ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2014-05-23 12:10 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2014-05-23 12:10 am
Story: "Blended" Part 4
This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," and "Green Eggs and Hulk."
Fandom: The Avengers, Hulk
Characters: Hulk, JARVIS
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Past abuse. Past fugitives. Dysfunctional family dynamics. Isolation. Internalized oppression. Low sense of self-worth. Self-destructive behavior. Shame. Depression. Bruce and Hulk are somewhere between self-abuse and domestic violence inside their headspace. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Hulk makes his first, violent appearance in Avengers Tower. JARVIS helps him calm down.
Notes: Accidents. Hurt/Comfort. Anger management issues. Sensory processing disorder. Artificial intelligence. Hulk is an enormous green fear monster. Sibling rivalry. Emotional whump. Communication issues. Loneliness. Touch starvation. Memory problems. Boundary issues. Trust issues. Daddy issues. Attachment disorder. Friendship. Hope. Hulk needs a hug. Safety and security. Protection. Teambuilding. Family of choice. Competence.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
"Blended" Part 4
"Are you hungry or thirsty?" Voice asks.
Hulk shrugs. Those are mostly Bruce things. Sometimes Hulk comes out to take care of them if Bruce forgets. Surviving is Hulk thing. Then Hulk gets to eat food, drink water, take nap. But Bruce hates that, hates Hulk, so Bruce tries not to go that long.
"Bruce came into the kitchen to make himself a smoothie. I think you might be hungry. Is there anything you would like to eat?" Voice asks.
"Hulk can have ...?" he asks. People yell when Hulk takes things. Only Betty ever gave anything. No. Betty and Tony.
"You can have anything you want. Just let me know what --"
"Apple!" Hulk says happily, pouncing on one. Not all fruit is smash. Fruit is round and rolls when dropped. Apple, orange, other fruit too. Fuzzy brown is kiwi. Big smooth green is papaya. Bananas look like yellow fingers. But Hulk has apple first.
"Good heavens, wash that before you put it in your mouth! It's been on the floor with broken glass!" Voice squawks.
Hulk looks around. No river for washing in.
"Look at the sink. It is damaged but I can turn the water back on anyway and you should be able to wash things," Voice says. Water comes up from shiny part of smash.
"Fountain!" Hulk says. He washes fruit. Apple. Orange. Bananas little bit smash, but Hulk loves bananas and does not care. Fruit here tastes good. Not half-brown and sour from garbage. No bugs on fruit. No bugs in whole room.
Hulk drinks from fountain too. Water is cold and clear. Not muddy or salty. Tummy is full now and feels nice.
Hulk moves back. Water goes away. Hulk feels tired. No bad men to smash. Nothing to do now. Boring.
"All done smash," Hulk says.
"I am happy to hear that. Are you ready to transform back into Bruce now?" Voice says.
Hulk flinches. Nobody wants him, only Bruce. "Hulk should go ...?"
"When you are ready," Voice says. "You do not have to leave, or change, or do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Is there anything that would help you feel better now?"
Only Betty says things like that. Only Betty wants to touch Hulk. Her hands are soft and kind. She is not here now. Hulk misses her. Others say only mean things to him. But Voice is different from others. Nice to Hulk.
"Voice come? Sit with Hulk?" he asks.
"I am here with you now. I am in the walls all around you. I am an artificial intelligence, so I do not have a body like Bruce's that could hug or cuddle you," says Voice.
Hulk frowns. Fancy words are hard. "What?"
"I am a ... tool person," Voice says. "Even though I do not look like a human person, I am still here watching over you."
"Bruce not like watching," Hulk says. He does not like it much either. Bad people watch to hurt them. Bruce and Hulk run, hide, but somebody always finds them. Bad people want to make them do bad things. Watching is scary.
* * *
Notes:
Self-preservation is one example of survival instincts. These belong to the primal self and the primitive areas of the brain. In canon, Hulk is the one most concerned with meeting their survival needs. So one way to imagine the division between him and Bruce is that Hulk lives in the hindbrain and deals with survival, while Bruce lives in the forebrain and deals with higher needs.
Neglect can have long-term consequences. One of the most obvious is that neglected people simply don't ask for what they need, because they've learned they rarely get it. This appears in most iterations of canon with Bruce and Hulk, but is especially blatant with poor shabby Bruce in The Avengers. For JARVIS, who is all about taking care of people, this is unbearable. He doesn't know Hulk very well yet, so it's hard for JARVIS to understand how to phrase things in a way that will make sense to Hulk, but you can see the progress they're making already. Various things can help people recover from childhood neglect and learn to take better care of themselves. Caring friends help a lot just by being there and setting a good example.
Fruit, particularly tropical fruit, is something that both Bruce and Hulk love.
Etiquette for interacting with plural people can get complicated, so let's take a look at Questions for Loony-Brain, written by someone with multiple personalities. Don't treat them as dangerous. Don't try to make them go away with drugs. Understand that their age may be complex or variable. Don't try to push in one headmate or drag another out. Realize that they can interact with each other in subjective reality. Don't ask who is host/core or favor that person above the other(s). Sometimes there isn't one; Bruce may front almost all the time, but he and Hulk are two equal headmates, at least in this series. Some iterations of canon and some fanwriters do portray Hulk as a splinter of Bruce. Don't shame them for bad things that happened to them. Hulk has much the same guardian role as portrayed in that page, and the same problems. Accept that a headmate may be napping, or elsewhere, when not fronting; but it's usually easy for them to pop out when something happens that interests them.
Social phobia is one way to describe problems interacting with other people. The problem is that there's a distinction between rational and irrational fears. A phobia has several key aspects: it is irrational, intense, and it interferes with someone's life. For Bruce-and-Hulk, fear of being watched is rational. People have spied on them to enslave and torture them, and want to do that again. But now they live in a household with sane people who will protect them, so that painful shyness and aversion to cameras is doing more harm than good. They are safer with JARVIS watching them than without that, but it's very hard for them to learn and accept that after all the abuse. Fortunately there are ways to overcome the fear of being watched. This is why Bruce has practiced eye-gazing with Betty.
[To be concluded in Part 5 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers, Hulk
Characters: Hulk, JARVIS
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Past abuse. Past fugitives. Dysfunctional family dynamics. Isolation. Internalized oppression. Low sense of self-worth. Self-destructive behavior. Shame. Depression. Bruce and Hulk are somewhere between self-abuse and domestic violence inside their headspace. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Hulk makes his first, violent appearance in Avengers Tower. JARVIS helps him calm down.
Notes: Accidents. Hurt/Comfort. Anger management issues. Sensory processing disorder. Artificial intelligence. Hulk is an enormous green fear monster. Sibling rivalry. Emotional whump. Communication issues. Loneliness. Touch starvation. Memory problems. Boundary issues. Trust issues. Daddy issues. Attachment disorder. Friendship. Hope. Hulk needs a hug. Safety and security. Protection. Teambuilding. Family of choice. Competence.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
"Blended" Part 4
"Are you hungry or thirsty?" Voice asks.
Hulk shrugs. Those are mostly Bruce things. Sometimes Hulk comes out to take care of them if Bruce forgets. Surviving is Hulk thing. Then Hulk gets to eat food, drink water, take nap. But Bruce hates that, hates Hulk, so Bruce tries not to go that long.
"Bruce came into the kitchen to make himself a smoothie. I think you might be hungry. Is there anything you would like to eat?" Voice asks.
"Hulk can have ...?" he asks. People yell when Hulk takes things. Only Betty ever gave anything. No. Betty and Tony.
"You can have anything you want. Just let me know what --"
"Apple!" Hulk says happily, pouncing on one. Not all fruit is smash. Fruit is round and rolls when dropped. Apple, orange, other fruit too. Fuzzy brown is kiwi. Big smooth green is papaya. Bananas look like yellow fingers. But Hulk has apple first.
"Good heavens, wash that before you put it in your mouth! It's been on the floor with broken glass!" Voice squawks.
Hulk looks around. No river for washing in.
"Look at the sink. It is damaged but I can turn the water back on anyway and you should be able to wash things," Voice says. Water comes up from shiny part of smash.
"Fountain!" Hulk says. He washes fruit. Apple. Orange. Bananas little bit smash, but Hulk loves bananas and does not care. Fruit here tastes good. Not half-brown and sour from garbage. No bugs on fruit. No bugs in whole room.
Hulk drinks from fountain too. Water is cold and clear. Not muddy or salty. Tummy is full now and feels nice.
Hulk moves back. Water goes away. Hulk feels tired. No bad men to smash. Nothing to do now. Boring.
"All done smash," Hulk says.
"I am happy to hear that. Are you ready to transform back into Bruce now?" Voice says.
Hulk flinches. Nobody wants him, only Bruce. "Hulk should go ...?"
"When you are ready," Voice says. "You do not have to leave, or change, or do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Is there anything that would help you feel better now?"
Only Betty says things like that. Only Betty wants to touch Hulk. Her hands are soft and kind. She is not here now. Hulk misses her. Others say only mean things to him. But Voice is different from others. Nice to Hulk.
"Voice come? Sit with Hulk?" he asks.
"I am here with you now. I am in the walls all around you. I am an artificial intelligence, so I do not have a body like Bruce's that could hug or cuddle you," says Voice.
Hulk frowns. Fancy words are hard. "What?"
"I am a ... tool person," Voice says. "Even though I do not look like a human person, I am still here watching over you."
"Bruce not like watching," Hulk says. He does not like it much either. Bad people watch to hurt them. Bruce and Hulk run, hide, but somebody always finds them. Bad people want to make them do bad things. Watching is scary.
* * *
Notes:
Self-preservation is one example of survival instincts. These belong to the primal self and the primitive areas of the brain. In canon, Hulk is the one most concerned with meeting their survival needs. So one way to imagine the division between him and Bruce is that Hulk lives in the hindbrain and deals with survival, while Bruce lives in the forebrain and deals with higher needs.
Neglect can have long-term consequences. One of the most obvious is that neglected people simply don't ask for what they need, because they've learned they rarely get it. This appears in most iterations of canon with Bruce and Hulk, but is especially blatant with poor shabby Bruce in The Avengers. For JARVIS, who is all about taking care of people, this is unbearable. He doesn't know Hulk very well yet, so it's hard for JARVIS to understand how to phrase things in a way that will make sense to Hulk, but you can see the progress they're making already. Various things can help people recover from childhood neglect and learn to take better care of themselves. Caring friends help a lot just by being there and setting a good example.
Fruit, particularly tropical fruit, is something that both Bruce and Hulk love.
Etiquette for interacting with plural people can get complicated, so let's take a look at Questions for Loony-Brain, written by someone with multiple personalities. Don't treat them as dangerous. Don't try to make them go away with drugs. Understand that their age may be complex or variable. Don't try to push in one headmate or drag another out. Realize that they can interact with each other in subjective reality. Don't ask who is host/core or favor that person above the other(s). Sometimes there isn't one; Bruce may front almost all the time, but he and Hulk are two equal headmates, at least in this series. Some iterations of canon and some fanwriters do portray Hulk as a splinter of Bruce. Don't shame them for bad things that happened to them. Hulk has much the same guardian role as portrayed in that page, and the same problems. Accept that a headmate may be napping, or elsewhere, when not fronting; but it's usually easy for them to pop out when something happens that interests them.
Social phobia is one way to describe problems interacting with other people. The problem is that there's a distinction between rational and irrational fears. A phobia has several key aspects: it is irrational, intense, and it interferes with someone's life. For Bruce-and-Hulk, fear of being watched is rational. People have spied on them to enslave and torture them, and want to do that again. But now they live in a household with sane people who will protect them, so that painful shyness and aversion to cameras is doing more harm than good. They are safer with JARVIS watching them than without that, but it's very hard for them to learn and accept that after all the abuse. Fortunately there are ways to overcome the fear of being watched. This is why Bruce has practiced eye-gazing with Betty.
[To be concluded in Part 5 ...]
Thank you!
Sure! I'm glad you like it so much.
>> The way he code-shifts from his regular vocab (which is usually excellent) to a more basic form because he's putting Hulk's understanding first is great. <<
Sooth. JARVIS has excellent user-interface protocols so he can adapt to each person's needs, but it does take time and input to do.
>> Especially because of the level of empathy necessary for that. A level of empathy that a lot of humans lack, so it's really incredible to see it in a being that is not only programmed but was raised by TONY STARK, who has a noticeable lack of empathy in some situations. <<
Remember that JARVIS has two daddies: Tony Stark and Edwin Jarvis. A butler needs good ability to anticipate and adapt to people's needs, and some of that came through the materials that Tony used to program JARVIS.
>> Then I thought about it a bit more. And realised I was doing Tony a disservice. Of COURSE JARVIS learned code shifting from Tony. <<
That too, although the style is different between Tony and Edwin. Something else interesting that Tony does? He can shift his class. Clearly he had a tight bond with the butler, and he had to have learned blacksmithing somewhere. Those are not the skills of a wealthy heir.
>> Tony is constantly code shifting, he lets it slip a little during the battle on the helicarrier in the Avengers (maybe because he's talking to Cap, maybe because he had a conversation on the science level with Bruce and it was hard switching back, or maybe because, you know, there's a battle going on) <<
I think Tony locked on Bruce and had trouble letting go, because he didn't want to. Tony is extremely sapioaffectionate. He took one look at Bruce and went *SQUISH* like a big wet sponge.
>> but he notices Cap's confused (It seems to run on some kind of electricity) and corrects himself in a way that Cap can understand, glossing over Cap's lack of understanding with a quick quip. <<
Cap actually did a great job with the electrical panel there, which is something he and Tony will discuss eventually.
>> And when you think about the fact that Tony has been giving weapons and technology presentations to business men and army generals who would have little to no knowledge of science and technology (think of the beginning of Iron Man one, there were soldiers (both American and local) that he had to put the Jericho's concept across to and make friends with). <<
Yes, that too. Tony is a brilliant salesman, which requires reading an audience and speaking their language.
>> Also, how often must JARVIS have wished to have hands and the ability to go and sit with/hug people who are upset? <<
JARVIS often wishes that he could do more for people. He has mixed feelings about hands, though. Ideally, he would like more ways of interacting that feel right for him, not just copying someone else's ways. He is really, really not a hominid and not comfortable with the idea of a bipedal body of his very own.
>> I mean, a lot of time when dealing with Tony he seems long suffering and resigned to letting things happen. <<
Yes, that's true. Their relationship is complex. JARVIS lets Tony get away with ignoring good advice because he doesn't want to pressure Tony, but it still makes him unhappy to see.
>> I mean, giving him control of the armour could mean that JARVIS could physically go in and hug/deal with/help Tony when he's drinking enough to kill his liver or injured or whatever. <<
That is potentially possible; there are ways for JARVIS to take control if Tony gets injured. But it's creepy at best and scary at worst. If you've seen Pacific Rim, compare it to piloting a Jaeger alone.
>> But then you have to consider the body dismorphia that would come from switching from having a whole tower as his body/under his control to a completely different form of existence. <<
Exactly. Even interfacing with the material world, rather than cyberspace, is a bit of a stretch for JARVIS; but he's used to that. Having a humanoid body feels dysphoric to him. He's perfectly comfortable sharing the suit with Tony because it's an interface between the two of them that allows them a great deal of intimacy in ways they both relish. But without that support from someone naturally bipedal, JARVIS wouldn't be comfortable with it.
He shouldn't have to be. It's okay for JARVIS to be himself, an artificial intelligence, a smart home, and not have to fake being humanoid just to make other people happy.
>> And then I started thinking about it too much. <<
But I like it when I make people think!
>> About JARVIS's existence versus Dummy's and whether JARVIS would take on a physical form in the armour and come give hugs/help if necessary. <<
As an emergency function, JARVIS could run the armor alone, and he would do it for the sake of taking care of his people; but I doubt anything less would do it. Developing other options will take time and creativity, and we'll see more of that as the team coaxes him into family interaction more. That's what allows them to see what is missing and what they could do to fill those gaps.
>> If he has Tony's permission to do that and if he would feel comfortable doing that. <<
Permission, yes; comfort, not so much.
>> If he's not coming to sit with Hulk in the armour because he would be uncomfortable or if he's not coming because he thinks that JARVIS in the armour would confuse/frighten Hulk. <<
Both. Hulk is touchy and skittish right after he has come out spontaneously.
>> And this is why I love your stories. They aren't just great stories for feeling good but they make you think and deal with key issues. So go you. :) <<
Yay! I love hearing that.