001: Video

[hulkbusted]

[The man on the screen looks utterly exhausted. Haggard might even be apt considering the greyish pallor of his skin under his dark stubble and the even darker circles under his eyes. When the video jostles in his hold for a moment, it displays his bare chest before coming up to his face. He looks like he tried to wash off some combination of mud, sand, and various other things best not examined too closely and didn't do too great a job of it. Despite that, he tries for a tired smile and a finger taps the screen before withdrawing.]

First off, I'd like to say that Tony Stark makes the world's most durable phone. I'd do a testimonial commercial, but that might be in bad taste.

Second, I've read some of the information available and I think you'll understand it's not the easiest thing to swallow, but I'm going with it as a working theory for now. Don't ask why, it's a long story.

Third... [He trails off and turns his head away from the camera before looking back at it] I don't know what the third is, let's say I want to issue a blanket apology and leave it at that.

[ooc: The Hulk ended up getting stuck outside at sundown and fought (pounding and getting pounded on) all night. Between that and a chitauri invasion, I figure Bruce is feeling a little run down.]

Comments

[symmachy]

[a short laugh]

What's your name?

[hulkbusted]

Bruce. What's yours?

[symmachy]

Scathach.

[hulkbusted]

Can I assume you aren't from around here, Scathach?

[symmachy]

That assumption would be correct.

[hulkbusted]

Did you come here voluntarily?

[symmachy]

No. None of us did.

[hulkbusted]

That's hard to believe. The infrastructure had to come from somewhere.

[symmachy]

There are natives. But anyone with an NV came from another world.

[hulkbusted]

Okay, here's another one - why are people so complacent about this? Everyone I've talked to seems to just accept all this. Who takes being kidnapped so calmly? And there are monsters just wandering the night. Where I'm from if you get just one monster walking around it's all over the news. Is it something in the water or what?

[symmachy]

[she takes a moment to inspect him]

Believe me when I say this, Bruce: If there were a solid way out of here, I would tear apart this entire Port until I found it. But there isn't. And so we must make do with what we have.

[hulkbusted]

But people do leave?

[Interesting how sure of herself she sounds, but the rules for what people could do had been changing for Bruce long before he ended up here, so he'll give a little bit of benefit of the doubt on this.]

[symmachy]

Randomly. At the whim of the Core, it would seem.

[hulkbusted]

Someone told me the Core's guarded, do you know who's doing the guarding?

Everyone asks these questions, right?

[symmachy]

I do not know. And yes, everyone does. There are scarce few answers, sadly.

[hulkbusted]

You know, what's funny about this is that six months ago, even a month ago, maybe even a week ago I would have thought this might be the answer to some of my problems.

Okay, yeah, it's not funny at all.

[symmachy]

And what problems would those be?

[hulkbusted]

[He says it lightly, like it's a joke, but it's not and he's not really that good at concealing that.]

The usual - problems with eh government, a chronic medical condition, social isolation. It's the song of my generation.

[symmachy]

[oh honey]

Sounds rough.

[hulkbusted]

I'm still alive, so I might as well do something useful with that.

Presupposing I get to a point where I have to go on as though I'm not living in someone's zoo, where do new people look for jobs? Or do we?

[symmachy]

Probably a good idea.

We do. And just go around town--just do it during the day. Nighttime isn't pretty, especially for people who can't defend themselves.

[hulkbusted]

It isn't pretty even then.

I've had to start over before. You can't go wrong with the basics - food, clothing, shelter.

[symmachy]

[she likes his style]

I could show you where to acquire those things, if you'd like.

[hulkbusted]

[After years of self-imposed isolation, it's almost dizzying to receive so many offers of help.]

I'm outside the city at the beach. If you can give me a reference point I can walk into the city and meet you.

[symmachy]

[oh, she knows that feeling well]

I can just run to you, if that would be easier. Don't want you to get lost already.