Bruce Banner | 004 | Private video to Lydia

[greenisnteasy]

You said something about coffee and pretending to be interested in science?

What about you and me, the library, and figuring out what the map on the side of our mystery box is trying to tell us? Astronomy, musty books, logic puzzles that could result in imminent danger... What do you say?

[Bruce knows better than to assume that a teenager can't be intelligent. That goes for all teenagers, but he was also a teenage genius once, and he knows the value of being taken seriously. He also suspects there's a great value to be had in taking her seriously.]

Comments

[preytosociety]

[Well, the secret's out anyway. At least to Kobra, Daneel, and Agent Carter. And it's not like Lydia can resist something that intriguing after almost a week of no technology and nothing to do but idly look through books with no clear objective. She was practically bored to tears at this point. Her reputation could take the hit for the sake of the distraction.]

I'd say you've got yourself a date, Dr. Banner. Wear something nice. I'm not that easy to impress.

[greenisnteasy]

[He quirks a smile.] Well, it's a good thing I'm not all that hung up on impressing anyone. [Oh Lydia, you have no idea how true that is.]

Meet you in the library.

[preytosociety]

[... Lydia gives a small, pleasantly surprised hum of approval before signing off and heading to the bathroom to make herself presentable. It's not until after she achieves a state of utter flawlessness that she heads over to the library.

She immediately heads over to Bruce, standing next to the table and crossing her arms over her chest trying to mask her building excitement as an eagerness to get this over with.]

So. What exactly are we looking at here?

[greenisnteasy]

This. [He slides over a sketch of the star chart from the side of the cube, and he taps his finger against it.]

If we identify what celestial bodies this portrays, we could be a step closer to figuring out who made this cube.

[preytosociety]

[Lydia's brow furrows as she examines the sketch. At first she thought it was just a representation of the solar system, nine planets-- but something was off. The shapes were all wrong. Could just be a stylistic representation sans accuracy, but as she peered at the sketch her confusion grew.]

I don't recognize any of these constellations. The stars are all wrong. [So definitely not this galaxy. How was that even possible? A box falling from the sky with old norse written on it and a star map of a distant galaxy. Right. She raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical.] ... This is a joke, right? Are we being punk'd?

[greenisnteasy]

No, I don't think so. I mean, we could be, but based on some recent experiences I've had, a distant galaxy where people speak old Norse isn't that far fetched.

What's important now is to try to figure out what we can about this area of space.

[preytosociety]

Recent experiences? Do tell.

[Lydia hovers around the shelves, still near enough to hear Bruce should he choose to divulge the undoubtedly juicy details of whatever would make this situation any more likely to be actually happening. She pulls some blank paper and pencils from what was formerly the librarian's desk, and then heads straight for the astronomy section.]

Depending on how generous I'm feeling, and how outlandish your stories are, I might be in the mood to trade.

[greenisnteasy]

[He likes her style, and he follows after her, grabbing some paper and pencils of his own.]

How outlandish is meeting Thor and Loki? As in, the Thor and Loki.

[preytosociety]

[Oh really? She quirks a brow, smiling, obviously amused.] Very outlandish. I hope they gave you some incredibly convincing proof.

[Because the person claiming to be Loki around here hadn't done much to get her to believe him.]

[greenisnteasy]

Well, Thor had this hammer that none of us could pick up, and there was that time that he called down thunder and lightning from the sky. And Loki could double himself.

And they talked really funny. So clearly they're foreign and scary.

[preytosociety]

... Oh.

[That... well. Hmm. That could certainly be some proof. She smiles, bending at the waist to get a book from the bottom shelf, and straightens with an expertly executed hair flip.] And how do I know you're not just making this up so I'll go all starry-eyed and hang off of every word you say?

[greenisnteasy]

[That again, huh? Impressing other people seems to be a complex of hers.]

Because I don't want you to go starry-eyed and hang off every word I say. I'd rather you keep a clear head so we can get down to work here.

[preytosociety]

[How the hell does he just keep smoothly ignoring her obvious charms? It's bordering on infuriating. But he's right, they have work to do. She presses her lips together in a tight line before forcing a small smile, brushing off the loss and going back to her work seemingly unaffected by the blow to her ego.

Just focus on the task at hand, Lydia. There's a puzzle and you need to figure it out.]

I don't suppose you just happened to have some insightful conversations with them about their culture that would somehow give us the means to figure this out in the next fifteen minutes?