It Suits You
Posted on Wed Oct 9th, 2024 @ 8:19am by Hank McCoy & Warren Worthington III
2,967 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 0: X Lang Syne
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: 1988
“Come on, Hank, you know this and you know what to say. This isn’t your first PhD dissertation,” Warren said with one of his award winning smiles as he examined Hank’s slouched and furry frame in the tri fold mirror.
In preparation for his upcoming dissertation defense, Warren had offered to buy Hank a new suit. But nothing stock cut from the store was acceptable as far as Warren was concerned. Handmade and custom tailored to the person’s body was the only acceptable option as far as he was concerned.
That elevated standard was normal for Warren, but the unspoken change for Hank was how this was the first time he would be speaking in public since his accident. His new, large, blue furred body wouldn’t fit in a shop front, stock suit, making the need to have a custom made suit essential for Hank.
Nevertheless Warren was trying to enforce the normalcy of the event. His typical tailor hovered around Hank making chalk marks and pinning hem lines on the raw suit that had been made for Hank’s measurements.
“One more time,” Warren encouraged Hank with a pat on the shoulder. “Let me hear that thesis statement.”
"Ah, yes…” Hank swallowed the butterflies fluttering up from his stomach and adjusted the round frame glasses on his nose. “In its simplest form,” he began, coughing for a moment before his tone turned more confident, “my thesis aims to illuminate the biochemical pathways by which genetic mutations—both heritable and somatic—manifest and propagate, particularly as they pertain to the enigmatic X-Gene.” As he got going, his words sounded more intentional but still monotone. “By exploring the roles of environmental stimuli, DNA repair mechanisms, and epigenetic factors, my research strives to not only understand the etiology of these mutations but also to identify evolutionary implications and therapeutic interventions. In short, it’s a humble exploration of what makes us… quite literally… us." He looked at Warren. “Do you suppose I should make it more impersonal? Perhaps I should not include myself within the scope of my own thesis.”
“Why? You can’t subjectively speak on a topic and defend your research if you’re personally connected to it?” Warren said with a chuckle. “And no offense, Hank, but they are going to know you’re a mutant the moment you walk through the door.”
Although not one to roll his eyes often, Hank made an exception for Warren at that moment. He even topped it off with a mock scowl.
Warren examined himself in the mirror for a moment, his soft white wings fluttered as he turned and posed for himself. He stopped when he noticed the look on Hank’s face.
“Aww Hank, don’t give me that look.” Warren said with a defeated sigh as he returned to normal standing position. “I know your change has been hard but you can’t let it stop you from living your life. Embrace and love who you are. You worked hard for this PhD and you deserve recognition for it, don’t let blue fur take that away from you.”
Hank adjusted his glasses once more, his expression softening but remaining contemplative. He glanced at Warren’s wings, then down at his own blue, fur-covered hands. "Ah, Warren, ever the optimist. And while I appreciate your sentiment, the world is not always as generous." He sighed softly, his voice taking on a reflective tone. "I have no desire for my appearance to dictate the perception of my intellect, but alas, we live in a world where the cover so often overshadows the contents of the book."
He paused, a small, wistful smile appearing at the corner of his mouth as he quoted quietly, "‘There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.’" He looked back at Warren, his eyes more earnest now. "Francis Bacon, of course. It is strange, isn't it? That in all my striving to illuminate the mysteries of our kind, I am often reduced to my own 'strangeness.' My hope, however, is that I am judged not by the fur on my skin, but by the content of my mind and the research I bring forth."
“That’s the exact point I’m trying to make.” That perfect smile returned to Warren’s face. “Don’t be afraid of who you are and be proud of what you’ve achieved. Which means getting out of that stuffy mansion in Salem Center for something other than missions or school work.”
“To be technical, this is an academic exercise,” Hank pointed out with one finger in the air.
It was an easy statement for Warren to make, he had always been a social butterfly and it was easy for him to find positive attention and validation outside of the school. His code name alone spoke of his angelic presence, women swooned over his flawless small and asked to touch his grand white wings. “When was the last time you went out?”
Hank turned reticent and even avoided Warren’s face. “Define… out.”
“Exactly.” Warren said with a laugh, his point was made. “I’m not looking to pick on you, Hank, honestly I’m not.” His behavior was a dramatic change from the Warren of several years ago. His confidence and maybe a touch of his arrogance remained but he was far less combative and inconsiderate. Warren had made the choice to stay at Xavier’s and with it he made the effort to become a better teammate and friend to all of them. “I just worry about you, Hank, we all do. Book smarts and degrees are great and all but there’s more to life than hanging another degree on your wall.”
Hank’s gaze softened, and for a moment, the intellectual veil he so often wore fell away, leaving a raw vulnerability. He sighed, his voice quieter now, almost as if confessing a truth he had long hidden. "Warren, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment—or your concern. Truly, I do." He glanced at his hands, flexing the blue-furred fingers as though the sight still unsettled him after all these years.
"The truth is," Hank continued, his tone more introspective, "I’ve always believed that through hard work—through understanding the intricacies of the world, the science that governs our very existence—I can better myself. Perhaps even better the world. That is, in many ways, how I discover myself, in the quiet moments of research, in the breakthroughs, in the questions that push me to evolve." He offered a faint smile, tinged with a sadness that betrayed his usual buoyant persona. "But, if I’m being honest, I’m also terrified of what I might learn about myself along the way."
His brow furrowed as he wrestled with the vulnerability of the confession. "What if, in all this striving, I discover that who I am… isn’t who I want to be?" He raised his eyes to meet Warren’s, the weight of the question lingering in the air. "What if the very strangeness I seek to understand is more a reflection of something I’d rather not see? As Proust said, 'We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.' And I fear where that journey might lead."
He let the words hang, his voice trailing off as if the admission itself was a release. "You’re right, Warren. There’s more to life than another degree, but at least in the safety of academia, I can keep exploring without facing the parts of myself I’d rather avoid."
“Life isn’t just about safety and it feels so incredibly ironic telling you that,” Warren said with a chuckle as he examined ties of different colors next to Hank’s new suit. “We do dangerous things, risk our lives even, and yet the way you talk you sound like all you want is safety and security. You can’t fool me Hank, you’re an adventure seeker too but only when it’s on your terms and conditions. I just want you to step out of that box from time to time.”
Hank considered Warren’s words, feeling the familiar tension between his desire for adventure and the comfort of routine. A soft, almost self-deprecating smile formed on his lips. "You know, Warren, you make it sound so simple—stepping outside that box." He ran a hand through his thick blue fur, his fingers pausing at the edge of his jawline as though weighing something deeply.
"You thrive out there," Hank continued, his tone reflective and a little self-pitying. "In the world beyond the lab, where charm and confidence carry the day. You’ve always had this… innate ability to captivate people, to walk into any room and find acceptance, admiration even." Hank's gaze flicked to Warren. There was no denying his friend’s effortless grace and the ease with which he commanded attention. "But for someone like me, it’s… different. My fear isn’t just about falling short of expectations. It’s about isolation. Rejection."
He sighed, folding his arms as though bracing himself. "I’ve spent so long learning and discovering the world through books and research, thinking that maybe if I knew enough, did enough, I could be worthy of acceptance. That if I expanded my horizons intellectually, I wouldn’t feel so… apart from everyone else. Yet here I stand, no closer to that sense of belonging. Instead, it’s as though I’m chasing something I may never find."
He turned to Warren, his expression softening with a tinge of vulnerability. "But what would you do, Warren, if you were in my place? What would you do if, despite all your charm and brilliance, the world only saw you as ‘other’? The idea of stepping into that space where I am more vulnerable than ever… It terrifies me." Hank’s voice grew quieter as he added, "I think of Faulkner, how he wrote, 'You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.' I want to be that brave, but what if, once I leave the shore, I find myself drowning instead of swimming?"
Hank looked up at Warren, his eyes asking the question that had gnawed at him for years. "So tell me, what would you do in my shoes?"
“I would make them love my ‘other’.” Warren said with such absolute certainty, “I would make them acknowledge it and become so accustomed to it that my ‘other’ stopped having any type of meaning.” His wings fluffed up in indignation over a memory that their conversation evoked. “My dad made me strap down my wings when I was younger. I wore them under overcoats in the summer and sweated my ass off because he couldn’t handle the idea of the world knowing his son was a mutant. When I turned eighteen, he removed me from the board at Worthington Industries as a way to force me to give up being an X-Men and head back to Chicago to go to school. I stopped strapping down my wings on that day, and everytime I walk through that office of shareholders, I make sure every single one of them sees my wings.”
Hank tilted his head slightly, absorbing Warren’s words with a quiet intensity. His fingers brushed the fur along his jawline, a small, contemplative gesture as he considered the stark contrast between their experiences. "I understand what you’re saying, Warren, truly. But there’s a difference, isn’t there?" His eyes flickered with a trace of uncertainty. "You can choose to let people see your wings. You can walk through those halls with purpose, making them acknowledge that part of you because, at the end of the day, you still have the option to present your 'other' on your own terms."
He sighed, his gaze lowering briefly before he met Warren’s eyes again. "But I… I can’t hide this." He gestured to his blue fur, his voice turning to a growl. "There’s no overcoat, no clever way to make them adjust to it on my terms. I walk into a room, and this is what they see. All the time." He paused, before conceding with a small, self-aware smile that made his voice soften. "Not that I’m disagreeing with you. I just wonder if your approach applies quite so directly to someone in my shoes—or fur, as the case may be."
Hank’s brow furrowed, and his thoughts began to spiral for a moment. "Though I must ask whether you are referring strictly to my thesis defense, or something broader? Because I’m not sure if broad generalities ever really fit into specific situations. Does an approach that works in one arena necessarily apply to another?" He trailed off, the familiar rhythm of overthinking taking hold, as though he couldn’t resist dissecting even the simplest pieces of advice.
After a moment, he sighed and chuckled quietly at himself. "But I do concede your point. Perhaps making them love my ‘other’ is as much about persistence as it is about how I present it. Maybe I’ve been avoiding that challenge by keeping myself secluded in academia,” he said with a shrug that moved his burly shoulders enough to pop off some pins. “I just don’t know how—oops! Oh, dear…”
“Is okay,” the tiny Italian tailor muttered as he stood on a stool and began to re-pin the jacket. “I make it looser for you.”
“You just have to own it, Hank,” Warren continued. “It doesn’t matter what the scenario is or if you think the approach is appropriate because at the end of the day, there is no escaping who you are and what people will undeniably see. You either control the narrative or you let others do it for you. Personally, I would rather decide who I am.” Warren finally selected a tie that matched Hank’s new suit. He placed it with the tailor’s supplies for purchase.
“So let’s try an easy thesis defense question…” Warren went back to their original conversation and the reason why Hank was trying on this suit. “Why did you choose this study?”
A familiar spark of intellectual enthusiasm lit up Hank’s eyes. "Why did I choose this study? Well, quite simply, because it represents one of the most intriguing and essential questions in modern biology—the mechanisms of mutation and how they impact the organism at both a cellular and systemic level. Genetic mutations are essentially the catalysts of change, the drivers of diversity, and the architects of our biological narrative. To study them is to study life itself in all its complexity and unpredictability."
He clasped his hands together as his voice grew more reflective. "My focus here is not merely academic. I seek to uncover the patterns, the influences, and the environmental factors that shape these mutations, and how these processes affect not only individual organisms but entire populations. By understanding these pathways, we gain insight into everything from disease progression to evolutionary biology, and, hopefully, we can develop tools to better predict and mitigate harmful effects. The X-Gene is just one example, but the principles I’m working with have applications far beyond that."
A slight grin crept across his face as he leaned back. "So, Warren, to put it simply, when you’re as blue and furry as I am, questions of mutation tend to hit rather close to home, wouldn’t you agree?"
“Agreed...” Warren patted Hank on the back once the tailor had finished repairing his suit. There were daily ups and downs when it came to Hank and his attitude. Some days, he was enthusiastic about this work and eager to share it and himself with the world. Other days, he was melancholy and withdrawn. When he was ‘blue’, It took a moment to remind Hank of who he was and what he was capable of. It was that web of support the First Class provided for one another, strength during weakness, insight when blinded. Today, Warren was the voice of reassurance, a reminder that Hank was brilliant and the world needed to hear him and see him because of what he had to offer them. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Thesis Title: "Mechanisms and Impacts of Genetic Mutations: Exploring the Biochemical Pathways of the X-Gene"
Thesis Statement:
This research investigates the biochemical mechanisms underlying genetic mutations, focusing on both heritable and somatic variations. By integrating molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics, the study aims to elucidate the role of environmental factors, DNA repair pathways, and epigenetic modifications in mutation frequency and effects. Understanding these processes will provide insights into etiology, evolutionary biology, and potential therapeutic targets for the X-Gene.Objectives:
1. To characterize the molecular mechanisms of common mutagenic processes, including oxidative stress and replication errors.
2. To analyze the influence of environmental factors on mutation rates using model organisms.
3. To investigate the role of DNA repair mechanisms in maintaining genomic integrity and their relationship to mutation accumulation.
4. To explore the implications of mutations on protein function and cellular pathways, with a focus on cancer biology and hereditary diseases.
5. To develop a computational framework for predicting mutation outcomes based on genetic and environmental data.
Significance:
This thesis aims to advance the understanding of the X-Gene, contributing to the fields of medical genetics, evolutionary theory, and biochemistry, ultimately informing strategies for diagnosis and understanding of the X-Gene.
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