[Video] Tuesday: Week 71

[tiptoeing]

[Hi network, remember this guy? Well he’s back. Again. He’s a combination of embarrassed and nervous about the whole situation, but what else is new? He has some lingering bruises from being trapped by rubble, but is otherwise all right.]

Well this is a little bit awkward. Third time’s a charm, I guess? Though this time wasn't exactly like the others...I haven’t been in a pod. [He pauses for a minute, fiddling with his hands out of habit.]

I don’t know how many of you I know are still here, but I hope I can be of some use to you all, regardless. Particularly if you haven’t gotten the ship up and running yet; I remember that being an issue. And if there’s any chance I can still help out at the hospital, I wouldn’t mind multitasking.

...Thanks, by the way, to those of you who helped me get out of the ship. I appreciate it.

Comments

Video

[wrench_and_ruffles]

Bruce!

[It's always good to see people again after they disappeared]

Where were ya, if it weren't a pod? We're still workin' on gettin' her runnin' again. Wraith attack set us back a bit just now.

[video]

[tiptoeing]

I'm glad to see you're still here, Kaylee. [Really, he's glad to see anybody.]

I was...well, it's kind of complicated. I was here, but not here.

[video]

[wrench_and_ruffles]

You've missed... a lot of crazy.

[There would probably be more. THough if they could avoid a repeat of last month's crazy she'd be content]

You mean like... those in between places Salvation talks 'bout rescuin' folk from?

[video]

[tiptoeing]

[He gives her a wry, but sympathetic smile.] I'm sure I have. Honestly if it wasn't for the communicators, I wouldn't have any idea of how long I've been gone.

Maybe. I don't -- wait, Salvation talks?

[video]

[wrench_and_ruffles]

Anyone warned ya 'bout time runnin' different on the ship and off yet?

Got her AI workin' a while back. Usually she'll talk to ya anywhere on the ship but with all the mess AI core or the gardens are the best bet.

[Audio]

[professorwolf]

Bruce Banner, welcome back! This is Randolph Lyall, the werewolf-- I'm not sure if you remember me.

[Since he's not sure whether... this is the same Bruce, exactly, or what he's been doing in the meantime, or what. It's never entirely clear, with returns like this.]

[audio]

[tiptoeing]

[fondly] I remember. How have you been?

[audio]

[professorwolf]

[That's a pleasant surprise, then! Lyall is perfectly happy to be remembered. Perhaps not much happened in the interim.]

Well enough. Life has been rather up and down since you vanished last. Where were you, precisely, anyhow? If you weren't in a pod, as you say.

[audio]

[tiptoeing]

It's...hard to explain. I was...lost, you might say. I'm not sure if I was in an alternate reality, or maybe between realities, as Kaylee suggested. There was a large, blasted wasteland, that extended from up near the quarantine line to down near the port, maybe 10 miles wide. The sky was full of lightning storms, dust and ash.

I was never sure how much time had passed, while I was there. And I was alone. I could catch glimpses of people, but... [That was the most unnerving part, as much as he tried to push people away in the past.]

[audio]

[professorwolf]

Well, that sounds unpleasant. Also a bit familiar. Wasn't that what the far future was supposed to look like, when we all split up and landed in different time periods?

[He's heard descriptions by now of pretty much every time period. And he's really not sure if Bruce got to experience that fun event... a number of people vanished around that time, Bruce among them.]

[Video]

[nodavinci]

Fourth time, technically. Assuming we're not counting alternate versions.

[video]

[tiptoeing]

[He is really really glad to see you, Tony. He might even be smiling.] I was purposefully not mentioning the fourth time. ...Was there an alternate version of me here?

[video]

[nodavinci]

For about five minutes. It was a little surreal.

On the up side, almost everyone's had at least one double by now, so we can all compare notes.

[video]

[tiptoeing]

I can imagine.

...I'm not sure that's an upside, but I have some interesting notes of my own for you, on where I was before. Or wasn't.

[video]

[nodavinci]

The implications are interesting. You know, in a potentially world-ending kind of way.

You remember where you were while you were - gone?

[pepperspray]

So you're not going to get away with living in a hovel in the ruins this time, I'm afraid.

[Pepper's smiling and her tone is light enough to suggest teasing... except for that little glint in her eye.]

At least not without coming by our place first.

[tiptoeing]

I think I might actually be all right with not living in a hovel in the ruins this time. Maybe.

[Bruce returns her smile at the second part.] And I was planning on doing that anyway.

[pepperspray]

Well, I'll just have to do my best to turn that 'maybe' into a 'yes'. Would the opportunity to study a pair of domesticated mammoths sweeten the pot?

[Tony's fondness for the creatures is because mammoths are cool. The somewhat closer to a biologist Dr. Banner, on the other hand, might have more technical interest. Also, mammoths are cool. Pepper's smile lingers]

How are you for a ride into town? If Tony's going to let you escape getting pulled into working on Salvation right away, that is.

[tiptoeing]

Domesticated mammoths? Really? I wouldn't have suspected they would be particularly susceptible to domestication. I'd be very interested in studying them.

[There is a very subtle underlying note of mammoths are cool there that he is trying very hard to keep a lid on.]

I'd like that. This is probably the only time you'll hear me say I'd prefer catching up over working.

[pepperspray]

They're considered prized in the country of Petrichor, over the mountains to the south. I took a little business trip there.

[And, clearly, was successful enough in it to come back with mammoths. This is probably not surprising to one of her early quasi-volunteers for trade missions such as one Bruce Banner.]

I can be out at the Ship with my car in about a half hour, if you want. We can catch up on the road, before you can think better of taking a break.

[girlworthfighting]

I don't know you.

[That's not a bad thing, mind. It's only a fact.]

What is your name?

[tiptoeing]

I don't know you either, if that helps. [There's some humor to his tone, despite everything.]

Dr. Bruce Banner. You may have met some friends of mine already, depending on how long you've been here.

[girlworthfighting]

Fa Mulan. And I've been here...I will need to think. Needless to say, it has been some time.

[tiptoeing]

We must have missed each other the last few times I've been here. If the names Tony Stark or Thor ring a bell, we were friends before we all turned up here. And Pepper Potts I knew of, at least.

[girlworthfighting]

I know Lady Potts, and Thor. Tony Stark's name is familiar to me but we have never really interacted. His interests and expertise lie very far from mine.