bigapplesauce | [CLOSED] Science happenings

Entry tags:

[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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

Daine nods obediently, more to cheer him up than because she's certain to actually obey him if she should meet the Other Guy.

"No, I've always had it. I've only been really learning how to use it properly for the past few years, though. Where I'm from, most folk think it's a myth; not many two-leggers have it, so no one really recognized it in me except for Numair. He's my teacher."

It works. Bruce smiles at her, relaxing considerably, naively.

"May I ask where you are from?"

"Tortall," she says with a wry smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. She's certain he hasn't heard of it. "I was born in Galla, but Tortall is where I wound up. I've checked world maps, but it's not there--not even under some other name."

Bruce smiles, shaking his head.

"No, I've never heard of it. Have you looked at the stars? Do..." he breaks off laughing. Even if the stars are in similar positions, the patterns in them that form constellations would be different. "Do they seem to be in the right places?"

Daine shakes her head. "No. I haven't been out much at night--but it's so bright here, I doubt you could see the stars, anyway." And honestly, she's not sure what the point would be. She's fair certain she can't get back to Tortall any way but through the rift, and she doesn't need to look at the stars to know that this isn't her home.

"I can show you images on the computer. It'd be interesting, see, if you were from Earth, but in a reality so different that all the names, even the shapes of the continents, were different," Bruce said, happily.

Daine sighs and crouches down so she can pick up one of the squirrels, which happily submits to her cuddling. "Would that help get me home?" she asks after she's straightened. "Because I don't need to look at star charts to know that this realm is nothing like where I came from." It comes out a bit more sharply than she intended.

"There are no guarantees," Bruce answered, not taking offense at her tone, his own one of understanding. "The more we know, however, the more closely we analyze each case, the more likely we are to find patterns that will lead us to the answers we are looking for."

"I s'pose I could look." Daine's still a bit dubious, but at least it sounds like he's not asking her to do something that might upset her for no reason besides satisfying his own curiosity.

And speaking of his curiosity. It seems Bruce is yet another person who might need to be steered back on track on occasion, not unlike Numair or Lindhall--or Andrew. "So, what did you want to ask the squirrels?"

"Hm?" Bruce asked, looking a bit startled. "Oh! Right. Um. Ask them if they remember a time before the rift, please."

Daine's already nodding; she'd asked for older squirrels that remembered what it was like before. Still, she translates Bruce's question and waits for their responses. "They miss it--they miss things being settled."

Bruce brightened, glad they had found animals who remembered before the rift.

"Ask them if they can remember anything odd happening or changing, before the rift appeared."

Daine passes Bruce's question along, frowning a little as she listens to their responses. "Not really, no. I--I think it might have been a gradual change. It doesn't sound like the rift just showed up one day out of nowhere, more like it... grew."

"Grew...okay. Um. Ask them, what they first noticed. I mean...was their anything visual? How long before things started appearing? Has anything they know of ever disappeared?"

"Nothing visual," Daine replies, shaking her head. "All they ever really see is the stuff - or the people - the rift spits out. They haven't noticed anything disappearing, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened, only that they haven't noticed." She pauses, listening some more, then adds, "It was a few seasons, they say, between when things first started to feel funny and when things first started to appear."

"So, a couple of years? They measure seasons like we do?" Bruce asked. "The rift. What comes through most often? Not people, surely?"

Daine shakes her head. "A few seasons, so maybe a year, year and a half."

The squirrels all chime in with lists of the strange things they've seen - or their families have seen - come through the rift. "Sometimes it's people, and sometimes it's things that aren't alive, and sometimes it's nothing at all - just air, I guess." She shrugs.

Are we done? one of the squirrels asks. I'm hungry.

Daine smiles and crouches so she can tickle the squirrel's ears. "You've been very helpful. Sorry for taking so much of your time." She digs out a few more peanuts from her pocket and distributes them, then straightens. As the squirrels leave, she turns to Bruce. "Sorry - I'm sure you have more questions, but I can't ask them to put their lives on hold. They're busy, especially in winter."

Bruce smiled, nodding. "It's okay. It's a start, at least. I appreciate you and them taking time to help me."

Daine smiles back, relieved that he's not upset about cutting the questions short. Plenty of folk wouldn't be so understanding of an animal's needs. "It's no trouble," she says with a cheerful shrug.

(no subject)

beastisbeauty - 2013-03-23 03:46 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only