Getting to know the Staff
As they walked down the halls Raven chattered on about this, that and whatever else she probably thought Erik needed to know about the facility. Erik on the other hand walked alongside her completely ignoring every word that came out of her mouth. He didn't need to know where whoever's office was or any of the people she introduced him to. Of course he put on a smile and shook their hand but their names and positions went in one ear and then right out the other.
He played the part he knew she wanted to see perfectly but he didn't get the point of this tour other than for her to able to watch him interact with the other workers. It was really a waste of time, all he really needed to know was where his office was or where he'd mainly be working because everything had a sign on it or a sign pointing to it and everyone had a name tag that said who they were and what they did.
Only when she directed him to an actual laboratory area did he really start to pay attention to what she was saying. "I have two very important people for you to meet. You'll no doubt be working closely with at least one of them every day."
When they entered two men looked up from their work, one simply glanced at them before returning to his work but the other stared at them both with large dark blue eyes hidden behind thick rimmed glasses. He reminded Erik of a squirrel, quick movements and looked as if he'd run away any second if they approached him too quickly. "Hank, this is that new spinal expert I was telling you about the other day, Erik Lehnsherr."
Erik noticed how the other man in the room glanced over his shoulder at him again, this time with a raised eyebrow when Raven called him an expert. The squirrel boy, Hank, looked him over before holding his hand out. "Hank McCoy, it's a pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself with a timid half smile.
"You look a bit young to be a scientist." Erik commented shaking the boy's clammy hand.
Hank seemed to get embarrassed by the comment but Raven beamed. "Hank graduated Harvard at fifteen; he's pretty much our resident genius. He figured out how it's possible for us to run our experiments without testing on animals. We were very lucky to get him away from the government labs and into ours." She patted Hank on the back as she spoke, earning her a full smile from the boy.
Erik nodded; the boy was impressive intellectually wise but he seemed to lack the social skills Raven was requiring him to have. He guessed this was the person he'd be mainly working with, if so he understood why Raven was worried about how well he played with others because this boy can't talk to people.
The moment Raven and Hank began discussing the experiment he was in the middle of Erik tuned them out. He doubted he needed to know about it or that it was a very important breakthrough, it just looked like green cloudy liquid in test tubes. As he ignored them, even though Raven tried to pull him into the conversation several times, he looked around the lab. It was large, with plenty of work space, cabinets and supplies for whatever he needed.
He spotted a refrigerator off to one side labeled 'samples' and began to wonder what type of samples were kept in there. Since he was 'part' of the conversation going on between the two, although all he did was shrug or nod when one of them glanced at him, he settled on checking that out later, it was probably tissue samples and what not. He'd never worked somewhere that was so strict about animal testing before, so he was uncertain how that would work exactly. That would probably be something Hank could explain if he couldn't figure it out on his own, which he probably could.
He continued to scan the room before his eyes settled on a cage set on the opposite side of Hank's work station. He raised an eyebrow and was just about to ask about it when Raven turned to him and smiled. "Let me introduce you to-"
Just as she was about to say the other man in the room's name there was a scoff of disgust and something round and rather annoyingly, bright pink spun toward them on the floor. Raven had stopped talking the moment she spotted it and rushed forward to stop its spinning.
"Shaw!" She exclaimed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to kick the damn ball? You could hurt him!" The other man in the room looked up from what he was doing with his microscope again; a look of complete disinterest on his face which made Erik started to wonder why he seemed to be the only one who had to play nice with others when that guy clearly didn't even have to pretend to care and the other was like a frightened squirrel.
Raven straightened up holding the pink rat ball close, glaring at the man named Shaw who had simply gone back to work. Erik watched her as she made her way over to the cage, her hand sliding over the pink surface as if she was petting the animal inside. "I thought this place didn't test on animals." Erik said looking at Hank who had also been watching Raven.
"We don't." He answered absent mindedly. Erik frown slightly, Hank was staring at her with a love drunk stare, like a schoolgirl might a hot teacher, more proof he may have been a genius but he was still a child.
Raven unscrewed the pink ball's cap and reached into it taking out a small brown and cream colored mouse. She set her hand on the table and the mouse climbed off onto the metal surface. Erik half expected it to start running around but instead the small creature stayed right where Raven had put it as she opened the cage. She pet its head with one finger before gently picking it up and putting it in the cage. "Charles is special."
"Charles?" Erik thought he remembered reading something about the facility that involved the name 'Charles' but he doubted it had to do with a mouse.
Raven looked up at him with a slight smile. "He actually picked it out. I'll show you later." Without any farther explanation she turned away from the two and marched up to the other man to reprimand him for his actions.
Erik walked over to the cage and looked inside. The small mouse hopped of its running wheel and ran up to the small bars to gaze up at him, its little paws holding on to the bars. Erik was shocked to see the small mouse had the most remarkable blue eyes he had ever seen. They shined and sparkled in the bright lights. For what seemed like forever Erik couldn't look away from those remarkable eyes.
The mouse poked its little pink nose through the bars and Erik automatically held his finger out for it to smell. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips when the pink nose twitched as the mouse sniffled him. "How does a lab rat choose its own name?"
As soon as the words 'lab rat' left his lips the mouse's teeth sank into his finger and he pulled back with a shocked hiss. Hank smiled and chuckled lightly which earned him a sharp glare from Erik. "Charles is a mouse that lives in the Lab. He doesn't like being called a lab rat."
Erik looked down at Charles who appeared to be glaring up at him then to the finger he had bitten. There was a faint red mark but nothing more then what would be left if he'd been pinched with nails. For not breaking skin it truly hurt like hell. He pressed the bite mark against the pad of his thumb, applying pressure to make it stop hurting as much.
"As for your question, Raven said she'd show you later. It's quiet amazing actually." Hank smiled at him then glanced at the mouse's cage before returning to his work.
After a few minutes of glaring at Erik the mouse seemed to lose all interest and went back to its running wheel. It didn't run, just sat there rocking in the wheel. Erik frowned and looked around, Hank was staring into a microscope and Raven was still reprimanding the man named Shaw for kicking the pink ball.
Raven turned and caught his eye, beckoning him over. With a sigh he walked over to Raven who had plastered on a smile and Shaw who still looked like the face of disinterest. "Yes?"
"Erik, I'd like for you to meet Sebastian Shaw. He's one of our top researchers on stem cell research and a big pain in my ass." Raven smiled at the man who smirked at her in return. "Shaw, this is Erik Lehnsherr, the new spinal cord expert."
"So this is pretty much Pierce's replacement?" The man looked Erik over head to toe before offering his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Erik."
"Likewise." Erik lied with a smile.
Shaw's ice eyes narrowed slightly as he slowly shook hands. "You can keep up the people-person act with them, don't pull it with me."
Erik smiled wider and nodded, "I'll keep that in mind."
Raven cleared her throat, her arms crossed over her chest in a display of annoyance. "Shaw, do not turn him into an anti-social prick like you." She hissed as she wagged her index finger at him for emphasis like a parent might a child. All this did was make Shaw's smirk turn into a wide grin.
Erik smiled at the interaction between the two, curious to know why they didn't get along.
"If he becomes as amazing as I am, it's only because he finally dropped the act you have him playing. Right, Erik?" Shaw smiled patting Erik on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "Now if you'll stop wasting my time Raven, I have samples that are on a set time restriction of being viable that I need to get back to. Erik, I look forward to working with you."
"Likewise." Shaw smiled, knowing this time that Erik wasn't putting on an act.
Raven frown and grabbed Erik's arm, pulling him quickly away from Shaw. "I'm sorry about him. He's an ass but he's brilliant."
"Yeah, I was wondering about that." He said glancing back at Shaw then to Raven who was walking over toward the mouse's cage. "You said I needed to work well with others and he clearly doesn't."
"You need to be, there will be times you have to work with patients, he thankfully doesn't and I have my reasons for keeping him around. Come on, I'll show you Charles' trick then we'll get to work on a work contract." She smiled grabbing the cage.