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[gallitrap]

WHO: Bruce Banner and Ruka
WHERE: The Laboratory of Solitude (and Occasional Soap Operas)
WHEN: later Saturday afternoon (5/8)
WARNINGS: why are all her friends monsters, older guys, or secretly both :|a this log is PG.
SUMMARY: Bruce invites Ruka to his lab, and they talk about stuff oh my god why does everything sound so awful
FORMAT: words

Comments

[hulkkeysmash]

Bruce was nervous. He was not historically good with new people, even though he'd had many conversations with Ruka over the course of the year and had met her in person once. She didn't remember that, though---it'd been a younger her, a different her, an amazingly tiny her---and it was just as well, considering he'd shown his more bestial nature that day.

He'd invited Ruka to see him because he was curious, really. He knew that she was smart, intuitive, and mature for a child her age; a part of him wanted to know how and where she placed and what he could do to help her in her development. Bruce had never been a father---and given the nature of his genetics, never would---but he thought that a good adult would guide a child like Ruka. Especially in a city like this one

[gallitrap]

While Ruka did have parents, both at home and an adoptive facsimile thereof in the City, she was not terribly used to the restrictions they would place; warnings against giving out personal information seemed pointless when the entire network had been invited to their home by her guardians, and meeting with or talking to strangers in general was a necessity, as it certainly wasn't as though there were enough hometown friends to rely on. Besides, if one were to examine the history to its source, Ruka's current living arrangement under her current guardians had started as little more than a case of "finders keepers." And it wasn't as though she was unaccustomed to the company of monsters-though her definition never matched anyone else's

[hulkkeysmash]

Archie probably smelled all the girl smells of the her plus the outdoors as soon as the door opened a crack, so it wasn't surprising that he almost knocked Bruce over. He was a mess of dog legs and floppy ears, wrinkled body vibrating as he BARK BARK BARK'd his excitement. Bruce pulled at his collar with his non-mittened hand, scolding him under his breath. "No, no, down. Down, boy. You're making a scene."

He turned off the collar, the sound of the reverb already putting spikes in his growing headache. He sighed, then spared Ruka an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry about that. His manners still need some work, but he's just a big puppy. It's good to see you, Ruka. Please---come in."

Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose, keeping Archie pinned against the wall with his thigh as he opened the door a little wider for her.

[gallitrap]

The bark-and-BARKing grew louder when the door finally opened, and after Bruce's few moments of struggle, Ruka finally nodded her head in polite gratitude before crossing the threshold.

"Oh, it's alright," she replied, the door closing behind her. "Pess used to be the same way, a few months ago."

Even if Ruka couldn't speak with animals the same way she could to spirits, when she continued, she was addressing the dog with the exact same tone of voice she always used. "It's nice to meet you, too. What's your name?"