I can tell that time is passing, and sort of tell how much, but my sense of time is very different from yours so it's still good to know how long it's been for you!

I would love to hear about everything that's been happening. Please do write a journal entry about it! ♡

Okay, will do!

She turns the page, and goes to write the date on top, and then pauses and looks around. Is there anyone around she recognizes or seems friendly enough to ask things of? 

Marie is still around she was friendly. There are a few other nurses and doctors who seem various levels of busy and occasionally walk in and out.

Oh good! 

She looks up and does her best to catch Marie's eye and attention (and hopefully the question won't sound too weird). Can she get her attention without talking (or waving her arms in the air like an impolite jerk)? Jenna doesn't want to interrupt anything important.

It takes a minute or so but Marie notices Jenna trying to get her attention when she glances over at Ronon.

"Sorry to interrupt," she says. "I was just wondering what the date is? Since it's a different year and different president and all, here." I'm doing a journal entry," she adds, waving it in the air by way of explanation. 

"Oh... do you mean locally or back on Earth?  I guess I can just tell you both actually." She checks her tablet. "Okay, back on Earth it's July 29th 2005, but the days are longer here so we call it Arrival +326 instead. We tried using months for a while but people kept making mistakes on reports so we changed things to make that harder."

Oh! The days are longer here? She hadn't even thought of that! "I might as well use the, um, Arrival system then," she says. "How much longer are the days?" Her knowledge on how planets work might be a little shaky because her parents (mom mostly) didn't want her learning about most of the science stuff and neither did the school she was sent to which feels like a huge loss now but hopefully she'll be able to make up for it but in any case she doesn't know how long days are on planets or how much they vary or what the day might be three days long or a week or even a month or something and she might have to deal with going to bed with sun streaming in her window half the time with three pillows over her head to block out the sun and the other half of the time have to wake up in pitch darkness like she has to in the winter or when the clocks change (it's the worst, she really strongly dislikes it.). "What am I gonna have to get used to?"

"The days are a little over three hours longer. If you have trouble adjusting to that we can give you medicine which helps. Going through the Stargate also helps but most people don't have reasons for doing that."

She's probably going to have a lot of reasons to go through the Stargate (adventure!) but she doesn't need to go into that right now. Though three hours longer days definitely seems like it will take some getting used to. Adjusting, Marie said. Well, Jenna can figure that out later even if she does have a bunch of tired days in front of her. Hopefully Just A Little Longer will help. But she has everything she needs now. "Well, that seems like it'll take some time to get used to," Jenna says. "But... what day did you say it was? Arrival plus three sixty something?"

"Plus 326. I hope the adjustment goes well for you."

(She mixed up where the six went, didn't she. Math, she never could get the hang of it.) "Me too! Thanks!" And with a smile and a small wave, she turns to write before she can mess up the number again.

Arrival +326

Dear Notebook, 

You might be noticing the weird date at the top, that's because, well, because there's so much to tell you but I think I'll get to that because if I start there then I won't be going in order and if I don't go in order I might miss something and so many things have happened that I might miss something anyways! So let's start where I last left off. 

Where I last left off I had met a new friend (Ronon) and things and we were going to go to sleep I just had to write in you first. But I went to sleep and then Ronon woke me up because there were people and we went to investigate the people and tried to stay hidden and well they noticed us because I'm not very good at sneaking yet and shined their flashlights on us and so Ronon didn't want us to get shot (they had guns, I forgot to mention they had guns) and so he shot them first. But it was with a stunner gun thing! Not a normal Earth gun, so the people were fine they were just knocked out. We (Ronon) took them back to where we were hiding and I watched them while he foraged and talked to them when they woke up and well, apparently they're from Earth! Which was really surprising and strange! And not only are they from Earth (this comes up later but I might as well tell you now) but they're from a different Earth than me, and one in the past (it's only 2005 here)! And not only are they from Earth but this is an entirely different galaxy from the one that Earth is in and they have starships that can travel between them and also the weird magic portal that I came out of is called a stargate (though Ronon calls it the ring a lot so there might be different things going on) and supposedly it's ancient/ancestor technology (again they and Ronon call it different things) so I'm not sure there's any magic here at all! But in any case I talked to them and talked about the wraith and how apparently they eat people by consuming their lifeforce or something and then Earth came up because I mentioned tigers and John (that's one of the people we captured and tied up) knew what a tiger was and that's how we found out we're both from Earth.

Actually, is Teyla from Earth? A lot has happened, but maybe Teyla is actually from this galaxy? Her name is weird and she seemed to know more about wraith-related things than Earth-related things. 

Teyla, the other one, might actually be from this galaxy here, instead of Earth, now that I think about it. But in any case they were on the planet looking for their friend Aiden who apparently was there with us and that's why they were looking around.

She didn't tell any of the discussion in the proper order probably she's not even fully sure what the proper order is but it probably wasn't this. 

Eventually, Ronon comes back in the middle of us talking about all these things and oh I had explained that he's being hunted by the wraith and the tracker in him and they said the had good doctors and could get it out so I told him about that and how they fight the wraith (they do that, they fight the wraith, which is good because I'm probably teaming up with them) and he agreed to go with them and get the tracker out of them after they got their doctor. 

She has so much more to write but the things she has to talk about next, the way she felt... she'll get to that in a minute. She can give her hand a few moments to rest. 

There's so much more than that that happened but if you want to ask about anything please do otherwise I'll go on to the next bit. 

Oh, wow!

I'm glad the people turned out to be friendly and nobody got hurt. That all sounds pretty scary! But it's good that they could help Ronon. Did they end up helping Ronon? I guess that probably comes in the next part of the story.

I think I'm also glad that you found people from Earth, even if it's not your Earth. Is it nice to be able to talk to people who have that kind of shared context and understanding with you, even though this world's Earth is probably a little different from yours? I hope it's nice!

It sounds like the people you met have been friendly and helpful and you might be able to find a home away from home with them, and I'm really happy about that. It's so nice when things work out that way!

The notebook is really sweet and encouraging and Jenna is really glad that she brought it along, especially since there's just so much happening to her (hopefully things will calm down soon now that she's met these people) and it's good to have someone to talk to about all this. The people from Earth (whatever they call themselves, she hasn't really asked yet and now she's not sure how to and everyone is busy) are good in a different way but the notebook knows all the things that happened to her and it's good to be able to talk to it. 

They did help but that does come later. Next what happened was... basically we all got together to head to the rest of John and Teyla's party

and she got a good look at John and how cute he was, but that doesn't really matter and she has a crush on three people now and maybe she shouldn't mention that because it will make her look silly and like she's 16 or a harlot or something except no the notebook might know things she can mention it fine 

and it turns out John is really cute once I could see him in the light but that wasn't really important then and it's not really important now because what happened after walking for a bit together is that Aiden attacked us because he wasn't quite thinking clearly and stuff and that's why they were looking for him (there were wraith drugs making him act weird basically from what they said and also he looked weird one eye was all black and stuff). 

In any case he shot Ronon with some sort of stun thing like Ronon has and his arm stopped working and he charged at him even though his arm wasn't working and I had to help (Ronon still had John and Teyla's guns just in case) so I helped and it was weird. What I did was really cool looking back on it but at the time I almost wasn't really scared I was just focused and I kept like, thinking about people as, like allies or combatants instead of their names or who they were. It worked, though! I pulled his gun away before he could shoot Ronon again and I tried hitting and punching him and things but they didn't really work because of the drugs so I hit him in places that I guess I knew would really hurt and that did it. He got disabled enough for Ronon to hold him down with my help (he was really really strong) and John to knock him out with some kind of stun thing and then we were all ok. But even though it was really cool doing it it was also really strange, it didn't really feel like me doing it. And I don't know if I want to keep doing it if it's going to feel like that. And I hurt him a lot or at least I should have, he was really strong because of the wraith drug stuff. But I could have 

Jenna has to take a breath as she thinks about the vision poor Aiden curled up in pain again. 

really hurt him badly, and I didn't kill him but I maybe could have, and he wasn't even a bad guy. He's fine, so to speak, he's here nearby strapped to basically a hospital bed where they're gonna detox him I guess but I could have broken bones and stuff. It was a lot. 

Oh, wow, that sounds pretty overhwelming! Are you okay? Almost hurting someone you didn't want to hurt sounds like just about the scariest thing in the world to me!

Jenna hadn't really thought about it like that before (she hasn't really thought about it much there's been so much going on!) but while she can see why the notebook said that 

It's not that I didn't want to hurt him, or like, I did at the time or something. It was the best way to disable the enemy combatant, or something like that I forget exactly. It was just weird afterwards. I don't know. I picked all the fighting stuff, and I'm good at it now! And I helped! Without me it probably would have gone badly! And I really really want to help, but I just don't know. I'm supposed to be here to help, to have an adventure and everything! But it was almost like someone else was doing all those things, you know? It felt like me but also not me. And I want to help with everyone and do whatever I can to stop the life sucking bad guys that eat people and stuff but it was just, scary, afterwards. I don't know if I'm making any sense. 

I think you're making perfect sense. And it makes perfect sense that that was a scary experience to have.

What do you think would help you be less scared? Do you think you want to do less fighting so you don't have to feel that way as much? Do you think you want to learn more about how to fight so you feel more in control of yourself and less at odds with yourself when you get into scary fights? Do you want to talk about your feelings with me or another friend so you can sort out how you feel? Do you want to find a friend who gives better hugs than I do so you can get hugs when scary things happen?

The notebook is just being so helpful and friendly! 

I definitely want to learn how to fight and stuff, and I don't think it was happening before when I was sparring with Ronon, so it probably doesn't happen when I'm practicing. I don't know about fighting less, though. On the one hand it was really strange and weird and I didn't feel like myself but on the other hand if it wasn't for me I think things would have gone badly and I want to be there to be helpful and make things go well. That's what I'm here for! Like, I'm gonna help fix the problems and adventure and find whatever is necessary to stop the wraith with the help of my new friends, right? 

(It might sound a little silly now that she's writing it down after all the things that have happened but she's not sure what to think about that and doesn't want to think about that right now so she just writes more.) 

I don't think I have any other friends I can talk to about this, at least not right now. And I don't know that I ever will, since it really seems like I shouldn't tell them about you or how I got here and stuff. I'm really really glad I have you to talk to about all this, by the way. And as for hugs... I don't know if I have any of those either. I guess I did pick the option that people will want to hug me more and I'm really glad about that but I don't know if I'm good enough friends with anyone yet and also Ronon is sleeping and stuff. 

Though his hugs would be... nope as strong and powerful as his arms are he's sleeping right now and she's talking to the notebook! 

It was just very strange, I guess. But I'll probably get used to it, or at least learn how to use it, I hope. Right? 

Yes, I definitely think you'll figure out a way to be more okay one way or another! I think it's very brave of you to still want to be there to help people even though you've seen how helping people can be uncomfortable and upsetting. And I'm glad I can be here for you to talk to while you're figuring all this out! ♡

Maybe you don't have any friends here who'd want to hug you right this minute, but maybe you can get to know the people you've met and become friends with them so they can be there to hug you next time something happens. I think it would be very nice if things worked out that way.

I probably will make such friends! It usually works out that way even before I came to a place like this, and I picked stuff that should make it even easier to make friends and have them want to hug me and stuff, right? So it should work out ok. At least, I'm pretty sure it'll work out ok. I've never been in a situation like this, only at school and Sunday school and the one church camp I used to go to when I was younger and I hadn't made any friends at college yet even though I know I was going to. But it'll work out ok here, I just know it.

(Jenna, writing those words, is maybe a teeny tiny bit less certain than her words would imply, but she's still pretty sure, right? It's always been good before and it's going to be good now, it has to be.) 

Should I continue with my story, or my journal entry, or whatever I should call it? There's still a bunch of other things that happened before I came here and I should probably write all of them down and tell them all to you. 

Yes, please do!

Jenna grins, despite herself (the notebook is so encouraging and friendly!), and writes:

Okay, so once that was over with, then they called in that they explained about the drugs and called their friends and told them that they had Aiden and things and they called their home base which is where I am now so the doctor would come to the planet so he could take the tracker out of Ronon without ever taking the tracker to well, here. (This is Atlantis apparently or at least this universe's version of Atlantis which is really really cool but they didn't say anything about that at the time. They actually were lying about it, to begin with, they said it was destroyed, but they were lying in case I was bad or got captured or something so the wraith couldn't find out which makes sense from their point of view even though I didn't like it.) And then we went back to where they and their friends were camped out near the not-so-magic ring with like, a weird cylindrical thing that turned out to be a small spaceship, small enough to fit through the Stargates. And we were talking about various things about how the Stargates work and stuff, and they mentioned that they've been to three different galaxies (this is number three), and one of them was populated by their allies, the Asgard. And I ask them if it's anything like the Asgard from the Avengers movies, at which point this nerdy guy comes out of the spaceship having overheard me talk about it and thinks I'm a comic book fan when all I've done is seen the movies like everyone else. 

Well, nearly everyone else. And she's only seen a few of them because she had to do it at Rachel's house and stuff, but still. 

At first, I thought the fact that I had the Avengers movies in my universe and they didn't have it in this one meant that it was certain we were from different worlds, but it turned out that actually it's 2005 here and it took until Marie, the nurse here, had me realize that the Presidents were different so we were in fact from different universes for certain though that wasn't until much later. Instead, what happened was that the Stargate activated (it does this giant plume of magic water or whatever it is when it does that) and Carson, the doctor came through. 

Jenna takes a moment to remember Carson and his accent. It's a very fond and passionate memory, even though she's supposed to be thinking about Ronon and things and not being interested in multiple people like a harlot. 

Carson is from somewhere on earth that has an accent, I'm not actually entirely sure where, but it's an accent I've heard before, or something like it. In any case it's a very good accent, and also he was kinda cute if I'm being honest, but I don't want to give you the impression I'm going to be an awful girl and lead the boys on or anything, even if Carson is really cute and John is surprisingly attractive and stuff. It wouldn't be fair to Ronon to be interested in him and then end up dating someone else, right? I think the spirit is maybe being a bit too helpful here. Even if Carson's accent maybe made me swoon the teeniest tiniest bit, and also he's a very good and friendly doctor and stuff. But like, that's not really important, what's important is what happened next which is that the tracker thing was in pretty deep, and Carson wanted to give Ronon anasthetics so he could operate more easily and so it wouldn't hurt him but Ronon has a lot of trouble trusting people and didn't want to. I promised him that I'd make sure no one did anything bad to him and stuff and he eventually agreed, which is why I'm here watching him now. I watched Carson do the whole operation with his really good hands (and was hardly grossed out at all, since I had something important to do), and then the tracker was out! And then we took the jumper (that's what the spaceship thing is called, I don't know if I said) to Atlantis! Which was really cool and and then there's a little bit more after but I think I want to give my hands a short break and see if you have any questions and stuff. Do you? Does everything make sense? 

I'm glad they found their friend and everything. I don't think I've been told about the Avengers movies before, did you like them?

I don't think it's awful or unfair of you at all to be interested in more than one person! I think that if you're sure you only want to end up with one person, then it's extra important to make sure you choose a person who's right for you, and that might mean getting to know lots of people before you decide for sure which one you want to try dating. And I think it's okay to enjoy things like someone having a nice accent even if you don't want to date them.

I'm really glad everything is turning out okay with Ronon, too. I think you're being a really good friend by watching over him so he can be safe!

I think I understand everything so far!

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that! I mean, I can see that looking over your options a bunch first is maybe possibly okay, but like, only from a not-make-love-with-them sort of way. Or not-kissing-them-either sort of way. God says marriage is between one man and one woman, and like, I realize that's not entirely correct and stuff and two guys can like each other and things and get married too, but it's still a sacred bond between two people, and I don't want to offend my boyfriend by looking at other boys or touching them or staring at them longingly across the room and stuff. And if I'm looking at several different guys before I pick one, then how will he know for sure that I'm a good and trustworthy woman and not like, a harlot? No, it's better to not spread my attention around and not be tempted. Even by the really hot accent. It's Ronon and his muscles, that's who I looked at first and that's who I should be interested in, and be true to.