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

She let out a tiny snort of amusement and then winced because the sharp exhale had caused a pang of pain that she couldn't just ignore like she wanted to. I had noticed. That had legitimately amused her, but Theresa had only expressed it because she wanted to divert his discomfort, continuing towards the eventual bigger discomfort that would make him leave her alone. And then she'd cut her hair and maybe start a makeup routine. Or a hedgehog, she supplied helpfully after his comparison. Maybe an armadillo. More flattering than a shrimp. They both seem friendly. Was he controlled enough that he could handle being mugged without transforming? They didn't know the origin of every one of Bruce's incidents, but if he was capable of getting through a high danger situation like that without transforming it was something she needed to know. He might have been lying to comfort her, there was no way to immediately tell. She knew thanks to accounts from her dossier on the events in New York that he could handle some amount of stress, but that was different from imminent danger. I don't think berating the guy with the knife would do much good. What with the stabbing, was the sort-of-but-not-really-a-joke joke. Two of them were dead and the third was injured, that was a pretty decent version of berating. Except for the fact that two of three wouldn't learn anything and the third was probably going to learn all the wrong things. Comparison retracted. Her way was more efficient, though. She'd solved two of those three problems forever. And if they were that willing to fight her to get to a doctor they probably weren't the kinds of people who were going to turn over a new leaf and start helping society anyway. She took the jacket when he brought it to her and fished around in the pockets for a moment until she found her key. She let out a tiny sigh of relief and then frowned at the cuts in the fabric, catching a tear between her fingers for a moment before folding it and letting it drop. It would have been a little too much effort to lean over and place it properly on the floor, that was good enough. I can fix it. She was trying to distract herself, or at least playing someone trying to distract herself, but the sentiment was true. Jackets were expensive, and she was legitimately fond of that one. It was less suspicious than a trench coat, especially given how warm the weather usually was. She just didn't feel well protected in a t-shirt, and she didn't really like leaving her scar on full display. A description of what she was wearing was less useful than a description of something she couldn't change about her body so she preferred to hide it when on the job. T-shirts also didn't have sleeves for hiding things in, which made them immediately the inferior clothing option. It was impossible to force herself pale, but there wasn't a whole lot of color in Theresa's face to anyway right now with so it was easier to pass off the expression of near horror at the idea of having to have something pulled out of her body. No I don't think I want to do that by myself, she said faintly, though in reality she would heavily prefer to do it by herself if only because that would mean that she wasn't in his apartment having to see him face to face and risking her many months worth of work, but I... her voice dropped even further and she pulled the blanket up a tiny bit higher for modesty's effect, I would like a shirt eventually. He'd shoved gauze in a bleeding hole she'd gotten fighting someone who wanted to either kill or kidnap him, she couldn't have cared less if he saw her cleavage. A body was just a body, intent was what made things matter. Twelve hours was a lot. If he got called away she'd have to hope he didn't try and get someone to watch her because she'd have to convince him to let her stay alone - perhaps play up a fear of strange men to make him feel like leaving her alone with someone would be more traumatic than helpful, maybe just promise that she'd spend the whole time sleeping and seem stressed about unnecessarily burdening someone, perhaps a third option she'd decide right in the moment. Then she'd have to follow him and get back into his apartment before he did. It was totally doable, it was just going to be a huge hassle. If they were both in his apartment she could maybe get a slightly more solid sleep than she usually did because she didn't need to listen for movement above her. Instead she just had to listen for movement in the rooms around her. It was the time of year where sleep was hardest, though. It wasn't just the firecrackers, even after all these years it was still hard not to think about where her life might be if she hadn't made the deal. Definitely not in the apartment of a man who turned into a huge green monster capable of destroying entire city blocks, that was for sure. She'd probably get more sleep, too.