Anna does not share her mun's frustration

[plusonesecond]

I'm not giving up. You might've given up on me, but I'm not going anywhere. I've got something to fight for now, with Dan and with Cutler, and I have faith that they're coming back eventually. If I only ever get to talk to two people, well then, I guess that's just the way the chips have fallen. Maybe I'm not meant to be your most active muse.

Do you really want to argue with me? I have a sniper rifle.

Comments

[doerofgood]

Well, I'd prefer you to stick around.

[plusonesecond]

I'm not leaving you. I promised you I wouldn't.

[greenscientist]

[Oh goodie, sniper rifle. One of Dr. Banner's least favorite weapons.]

...I don't suppose you could point that the other way? [Hands up, placating]

[plusonesecond]

I'm sorry. That wasn't intended for you.

[Anna obliges, putting the rifle aside for the moment.]

[greenscientist]

[Relieved, he slowly puts his hands down. That could have gone badly.]

Thank you. [But he's still keeping an eye on that gun. He didn't like weapons, they usually ended up pointed at him.] New mun encouragement technique?

[plusonesecond]

Sort of. Not that I can actually shoot her, but being nice wasn't working to get her out of this funk.

[greenscientist]

I see.

[a beat]

Did the gun help?

[plusonesecond]

I guess I'll find out. [She chuckled.] She wants to put me away because I've never been able to make more than two friends. But I'm not abandoning my boyfriend just because I'm not popular.

[greenscientist]

[A nod.]

...two friends is more than some have.

[plusonesecond]

What I said. And Dan loves me. That's never really happened before. I would be an idiot to give that up.

[greenscientist]

Right... [Bruce shifts his weight awkwardly, nodding.] Shouldn't give up someone who loves you. If you can help it.

[plusonesecond]

I'm sorry. I probably should've asked about you first. What's got you so nervous?

[greenscientist]

[He waves off the apology.] No, no it's fine. I'm good. [Nothing to see here. He doesn't talk about what he left behind, it's better to just keep moving forward.] Probably just the gun, that's all. I'm...not good with weapons. [To say the least.]

[plusonesecond]

Sorry. I'm a SWAT cop. I'm almost always armed.

[greenscientist]

I'd expect so.

[Doesn't mean he has to be alright with it.]

I'm a scientist. [aka, almost never armed. Unless you make him angry.]

[plusonesecond]

Science was never my strong suit. Unfortunately.

[greenscientist]

[faint but worn smile]

I guess we're on opposite ends of the spectrum then.

[very different from each other]

[plusonesecond]

Yeah, I've been told I'm kind of the odd woman out. Aside from the not having any friends and all.

[She offers a smile.]

Anna Stafford.

[greenscientist]

[barest hesitation before offering his hand politely]

Bruce.

[plusonesecond]

[She shakes his hand with her real one, and a polite smile.]

It's nice to meet you. Come around here often?

[greenscientist]

[His handshake has something very measured and deliberate about it. As if he's a man that's always careful about what he does.]

Sometimes. My mun avoids games but sometimes flicks through looking for interesting situations. [There's a flat tone to the end of that, clearly what's "interesting" to the mun is far from comfortable for the muse.]

[plusonesecond]

I've tried to post around a bit. But I haven't found much success. To be fair, I'm also an original character based in an obscure fandom. Not to mention partly robot.

[greenscientist]

[Original characters are tough to tag around with...hang on. Rewind that.]

You're...part robot?

[Now that surprises him. He wouldn't have guessed.]

[plusonesecond]

I have an artificial arm. Mine had to be amputated a few years ago.

[greenscientist]

Oh. [He really didn't mean to sound disappointed. It's just not what he was picturing. He had been envisioning part of her brain or spinal cord involved.]

I'm sorry.

[plusonesecond]

Sure. [Whatever he meant, she still catches it in his tone anyway. It's not the first time she's heard someone's tone change when she owns up to her missing limb.] Anyway. I was just venting. As much as I'd like to know more people I don't think it's going to happen.

[greenscientist]

That's fine, I don't mind. [He's a good listener, just don't ask him much about himself. Or his past.]

It's not like there are nice people around here to meet. More people you meet, the more likely it is you'd run into someone out to get you. Or insane. Or both.

[plusonesecond]

I haven't met a lot of people yet, but we'll see. I've tried posting in memes and things like that, but I don't usually get tags back. I think it might be the gun.

[greenscientist]

[Hey, a genuine smile at last.]

That might be it.

[plusonesecond]

It's not like I walk around with it! I don't know. I try to be nice, dammit.

[greenscientist]

[Original characters are hard to use, mun has one or two and it's always hard to get tags from others.]

I hate to tell you, I'm the last person who would say to get out more.

[plusonesecond]

Not really a social kinda guy?

[greenscientist]

Not really.

[He makes wallflowers look outgoing. But that's mostly by choice. He just needs to avoid conflict.]

[plusonesecond]

I can be difficult at times but I'd like to think I've improved. Having a boyfriend in my life has helped me open up a bit. Before it was a lot of brooding and bitching.

[greenscientist]

Which, I suspect, was not good if you always need to be armed?

[plusonesecond]

No. After my hospital stay I really wasn't a pleasant person to live with. It took me time to get through all the fallout, and a lot of other things that collapsed along with it.

[greenscientist]

[He can understand that. One moment changing your whole life.]

In that case...you should probably keep the boyfriend.

[plusonesecond]

Oh I don't plan on letting him go. I was hoping he was going to propose on Christmas but I still haven't found out.

[greenscientist]

I see. [If that's the case, she would be due for lots of changes with a new husband and whatnot.] I hope...that goes well for you.

[plusonesecond]

We'll see. I think he'd be crazy, but it'd be a good kind of crazy. He just said he got me something great for Christmas and the muns have never gotten around to playing that out. In my world it's like still December.