your_talents (your_talents) wrote in marvel_nextgen,
@ 2011-06-21 17:25:00

Entry tags:

inactive - julian gallo, inactive - lisa graves, inactive - minnie

When Calling Someone A Freak, It's Important To Show Your Work
"Well Miss Graves, you're an interesting case study." Dr James Bradley, a.k.a. Dr Nemesis, commented, browsing through some data as Lisa got herself dressed again. Julian had been asked to wait outside the room they used for her exam, and once she was decent enough for anyone that might have been passing by, she opened the door to beckon him back in.

"Well that's encouraging.." She mutters in response to Bradley's analysis.

"Honestly, I was just making small-talk. I've seen much more radical and interesting genetic deviances than your personal stepping stone to reality tv stardom, oxymoron that that is, and a trendy new addiction. You're relatively pedestrian." He shrugs, tipping his hat slightly as he double-checks something. "You can come in whenever you want, corporate overlord. Your girlfriend's a tad edgy."

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	hellfireprince 2011-06-22 02:10 am UTC (link)
	Julian walks into the room, doing his best to ignore Dr. Bradley's pithy comments. He looks over to Lisa and smiles. "How are you doin' there, slugger?" Julian asks. (Reply to this)(Thread)

your_talents
2011-06-22 08:40 am UTC (link)

"Waiting for the word on that now." She nods at Bradley. In all honesty, she found his snark refreshing. That she knew how to respond to.

Nemesis waited for Julian to have a seat with Lisa, then cleared his throat. "Now, this is a rare opportunity here. Even in my circles, you don't get to say this much. This sort of pure pulp-adventure line.

Miss Graves... your gift is killing you."

Lisa blinks. "...what... what the fuck are you on about?" Her hands grip the edges of her seat until her knuckles turn whiter than usual.

Nemesis pulls out something like a pen from his pocket and flicks a switch. A holographic overlay of Lisa's body appears in midair. It is riddled with energy traces.

"Apparently you drew the genetic short straw, Miss Graves. Your powers are partially morphic in nature, but they're not 'clean'. You've been retaining a portion of each power you sample. Not enough to kickstart them again for that fresh pupil-dilating pulse-quickening high, but enough to still be familiar with how to use a particular power set.

Thing is, your perky little Emma Frost in travel size body isn't up to the job. More accurately, and as a man of mind-shatteringly advanced science, I hate to use this term, your soul isn't." He moves the device and the hologram zooms in on one particularly vivid area. "Now, if I know my genetic energy markers, and I'm pretty damn sure I do, this section here is tied to ferrokinesis, with a side of energy transfer. You must be snacking on someone with that gift fairly regularly.

You'll note that the edges of the residual deposits are fluctuating. The stronger the residual portion, the stronger the fluctuation, and they're all eroding your own personal energy signature. Honestly, it's amazing you've still got room for yourself in that little bleached head of yours."

Lisa breathes heavily, taking one of Julian's hands and fixing Nemesis with a glare. "What do I do? How do I stop it?"

In spite of his life, James Bradley takes half a step back.

"Cold turkey, my dear." He shrugs. "Based on your energy biopsy, at your current rate of power usage, you'll be dead before you reach thirty. Faster if snack on anything else high level. The effect will be something like a bunch of different cancers formed a gang, started snapping their fingers, and went marching up and down your 'soul' in a musical number."

Give up her powers? That... no, that can't happen. "But..." She's already grasping for a way out. "I... I could...

"I want you to understand this, missy. You have a choice to make right now, between rehab and hospice care."

Lisa couldn't find words, as the earth seemed to have fallen out from under her.

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hellfireprince
2011-06-23 01:25 am UTC (link)

"How confident are you in your analysis, Doctor Bradley? Your bedside manner could use a great deal of work." Julian says, a note of steel in his voice. He didn't like the way the man was talking to Lisa, as though he enjoyed telling her she could die, but he couldn't discount what he was seeing.

And Julian knows Lisa too well. She would rather die than be /normal/.

He felt the same way.

When Doctor Bradley is finished speaking, Julian takes a deep breath.

"Can I have a moment alone with Lisa, Doctor?" Julian asks.

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your_talents
2011-06-23 01:36 am UTC (link)

As soon as she can stop her knees from shaking, Lisa is going to tell this quack to go to hell.

"Mister Howard, I've been doing this for decades, without ever once feeling the need to garb myself in some ridiculous costume. I'm not a superhero. I'm a professional.

And, Miss Graves, you should understand that you're going to need continued treatment to mitigate the side effects you're already experiencing. I'm afraid they're going to persist even without you using your powers. Continuing the cancer comparison, it's going to be a bit like radiation therapy." He looks to Julian. "I should be able to have an array she can use on a daily basis assembled within a week or so. It should be fairly simple to operate, and I can have it installed here in your headquarters or at her personal residence."

He softens, however slightly, as he approaches Lisa before stepping out. "Miss Graves, as I said, I am a professional. I am going to exert every bit of my expertise to make this livable for you. All I'll ask of you is that you show an interest in living." He walks out.

As the door shuts, Lisa finally lets herself grab onto Julian and just scream into his chest, sobbing.

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hellfireprince
2011-06-23 02:28 am UTC (link)

Julian lets her sob, saying nothing as her anguish pours forth from her. There is nothing he can say that won't sound patronizing or a like a platitude of some kind, so he strokes her hair takes a deep breath, deciding that he's not going to accept the reality before him, in a sense.

He will create his own and drag Lisa into it, thereby making it /her/ reality as well.

"I'll offer you the chance to get a second or third or tenth opinion, Lisa. I'll have that machine installed at your apartment, regardless of cost.

What I'll /not/ do is watch you self-destruct and burn yourself to a crisp in order to underline some foolish idea of 'live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse'; the whole thing is utter nonsense. A good-looking corpse is still a corpse. Nor will I sit by and watch you shrink away into a shell of your former self because you don't know how to handle this." Julian says coolly, his tone brooking no argument.

"Doctor Bradley said one thing I agree with. You need to show an interest in living, if that is what you wish to do. Then we'll come up with a way for you to do that." Julian says, looking her in the eyes.

In his mind, he travels back to the day that Anton Howard told him that he had inoperable cancer.

Julian...I'd rather die that be less than the man I've always been, son. Living on borrowed time is no crime, boy. The crime is in living in /fear/ on borrowed time. Anton said then.

"What are you going to do, Lisa?" Julian asks.

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your_talents
2011-06-23 08:50 am UTC (link)

She's coherent enough that she hears everything she says. Eventually, she wipes her eyes with the back of one hand fiercely. He'd taken the 'live fast' line away from her, and it had hit deep. He understood that her powers defined her, definer her life and her habits. The idea of being without them was like the idea of going blind.

This... condition, would not define her. She would not let it.

"Today, I want to stop on the way back and buy a bat and something hideous and cheap to smash. After that..." Lisa swallows down her rage and fear and uncertainty. "--we're going to figure this goddamned nightmare out, because I refuse to burn out or step down."

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