Log: Paige, Nathan, Helen, Laurie.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Who: Nathan Morrow, Paige Guthrie, Lauren Collins, Helen Parker.
When: Backdated to Monday 1st May 2006 Time: 5:00pm
What Happens Paige conducts a little experiment to get a better idea of Laurie's powers and range.



Laurie squeezed her hands together and tapped her feet against the legs of her chairs as she watched Paige set up equipment off to the side. Nathan and Paige had explained to her that they wanted to see if her powers were effective in the open space of the cafeteria and if so, whether they could cause someone to act outside of what they would normally do. It all seemed rather straightforward but she felt nervous even so. She really didn't want to let them down and she just wasn't sure she'd be able to simply use her powers, just like that.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked to the side to see Helen's smiling face. "Cheer up, hey? Mr fancy pants lawyer over there is so going to wipe the floor with these bozos and you'll be back trying to decide whether you should get a job over spring break before you know it."

"I know, just pinch me if I start going all emo on you, kay?" Laurie replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

"There wouldn't be hours enough in the day" Helen replied, expertly moving out of the way of Laurie's mock swipe at her shoulder.

Laurie poked out her tongue in retaliation before looking up as Paige walked towards her laptop sitting near Helen and herself.

Nathan headed over as well. He wasn't going to be much good as a mutant baseline for the test if he was standing over on the other side of the cafeteria talking to the custodian, who seemed intensely interested in what they were doing. Not in any sort of hostile way, thankfully; more along the lines of the people who slowed down passing an accident scene.

"You need to relax, Laurie," he told his visibly tense young client. "Remember, there's no pressure here. We're just testing out a theory or three."

"Sorry." Laurie replied, and then rolled her eyes as Helen smacked her lightly on the arm. "Okay, okay, I won't keep saying I'm sorry, just stop hitting me."

"Well, we did warn you last week if you kept saying sorry for random things we were going to start smacking you." Helen replied, winking. She knew Laurie, and the best way to get her to relax had always been to make her laugh. She was then so busy having fun; she tended to forget to be nervous.

"Yeah, yeah." Laurie said, grinning back at her friend before turning to Nathan. "What do you need me to do exactly?"

"Paige here is going to take some readings of you using your powers," Nathan said easily. "To check your range, what sort of reactions people have, that sort of thing. That's why you're here," he said, nodding to Helen, "as well as me, so that we have a mutant and human baseline." He looked sideways at Paige with a crooked grin. "Not that I'd have thought of that myself. I'm a lawyer, not a scientist."

That didn't sound too bad, nothing terribly hard at least, except for the fact that she had no idea how she did what she did. Just because she wasn't sure of something though, didn't mean she couldn't at least try her best and she suspected that these two wouldn't ask her to do something she was completely incapable of.

"Okay, I'm ready when you guys are. Just tell me what to do." she replied, looking over at Paige.

As if sensing a cue, the mysteriously quiet Paige flicked her eyes up for a second from the long lunch table that was serving as her make-shift lab. Computer placed in her lap, she finished a rush of typing, hitting the enter button with a flourish; Nathan and Helen's statistics and reference numbers appeared on her screen.

"Perfect timing. Nathan, Helenlove, if you could possibly stand by Laurie and take a couple deep breaths, just to be sure, I'll get your second blood sample while the air read-out does it's thing, alright? Same as the first, just a little prick."

Helen nodded and moved closer to Laurie, giving her a friend shove with her shoulder before grinning at her. Laurie smiled back, shuffling her feet and looking at Paige expectantly, before looking over at Nathan as he moved closer as well. She was still nervous; she didn't think she'd stop feeling nervous until this whole thing was over. She hoped the others weren't being affected badly by that, although that was the whole point of this test thing though, wasn't it? To show what she could do.

Humming happy birthday rather tunelessly – perfect pitch had been waiting just for Jay it seemed – Paige beckoned her two test subjects forward at the last note, her eyes still glued to her screen as she watched for any changes. She was nice enough to spare them each a quick glance as she pricked their fingers, even rewarding them with a smile when she was done, before feeding in the new data.

"Well, we didn't get any outward changes... and I didn't pick much up, either. Just gimme a second to get the blood results and we can go onto round t-" Paige explained to them as she worked, cut off as her laptop issued a cheerful 'ping!'. "As we thought; all clear."

Helen peered over Paige's shoulder, rubbing the point of her finger where she'd been pricked. If Laurie weren't her friend, she so wouldn't have volunteered for all these needle pricks. "That's great!" she said, completely unaware if clear was good but Paige had sounded like it was, so it must be. "So, what next?"

"Hold your horses, let me enjoy my scientific genius here," Paige teased easily as she set up a new data sheet. "Alright, lab rats, over to where the fight broke out, seated please, Laurie, you head to where you were sitting. I'm going to torture your ears some more and then I get to take even more blood. Who's excited? Or has any questions, I'm open to both."

Laurie nodded and moved over to the table she'd been sitting at and watched as Nathan and Helen sat down at what had been the jock's table on that day.

"Only a scientist would get excited about drawing blood." Laurie replied, grinning at Paige from where she sat. "S-so is this the sort of work you normally do?" Turning a little so she didn't have to look right over her shoulder, Paige looked over at Laurie, her internal clock keeping time as Nathan and Helen arrived at their mark. "Well, being in the lab makes up part of my normal day, sure. It's usually a little less CSI than this, though, and at some point of the day my partner blows something up, but sadly he's not here."

"But... yeah. Science doing something good for mutants?" Paige continued, subtly moving a watchful eye to encompass not only all her subjects but also their surroundings. This had to be just like the previous riot, or all their findings would be void. "That's pretty much what I'm all about."

Laurie nodded, clenching her hands on her knees under the table. Being back in the cafeteria had brought back memories of the riot and she'd been so afraid for Helen and Jessica. Funny that she hadn't actually been very afraid for herself.

"So, what's going to mutant high like?" asked Helen, turning around slightly to face Paige.

"Helen! That's so rude." Laurie replied.

"What? Like they don't know townies call it mutant high? Oh, alright. What's going to Xavier's like?" Helen replied, grinning. She hadn't meant it as an insult or anything, was just curious about the school. They didn't get much chance to talk to people from there, especially not people close to their age.

"Well, you have to pass a brain scan, first." Paige stared calmly at the pair of them, allowing them to blanche before snorting and shaking her head. "Honestly, it's the same as any other high school, I expect. There are people you like, people you don't, and enough drama to fuel several of NASA's expeditions if they could harness it. Only difference is, someone's in trouble, everyone pitches in to help."

"Well, that and a good 90-percent of our teachers have platinum memberships to several hospitals or shrink's offices. Or both. We love them anyway," Paige continued, giving Nathan a cheerful wave as she adjusted the output levels on her handheld, looking for anything they might not have thought of. "Ignore the grumpy face, he loves me."

"I do not," Nathan said placidly, then gave Paige an evil little smile. "But the flying telepathic baby adores you. Don't think she doesn't know you ignore the way she floats around Moira's lab following you. She finds it very amusing."

Laurie blinked at the both of them, sharing a quizzical look with Helen. Okay, flying telepathic babies were not something they dealt with around here much. "You have a flying baby?"

"I have a nine month-old daughter who was telepathic and telekinetic in the womb, yes," Nathan said without batting an eye. "She's been flying for... okay, a few months now. It's occasionally been rather alarming. But she's really cute," he reassured the girls, with the all-too-readable 'I'm enjoying this far too much' twinkle in his gray eyes.

"Okay, seriously? I don't care that the F.O.H is scared as hell of you folks. Flying babies just sound damn cool." Helen replied, winking at Laurie across the room, which appeared to be about to bury her head in her hands in mortification. She'd often found the only way to get Laurie to stop being shy was to embarrass her to the point she didn't think about it. "So, what's it like being a mutant? I mean, knowing you can do all these really cool things. Why do you guys put up with the F.O.H and stuff?"

"I'll let Mister Dayspring take this one, being the mere scientist here, but not before noting that I'm in no way afraid of his crazy flying offspring, although, it would be perfectly understandable if I was," Paige answered offhandly, hoping off the table with a concentrated frown to take readings around the room.

"You would have to give it to me," Nathan said wryly. "I can't really answer that, Helen. It differs with the mutation. Mine... well, the TK is usually nothing but useful, but imagine walking through a world where people are constantly screaming things at you, usually things you don't really want to know. That's what it's like being a telepath, too much of the time."

"Oh, EW. I just got such the worst image then. It'd be like walking into a room and seeing your parents thinking about sex." Helen replied, making an ick face at the thought.

Laurie choked slightly and started to laugh. "Greeeat image there, Helen, just what I needed to be thinking about. I guess, for me, I've been feeling kinda guilty since all this happened. I mean I hid for all this time. When you guys are out there helping people."

"You shouldn't be," Nathan said immediately. "You shouldn't be for a second. Being a mutant doesn't mean that you need to make your life all about that, or that you have some kind of responsibility to do anything but live."

"Thanks. It didn't seem like such a big deal, you know? I mean, once I told Helen and Jessica. Well, they were the ones I was around all the time, so I figured long as they knew, that was enough." Laurie responded, picking at her nails.

"You didn't even need to tell us, Laurie. Although, I'm glad you did trust us with it. But, it's not like it would have made a difference to me either way. You're still my friend, just got something a little unique about you is all." Helen replied.

"Sorry to break up the love, you're all very mature and wonderful people, etceteraetcetera, but," Paige teased with a smile to ease the words, picking up the boxlike gadget that was used to take blood samples and waving it gleefully. "Guess what we get to do now?"

Helen widened her eyes in mock fear. "Oh God, not more blood. Nooooo!"

Laurie rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. "Don't pay any attention to her, Paige. She's a complete ham."

"I'll go first," Nathan said with a cheerful look. "You two keep giving Paige a hard time. It's very entertaining."