19722/Tell Me About My Body Part II

Tell Me About My Body Part II
Date of Scene:	20 December 2024
Location:	Student Science Lab
Synopsis:	Aisling escorts Noriko to go talk to Hank about her physiology. They talk shop. Ideas are captured. Noriko also asks Hank to help her make some improvements to her gauntlets.
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Aisling Caroll, Henry McCoy

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Noriko Ashida has posed:
All Noriko knows is this is the time and place she discussed with Aisling, unaware if Aisling went ahead and pre-arranged the meeting with Hank or not.  So she went to go meet Aisling at the Wellness Office ahead of time to walk with her down to the lab.  The speedster hasn't been as much of a mainstay in this lab since she fried Hank on a mission way back when, but she still pops by to use one of the lab stations to tweak her gauntlets and keep them tuned up.

"I hope he's in," Noriko comments offhand as she strolls along.  She is not one to wait on people while holding an open door, but she does make sure there's enough energy behind pushing through the door that it gives Aisling plenty of time to walk right in after her.  She's carrying a notebook and a chunky black pen.

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    "He's usually always in his lab, or a lab, so I'm sure he'll be here" Aisling replies rather plainly, forming a light smile. "I wouldn't worry about it Nori, it'll be fine. If he's not in, we can try again later" she ads as she walks in after.

    Once they're both in the lab Ais blurts out, "Hank, you in here?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank walked in a few moments later, in his X-Men uniform shorts, a lab coat, his reading glasses, and a bulky cylindrical device work at his belt. "Greetings, Noriko-san." he said in very passable Japanese. "And a lovely evening to you as well, Ms Carrol." he said with a very fangy smile. "I understand the question at hand today is the application of electrokinesis to physiology?" he asked pleasantly as he commandeered a chair large enough to fit his bulk.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko offers a polite small bow to Henry in response, with a mumbled greeting of her own.  Something that seems almost habitual, though she hasn't made a habit of it since she's been in the States.  "Yeah.  I've got some concerns, some things that didn't really matter much before, but....life changes right?"  Noriko doesn't get too deep into things.

"I guess what I'm really wondering cellularly if there are things I should worry about.  If I'm somehow rapidly aging, which can't be entirely true right because I'd be dead by now?"  Nerves.  Noriko shuts herself up, not realizing whether she's been talking too long at this velocity or not.  "And oh also if there's something I can be tracking to help figure that out."

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    Aisling lets Nori get everything she needs to get out, out, before finding a place to sit quitely herself. She raises a hand and forms a light smile, "I'm just here for moral support" she throws out to Henry. "Nori came to me a few days ago and I suggested she come speak to you, as you know. So, you two talk and if I need to do anything, I'm here."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank nodded at Nori's words. "Well, I would think that rapid-onset aging would be counter indicated." he said with an easy fangy smile. "Some blood work should give me some insights into what's going on inside of you, but ... I have a few theories. How is your medical knowledge? I don't want to talk over your head, nor would I wish to offend by explaining that which you already know." he said. "Ditto for elementary physics." he asked.

Although, to be fair, when your mind was of a caliber of Hank's, the term elementary often got stretched to near its breaking point. Then he turned to Aisling and smiled again. "It is fortuitious that you find yourself entangled in this matter." he pointed out. "Your bio-energy gifts may prove useful if Noriko-san over-exerts herself."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Thanks Aisling," Noriko pauses to say.  Having her here does seem to have put the speedster more at ease.

"Well I took intro to physics," the one for college majors, not the one usually taken by liberal arts majors for a science credit.  Blame it on Noriko's intellectual pride as to why she didn't just join the course for 'the dumb ones,' as she put it.

"I only know what they taught us in AP Bio," Nori says with a shrug and a disappointed brief purse of her lips.  "But I will ask questions when I don't understand something."  She's at least got that going for her.  "This is too important to gloss over in my head."

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    Aisling nods and smiels warmly at Noriko, "Of course." To hank, she also tosses an understanding nod, "I figured as much. Should anything happen, I already know I can help in a multitude of ways. So, I'm not worried and I'm ready for whatever happens." She motions with a hand to them both, "Please, continue, pretend I'm not here."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank made a disapproving noise despite himself. Sometimes he forgot that he was a nearly-unique snowflake, equally at home in the humanities as he was in the very vanguard of the hard sciences. "Well, please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Now I believe you've been experimenting with using your bioelectrical output to overstimulate your metabolic pathways, to give yourself what the layperson might call super-speed. Is that a fair assessment?" he asked.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I guess.  I know the two systems are related in some way, so I guess that makes sense.  I always wondered if my cells were different somehow, but this makes more sense.  Though still wondering since I don't fall apart from all the forces."  Noriko kind of babbles aloud in general agreement as her mind races off, even at these speeds.  "I think I have a separate purely electrical system in addition to my nervous system and all that, though that could just be to absorb and hold ambient charge."

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Based on my research and previous data I think it's fairly apparent that your mitochondria are adapted to produce far, far more energy thsn your cells could ever normally use. Furthermore, your nervous system is adapted to not only carry the additional amperage and voltage but to protect the underlying functionality from the additional system load - if not, you'd give yourself a seizure each time you engaged your gift." he said patiently. "The thing is, your body wants to expel that energy _outwards_. Hence the lightning." he said. "Now, we've seen that you have the capability to turn it inwards, to use the energies to overclock, for lack of a better term, your muscles and joints into performing far beyond normal expected parameters. What is still to be determined is if there are any knock-on affects beyond wear-and-tear that we should be concerned about. Fortunately, I do believe that with training and careful experimentation we can aid your body in adjusting its own internal electrical pathways."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko nods along as Henry explains a few things.  Between his words, she rapidly jots down some notes, stray thoughts that are invoked.  She even ends up drawing a little outline of a body with labels and notes invading it.  It isn't distraction, but engagement.

"Well normal wear and tear.  I was thinking about what all that use would do to me cellularly, like if it puts more miles on me.  Do you think I have to worry about like heart failure at 28 or something like that?  I guess that's something we'll have to figure out.  Knock-on effects?  I hadn't thought of those."

As for training and experimentation, Noriko nods, "Whatever you think might help, I'm up for it."  There's a note of determination in her tone, though a slight quizzical look, like she's ruminating on a problem.  "I think I want to see if there's a way to find someone else like me, or just other speedsters, to also see what they may have found out.  I know we're all special snowflakes and all that, but I can't be the only person whose had these questions."

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Not as you mean it, no. The concern I have is putting excessive strain on the mutant myelin sheathing that protects your nerves from the increased load." he said. "If thst degrades, you will be in for an entirely horrible time of it. We can regrow nerves here, but the process takes some time and is deeply, deeply unpleasant." he said. "It's not impossible that telomerase morality could be affected by the application of high energy fields to your DNA - it's an intriguing possibility. One worth following up on." he said as the Mansion computers automatically recorded his musings and dropped the suggestion into the appropriate file.

"I've already run comparisons of your physiology and neural pathways against known speedsters to both the X-Men and the Avengers. The closest match - well, you might find this amusing." he said with a wink. "The cloest match is actually Doctor Henry McCoy. We are both overdriving existing physiology as opposed to the application of exotic energies or direct manipulation of space/time."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Yeah that doesn't sound like a fun time with the nerve regrowing and all that."  When Hank brings up mortality and her DNA, Noriko makes another blurry flurry of a note and turns the page.  She's not exactly computer friendly herself, so the hands free fancy schmancy of what Hank's got going on catches her attention for a moment.

"Oh you have?"  At the reveal of her closest match, Noriko snorts slightly, half scoff, half surprise.  "Under that paradigm yeah.  I think I'd have more in common with non-speedsters than not.  Electro or electromagnetic mutants probably.  Still..." she chuckles in disbelief like someone who took an internet quiz and found out they were a Hufflepuff.

"Oh, this is totally random and not really related, but I was wondering if you knew someone who was good with tech like my gauntlets," she thought she'd ask the creator herself, knowing the bio side was really where his brains helped figure Noriko out to begin with, way back when.  "I'd like to see if I could get something that gives me a little more dexterity, so that I could use a laptop or even just a mechanical keyboard and a mouse."  Noriko's gauntlets were really built for controlling Noriko's powers.  These other uses or things like durability weren't really a part of the initial scope for what was being solved.  "It's basically impossible for me to do my school research without risking that I fry something.  I currently use a wooden backscratcher without my gauntlet on to do all my typing."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank snorted affectionately. "Not only as I am certified biochemical genius, I also know a thing or two about physics and engineering. And oversized digits. And what I don't know I can ask Kate or Forge about." he said. "If you'd like for me to take a look at your gauntlets, perhaps suggest some improvements or upgrades, I would be delighted to serve." he said.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko flashes a blush and shrugs at not knowing all of Henry's areas of expertise, but the grin she still has shows that she's not totally shut down after losing a little face. "Honestly, I'd love that. Like, I'd also love if I had some more feedback around my level of charge. Like a way to set an alert strong enough to wake me up if I need to go discharge. And a way to detect how much charge I'm putting out. This would be useful for training and building better control. Like I could get cpr training and then figure out how to defibrillate. That'd be useful. Also being able to match tazer levels. It'd be useful if I could have this feedback on charge live somehow to sync up how it feels with what I'm trying to achieve and the actual results. Does that make sense?" she puts the question to Henry as she wonders aloud.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Those seem like eminently reasonable feature requests and while I haven't begun to look into the problem, I want to say at first blush that those should be doable." he said. "Would you like the gauntlets themselves to alarm or would you prefer a Bluetooth connection to your phone to maintain a certain degree of operational separation?" he asked.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I think it should have a strong vibration function in the gauntlets so I don't disturb other people sleeping during those times, and then keep the alarm to the gauntlets themselves.  I don't want to depend on my phone, which is easy for me to break," in oh so many ways.  Noriko smirks.  "Plus there'd be some delay with the bluetooth communication.  I really need to know as soon as possible."  For her, and for this application, it actually matters.  "But this would be amazing.  I mean it's not like I can't get a good nap in or anything, but with this it'd be so carefree."  Her sleeping, she means.  Since she wouldn't need to worry about preemptively discharging and thinking and monitoring her charge levels.  In a way, it allows the gauntlets to become more a part of her, functioning more intrinsically for her like hunger naturally alerting her to caloric intake needs.  It will take very little time to get used to the features she's asking for.  The news that Henry sounds confident that everything can be pulled off spurs a greedy smile to show up on the speedster's face.  "Well I'll be interested what you might think too," after all, Hank might think of things Nori never knew were possible or just wouldn't occur to her.  For a speedster, this is something of a lesson Noriko has had to learn about the value of others after being forced to slow down to attend classes and interact with others.  Being at Xaviers has taught her a thing or two.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"I do feel compelled to mention, however, that your gauntlets are intended to be a stopgap measure until such time as you achieve a certain degree of mastery over your gift." he said. "But having said that, I would be perfectly willing to take a look at the current specs as well as the current data I have on you and synthetize something more suited to your stated goals." he said.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well there are just some things I can't ever take that risk with," Noriko says gravely.  "Too important...and sometimes it's just freeing not to have to deal-"  She realizes she's kind of going on about it and cuts short.  "I think being able to set things like charge alert levels would help with those long term goals, in the meantime.  Thanks.  I appreciate it."  Noriko, for as much as she'd love to be able to shed the gauntlets, shows some reluctance at the thought that she'll need to surrender them for them to be worked on.  Finally (for her at least), she relents and just unlatches them.  "Here.  Might as well take them now right?"  She takes a deep breath.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Put those back on." he said. "I've got all the data I need and I'll fabricate a new set with the recommended improvements." he said. "That way, we can keep your current set for emergencies if something should happen. And with the X-Men and X-adjacent people, lots of things tend to happen." he said with an amused snort.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Oh good," Noriko is visibly relieved on multiple levels.  "I guess that does make more sense to make a new set...and yeah, not sure if Jubes would let me back in the apartment without something, just in case."  The gauntlets are back on in a breath.  "Besides, I wasn't sure if my arms were smelly," she jests in deadpan.  "Alright, well I think I got my appetite back," she says suddenly.  "I'm going to go make a sandwich.  Thanks for all your help."  Just knowing there are things that can be done has already made her feel a little better about this whole thing.  She offers him a peace sign, still smiling, before disappearing for that sandwich.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank, with his sense of humor, gives her a Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper." he said in his best Leonard Nimoy impression.