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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 3, 2013 17:22:11 GMT -5
He'd already finished the coffee he'd picked up by the time he'd arrived at Adrian's and gotten out of the taxi, jerking his luggage behind him a bit drowsily. He pitied his foolishness in only buying a small; he was only slightly more awake than he was when he'd woken up, half an hour after his alarm had gone off. Thankfully he hadn't slept too long, though he was sure Megan would have called him. Unless Megan was late too. Wasn't impossible.
He put his cardboard coffee cup in a garbage can in the lobby on his exhausted way to the elevator, taking the opportunity to lean on the side of it and doze. Yeah, he was gonna be sleeping on the plane.
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Post by Megan on Dec 4, 2013 13:57:03 GMT -5
Megan didn't look much livelier when she entered, with shadowy pink-rimmed eyes and a coffee of her own clutched in one hand.
"Hey."
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 4, 2013 14:04:29 GMT -5
"Oh, you still have coffee," he said, in a tone that implied 'lucky'.
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Post by Nina Fortner on Dec 4, 2013 14:08:16 GMT -5
"There's coffee!" shouted Nina from the stairs as she came down carrying her suitcase and Curt's (she insisted). That was Dr. Banner, then - she hadn't seen him or a picture of him, but had spoken about him with her father and knew who he was. She wondered about his comfort level going on this trip, but as soon as she thought of that she realized probably everyone was less up for wild Greece adventures than she and her father were and that the group of them was probably going to find relief at each other's non-Veidt-ness. "Hello Megan."
The former secretary, she'd met a few times. Adrian spoke of her in a way that suggested history, though thankfully not romantic history. But who knew with her father. She didn't have such a high opinion of him that she couldn't picture him hurting someone; she knew enough about him to believe it was somewhat inevitable. As it probably was with her.
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 4, 2013 14:17:21 GMT -5
"Ah, uh, thanks," said Bruce, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He didn't go to get any because... he had no idea where it was.
"You're... Nina, then?"
He'd seen, well, pictures of her, but not in such a way that he'd known what she'd looked like. The resemblance to her father was a little bit unnerving - Veidt was conventionally handsome enough, but meeting the guy, his crooked nose, hollow expression, and immensely slippery gravitas kind of stood out to you, and the girl had none of it. It was more startling seeing a reflection of Veidt in Nina's face for what it illuminated of Adrian than to look at her. You expected estranged illegitimate kids to have their parents' eyes or hair or body types; you didn't expect them to have their parents' superficial mannerisms when they hadn't grown up with them.
He must have been staring because Nina laughed and deflected the stare by asking if he wanted a cup.
"Yeah, might be wise, though I should also, uh..."
"The bathroom is- " she pointed; "up there, three doors down, to the right; I'll get you a cup, what would you like?"
"It's- it's fine-"
"It's not any trouble," and Bruce was too tired to have another 'let me do something for you' discussion with an iron-willed Veidt descendant. He wearily told her how he took his coffee and sat down rubbing his face beneath the glasses when she left. Greece among Veidts, great.
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Post by Megan on Dec 4, 2013 14:25:59 GMT -5
"I can't drink it too hot, I haven't actually started it yet."
She tucked the wave of her new bangs behind one ear and adjusted her headband to hold them there before she took a sip.
"I got four espresso shots. I'm hoping I'll peak on the way and crash on the plane."
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 4, 2013 14:29:51 GMT -5
"Hey, uh, the, uh-"
He made a gesture at the hair over his own forehead before he could rethink it.
"That looks nice."
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Post by Megan on Dec 4, 2013 14:51:32 GMT -5
"Oh- oh, thanks," she said, a little self-consciously. "It's been hot, you know? And it was heavy, and... yeah. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision."
She glanced away and sipped her coffee.
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 4, 2013 14:52:31 GMT -5
"I'd like to make those, though-" he laughed self-consciously. "Not really about, well."
He hoped Nina was coming back with the coffee.
"You know Adrian's daughter well?" he tried to ask conversationally, but it was too early to sound anything but blunt.
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Post by Megan on Dec 4, 2013 15:04:49 GMT -5
"She's stopped in a few times. We've spoken... a little, I guess you could say. I don't like, know her know her."
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 4, 2013 15:06:48 GMT -5
"I don't know know anybody," he said self-deprecatingly. "Oh, this is gonna be some week. I don't know how Adrian talked me into it."
He knew exactly how, via announcing it and expecting everyone to go through with it. Bruce hardly considered himself a pushover, but defying Veidt seemed like the laws of physics themselves made it impossible.
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Post by Nina Fortner on Dec 4, 2013 15:07:42 GMT -5
Nina came back in with his coffee, but then excused herself to go back upstairs.
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 4, 2013 15:13:12 GMT -5
Bruce was enormously thankful for the appearance of the mug, and a little thankful that Nina hadn't, at this juncture, hung around to chat. He had time to properly meet everyone later when he was fully awake. At this point he only knew knew Megan and she was incidentally the only person who knew the difference between him tired and him awake. Not that there was an enormous one. He felt fatigued most of the time.
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Post by Megan on Dec 5, 2013 23:04:16 GMT -5
"I literally don't know why he's making me come," Megan said finally. "A week of bright sunlight, sand, and Nina Fortner in a swimsuit..."
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Post by Bruce Banner on Dec 5, 2013 23:31:15 GMT -5
"Uhhhh...."
Apparently there was something Megan hadn't told him about herself prior to now, which, obviously, was her business and completely all right but which threw him considerably off guard.
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