bigapplesauce | [CLOSED] Science happenings

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[CLOSED] Science happenings

Bruce Banner is in his laboratory. He has been studying the rift and is currently analyzing soil and vegetable samples from the area, comparing them to samples taken from other areas of the city. He works with his head down, mainly ignoring the other people in the area, who are doing their own work. Like always, Bruce is polite, diffident even, but distant.

Bruce is not content to remain in this reality, even if the rebels should ultimately defeat ROMAC and their unjust laws. Freedom is well and good, but he has a team to get back to. Bruce Banner wants to return to the Avengers, the only friends he had made, since creating the Hulk. He had purpose in his home reality and he is determined to get that back.

current location: rebel base laboratory

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Bruce remembers what Blythe said about the rift giving people abilities. He winces a bit, when she mentions things being squashed. He can imagine, all too well. He beckons her over.

"Okay. Um. Can you give me some context here? I mean, what were you discussing, when this came up? What do they think of the rift, generally?"

She's a little surprised that he seems to be taking it for granted that she can talk to animals without asking for proof--but then she remembers that she's hardly the only person wandering around with abilities most folk don't share. The assumption that her wild magic is a present from the rift is irksome, but there's no sense huffing about it now. She grits her teeth, but steps a bit closer.

The bad news is that Nepeta distracted her before she had a chance to learn very much. "I didn't get the chance to talk to as many of them as I'd've liked," Daine admits. "The animals that have always lived in the park don't pay much attention to it, because a lot of them are young enough that the rift has always been there, far as they're concerned. They don't even think it's strange. I was going to see if there were some migratory birds, or someone who wasn't local, to see if they're a bit more sensitive to it, but I got... sidetracked."

Bruce considers that, nodding. Of course, animals have much shorter lives than humans. Most will be used to the rift, by now. Unless they can capture a larger animal or find a local dog...he shakes his head, smiling.

"Well, we can always try again later, if you don't mind, that is. Unless we figure out how the rift works, we're going to be here for a long time," he mused. "What kind of animals can you talk to? I mean, does it work on any species? If we could find a larger animal, they tend to live longer."

"I don't mind. And I can talk to just about all of them--at least all of the ones that are about in winter. The snakes and turtles and such are asleep, but any of the mammals and birds would work."

There's another option that's just occurred to her: the menagerie. She still hasn't been there--she has, in fact, deliberately kept her mind cut off from those animals because they're all caged--but doubtless some of them have been there since before the rift showed up. Daine winces, wondering if it'd be more cruel to keep acting as if they're not there, or to finally deign to speak with them just so she can pester them for information. Neither option is all that appealing.

Bruce smiled, nodding.

"That's great. Um. Are you busy now? We've got plenty of daylight left and I'm not doing anything that can't wait. We could try finding a large dog...or something."

Now that he'd had time to think about it, Bruce was getting excited about the idea. He didn't, of course, no much about how animals thought, but they were closer to nature than most humans. They were an entirely new source of information! He couldn't help grinning, thinking of the questions he would like Daine to ask.

Daine shakes her head, noticing his enthusiasm and trying not to feel glum. Maybe they won't have to visit the menagerie, and she's not about to turn down an excuse to leave the base for the park.

"I'm not busy." She manages a smile. "I'm not sure how helpful a dog would be, mind. We might have more luck with the geese."

Bruce smiles.

"Geese, huh? Okay. Come on. Just let me get my jacket. Why geese? I would think an older dog who uses the park regularly would be...I don't know. I don't much about animals, honestly. My main fields are biology and nuclear physics."

"Dogs do have keener smell and hearing than humans," Daine says, getting into the conversation a bit more. Bruce's admittance that he doesn't know as much about animals bolsters her confidence; at least she knows a great deal, even if she doesn't use fancy words to talk about it. "But in a lot of ways, they're more aware of two-leggers than anything else. They're meant to be with humans, and while they can do all right for themselves if they have to, they're not wild like wolves are. As for geese..." she shrugs. "They can live for quite a while, and they might not be from the city."

Edited 2013-02-23 05:32 (UTC)

Bruce frowned, a bit puzzled.

"But, if the geese aren't from the city, won't that make them less likely to have information about the rift? I think we should focus on animals who are likely to have been in the city for long periods of time," he argued, then stopped, smiling. "In fact, I think we should visit the zoo! Even if the animals there are caged, they might have talked with animals that aren't. Um. They do talk to each other, don't they?"

"I was thinking they'd be more sensitive to it, actually." She shrugs, not entirely certain about this because she's not entirely certain just how the animals are sensing the rift. "It wouldn't be background noise to them, it'd be new."

She cringes a little at the suggestion they visit the zoo, for all that it does make sense. There's a greater variety of animals, and some of them might remember when the rift first appeared. It's just that the thought of being around so many cages makes her feel a bit ill. "Not really," she says in answer to his last question. "Not always, anyway. They can, if they want to, but it they don't usually have much reason to talk to different species." And even if they did, it still probably wouldn't occur to them. When she'd found out Brokefang was talking to bats and other animals in Dunlath, she'd been stunned, and a little worried about the influence she was having on him and the rest of the pack.

"We could try the zoo, though," she reluctantly agrees. She is a bit curious to see what sort of animals are there, and she can close herself off if it's too unpleasant. She's still not thrilled at the idea, though.

"Oh, okay," Bruce said, nodding. "That does make sense."

He watched her carefully, frowning slightly at her hesitance.

"Daine. Is there a reason why we shouldn't go to the zoo? I mean, it might help, but we don't have to."

Daine shakes her head. "No. I don't know. I've sort of... closed myself off to the animals there. I usually do around menageries, because of the cages. If they're unhappy..." she shoves her hands into her pockets and stares down at the floor, not wanting to think about--let alone discuss--the torment it would be for her. "But it isn't fair for me to keep ignoring them. They all know I'm here."

Bruce frowned, but nodded.

"Okay. Do you want to try the park first?" Bruce asks, kindly. "Will the zoo animals expect you to help them? We can't release them, you know. It would draw far too much attention."

She shoots him a grateful smile and nods at the suggestion that they try the park, first, but when he mentions releasing the zoo animals, her expression shifts into something a bit more alarmed. "No, I--I know we couldn't let them out." Bad as the zoo may (or may not) be, she can't imagine any escapees settling happily in the park. They'd have to go back to the wild. She's not even sure where 'the wild' is compared to here; far enough that she can't feel it, anyway.

She frowns thoughtfully, remembering the waking dreams she'd given to the menagerie animals in Carthak. "There is a way I might be able to help them without releasing them, but I wouldn't want to try it with other humans around. There'd be a fuss."

Bruce nods, smiling back.

"All right, let's try the park first, then. Maybe we could sneak into the zoo at night, sometime. Then, you could have privacy for what you need to do. We don't want a possible ROMAC agent seeing you talking with animals, either."

Daine nods her agreement. With her wards up, no one in the zoo would know she could talk to animals, but if she let them fall... well, folk would notice. She doesn't even want to think about the ruction it'd cause if she was seen going into the cages, though she'd be perfectly safe.

"No one's ever fussed over me talking to the animals in the park before," Daine muses, "but a lot of them are tame enough that so long as I'm feeding them, no one thinks it's strange."

Bruce chuckled.

"That's not surprising, in New York. People tend to look the other way. They probably assumed you worked there, if you were feeding the animals."

That's true enough. She'd been extra careful, at first, not wanting the two-leggers to see what she was doing when she spoke to the People in the park, but it didn't take long for her to realize that most folk in the city walked around without paying the least bit of attention to what was happening around them. She'd stopped fussing over having squirrels in her lap when she could've juggled squirrels and still been ignored.

She pulls in a deep breath once they're out of the base, the thought of visiting the park cheering her up considerably. "Do you know what sort of questions you'll want to ask them?" she asks as they walk up into the weak winter sunlight. "You might want to keep it simple, so they'll understand." And so she'll understand, though she doesn't mention that bit.

Bruce gives a wry chuckle.

"I'll try. You might have to let me know, if I'm getting too complicated. I'm going to start by asking them if they remember the rift first appearing and if anything unusual happened right before that."

"I can do that," Daine says, already reaching out to the park's residents with her magic. They can try the squirrels, first--some of them are easily old enough to have been there before the rift appeared. She finds a few in the southmost part of the park who would be willing to talk to her, so by the time they enter the park, the squirrels are already waiting.

"Hello," Daine says aloud for Bruce's benefit as she offers the squirrels some peanuts she'd had in her pockets. "This is Bruce. He has some questions about the rift."

Oh, we know him, one of the squirrels says as he blinks up at Bruce. He used to be bigger.

And louder, supplies another one as it chews its peanut. I like him more like this, though.

What do you mean? Daine asks silently, brow furrowing.

When he first came here, he was big, the first squirrel explains.

And loud!

But then he got small and quiet like he is now, the squirrel finishes, tail twitching. He's not going to get big again, is he?

Daine frowns down at the squirrels for a moment, then looks sidelong at Bruce. It seems a bit rude to ask about any powers he might have--if he wanted her to know, he'd've told her, surely--but she's not sure the squirrels will talk to him until she can answer their question. "Um. Did the rift give you any powers?" she asks, trying to approach things delicately.

Bruce grimaced, wringing his hands together nervously. That sidelong glance hit him pretty squarely.

"Not the rift, no. What did they tell you?" he asked, tightly.

She can see that he's upset, so she gives him what she hopes is a reassuring smile. "Only that you used to be bigger--and louder." Neither of which are worrying, as far as Daine is concerned. The squirrels aren't afraid of him, after all, and 'big' and 'loud' don't have to mean 'dangerous.' "Can you shapeshift?" she asks gently, thinking that maybe he's embarrassed about it, like Yuri is about his shifting. "I can, and I know it sometimes makes other folk nervous, but it wouldn't bother me."

Bruce winces. The idea of the Hulk around, well, anyone is very worrying to him. He shakes his head, giving a small, rueful smile, then shrugs.

"I guess you could call it shape-shifting. I never really thought of becoming the Other Guy that way. I don't know what you turn into, Daine, but you should be nervous about the Other Guy. He's very strong and he's motivated mainly by rage."

Daine's a little puzzled by Bruce's insistence that she be nervous. The squirrels aren't afraid of him so much as wary of him, and when she silently asks them if the 'Other Guy' hurt anyone, they assure her that he didn't (at least as far as they know). She's beginning to wonder if Bruce is like Yuri, too eager to assume the worst about what he becomes when he shapeshifts, but she doesn't know Bruce (or the Other Guy) well enough to feel like arguing about it. "I'll be careful," she promises instead, before changing the subject.

"I can change into animals. It's all to do with my wild magic: that's what lets me talk to animals and shapeshift. I can heal them, too, though it's a bit tiring and takes a while."

"Good," Bruce praises, relieved. "If you see a humanoid between eight and ten feet tall and built like a mountain, get away from him and do not, under any circumstances, make him angry...angrier."

He listens to her describe her abilities, fascinated.

"Wild magic...and this was something the rift did to you?"

He knew better than to make assumptions. After all, his own strange ability had come from before.

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