(2014-11-30) A Scientific Explanation?
A Scientific Explanation?
Summary: In Metropolis, Tigra meets Hank McCoy, who has a theory on how she came to be once she tells him about it.
Date: 2014-11-30
Related: None
NPCs: NA
Scene Runner: NA
Social/Plot: Social
Players:
tigra..beast..

-==[ Metropolis University — Metropolis Village ]==-

Bordering between the tree-lined avenues of Metropolis Village and the gleaming towers of the Financial District lies Metropolis University, the seat of higher learning in the City of Tomorrow. As with many things in Metropolis, the University is arranged in a way that is rather unique to Metropolis. Instead of being spread out and covering a dozen or more city blocks, Met U is an arrangement of four gleaming towers surrounding a city block-sized central space. The towers soar into the heavens by a hundred fifty stories, a little over two thousand feet high. The central plaza is dominated by a huge domed stadium, home to the University's many athletic competitions. The four towers are connected at many levels by various skyways, most notably those at the midpoint of the towers' height, where interconnecting skyways join with a platform that houses a huge open-air park suspended a thousand feet in the air, home to the 'quandrangle' of the school and many social functions.

Each of the towers has dormitory space that dominates the first twenty floors. Their uppermost floors are dedicated to the sciences. North tower's top is home to a huge hypermodern stellar observatory. East and West towers' roofs are landing and takeoff pads for the flying cars that dominate Metropolis, with access to automated garage facilities that whisk away vehicles surrendered to their robotic efforts, storing them in chambers inside the building. South tower's roof includes both a large enclosed greenhouse, and a sizable open-air garden, all used and maintained by the students in their classes. Parking for land vehicles is all handled underground, with more automated garage facilities. The University is in many ways its own city within a city, with its own fire department, police force, maintenance droids, broadcast media stations and more.


Hank McCoy is a busy man.

Between research for Starktech and his own academic career, well- that's enough to keep anyone busy, and that's BEFORE added duties of analyzing data for the Justice League. That last part takes a bit of priority, however- as the burly blue ape man has come to Metropolis University to take advantage of their advanced technology and additional computer processing power…even still, analysis takes time- time Dr. McCoy intends to put to good use! He sits at a table on the university's commons area, plugging away at something or another on a tablet computer- absentmindedly taking sips from his coffee, the paper cup comically small between his large blue fingers.

Metropolis. It's a much different place than New York City or Gotham City, something Tigra's quickly found out during her visit. It's the flying cars. It's the robots that clean up in the background. It's just..well, the City of Tomorrow. Not just tomorrow tomorrow, but a lot of tomorrows down the line compared to what she's used to.

One of the first things Tigra did upon arriving at Metropolis University is simply stare up. Way, way up. Why is she here? Well, that's yet to be figured out by many around, but it's come to be that she's about halfway up the ridiculously tall structures, wandering around the commons with a distantly distracted look on her face. Of course, the sight of a were-tiger (by all accounts) may not be the norm here, even compared to others with uniquely different appearances.

Hank McCoy takes another sip of his coffee- and then, perhaps at hearing someone mutter 'another one?' somewhere in the background, he glances up, looking over the plaza…and, well, it's a bit hard to miss the were-tigress.

He habitually reaches up to adjust his glasses, and then slowly sets his tablet down on the table. Now -there's- someone you don't see every day.

Lots of orange, lots of stripes, plus claws and a tail to boot with just the top and shorts worn for comfort. Yes indeed, Tigra is a head-turner in most cases. What might be stranger than that is the fact she's got a keen eye on the very tops of the towers, her tail twitching as if in some sort of anticipation of one thing or another. A few voices do draw her attention away from the upper floors, at which time she finds Hank giving her a look. She stops, a hand going up to brush hair away from an eye, then she smiles and waves. "Hi there!"

Hank McCoy pauses. He hasn't been caught staring, he tells himself, because, well, he wasn't staring. Really. "Afternoon." he says, and waves a big hand in turn. Forcing himself through the awkwardness, he pockets his tablet, and then stands, heading over towards Tigra. "Sorry, I should've expected to see other…noticeable metahumans in Metropolis." he offers a hand to shake. "Dr. Henry McCoy, by the way. Are you a student here?"

The fact he's also unique enough puts Tigra more at ease compared to how she might handle it otherwise. As the gap is shortened, aided by her own effort to close the distance, she stops a few feet away and tilts her head toward one side. "I've seen..us..all over the place since I started checking the bigger cities out." The hand is met with hers, grip perhaps firmer than might be expected, and she visibly perks. "Oh, I've heard of you! I'm Tigra, and..well, no. That is, I might be. Soon. I don't know yet."

Hank McCoy blinks. "Really? Well, only good things, I hope." he grins, "In any case, I'm not too familiar with Metropolis as a whole- I've mostly just passed through from time to time. The University's a good one, though- what field are you looking to study?"

"Oh, you have /no/ idea," Tigra responds at his grin and wishful thinking about what she's heard, but she doesn't elaborate. Sounds like she's being playful with that answer. "I'm actually visiting from Chicago, checking out a few places. I might be relocating soon. I was looking at Gotham U and I wanted to see how this place was." Looking up again, she orients herself based on a directory she'd seen and points a claw-tipped finger toward a certain tower top. "The sciences. That's what I was studying before."

Hank McCoy ahs. "I see. Any particular field of study? 'The Sciences' can be a bit…broad. Still, I suppose I'm a bit of a polymath myself, given my own interests- but that's neither here nor there."

Tigra admits, "I didn't narrow it down a whole lot - don't you think it's great the science rooms are allllll the way at the top? - but you know, the usual stuff like biology and physics. I didn't have the chance to get into things that were much deeper than that." Looking him over again, she adds after a moment, "And now I've learned there's stuff not even science can account for."

Hank McCoy ohs? "Is that so?" he says, "Not looking to study 'magic,' are you? Sorry- it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I've found that a lot of so-called 'magical' phenomena are simply under-investigated, that's all. It's metahuman science, just put through a vaguely mystical focus. I've not had the chance to publish on the subject, unfortunately, but I've been keeping notes, all the same."

Tigra gives the big blue beast a closer, more scrutinizing look as he opines on magic and mystical things. "Hm. I might ask to hear some of your theories sometime soon. You could say I've had a little experience in that area recently." She crosses her arms before her, near the amulet at the center of her bosom. "Enough to make me rethink a few things, in any case."

Hank McCoy ohs? "Is that so?" he says, his academic curiosity getting the better of him. "Fascinating! I don't suppose you've got the time to tell me exactly what happened? Perhaps I might be able to help you find a perfectly rational explanation for what happened." He pauses, his enthusiasm faltering for just a moment. "…someone didn't say you were a lycanthrope, did they?"

"No, no, not like a werewolf," Tigra answers, shaking her head slowly back and forth before the look on her face seems to suggest a reconsideration. "Then again..not technically, but kind of. It's different. Um, I more or less know /what/ happened, but…" She handwaves at the explanation. "It's got to do with souls and almost dying and all that," said with a hint of a frown.

Hank McCoy ahs. "Well, I suppose that's hewing a little closer to a philosophical matter, rather than an occult one. Even still, there's more than a few possible explainations- residual psychic imprints, for example, or possibly the involvement of extraplanar psychic entities…but again, I'm mostly thinking aloud, at this point."

For one reason or another, Tigra seems more willing to share a few details with this man than she has with others up to this point. It might be the scientific side they share, if in different forms and fields. "It went like this," she begins, lowering her voice so it'd be harder for others to simply listen in. Enough are already staring, which she's flatly ignored. "I was doing the whole costumed hero thing, but Hydra was after someone I knew pretty closely. I was hit by a blast of radiation and would have died, but she did this ritual that involved binding the soul of one of the Cat People to me - you've probably never heard of them - and this is how I came out of it, stripes and all. You try to explain that with science, because I sure can't."

Hank McCoy's expression falls flat, and he deadpans: "Cat people." He's…trying not to sound condescenting. Honest. "Off the top of my head, without giving you a full chromosome analysis, I'd hypothesize that the burst of radiation triggered latent metahuman genes, hence your…altered appearance. The 'ritual' concerning these Cat People might have given you some sort of subconscious suggestion as to the nature of the mutation…" and he snaps his fingers, "Which is honestly an angle I hadn't considered before in my studies. CONSCIOUS mutation- why, if it's possible, that'd be an unprescedented milestone in the development of the species!" he soon pulls his tablet out of his jacket, and starts typing notes, excitedly.

"Doesn't the metahuman gene show up once people reach puberty?" Tigra asks by way of confirming. "That's what I understood, and this only happened in the last few months. I'm in my early 20s." Whether he means to be condescending toward her explanation or not, it'd seem she's picking up on his skepticism or attempt to explain it based on his own studies, and she frowns enough that it can be seen in her face. "I think if you were there when it happened, you'd rethink some of this. I'm not sure what you mean by conscious mutation, though." She gives him a moment as he manipulates the tablet to take down what he wants to say. "Anyway, you see this amulet? It lets me /look/ the way I used to, but it doesn't really change anything. I'm still me, the way I am now."

Hank McCoy shrugs. "Not nessescarily- it most commonly manifests during puberty, but again, the influx of an outside force- such as radiation -is known to trigger certain metabolic changes." He glances down at the amulet, however (and -ONLY- at the amulet, honest) and raises a brow. "It does? Hm. Some sort of ancient hologram technology, perhaps? Or a psionic illusion? Such things have been attributed to ancient civilizations, though they're exceedingly rare…where'd you get it?"

Tigra wears a look that could be best described as uncertain as far as her thoughts about the radiation being a trigger goes. "What you say /could/ be true, except these Cat People exist in a place called Land Within. I don't know how much information is out there on them, but if you have any connections you can look it up yourself. Hydra wanted the knowledge the person I told you about had." She finally glances toward the others who are watching them and decides against doing anything with the amulet. "I'd show you, but not in front of everyone here. If I ever /have/ to pretend to look normal, I don't want someone putting a picture up that makes it obvious who I am. I think it's just an illusion. I got it from her after the changes."

Hank McCoy nods. "So the plot thickens!" he says, fairly brimming with intellectual enthusiasm. "But, of course, I'm only theorizing at this point- we'll have to do a full, in-depth analysis to really figure out the details. Would it be possible for me to examine you more closely at some point?" And then, no sooner has he blurted the words that he realizes his error. "Er, ah. Scientifically, that is. Nothing more intrusive than a few blood tests and a genetic scan. For science, you know."

If there's any sort of blushing beneath the blue fur, Tigra's noticing the change in body temperature and language. In fact, she smiles enough to show fangs at his continued explanation of what type of examination, her tail twitching in an obviously playful manner. "Do I get something good out of it? Like a nice big fish? I don't know what you'll find or whether or not it'll line up with what you're thinking so far, but..sure. At some point. I think you'll be surprised at what you find out. I'm not really like most people."

Hank McCoy nods. "Well, neither am I." he says, and offers a wan smile. "I-" before he can continue, his tablet beeps at him, and his expression falls. "-have to attend to this." he says, and taps the little 'JL' icon on his pad. "Sorry. Prior commitments. But please, here's my card-" he pulls the little rectangle of cardboard from his jacket, and offers it to you. "Do keep in touch." And with that, Dr. Henry McCoy bounds off! There's always more work to do, after all.

Tigra tilts her head in the direction of the tablet, though she can't quite see what's got his attention changing so swiftly. Curious cat. "Ohh-kay," she starts, before she has the card in hand. It's given a quick once-over before she tucks it away in a subtle pocket of the shorts. "That's another number. Should start working on a little black book at this rate," she murmurs to herself before finding other ways to entertain herself while in Metropolis.

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