2014.01.04 - Transfusion

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‘’’X-Men Base - Medical Lab’’’
This room is fairly large and curved in shape, wrapping around the central
transit column so the floor plan ends up being shaped like a half-torus.
The floors are tiled in white marble, and the walls are a soft cream
color. The equipment here is all the most advanced medical technology that
the world has to offer, including advanced life sign monitors and biobeds
actually capable of sustaining a patient and doing limited surgical tasks
without human assistance. The computer here contains an advanced
Artificial Intelligence medical program, which is capable of diagnosing
any known ailment and prescribing a treatment. Basically, all of the most
advanced tech from the top hospitals in the world has been condensed down
to fit into one spacious and serviceable infirmary.
The only exit from this room is the doorway to the south, which is a large
circle of silver metal embossed with a giant symbol resembling a letter X
enclosed by a circle.
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After begrudgingly being pestered to call in one of the X-Men's healers, Kwabena has finally caved. Of all the people on the roster he might have called, however, he sent a message to Warren. For one thing, he hadn't seen the winged mutant in quite some time, but of equal importance, he had a feeling that Warren would respect his wishes for some level of confidentiality.
"Alright," Kwabena said to Rachel. "Fine. I'll call Warren. But, for de record, I'm not an 'idiot'. I just don't want to chew through any of Xavier's forest just to bring my shouldah back."
The phone call was made, and now, Kwabena is waiting for Warren's arrival. He's still wearing his X-Men uniform, but the shoulders have been removed to reveal the injury. In essence, a good portion of his right shoulder is simply... gone. Flesh, muscle, some of the joint itself, but oddly enough there is fresh skin over the wound, albeit having a younger, fresher appearance. It basically looks as if he has some kind of deformity, and to the naked eye, it certainly wouldn't appear to be as recent as having been sustained a day ago.
"For the record, you used your OWN SHOULDER as AMMUNITION. OF COURSE you're an idiot. And no, I'm not leaving until you've done something about it."
Rachel was not at all pleased to find Shift in the Med Bay, particular after she had to pull his brain back together after he pretty much died not so long ago. She's also not willing to take him at his word, so she waited while the call was made, and can now be found leaning against the wall near the door, arms folded. It's almost like she expects Shift to take off if she doesn't keep an eye on him.
At least she's stopped pacing, for now at least.
Warren Worthington was home to get the phone call and agreed rather quickly to come out and help...even if he hasn't been around the mansion much, he wasn't going to deny a request for help. He warned that with this weather, it might take him a little longer to get there, but flying would most certainly be faster than driving.
When he finally does arrive, he's rather cold and pretty much covered in snow and ice. A request is made for some very hot tea and for it to be sent down to the Med Bay even as he makes his way down there. Unless it's moved, he's familiar with the way.
With his coat left upstairs to dry off and thaw, he steps into the Med Bay, already pulling off his cashmere sweater and rolling up the sleeves of the turtleneck that was beneath it. "What did you do to yourself this time --" he starts before pausing at seeing the injury. "Wow. Why didn't you all call me sooner?" A nod is given to Rachel...he recognizes her from the weird Santa incident. "Ok...uhm. What happened? I just need to warm up or I won't be of much use."
Logan had heard about the injuries caused by a great threat that had to be handled globally. He was working alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. and their efforts that went deliberately unnoticed. While he wasn't a healer Logan knew how to field dress some injuries. So that could have helped, even if it was just a tiny bit. "How bad are things lookin'?" Logan asked as he moved into the medbay. Visions of harming various X-ers ran across his mind. All the past memories left behind thanks to the Harbinger Death of a life he never lived were with Logan daily. Every time he stepped in the mansion there were visions of blood on his claws, a mounting of severed limbs and corpses beneath his feet, Bobby Drake was a mound of flesh that had been sculpted like an ice carving except the young mutant wasn't in Ice form when Logan began to work, Angel had his wings torn away, Cyclops his eyes removed before an extremely slow death, the list went on. Each time Logan entered the mansion he was tormented. Unfortunately his psychic trauma had not seen any psychic healer or mental master the X-Mansion had. He was afraid of hurting someone.
Still, there was enough that. People were injured and when Logan looked at Kwa he shook his head, "What the hell happened?" Those injuries were not exactly ideal to have if you didn't have any type of healing factor. "When a lady says 'no' she means no. When ya gonna learn?" the comment was Logan's attempt at humor. Inwardly he was very concerned.
"Dat machine, dat space ship, was frying people's brains. Massively. Ovah Lowah Metropolis." Kwabena's response is tight, though he maintains himself from growing angry. "I'd have fired my damn head at it if I had to."
And then, Rachel's standing there, guarding the door.
After a long silence, he begrudgingly adds, "Well. Maybe not my head, but, you get de idea."
When Warren finally comes in, Kwabena greets him with a smile. "Hey, War. Thanks for coming." The smile is quickly replaced by a look of concern at how cold Warren seems to be. And yet, before he can try to rustle together something warm for the guy, Logan joins them.
"Well." He's about to answer, but his mouth hangs open for a moment. He looks to Rachel, knowing that there's no way he's getting out of explaining this one. So, he looks back to Logan with a determined expression. "I shot my shouldah at one of Darkseid's spacecraft. And took out its shields." Leave it to Kwabena to try making light of a stupid (albeit effective) decision, he reaches across with his good arm and pats the shoulder gently. "Tough shouldah. I'll learn one of dese days."
Rachel gets the idea, and it's just about possible that she might agree with Kwabena once she's got the full story, and more importantly when the man has two shoulders again. It's more than possible that she's bad at seeing him hurt and isn't very good at sympathy when she wants to either hit the thing that caused the injury, or Shift himself for putting himself in that position in the first place. Unfortunately for her, neither of those are options, so she remains a bit on edge.
"I get the idea." Rachel offers, equally grudgingly. "Next time, pack a telepath." She has no idea if she'd have been of any use, but at least she'd have been THERE.
All in all it's probably a good thing that Warren turns up. It certainly lightens Rachel's mood, and he gets an honest grin. She remembers what he had to do for Scott, when he was injured, after all. "Because he's stubborn." Rachel answers Warren's question.
Something distracts her before she can continue, and she looks towards the door a second before Logan walks in. She doesn't make a habit of scanning other minds ...much... but from what she can't help but pick up passively, he seems 'off'. Still, as Logan makes his joke, she snorts to herself. "Hey, I didn't take a chunk out of him. This time." Glancing curiously at Logan again, she shakes her head a bit and turns to Shift for his explanation. "We can only hope." She adds under her breath when he's finished.
Doug Ramsey has arrived.
Rachel is looked at for a moment...-does- he know her? Warren then looks over to Logan and offers the man a nod as well. He knows him through reputation if nothing else. When Kwabena begins to tell the story, he blinks, "Wait. You shot your -shoulder- at the thing? I mean...how do you detach..." he lets that trail off. "I have no idea if I can heal this, but I'll try." Once the tea arrives of course.
He doesn't sit, preferring to pace and get his blood flowing. After a moment, he goes over to one of the sinks and washes his hands and arms with hot water...that should help. "Ok...this tends to go better if I can get some help...otherwise it's kind of messy and I'd really rather not get blood on my shirt. I know that there are IV lines around here...might better to guide things more." A blonde eyebrow raises as he looks between Wolverine and Rachel, "Any takers?"
Kwabena is on the cot, a chunk of his shoulder missing, and Rachel, Logan, and Warren are in the MedBay. Warren has just 'scrubbed in', mostly to get warm from having flown here, and is awaiting his order of hot tea but is otherwise ready to start work.
When Kwa talked about launching himself at the shield Logan shook his head. "Ya can only do stupid crap like that if ya can heal. Those things were made to top bullets n' bombs, and you wanted to stop it with your shoulder?" he asked Kwa while pointing out the many flaws with that plan. He muttered under his breath, "And people call me stupid." If Kwa heard Logan would haven give the man a look, the plan may have worked but it wasn't exactly the smartest move. If someone wanted to argue that, Logan would have been happy to press a finger into Kwa's exposed shoulder bones as a rebuttal.
Warren talked about what he needed. "I ain't exactly known for precision outside of an operatin' table," to emphasize this point Logan let out one claw from his first. The whole blood flow bit was a little out of his league. Logan was more field training than actual medical stuff. Dress cuts, bullet holes, tourniquets, he could have done. Beyond that, not so much.
There's a flash of something in Kwabena's mis-matched eyes. He's not even sure what to call it, but it happens when Rachel advises he bring a telepath next time. His eyes flicker toward a curtained off section of the medical bay, behind which at one point lay a sleeping Charles Xavier. He's not sure if the Professor is still there or not -- he hasn't bothered to look, out of respect for the man's privacy -- but he was made aware of just what Charles went through in the Arctic, and he's not sure Rachel would have fared any better.
Such thoughts are short lived when his stubbornness is called out. He gives Rachel a look, before sliding his eyes toward Warren, and then Logan in turn. "Yeah, well." Right now, he really does not want to get into a conversation about how his X-Gene operates. "It was a tough spot. Comms were down, and I have a weapon dat 'superexcites sublimated biomattah into high yield plasma'. I was out of options. It was that, or hope that some othah sonofabitch was down on de streets with something heavier."
The stubbornness fades momentarily. "I had to do something. Dey were vaporizing people. I know it was stupid, but damnit, it worked."
Now, he's not entirely up to specs on how Warren performs his healing. He's never been present for it, and if it had been mentioned before, it's now slipping his mind. So, when Warren starts talking about blood and bleeding, Kwabena's face loses a bit of its dark color. "Wait a moment." He backs up on his cot, coming close to standing. "Your blood?"
Because Rachel couldn't leave well enough alone, she -had- to find an errand boy to get Warren a spot of tea. And so when the tea proved to not be immediately forthcoming, well...
<< Can't this wait...? Fine, FINE, I'll get it. What kind...? Earl Grey? EARL GREY? Aye aye capt'n... >>
And yet, when Doug shows up, ready to offer tea, it is with a blink, as he survey the scenes. "Um, hi guys. Rachel said something about Warren wanting tea for... some healing scene. Guess you need some medic help too...? Man, Shift, what did you do -this- time?"
Warren Worthington looks at Logan's claw and then blinks, "Uhm. I appreciate the offer..." and he then quickly looks over at Kwabena. "Uh. Yeah. Don't worry, it's...well...think of it as a transfusion. But a transfusion that will...hopefully...heal up your shoulder. It's like I'm planning on dumping my blood on you. That's just a little too gauche. Besides, I only do that in extreme emergencies. And to show off." There's a grin there before he starts to look for the necessary equipment.
When Doug shows up with the tea, he gets a smile too, "Oh, great! Thanks! I'll drink some of that to warm up some more...and wait, you know medic stuff? Yes please. I need to find the IV lines and get help with the needle."
Rachel probably would have done at lot worse, but that was never really her point. She just wasn't there, so she couldn't try - or stop him from firing bits of himself at the bad guys, which is still not a tactic she's particularly happy with. And when she gets that look from Shift, she just raises her eyebrows. Is he really going to argue that he's NOT stubborn?
More than happy for Logan to take a turn at berating Shift, Rachel keeps quiet - at least outwardly. Since Warren is still looking cold she does give a certain blond linguist a bit of a hurry-up nudge telepathically, and it works just like magic. She grins at Doug as he arrives, and then rolls her eyes when he asks the obvious question. They've just been through that, after all! "He found a way to weaponise his own shoulder. I'll give you the details later."
A bit of commotion from the direction of the patient draws her attention, and trusting Doug to provide the assistance that Warren needs, Rachel finally detaches herself from the wall and walks over to Shift's cot. She'll move if she's in the way, but for now perches on the edge. "No backing out now." She tells him. Possibly with a bit of a smile.
Lorna Dane has arrived.
"Magneto made him a gun that uses Shift as ammo." Lorna says on Doug's heels. She has a tray of snacks from the kitchen. Proper tea requires snacks. "If I ever see that gun I'm shredding it." She tells Shift, setting the tray down.
Rumors had circulated about Angel's healing power and how it worked differently. Logan liked knowing who could heal because everyone wasn't like him. Sometimes someone with the healing touch, or blood in this case, was the key. "Next time Kwa wear some shoulder pads. Something," Logan advised and chided. When Doug came in with tea he looked at the younger mutant then nodded, "Kwa shot his shoulder at an energy shield, then got his shoulder ripped to bits." That was a good summary for Doug in case he wasn't in the know.
Nope. Kwa's not going to argue with Rachel on his stubbornness. At least, not here. He does piggyback on Rachel's explanation by glancing to Doug, adding, "De evil space aliens detonated all my grenades." Is... is he pouting about that incident?
Warren's explanation makes some sense. Kwabena has to assume that there's something about Warren's blood that has healing properties. He's not about to ask; as much as he doesn't want to get into a conversation about genetics and his own unique body mutation, he doesn't want to get an earful on how Warren's gift works. He does, however, give Warren a rueful smirk at his joke. That kind of humor is right up Shift's alley, and it serves to settle him down when he realizes that it's going to be a transfusion, rather than a blood-dumping ritual. "I don't know..." he murmurs, casting a look Doug's way when he comes in. "You think Ramsey could handle dat kind of gore?" Return fire!
At least he's using words, not his other shoulder.
Mental note - Shift will never tell Lorna where his secret hideout is.
"Alien spaceship," he adds on the tail of Logan's explanation, as if that alone made it cooler. Then, he's eyeing Rachel dubiously, and sitting up straight so that the medic types can poke and prod and do whatever they need.
"... so first, Shift blew out his shoulder. Literally. And then he blew his load...? Yeah, sounds like a Shifty day." Doug grimaces, as he brings the tea over to Warren. "Um, yeah. Figured I'd make myself useful covering for emergency medical care while I could. Um... sure, why not."
Pausing to give Kwabena a glance that, in the hands of a master linguist, roughly translates to "You really do not want to be saying that to the guy about to stick a needle in you", Doug starts making preparations, before giving a grin as he glances at Lorna. "Lornaaaaa," he says in a tone that communicates so much more than on the surface. "Would you like to help me stick IVs in Shift?"
"That's the best idea yet. I'll help." Rachel firmly agrees with Lorna, before looking back at Shift with an expression that can only be described as seriously tempted. It's not like he could hide where he's got the gun stashed from /her/ after all... and is that a hint of fire flickering in the depths of her green eyes, or just a trick of the light?
Either way, Rachel notices the dubious expression Shift's wearing and smiles reassuringly. "Hey, it's got to be better than being permanently lopsided, right?" On the off-chance that what passes for her sense of humour isn't helping, she quickly adds, "Don't worry. My D... Scott took a spear right through the chest once, and Warren fixed him up easily." Warren gets a quick glance. She never really thanked him for that one, since she was sleeping off the strain of having held Scott together all the way to Muir when he arrived and departed. Whether he thinks he knows her or not, she seems to know him. Or someone very like him. It might be slightly disconcerting.
As Doug calls on Lorna, Rachel shoots him a mock-offended look. "How come I don't get to do the fun bit?" She asks him, then gets out of the way, shooting Shift a quick smirk as she goes.
Raising her hands, Lorna looks from Doug to Rachel. "Bobby had to help him with the ace wrap, I'm all thumbs at first-aid. Stab away Rachel." She backs up to a counter and leans against it. "Though you should have seen him when he got in, all covered in alien guts." There’s a little grin from her and she reaches for an apple from the tray of food she brought down.
Warren Worthington just looks at the group before blue eyes land on Rachel. "You were there?" He remembers Jean and Scott..."That wasn't the easiest heal I've done...but we healed him up." There's a flicker of a grimace before he nods to Doug, "Ok, we'll need a tourniquet and the IV stuff...The end for him should really go as close to the injury as possible." The others get a glance as he gestures with a hand, "Ok...someone needs to at least tie the tourniquet. If I'm going to put the needle in myself, you need to do my left arm. Come on folks..." He's obviously feeling warmer, thanks to the tea.
"If Shift is gonna blow his wad in one motion then Rachel has every right to get stabby," Logan smirked going off of an earlier comment. "I'd be upset too if I was her," Logan looked at Warren then began to work the tourniquet with practiced motions. It had been a few years since he had done one, but it was like riding a bike. A few moments and it was like old hat again. "Rachel get ready to help Warren with the stabbin'."
Kwabena meets that perceived glint of fire in Rachel's eyes with a look of his own. Doug might recognize it with his powers. It's the 'don't get between me and my guns' look. It's also another sign of the African's stubbornness. He likes that gun. He just has to remember not to dial it up to eleven.
To be fair, even Magneto warned him about that one.
"Typically, I don't have to worry about things like spears and bullets," he retorts to Rachel, before eyeing Lorna and Doug suspiciously. When Lorna relinquishes the sticking honor to Rachel, he just stares at her. "Really? You're going to let her stab me?" His eyes slide over toward Rachel, but a grin is peeling away at the edges of his lips. "You get one shot at dis before I smoke my arm in your face."
That being said, he gets to work at unwrapping the ace bandage, revealing the injury. It's not ugly, per say, it just looks awfully strange, fresh skin covering clearly missing flesh and bone.
Between Logan and Doug, Kwabena's wondering if he's got enough middle fingers for both of them. Decidedly, he leaves them right where they are. The reluctant patient surprisingly does nothing to keep anyone from what they are doing, though the tourniquet is eyed with a hint of irony in his eyes. Funny. Logan was the one who brought him here, back when he was doped up on Doctor Doom's opiate-inducing nanites. The fact that Warren is tying a tourniquet around his limb is certainly not lost on this ex-addict.
Shaking his head at Shift, even as he flashes a wide grin at Logan, Doug coughs. "It wasn't his fault, Logan. The aliens blew them for him," the young blond mutant comments as he disinfects himself and begins sorting out the various packs, attaching the tubes to the needles, and handing them one at a time to Rachel "If you can find his veins, stick them in. If you can't find them, stick them in his palm. And if you -still- can't find a pulse, stick it in his tongue, I'm sure you'll have no problem finding -that-..."
"I was there." Rachel says, her voice suddenly serious as she meets Warren's gaze, but then she smiles a bit. "I was unconscious, but I was there." And then she groans as Logan makes his not at all innocent comment. "Thank you, Logan..." She mutters in an aggrieved tone. But at least she gets to to stab Shift after all. That's two she owes Lorna now, and smoothly replaces her next to Doug. She's got a smug little smile on her face that she shares with both Doug and Shift, and which only broadens when Shift complains. "That's right. Thanks Lorna." Rachel says brightly, before she offers a slow nod to Kwabena. "I'll only need one." Challenge accepted!
She handles the equipment Doug passes her easily enough, not as an expert but she's not hesitant either. And she's not so nervous that Doug doesn't get a sharp elbow in his ribs at the opportune moment. "Hey. We're here to pick on Shift, not me." She reminds him, in much the same tone she just used with Logan. Opening her hand, the tube and attached needle rises unsupported into the air, and she narrows her eyes at Shift, as if looking right /into/ him. The needle goes into Shift's vein smoothly and accurately, though. The crash course Jean gave her when they were pinching Scott's blood vessels closed to stop him bleeding out sees to that.
"Doug, I tried to bring a metal pen closer and it peeled like a banana. I'm still a little fizzy." Lorna says frankly. Shift will get it at least and thankfully no one else witnessed it. She bites into her apple watching the healing process Warren has to go through to do his thing. Though she can't help but chuckle at the teasing directed at Rachel.
Warren Worthington nods to Logan as he ties the tourniquet, "Thanks." And how he waits. He does glance about at the banter...really only knowing Doug and Shift in the room. And someone else comes in...with green hair. "Wow...the MedBay is hopping today. You're quite popular, Kwabena. We'd better get that shoulder all fixed up so your social life doesn't suffer." It's said with a bit of a wry sort of grin. He then nods at Rachel once the line is in for the patient, "All right. You should be able to find a vein just fine. Once it's in, we can take the tourniquet off."
"That's what he always says. The aliens is why he blew his load so quick. How many times have ya heard that Rach?" Logan winked and kept digging that hole. His blue eyes went to Warren, "What else do ya need?" Right now Warren was the Doctor, Kwa the patient, and everyone else were the Doctor's nurses. Rachel moved with a grace and elegance that caught Logan offguard. The telepath would have gotten a strong image of her mother coming from the source of dirty jokes and strong nightmarish imagery. In a serious tone Logan patted Kwa's good shoulder, "Got yerself a good one there. We'll take shots at ya but who walks away with the redheaded nurse when this is done." When Warren talked about popularity Logan smirked but kept his comment at bay. It was just a comment about how everyone was there out of pity and not really liking Kwa. Logan worried that the comment may have been a little true in his case except people would have been there out of fear. He knew his reputation often preceded him. He believed people would have been there for him because they feared him and nothing more.
Interestingly, Kwabena doesn't seem at all worried about Rachel's ability to find a vein. He'd have trusted Lorna as well, considering... red blood cells, iron... he's not a complete buffoon. But then, Lorna speaks of her fizziness, and he looks toward her with a baleful expression before shifting his eyes back to Rachel. "Now I'm really glad it's you sticking me."
To Warren he looks next, and smirks ruefully. "Apparently my social life benefits when I do something reckless and stupid. And dey wondah why I'm still reckless and stupid." Still, beneath the sarcasm, there's an undercurrent of gratitude in his dry tone. The man is sacrificing his own blood, after all!
Another glance is given Logan's way, and he smirks. "She'd really be angry if I'd left de medbay unattended. Good thing that didn't happen."
Innocent face.
Then he casts a look Rachel's way, not wanting to bother her too much while she gets to work at needling Warren. However, he just can't help it. "Guess de word's out, Red. Dis place is worse dan a suburban middle school."
"... Right. Guess it's back to the Danger Room to get that sorted out. Though I'm tempted to suggest you just rub against a magnet or something."
here's a glance at Warren's expression, and then Doug nods at Lorna. "By the way, you've met Warren, right? He's an alumni."
Then Doug rolls his eyes upwards. "Don't be silly, Kwa... it's not like you've been to a suburban middle school," he comments briskly, after a glance at the others. "Did they even -have- suburbs in Ghana? Now me, on the other hand, I've been to American suburban schools, and they're not so -horrible." Pause. "Except for the gym locker rooms. Anyway. Warren, it's your show...!"
"I'll give him points for originality." Rachel stops trying to swim against the tide and just goes along with the teasing, although Kwabena gets a look. "Thanks. I think." She doesn't join in with the banter between Warren and Shift - she's distracted by a surge of... something from Logan's mind. Her eyes seem to go unfocused for a moment as she firms up her shields, but she's a bit troubled by what she senses. Not so much the image of Jean, but the other imagery that swirled around it. Rachel shoots a quick look over her shoulder toward Logan, her brows drawn slightly together, but now's not the time to say anything - even telepathically. Something tells her that would be a particularly bad idea right now.
Instead she takes in the smirk that's riding Kwabena's lips, and just gives her head a bit of a shake. "'She' would, so don't say anything else, or you /won't/ be walking out with the redhead." She mock-threatens him, turning away to repeat her work with Warren. Once again, she uses her telekinesis for greater precision. "Don't worry. Last time wasn't a fluke." She tells him, although Shift's doing his best to break her concentration. "Don't tell me you expected anything else?" She says in a resigned - and amused - tone without looking around.
"Really?" Warren looks to Kwabena and then to Rachel. Oh. "Maybe I should try doing some reckless and stupid things." He clamps his mouth shut before he says anything else along those lines. When he's introduced to Lorna, he offers a nod in return, "Good to meet you, Lorna." He then looks to Doug, "Want to remove the tourniquet so we can get this going? And can I get that cup of tea?" Since he has a free hand.
At this point, he's ready to get this done and over with so he can stop feeling like a spare wheel...again.
Looking at Warren, Lorna waves lightly. "Lorna Dane, I did the school thing here too." But there's doctor stuff happening so she's giving Shift a friendly smile since he's finally getting fixed and debating if it'd be ok to kick Doug right now. "I pushed myself a little recently, ok. Just gotta ride out the backlash ok?"
Logan started to remove the tourniquet, "Get him the tea," he said to Lorna. "Someone's gotta say it, did ya learn yer lesson Kwa? No more shoulder tackling alien defense shields," Logan. "So how does yer healin' work exactly Warren?" this was the firt time he heard about a healer that used blood like this. "We got a student that has a unique mutant gift that's like a vampire. What would yer blood do to him?" the question went out to Warren. Logan's blue eyes went to Warren. "He needs blood fer somethin'. What would yers do to something like that?" There had to be limits to what Warren's blood could have done. "How come ya don't give out yer blood more fer the healin' purposes? Red Cross would love ya."
"Been to suburban schools. Chicago, San Diego, Gotham. I used to be a drug dealer, those are de hot spots." How's that for brutal honesty?
"I dunno, Warren," answers Kwabena. "Last time we went out drinking, Kurt ended up hitting on his own moddah. I think that's some few steps beyond reckless."
Kwabena comes to Lorna's defense. "Give de girl a break. She pushed de planet's core back into place, for Christ's sake." Beat. "And she didn't even sacrifice a shouldah." His eyes flash toward her with a bright look. "Props."
With all of the banter, Kwabena seems to have missed any foreboding interactions between Rachel and Logan. It's probably a good thing, too. He tries not to think about the fact that he took her on a date without even asking Jean or Scott's permission. She's not technically their daughter, even if she is their daughter, and frankly, he tries to ignore the concept of time travel in spite of the fact that he's dating a time traveler. Add into the equation the complicated history between Logan and Jean... yeah, he's just going to cleverly ignore that bit. Instead, he offers a dry response to Logan. "Win some, lose some. Guess I know nevah to dial Magneto's gun up to eleven." He's not committing to never using it again, it seems.
As things are set in motion for the transfusion, however,, Kwabena reaches out with his spare hand and claps it around Warren's free arm, seeking the man's eyes. "Listen, boss... I really appreciate dis. Whethah it works or not."
"Hell, Kwa..." Doug shakes his head, as he makes way for Warren's healing. "Hey Warren, while you're at it, see if you can do something about the gung-ho suicidal tendencies. What'll that take...?"
Rachel doesn't even blink when Kwabena goes for the brutal honesty. They've been through all that already. Instead, she shakes her head at Warren, and says quietly to him, "Please don't. It's not nearly as attractive as he thinks it is." A moment later and Kwabena's chiming in with his story about Kurt, and... well, from the look on her face Rachel clearly considers her point's been made for her.
Shift's report on Lorna, though, makes Rachel look in her direction, clearly impressed.
With the IVs in place, Rachel can take a step back as well, stifling a laugh at Doug's suggestion. "Miracles only go so far, Doug..." She remarks.
Warren Worthington shrugs to Logan, "I don't know exactly. I know that I bleed on wounds and they heal. I don't heal so easily myself, but it doesn't usually take much and the scars fade after a few weeks." At the mention of the vampiric student, he blinks a couple of times, "I don't know. I...it might heal them. I don't know that it has any properties besides that." As far as he knows, his blood just heals, nothing more, nothing less.
As the blood flows from him into Kwabena through the IV tube, he shakes his head at the next question. "I don't want to be a lab rat. I'll proudly show my wings outside of this place, but this doesn't leave the MedBay. This does not get around. I don't want to be shut up somewhere and bled dry so that modern medicine can try and replicate what I can do. I help when I can, but I'm allowed some bit of self-preservation, am I not?"
"That was ages ago, Kwabena. I haven't been drinking with you or Kurt or...anyone from here pretty much since then. Just with hot girls at clubs." He manages to set down the tea and takes the offered hand, "Hey. Anything for a friend." He gives the hand a squeeze for emphasis before he looks over to Doug, "Sorry, I only heal the physical. You'll need Jean or the Professor or something for anything mental. Besides, why change him and make him into some boring, good little Do-bie? We're not all that fun."
"Nice to see ya bounce back Kwa," Logan's words carried a bit of honesty. Anyone that bounced back from hard drugs deserved praise when they were blowing out their shoulders against alien shields instead of becoming a shell of their former self thanks to a needle. The second talks of drinking came up Logan was quick to chime in, "Round of beers on me. If yer over eighteen you get one too." A fierce look was given to anyone that talked him down, "We're in a room helping patch up Kwa's shoulder. They've seen that and combat. One ain't gonna kill them. More than that they answer to me," sometimes that reputation was a wonderful thing. If someone tried to think more than one they were going to deal with the claws. The talks of mental healings silence Logan promptly.
As far as Kwabena's concerned, sometimes some brutal honesty is important. It keeps the team leveled in a place of reality. He's absolutely unapologetic about it, for those thuggish days are in a very distant past. Warren seems to touch on that as well, and Kwabena's quite certain that none of them would ever want to be turned into lab rats. "Here here," he echoes in agreement. "What happens in Vegas..."
Besides. He's got a sinking feeling that when the X-Men do take a trip to Vegas, they'll actually discover some mutant lab rats who need freeing. He keeps this to himself, though. He hasn't collected enough data to propose an operation to the team. Soon enough, perhaps.
He glances Logan's way and grins. "I had help from some few good people."
Now that Warren's blood is flowing into him, he's starting to grow understandably curious. Distracted from everything else, he peers toward his maimed shoulder, reaching out to touch the new skin with his good hand. Nothing seems to be happening at the moment, but he's lost a good bit of flesh and bone...
"... stays in Vegas," Doug finishes the sentence, reaching out to pat Warren. "I don't suppose you need more than just tea after this?"
Rachel seems to shiver slightly when Warren talks about being a lab rat. She forces a smile onto her suddenly somber expression, and follows Doug's words. "It does if I have any say in it. I owe you two, now."
She catches Shift prodding his shoulder out of the corner of her eye, and looks at him, unable to resist, "Don't pick it, it won't heal." Offering him a cheeky smile, she looks over at Warren as he answers Doug. For a moment a look of disbelief flits across her face and she seems to be about to speak. To scoff at the idea that he's boring. But she catches herself. It's not 'her' Warren, after all.
"I'm in for the beers." She tells Logan. Suddenly, she could really use one.
"No beer for me for a bit, thanks..." Warren offers even as he watches the shoulder as well. He still isn't sure if it will work, but he's going to try...at least until it starts to heal or doesn't after he lets enough blood out. Blue eyes lift to Doug, "A steak would be good...I'll need a rest before going back out in that mess to get home. I guess I won't be going out tonight," is then said with a brief smile.
Watching the blood stuff happen Lorna looks from Logan to Warren. "He seems to heal on his own. Are we talking about Jason? He's a good kid. Great fighter." She takes another bite of her apple and looks at Shift's shoulder waiting to see it grow or something.
"I know something about being a rat," Logan said with a mixture of anger and sadness. Blue eyes looked toward his hands, "Too well. Make it two rounds." That shut him up more than the talks of injuries to the psyche did. Lorna's question begrungingly brought him out of silence, "Yeah. He is. Brought him to the mansion, just a shame he depends on blood like that, y'know?" Despite the murderous intent deep down, the old Logan still existed. He honestly felt bad for Jason. Hell of a gift with a hell of a price to use it. Rogue earned a similar sympathy.
A nice scowl is fired at Rachel. He's so tempted to just turn his good arm into liquid and drench her with liquid Shift, but considering he's undergoing a transfusion, Kwabena thinks better of it. "Think you'd bettah hunker down here," he says to Warren. "Eithah we go to Harry's, or we mooch off Logan's stash."
He almost abruptly goes quiet. Eyes narrowed, he stares at his shoulder. Nobody else will be able to see it, but he can feel it. "--Holy blood of Christ,--" he says out loud in his native tongue, before shooting a wide-eyed look Warren's way that mixes both alarm and fascination. "It's working. I can feel it." His fingers waggle over the wound. "Like a... like some kind of... like it..." He pauses for a moment. "--Unbelievable.--"
(--Afrikaans.)
"Harry's is probably going to shut down in this weather," Doug notes. "I think we have steak in the fridge, but I'm pretty sure it's labelled 'Logan's'." And generally, it was never a good idea to mess with Logan's stash of food or beverage. "So that's out," Doug muses, before snorting. "Careful there, Rachel, or you'll be losing him to Warren here."
Rachel seems to find Kwabena's scowl more amusing than threatening, but that's probably because she's not reading his mind right now. She nods in agreement with Shift's suggestions, then adds, "Logan's stash it is." At almost the same moment that Doug declares it to be out of bounds. She shoots Doug a disappointed look, then suddenly realizes that something's up with Kwabena an instant before he speaks. She spins around and takes a quick step back toward his bedside, relief and concern warring on her face. Relief because something's happening - concern because Kwa's not exactly being specific about what's happening.
"Doug..." Rachel warns, but distractedly, still studying Shift for a sign that he's healing.
Drinking some more of the tea, he then asks for a refill before looking to Logan, "He really drinks blood? You can have a vial of mine since it's flowing and see if it helps." Since he's here and one vial isn't going to make much of a difference. "Logan has a stash of steak?" is asked before he looks to Kwabena, "It is? Oh, good." But the fact that it's healing means they get to cut off the supply soon...before he transfuses too much.
"Just don't let me pass out, that's all I ask." Because then he'll have to stay even longer and the idea of feeling totally out of place isn't a fun one.
"We need to arrange night classes for him. The day time thing won't work out for him I think." Lorna says but when Shift gets excited by the healing Lorna looks a little closer. "I wonder if we'll get to the the muscle knit itself together?" She peers around Doug curious.
"Grab the steak," Logan said. Healing a teammates shoulder that had been rendered off of his body like ham off of a bone was a perfectly worthy sacrifice. He wasn't a heartless monster most of the time. If someone had taken his steak just because they were hungry that made a very grumpy Logan. "Make sure you cook it right. Medium rare," so did cooking the steak wrong.
"If it works like mine the muscle's gonna work together. The new skin may be torn away or might cause some scarring. All the muscle layers then the nerves and veins followed by skin. The nerve part is painful," he gave Kwa a look, "Bite down on something." Nerves that were coming together was a painful thing. The nerves slowly woke up to other nerves that had been severed. So there'd be a dull pain followed by a lot because it became exposed nerve before the skin layered on top of it.
If someone were to pay very close attention, they might see the disfigured shoulder starting it's slow regeneration. Kwabena can see it, for he can feel where it's working and knows where to look. "Don't worry, Red," he says in an offhand way to Rachel. "War's got nice abs, but dey'll nevah compare to dat charming smile of yours."
He could have said much, much worse. Or better, depending on one's point of view.
"Should we cut it now?" he asks, glancing about at the others before Warren. "I think we should cut it off now." He might be mildly freaked out by the fact that another person's blood is filling his veins and re-growing his flesh.
A brief glance is given to Logan. Then, the new skin begins to peel away, revealing torn muscle, severed nerve and vein, and a steadily regrowing bone.
Without a word, Kwabena reaches into a belt pouch and produces a small flask. He'd been good, but not anymore. The cap comes off and he takes a very hearty slug, before slamming the flask down. His cheeks tremble, but he doesn't make a sound.
Someome's gonna need to get him something to bite on. Quickly.
"I'll disconnect the IVs. Someone want to take care of the, uh... cutting?" It seemed like a Logan sort of thing, actually. but Doug wasn't volunteering himself for the task, at least. Moving to disconnect the tubes and remove the needles, Doug glances up at Rachel. Surely she can at least neutralize the nerves by just shutting down the pain center of the brain...
Rachel's someone who's paying very close attention to Shift's shoulder, and doesn't seem at all put off by the look of it. Even Logan opening his steak stash to general consumption doesn't distract her, and she doesn't look up to find out if the cooking instructions were meant for her. When she finally sees some evidence of regrowth, she relaxes a bit and becomes a bit less intent - and flashes a genuine smile at Kwabena in answer to his comment. "And don't you forget it." She says quietly, aware that she probably got off lightly there.
Logan's clinical explanation of just how much the process is likely to hurt, coupled by the steadily rising feeling of discomfort from Kwabena, puts the same thought in Rachel's mind as it does Doug's. She takes a swift step forward and slides onto the edge of the bed, reaching out to touch her fingers to Shift's temples. "Look at me." She says in an almost commanding tone, and as soon as his eyes lock with hers - hers disappear in fire, and she's inside his mind. A moment later, the pain's gone. His brain's simply not processing any of the messages from his shoulder right now. Rachel blinks, her eyes green once more, and smiles impishly. "Better?" She asks, dropping her hands from his temples, but not vacating her perch on his bed.
"I think that's a good idea," Warren offers, quickly downing the rest of the tea. "Is there anything sweet on that plate too? Orange juice? Cookies?" Something to replenish hydration and low blood-sugar levels. As the IV's are removed, Warren then grabs some gauze and presses it to the small puncture in his arm to stem the blood flow. "I'm glad it worked. I wasn't sure, but...glad it worked. Good to know that I can do that if I need to know in the future." Noting the flask, he frowns, "He probably shouldn't drink that...won't the blood thin out?"
As Rachel does a mental thing with Kwabena, he watches, "Nice trick." Once he's sure that he's no longer bleeding, he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his wings back behind him and splayed out across the floor. "I'll just stay here a minute or so."
Picking up a plate with some holiday cookies and brings it over to Warren. "Here, eat up. I can go get orange juice too if you want?" She offers setting the plate in his reach. "Doug should have thought to grab some, being all smart and everything." She ribs Doug lightly with a grin.
Smirking he looked at Kwa, "Welcome to my world." Everyone presumed a healing factor made Logan Mister Invincible. It didn't. Healing meant any injury he suffered would be healed. Suffering meant pain. Every time he was injured whether it was stabbed, shot, blown up, if Logan bled pain came with it. Sure a lot of these pains dulled over time thanks to frequency. Pain never left though.
As Rachel did her thing to block off Kwa's nerves. For a split second he was envious of the man. There were a few fights he wished someone had cut off his own nerve endings in the aftermath. The regeneration process wasn't kind. Seeing that everyone was preoccupied Logan slipped off to go make Warren a well deserved steak.
Things begin happening much faster now. Muscle is knitting together, veins growing back, and nerves are reconnecting. Kwabena seems to be withdrawing inside of himself, disconnected aside from the trembling of his cheeks. He overcame heroin addiction, he can overcome this.
Rachel's commanding word may have been the only thing that could have drawn him out of it. He snaps his head her way, almost violently so, and there's a sound of crackling and popping that fills the air. The sound of his flesh hardening. Which could he untimely right now. But within moments, the pain is just... gone.
A general sense of peace steadily comes from the African, and his flesh immediately softens to its normal state. His eyes remain locked into Rachel's for a few moments while a delayed grin grows. "Much bettah," he answers quietly.
Tucking the flask away, he looks over toward Warren. "Stick around, Worthington. It's cold as hell out dere. Be a little reckless, drink one of Logan's beers. Hell, I've got some stashed away I can sacrifice."
A glance is given to Logan as he makes to leave. Kwabena now understands him a bit better... and no, he's not envious. Not one bit.
Category:Log