Open!

[kaijugrrroupie]

Who: Newton Geiszler and Yooooouuu
Where: An seedy looking office within LA Chinatown
When: Late March, every evening between 3-5
What: Newt's arrived in LA and before his official job starts, he decides to set up a health clinic for aliens and cyborgs. Because that's a thing you do.
Warnings: over zealous discussion of autopsy probably

[The best thing about not really sleeping much every night meant that Newt got over the jetlag from moving from Japan to America pretty quickly. Nothing several cups of coffee and a bowl of overly sugary cereal aimed at children (not middle aged scientists) couldn't fix, even if it was three in the afternoon.

He's got his laptop open, absently reading the latest shonen jump--it's really not the same reading it online, but it'll do--swinging around in his chair with a bowl of cereal in one hand, sucking on the spoon with his other.

The office is pretty basic, with a desk and a few chairs, a slowly filling bookcase and a sink. He's not had much time to get things set up since he's only been in the city for a few days but it's got the essentials for setting up a totally respectable clinic. As well as suspiciously looking like a studio apartment. He's been looking into getting a gurney for patients to make it look more clinic-y and less like he's living here, but figured a camp bed would do for now. It's certainly been good enough for him, so nobody will mind. If they're visiting they probably have a few different things to worry about anyway.

He isn't even sure if anyone will turn up, but it doesn't matter. He's got about four years of academia to catch up on before he starts at Mintaka, and of course, has left it to the last minute to do it.

But then again, he doesn't need sleep. So it'll probably take him no time at all.]

Comments

[cazamitad]

[ A half hour after their conversation, Aña walks into the clinic. She'd gotten there a good 15 minutes ago and spent her time scoping the place out, making sure it looked at least vaguely legit. And it had, so she sucked up the courage to go in.

Stepping inside, she doesn't necessarily look like she should be here - she's just a petite Hispanic girl with a long ponytail, a long-sleeved shirt, and a glove on her right hand which could easily be a fashion thing. ]

Um... Hello? Dr. Geiszler?

[kaijugrrroupie]

[He's leaning over his computer and glances up when the door opens. he has his mouth full of his third bowl of cereal, and raises a heavily tattooed arm to wave her inside as he quickly swallowed.]

--Call me Newt. Only my mother calls me Doctor. [He gives her a grin, and then looks her over. Not exactly what he was expecting. She doesn't look like an alien, but Skrulls could be tricky sometimes so he's not about to make any judgements.

He shuts the laptop and motions to the free chair, getting up so he can sit on the edge of the desk just in front of her.]

Lemme guess. [he squints at her, rolling his other sleeve up.] Terminator, right?

[cazamitad]

Okay. I'm Araña.

[ Aña grins at him, lopsidedly, and sits down, perched on the edge of the sea a little nervously. ]

I usually get pegged for a guy, I'm impressed.

[kaijugrrroupie]

[He gives her a brief once-over as she sits, trying to figure out where exactly the tech she was talking about was. Probably the arm that had the glove on it. He'd bet money on that.

When she speaks he grins and gives a shrug.] I deal with a lot of species that don't really have gender as part as a social concept, so I'm not here to judge, man.

You got any questions before we get this show on the road?

[cazamitad]

[ He's sharp. Then again, it's kind of weird to only wear a glove on one hand, especially when it's not really cold enough for gloves. ]

Um, not really.

[ Deep breaths, Aña, you really need to have the arm looked at and he's definitely the most qualified person you know of who's not part of CONDOR.

Hell, he might be more qualified than they are, if all the stuff she found online is true.

She pulls off her glove and pulls off her long-sleeved shirt (there's a camisole underneath) to reveal her lovely new cyborg arm and the obviously-fresh scarring along the border between flesh and metal. Her entire shoulder has been replaced, and if he took an x-ray or investigated it, he'd find even some of the connected musculature under the skin in her chest and back have been replaced with high-tech mechanics. The arm is proportional to her other arm, almost as if she had metal casing over it, but it's fully mechanical. She shifts a little awkwardly in her chair, tucking some loose hair behind her ear with her non-metal hand. ]

Um, so I don't really know for sure if it's waterproof or anything? I've been using a plastic bag when I shower, like when you've got a cast. And I had to use it to punch out of a sort of cell and everything was already painful right then so I don't know if I damaged anything in the hand or in my body or anything.

[thanksoptimus]

[Orion wanders in some time on the second day, though he's definitely not doing it as a human. Instead, he has a brand new holomatter avatar - this time it's a jade blooded trolls. While being an alien pretending to be another alien might seem strange, he is assured there are sensible social reasons behind it.]

[He knocks very politely, awkwardly shuffling inside.]

...Hello.

[The voice seems sort of deep for a woman, but at least a bit less so than the full Orion experience.]

[kaijugrrroupie]

[By the second day, some more of Newton's stuff has arrived (no thanks to you Delta), and he's had a bit more time to make the room a little presentable. He's at least hung an anatomical chart by the bed to make it look more 'doctory' as well as an original Godzilla poster behind the desk to make it more 'Newty'.

When the Alternian wanders in, Newt glances up from his laptop, catching up on a mathematics journal published by a friend of his and can't help but stare. He's used to seeing Alternian's, but they are usually in pieces. It's nice to see a whole one. He can tell by the slight pigment variation on the troll's joints that she's somewhere in the middle blood-caste group, but he'd not know for sure unless he took some blood.

Okay, Newt. Try not to sound like a total creep.]

--Hey! [He shuts his laptop, and waves her in, not too startled by the deepness of her voice. He's not really used to Trolls speaking at him, let alone in English.]

C'mon in!

[thanksoptimus]

[He comes in more fully, shutting the door behind him. His posture remains very straight and polite - something more obvious in a troll body than in a robot's.]

I spoke to you on The Watch network. I had said that I would come to meet you here.

[kaijugrrroupie]

[He's pretty sure he would have remembered talking to an Alternian, specifically because he mentioned being an expert on them, so he squints, trying to remember.]

Uhhh, you're gonna have to remind me, 'cause my inbox has been super full since I posted that thing and jetlag has totally been kicking my butt. [it hasn't, but he has to come up with some reason for not remembering.]

[liberaition]

[Dr. Geiszler had always been one of the few people at MIT Kit had admired for the way he worked the system. They'd been introduced after she'd won her second regional science fair, and for a long time his academic career had been her own goal. But Kit Peddler was not suited for academia, and her stay at MIT had ended rather abruptly after freshman year. It was for the best, but she'd been sorry to leave Geiszler. His spark for applied cybernetics nearly rivaled her own.

It takes Kit a little while longer than usual to make her way across town. Her brand new leg (her leg, not the organic she came with) is still healing, the nerves still growing into their new channels, the bone and titanium not fused. She's clumsy on her white forearm crutches, but Kit takes the time to stop and pick up a few containers of Thai takeout and some drinks. New implants need to be fed with electricity and food, at least until Kit can replace her immune system with nanites.

Professor Geiszler's "clinic" is less sketchy than the basement of the man Kit let drill into her own skull, and with a shrug she raises a hand and knocks at the door. The spark of excitement going through her is electric. Baelheit understands, certainly, but it'll be nice to get back in touch with someone a little more DIY. Anyway, Kit is eager to show off her progress to her old teacher. She'd told him a thousand times she'd modify herself, transcend the limitations of the human body, and now she's well on her way.]

[kaijugrrroupie]

[Kit had been by far the best thing about teaching at MIT. Teaching people who were older than you and not as smart had been incredibly difficult, and Newt often hadn't been taken seriously. But he'd met Kit when she was still just a kid and had instantly taken a shine to her. It wasn't just her incredible mind, but also her complete and utter awe of Newt (and damn right too, Newt was awesome after all) that had him wanting to take the girl under his wing. And after she'd expressed a want to learn more about more advanced sciences, stuff that public schools could not provide her, Newt offered up his services to tutor her, in any fields she wished to learn about, which were almost always invariably about his research into cybernetics and regenerative tissue.

He had missed her during his time in Japan, and the mention of implants on his advert had him worried. He'd known about her obsession with extreme body modification, but never thought she'd actually go through with it. At least from someone she didn't know. She'd asked him a couple of times to install certain upgrades, and at the time Newt had felt too much like a protective big brother to let her do it. He'd wished he had now, because who knows what back-alley she'd gone to.

The knock at the door has him almost choking on the bowl of cereal, and he has to hack up a marshmallow before he can actually get out of his chair to go and open the door. He can smell the take-out before he even opens it, and decides that cereal suddenly doesn't cut it anymore.

He's grinning when he opens the door, but his expression falters when he sees her leg--only confirming his original fears--and takes the bags off of her to give her a frown.]

Mein Gott, kiddo. Where the hell did you get that?

[liberaition]

[Kit grins, flipping her hair out of her eyes with a toss of her head. She's used to the stares, after all.]

I made it, of course. Don't judge it on its performance yet, it's not fully integrated. I can't believe you didn't spring for any of the Japanese augments, have you seen the cerebral cortical chips YoTaka is prototyping?

[Kit just lets Newt take the food from her, the whirring of her cybernetic fingers to quiet to really hear over her own voice and the traffic noises outside. Balancing on one crutch and then the other, she takes off her cardigan and tosses it over the back of a chair.]

Not that I'm implying you need a brain power boost, of course.

[kaijugrrroupie]

[He shifts against the door so she can come in, watching her carefully. It wasn't a bad leg, and he knows that if she built it the quality would at least be good. But who the hell installed it? He's slowly noticing all the other upgrades she's got all over her body, and gives a weary sigh.]

I dunno, I kinda like being squishy. And dude, those chips are only as intuitive as the people building them. [he shuts the door and scrambles to go put the Thai food down so he can pay her more attention. She was in his clinic, so she was going to get examined.]

Get your butt over to the bed, I need to make sure whoever installed this did a good job.

[withhercleverhead]

[Annabel finds the place on accident, though it's maybe more curiosity that can be blamed. Shes in Chinatown with her cat and Bartholomew is the one who notices it first. The little, mechanical creature wanders in, meowing and then hoping onto the desk much like he owned the place.

Annabel herself comes in moments later, already spouting apologies.]

I'm so sorry! Really, quite sorry! My cat--he rather seemed to want inside and I hope I'm not disturbing you and-- [She pauses, examining the man at the desk and blinking.]

Are you having breakfast?

[kaijugrrroupie]

[He's not expecting a cat to suddenly jump on his desk, so when it does he practically chokes on his mouthful, his face going red as he tries to hack up the half chewed cereal. Classy Newt. Classy. Of course, the moment he notices the cat isn't organic it gets incredibly interesting, and he peers at it before the woman swings into the room apologising.

Newt stares at her for a few moments, and then looks down at his bowl, and then back to her.]

Technically, I think this is Brinner.

[withhercleverhead]

[She looks uncertainly at him. Clearly, she has never encountered the term 'brinner' and while she can take a guess at it's meaning, she's not entirely sure she's correct.]

Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't mean to interrupt your...Brinner. [She feels as if she's using the word wrong but she chases the statement with an uncertain smile, hoping that would somehow make it better.

Annabel McAlistair has the best social skills in all the land.

[kaijugrrroupie]

[He laughs a little awkwardly.]

Brinner. Y'know. Breakfast-and-dinner? It's like the rockstar version of brunch, with less couples and pancakes and more hangovers and brushing your teeth with a bottle of jack.

[he rubs the back of his head, his sleeves rolled up, showing off the sleeves tattooed onto his skin.]

But it's cool! 'specially since you have a robot for a cat what the hell is up with that?

[notreallygood]

[It is not precisely accidental, the way the soldier finds this place. He'd heard about Dr. Geiszler's new clinic and who it catered to. Granted, there was probably good use for it here, he had already encountered more cyborgs than he knew what to do with upon his arrival in Los Angeles. But even so, he'd like to spare anyone the pain and trauma and nightmares that he had had to suffer through, so many years ago. Precautions must be taken, possible threats watched.

So if Newt happens to notice a familiar guy hanging around -- not a customer, just generally hanging around outside the building, for all intents and purposes looking like one of the guys who should really be down a couple blocks on Skid Row -- perhaps it would be better to pay him no mind. He doesn't mean any harm, at least not yet. Though it might be hard to miss the telltale glint of silver fingers under a motorcycle glove. He never really has seen much point in hiding his arm unless he absolutely has to.]

[kaijugrrroupie]

[Newt does notice the guy, but only because he's got a weird feeling that somebody's watching him, out of the corner of his eye. It does take him a few days though, his deja vu taking care of his lack of observational skills than everything outside of his world. Okay, so maybe advertising his apartment (technically it's still an office, but he's living there till Mintaka starts) to the entire vigilante community might not have been his best idea, but dammnit. He misses doing stuff that actually meant something. Helping people. And aliens. He's done too much harm over the years that it was time to start paying back.

Newt's coming back from a shopping trip, a paper bag balanced in one hand as he tries to unlock his office with fumbling keys in the other when the glint catches his eye, and he actually sees the mysterious figure peering at him. It gives him an uneasy feeling, but hey! He dealt with the black market in Hong Kong and came out with all his organs. Right?]

Uhh... [Well done, Newton. You sound so tough.] Can I help you, or are you gonna just... keep staring at me? Which, uh, I guess is fine too, but it's kinda wigging me out man. Seriously damaging my zen.

[notreallygood]

[Civilians. Pff. If he'd wanted Newt dead he would have killed him days ago, and likely no one would be the wiser. It's a good thing he doesn't, at least for now. Everyone he's seen coming out of the office seems to be relatively unharmed and intact, so that is a bit of satisfaction for him.]

[He stands and moves over to Newt, not bothering to disguise the way he moves -- quiet, precise, like a well-trained soldier, with all the confident grace of a big, dangerous cat. If someone isn't paying attention, it may very well seem like he's disappeared into the shadows. Part of the act, for now. He knows perfectly well he can be very intimidating when he wishes to be.]

You're not very observant. [It's light, like he's commenting on the weather or something.] I could have killed you days ago, if I felt like I had to.

[kaijugrrroupie]

[Newt leans away from the man when he's suddenly up in his space, but that just ends up backing him against the door. And he doubts a pineapple or fillet of salmon will help him in combat. He's spent enough time around the military to know this guy is at least solider trained, which doesn't really help the situation.

And then the guy speaks and Newt pales just a bit.]

Uh, that's totally comforting to know, thanks man.

[oh no. His brain just realised he was called not observant. He's going to get himself killed.]

And hey! I'm totally observant! Maybe not the way you are, robostalker, but I totally discovered new organs in Alternians that have never been discovered before! And figured out a completely new species before relations even opened up between us! I can diagnose people usually without having to examine them fully! And totally notice stuff about people, like your metallic accessory you got going on there, man what is with LA and cyborgs? I mean seriously, I'm gonna have to open up a robot clinic just because I've had like one alien since I've been open. But. Uh.

[he can hear one of his college chiding him for going on about nothing like an idiot.]

Thanks for totally not killing me again.

[cyborged]

[To say Raiden's been stalking Newt would be... Well, not completely inaccurate, honestly. He never replied to the post, but the mention of cybernetics and total confidentiality did pique his interest. He could really use someone outside CONDOR to give him a once over and whatnot. Not that he doesn't trust CONDOR, but they've been breached before.

He's been scoping out the place for a few days and it seems like what it says on the tin, and Newt's credentials check out from what he can tell, so. Best to just go for it, right? He knocks on the door and waits patiently, not wanting to just barge in in case he's seeing someone at the minute.]

[kaijugrrroupie]

[It seems Newt's got to get used to being stalked the past few days, because Raiden wouldn't be the first to stake him out first. Figures that his six phD's wouldn't be enough proof for an ever paranoid vigilante community that he wasn't going to butcher and/or harvest their organs. What's a guy gotta do to help his fellow rockstar superheroes out?

Thankfully for Raiden, Newt seems to think that there's only one person currently stalking him, so doesn't actually notice him until the knock comes at his door. He glances up from his laptop, finishing a mouthful of cereal that's causing the milk to go an impressive shade of pink, and quickly checks his appointments list to make sure he's not expecting anyone.]

--It's open! [He shouts, watching the door carefully.]

[cyborged]

[Is it a trap? Probably not. In hindsight he should've made sure someone knew where he was going just in case he ends up as scrap metal and a brain or something after this.

He pushes the door open cautiously and walks instead, wearing a trench coat but also very clearly A Cyborg. Like, he hasn't even tried. (Though to be fair, the coat is mostly to hide Too Many Weapons, but he's also turned the collar up because he learned about being nondescript from noir movies.) Anyway, he's in the room now, looking around and all that.]

Dr. Geiszler?

[kaijugrrroupie]

[seriously, what is with all the cyborgs in LA? Maybe he'd have to take Kit up on her offer about doing a cybernetics clinic with him, because this is almost too many robots. Where were the aliens, man? That's what he's here for. But duty calls and all that. He puts his cereal on the desk and finishes his mouthful before beckoning the man inside more.]

Call me Newt. Doctor makes me feel like a billion years old.