xp_logs | LOG: Haroun, Madelyn, Marius, Rahne: Bad Therapy

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Marius and Haroun give a joint physical therapy session a try. Both of them skip breakfast. Guess which one really shouldn't have.

Haroun was setting a punishing pace, but so far the kid was keeping up rep-for-rep. Lighter weights, true, but Haroun couldn't blame him for that. It gave him something to shoot for. Today was all bicep and tricep work, which meant Curls. LOTS of curls. Both braced and suspended. "Come on, kid, you quitting on me? Finish the set!" he grunted out between reps to Marius.

"You try doing curls when the weight is resting on your teeth," Marius retorted, but grinned as he said it. It was good to be working again, and even better to be doing it with someone just as motivated to be there. Lately Marius had been feeling a little tired, like he usually did when he was unable to exercise for a prolonged period of time. The physical therapy had started out a little rough, but once he'd gotten going the feeling had disappeared. The fact that he was only lifting a fraction of what he normally would had irked him at first, but it was a step in the right direction.

Haroun grinned at Marius. "Wah, wah, wah." he said tauntingly, but with a smile. "Next set, rotate the arm 45 degrees and try a side-set." he instructed, doing so himself for his next set. "So, you used to work out often, I take it?" he asked. The kid had that look about him - one he recognized well in himself as well. The gym rat.

"Every day, three hours minimum," Marius replied promptly, switching position. "Some sport on top of that. Tend to favor swimming and that over free-weights. I do 'em for tone, but I tend towards practical muscle." His dismissive shrug spoke volumes for his opinion of anyone who pursued impractical muscle. "If it you can't use it, no use havin' it, right?"

Haroun grinned. "Knew I liked you for a reason. When I was not in-recovery like I am now I'd lift for two hours daily, then I'd do agility work - mostly hand-eye, that kind of thing. Cardio's a bitch for me to do, given the 'ware, but I do what I can. I'd go for a flight just about daily as well for speed-trials and aerial agility tests, then I'd teach my Arabic class and my Flight class, then it's back to the Gym for a sparring session or two, depending on who's available. Mix it up to keep it fresh, and there you go. Getting musclebound is just dumb."

Marius chuckled. "Sounds like my day. Up at five for a swim, some hours at school, associated club and sport business, a couple hours of weights and cardio, and after the cool-down maybe some studyin'." He switched sides, and grinned smugly. "You ask me, people who say they have nothin' to do aren't looking hard enough."

Haroun switched up as well and kept up the pace of reps. "It's weird. Some people just refuse to develop what God gave them." he said with as much of a shrug as he could manage. "Never really understood that. Body is a temple, and all that." he said with another grin. "After this set, rest for a minute, then we'll go to resistance pulls. You hold for me, I'll hold for you. Bands should be in the drawer there."

Marius grimaced. "If it's a temple, mine needs heavy renovation," he said. He'd removed his shirt for the workout, and the flourescent lighting was illuminating his ribs in a particularly unflattering way. The mouths on his palms he could handle; they'd appeared rather suddenly, and at a point where nothing much had mattered, let alone been able to frighten or repulse him. The damage to his body, however, had been far more subtle. He hadn't realized how extensive the wasting had been until his initial exam with Moira had been concluded. The energized feeling Marius had woken to had been deceptive; he'd been shocked to discover how . . . fragile the past few months had left him. His body had tried its best, but in the end it had only one source of genetic material to draw from: itself.

He was glad for Haroun. It was good to work with someone who understood that feeling of diminishment, and was just as eager to get rid of it.

"Save me from gym junkies," Madelyn sighed to herself with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. Things were going well - Haroun appreciated the company and the feeling of usefulness supervising Marius gave him, and Marius was a good-natured kid, good for bringing Haroun out of his black moods. "Don't get too excited there, though. Neither of you is up to your old standards, and overdoing it will only land you back in bed. Either of you." She wagged a finger at Haroun. "One more set and I think that's a day. No resistance pulls," she added as Haroun opened his mouth to suggest that.

Haroun looked over at Madelyn and stuck his tongue out at her. "Yes, Mommy." he minced at her with a smirk. Turning back to Marius, he shrugged. "Since Torquemadette over here has nixed resistance pulls, you pick the next exercise." he said. "You'd think we'd never worked out before." he told no-one in particular.

Marius snorted in disgusted agreement as he put down his weights. "I have textbooks lighter'n these." He took a moment to stretch his arms, neck, and back, slow and easy. He ended with bending at the waist to place his gloved hands on the floor, wincing at the stiffness months of inactivity had created in his legs, but grateful he was noticably more limber than he'd been a few days ago. He counted to thirty, then straightened, satisfied. "If the next bit's my choice, I'd--"

The wave of dizziness took him by surprise. For a moment his vision went grey at the edges, and he just barely managed to catch himself on the edge of a weight rack before falling.

Haroun blinked as Marius started to topple over. "Easy, kid. Part of the whole workout thing is knowing your limits. Here, sit. Rest. Drink your water." he said, reaching into Marius's stash of stuff and fishing out his waterbottle for him. He took the chance to rehydrate as well, pulling out his own bottle and taking a deep drink from it.

Madelyn was by Marius' side instantly, directing him to sit on the exam table in the corner. "Keep your head down until the dizziness passes," she instructed, resting her hand against his forehead and feeling the clamminess. "And keep drinking water. I think you've overdone it a bit, hon. Back to bed for the rest of the day, I think." Marius made a vague movement as if to slide off the table and stand up, and she pushed him back gently. "Stay put. I'll go get you some transport - you'll probably pass out if you stand up."

While not pleased, Marius wasn't going to argue with her on this. He wanted to get back in shape, but he wasn't an idiot. He'd been involved in various forms of sport for as long as he could remember, and he knew when to call it a day.

Haroun was also quite wiped from the workout - he set a hard pace, and he was pleased to see Marius keep up with him without complaint. Boded well. But he'd called time, and now he was feeling a little lightheaded - OK, not eating yet today was a -dumb- idea, and his body was picking now to let him know _all_ about it.

His wasn't the only one. Marius felt flushed, and the sudden lapse reminded him of that time he'd decided to carry on with his cross-country training the day after orthodontic surgery. One minute he'd been fine, jogging along and feeling no pain, and the next he was filled with the hot, angry sensation of abrupt weakness. He'd had just enough time to turn around before his legs gave out, and he'd woken up a few minutes later to find himself flat on his back in the middle of the path. It had been more embarassing than frightening, but Marius could do without the school's equivalent of being found and carried back to his room by the gardener.

He braced himself on the edge of the table, letting his legs dangle, and stared at the floor. His vision was still dark around the edges. Madelyn had been right, it was time to stop. In another minute he'd get up and go back to his room, rehydrate, and rest. For now, he thought vaguely, he'd just concentrate on normalizing his breathing, in and out, in and out, maintaining that steady, hypnotic rhythm.

Marius breathed, and let the darkness move in.

Rahne, like much of the rest of the mansion population, had been having several rather frazzled days. She had also just lately received a disconcerting reminder from Haroun that she needed to be thinking about her future, which perhaps explained why she had been praying, as her shift sitting with Remy ended, along the lines of "Now what do I do?"

She hadn't really meant right this minute, but some impulse prompted her to turn toward the PT room where Haroun and Marius had been working out -- just in time to be very nearly run over by Dr. Bartlet walking briskly the other way. The drive-by update involved Marius beginning a relapse; Rahne agreed quickly to go keep an eye on things for a moment. Maybe take in some water, as long as she minded Marius's hands -- she'd been given the basic records to review, and only the mouths themselves had reacted to immediate mutant presence, at least when he hadn't been starving for months.

Rahne was expecting to see Marius in the lethargic state she'd had described to her.

When he came into view, the small hairs at the nape of her neck rose; a cool prickling began there and crawled down her spine. Marius was not lethargic. Marius was very still, fairly relaxed, eyes fixed straight ahead. But his head was coming up and his gaze focused; his stillness was that of a predator waiting for the perfect moment, and he was looking at Haroun.

Haroun, for his part, was oblivious. He was tired, he was sweaty, his legs insisted that sitting on the bench hurt, and his blood sugar was through the floor. Normally he was paranoid enough to keep at least a part of an eye on his surroundings, but this was _Medical_. A safe place.

She was supposed to stay out of the way and not interfere while X-Men dealt with real threats. But Haroun was not in any shape to fight or be chewed on, and tension whined in the air as Marius --

Rahne lunged forward, shifting. Marius was fast; she had to change angles a little partway, and collided with him what seemed barely out of reach of Haroun. They both crashed to the ground in a tangle, then scrambled up.

Haroun's attentions snapped back to the present when Marius lunged, and he was already trying to throw himself out of the line of fire when the reddish-brown blur streaked in and bodychecked Marius out of his intercept path. Haroun went backwards off the bench, his body too abused and weak to keep from botching his breakfall and bouncing his head _hard_ off the linoleum floor.

She was, she suspected, forgetting something. But she didn't have time to work it out; she wanted to keep Marius in place (ideally without biting him, not a good idea to bite patients, even if her lips were drawn back over wolf-teeth), and he had been able to overpower Nathan....

Marius grabbed at her shoulder, but she twisted away; between her fur and his gloves he couldn't keep his grip. He made another lunge, but with the same result, and at this second failure his face contorted with blank, animal rage. Kylun had taught her enough to balk him, but that predatory gaze was on her now (which was an improvement, even if it didn't feel that way, and all her fur was on end) and Rahne stumbled a little, caught off balance when Marius drew back and ripped one glove off.

Not conscious thought on Marius' part -- there was nothing rational, nothing calculating in those wild eyes. More like a kind of predatory cunning, a presence that learned--

The ungloved hand darted in, past her guard as she struck away the other one, and fastened on her collarbone.

It didn't hurt as much as getting bitten ought to; she felt sharpness, felt her fur being pushed around... it hurt more when she caught his arm and yanked on it, and he managed to grab her arm in turn. Rahne growled and twisted her head downward; she barely checked herself short of a bite designed to crack bone and tear tendons.

And when she checked herself and stopped moving, just for a moment... when she was still, Marius went still as well.

His movements were responsive. When she failed to resume her struggles his painful grip on her relaxed -- relaxed to the point where he was barely more than resting his hands against her. His breathing, too, had slowed; as long as she didn't move, he seemed content to be calm.

Now that she wasn't struggling she had time to process the fact that she could no longer feel the teeth at her throat; the area had gone numb, as if smeared with analgesic. The arm he'd trapped with his gloved hand was a different matter. There was . . . movement beneath the lyrca. Pinpricks against her skin, unable to find purchase through the fabric. The movement wasn't frantic, but the steady, unhurried flexion was almost more disturbing. There was something horribly inexorable about it.

Rahne considered this. She didn't think she could break his grip if he tightened it again, not if Nathan hadn't been able to, unless that had been the telekinesis. Experimentally, she tried to jerk away, see if speed would work. His hands clenched again; the pressure registered, and hurt, even where the skin was numb.

She could probably hurt him badly, which might make him let go, but even if the wiggling teeth under the glove felt ominous, she didn't think she was in enough immediate danger to justify it. Although it was worrying not to be able to feel where she was being chewed on. She was starting to feel a little wobbly, but unless there was something more than the numbing changing her perceptions, she didn't think she was about to collapse or anything.... Maybe if someone else came to remove or sedate him, that would work better....

Oh. That was what she'd forgotten. Yelling for help.

Haroun told the Tweety-birds to knock it the fuck off long enough to come to some semblance of his senses. He could see, from his vantage point on the floor, Rahne and Marius locked in some sort of ... embrace? RAHNE? No, wait. This was the stillness of combatants, not the gropings of lovers. That knock on the head must have addled him more than he thought. Without even thinking about it, he shot to his feet and slammed one hand over the panicbutton - the "drop everything and haul ass" alarm that every room in sensitive areas had. He whirled about on pure instinct and looked for an opening, some way to even up the score.

Found it. Old instincts kicked in with a rippling fire up and down his spine, and with a kiai (learned from Shiro) he drove the heel of his foot into the side of Marius's head with enough force (he hoped) to knock the boy out cold or at least give Rahne enough room to maneuver.

Marius grunted as the impact snapped his head to one side, the instinct to roll with the blow forcing him to break his hold on Rahne's neck. He managed to catch himself before he ended on his side and scrambled into a crouch. His attention, which until this point had been devoted to Rahne, was now locked on the immediate threat: Haroun.

Marius lunged, and changed.

It wasn't like the way Rahne changed. Rahne's body changed all at once, a russet ripple of flesh and fur. Not Marius. As he exploded from his crouch his snarling face began to lengthen, his teeth stretching toward fangs as his jaw and neck swelled with muscle that could snap bone without any change to human his ears or eyes. Claws grew from the fingers of outstretched hands, bringing with them a dusting of grey fur that covered his hands to reach midway up his forearms. He was attacking with Rahne's power, but it was somehow nauseatingly incomplete, and as the hand rushed towards him Haroun could see, nested in the thickened pad of tissue forming on the ungloved hand, a handful of needle-like teeth reaching for him.

Haroun reacted without thought, as he'd trained long and hard to do. He swung his leading leg up into a brutal hooking kick to the head, looking to knock the boy off-course and back to the ground, where he could be subdued without too much more fuss. He didn't have time to think, to wonder about the changes to Marius's morphology. He was acting on instinct. But his new body betrayed him somewhat - the blow landed, but Haroun's balance was all wrong, and he collapsed with a grunt of pain. The fire ripping through him was too much for his weakened self to withstand, and unconsciousness claimed him.

Hopefully he'd bought enough time for either Rahne to get back on the ball or for the panicbutton alert to have the desired effect.

Rahne had rolled onto her feet again, fast, high on adrenaline, and rather annoyed since things *had* calmed down. Maybe if she'd spoken up sooner -- no time for that. Feeling at her neck had revealed no serious tears; she'd hesitated, seeing Haroun on his feet and apparently able to fight (and staring at Marius, who seemed to be manifesting some strange, steel-grey partial form of her own powers), but as Haroun went down, Marius lunged forward again, hands outstretched.

So did Rahne. The changes to Marius's jaw, neck, and shoulders gave her a good target; on a wolf, it was an area that could take a certain amount of punishment anyway, and Marius was young enough not to have outgrown all of puppy physiology.

Rahne grabbed on to loose skin and fur with both hands and her teeth, using her momentum and twisting to carry Marius back and sideways by the scruff of his neck. He smelled hungry, angry, and male, and as they hit the ground and rolled, she caught herself growling involuntarily. She had to keep his attention, had to hold him--or let him bite her again--not with that mouth! Rahne wrenched away as he snapped at her, possibly a carryover of her instincts, and then steeled herself and slammed her forearm into the palm of his ungloved hand, down onto the straining teeth.

She wrapped her free hand around his other wrist, gazing for a fascinated moment at the ring of teeth that were gently pushing aside shreds of Lycra. He squirmed, and the arm began to slim under her fingers, melting into a lupine foreleg. The decrease in mass might have worked against someone 1) not expecting it and 2) not accustomed to dealing with uncooperative dogs as a result of volunteering at the SPCA, but as it was the change only served to allow Rahne a firmer grip. He struggled again, but it was less enthusiastic now that he'd established she had a good hold. The hand -- paw, now -- still pressed toward her, but his heart didn't seem in it, and she could feel the arm she was leaning on starting to go numb over his hand.

Rahne took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on speaking. It was difficult to shape the words; her mouth wasn't shaped right and shifting back seemed harder than usual.

"Stop," she managed first. There was still a growl to her voice; she tried clearing her throat, but it didn't seem to do much, so she just tried to be as loud and clear as possible. "He's still--I'm all right--he'll be still if I am. I think. Dr. Bartlet?" She'd heard footsteps and heard them stop. She thought. "Maybe just come up quietly and... and..." Rahne shook her head a little. She didn't need to tell the doctors their jobs. Just that violent measures weren't needed. Marius was still, eyes locked on her; even the arm not feeding on her was going limp in her grasp. Her heart was hammering--she didn't exactly like being looked at as food!--and she felt weaker, but it could be worse. She didn't have a virus or other injuries to worry about. Oh, yes. Injuries. "Er, is Haroun all right?"

"He's out, but I won't be able to tell if he's done any damage to himself until I examine him properly," Madelyn replied from where she was crouched by Haroun, hand on his pulse. She'd heard the commotion and detoured for her tranq gun, but hadn't been able to get a clear shot with all the wrestling going on. Now she had the gun trained on Marius, but hadn't fired -she didn't want to risk sending him into shock by introducing a sedative into his weakened state. But the sound of chewing coming from Marius' hand locked around Rahne's arm was disconcerting. "I've got a sedative here, it should knock him out, but I don't want to risk him hurting you. So I'm going to move towards you very slowly, all right?"

"All right. I doona think he will." Rahne took a steadying breath, still watching Marius's half-changed face as she listened to Madelyn's footsteps approach. Haroun had left some bruising. She hoped neither of them was hurt much. She didn't think she'd bitten anything important. "I'm sorry about this," she added, a little uneasily. "I didna think Haroun was ready to be fighting. Or chewed on."

Madelyn blinked. "Hon, you've got nothing to apologise for. You probably stopped Haroun ending up bedridden for another few weeks, given how Nathan reacted last time - his system wouldn't have coped." Although she was worried about how much strain he'd put on the healing nerve connections in his back. "And as soon as we've got Marius sedated and restrained and Haroun taken care of, I'm going to take a look at those bites. They don't look deep, but they do look messy." As she spoke, she was bending down, ready to inject Marius with the sedative. The boy paid absolutely no attention to her, as if she wasn't there at all.

Just as Madelyn was about to administer the injection Marius made a soft sound, somewhere between a cough and a hiss. His body shuddered, and the hand pinned by Rahne's forearm twitched, then relaxed. He had passed out.

Haroun floated back to consciousness slowly, and instead of the vision of blonde perfection he was expecting he got a Scottish werewolfette and a worried Philly doctor. If this was Paradise, he was feeling seriously gypped. "Ow." he said, feeling waves of pain ripple up from his lower back.

"What the...? Damn, no-one lets me tranq them any more," Madelyn muttered with a mock-pout as she watched Marius go limp. "Let go of him now, Rahne, and be careful with your arm as you disengage. Those teeth are sharp." She was giving Marius a quick inspection as Haroun made his return to consciousness known. "Stay still, Haroun, I'll be with you in a minute," she said, noting Marius had a steady pulse and was breathing steadily. His face was going to be a mess from the kicks, though - the shapeshifting had bulked up the muscle enough to prevent wholescale facial fractures, but the cheekbone was probably broken. And he'd be a mass of bruises when he shifted back. Turning her attention back to Rahne, she reassured herself the girl wasn't seriously hurt, although probably in shock. "Go sit with Haroun for me, make sure he doesn't move? Help's on the way." Even as she spoke rushing footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor.

Haroun knew better than to try to go anywhere when he felt like this. The pain was immense, but he was used to dealing with immense amounts of pain. "Couple of Advil, some water to wash them down with, and a _long_ soak in the hot tub and I'll be fine." he muttered.

Rahne blinked, shifted her weight carefully off the hand, and then let go of the paw. There was something even weirder about the mouth in the middle of a paw-pad. "I must be boring," she joked weakly, then sat up and looked at her arms. They both had been bitten, now, and while they still didn't hurt and there was very little blood, there was some weird pink stuff in her fur. Probably better not to lick that. She sniffed at it a little, then scooted over to Haroun. "I'm thinking ye get more medical exams first," she said, "though hot water sounds verra nice." Now that it was all over, she was really starting to feel very wobbly. Also, she wanted something to eat. Maybe a large bone.

"Fu ... bugger that." he said, contemplating trying to pull himself over to his wheelchair, but knowing that the slog would be slow, excruciatingly painful, and would piss Madelyn off something fierce. Best to just sit here and freeze his ass off on the floor.

Which was an odd feeling, as the formerly crippling pain faded in a moment like it wasn't even there. He was feeling pressure and temperature in his lower half again, and the pain was just ... gone. Grinning, Haroun sat up, but then wobbled as his head swam.

Madelyn didn't miss the wobbliness, and as soon as the other two were taken care of, she was tending to Rahne personally. And probably reassuring her that sometimes assaulting patients was a necessary part of medicine if you didn't want them to hurt themselves or others. Turning her attention back to Marius, she sighed. There was definitely a powers-related issue here, and the sooner they worked it out, the better. Especially given the emerging habit of Marius waking up bruised and in restraints.

"And you were worried about fitting in here," she told the unconscious boy wryly, patting his shoulder gently as Hank and Moira came in.