entrancelogs | ( open ) wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?

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( open ) wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?

Who: Bruce Banner and YOU!
Where: Gardens, kitchen, hallways, lab, rooftop, or literally anywhere
When: During the next few days
Rating: PG13 for nudity, don't expect anything else but will update if need be
Summary: Bruce falls into Wonderland. Literally. He falls from the sky. Then he spends the next few days trying to be invisible and failing miserably.
The Story:

ARRIVAL, GARDENS; (open to only one person—first come first serve)

Anyone looking outside today will see blue skies. Blue skies, a shining sun, a seeming state of peace that's almost unsettling— then a strange sight breaking that calm. A figure falls from the sky, at a steadily quicker speed, literally dropping and landing in the middle of the gardens with an audible thud, hard enough to leave a mark in the ground. To those not paying much attention, it could be anything, but to anyone with a good eye, it's fairly easy to tell that it's actually a man.

He doesn't move, either. It stands to reason that after a fall like that, he wouldn't have survived. Should anyone venture outside to see for themselves, though, they might be surprised to find out that the man is not only very much alive, but also unharmed and completely naked.

ANYWHERE ELSE;

Bruce has been in some pretty far off places, but this still takes the cake.

The whole pocket universe and alternate realities deal is actually easier to wrap his head around than the fact that this place exists. This place as in Wonderland. Not just modelled after the story, but actually real. He's starting to feel like he really is mad at this point, which is all funny in that sort of ironic way if it weren't for the fact that he's stuck. He's stuck and he feels trapped, and he doesn't particularly like that feeling.

The place looks open and big but it's really little more than a glorified cage. And Bruce wouldn't mind much being here if only he were by himself— but no, let's pull in the guy who could tear this whole place apart in minutes and shove him in here with a bunch of other people. Brilliant idea.

But anyway. He tries not to focus too much on that, and instead worries about the ways he can try to keep distance from everyone else. Sadly, he soon realizes he can't do much about that either.

The choice of room (or more accurately, floor) is very much intentional, because as much as he wants to avoid being too close to certain people, he also feels the conflicting need to make sure they're alright. One of the first rooms in the seventh floor leave him somewhere close enough to the stairs, but not too far down the hallway, too close to everyone else's rooms. Could be worse.

As for the rest, it's... well, things could always be worse. Most times he manages to go to the kitchen or even the library without getting too much attention, but he still makes it back to the room pretty quickly. He holes himself up there for hours on end, blankets thrown over mirrors once he knows what's on the other side, looking out the window and musing how he would be better off just getting lost in the forest indefinitely. Probably.

He knows where these thoughts lead him, though. Eventually he forces himself to do something, and that starts with exploring the rest of the mansion. He goes to each open area and takes a look inside, taking his time when it's something that interests him more, makes it all the way down to the basement where he ends up looking around the lab for a little while, and goes up to the rooftop and stands somewhat near the edge for a while, looking over the expanse of land within sight. (And no, he's not thinking about jumping, if anyone might be wondering.)

It's too much. Too much and too little, too small, too confining. Every invisible limit makes his skin crawl with the urge to run, but he knows he can't. It's a particular kind of helplessness not even he is used to, and right now he has no idea what to do, where to start. If he can even do anything at all to change things.

He used to think he could. Change, do better. But he doesn't even know, doesn't even believe that anymore.

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He nods, not looking particularly worried even now. He hardly knows anything about this place, and he certainly doesn't know enough to tell a complete stranger what they should or shouldn't do. Besides, he doesn't hear any alarms going off, so he's assuming whatever Alphys was doing wasn't all that dangerous.

"Makes sense to me." That she'd be interested, that is. "I'm just trying to... get to know the place. I only just got here."

"Oh! Y-You're new?" She's talked to a lot of new people fairly recently- she'd say she's pretty good at the opening speech, but she's also not sure he hasn't already heard it. "Someone's, uhm, p-probably explained to you most of this place, but uh, I've b-been here a few months if you're wondering, uhm, about anything? I can uh, t-try to answer." Really, she's not incredible at answering questions about this place, but Alphys wants to try- she's not a great welcome wagon, but she tries. Alphys wrings her hands, running her palms over one another to fill the time, trying to make herself look friendly.

"I've gotten the whole speech already. From someone I know back home, and he's usually pretty thorough." It left Bruce with very few questions of Wonderland, and those are ones he knows he'll have to work to see answered. If he ever sees them answered at all. "But I'll remember the offer, if something comes up."

He tips his head at her in something of a nod. "How many is 'a few'?"

"T-That's good." She's not sure she could remember all of the fine details, anyway, and Alphys certainly wouldn't want to be responsible for forgetting an important fact. People around here could die if they don't know everything, so... maybe it's better someone else does it.

His next question takes her a second though, putting her hand to her chin in thought for a second or two. "Uhm, a-about three months? Uh, when I got here, the c-calendars here said it was early March." Gosh, has it already been three months? It seems like so much has happened since then, and yet, it still seems like it's been an eternity. "I hadn't even realized it w-was that long until, uhm, y-you asked. Time can really get a-away from you, uh, here."

If only Bruce could die, then he'd worry about that. Or not worry, actually, since dying really isn't the worst thing that could happen to him. But he's trying really hard not to panic right now, and among other things that involves not overthinking about things that haven't yet happened or might not even come to be.

"I'd ask if in a good way or a bad way, but after what I've heard about this place, I'm gonna wager it's mostly the latter." Though he can't say for sure, for all he knows Alphys really hasn't been having that terrible a time here. Some people probably come from places even worse off.

"Well, uhm, it hasn't been h-horrible, all the time." It's true, all things considered. There's been some truly terrible times, but... she's also made friends that she would never have made otherwise, and learned and studied plenty since she got here. Besides, the vast majority of the people she knows are stuck here with her, though she knows it's not the same for everyone involved.

"But, uhm, I do k-kind of miss home. Most of my friends are h-here, with me, though, so... I guess it could be worse, even if t-the events can get harrowing." That's the understatement of the century, but she doesn't want to scare anyone new to this place.

Bruce could say a thing or two about having people he knows around, but they probably wouldn't be nice things. The last he knows, he was trying to get away from them, and now he's stuck here, in a place that he's been told can get very dangerous, and that coupled with the fact that it's so small only spells trouble when Bruce's involved.

"Can you tell me a little about the events? Maybe some you've witnessed or been involved in, just so I get some idea of what I'm dealing with?" Better to focus on that, and besides, Bruce wants as much information as possible so he's prepared, even if only minimally.

Alphys thinks for a moment, when he mentions events- she's been told not all of them are so bad, but her experiences with the events up to now have been... pretty horrible. People close to her have died in half of them. The others involved some nervous breakdowns. But she doesn't want to scare him, so... how does she spin this?

"Well... all the ones, uhm, since I've g-gotten here have been pretty serious. One of them was, uhm, o-one where everyone's emotions were either gone, o-or completely overemotional. There was a-another one with zombies coming out of the basement-- like, r-real life zombies. And there was a-another where, uhm, this huge series of tunnels o-opened up under the grounds, but there were these monsters inside, and..." She pauses, wondering if anyone has told him about the mirrors yet.

"And, uh, the last one, well... has a-anyone told you about, uhm, the mirrors yet?"

Bruce would rather hear about the really horrible ones, honestly. Better that he knows what's the worst he might have to deal with, than be told of mildly distressing ones that might not affect him all that much in the long run.

So, he does appreciate getting a glimpse of what Alphys has experienced already. Some of them do make it pretty clear that he might get a lot of issues in his future, but curiously enough it's the first one, the only one not involving monsters or zombies or anything attacking them, that scares Bruce the most. To lose control over his own emotions completely like that, to Bruce it would be horrifying, and the result catastrophic.

"I have, in passing." Understandably so. No one likes getting into much detail about the opposite of themselves that lives on the other side of the mirror, watches them at all times— Bruce has already covered up the mirror in his own room, partly in a futile attempt to pretend the other side doesn't exist, but also in hopes that he'll never get to find out what his mirror version is like. The thought genuinely terrifies him. "Was it something involving mirrors, then?"

"Y-Yeah. In the last event, uhm, the m-mirrors were reversed, and we could see everything t-they were doing, instead of the other way a-around." It was... harrowing, to have to look at her double, but moreso to know everyone else could see her, too. Know that everyone else could probably extrapolate the kind of person she was from seeing her opposite, and that it wasn't what she'd want to project. It's been... hard. But all events are. Just have to get through them, right?

"S-Some people keep them broken, uhm, a-all the time, but... usually they can still h-hear through them. If you're lucky, uhm, y-your mirror won't want to talk to you, and won't b-bother you a lot." How does she make this sound at all reassuring? "U-Usually it's not so bad, though! Most of the time t-they keep to themselves, unless one of them's r-really out to get you. They can't c-come over here without, uhm, the Queen's p-permission, though, so... they can't actually h-hurt you." She's probably convincing herself more than she's convincing him, but it's worth... something, probably.

"Luck's not usually on my side," he answers lightly, even if the thoughts in his head are dark and heavy, almost suffocating. Bruce doesn't even know what his mirror's like yet, but it could be either incredibly depressing or extremely terrifying— either way, he's not eager to find out. He's covered up his own mirror the moment he learned about the other side of the mansion, and that's how he'll keep it for now.

Just like he'll skip on the chance to take a look into the other side. He doesn't want to know, doesn't want to see his other self any more than he wants him to look back at him through the glass. Maybe ignoring won't last for long, but he's going to do it for as long as he can get away with it.

"But they can come over." Not a question— he's been told that the mirrors can do that, already. And it's not like the Queen's someone who can be trusted. No one can be in a place like this, honestly. They're probably as insane as in the original story, if not even more so.

"Well, yeah, but... the Queen c-can see everything, supposedly? And, uhm, anyone who d-does, she can destroy them. I've never seen it, since I've b-been here, but I've heard it's happened b-before." Admittedly, she's done a bit of research about the mirrors, considering the first time she spoke to hers she was basically handed plans for a superweapon, and she needed to make sure how much her defenses needed to be. Thankfully, most of it's solved by shoving her mirror under her bed and wrapping it in an extra blanket. She hopes that does the job, at least.

"I spoken to, uhm, a f-few of them because of the last event, and they're all l-loyal to the Queen, so... I don't think we h-have to worry about them, uh, unless she wants it. Then, uhm, w-we'd probably be in trouble."

"Or they can do it on her orders for whatever reason. Even if it's something random, like just striking her fancy." He doubts she'd be that impulsive, from what little he knows— she probably would have her plans, her plots, and her very good reasons to send mirrors over, but the point is she could. That's enough to leave Bruce feeling incredibly unsettled. Not just at the thought of his mirror being on this side, but him getting stuck on the other one in the meantime.

"General consensus about this place makes it seem like we may all be in trouble at a moment's notice for a myriad of reasons, not just the mirrors." Call him a pessimist, but he'd rather be prepared. Get too comfortable, and this place will catch him by surprise. Can't have that.

"Yeah, it's... I mean, the e-events do kind of come out of uh, nowhere. Usually we can get a few days' notice, t-though, if we catch a resident's post on the network. They'll try to w-warn us, usually, or say s-something about how the event is gonna be, or... yeah." This all seems to be getting more depressing the more she talks about it.

"Everyone d-does a lot to help each other, though. Whenever it looks like things are, uhm, g-getting dangerous, or trouble is coming, e-everybody bands together to make sure everyone is safe. It's... n-nice." She tries to believe in the kindness of people, and while this place may not be kind, the majority of the people here are. It's calming. Better than it could be, at least.

"That's good." Both things, actually. He imagines those warnings are more cryptic than anything else, if this is at all like the Wonderland in the story, but at least it's something. Better than having no idea at all that something's about to happen, even if it still might not help Bruce (or anyone else) get truly prepared for it.

"We only have each other around here, so it really is important that we help each other, at the very least." Bruce just hopes that he'll still be himself enough to help too, when the need arises. Usually he'd just stay away from everything, but since 'away' isn't an option here... well. "Anyway, that's all kind of depressing. Sorry. But thank you for answering my questions, anyway."

"It's, uh, n-no problem!" She tries to offer a smile, something genuine, because she does want him to feel welcomed, despite the fact that the place he's being welcomed to is... kind of a mess. "I hope, uh, this didn't sound like too... much, I g-guess? I mean, uh, all of Wonderland is a b-bit much. But nobody has to be scared, uhm, a-all the time." She's probably projecting here, but this is what she liked to her when she arrived.

She pauses for a moment, thinking of something else. "Uh... there's also, uhm, a l-lab on the 5th floor, where a bunch of scientists are, uh, cataloging science s-stuff from our worlds? It's, uh, run by a woman named Jane. I, uhm, a-assume you're down here because, uh, you might w-wanna use some of this stuff, but uh, she's always looking for more people, s-so, uhm... y-yeah."

It's fine, he's used to dealing with messes, most of all himself. And for now things aren't so bad over here— guess he'll have to wait and see just how bad it can get, but he's kind of hoping he'll manage some control over himself, at the very least.

"Jane. Got it, I'll look into that." He's yet to meet her, or to realize that Alphys is talking about Jane Foster, though he'll likely make the connection once he runs into her. He's not so sure he'll do anything about that piece of information yet, though. He feels out of place enough in this lab as it is, and it'll take a while for him to feel comfortable working with other people.

He may not have much of a choice here, though.

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( open ) wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?

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