19649/Meeting Someone who can Science!

Meeting Someone who can Science!
Date of Scene:	11 December 2024
Location:	Examination Room - Mutant Town Clinic
Synopsis:	Longshot's appointment at the Mutant Clinic with Dr. McCoy might eventually identify what Longshot is
Cast of Characters:	Henry McCoy, Longshot

---

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank thought it was important that he, a visible mutant, spend time helping people down in Mutant Town. It had been a busy day so far with a collection of colds, bumps and bruises, and other relatively minor ailments that needed treating. As this was not the Mansion Hank had taken pains to wear one of his suits, lab coat on over it, and his one concession to comfort being that his feet were bare, his claws and wide prehensile feet visible to anyone that cared to look.

Longshot has posed:
While there are a lot of things that Longshot can contribute to being inherently blessed by a charmed existence, but some things that happen to him are thanks to those around him. Namely, being friends with Stirling has come with the undeniable bonus of an appointment at the Mutant Clinic today. Longshot might not know how Stirling got an appointment, nor if it is his own luck that has brought them to the clinic on a day when the Avenger and X-men's own Dr. McCoy was working. Either way, it's great to maybe get answers! For as few expectations as Longshot has about anything, the potential of learning things about himself has not happened before and he's excited!

Staying sitting in the generic plastic waiting room chair has been tortuous, leaving Longshot to at first wander the waiting room lightly touching things at random, then plopping back down next to Stirling to attempt and fail to find some patience in phone games. Now that it is Finally, FINALLY their turn, Longshot is on his feet quickly, immediately forward, "Hello! Wow! You're blue! I didn't know people came in blue!" A hand is offered to shake, eyes immediately down to see how many fingers blue-people have and is disappointed briefly by the answer not being four, but best get the most important part of the appointment out of the way: "I'm not a mutant!"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank took the proferred hand and shook it firmly. "We do indeed." he said jovially. "What brings you in today, Mr Shot?" he asked after glancing down at the patient's information. Odd name, but mutants were understandably sensitive about giving out personally idenifiable information.

Longshot has posed:
Not being a mutant is one of the many things Longshot is sure of without knowing why. But it doesn't change. That blue is not where the oddest end is noticed and Longshot unabashedly looks Dr. McCoy up and down, Blue, Furry, Very Tall, Funny Feet! Weird! How exciting!

"That's it! That's why I'm here. I'm not a mutant! I'm not a human either! I don't know what I am, but it might be nice to know." Longshot will offer his own hands as proof, fingers wiggled, then tap each side of his own chest lightly, "I have two hearts! And I was made very sturdy! But I don't remember anything else."

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Well, let's see what we can do to help ascertain what, precisaely, as you put it, you are. I'm going to need to get some of your blood - the consent form should have been presented to you downstairs. I can assure you that we do _not_ retain samples of DNA and we do destroy samples after analysis. For safety." he said patiently. "Then I'd love to get some imagery of your insides, see if we can determine what sort of other modifications you might possess that are on the less-than-obvious side of things. Two hearts, you say? Fascinating." he said smoothly as he worked to get the required needles and sample containers for the blood draw.

Longshot has posed:
"Okay! What does blood tell you? What is a DNA?" While the internet might be a great resource for someone who knows nothing, it does require a lot of contextual knowledge that Longshot does not have. What the appointment was going to do or include other than provide some answers somehow, was not something he'd considered. However, this idea of pictures of his insides? Longshot wasn't aware that was possible. "Can I keep the pictures of my insides if I can't keep my DNA?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank smiled at the onrush of curiousity. "I think we can let you keep copies of your imagery, yes." he said. "And your blood will tell us what sorts of possible gifts you may possess as well as to give us a starting point on assessing your metabolic health." he said patiently. "DMA is the building block of life. Stands for deoxyribonucleic acid." he said. "It takes the form of a spiral and its four chemical bases form the foundation of the blueprints that make you you."

Longshot has posed:
That's a lot of words! 'Acid' is a word Longshot is familiar with and 'chemicals', but it doesn't sound like things that he does. He probably would have noticed if he had those sorts of powers by now, right? Longshot doesn't really want to be disagreeable about this, but getting answers does mean starting off on some point of understanding right?

"I read objects, I don't make acid. Or chemicals." Longshot's response will take on a similarly patient tone, he really wants this to be a helpful appointment. "I am just lucky and objects talk to me. I don't think I have any other powers actually, definitely not acid."

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Do you, now? That's very interesting. And lots of things are made up at their core of an acid of one kind or another - your stomach fluids, for example. Doesn't mean you're in any danger of dissolving or having other things dissolve." he pointed out sensibly. "And when you say that you read objects, could you elaborate on that for me? Also, right or left arm?" he asked. "For the blood draw."

Longshot has posed:
Longshot will offer an arm forward at random, relieved that even if he does have acid in him, it is supposed to be there and not dangerous. Everyone having acid in them sounds dangerous, but clearly this means looking up the various definitions of acid in the future.

"Everything has imprints on them, well most things. I can read those on things and people. Like, what they might do or the most important point. Very emotional things mostly." Longshot's attention wanders around the room as he speaks, all the fancy medical-ness mean nothing to him, but he's sure touching them might educate him slightly, "Like a beloved jacket or a favorite toy? Those things would tell me about themselves in those terms. I could feel the love or the important memories or what it was made to do, things like that? People too sometimes."

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Psychometry. Fascinating." he said, and then started to prep Longshot's proferred arm for a blood draw. To discover the first subtle difference in the young man's physiology - if he had veins in his elbow region, they were disinclined to offer themselves to him. "Curious." he said absently to himself as he set about on a vein hunt in the man's arm, looking for something he could use to draw blood from. "Just a moment, please. Your veins are decidedly disinclined to offer themselves for a simple blood draw." he said with a frown.

Longshot has posed:
"It has a name? Pshchometry . . . . Oh, I'm sorry! How do I help?" Longshot is not sure what the nice furry blue man is looking for or talking about, but is happy to offer alternative solutions. With a free hand, he pulls out a blade, "I can cut myself for you if you like?"

In the search for a vein and looking at Longshot closer, it is possible Dr. McCoy will notice some further oddies with the man. Namely, that there is nothing wrong with him. There is nothing wrong with him beyond there being nothing wrong with a normal healthy adult. He's textbook-perfect. Longshot's teeth are perfectly aligned and white, not a single blemish on his skin, not face nor the arm that Dr. McCoy is looking at. Most adults cannot avoid growing up without some scars, nicks, some blemishes. Some texture or discoloring to teeth, some lines in the face as age creeps up, some rough patch of hair that doesn't fall right, something hinting to how a normal body grows and changes and ages. Longshot has none of these. There is nothing, literally nothing that Dr. McCoy will be able to see that appears anything other than peak of health. Almost, perhaps, like he's been designed and manufactured rather than born and aged.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank was familiar with regenerative healing factors, which did much the same thing, but the possibility of Mr Shot being some sort of biological construct would go into the notes section of his chart. "No, I think we can avoid that for now..." he said, finally coaxing a vein close enough to the surfaced to start a draw going. "There we go. My phlebotomy skills aren't that atrophied." he muttered to himself as the vials filled with a ruby-red fluid. The needle itself, being sterile, pinged not at all on Longshot's psychometric sense. Hank's hands, however, likely did. Hands that he preferred to use to heal, to defend and protect.

Longshot has posed:
The offered blade will be tucked away, there is no flinch at the needle, but there will be a small start at the contact with Dr. McCoy. Longshot will watch the tube fill, letting the oddness of a stranger wash over him. He hums softly, mostly to himself. Longshot never gets intentions from the living things he's touched, but some imagery is clear enough without knowing what was happening in someone's head at the time.

"If it helps, I think you're doing a good job right now." The words are simple, straight forward and lacking the thread of the previous conversation, "You worry about folks a lot, don't you?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Thank you." he said with a fangy smile. "And of course I do. I've made it my life's work to heal, wherever possible." he said simply as he swapped vials out. Looks like this was going to be an extended draw, given how many tests he wanted to run. "This will be done very soon. You're doing just fine yourself." he said reassuringly.

Longshot has posed:
"That's very kind of you. I hope someone takes care of you sometimes." Longshot will glance at the new vial, still not understanding what the blood was going to be used for is not enough to make him worry about it. After all, there wasn't anything about any of this that should be bad, even if his useful acid was going to be destroyed after use, right? "Thanks! I'm just hoping to get some answers! I people keep bringing up mutants to me and I'm not so lucky as to be one, but I must be something, right?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Mutant is the most logical possibility but it by far isn't the only one." Hank said agreeably. "Here, hold this here." he asked as he withdrew the needle and went to get a fun Band-Aid to cover the draw site with. "Do you enjoy sweets, Mr Shot?" he asked. "Considering your curiousity and how good you were for the blood draw, I think you've earned a lollipop." he said with an easy smile.

Longshot has posed:
Adults who are not secure enough to say they do still enjoy to sweets and fun bandaids clearly have too many problems in their life and should chill out and enjoy the little things. Longshot enjoys basically all things and is immensely pleased by the both offers. He will check out the bandaid and nod brightly, "Please! I don't know what that is, but I do like sweets and I've been enjoying trying all the new foods I can!"

Innocent and childlike are both descriptors that might come to mind when describing Longshot, and though only one is accurate, it does incorrectly imply the other. Anyone new to a complicated world and having a sense of awe will be innocent, would they not be? That either of these offers might not be fully appropriate for an adult is not considered and Longshot will accept a lollipop happily. Even were he aware, he still might accept a lollipop happily.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank applied the colorful Band-Aid to the draw site and then fished out his stash of lollipops. "Take one. Whichever you like. We have sugary and sugar-free variants, each one is labelled on the wrapper." he said, holding the mouth of the jar towards Longshot so he could take whichever one he liked. "You remove the wrapper and then put the bulbous end into your mouth so you can savor the flavor." he said, cannily guessing that he might not have had a lot of experience with the confection. Which was odd in and of itself.

Longshot has posed:
"More food should come with directions on how to eat them! You wouldn't believe how hard it is to eat the long starches that come covered in the colored sauces! Also so much food comes in paper that isn't for eating." Longshot will select a bright yellow sucker without considering sugar content, will carefully remove the paper and look at it just as carefully before finally trying the treat. Good stuff! A hum of appreciation and another nod, "Pictures of insides now?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Pictures of insides now." Hank agreed, smoothly getting to his feet. "This way, sir." he said, gesturing towards what looked like an open-ended coffin. "This machine here will use high-energy radiation in small amounts to allow us to see your insides and get an idea for how you're put together." he said, dumbing things down to their bare essence. "The energies used are in quantities that will cause you no harm, I can promise you that." he said reassuringly. "If you would be so kind as to step into the scanner, we can go ahead and get things started."

Longshot has posed:
"Good to know!" Radiation is not a word Longshot has run across yet, so the good doctor's assurance that it is safe is taken without question nor concern. He will do as he is told without complaint, humming softly to himself and running a hand over the exposed section of the machine before finally stepping in. Hmmmm, this machine is confusing even with the hints at function that reading it will give him. It does Technology that might be Magic and he is not in a position to question anything.

When the machine does do it's magic, pictures of Longshot's insides will reveal that though he is very convincingly, almost perfectly human from the outside, minus the hands and pointy ears, he is very much not at all human-like on the inside. In addition to two hearts, most other organs are arranged in an incredibly orderly fashion of one trying to fit all the important bits into an inconvenient container. He does Have all the organs one would expect, just not necessarily in the right order. Not to mention, his bones appear to be hollow, though not brittle, very likely easily broken and perhaps even making him buoyant enough to float in water

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank looked at the montor that gave a live feed of the scan results and whistled to himself. "Oh my stars and gzrters. You, my new friend, are not even remotely human." he said. "This is fascinating." he said. X-Rays, ultrasound, more exotic particles, the scanner bathed Longshot in them and returned their findings to the conputer to be interpreted. After about fifteen very boring-to-Longshot minutes, Hank tapped in the shutdown procedure for the scan. "All right, I think we've got enough to start with here." he said, opening the door to let Longshot out.

Longshot has posed:
Longshot is not a patient creature, holding still is Difficult. Thankfully, boredom is not something that happens to him either, but the urge to touch the machine as it does it's magic is a very strong one. That 15 minutes are excruciating. So long. Needing to hold still and silent so that the doctor can do the work that will bring answers. Just. Stand. There. Please. Don't. Move. There is something vaguely unsettling about being trapped in a machine like this, something unpleasant beyond the waiting. but-ug, now his nose itches-Just in time to be let out!

Longshot will all but jump out of the machine when allowed, "Oh good! Or-What am I then? Am I a mutant? Maybe I'm wrong on that!" Longshot will put enough space between himself and the machine to regain some comfort, though why the thing is disquieting will not be examined. It doesn't matter, he doesn't have to be in it anymore!

Henry McCoy has posed:
"I do not believe you are a mutast but the blood work will confirm that for us." he said. "Here, let me show you." he said, making some room so Longshot could stand next to and see the display monitor. "Let me show you the full-body X-Ray I took." he said, dialing in the appropriate imagery. "Slight morphological differences in the hand to account for the finger structure - very much like someone else I know." he mused. "But the bone structure itself is more reminiscent of a terran bird than any primate I'm familiar with." he said. "Hexagonal structure for strength but mostly internally hollow. What you're using to produce red blood cells I have no current idea."

Longshot has posed:
"Wow! Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" And also what does any of that mean? This is what Longshot wanted! Answers! Great! This answer means nothing to him. Should it? The frustration of no memories will be briefly felt then dismissed, "I fell out of the sky over a Dazzler Concert! Does that help?" That it was a Dazzler concert had been communicated within the first few minutes of arriving, and the absolute devastation when the concert ended that life was in fact NOT a giant party all the time had been rough. More importantly though: "What does this mean?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
"It's not a question of good or bad. It simply is." he said. He hated the "Good thing or bad thing?" question but at least this time he mostly sat on his irritation. "And here. Here's those two hearts you mentioned." he said, showing the ultrasound scan that showed them quite clearly. "Looks like one handles circulation and the other may be for red blood cell production or some other function that's unclear from a scan like this. And I am personally disinclined to vivisect you to gain this knowledge." he said with a reassuring smile. "We have a very firm policy against vivisecting patients." he said by way of a joke.

"Well, given your bone structure I would think that you're lighter than a standard hominid would be so you're probably going to need to be cautious of kinetic energy impacts." he theorized. "Blood work will give us some more clues as to how your immune system and your injury resistance works."

Longshot has posed:
"Awe." Longshot still doesn't understand, but he's not going to press the matter. Perhaps at least the pictures of his insides will be useful to have and bring to as many people as he knows who might be able to identify what, exactly he is. Finding out what he is could be the first step to discovering Who he is!

"I'm very resilient!" If this is in-built or thanks to his small healing factor that he is unaware of is anyone's guess, but he is a design made to last and be reused many, many times. "Do you think that I am from another place? I don't think I'm from Earth and I met some people from other places recently. Not planets, like, planes, I think?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Too soon to say." Hank said. "Any suggestion I give would be just that - a suggestion unsupported by evidence." he added. "But! Having said this, the blood work and this imagery should help me to narrow down what, precisely, you are. Other than Longshot. You are you, all we're trying to nail down is some of the specifics."

Longshot has posed:
This? This makes sense. Longshot will nod, "Thank you Dr. McCoy! When will you know? I can come back if you need me to, or-um, You have Stirling's address. I can be reached there." Or he can check back here every day! Maybe he won't, maybe he'll have a job soon, but in leu of a job, Longshot has lots of time on his hands to bother the Mutant Clinic employees about results.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Well, the blood work will probably take a few days, given how many tests I would like to run on it to get as clear a picture as possible into your possible origins." he said. "I don't mean to offer you false hope but with any luck at all - let's schedule you a followup visit in two weeks time to discuss my findings and next possible steps." he said. "Would that be acceptable, Mr Shot?" he asked with another fangy smile.

Longshot has posed:
Luck is always on Longshot's side! Though instant gratification is always preferred, and as little as patience exists in his being, Longshot is not actually a child and can wait. Agreement will come with a bright smile and a hand out to shake, "Of course! Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing about all of your results!"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank smiled at Longshot and then tapped out some commands. The scanning pod whirred and then spat out a bright shiny DVD-ROM. "Here. A copy of your imagery, as promised." he said. "Or would you prefer a USB stick?" he asked pleasantly. "You know what, let's get you both." he said, fishing out a blank stick from a drawer and inserting it into the machine to dump the imagery to. "There." he said when it was complete, handing the stick to Longshot. "Tell the nice people downstairs that I would like to see you again in twon weeks."

Longshot has posed:
Both Disc and Stick are accepted with a smile, surely Stirling will show Longshot how to access these pictures and get them on his phone or printed out or something. Something more useful than a flat shiny disc and a little rectangle that doens't even have buttons. BUT, Longshot can be polite and not mention the uselessness of these two items that apparently carry information. More magic of technology? He'd have to look it up later.

"Thank you sir! I appreciate it! Two weeks!" Longshot will leave with a flourish and a bow, heading downstairs to set up a follow-up appointment with a spring in his step.