bigapplesauce | Exploring the city [OPEN]

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Exploring the city [OPEN]

It's Christmas Day and Bruce could use a miracle or two. He doesn't know how he got here or how to get back. He can't find Tony or Avenger's Tower. To be honest, Bruce is a bit disgusted with himself at how easily he got used to having a team to rely on and a home to go back to. He's been living in a homeless shelter, looking for work. Naturally, he's missing some important papers, so he needs under the table work. That's all right. Bruce has experience at this sort of thing. Right now, he's heading for the docks, to see if he can get some work there.

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Yuri frowns. "I wouldn't," he advises Bruce. "I mean -- you could try finding someone who's just under their protection, but they might not know all that much."

Is Bruce trying to...shop around?

Bruce nodded, frowning. "What do they claim to be protecting them from? I don't really want to get caught up in a war, when I don't know the motives of either side."

"Invading aliens," scoffs Yuri. "Marauding immigrants. Same sort of stuff people've always been afraid of."

"I don't mean to upset you, Yuri, but have you ever talked to someone from ROMAC yourself, gotten their side of things? Or, are you just relying on what the rebel leaders have told you? Reasonably, they must be offering something that seems worthwhile, if some rifties are joining them. Both sides seem to be recruiting, which means both sides have their own propaganda. Our job is to cut through that to the truth."

Yuri scowls. Maybe Bruce doesn't mean to upset him, but that doesn't mean he isn't upset. "Of course I haven't," he replies. "How do you think I'd stay free if I went around talking to Romac agents?"

He sighed, regretting his response as soon as the words left his mouth. "Sorry -- I know you're just...asking. It's a lot to take in, I know." And now was not the best time of month for him to be dealing with difficult situations like this one.

"Fair enough, but then how do you know who is telling the truth?" Bruce asked. "It is a lot to take in. Not just coming here, which is bad enough, but being asked to choose sides. I can't do that without information. I can't condemn one side, unless I know they deserve it. Unless you can offer me some sort of proof, I really prefer to be neutral. If ROMAC is corrupt, though, I can help."

"You should talk to Blythe," decides Yuri. "She's -- well, a librarian. But she's the one to talk to if you want proof."

And the one Yuri was going to have to talk to in order to improve his sales pitch.

"Can you arrange a meeting with her for me?" Bruce asked.

The young man seems sincere and Bruce hates to doubt him, but...he is a young man. Bruce wants to speak to someone with clearer answers.

Blythe is all about clearer answers -- she's been documenting the reasons for rebellion since before there was a rebellion. Yuri nods. "You could come back to our base...?" Though if there was a chance Bruce wasn't going to join, that would be a bad decision for both of them.

Bruce has his own reasons for considering that a bad idea. Being allowed into a place isn't the same as being allowed to come and go freely. He smiles apologetically.

"I'd rather keep meeting on neutral ground, for now, if that's okay. Maybe you could arrange a meeting between us somewhere public?"

Not that meeting in public would prevent an ambush, but it would leave Bruce with more options, if things went bad.

Yuri sighs -- most people aren't this difficult. "Yeah, okay," he agrees. "What -- where do you come from? I mean, what's it like where you're from?"

Because obviously this man is paranoid.

"New York City," Bruce answered, shrugging. "It's a lot like this city, really. There are superficial differences, but not many. I guess if I ended up in another universe, at least its one where I know the language. How about you?"

"I don't think it's all that different," shrugs Yuri. "I hadn't been to New York before I ended up here, actually." So he's not sure what his New York had been like.

Bruce nods, not especially surprised.

"How soon can you arrange a meeting?"

"Uh -- well, she's working right now," says Yuri after a moment's thought. "Tonight, maybe? I can call her and ask." But he can't have Bruce show up to her job. Secret identity, etc.

Bruce nodded reluctantly. "All right. I'm staying at the shelter, three blocks from here. You can contact me there, okay?"

Yuri hesitates a moment, sucking on his teeth and thinking, then nods. "Yeah, I can do that." Though he'd rather have Bruce come in and get a real apartment instead of thinking of him being in the shelter.

Bruce smiles at the younger man.

"I appreciate that you're trying to help me, Yuri, really. I just have to be cautious."

At least he knows where Bruce is staying...if Bruce is telling the truth. Yuri nods. "Yeah, I get it." Though it hadn't taken him that much to decide to join the rebellion.

"Good. I really do need to look for some daywork, now. Thank you for speaking with me and explaining things."

Bruce stands, smiling awkwardly, and goes to leave.

Yuri offers him a somewhat forlorn smile and a little wave. "I'll see you around."

Bruce nods and leaves, wandering away to places that still might have a chance of work for him. He finds a day job, acting as a janitor at a motel, and spends the day working mindlessly, not letting his thoughts run in circles over what he has been told.

Towards evening, he goes first to a soup kitchen, where he eats, then helps cook and serve others. Finally, he goes back to the shelter to wait.

There'll be a message waiting for him at the shelter -- it's too late for her to be allowed to visit him at the shelter, but the next morning, bright and early, he'll have a visitor waiting for him outside.

"Bruce?" she asks when she sees someone likely-looking.

Bruce seems to fold in on himself a bit, when he hears his name. He wrings his hands, looking around warily. He sees the woman and gives her a nervous smile.

"Yeah, hi," he greets, softly, walking over to her. "You're...Blythe, I think Yuri said?"

"Blythe Summerset, that's right," she confirms with a little return smile. The man seems so upset already. She chuckles, as much to try to put him at his ease as out of amusement. "Yuri tells me you're a hard sell."

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