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]

Wyn hears your implication loud and clear, B5, and is seriously considering smacking you on the shiny metallic head. "I work with robots. That's what I do. I think I'll be able to keep up." She's smarter than she sounds, considering that she talks like a teenager most of the time.

"Well. Maybe not where you're from. Alternate universes, remember?" she says, turning back to fiddling with Sadie. She really doesn't need to sound quite that smug about it... and really, if this turns into an argument she's just going to pull out the 'Coluans don't exist in my universe, how about that!' reply. (She'd demonstrate some magic, really she would, but the only thing she's got on her that's vaguely magical is essentially a battery.)

Wyn approves of the nosiness! Because really, how else are you supposed to find things out? "Anything interesting yet? Besides Sadie, of course."

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

Wyn would be welcome to try, at best she'll still end up hurting her hand more than his head. "And, as I've stated, I am not, strictly speaking, a robot. And for all your supposed skill in working with them, I still doubt you could grasp Coluan technology."

While he's putting it out like no one's really smart enough to understand it, the real reason is that he just doesn't feel comfortable talking too much about his inner workings with someone who is essentially a complete stranger. Even his counterpart only got the watered down version before they moved onto discussing something else. Besides, Wyn seems like the type who takes things apart to see how they work and he'd rather that not apply to him.

"Regardless of alternate universes, 'magic' in the traditional sense simply isn't able to be reconciled with the founding principles of the universe. It doesn't work," he says, adopting a tone as though explaining things to someone who's a little slow on the uptake. "Of course, I'm not familiar with what you mean when you say 'magic', but it's more likely that what you believe is that is simply caused by something your society is not yet advanced enough to have discovered."

He ignores the comment about Sadie - still doesn't think the circuitry needs a name - and shrugs. "I was distracted by someone before I could get much further in my observations." He was mostly writing on people's notes anyway.

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

Wyn would ask before she did something like that, though. She likes being polite. (And she'd put him back together!) "Whatever. I just don't like people I don't really know automatically assuming that I'm stupid." she says, trying to let it go. She's not angry, per se, but she's a bit annoyed with B5's implications.

"It is if magic's-- oh, this is so not worth an argument. I come from a place where magic is real, it's one of the major constant forces of the universe, and it has been extensively studied for centuries." Wyn says with a sigh, pointedly not looking at B5 while she talks. "And I'd really like to know what we haven't discovered that could potentially warp the multiverse beyond recognition. Because magic can do that."

[brainy-bot.livejournal.com]

"I'm not assuming you're stupid," he says reasonably, "I'm simply pointing out the fact that unless you happen to have an understanding of thirty-first century technology and a tenth level intellect or higher, you're unlikely to be able to grasp my people's technology."

And he really does mean that he doesn't think she's stupid, it's just that he's used to being the smartest person in the room at any given time in his own world, so it's not easy to adapt to the idea that things might be different now.

"And I agree that this isn't worth an argument. After all, studying something for centuries hardly means you know everything about it. For example, humans studied the skies for many years in their ancient past and still insisted that the sun orbited the Earth for quite some time before they were eventually proven wrong.

"However," he continues grudgingly, "it's entirely possible that we're simply in disagreement over the use of the term. I am referring to when people use 'magic' to indicate something that they are unable to explain. It happens simply because it is magic. I refuse to accept that idea for obvious reasons. But... possibly you mean something different."

He's willing to accept that maybe her use of the term does have an explanation, an understanding of how it works and why. It's the other usage of the word, the wilful insistence that things shouldn't be explained simply because they are magical, that he can't tolerate.

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"... so if I don't understand your intellect-level labeling system thing, that means I'm dumb, doesn't it?" Wyn asks, not expecting a serious answer to a joking question. (She's clearly over the whole annoyance thing, or at least B5's explanation has cleared a few things up for her.)

"Fair point. If I ever use the term 'magic' to describe something I can't understand, I'm being sarcastic, mostly because I've been living with about nine other people who will hit me over the head with large heavy objects if I actually do it for real." Wyn says, laughing slightly. "Well, either 'magic' or 'quantum'."