003: Video

[hulkbusted]

[It's after the night siren and Bruce is looking frazzled, irritated, and... like he forgot that he'd been getting ready to sleep, since he's wearing boxers and glasses and apparently nothing else. As he settles his NV, a pair of mice skitter across the desk he's set it on. There are little movements in the background and Bruce has to stop and hop around, cursing under his breath as something apparently runs over his foot.]

Okay, look, the Darkness thing I'm up on, but is it common for random objects like, say, my pillow to turn into mice?

[ooc: Loki'd]

Comments

permavid.

[hulkbusted]

It's Loki. He'd be the other things the mice aren't as strange as.

Hi.

[symmachy]

[rolls her eyes. he's such a brat. did i mention that she's outside.]

Hello. I suppose mice would make it hard to sleep.

[hulkbusted]

[He peers at the NV and recognizes the street, then grabs the NV and gives her a jostling view of him heading for his front door.]

Did you want to come inside before the sound of you killing something out there does what mice can't?

[symmachy]

[a snort. she can kill things quietly that's kind of her thing. but he's asking and also not wearing a shirt, so she decides it's alright.]

If you insist.

[hulkbusted]

I think I'm too smart to insist with you, but I am inviting.

[And he pulls the door open rather cautiously in case something lurky other than Scatty is out there.]

[symmachy]

I'll be there in a minute or two.

[Don't worry she'll kill things on the way. And arrive with only a little blood on her shirt.]

[hulkbusted]

[This is who you asked out on a date, Bruce. Or more accurately, this is who smoothly maneuvered you into asking.

He stands aside to let her in and tries not to stare too closely at the blood.]

My room is back that way, where the light is. I don't want to bother Kevin. Do you want to get cleaned up? I don't think Loki's gotten to my towels.

[symmachy]

[She's just a sly motherfucker. Scatty pulls her shirt away from her skin a bit so she can see the blood. Oh man, she had tried to not get dirty. She starts towards his room, speaking quietly, smirking.]

Haven't even gone on our first date, and you're already inviting me to your room. Rather forward of you, Mister Banner.

[hulkbusted]

[He closes and secures the door before following her, trying really hard not to enjoy the view too much.]

That's Dr. Banner if you're going to be formal about it, and we'll have a hundred or so rodent chaperones.

[A mouse peeks out from his bedroom before turning around to race under his dresser.]

[symmachy]

[She rolls her eyes. Well excuse her. She pauses just outside the bedroom door. She looks a bit embarrassed.]

You, ah. Have to invite me in. Formally.

[hulkbusted]

[He grins at the eye rolling only to lose it when she tells him he has to invite her in. So some of the vampire myths are real after all...

He moves past her into his room.] Scathach, I invite you in. Is that formal enough?

[symmachy]

[Only a few of them. Because he shared the house with another, he could invite her through the main threshold, but his personal quarters were a different matter. After the invitation, the redhead lopes easily into the room.] It would appear so. Thank you. Now, where are these mice-free towels?

[hulkbusted]

[Bruce pushes the door closed, in part to keep the mouse infestation semi-contained and points to the half-open door on the opposite wall.]

Through there. I can offer you free run of my drawers too. [He coughs and hurries to cover that.] For a clean shirt. Take what you want, it won't be fashionable, but it'll be clean.

[symmachy]

[A short nod, and she goes to the closest drawer. Pants--no. Socks--no. Ah, shirts. She pulls one at random (green, not white, but she doesn't really care), and heads to the bathroom to strip and wash and change. And, of course, talk to him as she does so, the door left cracked open.]

Have you lived here since arriving?

[hulkbusted]

[That is just a cruel, cruel thing to do to a man who's been on his own for the better part of six years. "Better" being entirely relative. Bruce catches himself peeking at the cracked door and goes to sit on the edge of the bed facing away from the door.]

Yes. Kevin scooped me up off the network and gave me a place to stay. He says one of his teachers corresponds with a Bruce Banner where he's from, so he knows about me and the Other Guy.

[symmachy]

[She's just mean sometimes. After a minute or two, she goes back into his room, hair wet and sticking to her head, dirty clothes draped over her arm. Whether or not she's wearing her shorts is a mystery, as his shirt is longer than them anyway. Scatty runs a hand through her cropped hair and deposits her bundle on the floor near the door.]

He sounds like a generous guy.

[hulkbusted]

[Bruce turns to see her and widens his eyes a little because seeing her wearing his shirt with nothing else visible conjures some explicit images of ways to get her into that state. He pauses a beat to collect himself before clearing his throat and nodding.]

He is. I think he's also very lonely. His power forces him to be very isolated.

[symmachy]

[Rein yourself in, Bruce.

Scathach frowns, sitting on the bed beside him. She props her elbows on her knees and rests her chin on her hands.]

What is his power?

[hulkbusted]

[He regrets not getting dressed while she was in the bathroom, but talking about Kevin helps.]

This is between us. Anything organic he touches turns to ash.

[symmachy]

[She doesn't regret it.

At the news, She doesn't let her mutual interest and disgust show.]

Organic as in alive, or straight from the earth?

[hulkbusted]

[He still remembers being with Betty and the warning beeps from his heart rate monitor.]

I haven't tested him, but so far what I've seen is that his power acts on living or once-living matter. It could apply to carbon-based compounds, and I think for safety's sake it's best to assume it does.

[symmachy]

[Scathach is pretty sure she's made of carbon. There goes that idea.]

He must feel so alone.

[Is that empathy in her voice? You bet it is.]

[hulkbusted]

[Hearing that adds some depth to Bruce's perception of her, and boy does he have empathy for the feeling too.]

Yeah, I think so, and I think that's why he invited me here, since he's familiar with Bruce Banner in his world. I guess I'm kind of a lonely guy most places.

[symmachy]

[She angles her head so she can look at him through her lashes. Inspecting.]

And do you feel lonely here?

[hulkbusted]

[Bruce glances over at her and down to his hands where he's absently rubbing them together.]

Not right now I'm don't.