nothing's gonna change my world [open]

[myfatherstask]

The one good thing about having a week of your life sucked away into the evil soul-eating vortex of Antinora Hospital is that it kind of forces you to get some sleep. Mohinder's been alternately working and napping in his desk chair, getting up to microwave some frozen pizza and collapsing on the bed on his way back and sleeping for hours at a

Comments

[howitshouldgo]

After a couple hours of going back-and-forth about it, Gabriel is actually out and looking for Mohinder. He doesn't have to ask, no. Not at all. He just wants to give him the microscope he's found. And if the subject comes up, that will be fine. If not, that's fine, too (except it's not, but he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it).

His face breaks into a smile when he sees Mohinder under that tree. He doesn't know if he should disturb him, though- he looks like he's sleeping. Trying for some sort of compromise, he walks within ten feet or so and says, "Um. Hello?" very quietly.

[myfatherstask]

Not sleeping, no--he's done far too much of that over the past few days. Just kind of...meditating.

All right, not meditating. It probably doesn't count as meditating if you're still thinking about work the whole time. Mohinder was never good at keeping his mind clear of stressful stuff. But Gabriel's voice snaps him out of it, and he looks up.

"Oh, hello, Gabriel." He smiles wearily, until he notices the microscope, and then he looks delighted.

[howitshouldgo]

"Hello." He smiles, looking pleased at Mohinder's reaction. "I was hoping to find you- obviously." He holds up the microscope, albeit carefully. "I checked the school, like you said. This one was in almost perfect condition. I was surprised." Now, of course, it is in perfect condition. Gabriel even painted over the scratch along the base.

"How has your work been coming?" There, that was good. Not too much, surely.

[myfatherstask]

Mohinder takes the microscope with a bright grin and inspects it. It is perfect--of course, it's a high-school lab microscope, not exactly what he's accustomed to using, but it's certainly the best that's to be found around here now. "That's fantastic. I can't thank you enough."

He sets it carefully down beside him. "Well--"

He's afraid to say anything, lest his results turn out to be incorrect. He hasn't had time to double-check them, and his makeshift lab is anything but cutting-edge here. And aside from Charlie, Gabriel's the first person he's profiled.

"Sit down," he says, indicating the ground next to him.

[howitshouldgo]

Gabriel bites his lip, a bad habit from his high school days. His shoulders instantly tense. And the worst part is that he can't tell what Mohinder's going to say to him- he's not sure if he's ready to hear that he's normal, bland, gray again.

But he has to know what Mohinder's found, so he gulps and lowers himself down onto the grass, ineffectively trying to guard against grass stains. He stares at a small patch in front of him as he asks, "Did you find anything?" The question was obviously meant to be casual, but his voice is as tense as piano wire.

[myfatherstask]

"I don't want to get your hopes up, Gabriel." Mohinder recognizes the tone. It's the same question he used to ask his father every day at the breakfast table until he was fourteen.

"There is something there. It appears that you have the genetic marker, but...my tests are inconclusive, and the results are preliminary. I don't want to run the risk that I could be wrong..." He rubs the back of his neck.

"How old are you?"

[howitshouldgo]

It's too late- his hopes are jumping skyward with everything Mohinder says. Gabriel does attempt to be rational about this, really he does. But it's still too late. He has the marker. That must mean something, right?

The question about his age does make him worry, though. St. John seemed considerably younger than he was, and maybe these special abilities only manifest within a certain timeframe.

He finds he has to start breathing again before he can speak. "Twenty-seven," he says meekly, hoping he's not condemning himself. "Why?"

[myfatherstask]

Mohinder fidgets. Even now, even when his father is dead and Mohinder knows better, has known better for years, he still can't help but let the little fleeting thought cross his mind--if his powers can manifest at 27, couldn't mine at 30? But no--he doesn't even have the marker. Surely Chandra would have told him if he did.

He really prays he isn't wrong about this. "I--well--it was my father's theory that abilities should manifest during puberty, but that was pure speculation. He never met anyone with an ability, and...I think a good deal of his theories were wrong. I don't know. I've only profiled a few people with the marker so far, and you're one of them

[howitshouldgo]

Gabriel doesn't move while Mohinder speaks. He has to make sure he gets every little microbe of information. Once the scientist is done, he breathes in, breathes out, then nods.

"I think I would know already, if I had any abilities. I've been looking for something like that all my life." He sounds audibly depressed about that possibility. There's one down. "So- I could have the gene, but not any sort of power? How would it present itself, then? Or- does it just...not." His voice falls completely flat then. It would be so fitting if his special power turned out to be that he didn't have any, wouldn't it?

[myfatherstask]

"It would present itself in your children, or grandchildren, but not in you. It's possible, I suppose. It wasn't an idea my father really accounted for..." No, Mohinder thinks bitterly, it wasn't flashy enough for him.

"I'm afraid I just don't have a large enough sample size yet to determine which possibility is most likely. I'd like to think it's more likely that your powers simply haven't manifested yet. If your gene is recessive--well, then you're an unusual case, and I can certainly use that as well."

He isn't just going to give up. This is real science, damn it, not Chandra's flighty whatever-the-hell-he-did.

[howitshouldgo]

"I see." He's still not looking at Mohinder, instead focusing on the grass in front of him. He still has hope, right? The recessive gene would be unusual. Gabriel clings to this.

But no matter what, the outcome of this is that he still doesn't know one way or another. This makes him sigh.

"Is- would there be any way to tell what my powers would be, if I had any? Or when it might manifest? Is-" And now he looks up, hopeful. "Is there a way to make it show up, if it just hasn't appeared before now?" Clearly, Mohinder should know all these things.

[myfatherstask]

Poor Mohinder looks a bit like a deer caught in the headlights for a second, but quickly pulls it together.

"There's no way to tell, I'm afraid. There's no test for it yet, only for if the gene exists. Given enough time, I'd like to think I could develop a test, but it'll take years."

As for making the abilities show up...well, now Mohinder's got a bit of a glint in his eye.

"I don't know of a way to make the abilities present themselves. Yet."

But that's what experiments are for. Oh, Mohinder, you crazy mad scientist, you.

[howitshouldgo]

Gabriel catches onto that glint. It's the only encouraging thing.

"Yet?" A small smile appears on Gabriel's face. "You think there might be a way, though. We'd just have to find it?"

Yes, 'we'. Gabriel's got the genetic marker- he's fully invested in this now.

[myfatherstask]

"I certainly can't promise anything. Or tell you how much time it might take, if I could. But...I don't think anything's impossible anymore."

He's already running over possible theories in his mind, ways to trigger the gene to show some effect--discarding the hugely unsafe ones out of hand, because Mohinder's a lot of things, but he isn't ruthless. (Not with most people, at any rate.)

"I think there might be a way out there, somewhere."

[howitshouldgo]

His smile grows and his eyes shine. If pressed much farther, he'd probably start crying with relief, and he wishes he didn't know that. He's being too sensitive, but- is there really a 'too sensitive' when it comes to something like this?

"I saw it. Someone with an ability. The fire manipulator." He turns himself so he's facing Mohinder and by now he's grinning. "He had such control over it- it was...there's not a word." He shakes his head. "Perfect. I couldn't believe that the human machine could accomplish so much..."

[myfatherstask]

"...he?"

The only fire manipulator Mohinder knows of is Charlie. He's suddenly all business, eyes lit up just like Gabriel's.

"I don't think I even know him," he says, too excited to be completely on his guard--he's just let slip that there are more of them, but...well, Mohinder doesn't notice these things when he's in Crazy Scientist Mode. "Who is he? What--what's his name?"