14125/A Change is Gonna Come

A Change is Gonna Come
Date of Scene:	14 February 2022
Location:	Hank's Lab - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	Rogue confesses a bit more to Hank McCoy than she planned on. And then they agree to go on a date!
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Beast

---

Rogue has posed:
'A few days' can mean several things, so Rogue has settled on the idea that whatever Mister Sinister did to her is going to last for at least two days. This gives her enough time to get back to the mansion, freshen up, and sleep. It is the next day - shortly after breakfast so as to not be too early - that the woman makes her way down into the X-Men Base and heads right for Hank's Lab. Here, she'll see if she can find her favorite Blue Meanie, confess her sins, and have tests run on her. See what may come of such things.

Beast has posed:
Oddly enough, she finds the big blue fast asleep on one of the beds here. He's flat on his back wearing his elastic skin-tight legging things and that's about all, feet sticking up and over the side of the cot, with a lab-coat over his face. The snores are soft, but they're present. He actually got called away on a mission for the Avengers and got back late, but apparently also couldn't sleep in his bed.

Thus, there's a hank in one of his own beds.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue tilts her head as she spies her friend and fellow X-Men laying on one of his beds. A soft smile flirts on her lips and she moves over to his side to slowly pull the lab coat off his face. "Hank? Hank. Wake up. It's Rogue. I need to talk to you about something... kinda important. And...sort of time sensitive..." She says all this, not even sure if she's stirred the Beast or not. A hand - not gloved! - goes and touches the man's arm, shaking him a bit to try and rouse him further.

Beast has posed:
"MMmn, don't flush the twinkies..." there's a mumble, then a little curtailed intake of breath that sounds like a snore in reverse and Beast is moving limbs, one meaty mitt to rub at his face, the other to grope for his glasses. He's yet to notice the ungloved, but to give him credit his fur is quite thick, too. "I'm awake... I think. Uuughhh... no nuclear disasters were there?" He swings upright, finds his spectacles where he left them and after a fleeting buff with a soft cloth, puts them on to blink owlish at Rogue. "Anna-Marie. I..." he peers at where he is "...fell asleep in the lab. Background white-noise... What..." paused for a yawn he covers with his other hand again "...is up?"

Rogue has posed:
"I would never flush the twinkies..." Rogue should remember that those are something he favors and she should bring him a box. Hell she'll definitely owe him a box after this for sure. "You sure? Cause if you're not awake I don't know if I want to startle ya in any way." Continuing, smiling ever so, and then she takes a breath. "I actually have a confession ta make, but I really wanna make sure you got all your senses about you... and... aren't in any kind of could kill a person mood in the moment." There, and she puts on her most innocent face. Also, when he's conscious enough, he'll notice she's wearing jeans and a tank top. No gloves. Barefoot.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy grunts and hoists himself off the bed. Hank when he hasn't civilized himself, does quite resemble a gorilla. There's a machine in the corner though, which he plonks a pod into and slides a mug beneath which magically after about thirt seconds of superheating... dispenses a freshly brewed coffee. Imagine! plink goes a creamer cube and he perches on one of the stools, blowing long and slow on it, but also not caring so much about the heat when he downs half. "Ahhhhh. Much, much better..." And then he notices. "Oh." Blink. "Oh, my. Skin. You're showing it."

Rogue has posed:
"Coffee is a wonderful thing." This much offered by Rogue as she watches him become himself again. Once he's guzzled a bit of that coffee and then actually seems to realize what's before him she takes a breath and nods. "Yes. Skin. I am showing it." A pause. "So, here goes, and please don't get mad...but I've been spending some time with Mister Sinister. He's... taken some samples, ran a few tests, and yesterday we ran into each other at Fred's Diner in Mutant Town." Another pause. "He...touched my nose...and in doing so he apparently 'turned off my powers'... I can touch without consequence. The only thing is it's temporary...he says that, in his moment of being in a good mood and thus being generous, it will last up to a few days. Which is where me being here comes in. I want whatever tests you can think to run ran to see if there's anything we can pinpoint as to what Sinister did. Maybe...make some sense out of it and apply it some other way."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy's surprised expression kind of de-escalates, the lofted bushy brows descending. It isn't a disapproving look, so much as it is concerned. Plenty of OTHER people can be as disapproving as they want, that's not his job. "What on earth he is doing with your information, boggles the mind. Erm... well.." blowing out through his mouth in a loose raspberry, he pokes his glasses up his nose and gets a couple of things out -- encephalography electrodes and a full spectrum blood draw kit, gesturing to a chair. "Or the bed, if you like if that's more comfortable... keep still." Plonk, plonk, connect connect, the electrodes are connected up to transmitter goose-eeg nodules and he proceeds with a blood draw. "If you don't mind..." nodding to one arm. "Just what have you let him do to you? He's a devious fellow."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue shrugs her shoulders. "It didn't make Scott too happy when he found out I was hanging out with him a couple of times, that's for sure." This much more confessed as she lays down on the bed and lets Hank do his thing. Connect blood and draw modules and all that sort of stuff. "Well, a couple of times he's joined me in my mind... had me search my memories. Explore my past. THAT was fun..." Blowing out a breath after a moment. "Otherwise, I don't think he's got anything of mine, but as you said he's devious, and I...may have been caught unawares. Anyway. He wanted to help me. So he said. I know he can be a devious sort but I've also seen him help mutants...so i don't think he's an overall bad guy."

Beast has posed:
"He helps when it suits him, hinders when it does not and he has done some truly monstrous things -- but we always just see little windows of his bigger plans. I imagine if he took your gift somehow and was able to bestow it on himself, the world would be in big trouble. But..." Beast has to sigh as he runs the EEG software, expertly drawing the blood with but a minimal prick of pain and titrating off suitable vials to transfer to the centrifuge and thereafter for testing. It's all just set to working, as it should. "...he is an extremely clever man. Rather tragic really, if you've read the dossier on him, he was at least a hundred years ahead of the game scientically and then went over the edge."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue nods. "I read up on him a little bit after getting a good earful from Scott. I'm being as careful as I can be, but I will admit - to you - that when offered an opportunity to learn how to get around my powers I...fell for it. I suppose." This much is said and then she frowns. "I know he's powerful, and has tendencies. Egotistical and selfish. But catch him in a good mood and, well..." She shrugs. "Scott went so far as to try and ban me from seeing him...you're seeing how well that went." There's a look to Beast with hopeful eyes. "Anything coming up yet?"

Beast has posed:
"Erm... kind of..." Beast replies, taking one of his remotes and pointing it at an overhead holo. What comes up probably makes very little sense. It's a brainscan after all, with colours showing in the cortex, neo-cortex and a little flash here and there across the corpos collosum in the middle of the brain. There's also some dull activity in the medulla and amigdala of the brain, plus the usual things of occipital lobe occupation with you know... seeing. "That's your brain, plodding along doing its thing." He replies, glances at the remote, then points it again at the screen. "You remember a few months back when I ran other check-ups?" He brings up that scan. There's more involvement in the amigdala and flashes of a dull bluish constancy in the neo-cortex. "Your emotional center is not firing on all pistons."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue watches the scans and listens to Hank as he explains just what she's seeing. It's when he gets to the point of saying that her emotional center is not firing on all pistons that she makes a face. "I think there's a common belief that an emotional connection between my powers and my ability to control them better." So the man turned off some of her emotional processing. "How is that even possible?" She motions to the video screen and huffs a bit.

Beast has posed:
"Well..." Beast wrinkles his nose a bit, then rifles through several files. "You remember a young morlock that we had interactions with once? His name was Leech..." he brings up a genetic code. "That's is DNA sequence. Doesn't look very exciting, but... he had several rather unfortunate physical manifestations of mutanthood that kept him in the sewers with the others. On this, this, that and these genes. Physical muscle atrophy, physical presentation very like progeria. The aging disease. He has the body of a man close to his eighties, poor kid, though his bones aren't porous. Anyway. A mutation close to the same genome that triggered the physical progeria, had the ability to switch off other mutations, when in close proximity to him." He looks up at the screen and flicks another one up. "Blood samples from leech that I took when I did survey and wellness down there. Interacting with viable DNA that's alive. Mine actually." He brings up that screen. It's like watching an odd magnet... when nearby, the 'leech' DNA, 'flips' one or two of the genes on the nearby chromosomal strand, visibly. They sort of... 'woip' a bit, which seems to be a slight opacity, then nothing more. "It really isn't much for a look at it. But it was extremely surreal to suddenly be pink and non-furry again."

Rogue has posed:
"I...sort of remember him?" Rogue offers and then listens as Hank explains a few things. And a few other things. She lofts a single brow upwards, however, when the man is done speaking and shakes her head some. Though then she tries to watch, to follow along with what Hank is showing her. "So... you put his DNA up against yours...and... you changed? Like your Blue Meanie side went away? But... you're blue again...so... was it temporary?" She's trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "And what does that have to do with me? Are you suggesting we use this mutants DNA to turn off my powers?"

Beast has posed:
"In leech's case, yes. The ability to switch off mutations only operated in proximity to him. However, Sinister has had a lot of time to harvest a lot of samples and I'm fairly certain he's had access to the Morlocks. There's no reason at all, why he hasn't got considerably MORE research than I have, regarding the specific sequencing of genes. And from what I gather, similar powers are often housed on the same gene cluster in different individuals. Erm, that's beside the point." He flicks to a short video of him actually approaching leech and losing all his fur in a pile, which does look comical as he can be seen staring at his hands and an apologetic kid on a doctor's bed.

"It is entirely possible that Sinister has a similar ability to target mutation and turn it off. Or it could be that he is even more skilled than that, in that he can mentally deactivate a power's center." Beast explains at last. "But what he's done, could in theory be traced to what isn't working on you right now, I suppose. His understanding of how abilities correlate in the physiology is far in advance of most of us here, even Xavier, which is unortunate to say. Leech's gift was indescriminate. If we were to use that power, you'd simply be ... ordinary. Normal. None of the powers you have, would work." He shrugs, helpelessly. "Which is one of the reasons I've never considered a serum treatment using his DNA, as ethically it's... questionable."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue considers this for a moment and then nods her head. Of course she listened to everything and in her silence it's just her processing all this knowledge and perhaps trying to find the reason behind it all. Normal. That's all she wants, and for a couple of days she has it. She'll likely spend the whole of today baring skin and being normal and then tomorrow - regardless of if her powers are on or off - she'll go back to wearing her normal body suit and gloves outfit because she won't want to risk anything. "Well all of that is well and good... but it doesn't help me in the long run...and having only spurts of being normal will eventually get tiring..." She says this much and then stares at the ceiling for a good long while. There's a bit of pain in the last words she offered and from that point she goes silent.

Beast has posed:
"Well, I can take a good long look at your genetic code, once I've got a fresh sample from the centrifuge. What Sinister seems to have done, gives me a clue as to where on your genetic code the root of your ability is housed, but it'll also give me a focus point to see if it has any knock-on effects. It would seem your amigdala is where your mutation stems from, which makes a certain sense, with bio-feedback, emotions and the fact it's very close to the pineal gland which regulates hormones and the diurnal cycle of the body." Beast observes, but does pause, looking at her empathetically for a few long moments. "I imagine that this is likely blissful torture."

Rogue has posed:
"Blissful torture. Yes. Though it does leave room for me to do somethings I've always wanted to do but otherwise couldn't." Rogue offers. "And if I can take a day to do even some of those things... I think it's worth it." That said, Rogue sits up a little and looks around the lab for a moment. "Like maybe get a tan because I can wear this outside. Though I might have to wait because it's still winter, huh? Could use the rooftop near Ororo's room." She ponders a moment, and has likely just thrown a few things out there to keep Hank a bit off guard. Especially because - in her next motion - she's standing, then on her tiptoes, and plants a kiss. Right on Hank's lips. Then she blushes, remains silent, and sits back down on the bed, eyes diverted to the floor.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy was looking at the screens, as she did get up and move, observing if that has any significant effect on the readings. Nope. Well, yes, but not anything that wouldn't be anticipated and expected in this particular case. Motor center of the brain going BING! Check. "Well, there's really nothing to stop you from doing that kind of thing in the middle of summer, either, spray on sunscreen works a treat rather than rubbing it in and the top of mesas in arizona don't really get a lot of people just showing up to poke you in the boob do they?" He grins, turns toward her right into....

He drops his clicker with a clatter, hands held up and really not sure where they're supposed to be put. They go up, down, sort of circumnavigate ... topology and because he doesn't have any pockets to jam them into, they go into the small of his back. And then she's sitting back down and floor gazing. Hank blinks, several times. ".... wow...." blink "...WOWie."

Rogue has posed:
"Well that's fair. That does involve traveling though, which is probably something I should do more anyway." Rogue offers and then there's a moment. She's kissed Hank, caused him to drop his clicker and not know what to do with his hands. Then she's sitting back on the bed, not really sure what reaction she's going to get, but for it to just be a sort of stunned 'wow' from the Big Blue...well...that has her looking back up and over at him. "You've done a lot for me. We've had interesting conversations. More importantly, you still treat me like a human...where some people - at least for a while - treated me like I was the enemy, and going to harm them no matter what. I..." She pauses, then takes a breath. "I've wanted to do that for a while now. Planned on it..the night of prom...before things kinda when tits up. And...well..." She shrugs. "So...wow...huh? Anything else ya wanna say there, Henry?"

Beast has posed:
"Erm. Well, why wouldn't I?" Comes out a bit lamely and he hastily scratches at his scalp, hair wild to begin with, just ends up cowlicked in a different direction. "I might just be an idiot, in certain regards. Or I willfully ignore things because of reasons that are too manifold and obvious to state." He says with a huff of air. "THank you? That doesn't sound like an appropriate response, either, does it?" He snortlaughs and shakes his head a few times. "You caught me extremely by surprise as I have to honestly say, I pictured you for liking the pretty boys a bit more. I didn't think I was your type. I mean, it's a very specific sort of lady that likes extremely muscular blocks of blue fur."

Rogue has posed:
"I mean, it is just a part of who you are, but it means a lot to me. Just so you know. I don't think I've really ever told you either, and I'm sorry about that." She watches him then, and when he questioningly says thanks to it, she chuckles and shifts to stand, only she's leaning down to pick up the clicker and hand back to him. "Then you misjudged me, Henry. My type has nothing to do with what's on the outside. I mean, you are a muscular blue man, who has an amazing brain and a lovely personality. It is the personality that I have been drawn to. I like you a lot, Henry. I've just been too afraid to say anything cause...well...who wants to like someone who can't be properly affectionate?"

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy's eyebrows go up. It's not shock or surprise, or incredulity on display though, but the kind of puppy-dog look of getting a small slice of humble pie. He takes a deep, deep breath which makes his chest expand to ludicrous size, we're talking a man with the physique of a silverback after all. Then he looks up at the ceiling, at the door and back to her. "Jeeves?" "Yes Hank?" "Lock the door would you?" "Of course." -- pause -- "I know Tony Stark and he thinks sometimes that I don't watch him programming." He clears his throat and grins, showing those small bulldog fangs. Then he just... opens arms wide. It isn't a sexy gesture, but it is unmistakeable, the offer of close physical proximity. "I've spent many years watching my oldest friends hook up with anything with a pulse, or one another, or with cute little otters with pert backsides. I'm probably the keenest observer of the human condition when it comes to properly affectionate. I do not have a lot of luck with the ladies, either. Even Sandy was sweet as cherry pie, but I ... don't like to be looked at as a beast. My moniker is a bit ironic, when you think about it."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue tilts her head a little as Hank asks his computer program helper buddy to lock the doors. She figures it's to make sure no one comes in and sees them, even for a moment, being touchy feely. Or worse. Someone coming in and mistaking Rogue for trying to use her powers on Hank. None the less, doors lock, and Henry extends his arms out, which are almost immediately filled with a Rogue standing and embracing the man in a hug. Something she can rarely do. "You and me both. They make it seem so easy and fun...and here we are..." She says this much. "I don't see you as a Beast. In fact, it's one of the reasons why I very pointedly do not use that moniker for you. I rather want to call you Hank or Henry... because that's who you are to me. If that makes sense." Blue Meanie is also just an affectionate name she's come up for him based on a secret love for a slightly obscure movie based off a Beatles album.

Beast has posed:
"It's what everyone that knows me actually beyond the superficial calls me," Hank murmurs. "Henry. Hank. I somewhat prefer Hank, but it's really a toss-up," Enormous, fuzzy arms dwarf Rogue's form in their midst, because frankly, they do that to almost everyone and she's a curvaceous, but slender southern belle. Though his chin is only just above the top of her head. "Hank always seemed less threatening to me. Hank could be a clown, could get a chuckle out of someone. Henry might just say y'all or demand your credentials." Yes, he's waffling a little, but the subsequent hug is the kind you'd get from an enormous blanket. It is very warm and rather 'large' so to speak. "I swear, I thought of a thousand insults and only used a handful of them when Worthington was at his worst. And he used to -complain- that he had pretty feathery bits! The nerve."

Rogue has posed:
The hug feels wonderful, and Rogue is going to hold onto it for as long as Hank will let her. She listens to him waffle on, of course, and then consequently gives a bit of a chuckle. "Aren't you and Warren friends? So were they just jibs passed back and forth?" She asks this and then takes a breath before finally gathering the nerve to say, "And in all of this, is there some sort of point you're hoping to land on. I mean, you say you didn't think someone like me would find you to be her type... but you haven't really said if I'm yours. Or if you think this is nice and all but it wouldn't work...or something else along those lines." Cause Rogue, despite herself, is constantly expectant of rejection to some degree. This hug could just be the friendly sort. Bit of affection between only just. She's not quite sure where they're going to land, but if there's ground to fall on, she might as well fall now and gain her footing for moving forward.

Beast has posed:
"Yep. But you can really hate on your friends sometimes," ohhh, yes, you can. And then he's essentially brought up short and cuffed upside the head with manning up. "You know when you're Nerdy mcNerdster and you secretly have this little list of people you randomly hope suddenly find you to be the hottest thing since sliced bread? The list? Like, not /the/ list, which is a personal thing between people having a relationship, but the wishlist? Usually ends up with supermodels or hot as hottentot actresses or actors on the list? That list." He's having a hard time just talking in a straight line. "Me nerd, you Jane. I don't quite know -what- to say at the moment, which is why I'm hugging you and not trying to rationalize through a whole lot of my inner minions running around waving hands and celebrating with bananas." Did that make ANY sense? "You're not dumb." What?? "Oh, by the love of Edison's lightbulb designs... that came out so wrong. What I mean is... I think you get underestimated. I love your head? Oh gawd. I'm saying everything cock-eyed."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue listens, because it's one thing she can do really well when someone is rambling on and trying to make sense outwardly what only seems to make sense in their head. She gets it, but she lets him continue. In some ways, this is really adorable, and she feels for him all the more for it. She's not dumb. Well at least Hank thinks so! He loves her head. Well that's good too! But what about the rest of her?! He's all sort of discombobulated, rambling, and doesn't seem to know where he wants to land. So, without any more words, she decides to take advantage of rambling Hank and her lack of powers that would otherwise put a Beast out of commission. She shifts back from the hug juuuust enough to be on tippy toes again and captures those bumbling lips in another kiss. One that's intended on being held and hopefully reciprocated.

Beast has posed:
Addagirl. Big brain? Inadequate social skills when it comes to /actually/ engaging with the opposite sex. Dicky bows and loquatious charm? Plentiful. Actual skills when faced with WOMAN? Nope. Because to him, it rarely if ever, happens. He hasn't had a whole lot of practice. So for an instant or two, there's the same 'what do I do?' with the tension of his body, then a subtle, but perceptive bending, which includes the prickling feeling of ten claws pushing in just a little where he curls fingertips inwards. Retractable they might be, but they're always there and in this such an instant, where such action engaged is of this nature, each an every one of them can be felt like a little pricking tick in the column of 'yep'. As can also be attested by the fact that he lifts her up a bit into the kiss - it isn't even saucy, it's simply shared. But that sort of thing can be poignant, too. He breaks it only when it seems to be coming to a conclusion, but chases it with his nose, because of lack of experience in these fields.

"WOWie." Oh great, we're back to that.

Rogue has posed:
Phenomenal cosmic power compared to itty bitty romanticizing space? None the less, the kiss being given and returned is a wonderous thing and then she's being lifted into the kiss a bit before it ends but then she's chased a bit. So one more peck and a rubbing of noses before she's actually giggling like a little school girl. "Sadly this won't be doable in a day or so..." She says this, heavy reluctance in her voice. "But if I'm hearing you correctly, you like me too, and just never thought something like this would come about. Which is fair. Sooo... next logical step is to maybe..." She pauses. Takes a breath. "Go on a date?" Of course she's not ignored the only word he said once the kiss was done. "I'm also judging by the wowie's that you're enjoying kissing me. Which is a plus. I think."

Beast has posed:
"A bit. I mean yes. I mean seriously, I'd have to be a pulseless sack of potatos... that is to say I mean..." He inhales, stops himself, holds out his hand, palm out, purses lips and with a clearing of the throat. "You are very charming, sweet and clever, beautiful in the way that the renaissance artists used to fawn over and ..." he drops off the words, looking at her hands of all things, then up at her face. "Yes. A date. I'm told ice-cream is a good starter? But then so is shareable food. I somehow think taking you to the museum of natural history might be a ..." hand gestures hop along the timeline with flicks of the index fingers "...later on kind of affair. Although..." he frowns, blinks several times and inhales again, squaring his chest out. "Anna-Marie, would you care to go to the drive in with me? I'll buy popcorn. Hot-dogs with all the trimmings. They're showing a Disney marathon at the Golden oaks, this week."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue lets Hank ramble on a bit, mostly because the rambling is beginning to lead to more cohesive things. She smiles though and when it's all said and done, and the official question is asked, she beams brightly and nods. "Hank McCoy, I would love to join you to the drive in. A Disney marathon even? I can hardly wait." She offers this and then leans up for a final kiss to his cheek for the moment. Though, they might just carry on more conversational things, and perhaps a few more tests while Rogue is still power-free for the time being. The rest, as they say, will fall into place as it shall.

Beast has posed:
"I'll tell Veronica she's got nothing to worry about, different kind of spit-fire." Beast beams, then explains before bad things occur. "Veronica's my car. The soft top blue bentley." Which has been souped up to high heaven and is going to get a through eyeballing from Iron man in the near future. "She'll understand and purr for you if you like. There's nothing quite like a drive-in movie with a soft-top classic car, radio turned up, abundance of nachos..." he trails off into a kind of serious silence that bespeaks genuinely thinking about something. "No, I'm safe, you've seen me at endless wings night." Winking he says to the computer assistant "Jeeves... unlock the door." "Very good, sir."

Oh yes, things will fall into place as they should.