Thread: Human Connection [Avengers -- Sprouts & Virginia]

Laughter was easy to fake but it hadn't seemed appropriate. Plus then she'd have to fake another wince and that was getting annoying. How did people handle being so delicate? Did people realize they were so delicate? Theresa didn't really remember if she'd used to think that because she'd been pretending things didn't hurt for so long. His smile got a tiny one in response because it was the right thing to do, which didn't even feel like something she had to force for the moment. She was going to ask what a chiton was but he explained before she could, so she responded with a tiny nod and pretended to be appreciative for the distraction from pain that was the little discussion. I don't think shrimp are friendly. They're just not... not-friendly. Not smart enough to be friendly. There was a distinct different that she would have made even if she wasn't playing nice because Theresa figured that she could slide into the category of not 'not-nice', though it wasn't for brain-cell reasons, it was more for general personality reasons. Right now I might go with not thinking about it. Because then she thought about getting stabbed. Which was traumatic for the normal person and still pissing her off as someone who was absolutely not normal. Might be compared to Bruce, but she didn't really know how he viewed himself beyond second hand reports and those had to be taken with a grain of salt. I think it will be better for my health in the long run. Shove that right in the box with the rest of her feelings as soon as she was done contemplating how to make sure that it never happened again. One of those things was probably going to be sleep, but ugh. Sitting up was absolutely an option. If she wanted to run she could probably make herself do that too. I- okay. There wasn't a lot of room for her to protest. Let me just... She propped herself up with her elbows a little bit, not about to let the doctor manipulate her body entirely. From the point of view of the person she was being right now it would be problematic to not try and be as helpful as possible, from her own personal point of view it would be exasperating and stressful. She didn't need someone touching her more than was absolutely necessary right now. Really she just wanted to be left alone but that was impossible. It was still too soon to fake sleep and if she pretended to pass out again it'd probably constitute a medical emergency of some sort and he would do the opposite of leave her alone. Had she not already been scarred she might have played the card of worry about that, but she decided she'd be beyond that. There was only so much sympathy that she actually wanted to go for. Not because she didn't think she could get it but because she didn't like it. Nobody needed to be sympathetic about the mistakes she'd made. She wanted to be up. She shouldn't be up and as a normal person probably couldn't be up, but Theresa wanted to be pacing or sitting or at least doing something. She could sit for hours for work, but this was very different. Of course she was antsy here. It occurred to her that there still hadn't been proper introductions and they would have to happen soon, but it could happen after she got the shirt on. Bruce didn't seem to consider it a necessity, which was smart. But she was an injured woman with no connections in the area and she should probably seek some amount of familiarity for comfort if she was going to be stuck in his apartment for the next twelve hours.