2012-11-17 Dr. McCoy, I Presume

The drive from New York to Metropolis normally takes a fair bit longer. When Shan shows up to pick Hank up in Emma's car, however -- a nice, shiny Maserati that she is /not used to driving/ -- it goes a bit, ah, quicker, than normal. At least it was an uneventful drive? She didn't even scratch the paint or anything!
What's nice is that now, the Academy of Tomorrow is more or less complete. There's even a parking garage under the school, where Shan returns the Maserati to its usual spot before very carefully clawing her way back out of the car, keys in hand. Solid ground at last. Thank goodness. "All your bits still attached, Hank?" she asks dryly, actually patting herself down as if to check for anything left behind on the interstate.
Beast has been looking forward to finally meeting the mysterious Emma Frost. So even Shan's peddle to the metal driving doesn't put him off. At leats if things go well, Hank won't be crashing at Shan's place much longer. Thankfully she's been saved from his constant presence by his occassional trips back to Africa. Today Hank's trying to make a good impression, though he's still dressed fairly casual and rocking the somewhat safari-like attire.
Hank climbs out of the passanger side, checking his facial fur and fangs in the side mirror really quickly. After all, he knows his appearance can be somewhat shocking... even for those who are familiar with dealing with mutants. Hank straightens up and flashes Shan a warm smile. "Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet and Watch. Everytime important checked and accounted for, my dear." Hank fidgets just a bit nervously and brushes down some of his arm fur. "Do I look ok? Maybe I should have grabbed a suit? Or perhaps something a bit more flashy?"
The good news is that one-- Emma is expecting them-- and two-- as a telepath with what some have had occassion to call 'casual ethical bias'. This means that she knows when it's time to extricate herself from fussing over the final details of the student center, and also means that she's cheated outrageously and already gotten something of a feel for the impending meeting. Yep, no surprises here. What a... lack of surprise.
To tell the truth, she's quite interested in this particular meeting-- Shan speaks highly of one Dr. Henry McCoy, and getting Noriko's problem with control on the road to a more permanent fix is something of a relief. She lets the pair get situated and make their way upstairs before ambushing them, but that doesn't mean she isn't ready to meet them just outside the elevator up from the parking garage, immaculate as ever in a stark white business suit and matching sneakers. She makes it work.
"You look fine," Shan promises Hank, and she even means it. The blue fuzzy look is kind of growing on her. With a grin, she offers him an arm before she heads for the elevator, casting a brief look up towards the ceiling. "...ah. She's just upstairs. You're not going to freak her out, Hank, I promise. You're much too charming for that."
"As do you... but you've already got the job." Hank reminds Shan, as he accepts her arm and walks with her to the elevator. "Thanks again for giving me a place to crash. I know I'm not the best house guest. What with the shedding and such." Hank smiles warmly and glances up as Shan does. "Then lets not keep our generous host waiting." Hank steps into the elevator with Shan, rocking on his oversized feet just a bit as they head up for the meeting.
Unsurprsingly-- at least to Shan, one expects-- Emma's timing in being ready to greet the pair with a smile and a hand offered to Hank is impeccable. So's her manners, but she *is* famously skilled as a socialite. "Dr. McCoy," she offers in her richly aristocratic voice. "Emma Frost. Welcome to the Academy. Xi'an has had simply wonderful things to say." There's a pause, and a sort of teasing, but polite half-grin. "Though she didn't indicate you were quite so striking in blue. It's definitely your color."
As confident as Shan was that Emma'd be... well, /Emma/, it's still something of a relief to actually see. She worries about her friends, and she hasn't known Emma /that/ long. Not yet.
With an amused smile, Shan slides off the elevator and off to the side to give the pair some room. "I had to leave room for /some/ surprises," she notes lightly, pausing to offer Emma her keys back. Ahem.
Beast does glance down as Emma greets them off the elevator... showing to anyone who can read body language, or minds, that there still is work to be done on his self-esteem. Though the moment passes as Hank bows his head just a bit and takes Emma's hand, clasping his other hand atop it in a warm squeeze. "Please, it's Henry... well Hank. I'm not so full of my own ego to require a title." There's a bit of a 'average farmboy' hidden beneath the cultured and beastial aspects of his voice. Emma's charming comment on his appearance does a great deal to relax his stress about the meeting though. "It's a recent makeover. I'm not sure if it's really me though."
Hank's features do perk up a bit after this, spreading into a warm smile. Even his body language relaxes a bit. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you Ms. Frost. Shan's spoken highly of you. And the society pages seem to say nothing but glowing things about you." Hank puts one hand on Shan's back after greeting Emma, gesturing for her to lead the way.
"Fur's coming back into vogue, trust me," Emma quips, and inclines her head. "Your positive reviews are probably more reliable than mine. I daresay the society people are scared of me." She takes the keys from Shan and makes them disappear into her jacket with a smooth motion sufficiently swift and practiced that it resembles slight of hand, and turns to walk all three of them through the Student Center, which is just a hair shy of completely finished. "In any case. How much has Xi'an told you about the situation that's prompted our contacting you, Hank?" She has to suppress the inclination to use 'Henry' instead, but it doesn't show.
This is how you know who your friends really are. With things going so well, Shan does /not/ tell Hank she told him so. Just cracks a pleased smile, clasps her hands behind her back and falls into step when Emma starts walking. "Just enough to get him curious enough to fly back," she notes innocently, which is... maybe not all that far from the truth. She's only had so much to work with.
Beast hrms softly at the comment about fur coming back into style, as he cocks his head from side to side while studying Emma. "If your name was Cruella DeVille I might be a bit worried about that. But since you're lacking the skunk hair, I think I'm safe." Hank falls into step behind Emma, as she leads them through the Student Center. "Well, I know you have a young mutant with electrical abilities who's dealing with a bit of control issues. While I haven't examined her myself as of yet, I have been working on a few solutions that should help. They're not going to be pretty though. At least not the prototypes... but they should do the job." Hank adjusts his glasses just a bit.
"I dont' think Noriko will mind if it falls short of parisian chic," Emma notes wryly. "She seems chiefly concerned with not breaking things and hurting people. Not that I expect she'd mind eventual refinement, but-- one thing at a time, I would expect. I have her staying in one of Frost International's sheilded testing facilities right now-- a large Faraday cage was the best I could do on short notice. But you'll have our full support. She's one of the first students to be brought to us for help, so I would like to see us succeed." She leads the way down one of the wings of the Center, where the wall labeling takes on a tastefully-restrained red and gold theme. "Are you familiar with StarkTech workstations?"
"I think her dorm room's nearly done," Shan murmurs, mostly to herself. And just like that, she's digging her smartphone out of her pocket so she can actually find out. As useful as the company's facility was, she's eager to get the poor kid into something vaguely resembling a normal living space.
Beast cough-chokes just a bit at the mention of StarkTech. That's a tad awkward. "I'm fairly familiar with them... yes." There's clearly a story there. And for once, it doesn't even take a telepath to figure that out. "I have all the designs worked out. I just need to finish the construction phase. So I'll need a bit more access to her file. Or a personal meet and greet with her." Hank makes note of as he continues to pay incredibly close attention to the tour. "Speaking of roooms... I think Shan's sanity would thank you if you if I could crash in the workspace to construct this young lady's devices. I don't like putting her out for an extended period of time."
"We have a full suite," Emma explains, gesturing towards the colors on the wall before she sweeps them up a staircase. "Anthony was most generous in his contribution in that respect, and the sciences and technology labs, one must admit, have ended up extremely impressive." She looks a little apologetic. "The girl was a bit... wary when we met. I havent pressed her yet, so we'll have to arrange a meeting. There isn't much of a file to be had, yet." Indeed, when they reach the main engineering lab space... it's impressive. Open floorplan, lots of worktables and plenty of room. Very recognizable SI-branded holographic interfaces to work with and an entryway to what looks like a fabrication system. No expenses spared, clearly.
"Make yourself at home. I'll even go so far as to say if you find yourself wanting to extend your stay, I can arrange longer-term and more comfortable housing arrangements," Emma notes mildly.
"You're not putting me out. The twins love having you around," Shan notes with a wry smile, giving Hank a very light, playful elbow in the ribs. "But we'll get you settled anyway. I won't even take it personal, I promise," she notes, crossing her heart with a finger. As for the workstations... well. She's considerably less at ease with them than Emma and even Hank likely are. She grew up with the Mansion's tech levels, which were great and all, but this is /everywhere/, man.
When there's confrimation that Stark is involved with this project, Hank rubs his furry chin just a little bit and quickly comments. "My name hasn't come up at all... has it? Stark and I have a previous relationship that could make things a bit awkward." Like the fact that Hank was an employee that fell off the face off the Earth. That's going to be a bit awkward should they meet. He's sure it likely won't come up, but it's better to be safe rather than sorry.
Upon entering the main lab space, Hank can't help but offer a low impressed whistle at the state of the art equipment. "Impressive. Of course I'll have to make a few modifications. But this should certainly work very well for my needs." Hank runs his furry hand across one of the devices, before turning his focus back to Shan. "And I love the twins. I adore children, you know that. I just like to earn my keep." As Shan may have noticed, Hank's been doing chores around the place while staying there. Hank glances up at some of the overhead piping. "Question... how secure is all of that?"
"I insisted the labs all be able to weather minor explosive events," Emma says wryly. "So I daresay it had *better* be secure." She shrugs. "As to the rest... you haven't come up. But I have never known Anthony to remember any but the most aggravating or flamboyantly feminine of points for any longer than it takes to be over and done with," she notes with a light sort of cutting edge. Can't help it-- the mega-wealthy are all in competition with each other and cutting statements are the norm, even between those nominally friendly with each other.
Shan doesn't actually /say/ it, or even think it, explicitly, but the look she gives Emma says it pretty clearly: oh, /burn/. "You do plenty to earn your keep, Hank," she says instead, reaching over to give his shoulder an affectionate pat. "We like having you around, but we won't begrudge a man his own space. 'sides. I need to be able to bring dates home without your handsome mug distracting them."
"Well, I'm more curious about the weight limit..." Hank pats his sides just a bit, knowing quite well that he's put on a few pounds over his previous form. He's sure it's fine, but doesn't want to pull down part of the ceiling or upper floor by relaxing while he works. "Well, I'm not to my knowledge aggravating. As for flamboyantly feminine... maybe if my mutation would have leaned towards bubble gum pink. I'd say I lucked out... blue is beautiful after all." Hank laughs just a bit at Karma's comments about distracting her dates. "Well, if you wouldn't insist on using me as a fur rug infront of the fireplace during your dates that wouldn't happen. You know I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut for long."
Emma gets the gist of the patting, and thumbs at the piping. "Let's find out." She's curious to see, anyway. "Not like the contractors have gone home-- if it breaks, we'll just haul them up here and make them bring it up to spec." Yeah, ti's that easy. Emma's pretty confident it'll manage, though. She specced the whole school out for sturdiness, anticipating the kinds of things a bunch of kids with superpowers and supergenius devices are likely to get into. She manages to hold in commentary on the rest. Truely the White Queen's willpower is legendary.
"Be less comfortable and I'll shop around for alternatives," Shan replies with a sniff of disdain. Yeah, she may not be eager to go back to the Institute itself, but she /did/ miss having people like Hank around to banter with.
Of course, Shan pauses and sliiiiides her eyes askance at Emma. Right. Boss. /Ahem/. Dignity, Xi'an. Always dignity.
Of course dignity isn't always easy to maintain around Hank... he's got sort of that friendly upbeat loveable atitude that's somewhat infectious. Beware Emma! With a light nod at the White Queen, Hank hands over his wallet and such to Shan to hold for a moment. "Of course, I do have to perform my trick to get my treat." It's a bit of self depreciating humor... which some of Hank's friends can't stand. But when you've turned yourself into a walking talking muppet, you really do have to have a sense of humor. "Alley Oop.... who I'm told I used to resemble if I might add." Hank bounds up on one of the tables and then backflips, his large prehensile feet snapping out to grab one of the overhead pipes. His toes and feet curling a bit around the pipe and allowing Hank to hang, swinging casually from the pipe. "Do I get a treat now?" Hank jokes.
If Emma was the sort of woman to be visibly impressed with things, she might be at the display. But she is not above a bit of teasing, especially with a good setup. She breezes over, fishing in her jacket, and removes a cigarette case that ends up producing a short peppermint stick of the approximately same length. She's been trying to fend off a return to smoking again, and these are her current replacement-vice. She removes one, taps it thoughtfully on the case, and sticks it in Hank's maw like the smoke it is meant to stand in for. Then she pats his cheek and grins. "Charming. Alright, Xi'an, we can keep him," she quips.
"Fresh out of Twinkies... but it looks like you're covered," Shan muses, loosely folding her arms and grinning up at Hank. "Your powers have always been so much more fun than mine. The new stuff's just adding insult to injury, it's not at all fair." Truthfully, she isn't even exaggerating that much. The telepathy is okay, but the rest of what she can do? She could really, really live without. /That/ looks fun.
Beast can't help but laugh at Emma's response to his display, munching the offered peppermint stick as he continues to swing. Hank was actually somewhat unsure of Emma, having a hard time getting a feel for her. But seeing that she clearly has a sense of humor, it edges her into the 'Trustworthy' column. Hank turns his focus to Shan for a moment. "Don't remind me about the Twinkies. I'm going to end up going into withdrawls at this rate." Hank continues to just casually swing, chuckling a bit at Shan. "It's really not all that it's cracked up to be. Between the fact that clothes drive me mad, my shampoo budget skyrocketing, and shedding everywhere.. it's not as wonderful as it seems." His attention returns to Emma for a moment once she announces that they can keep him. "Are you sure? You haven't even checked if I'm house trained yet?"
Emma smirks at the question, tucking one arm across her chest just under the bust, and propping her other elbow on it so she can tap her cheek thoughtfully. After a couple of seconds, she smiles with a playful sort of mysteriousness, and announces, "Quite sure. There may even be a salary in it for you if you like." That delivered, she turns to take her leave, but not without one last parting statement over her shoulder. "Make sure he has everything he needs, Xi'an. You've the expense account."
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