( because they have modes of sensory perception that i lost long ago. )

[bottecellie]

do science to it! ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ a meme → COMMENT WITH YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME & FANDOM. → PICK A CHARACTER YOU WANT TO TAG AND GO FOR IT. → THERE IS NO HARD AND FAST RULE ABOUT LEAVING YOUR COMMENT BLANK. THAT'S YOUR CALL, DON'T FEEL DISCOURAGED EITHER WAY. → PLAY NICE; NO WANK, FLAMES, OR GENERAL HUMBUGGERY. ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ the deal WHEN ONE PARTICLE OF UNOBTANIUM HAS A NUCLEAR REACTION WITH THE FLUX CAPACITOR... WELL, ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! IN A HIGH SCHOOL CHEM LAB OR YOUR OWN PRIVATE R&D FLOOR ON A MONUMENT BUILT TO THE SKIES WITH YOUR NAME ON IT, IT'S TIME TO GET DOWN AND DIRTY, NERD STYLE. BRAINY IS THE NEW SEXY, SO TURN THAT BUNSEN BURNER ON. IT'S ABOUT TO GET HOT IN HERE. ① BIOLOGY | DISSECTIONS AREN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART -- OH HEY SPEAKING OF HEART, POKE THAT ONE WITH THE SHARP THING SOME MORE. ARE YOU CUTTING INTO AMPHIBIANS OR HAS THE CLASS SNAKE GOTTEN LOOSE? OR MAYBE YOU'D JUST LIKE TO USE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRY OUT THAT HUMAN ANATOMY LINE YOU'VE HAD AT THE READY SINCE THE FIRST DAY OF THE SEMESTER. ② CHEMISTRY | EVERYONE'S GOT IT -- IT MAKES US GO, AND IT CAN MAKE US GO TO OTHERS. HAS YOUR CONCOCTION GONE AWRY? WHO KNOWS WHAT KIND OF EFFECTS A COUPLE OF MISMATCHED ELEMENTS CAN HAVE! ARE YOU A BRILLIANT MIND ON THE NOBLE QUEST FOR A CURE, OR JUST SCREWING AROUND WITH YOUR NOVICE KNOWLEDGE? WILL YOUR ATTEMPTS FIZZLE AND DIE, OR COME BACK TO YOU WITH EXPLOSIVE RESULTS? ③ PHYSICS | ARGUABLY THE MOST HANDS-ON OF THE SCIENCES, IT'S TIME TO MAKE GRAVITY YOUR BITCH. CONSTRUCT THE CLEVEREST CONTRAPTION TO KEEP AN EGG INTACT FROM A TWO-STOREY DROP, OR, IF YOU'RE FEELING UP TO IT, TRY YOUR HAND AT CREATING A HIGGS-BOSON PARTICLE. (CAN'T BE THAT HARD, CAN IT?) CERTIFIED NONGENIUSES, HAVE NO FEAR, THE TIMEY-WIMEY TECHNOBABBLE IS HERE. REMEMBER, BULLSHIT PHYSICS IS YOUR FRIEND. IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY WIND UP IN ANOTHER DIMENSION WHILE TRYING TO GET TWO MAGNETS OF THE SAME POLARITY TO STICK TOGETHER, WELL, IT HAPPENS. ④ PSYCHOLOGY | THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT EXCUSE WILL GET YOU OUT OF ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET, SO HAVE AT. AND ETHICS? WHO NEEDS THOSE. FREUD DIDN'T. ZIMBARDO GAVE NO FUCKS. AND WHAT ABOUT THAT MILGRAM GUY? HE SEEMED LEGIT. SO TAKE A SURVEY, PUT CONDITIONING TO SOME REAL WORLD USE ON AN UNSUSPECTING FRIEND, PLANT MEMORIES WITH HYPNOSIS, OR TAKE A LOOK DEEP INSIDE A ROARSCHACH BLOT AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN FIND OUT ABOUT YOURSELF. JUST BE CAREFUL, THIS COULD GET PERSONAL. ⑤ ANYTHING ELSE | THERE ARE MANY AREAS OF STUDY NOT COVERED HERE; DON'T FEEL RESTRICTED TO THESE FOUR OPTIONS. THEY'RE MERELY HERE AS INSPIRATION: GO FORTH AND STRETCH THE BOUNDARIES OF BELIEF HOWEVER YOU CAN. ASTRONOMY, GEOLOGY, ZOOLOGY. I'M ONLY A SCIENTIST IN DISCIPLINES THAT END IN Y. AND REMEMBER: INERTIA IS A PROPERTY OF MATTER. TAKEN FROM HERE.

Comments

[aggravated]

The fact you still do as well, Bruce thinks to himself, offering a smile. "When I heard of it from Tony, I didn't think such a place could really exist, but then he brought me here the first time and... well. It really does take you in."

[splice_of_life]

"I can't believe anyone would want to leave," he murmurs and glancing once more at Molly to be certain she really is there and fine and hasn't puffed up into smoke, he returns his attention back to Bruce. "But what about you? Did you manage to retrieve your things from Mexico?"

[aggravated]

"I did. They got shipped over night." Bruce pulls out and waggles his SI phone. "I'll have to give you my number, finally. How was your mother?"

[splice_of_life]

"Relieved, I think," Mohinder jokes, making clear and conscious eye contact with Bruce as they spoke. "She'd be pleased to be a grandmother but she'd rather it be a more natural way. Of course, I'm not sure that will happen now. My DNA has changed enough that I'd not trust it. And Molly is enough for me. You don't realize you have a paternal bone in your body until you've a child forced on you...naturally or not. She's really a joy."

[aggravated]

Bruce laughed, shaking his head. "I'm not sure that's the way I'd put it, forced or not, but.. I'm glad you feel that way." Not just about Molly, but to be cautious in passing on his now-changed genes. "I can't have any, but... well, I'll take care of the ones that come into my life." A gesture towards Molly in example.

[splice_of_life]

"Well I can certainly use the help. She'll be a teenager in a few years and, if American sitcoms are true, she'll absolutely hate me." He misses Matt, the large man that had been so good with helping him with the finer parts of child rearing. Of course, that was before Mohinder had gotten attached.

And Matt had decided that very next morning to make up with his ex wife.

He does try not to let it bother him. The people he cares about invariably hurt him but he never lets that stop him from trying again.

"I'm just glad I got to miss the joys of diaper changing."

[aggravated]

"I'm not sure I'd believe the sitcoms." Bruce has to chuckle at that. "At least around here, you'll have a lot of people to help with her. They're good people." He looks out towards the children, with Molly already starting to fit in.

"She'll be happy here, I'm sure of it. Until she becomes a rebellious teenager of course." Teasing.

[splice_of_life]

"It may sound ridiculous but I'm already dreading her wanting to date."

The conversation with Bruce is... Perfect. Mohinder hasn't felt safe enough to joke in a long time but he does eventually leave the other scientist to do something better than babysit the new arrivals.

At the party the next afternoon, Molly almost forgets that Mohinder's there and the chaperones assure him that he's allowed to go an wander if he wants. So he does.

Well, not wander exactly. He knows where he's going. Only one man here smells so terribly sweet.

[aggravated]

Nearly everyone there was special to Mohinder's nose. It is a place full of mutants that range from the visually ordinary to the visually extraordinary. In fact, when he starts to get close to the labs where Bruce's been tucked away, someone steps out of the shadows of a stairwell and nearly into Mohinder.

Golden eyes set against blue skin, a whip thin tail and a surprised expression. His body weight shifts back, eyes narrowing. "S-Sorry, I was lost in my own world." The accent is thick, German. "This area is off-limits to guests."

[splice_of_life]

Most evolved humans have a sort of spicy smell. What Bruce smells like, because his mutation is not natural at all, is something else entirely. He's not really paying all that much attention when he's stopped and his hands immediately pull into fists.

He's shocked by the being meeting him and immediately thinks back to his own mutation that nearly destroyed him. Was this man suffering the same?

"Guest perhaps for now. I've my interview tomorrow. Doctor Mohinder Suresh." He offers his hand politely. "I was looking for Doctor Banner."

I have the account why not? XD

[puffofsmoke]

If this man was suffering the same, he was completely gone.

But Mohinder's name clearly rings a bell. "Kurt Wagner," he informed and shook Mohinder's hand after a moment of caution, three strong fingers wrapping around the man's hand. "Doctor McCoy has mentioned you coming. Doctor Banner is this way," he points down the stairwell he had come up.

Yay!

[splice_of_life]

Having spent the better part of a year with people with abilities, they've all looked like regular, every day people. Being faced with other alternatives to that rule is something of a shock but Mohinder counters it well with a smile. "I've yet to meet Doctor McCoy but I owe him my life. It's a pleasure to meet you. Are you on staff?"

[puffofsmoke]

"Ja. I have started helping Doctor McCoy in his work, to... learn more of it." A cautious tone, there. It is still work he is unsure of, but does not believe bad of the doctors. He turns down the stairs, gesturing.

"Down this way, Doctor Suresh," the name turns strange with his accent, "I will show you."

[splice_of_life]

"I appreciate it." Following the...creature...man... Well, it just makes Mohinder curious. Terribly curious. At least he can manage not to ask too many questions even if his eyes have trouble leaving that tail. It's intreguing in all of the ways it shouldn't be. "Are you interested in genetics?"

[puffofsmoke]

"No," Kurt says quietly, shifting to move so they are side by side as they walk. His steps are nearly silent as he walks. "It is... something I am not sure I believe should be touched by human hands. It is God's territory. But Doctor McCoy, the Professor, they wish to help others like myself, the others here, by studying this. It leaves me conflicted."

His tail brushes Mohinder's leg briefly as they walk, and he pointedly shifts to avoid it again.

[splice_of_life]

Kurt has a strange smell as well, a bit like cardimon. Mohinder increases his stride to walk more with Kurt rather than behind him. The tail swipe was not unpleasant but it seems like an invasion of space and they both felt it. Mohinder has no intentions of encroaching, even to satisfy his own curiosity.

"It is a moral conundrum," he agrees easily enough. "I struggled with it myself several times over the course of my career." Especially lately during his little Mr. Hyde outbreak. "Though great strides have been made combating disease and producing healthier crops. But there is something to be said about genetic manipulation as well and I'm sorry but you're not quite human are you?"

There's always that underlying human scent and Kurt doesn't have that.

"And there I go again being terribly rude. My nose is simply sensative to human sweat glands. I find your scent interesting."

*pets Kurt* Forgive his reaction, Mohinder.

[puffofsmoke]

Kurt blinks at the term 'not quite human' and actually comes to a stop. His tail swishes sharply back and forth like an upset feline, eyes narrow and bright against his dark skin. "I am human! Just because I am mutant does not mean I am not human. You are one too, ja? Do you also wish to be called the same?"

Definitely defensive and definitely with the tone of someone who has dealt with a lot of hatred in the past.

[splice_of_life]

Oh, oh Mohinder, you idiot. He puts his hands up and takes a definite step back. "I apologize," he says immediately, first in Hindi because sometimes his brain stops functioning and then in English. "It was a poor choice of words. You simply smell a bit different." Smell. He doesn't bother to say look. "I hadn't meant any disrespect. This-- I wasn't born with this. I'm afraid my sensitivity to evolved humans is...lacking. Please accept my apology, Mr. Wagner."

[puffofsmoke]

The tail continues to lash back and forth, very telling of his mood, but he does straighten up and some of the anger leaves his face at the apology. There is a long silence, studying, before he relaxes further. "Your apology is accepted, but please be more cautious in the future, Doctor. It is unkind to say such things here."

But it is clear that something Mohinder said caught his attention. "You were... not born this way?"

[splice_of_life]

"I realize. My mouth sometimes moves before my brain tells it that I am being impolite. I meant it as no disrespect, I assure you." If anything, it had been a compliment. But in a world where those not quite human happen to invade and blow up New York lately... He can understand it. He will apologize a thousand times more in the interum.

He drops his arms to his side and is sure to continue eyecontact with the other man.

"I seperated the gene I feel links humans to their mutations, synthesized it with adrenaline and injected it into myself on an experimental basis. I had not stopped to think that even a 'clean' gene might cause unforseen mutations or that adrenaline might play a role in some abilities but not others."

[puffofsmoke]

Kurt's brows shot up on his forehead before he let out a hiss through pointed teeth. "You mutated yourself? You were not born with the X-Gene??" Clearly this hit hard from the tone of his voice. "Why?? Why would you do that to yourself?!"

[splice_of_life]

Oh, this conversation is not going well at all and Mohinder can understand why. Looking like that, Kurt must have had a very hard life, even here in a place where being different is usual. Mohinder's eyes narrow ever so slightly, just in case he needs to remind himself to shut up. His muscles tense.

He doesn't believe he and Kurt will likely be able to have a conversation again, however. He's obviously hurt this man.

"I had been experimenting with the ability to shut off genes. A woman came to me for help because she could not control her ability. When she grows upset, she causes the blood of those around her to thicken and become poisonous. In my research, I was able to isolate that gene and realized that I could very well synthesis it to give other people powers. It... Seemed like a good idea at the time. To make everyone special." To make him special. Mohinder had fallen from grace. He knows this.

[puffofsmoke]

Kurt steps forward, shaking his head. He couldn't understand this man! "Everyone is special!" he says sharply, eyes squeezed shut. "All people are unique in God's eyes, have what makes them special. A gene does not make them special, only more different! I have seen people with terrible gifts that leave them alone and hurt, have seen the anger and hatred in the eyes of 'not special'-" complete with air quotes, "- people, and you wish to introduce that to more!? It is fear that makes people do foolish things, and then it only hurts more in the end."

He cuts himself off with a slice of the air with his hand. "This... this is why I tell Doctor McCoy that science is wrong. It helps, then it becomes prideful and hurts." He points down the hall. "Doctor Banner is roomed down there. Another proof of what happens when science goes too far."

He turns and doesn't walk away. He vanishes in a puff of black smoke in front of Mohinder's eyes.

[splice_of_life]

Mohinder pressed his hand against his eyes, not getting to make a rebuttal that knew he had done wrong, or that he was Christian and that the Catholic dogma of each person being special is one that not even all Christian sects fully believe in. Instead, he just lets it go. He lets his arms hang limp at his sides. He closes his eyes.

And he returns the way he came. Perhaps it was a bad idea to come here after all. But Molly is so happy. He lets Bruce's scent go for now and instead heads back to the party so that Molly won't miss him.

He does make an appearance for dinner, child in tow, and sits by himself. He's rather certain by now that Kurt's let it slip that Mohinder is the devil. Certainly not one of them.

Poor Mohinder

[aggravated]

Bruce actively seeks out Mohinder during dinner though after spotting Molly in the large hall. He doesn't have a scent to follow, so it takes time before he spots the younger scientist on his own. It makes him frown to see and he slides over with his pair of plates in hand. Hey, he's hungry.

"...this seat taken?" he asks cautiously, nudging the empty seat across from Mohinder.