FANPORT OVERFLOW LOG

[maskormods]

WHO: ImPorts!
WHERE: Heropa's Convention Centre.
WHEN: April 14-16, from 9 AM - 12 AM every day.
WHAT: Registration is in motion alongside FanPort, the most popular imPort convention around! Come on in and see imPort-led panels, the artist's alley, cosplayers, and more! If you have any questions, or wish to amend the way we have written up your characters' panels, let us know here! The original log can be found HERE.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; please let us know if this should be changed.

Comments

Bruce Banner | Undecided → Registered | ota

[hyperkinesia]

[ Being among the most recent arrivals, Bruce isn't exactly looking forward to this convention as other people clearly are. He's going for one main reason: to learn more about the imPorts, the systems in place in this world, its culture, technology, politics and economy, and understand how he can fit into all that— that is, how to not get into any kind of trouble.

Registration is a quiet thrum at the back of his mind, a thought ever present but not overwhelming. He's been thinking about it, and while at first he was sure he wouldn't register, things have changed. He's not alone anymore, he has Betty here to look after, and if making sure she's the safest she can be means registering along with her, then he will.

Still, he doesn't stand out much, and being a new arrival means most everyone here doesn't really recognize him. He navigates the public areas at a leisurely pace, taking pamphlets and approaching booths and tables at the artists' alley with some vague interest, and he attends a few of the panels.

A lot of the time he'll be walking around with Betty, but he can be found on his own a few times during the first and third days, and particularly he'll be alone for most of the second day, during which he might also seem a little more distracted than usual. Or, just to make things easier, you might turn a corner and have a physicist literally walking into your path, then fumbling for an apology as he regains his balance and takes a step back, hand lifting and smile tense. ] Sorry.


((ooc: carrying threads over here, but I'm still open to new tag-ins! also, if you'd like to run into Bruce and Betty together, let me know and we can arrange a 3-way thread!))

Betty & Cadel

[hyperkinesia]

( continued from here )


[ Bruce keeps a pace similar to Betty's anyway, even if she's not actively participating in the conversation right now. His attention's turned to Cadel for the most part, fully trusting her to lead the way while keeping most people from bothering them. She's pretty good at that anyway, as great as Bruce himself might be at going by unnoticed. ]

Not the same Earth, exactly, but... I do know another Tony Stark in my world. He's a friend of mine. [ Not this Tony, though. Things are far more complicated with his one, but despite his hesitant pause and his eyebrows knitting together briefly, he doesn't say that out loud. Not like Cadel needs all the details on that, anyway. ]

But they're similar in some aspects, from what I've gathered so far. I'd be surprised to find that he doesn't like to show off a little. [ Especially if it involves showing off how smart he is. ] He probably has some research on that, too. Ask him, it couldn't hurt. [ At most he won't say anything, for whatever reason— the guy sure is close to the military and the government here, for all Bruce knows he's keeping some of their secrets. Just another reason not to trust him, honestly. ]

[systemize]

[ Having made a concerted study of interpersonal relationships as a system-- him being a systems thinker, and that the only real way Cadel knows how to understand others-- makes him well able to guess that there's more beneath how they know Tony Stark than he's saying. But obviously he wouldn't be telling some random stranger about his life story, or his important secrets.

Yet Cadel finds himself oddly reluctant to do any checking up on either Bruce or Betty. He's only known them for a few minutes, but he's pegged them as inherently kind, fairly normal people already. Ones with morals. At one point he'd been merciless about running background checks on Kay-Lee McDougall; when had that changed? ]

You think he's going to answer the questions of some kid? [ Cadel asks, purposefully sounding doubtful. He makes a choice here: he has a potential in with someone that has information in the direction he wants to go. So he needs to impress that he's smart enough to be trusted with said information, not just a kid to indulge but someone worthwhile. That's compelling enough to be honest.

So he adds on, factually and without bragging, ] I've worked with molecular level machinery before, but nothing that's supposed to be biologically active.

[catalysmic]

[It's interesting getting this take on Tony from Bruce; nothing he says is off, but it still feels as though something is. Alternate universes, man. Their lives continue to be genre literature.

She honestly... she doesn't spend a lot of time with people less than yea high and she's happy to leave the two of them to it. Kids can be pretty perceptive and she knows she can come across as patronizing, however moral or... apparently normal she might also be. She does jump in now with the very low-hanging but sincere,] Wow, that's impressive, how old are you?

[A kid who wants to question Tony Stark on nanomachines has to be a little precocious, and if he's also adorable and, what, eight? he's going to get that reaction a lot. You don't have to have suffered through being a child genius to recognize that it's practically obligatory.]

[hyperkinesia]

[ That's one way to get Betty's attention. The couple of specific words have Bruce looking up at her just as she forgets about the map and their surroundings and shifts his focus to their conversation instead, a smile forming that's in good part amusement at her reaction. ]

That's incredible. I'm pretty sure not even we were doing that when we were your age.

[ But then Bruce had other things going on back then, and his experience with machinery was usually limited to tinkering with whatever home appliances he could get his hands on. More of a distraction than anything.

He doesn't add anything at the moment, nor does he answer the question yet, waiting to hear Cadel's answer to Betty's own question first, because— well, it is really impressive. Even in an alternate reality, this is still more than he thought he'd get to see. ]

Tony

[hyperkinesia]

( continued from here )


I'm not leaving. [ He's not here alone, after all, and he wouldn't just leave Betty behind. ] But I'm not looking for anything too exciting either.

[ For obvious reasons that Tony's probably familiar with. Eyebrows lifting just so, he shrugs a little, the tension in his shoulders easing a hint, though not gone completely. Not by a long shot. ] Well, here you have me. Anything in particular you wanted to talk about, or...

Betty

[hyperkinesia]

( continued from here )


[ He doesn't miss the look that flickers across her face, but he says nothing to it, instead taking the invitation of sorts and sitting down next to her, a bit awkward at first but slowly easing in his spot, turning a little so he can face her more properly. ]

No, here's fine. [ He's not going to get into anything too secretive or detailed about their conditions anyway, and he certainly wouldn't feel comfortable doing it anywhere in the convention. Not when he has no idea who might be hearing or keeping tabs on them. A world of superpowers opens up a whole new array of methods to listen in on a conversation, something that only makes Bruce feel even more paranoid.

But that's not what he wants to talk about right now. That can wait. ]

I'm sorry. [ He starts with that, because he means it and he also hopes it's a good way to try and diffuse some of the tension still lingering between them. ] About not telling you about your... ability. I should have. I guess I was just... worried, I think. I'm not sure. But it was stupid and wrong, and I'm sorry.

[catalysmic]

[She's used to the way he sometimes holds himself as though he's not sure he's welcome - at this point it could be habit or tension and she barely even notices it, angling her body toward him too, and willing herself into an accepting state of mind.

She's not surprised he begins with an apology - it's one of the things the text had meant, too.]

It was. Both stupid and wrong. [But with time to think, she's worked through some of the reasons why he hadn't. Fear, lack of data, probably a worrying amount of denial that they can't really afford. Understanding it helps - not necessarily her, but it probably helps someone. It will help them move past this.] But I'm sure you've already thought through all the reasons why, so I. So okay. Apology accepted. Don't do it again.

[He'll know she means only that he's forgiven, not that she isn't still hurt or angry. That will take time, but she's committing to rebuilding trust and returning to a place of peace. For this, all she wants out of him is patience.] I have a lot of questions still. But not today. If it can wait. [If she's not going to explode in a more literal way, which she assumes is the case. She's a little fried to be absorbing answers.] I...

I'm sorry I blew up at you before you had a chance to explain. Everything. At your own pace. [I'm sorry I immediately assumed the worst. ...Still kind of assuming the worst, though. To be fair, you tried to dodge explaining at first. Being out of the loop drives her crazy.] I'm... ready to listen. If you want to try.

[Or we can table it for today. Her expression says I STILL DON'T LIKE IT, but she does sound much calmer and open. This is the argument she's really invested in at this point, the one she's pretty sure he still thinks he's right about. Maybe he can convince her; she doubts it, but she'll cede that he deserved - deserves - the chance to try.

She doesn't say anything about how she's treating him as though he isn't allowed to make his own choices because, as far as she's concerned, she has every right to a say in this.]

[hyperkinesia]

[ Luckily, patience is something he has in spades. True, he didn't show much of it earlier today, but that was a fluke, a lapse of judgment, a lack of control that rarely happens to him these days. He's ready to let that go, and ready to focus on what they can do to move forward from this, what they should do from this point onwards. ]

I won't, I promise. I won't keep anything from you anymore.

[ And that's a tall order but he's given her his word, so he will live up to it, no matter what. No matter the consequence. Besides, he can still protect her while telling her all he knows about everything and anything. Though right now, there's not much more he can tell her about her ability, for lack of knowledge himself, so that'll have to wait until they look into it.

She's letting him explain now, and he will. The truth is, she kind of had more than enough reason to blow up when she did. He made his announcement out of nowhere, then adopted a defensive stance the moment she started asking questions about it, confronting him about his decision. He still thinks he's right to make his own choice, and that she's in no place to tell him not to, but he shouldn't have reacted that way.

None of it should've gone down the way it did, but that doesn't matter anymore. It's in the past, and now it's time for him to try and make sense of his decision, show her the rational side to it. Because there is one, yes. ]

The thing is, there are pros and cons whether or not we register. If we don't do it, we wouldn't be swearing allegiance to the military, but we'll likely draw more attention to ourselves, not to mention that if an... if anything at all happens, if there's an incident, we'll have no support whatsoever. We'll be on our own to suffer the consequences of whatever goes down. I'm not sure how— your transformation, I have no idea what it will be like, but you know how the Hulk is during an unwilling transformation. So you know how bad it can get. Not to mention that if one day we want to help people and transform willingly, we'd immediately be labeled as Vigilantes. And I'm not going to— I'm not going to stand by and watch if there are lives I can save, people I can help by turning.

On the other hand, if we register, we'll get a degree of protection from the government and the military if something does happen. It does involve being affiliated with them, I know, and trust me, I don't like that thought any more than you do, but we'll be closer to the system, too. We'll be part of it, even. That might earn us a degree of safety and stability here. And let's face it, this whole place is full of superheroes, it's not like we're the supreme weapon they're dying to get their hands on.

[ If they were, they'd never have let them out of the facility in Cape Canaveral. Bruce is sure of that much. ]

Besides, if things ever turn sour and we have to, we can always run away. Right? If the military tries to... I don't know, use us and force us to do something we don't want to, we can just run. I'm pretty good at that at this point. [ He smiles a little, though he doesn't feel or sound quite as amused as he might look. ]

Either way, Betty, the point is that they're not going to stop watching us just because we don't register. They'll still keep tabs on us, they'll still always know where we are, what we're doing. The freedom of being unsettled is just an illusion, nothing more; we're still stuck here.

[ He reaches out for her hands now, thoughtlessly, not hesitating or even stopping for a moment before continuing on. ]

I have no one else, Betty. You're the only one— the only one I trust here. Tony's not even Tony, I don't even know which version he is for sure but I do know he doesn't like me, and I can't trust him. But I trust you. I trust you and I love you, and I need us to be close. I need us to be together through all this. Whatever ends up happening, I just need you to be there for me. And you have to let me be there for you, too.

[ Alright, so that part is less rational, more heartfelt. But whatever, he doesn't care. He told her he'd explain his reasoning, and that also includes what he's feeling, along with his logical thoughts. ]

We can't do things separately, not in this. Whether you register or not, I'll do the same. But I definitely think we should. The point is: we make this decision together, and we do this together, or not at all.

[catalysmic]

[On some mostly subconscious level, she does have this idea that her deep personal investment in Bruce's well-being makes her entitled to having a say in his choices, as though loving someone grants you some degree of possession over them as long as your intentions are good; she's still her father's daughter, and unhealthy ideas about autonomy and personhood unfortunately come with the package. The fact that she figures this goes both ways doesn't really ameliorate any of it.

She does make the effort to listen to him, though. His explanation is thorough - as expected - and convincing - which, less expected. He makes a lot of points she hadn't come to herself, most importantly the fact that he (now they) was no longer the hottest weapon any military could fail to contain, but also that there was any kind of stability to be found. She's conceptualized the thing they'd made as a weapon of god-like potential for so long, it's jarring to realize that here, that doesn't have to be true. Here, the Hulk could be only as much of a weapon as Captain America. As Iron Man. And if they could reproduce it in her, [citation needed], he was no longer unique.

In her time by herself, she'd reached the same conclusion he'd ended on, that their fates were intertwined, but she'd wanted to run, to abandon her plans of integrating into the system and flee. If Bruce, who had run, thought there was a chance of building something here, then that weighed as heavily as all the opinions and advice she'd been given during FanPort, which had been overwhelmingly reassuring. She trusts him too, his intentions, but also his assessments. His declaration of love doesn't leave an impact - she's always known that - but when he tells her he needs her to support him, that he wants to do the same, she's defenseless. Phrasing it in that way is dirty pool, but it's effective; his feelings are effective. It's all she's wanted for too many years.

Her hand remains loosely in his grasp while she thinks, eyes tightly shit, presenting new and old arguments and finding their counters in the darkness behind her eyelids. It's still a disorganized maelstrom, but she thinks she can make out the form of it now. They'll be together. And they'll try to make it here. Maybe they'll be safe, and maybe they can even do some good. At last, she squeezes his hands and looks at him.]

You're too smart for your own good. [SIGH.]

I think... Let me sleep on it. But I think you've convinced me. Unless one of us thinks of something, then... fine. We'll register.

[A humourless laugh, almost under her breath,] If the General could see us now.

The Doctor

[hyperkinesia]

( continued from here )


[ Bruce's expression tenses a little, and he offers a vague shrug, neither denying nor agreeing with that statement. Truth is he kind of is, but kind of... isn't. It's not like he knows this particular Doctor, but he's always been a fan, so he can't imagine it'd be any different with a new reincarnation.

But he doesn't mention any of that, raising an eyebrow curiously at the last remark instead. ]

Why's that?

[helpline]

I'm not one of the fun ones, [ the Doctor remarked, with a little shrug. He knows he's not like Ten or Eleven, who can just charm their way to anybody they meet. He'd good at being grumpy and good at being cross and not that good at things like 'sympathy' and 'being the good cop.'

The Doctor frowns for a moment, before continuing. ] I don't know if you know this me, but I'm more like the tall one with the frills than anything else.

[ At least, in his mind he's more like the Third Doctor than anyone else. He'd like to be more like the Third Doctor than anyone else, that penchant for velvet had to come from somewhere. ]

[hyperkinesia]

[ Bruce arches his eyebrows and nods slowly as if in understanding, but he's still smiling through all of it, evidently not the least bit discouraged by this piece of information. ]

For what it's worth, I like the tall one with the frills. [ Fair enough, he might not be his favorite, but it's impossible for Bruce to say there's even a Doctor he doesn't like. ] I like all of them, actually. I'm sure it'll be no different with you.

[ Now let's pretend he said that in a completely normal and not at all fanboyish and possibly slightly creepy way. ]

[helpline]

[ 'I like all of them actually.' Waaaaait a moment. On statements that make the Doctor a bit suspicious, that's one of them, especially because he knows some of his incarnations (War & Long Scarf) weren't as fond of Earth as others (Converse and Bowtie). ]

...you're not UNIT, are you?

[ He's American, so probably not...but the Doctor just secretly kind of hopes he is. He misses UNIT terribly, ranging from the Brig to Kate (though, of course, he's never going to tell anyone that). ]

Rikki

[hyperkinesia]

( continued from here )


Same in my world, yes. [ He nods. He was trying to avoid the topic before, just in case it hadn't happened in her world and it might have upset her to hear, but since she seems far from bothered about it, he sees no point to not telling her about it. ]

What year is it for you back home, can I ask? [ For all he knows, she could be from his world. Just... farther ahead in the future. ]

[girlwithout]

2011. [ish lol comic book time She tilts her head at him, cause she's pretty sure he's not from her universe - either of them - but who knows?] What about you?

[hyperkinesia]

[ Good enough for him to know with certainty that they're not from the same world. If she really knows him, then it's another him she's met. ]

2012, and definitely haven't met you. [ He stretches his lips and lifts a shoulder, repeating himself: ] Sorry.

Do we, uh... [ How to put this nicely. ] Get along?

[girlwithout]

It's cool. [She shrugs. She really didn't expect it, so not much disappointment there.] Yeah, I guess. Like I said, I was with Steve. I had a room at the Tower, though.

Doc

[hyperkinesia]

( continued from here )


[ Now science he loves talking about, and while he may not be the kind to brag, he's all too happy to talk about his fields of work and interest. Especially with Doc, of all people. ]

I'm a nuclear physicist, with an extensive background in biochemistry, nuclear engineering and gamma radiation. Here, I work as a geneticist. But I dabble a lot in other areas. [ By virtue of need or interest over the years. ] What about you?

[ Sure, Bruce, ask like you don't know the answer already. ]

[4thdimensional]

...as it happens, I'm also a nuclear physicist. though my focus leans toward mechanics. As of late, I've largely been repairing hoverboards. It's a fair enough living, though I'm still in the market for other projects.

[They're going to get along just fine. He's excited.]

Anything interesting in your studies thus far?

[hyperkinesia]

That's great. I've done a little bit of everything, and I'm no stranger to mechanical applications myself. We could probably have fun coming up with some crazy stuff.

[ You know, because crazy and somewhat unpredictable machines are a great idea. What could possibly go wrong? ]

Depends on your definition of interesting. [ Avoiding is the name of the game. ] I've had some unusual results when I was working with anti-electron collision and radiation resistance some years ago. I stopped for a while after that, but I've developed other things, ranging from radiation sensors to heart rate stabilizing drugs.

[4thdimensional]

[Doc's eyes light right up. He'd love nothing better than to work on 'some crazy stuff'.]

Undoubtedly useful and necessary. Have you had luck finding employment here? I believe we have some organizations with similar life-enhancing goals.

new tag in ahoy!

[textualhealing]

[It's the second day where Jeff spends some of his time in the artists' alley and a lot of the time out of the way. He loves the attention he gets from his fans, happy to take photos and sign autographs whenever he's approached, and even enjoys the obscure fanworks on display on the rows of booths on display, and yet there's a very specific reason why he has to excuse himself from the crowds every now and then.

A very specific reason that few would understand, except someone like--] Bruce!

[Banner's getting company whether he wanted it or not as Jeff abandons a few natives to head over to the Doctor, hand extended in greeting.] Jeff Winger, we spoke over the comms.

\o/!!

[hyperkinesia]

[ Between one panel and the next, Bruce doesn't have a specific destination in mind, and he just ends up roaming the hallways of the convention, looking into booths and quietly admiring those walking around in cosplay. It's something else, this— he's no stranger to conventions of this kind, but this is actually centered around real people that really exist, and that's just a whole new level of weird that Bruce is yet to get used to.

At least he's fairly recent so he's mostly left alone— which is why he's caught a bit off-guard when someone calls out his name. He turns, a little confused at first, expression easing when he recognizes the man walking towards him. ]

Jeff, yes. I remember you. Hi. [ He takes the hand in a brief shake, then lets go. ] I'm sorry I never got back to you. It took me a little longer to get settled in than I thought it would.

[textualhealing]

Hey, don't worry about it, work has kept me super busy lately. Besides, people usually need more than a couple of days to get used to this place. I've been here a year and still don't know what the hell I'm doing.

[He looks comfortable enough as his hands shove into his pockets, casual and calm and yet there's something just a little on edge about him. Perhaps it's just the excitement of the convention...]

You settling in alright, though?