Owner	Pose
Tatum O'Neal	Tatum doesn't know what to do. Her car is missing. Her phone and bank card arent working. And now it has started to rain. She lets out a sigh and heads to one of the few places where one can still find a public phone, Grand Cental Station. Looking like a drowned rat, she picks up the phone and dials the one number she knows without needing her phone's contact info. "Hank. Baby. please pick up," she pleads.
Henry McCoy	It's a dark and storny night, so what better place is there to be than in the school library relaxing in one of the high backed chairs and reading a copy of A tale of Two Cities while sipping from a large mug of coffee. Because Hot choclate is for babies and Mrs McCoy's big blue boy is NOT a baby. He Holds the book with one hand, flipping the page with the other, sipping from his cup which he holds between preternaturally prehensile toes... When his cell phone rings. Setting down the book he pulls out the cell and looks at the screen, squinting through his spectacles. An unknown number? That should be possible. He set up the number and the supporting information system himself. He shouldn't be GETTING unknown calls. Only a select list of people HAVE this number. Frowning he thumbs the ANSWER icon and holds it up to his pointed ear. "Hello...?"
Tatum O'Neal	Tatum hears the familiar voice of her boyfriend and sighs with relief. As bad as this night has become, at least she can count on her big, blue Beast. "Babe, I am literally having the worst night. Something weird happened after work. An alien or something showed up and then this blinding pain, and now my car is gone, my phone isnt working and my bank card won't work!! Babe, my Strad was in the car. My Strad is missing! Please, could you come and get me? I just really want to go home and cry." Tatum doesn't introduce herself. After all, Hank should know her voice by now. Besides, how many people does he know who own Stradivari?
Henry McCoy	Beast blinks as the words ramble together, a sweet feminine dulcet that is as intruiging as it is unfamiliar. And despite his vast intellect and high-speed mind he almost can't keep up with the flood of words /and/ emotion. "Hold on.. Slow down.." he quickly intones, his velvety baritone both a little supicious but also curious. "Miss.. Who is this? How did you get this phonenumber?" he asks as he thumbs the trace program he has installed on his phone. Maybe someone is trying to trick him. "Aliens? Strad? You're not making any sense. You need to take a deep breath..."
Tatum O'Neal	That voice. The calming rumble. Tatum leans against the wall in her evening gown and leather jacket and sighs with relief. As Beast tells her to calm down, she slows down her breathing, closing her eyes and starts again. "It's Tate, doofus. I know it sounds weird, but I just put Baby in the trunk when this huge head showed up. Floating there. And it looks and me and says "Oh! You'll do." Next thing I know it felt like my head was exploding. When I could finally see again, I'm on the floor of the parkade and my car is gone. Listen, can we talk about this after you get here? I'm cold and wet. And not in the good way. I just wanna curl up in bed and hold you, babe. Please?"
Henry McCoy	Beast is.. flabbergasted. he has no clue who this woman is. None at all. But she seems to recognize /him/. HIs voice is rather unique, after all, and if she had a wrong number she would have recognized that already. And she sounds /sincere/ but... But he has a lot of enemies.. and fans.. and whatever elses. Which is why he has the private number. Checking his phone's screen he notes the location of the call.. and that he is not, in fact, being traced himself. "Miss Tate.." he says, very slowly now as he stands and starts walking for the door. "I sense you are confused and perceieve yourself to be in a dire predicament.. But humour me, please.. Just who do you think you are calling?"
Tatum O'Neal	As she listens to the questions, Beast can hear the exasperation on her tone. "Hank, I love you, but I'm really genuinely in trouble here. I promise, we can play damsel in distress who will do anything for her big blue knight tomorrow, but can we just be us tonight?" Tatum catches sight of herself in a teflection. Her hair hangs in stringy bunches, her make-up streaked down her face, and her dress ruined. Chiffon is not meant to be out in the rain.
Henry McCoy	Beast is very VERY silent for a moment... surprised at how familiar the woman is being to him. It's not just confusing. it's frustrating. He has NO clue who she is yet she acts like she knows him, perhaps INTIATELY, and that sort of is insulting. How dare someone try and play on him like this. But his animal senses, his heightened hearing, can SENSE the exhasperastion. It's not quite a lie detector, which by the way he HAS on his phone... and is not showig any of thevoice stress singns of being untruthhful.. as far as that technology can go over a cellphone, anyways. "I'm not playing a game, Miss. I swear to you I am not. But...." what does he say? He's never has anythig like this happen before. Part of him wants to call Charles but he would feel silly. What to do... Finally he sighs and does the thing he probably shouldn't. "I have your location... I will send an Uber for you.. Is that acceptable?"
Tatum O'Neal	Tatum can hear the confusion in Hank's voice and while she may not have his accute senses, she knows her boyfriend well enough to know when something is very, very wrong. "Hank, you're scaring me. Why are you being so.... cold? Did I do something? Listen, if it's about eating the last Twinkie, I'll buy you more. I don't think tat is really worth... yeah. Okay. Uber will be fine." For anyone who has been in a relTionship, the way Tatum says 'fine' is -very- much the opposite.
Henry McCoy	Beast has never been in any /real/ relationships.. Not for very long at any rate... But every male is inherantly hardwired to recognize that tone.. it's tight beneath the feeling one gets when a man sees another get kicked in the nards. So he winces, even if he doesn't know why. "I... I'm not being cold. It's just that something is going on which I can't... I just don't understand.. I can't account for it." he finally says. This is all wrong. He can't quantify it. Is he being played? She mentioned aliens, maybe they are trying to get to him. But either way there seems to be a young woman in trouble. He doesn't know HOW she is in trouble, but she is. "I will be waiting." he finally says. And when the connecton ends he goes and prepares himself. He knows how long it will take to get here. he will be outside, waiting.
Tatum O'Neal	The Uber driver wasn't happy to have the rain drenched Tatum in her car. She got the seat wet. And who wears an evening gown with a leather jacket in rain like this anyway. Tatum doesn't talk the entire drive, simply sulking in the seat and staring out the window as the sky pours down. She can't help wondering if this is natural, or if Ororo is in a bad mood. Once meeting the Weather Witch, one *always* wonders when the weather is bad. When the Uber arrives, not at the mansion like Tate had hoped, but at a nearby 24 hour diner, Tate closes her eyes and tries her best to keep her temper. She told Hank she wanted to go home and go to bed! What is his game? Tate's power was always driven by her emotions and though she learned how to control it, it is always hardest when she is growing angry, and so her nullification field, which she is usually able to keep in a tight enough leash that it is only through touch that people will be affected, starts to pulse to about a foot around her. She can feel it's size, not happy that Hank would bring her somewhere public when she's angry. Jerk.
Henry McCoy	It's been a.. strange span of time since Hank left the mansion to ajoin to the diner and since he's been here he's been sitting in the rearmost booth, nursing a fine cup of Joe and staring out the window into the rain.. thinking.. analyzing... wondering. The rest of teh diner is mostly empty except for the waitress who rfilled his cup, twice now, and trying not to stare too hard at the blue furry mutant in the oxford tweed. it's not that he hasn't been here before, just that she has never seen him look so pensive. When he notes that the Uber has arrived, he watches the young and unfamiliar woman step out of the car and walk inside. In the less than minute she has taken to cross from teh car and enter cameras in his glasses have taken umpteen pictures of her and sent them to his phone in his pocket which in turn is sending them to the his personal computer at the school which is now running facial recognition on her against many many MANY databases... and coming up with nothing.. His brow furrows at this, hiw worry growing.. Just who the hell /IS/ she?
Tatum O'Neal	Tate's comes in, her head hunkered between her shoulders. Her dress will never be the same again, not even with the best dry cleaner in Manhattan. She looks to Hank over at the far table and closes her eyes a moment to take a deep breath. "Calm, Tate. Pull it back," she whispers to herself as she tries to maintain her control in spite of her anger. She balls a fist, feeling her nails biting halfmoons into her palm. Once she has gained some semblance of control in spite of her emotional state, she closes the distance and sits down. She greets the waitress by name, which confuses the waitress who doesn't seem to recognize her either, and orders 'her usual'. But the waitress doesn't seem to know what that is. Once again, Tate balls her fists as she tries to keep control. "Coffee milkshake please and a slice of chocolate banana cream pie," she says tersely. Once the waitress has left, the young woman with the jet black hair turns to Hank. "Here? Really? Hank, I want to go home. I'm tired. I've had a crap night. And I just want to get in my pjs and go to sleep. In *my* room. *Without* company." She says that as if it should be rather significant.
Henry McCoy	Despite not knowing her, Hank can easily see her anger and discomfort reflected in her body language, her faceial expressions, her /eyes/. He sets down his coffee as she walks over, his posture seemingly calm in themselves but really he is preparred for.. well.. he doesn't know what. Nodding to teh weaitress for her to get Tatum's order, indicating silently that it is to be on his bill, then returns his catseye gaze to the woman seated across from him and listens to her,. again trying to guess just what she is playing at. It's when she gets not only familiar with him but /pointed/ that he slams his paw down on the table with his big blue paw. "Silence!" Not even waitng for her to respond he leans foreward, his voice cool, calm, and controlled. "I do not know who you are, Miss. I do not know how you knew my privae phone number NOR the security password involved to have the call forewarded to me. Are you someone's agent? A fan? An /enemy/. Are you /Mystique/, trying to playgames with my head. Or are you just crazy? I have no answers for any of this. I /need/ answers."
Tatum O'Neal	The sudden yell causes Tate to pull away. Hank hasn't taken that tone of voice with her in years! Not since she first came to the mansion, her powers having just manifested and with a huge chip on hers shoulder that made her pretty much impossible to deal with. The anger is there, but more then that is hurt. The woman with the penchant for black bows her head, her power once again pulsing. Only this time, she doesn't really care if it affects Hank or not, and so he is slowly enveloped in the growing bubble of her "deadzone", to reveal the Hank that only she gets to see. "I don't know what's going on here, Hank, but you would be the one person I would think would be able to get the answers. The only agent I am is Chuck's. I'm your team-mate. Your co-worker. Your girlfriend." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. "Maybe we can start with why my phone won't work." It's one of his. But old. Well, it looks brand new, but the model is from about 8 years ago.
Henry McCoy	Beast reaches up and pinches the bridge of his snout, massaging it under is glasses as he takes slow deep breaths. Oh yes, he can tell she is definately a stubborn one, whether stubborn because she is maintaining an act.. or because she is crazy and believes what she says.. or for some other reason. "Miss. Dropping Charles name doesn't mean anything. Dropping /my/ name does not mean anything. You don't seem to get what I am saying." he lowers his hand. "You act as if you know me. I don't know if it's because you really THINK you do, or because you were told to do so. You have a phone number and passcode that could only come from either me, a few close associates, or from a gifted telepath sifting it from my or their mind." Then he growls a bit. "No, don't you dare say you are my girlfriend!! I don't have a girlfriend. I've /never/ had a girlfriend.. Who is PUTTING YOU UP TO THIS?" he asks, getting frustrated, looking.. hurt? "Why are you /teasing/ me?" And as she pulls out the cellphone he reaches foreward because, hey, it could be a weapon. "Put that /awa........./ OH my stars and garters..." he gasps as the as the paw that grasps her wrist changes.. the blue fur seeming to move.. shrink.. like a revserse timelapse down his arm to his elbow beneath his shirt. He pulls his hand back suddenly and stares at it. "You're a mutant...?!?"
Tatum O'Neal	Oh yes, Tatum is stubborn. Her stubborn streak has actually *always* been a problem between her and Hank, so really this is no surprise that it is doing so again. As Hank gets angry with her, her own anger grows, the bubble of her power pushing out of her tight rein. 2 feet. 3 feet. It grows around her in a sphere. Encompassing the booth and then beyond. "I have known you for three years, Hank. We have hated you and loved you and I have your phone number *and* the passcode because you gave them to me. And if you say one more time that I'm not your girlfriend, then you really *won't* have a girlfriend." She tosses her phone onto the table between them. "Gee! Ya think? I just told you I was a *team-mate*! Last time I checked, we *all* were mutants."
Henry McCoy	Beast gasps as he can actually feel the power wash over him.. or maybe just the effects of the power.. To feel your fur grow backwards is a stange sensation, something he has never experienced the like of. Feeling his hands /shrink/.. his feet... He almost slumps as his cloths become too big.... "S-S-Stop..." he whispers, panting for breath.. /STOP/..." And there is true fear in his voice.
Tatum O'Neal	Tatum gets up, looking down at Hank with a fury that would make most cringe. "I am going *home*, Hank. And you know what? Forget what I said earlier. You don't need to say it again. We're through. I'm done." She turns around and storms off in a huff, letting her anger fuel her the way she used to. In a way, it feels good -- to really let loose like this. Anger used to be what fueled her power. An angry girl, angry at the world and at herself, using her power to hurt people that she saw as being better then her. The door to the diner slams open, the chime sounding almost frightened as it rings. Tatum heads into the rain, this time looking up at the sky as it splatters drops onto her face and she lets out a scream of frustration.
Henry McCoy	And as soon as he changed, he changes back as she stands, berates him like only a girlfriend would, and walks out. The sensation of the reverse of the reverse.. would that be foreward again or not? He fills his cothes again, his fur as blue as ever, hands and feet as large.. The shock of the two quick changes having stunned him (and the waitress) to silence as tatum leaves the diner. "Marcy... Put it on my tab.." he rasps and slips out of the booth as he pushes himself outside into the rain. "Stop... Miss Tate! STOP!" he yells at her as he splashes through the puddles. "You MUST STOP!" he yells at her receding back.. "YOU DON'T EXIST!"
Tatum O'Neal	She can hear him behind her, yelling in the rain as she heads off towards the mansion. But it's what he yells that causes her to stop in her tracks. You don't exist. It's a thought that has been gnawing at her brain but she was too stubborn to let it get a foothold till now. As an X-man, she's seen some pretty weird stuff, including other dimensional copies of her friends; X-Men that had found themselves in a world that wasn't their own and the confusion that caused. "So, now it's my turn? The head did say I would do... " She turns to face Hank again, her anger and her bubble of power bleeding away. "I don't exist?"
Henry McCoy	Beast doesn't pant because he is worn out.. he pants because he's gone through TWO directions of physical transformation in less than 5 minutes.. and while /her/ Hank may be used to it, he isn't. He COmes to a stop, about ten feet away, holding a hand up to show her he needs a sec while the othe rhand clutches her phone under his arm to keep it dry.. Then looks at her. "You say you know me..." he rasps, his velvety baritone sounding ruffled. "If you really, truly, know me then you know I don't lie if I can help it. I don't trick people. I'm not /cruel/." he tells her. "I really, truly do not know you. I can't tell you why you think you know me. You seem to truly believe it. You know too much for it to be crazy. maybe it's inplanted memories. maybe something else. But I do not know you. I've run your face against /every/ database on the planet. You don't /exist/. So tell me how THAT is possible?"
Tatum O'Neal	The rain continues to pour down, causing the pair to get even more drenched then they already were. Her black hair hangs down like thick strings. The chiffon dress hangs limply around her hips. Tatum closes her eyes and slows her breathing to calm herself, feeling defeated. This night has just been too much. "I think... the head, the phone, my bank card, you? I think I get it. On my world, there was this big fight. Like big big. Some of us died. And then suddenly, there was a Bobby and Warren again. They just showed up. Only they were *way* younger then they had been. Chuck figured out that they weren't *our* Bobby and Warren. They were from a different dimension. Does that make sense? I've never been the thinking sort, you know... no you don't know that. Sorry."
Henry McCoy	Beast stands there, his fur dripping wet and matted, his clothes just as soaked as hr.. watching her as she seems to have a crisis of faith.. Listening as she rambles about Other Warrens and Bobby's.. His quick mind getting the direction she is going in... "The Everett many-worlds interpretation of Quantumn Physics..Other Realities.. Other Timelines.. " he says, answering her question. He slowly ambles towards her and when he is only a few feet away from her he squats down on his haunches. "What is my greatest fear." he finally asks.
Tatum O'Neal	And that is precisely what it is; a crisis of faith. To figure out that likely you aren't in your own dimension, but also that you don't exist in this on? It's a lot to chew and swallow. Her shoulders slup, her eyes close. She doesn't even seem to notice the rain anymore. She opens her eyes slowly as Beast mentions a mountain and something about physics? She never could understand half of what he said and that was part of his charm. She steps over to him, unable to stop herself from caressing his cheek. As she touches him, his fur receeds again. "You once told me that what scares you more then anything else is that this change.... it might be more then physical. That it might ... make your mind as bestial as your body. It's bad enough when your moods get... well, feral. And... if you can't think the way you do, that you won't be .... as useful as you are. To be able to keep us safe."
Henry McCoy	And right there.... right there is what silences the large furred mutant who cannot help but stare at the drenched woman who now stands over him, her fingers making his cheek seem to tingle... as he feels rain on the bare skin her fingers create on his face... His heart skips a few beats as she tells him something only one or two others have been told dirctly, and that only a handful of telepaths have found out. His mind is a steel trap, trained for years by one of the greatest telepaths on the planet... That doesn't mean someone else couldt have gotte through his defenses.. But sometimes the simplest answer is probably the correct one.. Not that he won;t get corroroboration from charles and jean and betsy but.... He stands and pulls off his jacket, and draps it over her shoulders. "Come on... Let us get out of the rain.." he says softly. "And then we can figure this out.. together. Okay?"
Tatum O'Neal	She can see it in his eyes, the belief in what she is saying. He doesn't think she is lying and she knows that somehow he will fix this. Because he's Hank, the smartest man on the planet. Okay, there is a possibility that she is just a little biased in her opinion, but no one has proved her wrong yet. As he rises and puts his jacket over her own leather jacket, she chuckles. "Babe, put your coat back on. Chivalry is awesome and all, but two jackets is a little overkill." Her hand slips down in his for a moment then pulls away. "Sorry. Guess I should keep my hands to myself," she tells him before glancing over him with the start of a playful smirk, keeping her thoughts to herself.
Henry McCoy	Beast Still looks a WEE bit uncomfortable at her.. familiarity. Being called Babe is something he is not used to. He looks away, perhaps blushing beneath his fur a little, and clears his throat. "It's April.. The ain is cold and you do not need to be catching pneumonia.." he tells her as he leads her towards a non-descript SUV parked off to the side... And as her hand slips, even temporairily, into his he looks to her and catches that smirk. "There is no need to apologize, Miss Tate." he says, not realizing yetthat her FULL name is Tatum,. How could he know? And not getting the inference she is striving at. "Lets get you dry and warm and then we can figure out what is going on.... You do know I am going t have to get a telepath to vet you, yes?" he asks.. sounding apologetic. "If it was the ther way around, I'm sure you would do the same thing."
Tatum O'Neal	Tate looks at the SUV quizically. That's not Hank's vehicle. Oh yeah, not her Hank. That might take some time to get used to. "Yeah, dying of pneumonia would just be the icing on the cake. And Hank, it's not Miss Tate. It's Miss O'Neal. Tatum O'Neal." She wonders if this Hank is going to come up with the same pet name for her that hers did. Considering his love of junk food? She's willing to bet on it. If they get that close. Getting into the SUV, Tate nods her head. "Yeah, makes sense. It's going to have to be Chuck. He's the only one that can get in passed my field with any sort of consistency."
Henry McCoy	Beast is ever teh gentleman and opens the door for her, then walks around and pulls himself into the modfied seat. The interior is less non descript than the exterior. The panels and displays are all.. Sorta like a modrn Knight Rider. Screens and blinkies and other stuff... So while she may not be HER Hank.. he is definately /A/ Hank. "Your field?" he asks as he turns the key and.. there is no sound.. But the SUV starts moving like there is really anengine running. "You mean your abberant genetic's nullification field." he says, not even posing it as a question. Thankfully the cabin is PRETTY big and there is enough space that she isn't affecting him.. at least not with her field. Then blinsk when he hears her name. "Okay.. Miss O'Neal it is.." he pauses a moment. "Sorry.. Tatum it is.." he apologizes as they dive towards teh scholl, only a few minutes away. "This is all so strange.."
Tatum O'Neal	Looking around at the inside of the vehicle, Tatum smiles. Yep, this is definitely a Hank vehicle. She can't help but smile, the absurdity of her situation making her mood pick up. "I want to press all the buttons. Bet that would drive you absolutely buggy." With a nod, she explains. "Let me try to explain this the way you do. No... I can't even pronounce half those words. So, it's a field. You guys trained me so that it is usually only through touch. When I'm sleeping it goes to my 'rest state' which is around 10 feet, give or take. It gets bigger though, almost 30 feet or so, when I want it to. And it seems to be fueled with my emotions, particularily anger. I have trouble keeping it to myself then." The school comes into view and she has that look on her face that any X-Man does when coming here. Home. Safety. Family. "And Hank, if you keep using big words like that, you're gonna find out why we were dating in the first place."
Henry McCoy	Beast pulls into the drive, slowly taking the SUV around the mansion and o the garage, listening intently as he does so. He seems to suffer no problems multitasking in this way, but then again thats something hank has always been fairly good at. "First off, Tatum.. please do not push the buttons.. ANY of the buttons. Especially big red candy coated buttons. If you are a teammate, then surly you know this." he says, trying to sound as abit stern yet failing.. there is a /hint/ of amusement in his voice. "Second.. I understand what you are telling me, in you own way. You have concious control of this ability to a point, bt when you are asleep it defaults to a sizable area.. And emotions probably do not fuel your ability so much as hamper your control, or subconciously extend it." He pulls the SUV into a stall between Scott's motor cycle and Warrens sport's car, then shuts off the engine, not that you could tell. Then he turns to look at her and looks a bit confused. "What do you mea.... ooooooh." he says, getting what she is again inferring and shifting a bit uncomfortable. "Perhaps.. this bit of information should be kept from the others.. for now. Not from Charles I mean but.. I.. don't want others getting ideas..."
Tatum O'Neal	Tate reaches into the pocket of her leather jacket and takes out a lollipop, shaped like a skull. Unwrapping it, she pops it into her mouth. She chuckles as she is lectured about the buttons. "See, you already go bringing up candy and you don't even know how dangerous that is around me. Sweet tooth. Big one," she says around the paper stick in her mouth, one cheek bulging. She nods her head as he seems to get what she is telling him about her powers. "You got it. You know my power better then I do and I'm the one that's had it for years." At the request for keeping things between the two of them, her smile grows absolutely devilish. She slowly pulls the lollipop out of her mouth, making a show of licking her lips slowly. She then leans in close, her voice soft and alluring. "You don't want the others on the team knowing I've seen you naked? Or that when you use big words, I want to rip off your clothes and ravish you?" It's going to make him blush under the fur and she knows it. Heck, teasing Hank before they started dating used to be the highlight of her days!
Henry McCoy	Beast stares... and stares.. and stares some more.. until his eyes almost become dried almonds and he HAS to blink. He lets out a weak cough and quickly turns away, hands clenching the steering wheel as he takes a breath. "Oi.. give me strength.." he breaths and then finslly pops open the door. "If you could refrain from the.. colourful commentary regarding my.. unclad self.." Yah.. he was able to get thought out without wheezing, ".. Then we can find you a room for the evening.. and clothes.. Which you will DEFInATELY be wearing." he ammends quickly. He motions for the inner door. "In the morning we can speak to Charles and get things started...."
Tatum O'Neal	Giggling, Tate gets out of the SUV. She tallies up her life if it's true she doesn't exist. She's lost all her belongings, like her car, clothes, her cello and any moneys she had. She has lost her jobs, both the one here at the Institute and her position with the Philharmonic. She lost her connections with people, such as her mother and her boyfriend. However, on the upside, she gets to make Hank blush like a virginal schoolgirl, so this may have some merits at least. She walks by Hank's side, the lollipop back in her mouth. "Well, if you need to find me clothes, your dress shirts always made marvellous nightshirts for me." No, she is not helping one little bit.
Henry McCoy	Blushing like a virginal schoolgirl.. Such a quaint phrase. And one that is even partially true sinceh he /is/ blushing beneath that blue fur though of the two other descriptors only one of them is true... Much to his embarrasement. And her overly familiar teasing is definately not helping hom one bit in that case though he feels the stirrings of something towards his otherworldly alternate.. something a bit more green than blue. "I think it would be more.. acceptable.. if we find something from some of the other female students or faculty for you." he tells her as he opens the door to the interior of the mansion. "Then we can get you.. settled.. in one of the guest rooms. And until anyone asks thats just who you are.. A guest.. under my authority.. Until we can speak to Charles...