Who: Beast When: Friday, October 10th, 2008 (evening) Where: Xavier's; sub-basement, medical office What: Thoughts and updates... Status: complete Rating: PG
Hank sat in the silence of his shift with his feet tucked under his chair and his paperwork spread out before him. He had since gathered his work from the various locations he'd haunted and studied before his return to the X-Men. This afternoon marked the completion of all the 'transformations'. Colossus had awakened, and after the condition was explained to him carefully by Britannic, the Russian had been released. Pouring over what was written as symptoms for each of those who'd been attacked, Hank found a good many subtle differences... He had suspected such. It would've been folly to believe that every mutant that contracted the virus would behave or react in the same manner, with the exact same symptoms. They would all need to be monitored and watched. It was explained to each of the X-Men, both infected and healthy, that the synthetic blood would have to be administered daily to those who needed it, and everyone was to do their part to see that the infected remained stable.
Hank believed that the X-Men who were now 'vampires' were safe to roam the halls of Xavier's. They had restraint, and discipline, and common sense. They were, after all, X-Men.
Tonight, he imagined some of them would either be stretching their wings (per se) or hiding in bed, trying to grasp what had become of them. He couldn't blame those participating in the latter. He himself had crawled to safety and after enough time had passed for him to realize what he had become, he openly wept at what had been done to his body. The pain had been horrendous enough, but the hunger for blood... the lust... the surges in power. It was all too much to cope with alone. It had taken him time. Hopefully, his colleagues would have a better chance at overcoming the trials of adjusting to the disease, what with good friends and family close by.
His own return seemed to have softened the blow of the news that so many had been injured. To Hank's surprise, he had been received well enough. One of the people he had wished to speak to the most had been left unconscious for two and a half days. After Ororo awakened, she spoke with Jean briefly before Logan was alerted. Logan... Hank couldn't help but to be annoyed by the situation. Storm was a great woman, and in McCoy's opinion, she was better off alone than wasted on a man like Wolverine. Logan was a great warrior. He might've even been a good man. But neither of those facts helped the smaller man's case when it came to his courtship of Ororo.
Once things settled down and everyone was used to having the Upir condition, he suspected things might change around the school; hopefully for the better. It was a gamble, but Xavier had placed his trust in Beast, and Hank would see that he counseled each of the infected as best he could. Jean, Emma, Edana and others were also at the ready to offer advice and guidance and comfort. Together, he knew the X-Men would pull through and come out on the other side all the more sunny. Well, probably not too sunny.
When all was said and done, he could only hope for the best and do his damnedest to prevent 'his kind' from being portrayed as villains. Those without the virus would surely have difficulty understanding burdens that coursed through their infected veins...