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Post by Megan on Jun 7, 2014 22:33:43 GMT -5
Megan tensed and knew better than to press on, but at the same time it was blatantly obvious that she'd made a huge misstep and hit on a major source of anxiety where Nina was concerned, and that made her mouth go slack while she clenched her skirt in her hands for a moment and tried to lower the heat she felt building in her palms.
"...I've got to go, I think- I'll be back inna li- innalilbit-"
She swallowed the saliva that was rapidly accumulating under her tongue and started stiffly rushing toward the door, looking more robotic than the actual robot in their party.
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Post by Bruce Banner on Jun 8, 2014 0:37:33 GMT -5
Bruce opened the kitchen door sleepily, but he finished waking up rapidly when he realized he'd almost hit Megan in the face.
"Oh, sorry-"
One look at Megan's face and he had a strong sense about what was going on. He took her hands comfortingly, and they were starting to heat up. He pressed them and looked her in the eye.
"Morning."
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Post by Megan on Jun 8, 2014 1:58:28 GMT -5
Megan pressed her lips together and nodded.
"M- mmmorning," she said, slowly enough to force the word out properly.
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Post by Bruce Banner on Jun 8, 2014 2:03:48 GMT -5
"Oh, man, I am hungry," he said, looking past her to the spread. "This for everybody? Or..."
He wasn't sure which of them had made breakfast, if it was for everyone to enjoy or if one of the girls had had a spectacularly huge appetite.
Knowing Veidt's, he doubted Nina Fortner did, and knowing Megan, he doubted she did either. Still.
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Post by Megan on Jun 8, 2014 2:07:49 GMT -5
"Mm-hmm," said Megan, nodding and trying to hide that she was taking deep breaths. "I f- I ffffigured, why not."
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Post by Bruce Banner on Jun 8, 2014 2:13:56 GMT -5
"Oh, hey, thanks."
He moved past her, slowly, with a hand briefly on her shoulder, to get a plate and help himself.
He could tell Nina Fortner was sizing him up at the same time as he was sizing her up, and it was a bit unnerving how completely he got that impression. She was much harder to read than Megan was; like her father, he got the impression of a disturbing amount of control in the facial muscles - now, at least, with a curiously blank look in her eyes as she gazed back at him. Veidt sometimes let his guard down, in a way that made it a little too clear he was conscious of doing so, and probably doing it for your benefit. He'd never given a lot of thought to the guy having been his daughter's age once, but he could see now an uncanny level of similarity.
For Megan, whose history with Adrian wasn't clear to him but which was most definitely thorny and debilitating to Megan's sense of herself, it was easy to envision being alone with the girl had led to a panic response. Poor kid, he thought, but then a disconcerting level of confusion rose up. He momentarily wished Nina wasn't there, and he had been the first person to see Megan this morning.
That was just because Nina had upset her, though, he told himself.
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Post by Nina Fortner on Jun 8, 2014 2:19:35 GMT -5
Nina met Banner's eyes and didn't flinch away from them. She'd have gladly told him what had happened, to the best of her knowledge, but she didn't want to affect Megan worse - and she wasn't entirely sure what she'd done to her, either. She felt like a criminal. No, she didn't... she felt like her brother.
There's just something wrong with you, with all of you. There's something wrong inside of you and people can sense it. Megan can sense that it's there and it upsets her.
She wished she'd stayed in Curt's room and taken the dangerous option of waking up with him. But it only lasted until Banner broke eye contact and shuffled to get a plate of food, chatting amiably (voice still rough; he hadn't been awake long, and wore nothing but a t-shirt and pair of sweatpants himself. It wasn't surprising that a man of his life experiences and inarguable intelligence was as alert as he was in the face of a tense social situation, but it told you a lot about him). No, she wished she'd stayed in her own room. It rapidly became wishing she'd stayed in New York, wishing she'd stayed in Europe, wishing she was not here, not pretending to be happy and human, not alive...
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Post by Megan on Jun 8, 2014 2:46:14 GMT -5
"Did you get a briefing or anything last night?" Megan asked. "I have no idea what's going on today, I just kind of crashed when we got here. Not that I ever have to do much," she added to Nina in particular. "I'm starting to think I'm one of those old-fashioned voluptuous assistants like you see in an old movie. I just say things like 'you'd better get a look at this, Doctor' or 'oh, Doctor, those readings are off the charts', and he adjusts his glasses and frowns at things and does all the real science."
She smiled at Banner, a little less feebly than she had before, and pressed her hands down flat on the cool marble countertop.
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Post by Nina Fortner on Jun 8, 2014 2:54:52 GMT -5
Suddenly Nina had the very strong impression there were two twenty-somethings with superpowers and confused crushes on middle-aged scientists in spectacles on this island.
"Is something going on today at all?" she said mildly, drinking her orange juice stoically. Coffee; that was what was wanting.
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Post by Bruce Banner on Jun 8, 2014 3:01:30 GMT -5
He shook his head and swallowed a mouthful of chewed food, washing it down with OJ before he spoke. Megan had seen him at his laziest, getting donut jelly on his shirt and so on, but he was still self-conscious this morning. Seeing him eating lazily in his laziest clothes would be a new low. He wasn't sure why he cared so much; a man like him didn't have much dignity left.
"No briefing. What is this, turkey bacon?"
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Post by Megan on Jun 8, 2014 3:15:51 GMT -5
"Yeah, like Adrian Veidt would allow real bacon on his private island," said Megan. "At least I got it crispy enough. Lord knows there's literally no other point to my being here except decoration."
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Post by Bruce Banner on Jun 8, 2014 3:17:03 GMT -5
Bruce reached out for her hand instinctively.
"That's not true," he said with conviction.
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Post by Nina Fortner on Jun 8, 2014 3:18:20 GMT -5
Nina was going to insert that Daniel was Jewish, but the conversation took at turn at Megan's alarming statement.
"If it helps," she said hesitantly, "I think you're here because Adrian thinks you deserve a vacation. I know he's not very good at human kindnesses, but I think that's his intention."
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Post by Megan on Jun 8, 2014 3:24:31 GMT -5
"And everybody knows how much I like bright sunlight and humid temperatures in the upper eighties," Megan said flatly. "This isn't a vacation at all, except maybe for you."
It came out harsher than she'd intended, and she withdrew a little.
"...sorry," she said. "Look, I don't- I'm not trying to make this weird, I promise."
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Post by Nina Fortner on Jun 8, 2014 3:27:28 GMT -5
Nina went a bit still, her brain shutting out outside noise as it tried to find a solution to the immediate problem.
After a shorter moment than it seemed to her, she gently pushed her plate away, looking apologetic.
"...I think I'm the one making things weird," she said quietly. "Excuse me, I should - " She stood up. "I'll go."
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