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Summary: The good doctor meets a chatty new student.
Date: February 08, 2010.
Log Title Doctor and Patience
Rating: PG.
Xavier Mansion - Quad
There is a square side walk of pavement with a nice grassy area in the middle with a few stone benches and trees along the corners. The pavement leads to the paths to the grounds of the school, the Dining Hall in Xavier's and the Ramsey Dormitories. It's not particularly large but it's a nice place for students and teachers to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
There is a square side walk of pavement with a nice grassy area in the middle with a few stone benches and trees along the corners. The pavement leads to the paths to the grounds of the school, the Dining Hall in Xavier's and the Ramsey Dormitories. It's not particularly large but it's a nice place for students and teachers to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
Rafael wanders the grounds a bit as his dad finishes up the paperwork officially inducting him into the school. He's curious and more than a little excited. Coming to Xavier's has been a given since he was twelve and not even dying and coming back really took that off the table. He's looking forward to it the way some people look forward to college. At the moment, he's dressed in casual clothing, jeans, sneakers and a warm shirt under a jeans jacket with fleece lining. This side of the country is /cold/. As usual when he's been traveling in public, he's wearing sunglasses to cover his eyes and thus hide the visible sign of his mutation.
Most of the time, Doc's cooped up in the Medical Bay, but from time to time, the guy's let out of his cage and allowed to stretch his legs. Well, he can do that any time he wants, technically, but only when there isn't anyone down there to take care of. Today has not only been slow, but he's had no-one to watch over, and so he's decided to get out of the house, so to speak, and enjoy some fresh air and sunlight. Sure, it's still cold as heck, but that's nothing a few good layers of clothes and standing in the sunlight can't fix.
So, Doc is making his way around the mansion, only to spy someone who's new to him. Then again, there're a lot of mutants that live here that he's yet to actually meet, but this one he doesn't recall a file on. Still.. he's not acting suspicious, and no-one's chasing him down, so Doc simply assumes he's here to visit, or probably someone new that he's yet to get the file of. If paperwork is still being signed, that'd be a good reason why right there. "Hello!" Doc offers with a smile as he gets a bit closer, pulling a hand from a warm pocket to wave a bit. "Are you new here?"
Rafael gives Doc a considering look for a moment and deciding that he meets the 'not a creep' test he nods and says, "Yes, sir." After all, his did is still in parental behavior radar range. "I'm just transfering in today! Now!" And then, in a bit of a flood, "Are you a mutant? An X-Man? Aren't you supposed to be in costume? Do you have a costume? What do you do? What's your code name? I need one. Code name that is, not costume. They're kind of useless for me." And then after a breath and an 'Oh yea!' expression. "Hi. I'm Rafe."
Doc nods and moves close enough to better hear Rafael, and he chuckles a bit, stuffing his free hand back into his pocket. "Nice to meet you, Rafe," Doc offers with a smile, reaching that hand out again to offer a shake. "I'm Doctor Williams. I'm the primary physician here at the Institute. To answer your questions in order.. yes, no, no, not yet, I'm the primary physician, and Miracle. Got any more?" He smiles. He's handled much worse patients as far as a flood of questions go, and so he doesn't seem to have a problem remembering and fielding Rafael's questions.
Rafael shakes hands. He's going to have to get used to that. He listens to the answers and nods, then says, "Ah, I'm /probably/ never going to be a patient. But Miracle is cool. It's like the Princess Bride. Which is an old movie but a good one. Fun. And, um, wow. Lots. But I'm supposed to keep it down to five or ten at a time. My dad says people get a little strange if you hit them with more than that in one conversation." He shrugs a little. It seems arbitrary to him but it does work to keep people from running away or getting annoyed. "So… mutant doctor." And then he can't resist another one, "So what's the freakiest mutation you've seen? Like a person who turned into a giant slime mold? Or somebody who explodes and all the guts and eyeballs and bits just kind of creep back together and reform?" Why no, that's not a morbid turn of imagination at /all/.
"Never seen it," Doc admits with a chuckle, stuffing his hand back into his pocket again, happy to keep it warm. Note to self: buy mittens. He mentally files that away and nods to Rafael. "I don't mind. As a doctor, I've field a lot more questions than a small handful. The ones that are the most fun are the ones that panic and ask a billion highly detailed questions. A bit of an exaggeration, but.." He seems to have reminisced there for a moment.
"Actually, I've only been here a few weeks, so the freakest mutations I've seen have all been the ones that regenerate," Doc smiles. "The kinds of people that take some nasty damage that'd normally require stitches, skin grafts, bones resetting.. and they just patch themselves up after a day or two. I find it fascinating, but I guess that'd be freaky by your terms."
Rafael blinks and shakes his head. "Actually, that's kind of tame. I do that. And heck, I don't /really/ have any internal bits to stitch back together. Well, I do. But only when I'm trying to have them. Which is weird, because you'd think you wouldn't actually want to. But you do. Or I do. Because without stuff like nerves and a tongue and stuff, life gets /really/ boring. I do turn off the taste buds when we have Indian food though. Can't stand it. My mom thinks I love the curry, though." He blinks. "Hey, I wonder if I could rewire stuff to taste the way I want it too. Like have everything taste like Doritos or something." And then a frown. "But I might not be able to get it back." And then a complete left turn. "So … have you seen a dead body? I was dead. It wasn't cool."
Doc quirks an eyebrow, but seems no less amused when he listens to Rafael talk. He has to admit that this kid is definitely full of energy, but sixteen, well.. he was full of piss and vinegar, too. He shifts his weight a bit onto another foot, and smiles. "Well, if you're here at the Institute, there's a good chance that that's something you'll develop," he admits. "And, yes, I've seen a dead body. More specifically, I've seen dead bodies in almost every stage of bodily decay. It's.. part of being a doctor, really. Was mostly to see which of us were interested in the science of autopsies, but that wasn't exactly my calling, so I passed," he grins a bit.
Rafael's eyes get wide at the idea of seeing dead bodies in every stage and he says, "Seriously? So, like the totally gross ones?" His form ripples, stretches and changes in an instant, until there is a horror movie zombie standing there, arms outstretched, horribly mutilated in a Hollywood makeup kind of way. It still has the teenager's chirpy voice. "Like this bad? How about zombies? You know, 'Brrrraiiiins'."
"Yeah, the totally gross ones. Like.." Doc quirks an eyebrow again when Rafael seems to change into a horribly mutilated Zombie. ".. that." He chuckles. "I wouldn't suggest wandering around like that, people might think the zombie apocalypse has started," he grins a bit. "Well, I've never seen zombies, though, but I've seen the basis for them. Couple weeks of decay makes for pretty intimidating corpses. Also, they smelled a lot worse, but that's a detail I think we both don't mind leaving out, right?"
Rafael ponders that one and stores it away. Corpses smell bad. He shifts back to his own shape and says, "Good point. Don't want to get blasted or something and spend my first day or two here in a bucket putting myself back together." He sighs and adds, "I can't really do scents, yet." He shoves the sunglasses back up his nose covering a brief glimpse of eyes that are solid fields of a light blue-white energy. "So yea, anyway where were we?" He hits the rewind button in his head before he gets back to what he considers the original topic. "Oh yea, so I probably won't be seeing you a lot. I don't need doctors. Actually doctors don't work for me. I'm not technically here."
"I'm sure you'll learn how to do scents, too. I don't think they'll have a problem helping you.. they've done some pretty amazing things," Doc admits with a smile. "We're in the Quad. It's basically a place to go to relax and chat with other students, when it's not so damn cold, anyway," he admits, glancing around for a moment. "So this area and the pool tend to be pretty often occupied during the summer. You'll see when things finally start warming up again. And, you'll probably be seeing me. I don't spend ALL day in the Medical Bay. Only when someone's in a condition where I can't leave them alone for long." He nods. "Which, as far as I can tell, won't be particularly often."
Rafael blinks and nods. "It is cold. I'm from San Jose. We get cold but not like /this/." With 'cold' being a relative factor here. "And cool. I'm glad you don't have to sit around all day waiting for somebody to need a shot or something." He pauses and says, "HEY! No shots! Ha. I can transfer without having to get poked with needles. Bonus for the dead guy!" And then, "So, I guess you split your time between superheroing and doctoring? How does that even work? Have you fought Do…." He stops himself from unleashing another flood of questions and shrugs apologetically. "Sorry. I talk a little when I'm nervous." 'A little' may be a bit of an understatement, apparently.
"We figure it's gonna be this cold for a month or two longer, then finally start warming up," Doc muses thoughtfully. "Or, well, the weathermen do, anyway," he grins a bit at that. "Actually, like I said, I've only been here a few weeks, so.. I haven't even gotten my costume yet. Fairly soon here, I think, but I don't think I'm going to be called to do anything too important. As far as I know, anyway," he chuckles. "So I'm probably the least glorious person here. You'll definitely be meeting the others that're way more impressive than I am. They're definitely gonna like you. You seem like a good kid.”
Rafael shivers at the thought of another month of this cold. Much less too. "Yay." There is a distinct lack of enthusiasm at the weather there. "And cool, you're new too. So what's your costume like? You should totally have a lab coat. It's ah, how do you say… iconic! It could be your 'thing'." He shrugs at the 'good kid' comment. "I'm okay. My mom says I'm a little 'young for my age'. Which I think is a polite way of saying that I'm a pain in the butt a lot. And I talk a little. Also, I may be a little too into practical jokes. But other than that, I'm okay." There is a wide grin at that last. "You seem okay too. Not at all like most doctors." Of course, Doc hasn't been treated to how annoying a shapeshifting teenager can be when poked and prodded by a doctor he doesn't like.
Doc laughs a bit. "Well, the idea of a costume is to hide your identity. Lab coat wouldn't do too good at that," he admits with a smile, lifting his hands out of his pockets and folding his arms across his chest. As for doctors poking and prodding, well, Hank might be the one doing that if he takes enough interest in Rafael. Doc leaves that out, 'cause he's still waiting to get poked and prodded, himself. Long story there. "Thanks," he chuckles. "Well, you're not a pain, but I'm used to being asked a ton of questions and people being too inquisitive for their own good. It helps me keep sharp, anyway. I need to know what's wrong with them and the details of it. Wouldn't look too good of me as a doctor if I didn't, right?" He grins.
"Anyway.. feel free to keep wandering around, but if you don't like the cold, I suggest you head inside where it's warmer," Doc offers, turning around.
Rafael looks at the wide white expanses and a sudden mischievous expression crosses his face that he tries to hide. "Oh, I'll be going in really soon now. Nice meeting you, Doctor Williams!" His tone and expression are almost suspiciously angelically innocent and vague. And when Doc turns away Rafe looks down at his own feet as they transform into huge, cartoonish dinosaur feet, complete with claws and scales. He starts running across the lawn, leaving those huge lizard prints and laughing at the thought of people trying to figure /that/ one out. Apparently Rafe's a big believer in making your own fun.
