Philip and Simon, At JP's Party

[om_touchstone]

Simon and Philip talk, and Philip has a request for the young doctor-to-be.

Simon had drifted away from Jean-Paul's side in the lounge after dinner, letting the star of the party recount some of his more glorious moments to their friends. As he sipped at his coke, he glanced around the room, inwardly naming each person, forcing himself to remember codenames and powers, if he'd been provided with the information. If he was honest with himself, their medical information filtered into that process too.

Most of the other kids were engaged in other conversations, but when his gaze landed on Philip, Simon found himself drifting closer, offering a small smile of greeting. "Hey. I'm glad you decided to come."

"I wasn't sure I was going to," Philip admitted. "This kind of thing is a little outside my experience. We moved so much that I didn't usually see the point. Why get really friendly if you're going to be gone in a couple months." He looked down into his glass, watching as he tipped it back and forth a little like the moving liquid was something important. "But it seems like I'll be here for a good, long while."

He hadn't entirely unbent, the button-down shirts had still come along, but at least Philip was looking a shade more relaxed.

"You should talk to Inara Serra," Simon replied thoughtfully. "She had to move around quite a bit as well. Our families were acquainted, but I hadn't actually met her until she arrived here, just because she was always on the move."

"I'm afraid I haven't met her yet," Philip said sheepishly. "I recognize the name, of course, and I know her picture but that's about it. I've been a little too wrapped up in business. Or someone would tell you probably." He had gotten better about it, that whole sleeping and eating business. Mostly. If he wasn't too busy, if only to keep Pietro off of him about it.

Simon's lips quirked slightly. "I don't know. Most people would probably say the same thing about me."

"I need to keep reminding myself that I don't have Tessa's capabilities. She's a terrible influence that way," Philip said with a small smile. "Although, speaking of our project, I'd like some help with a delicate situation."

Simon lifted his eyebrows a bit. "A delicate situation? Are you...is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing to do with me, it's about Laura," Philip clarified. "And before you ask, I already spoke to her and got permission to discuss this with you. I'm assuming you've heard about the Facility. She's had dealings with them in the past and has an entirely reasonable fear of being discovered by them again."

The other boy nodded slightly. He'd heard, and the idea still sickened him. "The doctor filled me in on most of the details. At least, the broad strokes, I guess. She was experimented on, but she has a healing factor like yours - though hers is always on. Whatever they did to her, she always healed."

"Worse than that," Philip said with a grimace. "They were testing chemical weapons on her as well, including one that was meant to incite panic. In her case, it drove her into a violent episode that ended in a number of deaths. She's concerned that they would still have access to the compound and use it again. That would be extremely dangerous for us."

Simon glanced around slightly, careful to keep his voice low in the conversation as shifted to put his back to the wall next to Phil. "Dangerous for anyone," Simon corrected.

"Oh, yes," Philip said and he resolutely refused to let the embarrassment creep out of his control. "I meant us in the immediate sense, as she'd likely be close by. But certainly dangerous in general, including to herself. She's..." he paused, trying to find the right word. "I hesitate to say terrified at the prospect, as she's so self-possessed, but extremely worried at the very least."

"With good reason," Simon agreed, training his gaze on nothing in particular as he attempted to think of the different chemical compounds he knew of that could cause such a reaction.

"It was described as a pheromone," Philip said with a frown. "One that affected only her, I imagine because of her senses. I was wondering if it might be possible to, I don't know, jam the sense if need be? I know you can't immunize against a compound that there's no detail on but..." He shrugged, he was obviously grasping here.

"Hardly," Simon frowned. "I mean, I can look into it, but we can't just simply cut off her ability to breathe. Not unless we fit her with a gas-mask, and something tells me that ah, she wouldn't stand for that." The girl could best be described as a borderline-feral.

"No, I agree that wouldn't work. It's not my area, I'll admit. I just had the idea maybe of something overwhelming, like camphor or the ammonia they use to clear your head. Something like that." Philip said. He gave a little self deprecating shrug. "As I said, not my area."

Simon shook his head. "Neither would work well. From what I've been told, she's able to disseminate smells, and the amount needed to completely block them out altogether would likely have adverse reactions. It would be poisonous to a normal human. I'm not sure what it might do to someone like her. In any case, it's possible that this chemical isn't so much a smell as a chemical reaction in the receptor neurons. I'll have to see if she'll let me touch her and find out more about her olfaction system."

"I think if you tell her what it's for, she'd be amenable " Philip replied. "I think in this case, her worry outweighs other concerns. I would like to be kept in the loop though, as long as she doesn't object. I realize this is an odd sort of situation."

"Sure," Simon murmured. "But I can't make any promises about finding you a solution."

"Sometimes there isn't one," Philip said with a sigh. "Don't worry, Simon, I'm not expecting a miracle. I just want to minimize the chances of anyone, and most importantly Laura, getting hurt."

The young med student glanced at Philip curiously at the last comment, but nodded in understanding.