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[thelivinglegend]

Mundane, you got a minute?

I might be wrong, but didn't you say you didn't have any intentions of putting me in one of these games?

I'm not bucking orders, here. You want me to go, I'll go, no arguments here. But is there a particular reason why you chose this game?

No, I understand the choice in canon point, as you put it. I get it. If I'm going to end up waking up in a new world anyway, that does seem the obvious choice.

However, it doesn't help matters much if my actual past, Bucky and the squad and Peggy, is going to be a set of alternate memories. Just a mirror of a past you made up just for this game. Dealing with one past where I lost everything isn't good enough, I've got to have two, and not know for sure which one is the real one?

...

Ma'am, I'm starting to get the impression you just really don't like me.

Comments

[hulkish]

There's, uh. At least some chance to do some good there, probably. Better than sitting on the shelf.

[thelivinglegend]

I'm not arguing that at all. I'll do what I can to help...

[ He shakes his head, brow pinching. ]

I guess it really wouldn't make a difference. I'm as out-of-place there as anywhere. My mundane probably finds it hilarious.

[hulkish]

[ frowns deeply. ] You can be out of place here, with-- us. [ crosses his arms, giving a speculative look. ] Are there any of us there already?

[thelivinglegend]

Believe me, Bruce, if it were up to me I'd rather, and leave it at that. But it won't matter where I end up getting sent. You haven't gotten rid of me yet.

[ There's a dry smile there as he settles in. ]

Oh, you'll love this. Loki's there.

[hulkish]

[ his mouth becomes a thin line. ]

That's-- great. Really. Your mun knows what Loki's like, right? What he did?

[thelivinglegend]

[ Yeah, he shares that sentiment there. ]

She's aware.

But I won't be. Not yet.

[hulkish]

You won't be aware of-- [ bruce suddenly stops talking, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. another.

okay. he opens his eyes again and they have a distant look. his voice is neutral. ]

How long does it take to remember? Will Loki be aware when you arrive?

[thelivinglegend]

[ There's a flicker of concern there, but he doesn't say anything. Bruce has it under control. He trusts him, now a great deal more given what's happened. ]

The way I understand it, we have whole and complete memories of lives in this...place. Like our own lives, but tailored to match what's around us, as if we'd always been there. After a while the other memories start to bleed through. You start remembering pieces of it, but you're not sure if any of it is real or not.

Loki won't remember the entirety of what he's done, either. I don't think that's going to stop him from causing trouble, but we're not going to have the Chitauri to worry about, at least.

[hulkish]

Sure. Psychologically destructive environments always work out so well for us. [ something like amusement flickers across his passive face. ] Sounds like there'll be an inevitable crisis between the personalities. I don't imagine that'll be pretty for anyone. For someone like Loki... [ he shakes his head, not wanting to travel too far down that path. ]

--There's. There's no "we" where you're going, Steve.

[ bruce hates saying it, hates that it's true. if only-- no. that's a terrible idea. ]

[thelivinglegend]

What would be without them, right?

[ There's a little twitch at the corner of his lips, dryly amused, before Bruce clarifies.

That smile dies. Just like that. ]

Right...I meant in general. Not we as in...

[ He knows he'll be alone. That stinks, no getting around it. But there's nothing that can be done about that, right? ]

Anyway, I don't think it's a shift in personality, so much. That's why our lives are meant to be so similar to one another, I think, so we end up the same people at the end of it. I might not be Captain America anymore, but a change in title isn't going to change who I am.

[hulkish]

[ bruce feels like an ass when he watches steve's face fall, but he's a realist. has to be.]

Right, you're right, it's less personality based on traits, more personality based on experience and memory. [ as always, the theoretical sparks fascination in bruce. ]

[ steve's earnestness makes him smile. ] Yeah, you'll be fine. Your brain-- [ he stops himself right before saying 'can handle an extraordinary amount of trauma' ] --is highly adaptable. We barely know anything about its functions, even now.

[thelivinglegend]

Oh, I'm sure they'll want their chance to poke and prod at me once I'm out of the ice.

[ So dry. Everyone's interested in him for the parts. So long as they don't plan on keeping him in a lab, he'll be fine with it. ]

A lot of the way this world seems to function relies on a person's mind, so let's hope so.

[hulkish]

If you keep talking about yourself like a lab rat, Steve, they'll keep treating you like one. [ there's a note of concern in bruce's voice. he doesn't like hearing steve talk so casually about being experimented on. ] And who knows what kind of ethical code they have in this place.

[thelivinglegend]

[ Too late, he realizes that might have been a little thoughtless of him to say. He signed up for this, knew the sort of focus that would be put on him, even if he didn't know then exactly how much. Bruce didn't have that luxury. ]

The value of ethics sort of varies, depending on where you go. The Ark's big enough to be its own self-sustaining little world. Some places are more civilized than others. Where I end up, I don't think there's too great a danger of that.

[ They'd much rather use him for propaganda. What is his life, sometimes. ]

[blots]

As a matter of fact, I will not. Not of the Chitauri, not of you, not of him.

[hulkish]

[ bruce's fists clench and unclench once. just once. ]

Probably better for you to forget, right? You can hide behind your ignorance.

[ actually, bruce would want to forget himself too, but he keeps that to himself. ]

[blots]

Can I? What have I to hide from? You can't prosecute me for a crime committed in a dream.

[ His tone is taunting. Come get him, beast. He's untouchable here. ]

[hulkish]

No, you wouldn't hide from us anyway. But you're going to a place where you'll be able to convince yourself that all your failures were a bad dream-- and then have to come to terms with those inadequacies all over again. [ bruce smiles grimly. ] It's a better torture than I could ever devise.

[blots]

[ A flash of deep-seated hate. ]

Taunt while you can, little monster. The only real world on the Ark is the world where I pull the strings. In the code against the flesh, the code always wins.

[hulkish]

Pulling off power plays in some cyberspace that you know, deep down, isn't real? Seems like cheap victories, for a prince.

[blots]

A prince of paupers and idiots! A prince of creatures too feeble to survive on their own --

[ And he stops, abruptly, as he realizes that Bruce is talking about the other Prince. The one he dreamed of. Golden halls, eternal gods. ]

[hulkish]

[ bruce gives him a long look. ] What creatures?

[blots]

People, then. If you must.

[hulkish]

I tend to insist.

They put you in charge of people there? What, are they trying to encourage high turnover?

[blots]

Oh, never fear. My father and my brothers shared your esteem of me.

[ He left the tribal flats as soon as he'd had the means, nevermind duty. ]