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

[hulkbusted]

That's almost too bad. I'd love to see what 10,000 years worth of knickknacks would look like. [He shrugs.] Yes. Quantum mechanics suddenly became very personal since coming here.

[symmachy]

Probably not pretty. [She steps away from the books, and begins wandering the room again. Maybe she's just a little restless.] I can only imagine. Did you not study it before?

[hulkbusted]

Maybe not, but if I were a historian, I would be... [he does not finish the sentence, "so turned on."] ...fascinated.

My specialty was, is nuclear physics, particularly gamma radiation. That led me to biochemistry. I read a few things about quantum physics along the way, but I never made serious study of it before now.

Restless? I know you said you don't sleep. Do you usually just wander out there at night?

[symmachy]

[Too bad you aren't a historian, Bruce] Maybe you could tutor me in it, then. [Not that she'd really understand, anyway.

Scathach glances at him, and smiles a bit.]

Sometimes. Other nights I meditate. It depends on my mood. [Mentally laughing at her own joke.]

[hulkbusted]

[He's feeling uncomfortably historically-minded as it is.]

Do you really want to study quantum mechanics? [Dubious]

I meditate most nights. It helps. It's especially helped since coming here.

[symmachy]

[She shrugs.] It would be something new for me.

Is it very stressful for you here? [Look she doesn't think about things like that.]

[hulkbusted]

We can start at the survey level to get an idea of how deep you want to go with the math.

Is it stressful? I'm in an entirely different world, there are monsters outside every night, and there's a lunatic little trickster god who wants to see me lose my temper. Yes, it's stressful.

[symmachy]

[Ugh, math. But she'll do it. Nobody could say that Scatty wouldn't try something at least once.] Sounds good.

[Scathach pauses for a moment, and then laughs, a musical sound. She smiles at him, still almost prowling around his room. She plops down on the bed beside him again, fingering the fabric of the shirt she's borrowed.] Then you should find a way to de-stress. Seems simple enough.

[hulkbusted]

[Bruce rubs a finger by his eye and smiles because he can't help it when she laughs like that.]

That's why I meditate and read books about quantum mechanics.

[symmachy]

[She pulls a face.]

You should probably get out more.

[Says the vampire recluse.]

[hulkbusted]

I'll get out more once the fall term at the university starts.

[He knows that's not what she means.]

[symmachy]

And until then, you'll hide indoors and meditate?

[She curls her legs into her chest, resting the side of her head on her knees so she can look at him.]

[hulkbusted]

Mostly. I asked you out, so there's that, and I told Eli that I'd be medical backup at the HoA.

[The room's mostly quiet except for the sound of mice skittering across the floor. She looks downright winsome like that.]

It works. People don't get hurt this way.

[symmachy]

[A short laugh. She won't mention that she kind of maneuvered him into doing that first one.] So you're going to stop enjoying your own life?

[hulkbusted]

[And she thinks she has no mercy....]

Compared to the past five years, I'm living it up, Scathach. I was ready to start thinking about a future where I wasn't constantly alone and constantly running before I was dropped here and this place feels like a holding pattern until I can get there.

[symmachy]

Then you should keep "living it up," as you say. Go out and have some fun.

[hulkbusted]

[Bruce's libido votes for "why not stay in and have some fun?" only to have him slam the lid on its box.]

Your idea of fun or mine? I'm not really a fighter.

[symmachy]

[Bruce this is why you're so angry all the time. Clearly you just need to get laid.]

What is your idea of fun?

[hulkbusted]

[If it were that simple, he would have slept his way through most of South and Central America and the Indian subcontinent.]

I... [...have kind of forgotten...]

...used to go to this pizza place with my friends, near the university where I worked. Most of my life revolved around science. Even my girlfriend was a colleague.

[He looks almost apologetic, because how boring must that be to someone like her?]

[symmachy]

[Bruce how could you.

And no she finds humans and their habits fascinating. Really.]

You should branch out. But pizza is a good place to start. Do you cook?

[hulkbusted]

I have a background in chemistry. Trust me, chemists can cook. I picked up an amazing recipe for Lau Khoshar Chhechki in Calcutta. It's vegetarian if you're interested.

[symmachy]

[Her smile is small, but genuine. And maybe her teeth don't seem so long as they actually are. Scatty unfolds her body from is curled position, stretching her legs and crunching her toes, and reaches over to gently touch his arm.]

I would like that. I'm sure it will be delicious and exact. [A little joke for herself, that bit at the end. But maybe he'll notice.]

[hulkbusted]

[The phrasing is a little odd, but she's smiling, and he's learning that the ones that show her teeth are both rarer and more telling... and she's touching him, which makes him wonder how dangerous kissing her would be, not just because of those sharp, sharp teeth.]

I'll cook a whole Indian meal for you. And I found a movie house that shows old rat pack movies, so that would cover dinner and a movie before I send you off with the other guy.

[symmachy]

[That is a gamble, Bruce. But one that might work out for you. Who knows. She grins, and stands again, starting to prowl around the room once more.]

Sounds like a plan. So, when is this cooking and movie-watching and such happening?

[hulkbusted]

[Bruce is slow to respond because he's just gotten a view that confirms that Scatty is no longer wearing the shorts she'd had on when he let her into the house. It... does things to him. Things that make him really wish his pillow wasn't scampering around the bedroom on hundreds of little mouse feet, because it would be better put to use across his lap.]

Friday. I'll need time to collect the ingredients.