riverview | audio

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audio | @e.weir

[ There's a moment of dead air first. Very brief, just long enough for a breath (a hesitation, possibly, it's all relative). Then: ]

Riverview Quarantine, this is Dr. Elizabeth Weir speaking. Now, you might be thinking that you don't know me. [ Her tone warms. ] Don't worry; the feeling's mutual. Since I've been very generously offered the position of public representative to the government of Riverview, making some introductions felt pretty prudent.

[ There's the slightest bit of emphasis on generously: not quite sarcastic, not entirely sincere. She pauses briefly. ]

I'll be honest and say I really don't plan on being in this city long-term. If they make the right calibrations to send me home, I'm gonna take that opportunity. But for however long I am here? My job is to make sure we're all heard and that our needs are met. I'll be representing all of you. And I don't intend to take that responsibility lightly.

So, you can-- consider my door open. [ Elizabeth seems pretty optimistic about that, at least? ] Unless the paperwork was misleading, that should be half the point of the job.

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[ When second nature runs up against the wall of reality, it registers very plainly on her face.

Orientation mentioned possibilities, but she didn't think of them as-- real possibilities. For other people, maybe, other worlds. Not them and theirs.

She's still not sure she believes in it. All of the complex emotions from the TDM thread: present once again and just as valid as before. Only they don't get the benefit of immediate hugs now. Elizabeth flounders a little bit, not sure where she plans to land until she lands there. ]

Where are you?

[ Ah. See also: Carson's TDM thread reaction, without the benefit of immediate hugs. ]

The Perimeter Guard's infirmary. I'm Chief of Medicine, wouldn't you know it.

[ It's fine she's gonna rectify this hug situation ASAP. She's legit getting up and heading out. Which I guess lines up well with John's agenda too. Found family fixes everything.

She can do this. She can go see him for herself and try not to spend any time staving off "but what if it is somehow the nanites tho" panic. Hell, even if it is fake, she can worry about it after she talks to Carson again. ]

If you were anything less, I'd have a few strong words for the people in charge of assignments.

[ Elizabeth would personally destroy them. They clearly would have been neglecting to consider all the facts, which are: she loves him. ]

You can tell me how it's treating you when I get there.

[ It will be good to see Elizabeth. He's missed her already, and he can only imagine how hard it's been for John and even for Rodney.

As soon as Elizabeth signs off, Carson gets up and tells his staff that he'll be in his office for a good long while, probably. Alternatively, as long as it takes for him to hug her and ask her home for dinner and to find John and Rodney. ]

[ Elizabeth, being classier and less of a blatant disaster than a lot of her people, doesn't kick down the door. She goes through the proper channels. Visitor's pass or check-in or whatever. Asking for directions.

They know his name. They know who he is.

Hesitation doesn't come until she actually reaches his office door. And when it does, it's only momentary. That extra extended second between raising her hand and quietly knocking. Elizabeth tries not to think about Schrodinger's cat and makes herself follow through.

It would be nice to say she, in mature fashion, has fully prepared and braced herself for both the best and worst possible outcomes to this impossible stroke of chance. That she's ready even if the door opens to some impostor, if this is an elaborate illusion that falls apart around her no matter how real it's seemed. But the truth is that her heart is in her throat and her hopes are desperately up. ]

[ Carson tried to keep himself busy going over reports, experimental stage summaries, patient files. He even did an admirable job paying attention to them. But as soon as Elizabeth knocks on his door he's up on his feet and crossing the room and opening that sucker in the time it takes to count to three.

And then that hug happens, the burly full-tilt embrace of a Scotsman being reunited with his family. He hugs her with all the force of relief and gratitude that John will have someone here who can get him to listen without twisting his arm. All the strength of Atlantis's heart being reunited with Atlantis's soul. ]

Elizabeth. You're looking well.

[ It's incredible. She got her hopes up and it still doesn't compare to the reality of Carson opening the door and immediately pulling her in for a hug.

Elizabeth could cry. Thinking about the unfair reality of it back in Atlantis, thinking about sending off his coffin, having to say goodbye. The gaping hole left in his wake, something that can't be bridged or patched over, only navigated around. They all feel it. They all carry it.

Instead she wraps her arms around the most solid, impossible piece of home she's yet to see in this place and manages a laugh, breathless and disbelieving. ]

So are you!

[ He backs up just enough to look her over again, more carefully this time, just making sure she looks as hale and whole as she seems. ]

I will have to make sure of it. The medical doctors here are all very nice, very competent, not saying they haven't done their jobs just as well as I might, but they don't know you so well as I do.

[ Read: ur my patient fuck the police. ]

Ah. Of course. [ She knows how to read between those lines. Practically second nature. If slightly out of practice second nature.

God, she's missed him. ]

In case they missed my very cleverly hidden broken leg.

[ She's teasing. Like. It's Carson, she's not gonna put on the stubbornness brakes if he wants to do what he does best. Not today, anyway. Grace period. ]

[ A smile crinkles at the corners of his eyes. ]

Oh aye. Easy to miss, that.

[ He looks her over a moment more and then pulls her in for another hug. ]

It truly is a gift to see you. I can only do so much to ride herd on John and Rodney. They don't listen to me the way they do you.

Don't sell yourself short, Carson. I have it on good authority that I listen to you.

[ When you're trying not to cry on your bro but it's also imperative that he hears he has a unique and impossible to truly defeat brand of stubbornness.

And without ever racking up a single complaint from any other personnel. Carson is too powerful. Maybe the real energy source was the friends we made along the way.

But yeah she'll definitely yell at them for him if he ever needs it. Or do the thing where she crosses her arms and just Looks at them. ]

[ Oh God, the Look. Is there anything more potent in Elizabeth's arsenal than the Look? If there is, Carson does not want to encounter it.

It's true though that he has that Unbreakable Scottish Will in his corner. It's served him fairly well in taking care of John and Rodney so far, even if battling them over every possible health issue has him somewhat fatigued. Cooking for them, at least, is easy and--

Oh hey! Carson brightens. ]

We've got to have a celebration, welcome you properly to Riverview. Consider it a vacation of sorts. [ As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Carson's smile turns sad, and he squeezes Elizabeth's arm lightly. ] Here now, have a seat.

[ Vacation for Elizabeth is probably synonymous with fate worse than death, particularly where the loss (however temporary) of Atlantis is concerned. Carson understands. He's more adaptable than the others seem to be, but Atlantis is still home. ] It's a nice enough place, and you'll have work here in the mean time, at least.

[ She's not gonna consider what it says about her that this is the route he takes on invoking the word vacation.

If it says something about her that doesn't have to do with Atlantis, it's nothing she hasn't heard before in the past....... since college. She guesses. ]

Oh, well if I'll still have work. You could have started with that. [ Look, it doesn't mean she can't tease him for it a little when she sits down. This in no way makes up for the legitimate dread he probably saw flood into her features for a second there, but still. ]

As well I should have.

[ Carson gives her shoulder a little squeeze before drawing his own chair around the desk, so he can sit closer to her. ]

So, then. You know.

[ That is patently unfair. She doesn't have an essay on exactly why and how it's unfair. It just feels unfair. Elizabeth glances down. Presses her mouth into a thin line, but still winds up trying to smile. It doesn't serve much purpose; just props up a relatively neutral countenance before anything can start to crumble. ]

If I'm honest, I was hoping that you didn't. [ The odds were probably stacked against her, but given the track record of impossible things that have happened today... it was worth hoping. ]

John told me. [ He says it with the tone of a doctor delivering bad news to a patient. His professional voice, his quiet sympathy.

In fact, John told Carson almost immediately, once he accepted that Carson was real. The doctor can't decide if he's glad of it or not. He wouldn't want John or Rodney to lie to him, and it explained Rodney's reaction when they first saw each other. It explained John's hostility, too.

But there's a weight to the knowledge of your death that he's not sure how to carry, either. He wants to find a way around it, a way to live, of course he does, but the only way he can think of is not saving the patient he died trying to help, and that would be unacceptable. Completely. ]

He's had a rough time of it, it seems.

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audio | @e.weir

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