"So you have--different names for when you're on the Surface and when you're doing chaos stuff?"

“Yeah. Uh, not everyone does it, and it’s - not always one-to-one, right? And most people are more fluid about it than I am with Anstat.”

"Huh. Back home some people have different names for the Internet, but it's less formalized. Anyway, good news and bad news. The good news is, throwing me at an alternate timeline would take enough power that the people who were with me will have been able to trace it--assuming they didn't all get thrown into alternate timelines right after I did. The bad news is that I have no idea when or if they'll be able to reverse it, so I should plan on being here for long enough to need a legal identity and a job and stuff." 

And he's going to have to tell everyone. Before he gets addicted to being looked at like a normal--well, at least a harmlessly weird person.

The woman at the help desk pops out her earbud and stands up. "That's - I'm so sorry. Sounds like the plan for right now is we run you through the onboarding that's standard if someone was, uh, born down in the Underworld and wants to set up here. I...expect you'll have a different set of, well, adjustment needs, but we'll figure it out. I'll try to get the time-sensitive bits moving while Laylie comes down." 

Glance around at the four teenagers. "Before I put in a request for housing, any of you up for sponsoring him? It usually goes better and I'd expect the same reasons apply here." 

"I can't, sorry." 

"I'll call my parents and check. We've got a spare room free. Uh, can I use your phone though, I don't take mine down here." 

"- Yes, of course." 

A little clear box with a spare earbud and some sort of auxiliary control-screen are passed over. 

"That's--that's really nice of you but I'm--I don't want to impose," Bruce says to his own feet. He doesn't know what he should be doing instead, other than telling the truth or getting out of town or both.

"Hey, no, you don't have to worry about that. Her mom adores having houseguests. Especially if they need help getting re-settled." 

The help desk woman is busy hunting around in another cabinet. After a moment she stands up, holding a sort of necklace with a plain medallion-like pendant, which she holds up to the same chip-reader that Veth presented her ID to, then ducks out around her desk.

"Here. I've just made you a placeholder profile, so you'll show up in the computer systems. It'll probably get migrated properly later, but for now - here, hold onto this." She offers Bruce the medallion. "Temporary identifier." 

He takes the medallion, stares at it, doesn't put it on.

"Thanks, but--I really shouldn't. Honestly I shouldn't even be in the city. I'm--not a good person to have around."

This is not a complete explanation and he knows it, but he's run out of words and needs a bit to line up some more.

This gets him confused and very doubtful looks from the teenagers! 

"- Well," the help desk lady says with slightly-forced cheeriness, "why don't we go inside somewhere and talk about that? Laylie should be here any– oh, here she comes." 

Laylie turns out to be a blonde woman in her forties, dressed in a style that, while not actually that similar to the Earth 'smart business casual' look, is nonetheless clearly conveying the same vibe. She walks fast, looking a bit busy and harried, but as she reaches them she slows, tilts her head in a slow deliberate way, and then seems to suddenly shift her entire focus onto Bruce, radiating something like intensely maternal competence. 

"Bruce Banner, right? I'm Laylie. Region coordinator." 

"Please to meet you," he lies.

"Well, let's go sit down inside somewhere. Follow me." 

She does not especially give him a chance to object, just smiles warmly and starts ushering the group down the train-station corridor. 

Veth lingers for a moment, having a murmured conversation into her earbud, then pops it out and returns it to the desk lady, catching up at a jog. 

"Mom would love to have you!" she tells Bruce, grinning. "She's fascinated. Says Dad will want to know absolutely everything about your world. Hey, any chance you know much about medical practices there? Dad's a doctor and he does research so he'll be extra curious." 

"Oh, very good!" Laylie tosses it. "Thank you, dear. And you are...?" 

"Veth. This is Layne, and Ronda, and Nolita." 

"Sounds like I owe all of you some gratitude. Good work taking this on so smoothly." 

Bruce would love to compare interdimensional medical practices with Veth's dad, that sounds awesome, but none of them are going to want him in their house once he manages to explain everything properly so he just mumbles something vaguely affirmative and follows Laylie to wherever they're going.

She swipes her own ID ring to open a door in the side of the big main corridor, which leads into a smaller hallway, and shortly later a door into an...office? Lounge? It's not quite a layout or aesthetic that matches anything standard on Earth. There's a small table with comfortable chairs, but also a giant beanbag-on-the-floor furniture item in the corner. There's a skylight, which cleverly makes use of mirrors to relay a reflection of sky, despite the room clearly having multiple storeys above it before the roof. There are potted plants, glossy and healthy; one of them is a climbing vine that extends onto a trellis on the wall. 

"Have a seat." She pulls out a chair for Bruce. "And - one moment. Would you feel more comfortable talking to me with the others all here, or only some of them, or in private?" 

He sits down and twines one leg around the chair leg."They all ought to know." And they're marginally more familiar and less frightening than Laylie but that's kind of pathetic so he doesn't say it. Instead he addresses the tabletop with the speech he spent the walk here assembling.

"The event that brought me here wasn't my first weird scientific accident. And the other one made me--dangerous. When I get too angry, or seriously injured . . . I turn into a giant mindless green rage monster and attack anything around me," he finishes in a rush. It sounds utterly goddamn stupid, said out loud, but he hopes they'll believe him if only because he would have no possible reason to say it if it wasn't true. "I should have warned you sooner. I'm sorry."

This does not actually get much of a shocked or horrified reaction from most of them! Ronda in particular mostly looks intensely curious. 

Laylie meets his eyes, levelly. "Thank you for telling me. That - must have been difficult and frightening for you. Especially since - hmm, strong emotions or physical injuries are a very standard trigger for involuntary switching, for people who are very split, but it sounded like your 'Earth' doesn't have nearly as much awareness of those concepts?"