Such A Fanboy

[Jason Campbell]

“I understand what you mean,” he assured Seiji. The problem with research was that, at some point, you had to experiment and it could cause a lot of pain sometimes. There wasn’t much they could do against it, that kind of data was very important. It only seemed very cruel to put their own through that much pain sometimes, especially in Seiji’s situation since, Jason supposed, he was dealing mostly with the children here. “I think the fact we are mutant also helps toning down this mad scientist aura around us. They know it really is for the good of us all, not simply for research’s sake.” Jason couldn’t help it, even if there were many great scientists who were not mutants, he was reluctant to let them test his power. That made him feel a lot more like a lab rat than what he was doing right now, even though it might not be all that different. At least his scientific mind had a limit how far it was ready to go.

Just like Seiji, he was working on rodents a lot. It was a lot easier and you couldn’t get attached to them as much as you would a human being. To choose which one should suffer, it was a pretty easy choice to make. Organizations for animal rights might disagree but even they couldn’t deny the importance of research. Best be rats that die while you try to find a cure for something as opposed to hundred of humans. “You don’t need to be modest. There have been mutants for a very long time now and there are still many questions left unanswered. Every power, no matter how similar to another, works differently from one person to the next. It is important we study them.” Jason would not share with Seiji the reasons why he decided to study abilities and their effects on people. Just like he was not asking the young man to tell him of his motivations. They all had their reasons.

He smiled at the suggestion of a clinic that could specialize on mutations. It would be a big help, Jason wouldn’t have to lie to justify a treatment over another because of a power and its side-effects. He also wouldn’t have to pretend whatever ailed them was not all that bad because he used his ability to heal them. It sure would relieve him of some headaches it could cause him on occasions. “It would be great but I think the new headmistresses already have a lot on their shoulders. If this is to happen, we might have to give them some time first,” he said. Not to add the cost of it. Jason couldn’t help it, he had to be rational and think of every aspects, even the most trivial. “Besides, I don’t know if we should lock ourselves away from the world. It would help, of course, and I totally agree that we should get something similar to a clinic at some point. It would make the care easier. But there is no need to do the work of the fearful ones for them.” It sure would not be by hiding away that they would have people accept what they were.

Jason nodded as the man said he should be the one talking to Zoe. He wasn’t sure that she would not trust Seiji the way he claimed she would but he could understand the work he had already done with the girl might weigh in the balance when it would be time to ask for more tests. He smiled at the comment Seiji made about his snakes. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a burden. Perhaps both?” He had no idea what it might be like to be bossed around by hungry snakes. Were they able to threaten Seiji to do stupid things in retaliation? Jason had to admit, when it came to snakes, he might know certain things but definitely not how they thought.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji smiled at hearing that, it made him at least not feel alone in the whole sometimes blurring the lines when it came to science. It was practically impossible not to if you ever really wanted to get results on something. It was bad for those who had to suffer in the meantime but in the long run it paid off for the masses. That was where the whole moral debates would fall into play and Seiji just avoided them with a ten foot pole. “I agree, at least that is what I try to explain. I would do the same and have done experiments on myself in order to get results.” Seiji admitted as he ruffled his hair a little bit.

“Right, better us then someone who wants to be our enemy. I wonder and yet also worry if we were able to get a hold of all the files from SPECTRE. I heard that they did test and tortured the students and I would not want such information falling into the wrong hands.” Seiji said as he gazed looked towards the ground for a moment. Then he forced himself to pep up and focus on getting the files and reports that he was alright sharing with Jason. He already was starting to like Jason, well a little more than he had already. He was still being such a fan boy in his head but on the outside he calmed down.

“Understandable. It is just the two of them after all and they are young. Still, I think they can do it and I have no problems helping or doing what they tell me.” Seiji admitted. He honestly didn’t care how old someone was, if they had the training and at least the level of skill to do as task, then he would put his faith in them. It was pretty much like when he was younger he had been allowed to skip grades or take harder classes due to his intelligence and not his age. “I suppose.” Seiji said as he thought on it for a moment. He still was all for putting the school on lock down and become self-sufficient but that was probably because he was a little bit paranoid.

“I say both.” He said with a small nod, holding out the few folders on how mutations passed from parent to child and how it had been mainly found in the X chromosome. That was why there were typically more female mutants then there were males, but he was still not one hundred percent on that, but about ninety-two percent sure. There was also some information on mutant cells breaking down and some worrisome information on how certain powers did in fact dramatically lower a mutant’s life span. “That’s pretty much what I can share with you for now.” Seiji explained as he held his hand out to take Leevi back, but the snake moved further up Jason’s body, stopping when ending up near the man’s shoulders.

[Jason Campbell]

It could be hard indeed, to experiment more in science for the good of all without sounding like a mad scientist. Jason hoped no one ever took him as one. He liked to think he was not. He worked hard, but for other mutants such as himself, to make it easier for them to deal with their powers, to control them better and not be as affected by side-effects. People had no idea how demanding it could be sometimes, how dangerous. Jason knew his heart was likely to give up on him some day because of all the healing he procured. He already felt as if he aged faster than he should although it might only be in his head. People around didn’t seem to think he looked that bad.

He had a little smile at the younger man’s comment. “I don’t think they would think you were less mad for it though,” he pointed out but there was something in his attitude, a light glimmer in his eyes, that showed he was merely teasing and Seiji did not have to take him too close at heart. “I admit keeping a certain level of morality while doing research is important but the moment you really start thinking only about it, you find yourself incapable of doing anything. Because whatever you do, in anything, you have a chance to end up hurting someone. In the end, you must also consider what could be the lesser of two evils.” He felt like such a professor, talking like this. He could almost imagine himself, back when he was in medical school and his teachers spoke about ethic and the Hippocratic Oath.

Jason had to admit, he knew little of what happened next once they rescued the students and headed back to school. He even passed out before they reached Bellefonte, he realised where he was later on, when he woke up in a hospital bed. “I don’t know about researches they might have conducted but I can tell you what they did to them, it was far from pretty,” he confessed. This was about all he knew of SPECTRE and, frankly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to learn more.

“Then they’re lucky to have staff members ready to help them like this. They’ll need it. Headmasters or deans are generally older and more experienced than this, the fact they got it mostly due to their name makes the school sounds like a monarchy. We don’t want that.” Jason actually liked working with the school and not for. He wasn’t sure how he would react to listen to these two young girls. He agreed to follow Elsa’s orders before because of her seemingly telepathic link but this was very different from a rescue mission. He couldn’t see himself justifying his every decision to two girls who didn’t know much about anything when you think about it.

Jason tried to keep his eyes on both the snake and Seiji as he gathered some files. “If your research is so much about the heredity of the mutant gene, is it because your family also is?” he asked as they had been talking a little about his work already. Jason knew he came from parents who were both mutants but it would seem many just happened to grow powers, it seemed, out on their own.

Jason was not exactly sad to see Leevi leave his arm and go back to Seiji but the snake seemed to have another plan in mind and Jason flinched at first as it moved further up. “Looks to me like Leevi doesn’t want to listen to you right now,” Jason said, trying to joke about it. But, inside, he was wondering what was going on.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji chuckled slightly at that, assuming that Jason was joking with the words. He looked as if he was just teasing, but Seiji was never fully sure. Sometimes he wondered if people were laughing at or with him, and it was likely because of the bullying when he was a kid. Either way, he honestly didn't mind and was happy either way so long as the person he was dealing with was happy. Others being happy around him, being able to help others...that were what made Seiji happy. "It is a challenge. I just hope people understand do understand what you just said right now. That we have to sort of do some bad in order to get the overall good." Seiji said, scratching at his chin, unsure if he had said that right. Jason had pretty much said it perfectly so he was going to stick with that.

Seiji listened closely as Jason pointed out that he was not sure what was actually conducted as experiments on the kids, but he knew what had been done to them. Right, he had been there to go save and heal the kids and the people who had gone along to save them. He must have been wiped out after all of that. Seiji thought to himself, his respect and admiration for the guy just increased now. He wished he would have been there, he probably would not have been much help other than being able to send his snakes in to find out the precise location of everything and provide information on the layout and what have you using his snake eye vision to see everything. He just wished that in some way he could have helped that day.

"I'm sorry that you had to be there to see the end result of it all." Seiji spoke up, in a softer tone. He didn't fully want to keep the conversation going on the subject, not wanting either of them to deal with any pain there. Seiji thought on it for a moment, the whole it sounding like the school was a monarchy because they got the school because of their last name. Was that a bad thing? He didn't see it as. "To be honest, if anyone but a Bellefonte had control over the school, I probably would not listen to them. Especially because there are living Bellefonte who started the school, it would just be odd. Perhaps I have been here to long and I'm just used to a Bellefonte being in charge." Seiji said with a small chuckle.

He had been here since he was really little and only was gone for a year or two. Bellefonte was practically all he knew; it was his life, and his home in pretty much every way. There was the question then, one that did have Seiji moving away too busy himself with gathering some samples out of a small fridge. He cleared his throat, doing his best to make sure his voice sounded like it normally did. "I don't actually know my birth parents, nothing at all. I was adopted and the family that adopted me was very wealthy and pretty much made it so that I was pretty much their actual kid, so I don’t have any records of who my real parents are." Seiji explained, smiling a little.

"Elsa asked me to focus on the heredity part of mutants, to figure out a way to better understand the likely hood a mutants passing on the gene, which passes its own, and what powers the kid is likely to end up with." Seiji explained as he went for his snake. "Also for the fact that there are a lot of mutant powers out there that effect people is a very bad negative way both emotionally and physically and if we can figure out things about their powers from their family blood line sooner, it might help us treat more side effects." Seiji explained, not bothered by Leevi not wanting to come to him at the moment as he started to walk towards the door that connected to the lab. "He said he liked the feeling of your heartbeat." Seiji informed Jason, as to why Leevi had moved and did not go back to Seiji.

[Jason Campbell]

Unlike Seiji, Jason had never really been bullied at school. Teased because he was named the same thing as a can of soup, maybe, but he couldn’t recall being bullied. Not that he was a popular kid either, Jason always considered himself much too boring for that. Unnoticed would more be the word. He had no problem with that but that attitude did make him unaware when some of his words might sound a little too much like he was making fun of someone. “I think they understand a little better because it comes from us and we are mutants as well. I don’t think it would have the same effect if we were normal human beings doing tests to understand mutant genetics,” he pointed out. Jason still felt on occasion that he was touching the line separating him from being a mad scientist but no one ever complained so far so maybe it was only in his head. They did try to help as much as understand the whole picture.

Jason pushed aside Seiji’s comment with a wave of the hand. “You don’t need to. I’m glad I could help them. I could not erase the memories of what happened but I could make sure they would not have any physical reminder of it,” he said, reassuring Seiji that he did not regret being thrown into this. He understood why this Elsa asked for him to be around and even if he had to pay the price for it as it drained him and kept him exhausted for a longer period of time than he ever experienced, he would still have done it, given the choice again. It wasn’t like he never expected his heart to give out on him while he healed someone. He was pretty sure it would be how he’d go, someday.

He chuckled with Seiji. “It’s true that, even during my time here as a student, it was a Bellefonte who was in charge,” he admitted. Still, if none of the children wanted to take over, or if they couldn’t do a good job, he didn’t think it was right to put a Bellefonte as headmaster - or headmistresses - just because of their name. “I guess time will show us how good the sisters are. They are just starting, we need to let them show what they are worth,” he finally let out after a little moment to think about it. He was ready to let them try. After all, it wasn’t really affecting him, since the most of his job happened outside of the school.

Jason noticed a change of behaviour in Seiji when he questioned him about his family and when the young man explained why, he felt bad for bringing it up. “I’m sorry,” was all he could say after hearing his tale. Jason knew he was privileged amongst those who came to Bellefonte. Not only because he was not adopted but also because his parents lived in Kalispell. He was born there himself. “I see...” he said, trying to focus on Elsa’s theory about powers and not the awkward moment he caused because of Seiji’s family. “It would make sense that mutants are more likely to give birth to other mutants. You think powers can be different for parents to child? I must say, I have the same ability as my father but it could be possible for the mutant gene to adapt to the person as well. At the very least, it could evolve with every generation.” This brought so much possibilities, so much theories to work into that he totally forgot about the fact Seiji was an adopted child.

“Does he now?” Jason let out as Seiji explained why his snake refused to move, or move from the doctor to its owner. Could he say owner? They seemed to have a special relationship, because of Seiji’s ability. He was only thinking it anyway, it wasn’t like he said it out loud to displease one of them. “Then I suppose my heart beats fine right now.”

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji nodded a little in agreement with Jason's opinion on how he thought people viewed what they did. It seemed to make it sound a lot better when Jason said it, even if Seiji was thinking pretty much the same thing. It probably was the fact that Jason's power was able to heal people while Seiji's didn't. If anything his power could be used to harm people do to him being able to control snakes and tell them what to do. It might have also been because Seiji looked up to Jason and was his fan so pretty much anything Jason said was going to sound right and if Seiji disagreed he was likely going to keep it to himself.

"That is still something." Seiji said, he wanted to say more but he didn't know how to word it. In those cases he found it best to just not say anything because he knew he would ramble as he worked his way to the point. It was just the fact that Jason was able to at least take away the physically scars was a good thing, where at least a kid would not have to see the permit scared flesh and cause them to remember of what happened that day. He knew he would not have been able to handle seeing a scar on his body and recall how and why he got it every time he stood in front of a mirror. He didn't understand how anyone could be strong enough to bare the weight of such a memory.

Seiji smiled when Jason pointed out that when he was going to school that a Bellefonte was in charge of the school even then. It just would seem wrong if anyone else was leading the school and that was simply how Seiji felt about it. He honestly would not have cared if the girls would have been as young as sixteen years old. Back in the day that and sometimes fifteen was old enough to be a mother and a wife and if females made it back then, then why not now a days at the age of eighteen when they were counted as adults? "I think they will do fine. They have people like you and I to aid them." Seiji pointed out, and he felt like that was the most important part.

"It's fine. Not everyone can have the dream childhood, right? Bellefonte became my home and family in the end so that is all that matters." Seiji said as he gave Jason a friendly smile. BA really was Seiji's everything, he had them to thank for so many things. Seiji was quick to focus on the topic about mutations passing on from parent to child. "Right, the interesting part is that even the power the parent has effect that chances of their child becoming a mutant or not. At least that is what the research is showing. Sometimes it can even skip a generation or only affect one kid out of three. Yet, those like the Bellefonte family who have been umm...I want to say co-breeding with other mutants are likely going to always have a mutant kid, even if they are with a pure non-mutant person. It’s basically a part of their family DNA." Seiji said, going on a small rank for a moment before stopping and ruffling his hair when he caught on he was getting carried away and that there was more to Jason's question.

"Right, the powers tend to be at least similar to one of the parents but with say a second or third child, it tends to be different but I have not figured out why it does such a thing." Seiji explained since in most of the cases he study, if there was more than one mutant child; siblings, if they were not twins, their powers were different and typically only one of them had the power related to their parents. Seiji nodded at Jason's comment about his heart, motioning for Jason to follow him back into the lab, his tone going a bit more serious. "Right now, but...I know this is not my place but I would like you to allow me to examine you at some point." Seiji spoke up, incredibly worried how Jason was going to react.

[Jason Campbell]

Sometimes, Jason did wish he could do more. It wasn’t like he could not fully heal someone. he definitely could. If the pain stayed, it was because it took more time for the brain to process the fact there was nothing causing pain anymore. He wished he could do something about that, help mental problems of this sort and others more severe. But he couldn’t. He comforted himself by reminding himself healing the physical wounds was already a lot and he was helping with the rest thanks to his research. He was limited however, when it came to research. He was not rich enough to buy himself a sophisticated lab and all the right material to do them at home and he needed valid reasons to explain why he would use the hospital’s lab. Regarding this, he thought Seiji was luckier than he was, since he had a lab at his disposition. “I don’t want to abuse of my privileges here. This is your lab. But if I share with your some of my work, would you mind letting me do some tests here, or do them yourself and share with me the results? My resources are more limited,” he asked Seiji. He probably should ask the administration as well but he thought if the side-effect specialist was also on his side, it would make asking for it something to do just for the form. Especially since it would be easy to do it anyway and let him pretend it was his work.

He smiled at Seiji’s confidence in the girls. “I know one of them. She seemed very determined and in control. You need a little more than that however to run a school. I suppose they have much to learn. It’s a good thing people are backing them,” he replied. He knew she was called Elsa, he heard her name before, but Jason as never very good with names and it had been a while. It was no surprise he could not remember with certainty.

Jason listened to Seiji’s research on the heredity of the mutant gene. “The gene is so deep into the DNA that it would need many generations with a non-mutant parent for it to stop appearing in the children? Interesting,” he let out as he started to make his own theories about this in his head. There was just so many to look into when it came to mutation. Jason had never been very good with conversation. He had a tendency, when a topic really interested him, to go on endlessly about it. What he liked however was not something shared with everyone and he knew he could be quite boring as he kept talking of it. Seiji was talking about something that interested him and so he was unable to see the man was rambling about it or think that he might perhaps slow down. Jason was able to go on about it for hours with him, if they were allowed to. “Perhaps the powers of the parents are merging in some way? The child gets something similar as one of the parents but with certain effects matching the other one. Or maybe there are certain connections between powers we have yet discovered.” It seemed like every answer brought more questions with it. Jason was actually not to dislike it. He even seemed excited about it.

He looked at Seiji as he asked him if he could examine him at some point. Since they had been talking of his heart, he figured this would be a medical test to know how the use of his power had been affecting him lately. “You want to make sure my heart can still take some healing?” he asked, almost amused. He knew he should be more careful with his own health, especially when he was a doctor, but he didn’t. He tended to ignore checkups and tests even though he should really take them. He couldn't really tell Seiji that but he didn't act as if he thought examining him was all that necesssary.

[Seiji Lockard]

“Oh you have nothing to worry about. I doubt anyone would be upset if one of the hero’s from the SPECTRE attack wanted to have access to certain information. Feel free to use my lab anytime, it’s not even just my lab and in fact there is a spare key that I can give to you. Just don’t lose it, since it’s the only spare.” Seiji said, smiling and talking a little faster. He could not help getting a little excited at the fact that Jason wanted to use the lab too. It was perfect for Jason to actually be able to do his mutant work in a lab that was built just for that and not have to worry about his co-workers trying to figure out what he was working on.

Seiji was already moving towards a locked cabinet, which he had unlocked in a matter of second, moving a few things around before he pulled out a key. He walked back over to Jason and held out the key for him to take. He was doing a little more inner fanboying in his mind just thinking about seeing Jason working in the lab. The very lab that he worked in too! “Agreed. I’m sure they will do fine and worse case I’m sure that there are people in power that will know what to do. The school is pretty good at doing what is best for the school at the end of the day.” Seiji said with a nod. He still was used to it always being a Bellefonte led school, but he was just a student and an employee.

“Correct, for the Bellefonte family anyways. It just adds to the fact that the mutant gene must also be based in a different location then just in the X chromosome. Still such much unknown and being worked out but researching the Bellefonte bloodline has helped out a lot in terms of figuring a few things out.” Seiji said, smiling a lot as he thought of all of the information. He envied the Bellefonte family in a way, for always knowing they were going to have a mutant child. It kept the job in the family and it also meant they could prepare their kids for coming into some kind of power someday. They would never feel like they were a freak or didn’t belong when they were in a family full of mutants.

“I think so. We already understand that while there are similar powers, they take on slightly different forms within a person since no two powers are similar unless in the case for twins. Except in rare cases like Elsa and Erika in where they have slightly different powers but they are both mental based ones.” Seiji added, agreeing with Jason’s words that there was still yet more they needed to be discovered. He was confident they would have more breakthroughs soon enough, and Seiji had already worked several things out to help the mutant kind with not only their side effects but understanding the likely hood of powers showing up. There were even test one could use on someone to find out if they were a mutant or going to end up being a mutant.

Seiji was then brave enough to ask if he could examine Jason, knowing he was slightly crossing a line since Jason was a grown man. Seiji was not going to force him into being examined; not yet, but he did want Jason to consider it. “Yes, among other things. People with your powers tend to not live as long. Could have a heart failure, heart attack, and even go into a coma. I don’t…want that to happen to you so soon if we can avoid it. I’m not telling you to stop healing or anything like that. I just want to be given your permission to run some test. I’m hoping to be able to make a medication to help with the really dangerous side effects of your power.” Seiji said, trying to be factual and slightly try and get Jason to understand that there was some need for concern for his life.

[Jason Campbell]

It was nice of Seiji to claim he was a hero around here and that there shouldn’t be any problem with him getting access to some information. He wasn’t quite sure he really was a hero as he claimed but he sure liked the sound of it. He chuckled as Seiji even seemed ready to offer him the only spare key they had of his lab. He had no idea what caused it but he sure got a friend fast in the person of the side-effect specialist. “I’ll still make an official request, to be sure. And maybe I’ll get my own key that way so we won’t have to worry about losing this one,” he replied. He didn’t really know the girls in charge but he had a feeling Elsa loved the administrative procedures. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time he was wrong about someone. Because of that, he didn’t take the key just yet. He didn’t want the man to get in trouble if they preferred Jason to ask permission beforehand and not have a key of the place to come as he saw fit.

“I agree. It must have seen a lot over the years,” he said. He shrugged as he thought about this. “I don’t think my opinion matters really and, in the end, I’m not entirely against them, if they can do the job right,” he admitted. He was not really an employee here, he merely helped with his power and medical expertise when it was required. If he didn’t want to work for ‘kids’, then there were more chances he wouldn’t work with the school anymore than they would pick another headmaster.

Jason didn’t really know exactly for how long his family has produced mutants. He knew his parents used to be but the family was so small and they kept little contact between each other, making it hard to know for sure. Besides, if his mother’s parents had powers similar to hers, they were probably dead by now. He knew all too well the dangers of side-effects sometimes, as it killed her. “The mutation obviously affected the DNA but we cannot tell exactly in which way. If we could, we probably would be able to guess the type of power the child would have just with a drop of blood,” he let out, lost deep in thought. Genetics was not his domain of expertise, but he studied and kept reading every research on the subject to know more. He still learned enough to understand how complex it was. Anyway, genetics was not the most important for him. He was not trying to understand the origin of mutants, merely to help with some side-effects from it. Or just cure mutants’ disease and wounds. He was a doctor after all.

Except perhaps with his own side-effects. He knew them. He knew his heart might not take it anymore, as he was using his own energy to heal someone and it could be very exhausting. It couldn’t be good for a heart to beat normally then suddenly slow and then normal again. Fatigue could get him at times but he generally put it on the count he wasn’t always having the best of diet and sleeping routine. Still, being reminded people like him tended not to live long and that by a stranger did shock him enough to give it some thought. He did need to be careful and even if he was in the term of not using his power all the time, he knew he was reckless on other things. He raised an eyebrow at the mention of a medication. “For the heart?” He thought there were many enough products for the heart. To find one for him, should it come to think however, was another thing. “I’ll give you the result of my next echocardiography, if that’s what you want.” He didn't really know what else he could do.

[Seiji Lockard]

“Alright, I’ll let you still hold onto that key until then. I was just teasing about you losing it. I don’t think you would lose it.” Seiji admitted, blushing a little as he messed with his hair. He had calmed down a lot around Jason but he was still being such a fanboy on the inside. There was also someone else that worked in the lab with him but he rarely saw her. Either she was just really busy with other things or their timing was off when it came to seeing each other. He missed his friend but he understood everyone had their own lives so he was not going to hound her down to hang out. He did plan on texting her at some point to at least make sure she was okay.

“Understandable. I will not fault you for your opinion.” Seiji responded back, still smiling and nodded his head a few times. If Jason was not fully sure how he felt about the Twins and was fine so long as they could do the job they had, that was okay. He was not going to argue with the older man to change his opinion since it didn’t matter that much. Once could like, dislike, agree, disagree, or even not care at all and that was on them. In the end so long as the person still did their job, they didn’t have to like or feel anything towards the one in charge. Unless the one in charge was doing something really bad that just morally wrong. Yet, then the whole ‘what was morally wrong’ would come to mind and Seiji had to stop his train of thought.

“That’s the goal. We already have a test that will let us know if a child will be a mutant or not by a few drops of blood. We just can’t tell what power they have or what age their powers will awaken if we do the test before they have powers. It would be a lot easier if even those with similar powers didn’t have like a secondary power. The secondary powers really mess up pinpointing information.” Seiji said as he let out a sigh. Then again he was pleased that it was a challenge to figure out answers to questions that had been asked for year. He could not claim all the work on his own since he was pulling from test and studies that had been done before and probably just needed to be refined a little.

“Yes, well and not just for your heart. While your mutation affects your heart the most, it still causes you to have other effects like exhaustion. My plan is to make some medication tailored specifically for your body and mutation.” Seiji explained. Yes, there were a lot of medications out there for the heart but those were for normal people, not mutants. He wanted to make something that would be specific medication for Jason Campbell and him alone. “Thank you, if you could also provide me with some of your blood, that would be helpful as well.” Seiji added, still feeling slightly bad about being so bold but he had to be in order to do his job. He was the side-effect specialist and was supposed to help mutants deal with their side-effects, which included helping Jason.

[Jason Campbell]

Obvious, Seiji didn't know him that well. Jason was not known for being very neat with his things. It seemed to be quite a mess when you looked around his house or his desk. Yet he always managed to find what he was looking for. It might be a mess, but it was an organized one. Still, the chances for a little key to get lost in all of this were pretty high. He grabbed the key nonetheless, not explaining to the other man what this little smile of his could really mean.

“That’s fascinating,” he let out at the mention of the test. Of course, there was an ethical aspect to it that some caring more about the morality of it might argue about. It was not a test you wanted everyone to get their hands on. What if the parents were non-mutant and found out their kid was? Or the other way around? What could happen then could be terrible but it was also good to know. It would be easier then to prepare a child to accept what will happen during puberty, making it less scary of an experience. While Jason’s train of thoughts brought him there, Seiji went to a whole other direction and the healer was forced to leave behind his scruples behind and think about what the young man said. “It sure would make it difficult to identify for certain what ability the child will get. Has your test proved exact all the time? I mean, can someone possess the mutant gene without it to affect him?” Jason knew some disease could have this particularity to be into someone’s body without them being sick of said disease. He wondered if the gene could affect the person in such a way. It could explain why two non-mutant parents have a mutant child, one of them having mutants in their family and the gene lied dormant until their son.

Seiji was right about his heart not being his only issue but that didn’t make him want to be more careful. He knew all the problems he could get over the years. He saw his father have them before, even though he considered the old man as not really a reference. Jason was not using his power constantly, if he could be as obsessed as him. It was weird to have someone worrying for him and wanting to do tests. He was normally this person. “Sure, if you want. You want to do it now?” All this was a waste of time in his mind but he knew it was only because he was a reluctant patient.

[Seiji Lockard]

It was mot certainly not a test that should have been something that fell into the wrong hands, but in a way it did. SPECTRE had something like it; at least that was what the rumors had said when Seiji heard about whispered reports about SPECTRE. He wondered if they had made their own or if perhaps there was a spy within the school. No, he refused to believe there would have been someone in the school who would have passed such information to people who wanted to kill mutants. To people who thought this school was a threat when it had been here for years and nothing bad had ever resulted from the students that had gone here.

Well...nothing too bad like mutants trying to go to all-out war or anything. Seiji's mind went down that thought process for a while, until he heard Jason's question. There was more than one question and Seiji waited to hear all of them and could not help but to give a defeated look for a moment. "It has been close but there had been cases in where it would come back wrong. Partially with those with powers that involve copying others powers or making others powers stronger." Seiji admitted as he let out a sigh. He figured he need to make the test a bit more including since he figured it would be the easiest to tell with those kinds of mutants. After all, their entire DNA was so wild and fascinating with its ability to copy others power so well.

"And yes, someone can have the gene and it is dormant for all their life. Still trying to figure out why some never activate while others do." Seiji answered Jason question which just brought up the question he had himself. "Yes, the sooner the better. If you would just have a seat right there I can take some blood from you really quick." Seiji said, pointing to the seat in his office and moved over to a cabinet where he had some basic supplies. He had all the extra stuff for bigger jobs in the lab, but drawing blood was easy enough to have a set up in his office.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason didn’t think mutants were dangerous. Some abilities could be and some people who happened to be mutants could be, but most of them simply wanted to live a life as normal as possible. It was like going after the blind people for being blind. Of course, some people couldn’t tell the difference. It was sad and explained why they preferred to remain within their own kind. At least with other mutants they didn’t have to fear judgement so much.

“Yes, that would make the reading difficult. But at least knowing you’ll get one at some point is already more than we had,” he stated. And it was a good leap into learning more about mutation. If only non-powered people could understand this was something to look into and help, not some disease they had to eradicate. But even them knew little about mutations, they couldn’t expect those who didn’t live with one to be that understanding.

For example, they didn’t know why some children had a mutant ability while others didn’t. “Maybe it activates with another gene present in the DNA. Or perhaps is countered or at least weakened by one,” he theorized. Surely, Seiji came to the same conclusions before. The man had a lab to do the proper tests unlike Jason who only had what he could get in his house. He’ll let him do that sort of tests. Besides, Jason was no geneticist. It would be hard for him to work on this without the right knowledge.

He didn’t expect to do some tests right now. Sure, he had nothing else to do, but he never thought the conversation would take this turn. “Hm, alright,” he let out, still a little stunned. He sat on the seat Seiji pointed out for him and rolled up his sleeve.

[Seiji Lockard]

“Right, it’s something to work for and at least I’m not spending my hours in this office just sitting around.” Seiji said as he thought about it for a moment. He had this job and he was still a college student until the summer break rolled around. Until then he had his time split up between work, school, and breaks. It got crazy some days but for the most part he was able to work out a good balance with it all. Plus he could eat in his office and still work on a few things so it all balanced out in the end, so life was nice.

There was also the fact that he was not working on it all alone and had people that he would send information to, to make the medication for it. Seiji scratched as his scruff a little when Jason started to talk about how the mutant gene activated with another gene. That was likely since kids only came into it during their adolescences, when their bodies were starting to become women and men for the most part. “Both those are very possible. Problem is I need someone to actually study their DNA for a period of time. It would be best if I could have a kid that has the possibility to be a mutant to study the DNA of, then to study when they come into their power, and a month or two of them having their power.” Seiji said with a small nod.

Yes, if he could focus on at least one mutant before, during, and then after he would be able to really pinpoint where in the DNA everything was happening. The problem with that was he needed someone to be willing to allow their child to be studied and it would have to be someone that was for sure going to come into their power, or else he would have been wasting his time. Perhaps someone in the Bellefonte family would be a good person to study later on when they would have kids. Or just a well-known mutant family from the other mutant schools perhaps. Those were thoughts for later as Seiji pulled out what he needed and Jason took a seat.

He slipped on some gloves first and then got the needle ready, Jason looked ready so he didn’t bother to wait and immediately went to draw some blood from the older man. It was enough to run a few test and some to have to actually have for a sample on what to test the medication on. “Alright, with that I’m good. Thank you for that and again I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries. It’s just…you are a very important person to this school and I would like it if you were around for a long time.” Seiji pointed out, talking a little faster towards the end as his nerves got a hold of him. At least his nerves were not getting in the way of him cleaning up, and placing a gauze and same tape over the spot he drew blood from.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason could see a lot of himself in Seiji. Maybe the Asian boy looked slightly cooler than he ever did back when he was a student here but the dedication to his work, yeah he knew that very well. It was this same passion that made him rather unnoticed as he walked those corridors. Not that he ever minded. He was way too into his work to really notice he might be missing on something. Maybe Seiji was smarter and knew. If he did not... well, Jason was not the best placed to tell him about it. He had not exactly changed since his years at Bellefonte, still as obsessed with his work to the point of being oblivious to the rest. And he didn’t see that changing soon.

“Yes, research has only started, anything we can say right now is only theory,” he admitted as Seiji pointed out they would need more time studying their DNA before coming to a conclusion. He had a little, almost sheepish smile at Seiji. “I’m sorry I cannot be of more help about this but genetics isn’t exactly my domain of expertise.” Finding some medication that could help counter certain side-effects were more in his alley. And it was already enough work without him starting to play with their DNA. “It would help indeed, but I don’t know a lot of parents who might agree to let someone conduct tests, no matter how benign, for a long period of time on their children,” he replied. It was a pity, really, but they were human beings and Jason wouldn’t want to go against their will, even for the great of all. Some families might understand. Jason would have but he had no kid of his own and even if one day he happened to have one, it did not mean the mother would accept.

Jason never had problems with needles. The pain was light and his job sure helped him not turn pale at the sight of blood. For once, he would be a good patient, as Jason was more the type to ignore recommendations. “It’s alright,” he assured Seiji as he grabbed some cotton and applied it against his skin. “I know my ability is a useful one just like I know the risks of it. If you want to study it, I’m fine with that. I’m not really expecting you to find any way to reverse or significantly slow down the side-effects of it so don’t put pressure on yourself because you cannot help my heart.” He assumed, with that test done, that he was good to go. “We should keep in touch. I’ll send you a copy of Zoe’s file. What’s related to her power, of course. The rest, I’ll need her consent for. Anyway,” and on that he had a little smile, “I don’t think the rest is of major importance to you.”