Inside Voices ▷ Bruce Banner | ✓

6 - CHANGE OF SCENERY

BRUCE HAD INTERESTING HANDS. They were calloused, but not necessarily rough, but also not soft. She had never held another hand before, she always wore gloves, but now here she was, trying to understand whether or not she liked this, a feeling so strange, yet still so unsure. She figured his hands must be like that of a doctor, since he was one, though perhaps he could have some aspects of himself taken from the monster inside him.

She debated asking him about it, but she didn't want to unleash the monster without proper protection, so she remained silent, instead simply following him around, walking down the hall towards an elevator.

"Okay, so we're not going anywhere except the hall where my room is," he said, pulling her into the elevator, pausing just before he closed the doors, "Have you ever been in an elevator?"

She shook her head, filing the word away for future reference. Bruce paused for a few moments, just staring at her in clear shock, before gauging her reaction when he pressed a button for the doors to close. She didn't react too badly, simply taking a step back and staring at it suspiciously, her hold on his hand tightening, so he pressed the floor for his room—she couldn't believe that she was able to focus on it when he pressed the button, filing away the number for future reference as well.

She reacted when it began to move, however. 

She jumped when she felt her stomach lurch as they moved downwards, and she grabbed his wrist with her other hand, enough to hurt, and he let out a hiss of pain, and she retracted immediately, panicking at the thought of the monster becoming unleashed.

But he simply took a few deep breaths, shaking his head as he squeezed her hand, and she tried to understand why he did that, but she did relax somewhat knowing that she had an anchor, so she assumed that was the intended effect.

The doors slid open and the two walked out, Bruce's hand still encompassing her own, and it was much larger than hers, and she wondered what her hands felt like, if they were soft or rough, given all that she had done. Her fingers were more slender than his, but no less powerful.

At least, they used to be. She wasn't sure if she still was, that she would have to check, but she wasn't sure she truly wanted to, now that the serum's effects were gone. She had never been so clear, it was hard to handle.

"Are you alright?" he asked, seeing her trying to close her eyes, only to realize that her other senses were becoming heightened, feeling the gown against her skin and his hand against her own.

She opened and closed her mouth, trying to explain herself, but it seemed that he had caught on. "You're probably having sensory overload. You said that the serum manipulated your focus and abilities, right?"

She nodded, unsure as to why she was so uncomfortable, what with the serum having heightened her senses previously, but it seemed that it was all conditional. Now, it was everything, there was no control except her own, and she had never been given control before.

"So you've never been in an elevator before?" he asked, the two continuing to walk down the hall, and she nodded.

"I did not know what it was," she explained, and he paused, staring at her with wide eyes, and she looked away, hating the feeling of his eyes on her.

"Did you talk much while you were..." he trailed off, figuring that she could fill in her own blanks.

She shook her head, noticing just how unused her voice was as she replied, "I did not talk unless asked to. They taught me to read and write. I remembered some words, though, when speaking."

"Okay," he said softly, opening the door to what she assumed was his room, and he paused, taking in the way she was holding herself, "Do you want clothes now, or do you want to wait?"