xp_logs | Clarice and Roxy - Check-Up (Backdated)

Clarice gives Roxy a check-up and they discuss Roxy's new powers and how they affect her life, in addition to the hostile state of the world in general.

There wasn't a lot of information powers-wise on the new student and while her doctor had emailed over her standard file, it...was missing a lot too. That was to be expected with a powers manifestation. Therefore, Clarice had requested for Roxy to come down to the medlab when she had a few minutes to get checked out. They might have a description of her powers and abilities, but these things needed to be verified and continuously updated as they learned more about them.

"Hello?" Roxy knocked on an already-open door and tentatively entered the medlab, looking lost. "I was supposed to come by for a check-up? I-" She stopped short when she saw Clarice, startled by the purple skin. "Uh, hi!" She tried to cover her surprise with enthusiasm and a grin. She'd never met anyone with a visible mutation before. "My name's Roxy. Do you know if this is where I'm supposed to be?"

"You don't need to adjust your tv set," Clarice quipped, standing up and shoving her pen in her hair to join the other already there. "I'm Clarice and you've got an appointment with me. I'm the PA," she offered her hand. "You're just here for a check up, nothing major."

Roxy hesitated before shaking her hand, worried she might shoot diamond shards at Clarice, but figured if she was going to, at least they were in the right place to get her patched up. She took the offered hand tentatively, careful not too grip it too hard. "A check up? Like, to tell tell me why these diamond things keep shooting out of me at people?"

"Pretty much," Clarice agreed, going to get gloves. "Have a seat on the table," she drew the curtain for privacy, starting with basic vitals. "Manifesting on your birthday bash sucks, but anything special that you did or felt before hand? Alcohol or anything else?"

"It was Christmastime," Roxy corrected shyly, because she wasn't sure if that was relevant. "At a party. My birthday was a month later. I was shut up in my house for that. But my brother gave me a sweet keytar for my birthday," she grinned, sitting down and tried to think back to her manifestation. "I don't think I felt anything different. I was really stuck on a bridge for this ballad I was working on. I didn't really want to go but my friends insisted. Once I got there I was happy to be there," she shrugged. "There was a really hot girl there. We danced together a lot. But then she hooked up with some guy so I got my friends to leave. We were mobbed by papos outside the party. They started yelling at me, like they always do. Shoving recorders in my face. Pushing. So I blew up. Literally. Diamonds just... shot everywhere..." She trailed off, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Ah," she made a note on the chart, "So is it safe to say you were frustrated when you were working on the music and then again with the paparazzi?" Things Clarice never thought she'd say. Then again, she'd never expected Roxy Washington to be here either.

Roxy nodded. "Yeah. But, I mean, I'm seventeen. Plus, my life's never really been... whatever. Quiet." She couldn't think of a word to describe the downsides of her life without figuring she'd sound like a spoiled rich brat. And she didn't want that. "I'm kinda always frustrated," she said with a wry smile. "And the diamond thing happens when I'm scared, too. Cuz I've been more scared since I got here than angry."

There were ups and downs to everything, including celebrity. Perhaps especially celebrity. "Scared. So more like a defense mechanism," good to know so they could help her get better control of them. "The good news is that manifestations and powers are often connected to emotions. And once we know which ones, that makes it easier to control so you're in control of them and not the other way around. The other good news is that this place is probably the safest place you can be and the best to learn how to deal with it."

"I just don't feel like it's safe for everyone else, you know?" Roxy admitted. "I don't want to hurt anyone here. Don't get me wrong," she admitted with a shrug, "there are a lot of people out there I wouldn't mind hurting, but no one here. And I hurl diamond shards at people. I kinda wonder if it's inevitable that someone's gonna get seriously injured by me by accident. So it'd be nice if the whole 'control' thing would come easier than it has been. I can't even go to school right now. And I hate school, don't get me wrong," she repeated. "But you know your life's in serious freaking trouble when you aren't even allowed to go to school, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Clarice replied simply, giving Roxy a hug. She needed one, "I can think of some options to stop you from accidentally hurting others, but I'll need a little more info before I can be sure which one is best. But...it's not the most fashionable thing. Which actually might work in your favor, because who would suspect you looking anything less than fabulous, right?" she knew exactly who the other girl was and her family, but that wasn't important. "It's good that you don't want to hurt people in general though. That says a lot about you. And I'm not scared of you. Those of us that have been here a while? We've seen powers crap. We're still here and in most cases, we were the ones having the accidents. We got through it and we'll help you get through it. Okay?"

Roxy found it odd that a stranger was hugging her, but didn't recoil. Maybe it was a mutant thing. Times were pretty hard, after all. Mutants probably needed a lot of hugs. When she thought about it that way, it didn't seem too weird. And it was reassuring to be told that she'd have help to get through her control issues. "Okay. Thanks," she replied with a weak smile. "So what's the info you need? To think of the options to stop me from hurting people?" she asked hopefully, eager to give Clarice anything she asked for.

"I'm going to take your vitals, give you a basic check up," Clarice explained. "When you manifest, stuff can change, so we have to find out what's your new normal. How're you liking Xavier's so far?"

"It's okay," Roxy shrugged. "There are a lot of old people. Uhh, not that that's bad," she added quickly. "It's just... I expected there to be more students than adults, you know?" It's kind of... weird. And it's pretty boring. I thought there'd be more people with all these crazy power problems. But it seems like it's just me."

"Welcome to Xavier's," Clarice shrugged, getting out her stethoscope, "It sorta flows. Hard to advertise and reach everyone we need to because we have to stay hidden, you know? There might be 12 other mutant schools all around and we don't know it," it was unlikely, but possible.

"Well, yours is the only one who contacted me wanting to help me," Roxy responded, making a face. "So if there are twelve more out there, they're kinda douchey. Or don't have secret hackers able to make fake trails for people to keep them under the radar. Has this school been around a long time?"

"I've been here more than 10 years," Clarice replied, "including time away for college and all that. I'm far from the first student, too, but it's always been reasonably small. But yeah, not everyone gets their own personal super-hacker like we do. We're kinda awesome like that," Doug was nifty. And fun. "Then again, not everyone gets their own medlabs like this either. We're full-service awesome." She checked Roxy's eyes and ears quickly.

"What's awesome about the medlab?" Roxy asked curiously, looking around once Clarice was done with her eyes and ears. She'd been lucky enough that she'd been pretty healthy for most of her life, so she didn't know much about how medical places were supposed to look.

"I'm here, duh!" Clarice replied brightly, "And well, we have one." She patted Roxy's knee randomly, "Alrighty. You want red or blue?" she offered the teen a couple suckers. "You're good to go."

Roxy chuckled at the answer and snagged both the offered suckers, popping the blue one in her mouth. "So did these tests tell you anything? About what my new normal is?" she asked hopefully, around the sucker. The phrase made her think of the musical 'next to normal' and she started humming Superboy and Invisible Girl to herself.
"Not yet," Clarice chuckled, "I'll look it all over and put it in the computer and you'll get called down for more tests and whatnot later so we can establish trends. Then we'll have better data. But you're perfectly healthy by regular medical standards."

"But I'm not actually 'regular' anymore, am I?" she mumbled, looking down. "Not that I ever really was, I guess. But at least I had options. Now, it seems like all I'm going to be good for is staying here for the rest of my life, just like everyone else."

"Hey," Clarice said softly, gently tilting Roxy's chin up so their eyes met, "Not true at all. You can do anything you want and I mean that. You want to be in music or film or whatever and follow your parents? You can do that - but you'll do it as a mutant. If you want to be a business mogul, you can do that too - as a mutant. Whatever you decide to do with your life, wherever life takes you, you make your own choices. Being a mutant is just one more factor to consider when you think about things, but it is not the only factor and it is not always a limiting one either."

Roxy laughed bitterly at the speech. "Not limiting? Have you walked down Broadway lately? Try it," she encouraged Clarice, shaking her head. "People will yell things and swear at you and throw stuff at you. They'll follow you back to your house where your family is and break your windows and leave crap on your doorstep. They'll find your car and scratch it and slash your tires. The place you work will suddenly decide they have enough people without you. It's a nightmare out there."

"I'm purple, Roxy," Clarice stated. "You do not need to adjust your TV. Yeah, it's bad out there. I know because I gotta wear a damn image inducer to get shampoo and that really sucks. And I'm damn lucky that I can do that, too, which sucks even more. But you act like you've got something to be ashamed of and they're gonna shame you. It's small steps sometimes and it's not easy, but it is worth it. And we will make it a better place for mutants. And you can pass. The celebrity and your public manifestation gets in your way more than your physical appearance."

"Oh. So it's not how I look, it's who I am?" Roxy jumped down from the exam table, struggling to keep her sudden flare up of anger in check enough to avoid spraying diamond shards all over Clarice's precious medlab. "Well, thanks. That's awesome." Since she'd said Roxy was good to go, the teenager stalked towards the door and slammed it behind her.

That wasn't what Clarice had meant at all, it was all a factor in everything and couldn't be ignored. But that was fine, let the teen take it how she wanted, she was going to regardless. Hrmph. And it had started out so well, too.