Room 307, Monday Early Afternoon

[dollpocalypse]

The second Topher stepped out of his portal onto the Causeway, he wanted to turn back and head back to Peter's place. That place had technology, a blissful lack of noise and visitors, and a guilt-free environment free of awkward apologies and blaming himself for stuff. Basically, it was perfect. Fandom was... not.

It was even less perfect after Topher went to class, where all that guilt-free philosophy imparted unto him by Peter was promptly zapped away by the same scarily-persuasive Wiggin rationalizing that had gotten it into his head in the first place. Weighed down by the fresh reminder of all the bad stuff he'd done that week, he trudged back to his room and without even bothering to close the door properly, strode on in, flopped on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

Seriously, he'd love a portal back to Haiti. Even one that took him through a layover filled with giant rats would be fine. Maybe if he intentionally took one of those, the schadenfreude would be enough for Peter to let him stay a little longer?

...Whatever, he could dream.

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[ultron_junior]

"Yeah, well, not something I'd know," Victor said dryly. "But at least I have the cyborg excuse. You ... what is your excuse, anyhow? Not just for me, but for helping her."

[dollpocalypse]

Oh, that was a fun question. Even Ender hadn't gone there. Way to go, Victor.

"I guess I sorta liked her... values?" Values. Yes. "Like the dress code and the no-touching and the part where I got to tase people who treated me like crap instead of, you know, just getting treated like crap, and... it was fucked up, okay? I wouldn't do that here."

[ultron_junior]

"What, because there isn't a dress code here?" Victor asked, and sighed, and ran a hand through his hair again.

"I'm not going to get it," he decided. "I'm Catholic, so I kind of know about repression, and I'm still not going to get it. But saying you wouldn't do it here ... that's a start, right?"

He had to hope it was, or that punch would sound better again.

[dollpocalypse]

"You're Catholic? And a cyborg? Huh." TOPHER, YOU WERE MISSING THE POINT. "Does that completely... you know, work?"

Oh, yes, right, the actual topic.

"But, uh. Yeah. I guess. And if I get like that again, ever, you can punch me if you want." How generous! "I mean, you can still do that. Given the circumstances."

[ultron_junior]

"Why do people always ask me that?" Victor wondered rhetorically. "My mom was religious. You don't need to think something's literally true to believe in it."

He glanced over, smiled the tiniest bit. "Anyhow, I'm not going to punch you," he said. "I might just kill you if you ever do anything remotely like that in the real world, but no punching tonight."

[dollpocalypse]

"Awesome," Topher said, relieved. "That sounds like a good deal." Considering all the times he'd been punched and all.

"Hey, how did things end up for you in the other universe, anyway?" he suddenly remembered to ask. "I was... in a closet, so I missed some stuff."

[ultron_junior]

"Me?" It took Victor just a second to get his focus back. "Um, nothing. I kind of got in a fight with this guy Jaime, lost, got Stark to fix me, cursed your name a bunch, then wandered around feeling really guilty for about 12 hours."

He frowned. "How come you were in a closet?"

[dollpocalypse]

Right. The other person Topher owed an apology to.

"Good thing Tony was around," Topher said, and if he kind of mumbled it, well, that was his business. "The closet thing was 'cause of Kenzi. She sort of knocked me out."

[ultron_junior]

"I owe Kenzi ice cream," Victor decided. "I mean, I should probably say I'm sorry and all that, but ... kind of not."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher shook his head. "Nah, it's good she did that," he said. "Even if it did mean Peter wound up tied to a chair for like a day before the normal world set back in and I got to go untie him."

Blaming Kenzi entirely for that was a bit unfair when Topher had tied him up in the first place, but.

"So were Billy and Jaime the only people you, you know, hurt?"

[ultron_junior]

"I guess?" Victor said. "I wasn't ... you know. All that nice to most other people, but I don't remember any other fights."

He looked at his hands, as if imagining them shooting sparks. Two fights was more than enough. (Though he still thought the thing with Jaime had at least been a fair fight, by superhero standards.) "What was your body count?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Um." Oh boy. "Well, I used the disruptor on Kate and Peter, I sent you after Billy, I -- oh, well, there was reprogramming you, if that counts, and I blew up that alley with Stephanie in it."

So nice going, Topher.

"Oh, and this girl Elle and I were going to go into detention to torture her friend, but we never had time."

[ultron_junior]

"Wow." Victor would be edging over just a little. "That's, uh ... you were busy, huh?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah, it was... kind of crazy." Topher rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess it could've been worse? I could've been Barton."

[ultron_junior]

"Yeah, well, Clint Barton's always been a punk," Victor told him. "In my reality, anyhow. I don't know the one here. So ... not exactly a shocker he went bad."

Victor could possibly be slightly less judgmental about people he didn't actually know, but certain opinions died hard.

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah?" Huh. "I thought he was, you know, an Avenger."

According to Tumblr, anyway. Which was usually a super-credible source!

[ultron_junior]

"Now," Victor told him. "Started out as a thief, and there's some other shady stuff. Plus he was dead for a while."

Which was ... not such a big deal, if you were from where Victor was from.

"I dunno, I just never liked him back when I was into the fanboy stuff. Probably should give the one here a chance."

[dollpocalypse]

"...You guys get those temporary deaths a lot?" Oh, Topher. More than you knew. "And yeah, I keep thinking I should meet him, but apparently he mostly hangs out at the gym and wow, pass."

[ultron_junior]

"It's kind of ... a thing," Victor told him, if a little weakly. "But most people just stay dead."

Like Gert. Like Alex Wilder. Like his mom.

"You could go to the gym," he added. "Probably they have the fancy treadmills, you know, with the computer screens?"

[dollpocalypse]

GEEEEEEEEEEERT. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????

"Yeah, but gross." Topher, exercise was not going to kill you. Really now. "And I'm like the worst runner. I mean, Tony and Billy and I went running once? Worst. Day. Ever."

Well, the fact that it had happened during sex pollen had probably also been a factor.

"Do you even do that stuff? I mean, being a... you and all." Diplomatic.

[ultron_junior]

"What, Mexican? Yeah, they let us in gyms now."

Victor knew what Topher meant. He just thought it was a dumb question -- he probably didn't have to, but he liked to exercise sometimes anyhow. Besides, he was getting bored with talking about being a cyborg.

[dollpocalypse]

Yeah, fair enough. The super-fun reminder of his cyborg-ness by way of reprogramming was probably enough of a reminder for the next little while.

"Oh, okay, well, that clears that up," Topher said, sarcastically going along with it. He figured Victor was entitled to steer the conversation a little after the week they'd just had. "So you can go stalk him and ask him all about being a thief and getting mind-controlled and killing a whole bunch of people. 'Cause fun."

Or not.

[ultron_junior]

Victor stared for a minute at that one. Okay, he probably deserved it for his sarcasm, but...

"Or I could go in, say hi, and introduce myself like a normal human being," he said. "I said I wasn't impressed with him, not that I want to pick a fight. Dude is an Avenger."

[dollpocalypse]

So that had maybe come out a little harsher than Topher had meant it to be. Amicable sarcasm was hard, okay?

"...True," he admitted. "He might shoot you in the face. You should, you know. Avoid that."

[ultron_junior]

"Roger that," Victor said, rolling his shoulders back. "I should get back to my room."

He wasn't still upset at Topher, exactly -- or not this version of him -- but he was starting to just feel sort of done with this.