Jemma Simmons is a terrible liar (needanewplan) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-02-24 20:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, jemma simmons, kala dandekar |
Who: Jemma and Kala
What: Catching up and a job offer
When: 24 February - late morning
Where: Cafe
Warnings: Low
Status: Partner Thread | Complete
Well the Dreams had started again after a blissful few months of nothing. She’d known that they would but still…. That morning when she had woken up, her feelings were complicated. Coulson was dying. But she and Fitz had gotten married. And while she still didn’t see it herself and the feelings hadn’t crossed over for her, it was nice to have something good happen in the Dreams for once. Even if it was mixed with the bad as it so often was. But, you had to hold onto the good after all, especially in such times.
Even so, as Jemma often did, she pushed her feelings on the matter to the side, compartmentalizing as she was known to do. They were a facet of her life now, yes, but she had her own life here that was the one to focus on. This was the life she could make an impact on instead of watching things happen with no say in the matter.
And one such thing was keeping up with and checking in on her friends. Which was why she was at the cafe with Kala. It had been a bit since she’d really gotten to speak to the other woman and now that their schedules had let them do so?
“So, how have you been?”
Work had been somewhat stressful for Kala. She had been at the company for a few months now and still seemed to get stuck with the most menial tasks. At first she had chalked it up to being new. But it was starting to get a bit ridiculous. But she held her tongue and just did her work. What else could she do really?
However, meeting Jemma for tea was much needed. Kala sometimes forgot to have a life outside of work. Except when Will reminded her and whisked her away to the boardwalk. But still outside Will and Lito, Kala didn’t have too many friends outside of work. So catching up with one of the few that did? How could she say no?
“I’ve been alright,” Kala replied. She didn’t want to lie, but she also wasn’t one to complain. “Just busy with work. How about you?”
That was Jemma’s feeling on the matter. With few friends, it was important to reach out and catch up with them. Even if she had a tendency to get so caught up in her work that she forgot to do so until someone else made her take a break. So really, this was an improvement for her.
With the question turned around on her, Jemma considered the question as she took a sip of tea. Invasions and having to go be a field medic, worrying about Skye, married life. It was a lot but she had her balance.
“I’ve been alright, busy but that’s usual.” Shrugging, Jemma placed her cup of tea down, “How is work going?”
She hadn’t heard much, which wasn’t all that surprising. Still, she was curious and given half the things she did at work she couldn’t talk about given the nature of the Agency, well. Might as well see how Kala was doing with her own work. Less classified information and all of that.
“It’s hard not to be busy here,” Kala replied with a small smile. Even if it wasn’t for work there was still always something else going on. Dreams, zombies, snow storms. It was a lot. So even without the work aspect of it all, Kala understood how busy things could get around here.
But then Jemma asked about her job. Kala had a bit of a dilemma. Jemma had helped her get the job she was at now. It would be rude to complain about it. She truly was thankful to have a job in general. Even if it didn’t allow her to use her full potential. Without it she’d probably half to go back to Mumbai. Back to Rajan. Though who knew maybe he had moved on by now. It had been months after all. But even with all of that Kala didn’t want to lie to Jemma. So honesty it was.
“It’s a job,” she finally replied. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m so thankful to have it. I just wish...” she paused considering her next words. “I was allowed to do more than the menial tasks.”
Jemma was pretty sure that living in Orange County meant that there would always be something going on and it just came with the territory. So all she could do was nod at the comment on how it was hard not to be busy here. Because really, there were times she would start to get anxious about things being quiet. Which probably was a bad sign.
The hesitation was noted and caused the biochemist to quirk a brow. Though as Kala went on, she could certainly understand though she didn’t see the contact she had reached out to to just give out menial tasks. Though if Kala had ended up in a different department or with a different supervisor she supposed that made sense.
“Well that’s disappointing to hear. I’m sorry.”
No, Jemma couldn’t control what happened at someone else’s job but she also felt bad since she had given Kala the information and even if her contact wouldn’t treat an employee like that, clearly it wasn’t as good a fit as she had thought it would be.
“It’s okay,” Kala said with a smile. “I’m appreciative of everything you’ve done for me. I’m sure it will get better with time. I’m still new.” She didn’t mention the fact that there were white men who had started after her and got to do more. But there was no need. A job was a job. At least it was in the field that she actually wanted to work in. Went to school for. Had experience in from when she lived in Mumbai.
That usually was the case of it. Jemma recalled in her Dreams how frustrated she had got while undercover because she wasn’t advancing to where her skill level was. Which...awkward dynamic since Hydra but there was that frustration. Or her proper title being ignored. Tilting her head to the side in contemplation, an idea began to form.
“I may have a solution. But first, would you be more interested in R&D work or more on the medical side of things?” Given her resume, Kala would probably fit either and she was sure Martha wouldn’t mind her recommending someone her way. But Kala did have more research type work instead of actual medical division work so...getting a feel for it first.
Kala certainly wasn’t expecting this. Jemma had already done so much for her. She didn’t mean to make the woman do more. Nor did she mean to complain about what Jemma had already done for her. It was just… frustrating to continuously be overlooked.
“R&D,” Kala replied, because it would be rude to not answer the question. Of course she had medical knowledge. But her true passion was helping to create new drugs that could help people before they needed serious medical attention. “I have always enjoyed helping to develop something that could be a cure, or even just help with symptoms. Improve a person’s quality of life.” As she spoke her eyes lit up, as they always did when she was talking about science.
Given how Jemma had needed to claw her way up to people recognizing her talent and intelligence, she could understand how demoralizing it could be if you were constantly overlooked. And true, it was hard to say if it would be an exact match for Kala given the work they did at the Agency but….it was worth an offer.
Especially as she answered the question on where she would prefer to work. It was what she had felt the answer would be, but again because of the pharmaceutical angle, she had wanted to verify.
“I work for an organization that deals with the things that happen here while also keeping things from getting to those who would want to hurt those from our community or experiment on them,” There was a reason they tried to keep things secret, “Anyway, I run the Science Division and now that you’re actually aware of what goes on,” the main reason she hadn’t offered up an chance to at least apply before, “You’re more than welcome to come work for me if you like.”
Dreamers had to stick together after all. Besides, with the tech there and things that came up, it might not be quite what Kala was familiar with, but it hopefully would be better than where she was now.
Kala certainly wasn’t expecting another job offer. Nor was she expecting to hear about some secret organization that helped keep all the strange things that happened under wraps. Though she supposed it made sense. There was a group of people in her dreams who wanted to either experiment on her and the rest of the cluster or kill all of them. It would be nice if there was an organization out there to protect them too.
“What kind of work would I be doing?” Kala finally asked. As much of a shock as all of this was to her, she was seriously considering it. She just needed a bit more information before accepting a job.
Wanting more information about the job was completely understandable and had Jemma known she’d be doing a job offer at this meet up, she would have come prepared. But as it was, she hadn’t known that was going to be the case and so she didn’t have anything with her. Still, it was a complicated question and answer given both the fact they were in a public place so some things might not be possible to discuss, and there was always something that came up so it wasn’t always as...structured as she might like because they had to be prepared for anything.
“Honestly it depends. When things come up,” Things of course being related to Orange County peculiarities, “We tend to focus on the immediate concern. But I try to give leeway as well, especially in the quieter times. So more time for research and development of ways to help.”
Those who dreamt and the world at large really.
Kala’s passion had always been to help create drugs to cure others. However, now that she was in Orange County, dreaming, experiencing strange things, her mind had opened up to some much more. It would be interesting to do more research on dream related things. Develop ways to help people who got hurt either because of their dreams or because of some kind of attack that seemed to happen a lot around here. Yes, Kala was definitely intrigued and open to the idea.
“I’m certainly interested,” Kala said with a small smile. However, she did realize this was a public place. She knew Jemma couldn’t exactly talk openly about it given the nature of the job and the fact that not everyone knew about dreams. “Perhaps we could talk about it more some other time?” Kala asked keeping her voice low. “In a quieter place.”
It was certainly something how things could change once you became more aware of the specifics of Orange County. What had once been enough sometimes just wasn’t anymore. There was more to explore and create than had ever been possible.
Still, this wasn’t exactly the place for such conversations. However, Jemma was happy to hear that Kala was interested. Even if they couldn’t discuss specifics at the moment.
“Yes, that would indeed be a good idea. But other than, that, how is everything?”
Might as well get back to the point of the meet up, catching up on life in general.