Adjustment Period [Open]

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

He'd been deliberately avoiding people since they returned from the mission and Leela had been safely transported to the MedBay to recuperate from her injuries. Brainiac 5 didn't like to admit it, but even he needed some time to process things if the events were significantly large and life-changing enough.

And finding himself here, in this bizarre ship with no idea how he'd come here, then meeting an alternate counterpart of himself who was similar enough to be disconcerting, but different enough to make him more than a little jealous and defensive, and topping the entire experience off with suddenly having to be involved in a mission that he didn't understand his role in and with a group of people he didn't know? It was enough to make even his considerable intellect need a break, if only for a short while. Particularly when he factored in the... unfortunate circumstances before his arrival.

Fortunately Stacy had more than enough room for him to find a place to just take time to work things through in his head without being distracted by the presence of others.

And he'd since resolved to try and avoid sleeping in the 'bed' provided by the ship at all costs.

But experiences with the sleeping area aside, he's now feeling a little more accepting of what's happened so far. He's far from happy about being here, but there isn't much to be done about that - and it's not like he's particularly unique in that regard either - and he'd rather do something productive with his time, so he heads down to the laboratory in Special Weapons his counterpart had shown him around earlier.

After checking that the area is indeed currently empty by cautiously elongating his neck until his head could peek into the room without being too noticeable, Brainiac 5's body follows the rest of him into the room and his neck returns to its normal length. He's alone in what passes for a laboratory, and therefore feels a bit more at home.

And also free to poke through other people's projects.

It's not meant to be rude or anything. It's just that he's not used to having other people working in his lab back with his Legion and while he reminds himself that this lab is a shared space, he can't help but occasionally make a note on someone's equation or a footnote on a diagram to suggest a different idea.

He's just trying to be helpful, really. It doesn't really occur to him that others might not see it that way.

Comments

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

A blonde head pokes in the doorway, peering around the room interestedly. It certainly looks like a lab-- and that thing over there looks exciting ('that' being something that might either be a weapon in its very early stages or just a tangle of wires on a table).

"Yes, I found it!" Wyn says triumphantly as she steps into the probably-a-lab, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. She wanders over to the table with the fascinating thing and begins to inspect it, head tilted slightly. She hasn't picked it up, mostly because she's afraid of it falling apart, but there is definitely poking and prodding going on.

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"Found what?" a voice asks from behind her. Brainiac 5 had been investigating a project out of the immediate line-of-sight from the doorway, but on hearing someone else enter the area he wanders over. He thought maybe she was a part of the engineering group, but on closer investigation he realises he doesn't recognise her.

"You must be one of the new arrivals from when I was involved in the mission," he concludes. "I'm Brainiac 5, by the way. The other one."

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"The engineering lab. Well, an engineering lab, I suppose there could be more than one, but I kind of doubt there is. Although that'd be nice..." Wyn says absently, picking up the wires delicately. There was something hidden in there, as she'd suspected, but she couldn't quite get it out without taking the whole thing apart.

"I'm Wyn-- the other one?" Well, that got her attention. And now that she actually looked at the person she was talking to, she saw that it was true. At least this one was significantly less rude. (And probably better about sharing.)

[ooc: sorry this is so late, I didn't realize that the library has weird weekend hours...]

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"Better facilities would be nice, but I don't think that's likely either." Of course, considering the size of the ship, there's always the possibility of their being a better equipped area elsewhere, but they'd still need to find it first.

"Yes, the other one," he sighs. It's annoying to have to define himself in terms of his counterpart. "You can call me B5 or Brainy, if you like."

[ooc: it's fine! Better late than never, right?]

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you." Wyn says with a smile. "How are there two of you, if you don't mind me asking? Is it clones or an alternate-universe thing or what?" She needs to know these things.

"Oh, hey, I got it!" she continues excitedly as the wires fall apart in her hand, revealing some tiny circuitry. "Hello, sweetheart, what are you supposed to do?" Yes, she's talking to the gadget. She tends to do that.

[helipack-jack.livejournal.com]

Jack? Jack's not here. At least, not at the moment. Brainiac 5 gets a few minutes of peace before there's a voice audible in the hallway outside, and the soudn of some slightly squeaky metal wheels.

"CLEAR THE WAY, EVIL GENIUS COMIN' THROUGH! MOVE IT OR LOSE IT! I'M WALKIN' HERE!"

It's debatable whether or not Jack's actually yelling at anyone, or whether he just likes the sound of his own voice. Probably the latter.

Jack Spicer appears, pushing a metal cart loaded down with apparently random junk. He was just scrap hunting in the w&p lockers, and it seems to have gone productively. The cart comes to a stop when it clangs relatively gently into the edge of a table.

"Oh, hey. What's up, Green Machine?" he asks Brainy casually as he begins digging around on the cart. He's rather messy about it.

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

Yes, Brainiac 5 really misses his own lab a lot now. It had a distinct lack of Jack that makes it all the more appealing.

He winces at the approaching yelling, but it's not like he can lock the doors and keep Jack out, as much as he likes that idea. So much for any peace and quiet.

"I'm not a machine," he answers coldly. "I'm Coluan. There's a difference."

Still, he reminds himself that he has to try and make an effort to get along with others here. There's no telling how long it might take for them to find a way back to their respective realities and time periods, even with two twelfth level intellects.

"What're you working on?" he asks after a moment.

[helipack-jack.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, big difference. Sure." Jack shrugs without looking up from his rattling metal mess, clearly only half paying attention. He seems perfectly oblivious to any discomfort he's causing.

"My Jackbugs," he replies to the question about his work, again without looking up. There was that one little piece of wire that was perfect, if he could just find it...

He knocks a few things off the cart as he digs. He intends to pick them up when he's done, but that's not apparent from his current actions.

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

Brainiac 5's eyes narrow sharply but he tries not to let Jack's dismissive tone get to him.

"Jackbugs? What're-" he cuts off as bits and pieces of metal and wire scatter across the floor. Brainy's eyes aren't quite able to roll like those of a human, but he gives a good impression of doing just that before extending his arms to pick up the errant pieces and place them neatly on the workbench.

[helipack-jack.livejournal.com]

"I've been building some beetle bots to help scout the ship before we start like busting into places and getting yelled at by Stacy. So we know what we're getting into before anything happens," Jack explains. He finds the piece he's been looking for.

"Gotcha!" he says triumphantly, holding the wire in front of his face for a moment to be sure. It is. Jack turns to the place where the stray pieces fell, and finds there's nothing there.

Then he sees the workbench.

"Oh, hey. Thanks for getting that."

[thethirdhalfa.livejournal.com]

While Dani had bad experience with a lab, she never really hated them. After all, labs had a lot of interesting things in them. Stuff that can change things. That she was interested in.

So, she decided to check out the lab. See what was going on and maybe learn something interesting?

So she floated into the room, quite used to traveling around the ship in her ghost form. It avoided creepy plant suit, after all. She looked around and spotted Brainiac 5.

And stared. A green robot? Wait, she knew this one. Where was it? "Oh, right! You're that Brainy guy, right?" She asked. The supervillain lineage and he was different, that's right. Not that she said that. She did have some tact. A little bit, but it existed.

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"Brainiac 5, yes," he answers with a hesitant smile. "But Brainy is perfectly acceptable as well. And you're Dani." He tosses up leaving things there, but he can think of worse people to talk to at the moment, and maybe some company wouldn't be so bad after all.

"I don't think we had much of a chance to talk earlier," he ventures.

[thethirdhalfa.livejournal.com]

"Yep, that's right," Dani said, floating over to take a look at whatever he had been looking at before.

"Not really. You were doing the whole presentation thing before."

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"Yes. And then there was the mission..." he trails off with a slight shrug. "I haven't really had the chance to talk to anyone much."

He glances down at the diagram he was looking over, and after making another brief note, sets it aside. Unfortunately doing that makes him realise he's not sure what else to say. Starting conversations isn't really his strongest skill.

"Is there something you wanted to discuss with me?" It's the best he can think of at the moment.

[thethirdhalfa.livejournal.com]

"Really? That's too bad," Dani said. Though she herself had been watching mostly. She did talk some, but she was still getting used to the idea she COULD just talk to people.

"Hm? Well, I was wondering what you're doing. Are you working on something?" She asked.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

The other Brainiac enters Special Weapons with the exact same solitude in mind, but a glance up from his omnicom reveals that his counterpart appears to have beaten him to it.

However, after Superman's little lecture, Brainy has decided to follow through and tried to be friendly and cooperative.

Not looking up from his omnicom again, but his tone relatively jovial, if somewhat stiff, he says, "Greetings, Brainiac."

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

Brainiac 5 glances up as the doors open and pauses when he sees who it is. He knows he can't exactly avoid is counterpart, but he had still been hoping to put things off for a little longer. Still, Superman wants them to try working together, so he'll try.

He manages a smile that freezes the moment he gets called by his ancestor's name. "It's Brainiac 5. Or Brainy. Not Brainiac."

Did the temperature just drop in here?

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

There's another brief glance up.

"My apologies. My fellow Legionnaires drop the numerical designation on occasion," says Brainy now in a similar chillier tone, as he sits down at "his" station and starts to get to worwhy is there writing on his schematics?

And corrections on his equations?

He opens his mouth as if he's going to say something, thinks better of it and snaps it shut, opens it again, snaps it shut again, and then closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose, and takes a deeeeep breath in and out.

"I see you've been in a...helpful mood today."

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"Well I'd prefer not to be called by that," he answers, still cold and obviously annoyed.

He watches as his counterpart makes his way over to a bench and starts leafing through pages only to stop, stare, open and close his mouth several times, and finally take a deep breath. It would seem that those were some of the schematics he'd made several changes to.

"I wanted to take a look at what others were working on," he explains, but can't keep the smug tone out of his voice. "I couldn't help but notice some opportunities for... improvements."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"In the future, it would perhaps be...prudent to inform your fellow engineers that you're going to go through their work before you make additions, corrections, and changes."

Christ, B5, he's supposed to be the socially retarded one.

Admittedly, lab etiquette is something he picked up while working with Lyle. Amending one of Lyle's formulas when he thought Lyle had made a mistake in making a solvent would have turned out disastrous if Lyle hadn't noticed the change in time before making the final product--which turned out NOT to be a solvent.

No one wanted bleach-flavored ice cream.

[staturity]

Cassie had wanted to check out the weapons the ship had and since she couldn't go to the sensoriums without freaking out her friends it only made sense to check it out.

Oh look, a robot someone!

"Uh, hi." Not the most eloquent of introductions but...

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

Brainiac 5 glances up from where he's poking through someone else's work, though not actually making any notes or changes yet, and blinks at the newcomer. He recognises her from the round of introductions and the mission briefing and it only takes him a moment to check his records for her name.

"Cassie, correct?"

[staturity]

"Yes. You're uhm, one of the Brainiacs?" The fact that there were two of them and with such an odd name stuck in her mind.

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"Actually I prefer to be called Brainy, but yes. I'm one of the Brainiac 5's."

He smiles slightly and studies her for a moment before asking, "are you after something in particular?"

[staturity]

"No, I was just curious what kind of weapons were here. I figure since we'll probably be using them it'd be good to get familiar with them."