, he knew from experience with his various companions that sometimes suffered various traumas. He did wish that he could shield them all from such things, but that would be unrealistic of him to do.
“Is there anything I can get you? Or do you want me to tell Dreadlocks?” He meant Cosima, but sometimes he didn’t do names. Sometimes it was on purpose because he liked being obstinate. Others it was because he genuinely didn’t remember someone’s name. In this case, it was most likely the former given he well knew who Cosima was by this point.
Resilient was one way of putting it. Jemma just saw it as necessity given the nature of her dreams and this place. Mostly the dreams. There were always others who had it worse and so she often just pushed her own issues to the side and moved on with her life. No use dwelling, she could handle the guilt or the frustration. The pain, keep it locked away and be there for others.
“No, I think I’m fine.” The comment about telling him about Cosima was met with a brow quirk, “Well she’s been quite amazing with this whole thing. Given how expressive and talkative she is, I can only imagine how hard it was for her.” And herself really since the glasses were brilliant but nuance was often missed.
“She’ll be quite relieved to know that it’s been resolved.” And before the wedding. Thank goodness.
Resilience. Necessity. Sometimes they were one and the same depending on the situation. And other times, one was mistaken for the other. With as much traveling through time and space that he’d done, the Doctor had seen nearly every shade of variance in these sorts of things. To him, Jemma was resilient, always moving forward regardless of the obstacle in front of her. She didn’t seem to let these sorts of things hold her back.
“She certainly is the expressive one. Also cheerful. Very cheerful.” Sometimes too cheerful for his liking, but that was just how Cosima was. However, he nodded a bit. “I shall go tell her. You remain seated while your body reorients itself. I’ll be right back.” He then went off to find Cosima and give her the good news so she could come be with her fiancée.
It could also be argued that Jemma bottled everything up and never actually dealt with any of the trauma that happened to her but that was something else entirely. She would certainly take the Doctor’s view that she was resilient. It was a nicer one. And well, The Doctor. How could she not.
“Yes, yes she is.” Jemma could be quite cheerful herself and full of hope and wonder. It might not be as prominent as it once had been, but it still resided there. She just wasn’t nearly as expressive as Cosima but that was okay as well. Cosima understood her and didn’t expect her to be that expressive, she seemed to know what she was thinking or feeling without much prompting.
“Thank you.” But she knew he was right that she should probably sit and wait for her fiancee. This wasn’t the dreams where she had to get on the move right away. She could actually just readjust and spend the rest of the day with Cosima. A much better option, by far.