if you could only see the beast you've made of me

[greenisnteasy]

Who: Crazy Bruce Banner, YOU!, and whoever he's hallucinating.
What: Bruce stumbling around town, hiding from his hallucinations, with occasional moments of lucidity.
Where: Around town.
When: Various points on Day 37. I'll work out timeline stuff, you just tag in and let the fun/terribleness roll.
Warnings: Child abuse and father issues for father-related hallucinations. Violence and attacking people, including a few women. See here for more information.

Bruce twists his head around so fast to check what he thinks he sees in the corner of his eye, that he trips and stumbles forward, landing on his hands and knees. There's no one there -- not Blonsky, and not his father, either -- but he doesn't feel any less attacked. His head hurts, pounding at the temples, from the noise in his own mind. His voice, the Hulk's voice, the pressure of the drugs; it all swirls around until Bruce isn't sure of anything he's seeing.

He's not sure of himself, either, but he hasn't been sure of himself for a long time. His eyes, at least, he's had an okay relationship with, up until now.

In some part of his mind, he knows he's seeing things, but the fear and the panic take over, and the urge to run, to hide becomes too much to fight. It's coming over him again even now, and he pushes himself to his feet to stumble forward again, slowly gaining his balance until he's half walking, half running.

Comments

[charring]

That pings something in her, some fight or flight response she's relied on for years. But is it really being pinged or is she just wrong? Everything seems wrong right now. The moment Bruce takes a step forward, Charlie holds her hands up and steps back. The air around her warms some, a bit quicker than would be considered normal.

"What are you doing, man? This isn't a trick." Seriously, she will run hard if she has to.

[greenisnteasy]

"It's all a trick." It's the one thing he's said since he started walking that's actually true. He barely notices the change in the temperature consciously, but subconsciously, he notices it and it sets him on edge. What's going on? Is it a threat? It's probably a threat. And if it's a threat, then he's cornered; he could run and hide, but that hasn't ever gotten him anywhere, and it won't teach anyone to leave him alone.

He runs at her, ready to grab her and push her down; he can't really tell who he's charging anymore, but she stands for something -- for all the times his father beat him, for the times his father made him feel helpless and useless and small.

[charring]

Charlie hardly has time to get a word out. He's fast, fueled by what, she doesn't know. Maybe it's her. Maybe he is Shop and this was a trap. She was dumb enough to fall for it. How stupid of her.

She turns to run but trips over something. A rock. Her own feet. She's not sure and it doesn't matter anyway, because whoever this guy is has her.

There's only one thing to do in a situation like this. It isn't even something she has to think about, anymore. It's instinct to push out with fire, but she's hesitant enough to not push fully. It's more meant to repel, chase off, warn away.

Her hands grab his arms and try to shove him off, fire dancing around her fingertips as she struggles to free herself.

[greenisnteasy]

The pain is sharp and surprising, and his mind doesn't have a reference point to draw from, to reinterpret what's going on. His father did a lot of things to him, but he never burned him, and Bruce cries out in surprise as he blindly tries to pull away from her. Him. Whoever, whatever the heat source is.

Where is he? His mind's trying to fill in gaps, to put him near his childhood home, but that doesn't make sense.

"Who... Please stop hurting me," he manages, but getting those words out reminds him that he can't be hurt anymore. That's what the Hulk is, isn't it? The defense he should've had against his father. "You can't hurt me anymore! Let go!"

[charring]

Charlie's use of her ability on someone she hardly knows shocks her into a brief moment of lucidity. What did she do? What just happened? She looks at the man, really looks at him and comes to the conclusion that he can't be Shop. He'd have been better prepared. This man was just some random guy on the street and she'd just singed him.

"I am so...so sorry. Just...I'm really..." Oh, fuck her life. "St-stay away from me, okay?" Because she seriously felt too keyed up, too jumpy and felt that paranoia creeping in again, that sense of something wrong.

"Just stay back and I won't..." She's just...going to go now, turning and running down the street to where, she didn't know.

[greenisnteasy]

He isn't going to chase her. The pain startled him enough that he stays still as he watches her run away, until he realizes he's mildly on fire and he drops to put himself out. Thankfully his lucidity came back in time for that, before he got too hurt. He picks himself up, dazed and uncertain of himself and what even happened, and he picks himself up slowly before he starts back for the clinic. A familiar path, a comforting and solid train of thought: treat the wounds. Heal, not destroy.