[audio, backdated to sunday]

[stretchy_pants]

I... uh. I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me out last week. You didn't have to do any of that, but....

Thank you.



If you're in my physics class, I've arranged for Professor Xavier to substitute for the next couple of weeks. He'll be covering the rest of the material I have and also administering your final exam. I'll still be available to answer questions if you have any.

Comments

[stretchy_pants]

You don't understand... What you're talking about is.. much easier said than done. It's almost killed my friends more than once--every good thing it's done is balanced by destruction, and my will isn't enough to keep it from hurting people when it gets past me.

[badnewsboy]

I believe it is.

[his voice is very earnest. and he doesn't hesitate when he speaks again.]

There will always be chaos. Change is chaos, and it makes us rethink what we're taught, and the philosophies that we've lived by.

[he holds up a finger, looking proud.]

But that change only becomes chaos when we fight it. I'm not telling you to let the Hulk go, Mister Banner, I'm saying that to adapt is to remember that you have no control. My Other-Self was the same, except he believed that control was the solution, and chaos could come from nefarious, calculating plans. [he closes an eye and looks a bit dubious at his own words, and then snorts and continues with a smile.] I don't believe that. I believe in change. Change is good. Moments that draw heavy emotions are the ones inwhich we believe we lose that control, but if we succumb to the idea and align ourselves with that change, we ride with the chaos.

And then without that anger, there's no Hulk, only Bruce Banner in chaos.

[stretchy_pants]

...Right. But asserting my will is still a form of control. [He sits back a little, looking as if he's debating whether to continue along this train of thought.] If you say change is the solution.. adaptation to chaos... [a shake of his head.] The anger will still be there. It's who I am, and it's what defines the Hulk.

[Something else catches his interest, though. He nudges his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he looks curiously at Loki. This whole time, he's been trying to make sense of this boy, if there is sense to be made of his reasons for seeming to know so much. The mention of Loki's "Other-Self" provides opportunity to perhaps steer the conversation in that direction.]

Are there two Lokis? You, and the one who wanted to take Earth?

[badnewsboy]

But in the end maybe it will be unneeded if left unprovoked.

[well, he got through to him in his own sort of way, didn't he. it was a little victory. Loki sits cross-legged on the seat, regarding him with quirky smile.]

My Evil-Self and I are somewhat of the same. Would you like to talk about this? It's a long, boring story.