Who: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Moria McTaggart What: Obi picks up a piece of jewelry for Dani. An inhibitor bracelet. (Also, he gets blood drawn.) Where: Irvine General, Moria’s Lab When: Thursday Afternoon Status: Complete Rating: PG
Obi-Wan felt like he had been given a mission, which he had, but he was actually trying not to think of it that way. Dani had called it “a favor”, and so that was the word he kept rolling over in his head. It made the situation feel a little less dire. It didn’t help that the woman he’d been sent to see worked in a hospital lab.
A pretty heavily modified lab, at this point. Moira was hard at work over a scanner, studying the readouts from Neena's chip, along with several other things of varying degrees of importance. She was kept busy these days, and had been producing enough research to keep herself funded that she'd had to delegate most of her surgical responsibility. Thus, she was distracted when the nurses sent Obi up the special elevator.
He’d been given a special badge. And some kind of clearance. Apparently, he was expected. Stepping out of the elevator, and taking in the awesome sights of the lab, Obi wondered just what, exactly, he was being expected for. What had Dani actually sent him to get?
The red head looked up from her scanner, and smiled, "Och! Hello there. Ye must be Dani's friends. Come in an' have a seat, I'll get right with ye. I cannae stop this delicate work just yet. It'll be a wee bit longer."
Obi scowled and then flexed his eyebrows, running a hand down his face as he searched out a chair. His eyes were tired from irregular sleep, they even seemed more ash-colored than steely. He and Dani had sort of been sleeping in shifts, and neither very well or for very long.
“From Scotland then?” he asked, lowering himself to a seat by the wall.
"Aye. Near Glascow," She replied, conversationally, as she tweaked a few nobs, the display casting a bluish glow on her face. Finally seaming satisfied, she stepped away from the almost alien looking device and approached him. Moira studied him appraisingly, "Ye look exhausted."
“Ah, I thought so. I as well, although you.... probably can’t tell anymore, can you?” His accent had been usurped long ago by something far more proper sounding. At least, that was the term he always used. Oh, he wasn’t bitter. Not at all.
He peered at her incredulously. There were so many electronics and metallic devices around that it made him feel... oddly sad. Was this really the world Dani was meant to be a part of? It seemed a far cry from the earthly heaven she’d come from. “It’s been a difficult few days,” he replied.
"Almost." She gave him a cheeky grin, "You cannae quite get rid of it, but I never tried, even after being in this country sae long."
It was really a part of who Moira was. She sounded wrong when she'd tried to fit in, so hadn't bothered past that. Like her coffee. Which was terrible, thick and almost solid like. She offered him some!
The technology and devices were only a small part of the story. There was as much magic and natural wonder as there was technological wizadry, in their world. Moira herself had the strangest dreams.
"I understand, if ye've been helping Dani. Without control, her powers can be draining." Still, Moira didn't seem that concerned. It was dangerous, certainly, but on a scale of 1 to Proteus, it only really ranked a 5.
“Do you know a lot about them then?” Obi asked, eyes lighting as much as they were able. As for the coffee, he admittedly found it boreline undrinkable, and that was saying a lot. Had he not been so exhausted, he would have placed it off to the side and shunned its existence. But for now, he forced it down.
Moira nodded her head, "I'm a geneticist over there, tae. Mutants are my specialty. Studyin' them, helpin' them. I've patched so many of them up after their misadventures it's a wee bit ridiculous. I also work on a cure tae a virus that attacks them. Specifically the gene that causes their mutations."
There were other things, but she wasn't comfortable discussing her breaches in ethics, or the more personal abuses she'd gone through. She looked pleased he seemed to drink her coffee, however. Bonus points in her book!
They were certainly points he was earning.
But this was the first time he was really hearing the term mutant. Perhaps Kitty had mentioned it, but it apparently hadn’t stuck. But now he had a stronger frame of reference. “I’m sorry, but are you telling me that Dani a mutant? This is being caused by a genetic mutation?”
"Aye." Moira nodded her head. There was a serious expression on her face, and she waved him over to her machine. Toggling a few things, she turned the screen so he could see better.
"On yuir left is a normal human's DNA. This happens tae be Tony Stark. On the right is t'DNA of a girl who can walk through walls. Here, highlighted in red is the X-gene. That's the key tae their special powers. They're nae the only ones. I've seen one psychic who doesnae have the x-gene, but her DNA isnae normal either. Her dreams are different. Terrible, really, but I couldnae find a way tae dampen her powers, the way I can anyone with this gene."
For a few minutes, Obi gaped in near horror. First, the idea of referring to Stark as a normal human was ridiculous in and of itself. But that didn't really register. "Is the girl who can walk through walls.... Kitty Pryde?" he asked.
And part of him wanted to know if he would come up as "normal", but he certainly didn't ask that.
Moira raised an eyebrow, honestly surprised, “Aye! It’s a small world, but it’s shouldnae be a surprise, Kitty was always the kind o’girl to befriend a wide variety o’people. She an’ Kurt were best friends, an’ he was a blue furry devil man!”
She could look. Maybe even detect something ‘unusual’. But she wasn’t going to offer, unless he asked.
“Sounds like Kitty,” he replied, his tone vacant. His eyes, meanwhile, were really coming to life up now, moving from instrument to instrument. Frankly, Obi felt like taking a step back from it all. Fascinating though it was, and the woman herself seemed be working on the side of the “mutants”, there was something too clinical about it. Next Dr. McTaggart was going to say she had a test for Midi-chlorian levels, wasn’t she?
“So where is this bracelet I’m supposed to be picking up?” he asked.
"Oh, it dinnae start that way, but it ended up that way," Moira replied, laughing. She pulled something out of a drawer. It was a silver looking bracelet, almost elegant looking. She pulled out a charger as well, "It's fully charged but the charge will only last about ten hours. Now this is verrah important. She cannae wear it for longer than a few hours or sae at a time, or risk damagin' herself. Tae much o'that and it will kill her. Do ye understand? This isnae a long term solution, it's an emergency measure only and she will need tae figure herself out before long. I'm countin' on YE tae do that."
When the bracelet made its first appearance, Obi was rather surprised. He hadn’t been expecting something so simple. He was expecting wires and dials and perhaps something sharp that pierced the skin. He frowned. “That’s all it is?”
She held it out for him to take, but his arms remained fixed at either side. By now, his eyes were wide, and the lack of sleep was very visible in the form of little red threads at the corners. “Hold it right there,” he said. “You’re telling me that this thing can potentially kill her?”
"Aye, it emits a signal that dampens te x-gene. Like just about anything medical, overdose can kill ye, yes," Moira explained patiently. "Misuse can kill. There might be side-effects, though t'worst I've been told about was a buzzing sensation. One of our gymnasts over in London was usin' one tae prevent creatin' fireworks in the middle of her act on accident, but I noticed she wasnae wearin' it durin' the all-around." Moira sounded relieved at this, "She must've relearned some control."
He still hadn't reached for the tiny, delicate device, which now seemed to be the most dangerous thing in the room. Instead, he covered his mouth with his hand. He knew what he'd promised Dani, but maybe this was something they needed to think and talk about some more.
Obi shook his head. They? Really? It was getting more difficult to think about them separately. That was supposed to be a good thing. Right now, it wasn’t living up to the hype. "So, getting control over the powers as quickly as possible is really the goal here?"
"Ideally, I wouldnae want tae rush it, lad. Control takes time and trainin'. Thing is, Dani has had both, but in the otherworld. Kitty, for example, picked things up pretty quickly. She wasnae fallin' through the floor. So Dani should hopefully have t'same luck. This." And she waggled the bracelet, "Is a just in case. One of those things I dunnae like but wanted tae make sure was available. Dani's powers are dangerous, when she has nae control. There were people could turn ye tae dust with a touch, or suck the life essence right out of ye body without bein' able tae control it. Then there are t'mutants with the destructive force of the sun - or t'ability tae alter reality around them."
She grew a little disquiet, "Suddenly losin' control in those cases would be a catastrophe. We nearly had one, I'll admit, with one lass, but she didnae need the bracelets after all."
His eyelids fluttered. On that, he didn't need much convincing. He'd stood in the midst of Dani's powers. He understood how important getting control truly was. And he felt... sad, again. Perhaps desperately so.
Obi took the bracelet and the charger from the woman's hands. "What was the near catastrophe?" he asked, his voice hollow again.
"Imagine if ye will, bein' filled with the power of the cosmos and the verrah embodiment of life, and how it would take a verrah strong soul an' will tae not become corrupted by that power."
Moira folded her arms, "Sometimes I understand the general fear o'mutants. With Proteus, or Phoenix, or Magneto around...but then there were half a dozen equal threats that werenae mutants at all, an' plenty o'those who were good, strong people. I'd wager Brian Braddock or Steve Rogers against almost any o'them, any time."
Dropping names he somewhat recognized was always surreal. Sometimes Obi felt like he was in the grip of culture shock. As a damn tourist!
He scratched the back of his head. "I'm not afraid of them. I'm afraid for them," he said quietly. He sighed. "But that do I need to do, to help Dani? You said you were counting me. For what, exactly?"
"Tae make sure she takes that bloody thing off."
"Hm," he hummed. Seemed like something he probably wouldn't fuck up. "No more than a few hours at a time?"
"I'd say two tae be on the safe side," Moira confirmed. "In an extreme circumstance it could last, say, a cross-country flight. But I wouldnae recommend doin' that tae often."
“So, if she’s sleeping,” he continued. “And she doesn’t want to wake to... these visions she’s projecting, it would be my job to take it off and put it back on?” Maybe he was tipping his hand more than Dani would appreciate others knowing, but it felt necessary.
"That would be best." Moira nodded her head, "If she's nae alone in the house when she wakes up, it's better than sleepin' with it on. Ye can do it but I wouldnae recommend it for tae long or often.”
Obi nodded, finally slipping the items into his pockets. He stood quietly for a few seconds, unsure if this was a situation where they ought to part by shaking hands. Finally, he put one forward. “Eh, thank you, Doctor. I hope it works for her, too.”
Wisdom had worn one briefly, and for too long while sleeping, but the threat of burning had been great enough to risk it. She reached out, and shook his hand, "Dani's a good lass. Yuir doin' good by her."
With that, Obi-Wan turned to leave. His shoes echoed in the spaces between the room’s various machines and instruments as he walked steadily to the elevator. But instead of lifting his finger to the button, he suddenly turned around instead. “What would it take to give me this test?” he asked. “Just a little blood?”
Moira tilted her head, "Aye. That's all I need."
He shrugged. “I’ll admit, I’m curious,” he said, as he began to move back across the room. With one hand, he rubbed at the crook of the opposite elbow.
"Dunnae worry, this willnae hurt much." Moira prepped his arm, then quickly and expertly drew two vials of blood, "I'm all out of lollipops."
“Damn,” Obi muttered, a smile appearing for the first time, even if only a wee one. “I doubt you’ll find any x-genes, but let me know if anything else odd turns up.”
“I will lad! Now get goin’ before Moonstar goes crazy!” And with that, Moira turned to STUDY!