14316/Science me, Henry!

Science me, Henry!
Date of Scene:	15 April 2022
Location:	Hank's Lab - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	Rogue and Beast have a talk about further figuring out just what trigger's Rogue's powers now that she's gained some limited control of them.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Beast

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Rogue has posed:
Rogue is cleaning. She happened to come into Hank's lab looking for him, didn't find him, and so she decided to clean. Talking to Hank helps her mind stay off of things. Cleaning is the second thing that does such. Of course, she stays away from his snack hidey holes, and there isn't really much TO clean - of course - because it's Hank's lab and ... well that in itself says it all. Yet somehow it helps...just running a rag over things to sanitize and be a hundred percent sure it's perfect. While your mind runs a million miles a minute with other thoughts.

Beast has posed:
"Hank, miss Anna-Marie is cleaning the lab," "... she is?" "Yes. She appears to be buffing things." "...THankyou Jeeves." But nobody likes a man that smells of wet ape/cat dogness...sort of thing. So Rogue is well into the buffing by the time a very damp and slicked down Hank comes in with sweats and T-shirt on. He has a towel draped around his shoulder as the doors slide open. "I did say," comes the computer's voice. "Yes, you definitely did." Hank heads to his soda maker machine and keys in a few syrup options, setting a large conical flask on the base of it before letting it go. What comes out is a mixed-berry blast kind of mountain dew affair. It's neon purple in hue. He makes a second one, adds straws and hands her the first, perfectly chilled so no need for ice.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue makes a face as she stands up straight and turns to look at Hank, giving him a bit of a shy smile. "Jeeves, you're such a narc...." This commented gently just as Hank is offering that neon purple drink to her which she takes with a smile. "Thank you. How are you?" A glance up and down and she flushes a bit in the cheeks. "Seems I must have interrupted something. Or...Jeeves did. He didn't *have* to tell you I was in here. I was perfectly fine just...sanatizing things and...." She wiggles fingers of her free hand over her head. "Clearin' my mind..." Sipping at the drink then, her face looks thoughtful before she glances to the cup. "This is good..."

Beast has posed:
"Soda is a science. Sometimes when I'm in here, I'm not doing what the others think I'm doing," no, he's mixing new flavours together to see what works. For SCIENCE! He puts a finger to his lip though, in an 'our little secret' gesture. He hops up onto one of his ergonomically designed labstools that tilt at a slight angle (for those long hours at the microscope) and clinks his beaker against hers. "Cheers..." with a slurp, he curls claws around the narrow of the flask and gives her an expectant look. "I'm all ears though. And I would have been here sooner, except that nobody likes the smell of me much, after I've been on a twenty K run."

Rogue has posed:
"Well, it's a very delicious experiment... you should do a few while I'm here so I can be a secondary taste tester.." Rogue offers this with a little grin and then takes another sip from her beaker. Of course, she notices that expectant look and sort of shies into herself a little. "It's fine. Really. It's not like I...needed rescuin' or somethin'..." Or does she? After a moment, and a third sip, she takes a slow breath. "I've been thinkin' since the other night. When we were curled up in the rec room, watchin' a movie? I was able to touch you. Like really touch you...and nothin' happened.." She smiles. "I liked it, it was a really nice evenin' by the by... and I didn't wanna push things in fear it was some sort of too good to be true moment but.." She stops herself. "I'm ramblin'. Hank I think something's finally clicked in my brain but I can't seem to pinpoint what it is and that drives me bonkers."

Beast has posed:
"By all means, I'm always up for the Frankenpop protocol," Another sip of his own and he sets his on a counter, folding his arms over his chest loosely as she works her way through what's on her mind. "I didn't want to say anything at the time, incase I scared it into sudden death." He admits. "I think you were just very chilled out. But I couldn't begin to guess without a proper hypothesis and methodology." Leaning his arms up a bit to tap his glasses up his nose to look at her in closer focus. "How did you feel on that evening? Before I arrived you'd been letting off steam with gaming."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue raises a brow and then shakes her head. "I actually had been in a good mood all day. I was just playing the game to play it, though the game itself can be a bit frustrating..." She chuckles then. "But I was feelin'...relaxed. Was a day or so after my talk with Sam, I've been going out a bit more and actually being in public and around people. It's been slow work but...I'm tryin' to break outta my habits. Teach myself to know that it ain't all bad out there." She takes another sip of her soda concoction. "And then when we were all snuggled up. It felt nice. And somehow right. Like my own little slice of comfort but with someone else there. I...i can't explain it... but I like where I'm at right now."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy nods slowly to that. "Right," he ponders for a few moments, rolling his jowels around in a slightly comical manner and him all unbeknownst. "It sounds like mindfulness is working positively for you, Anna-Marie. It could end up being improved upon with more meditational practices, like the slow tai-chi kinds of things." He takes up his flask again, sipping and speaking around the straw. "Did you want me to see what's changed, biologically or.... ohh!" the straw falls from his face. "Oh. Idea." He gasps, stares off and turns his head to the side a little. "And another one!"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue smiles and gives a nod of her head after a moment. "I think so... which is good. And also, I think I've finally started to let the past go...and let it be...in the past." When he asks if she wanted him to see if anything's changed, she's just about to answer when he comes up with an idea. And then another one? There's a blink and then she holds a finger up. "You going to share these ideas, Hank, or just keep them in that brilliant mind of yours all to yerself?"

Beast has posed:
"There was ... well, there are multiple experiments regarding desensitization that colleges have run many times over to record results and emotive response. Hook the student up to a goosegg, subject them to a variety of images and measure neural activity, sweat levels and skin temperature as well as heart rate. That is easy to arrange. Idea number one." He holds up a finger. "Idea number two, involves cultivation of skin cell samples. I could easily culture some and apply them to tilapia skin, as one would do for burns treatment grafts, which will keep them viable for longer. Aka: Alive. In your case, we'd be measuring that and biofeedback at the same time. If your fingertip kills the skin graft, we know we're hitting close to the nail. If your touch does nothing at all, we know we're even closer to the nail. Idea number two."

Rogue has posed:
"Is there... any harm in doing both?" Rogue asks carefully, finishing her drink and then looks to the soda machine, then to her beaker, and back again. "Like, will either one yield similar results and so it's one over the other, or could both maybe tell us a lot more than either idea on their own?" Asking these things to ask, and because she's been learning HOW to think things through more strategically thanks to Hank. On a whim, she approaches him and leans up and in to kiss his cheek.

Beast has posed:
"Well, actually the best strategy in your case, would be combination idea number three, involving studying and recording biometrics and contact reaction to the skin samples simultaneously. If we're going to figure out what degree of emotional response kicks you into overdrive, we have to trigger it and have a means of measuring it that isn't problematic. I don't think your head will be clogged with the memories of little bits of skin, but we probably should test that out too, just in case you want to cling to things and be integumentary." Hank replies, with a chuckle, then stills. Much in the same way as he'd done when she's stroked his arm when they were watching the movie on the couch, he ceases all movement, focusing very strongly on the contact. And when nothing happens beyond a tingle, he reaches his hand up to his cheek, to brush the fur there, slightly. "Well, you're getting quite good at that."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue gives a nod of her head then. "Well then lets do that. The third option... so we can test it all out and see what results pop up." When he stills as she kisses his cheek for the moment it happens, she's also sort of waiting for it as well. When nothing happens again, she smiles and at his last comment there's a chuckle. "I suppose I am." Then, comfortable and relaxed, she shifts and gives him a hug. A tight hug. And a kiss. A proper one this time.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy's reciprocity circuits are working, even if his initiative ones seem to be frozen. "Mmmmf!" .... "Mmmmmm." Just a moment or two indulging a sweet kiss from a beautiful and dare we say it, yes we do... strong woman. He'll indulge in an arm around and tugging her a little closer, so lots of soft things press in, in all the right places. And he's still conscious by the end of it, enough to raise a digit in her periphery vision. "I'm not saying that this is not nice, not at all. I would just like to say this: I am not an unwilling sack of potatos initiative wise, I just think it's prudent until we have thoroughly observed consistency... that I don't do any initializing of such... engagements as just transpired. I like being conscious -- and I trust that you would like it, but there might be a teensie bit of excitement and we don't strictly know, but can probably ah... guess... that that tends to have questionable outcomes." Namely Cody. Excitement definitely flares things. "So. Being safe. Safe contact. Safe in your ballcourt contact and we're all still interacting."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue blinks, listens, and blinks again. Then she gives a light laugh. "I know you're being serious, and I'm not laughing at the whole thing, just the idea of you actually being a sack of potatoes." She grins. "That makes sense though. And I'm not takin' any offense to you not really ever initiating anything. I get it. I'm the one learning to control my powers, so it makes sense that I be the one - for now anyway - that has all this...under wraps. So things don't go all wonky and you wind up unconcious... or worse yet... dead." Cause, that's a thing. A very real danger with her - she's accepted that now. "I suppose that if we fear any sort of excitement might cause me to lose control, then sex is out of the question for now." Which is a shame. Then, "So, when do we wanna do these experiments?"

Beast has posed:
"I will have to culture skin. Which means taking a small sample and growing it in nutrative solution. If you like you can help me do that right now..." Beast points at the big refrigeration unit, but slips off the stool to go get solution and a large sized vat apparatus, about the size of five cookie jars, from one of the cupboards. It's very technical (not) what he ends up having to do to initialize it, which is to string out some dental floss across the top with sticky tape holding it down, attach tiny plastic clothes pegs to it an fill it to the 'fill line' with nutrative solution. Apparently 'you can help' is mostly moral support, as he quickly sets up cutting a small strip of his skin from his right outside thigh. "I'm a left side sleeper, or back..." bit of extra information there, then he cuts it into ten tiny scraps, each about half a centimeter long. One bit to a clothes peg and he puts the lid on the bath o'nutrience. "Now we just wait for it to grow enough for three per sample and we're good. Ouchie. I probably should've added lidocaine."

But regeration means it's scabbed and pink around the edges already.

"No sex. For now. Sorry, replying that last, because you got me thinking about sex and I had to get my brain refocused."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue raises a brow as Hank stands up and walks over to the same fridge he pointed at and goes about getting the things he needs to do whatever it is he needs to do. Though she's half expecting him to ask her to prepare for him to take some of her own skin as samples. When he does it to himself, she shakes her head some. "So you're going to use your own samples? Do you need anything from me at this point? I'm not sure how I'm s'posed to help if you ain't taking anything from me." A smirk then before she moves with beaker in hand to the soda machine. A twist of this knob, a tap of this button, routing certain syrups together and then she fills her beaker up with a good couple swallows worth of a neon green liquid.

When he finally answers the sex question, she's swirling her beaker and taking a sip. "I'm a back sleeper myself, though I sometimes wind up on my sides or stomach. Shame about the sex. I've been wondering about having it with you." She smacks her lips a bit then, looks at the drink, and takes another sip. "This tastes like...je nais se quois...but it's....tasty-ish?"

Beast has posed:
"Moral support. I just sliced my epidermis off in a strip. You're the best painkiller a man could ask for," Beast replies with a glance to his thigh. "Owie. Oh, that itches. Better than being shot though, that's happened far too many times." He fans the area with a hand, though. "I probably should've shaved this ahead of time, but I was thinking too many steps ahead and forgot an important post-strip measure. Pass me the liquid band-aid? That will stick I think."

His nose twitches though, lifting his chin a bit at the aroma he can sense. "Pineapple kiwi with a twist of lime?"

Rogue has posed:
"I think that's the best way a person can admit to being distracted by sex, and not admit being distracted by sex..." Rogue offers while she goes to grab the liquid band-aid, and walks it over to him. "Not that I mind being your best pain killer." Offering the bottle of band-aid but also giving him another kiss because she can, and it's a casual thing. She then takes another sip of her concoction. "Mmn... yeah... tho maybe it's passion fruit and not pineapple... though I doubt those flavors can be mistaken for the other..." She does offer the beaker to him, if he wants to sup at it himself.

Beast has posed:
"Passion fruit has a more zesty aroma. But there might be hints," And the comment is one that needs faces pulled over it, then a sigh to agree with it and a nod. "Best I could come up with at a pinch..." a sip taken, he considers the flavour of the concoction of the moment. "Some grapefruit, too. Refreshing, but a little odd. Next time, don't set the bar to eleven on anything unless you REALLY want it. I'm starving though. Ah.. you want to get something to wet the appetite and slake the parandial need?" -- he gestures at the door, which opens because Jeeves is like that. And hopefully cheese toasties will follow with a side of Soda concoction.