He'd always assumed they were something akin to a boarding school, where rich parents who didn't want to deal with their own mutant kids would dump them on someone else. Their altruistic tilt gave him a better idea of just how wrong he'd been. Maybe he should look at his other prejudices a wee bit closer after this was over.

Her reassurances helped calm him down, his breathing slowing down considerable over the next couple of minutes. "Something like that," he tried to joke, weakly, "Although its more what goes under them that bothers me." He chose not to elaborate further, not at this point. It was a side of him he was ashamed of. One he hated others seeing.

The journey was pretty quick, apparently and they were pulling up at the gates. Pretty fancy, all things considered and it was good to see Serena hadn't been overstating her relationship with this place. The slow walk through the grounds was good though. It helped put the place in perspective. The happy students playing outside didn't hurt either, any place that let children just be children was good in his books.

"OK, I'll admit, the place gives a good impression and as much as I'd love to frolic in the grounds, I don't think my rib-cage agrees with me," he said in a light, joking tone. Any other day and he would probably try to get a full tour. Pain however was a very good motivator and his was pretty relentless.

She smiled at him. So he had something wrong with water, that was completely alright. She had a silly phobia herself that was completely ridiculous. "Well I'm sure your dislike for the stuff is completely grounded. I myself have a completely insane and irrational fear of snakes." She admitted, trying to ease any discomfort or embarrassment he might feel over a having a fear.

She snorted as they walked through the grounds, remembering stuff she'd read online and heard around the uni. "I remember a bunch of people trying to stir up a scare claiming that the school was some evil boarding school for training up mutant weapons. As if those people had ever actually been around here. The kids are a handful enough on their own." She murmured happily as some of the younger students were playing in a group.

She chuckled. "Don't worry, this is a quick way to get there. Trust me, I've spent more than my fair share of time running around the grounds, and going to the Doc's domain. I know what I'm doing." She winked.

It wasn't much longer before they'd cut through inside, avoiding classes and groups of students going directly to the Doc. The kindly man greeted Serena warmly before stopping and noticing the wincing Scotsman. "You'd better have a seat on the edge of that bed there Son, I'll see right to you." He immediately washed his hands and moved over, authority and firmness in his tone, along with no small amount of kindness.

A bunch of kids and X-men for that matter, had a healthy level of fear for the Doctor's ire, but Serena had always found him to be pretty harmless. Placing his hands gently over Artair's lifted shirt, he emitted a golden glow and after no doubt seeing what had caused it he began to heal the injuries, relieving the younger man of his pain and smiling down at him. "You really should be more careful about the situations you get yourself into young man." He chided light heart-idly.

Serena snorted in the background. He flicked a glance to her. "No injuries this time?" Shaking her head he added. "Well, that's rare." there was a reasonable amount of humour in his tone, she spent a lot of time here for more reasons than just injuries.

She playfully stuck her tongue out while Artair's healing was finished up.

He was glad she hadn't asked him to elaborate on his little freak out. It was still something he couldn't talk to anyone about, not even his family, let alone someone he'd met for the second time. Some things were just too personal to share. The joking help though, helped ease his mind about the whole thing. He wasn't quite ready to deal with his trauma, at least not yet.

Looking around at the place, he could believe the ones spreading the rumours had never set a foot on the mansion's grounds. Something about the place just felt, good. Like the place was radiating something unseeable, easing away his concerns. Sure, he was going to need time to gauge the place properly, but the first impression was good. The promise of instant healing and only a short walk din't exactly dampen his mood either. Pain was a pretty good motivator.

"By all means lass, lead the way. Getting this sorted sooner rather than later sounds perfect." A short journey later and he found himself seated a very nice doctors office with an older man giving him kind, but firm instructions. Artair was more than happy to comply though, rolling up his shirt far enough to give access to his injuries. "Cheers, sir. Can't tell you how much not having to deal with cracked ribs means to me."

The procedure was over and done with so quickly he didn't really have any time to examine it. The only thing he could make a guess about was it being some sort of psychic power, like his own. Well, maybe not quite like his own. "I would, but apparently my conscience got in the way of self preservation. Didn't quite expect that, I'll be honest." Quickly pulling his shirt down again, hoping his scars hadn't been too obvious, he tested his movement while the other two talked. He felt good, really good in fact. There was no way to tell he'd been thrown about like a rag doll by a metal-clad monster.

He didn't really want to interrupt the banter but he really needed to get out of here and find a bar. Today was very definitely an early drink day. "Is there anything else you're needing me for then? No forms to fill out or blood seals to complete?" What could he say, he was in a jokey mood right now. "Seriously though, thank you. The both of you. Don't know how I could begin to repay it."

It was good that he had started to relax more. She wasn't exactly... easy going about having a phobia, but she wasn't going out of her way to hide it either, and she certainly wasn't ashamed to admit it, especially if it helped Artair to relax a little bit more.

She smiled as she breathed in the atmosphere of the school. It always seemed to make her smile. It was relaxing being in the grounds, and the Doc always made her smile. She knew the effect he had on Mirror and Sam, probably Cafas too, but she had always gotten on with him pretty famously.

The Doc seemed to like Artair, but then again he was a very kindly old man, and Artair seemed to have a good heart behind his thoughts. Definitely so, given that he was training to become a Doctor, you didn't do that these days without some kind of a strong desire to go and help people.

She smirked at the comment. "Pesky conscience." She muttered in response. Snorting at his next comment. "Nope, no blood seals. You can trust me on that, I'm the authority." She joked, Doc smiled.

"You could try to exercise a bit more caution." He chided gently.

"You could get some training so you aren't a rag doll next time." She teased, simultaneously.

Stretching and marveling at the complete lack of pain, his nerdier side started to peek back through, now that he wasn't struggling for breath. If he didn't at least try to appease it, it would bug for so long. "So, Doc, how is it you go about healing, if you don't mind me asking?" There was also the small bit of professional curiosity. Imagine being able to replicate this kind of treatment, make it easily available for so many people.

Artair could certainly see why Serena had a lot of respect for the guy. He just gave of the feeling that he was a genuinely nice person. That was rare enough to find these days. His gently chiding didn't hurt matters and helped put the Scot at ease with the situation.

Oh god, he hadn't even realised the implication of his joke until Serena responded. Damn puns wouldn't stop getting into his head recently. "Would you believe me if I said that wasn't intentional?" At times it felt like he was going out of his way to act like an eejit.

Caution sounded wonderful, but if his damn conscience was going to keep speaking up, he had a sinking feeling he was going to be getting into plenty of situations like this again. Training, however, sounded like a very good idea.

"Getting some more practice in couldn't hurt, especially if things like this keep happening. You mentioned something about being able to help me set that up earlier." After today, he couldn't afford to refuse that kind of help.

Serena went around cleaning up the room a bit for the Doc while he explained his power graciously to Artair. "It's pretty straightforwards psychic healing, except I always see however somebody procured an injury." He added softly. Serena snorted in the background.

"You should hear the ways students try to come up with ways around the Doc finding out how they got themselves injured. Normally stupidly." She added in an amused tone. Of course, the Doc had seen how Artair had gotten himself injured, which would explain to the young Scot how he'd managed to get himself into the state he'd been in when the both of them walked into his office.

She laughed him off. "Probably not no~ I used to spend enough time around trouble makers who would throw off puns like they were going out of style." She quickly moved over to one of the freezers and went to check supplies. "Need me to come donate again, Doc? Looks like you're running a little lower than normal." She offered with another grin. He nodded softly with another gracious smile as a response.

She snorted. "Your first reaction SHOULD be to call the cops regardless of what's going on, making the assumption that other people are might seem like a good idea at the time, but the bystander effect does exist." She chided, very lightly.

Interesting, it was psychic rather than biological. Those were always harder to classify and learn about and yet they could do some really amazing things. But what did he mean he could see how the injury happened? Had he gotten a first hand account of his rag dolling? "Wait, you see how the injury happened? That's, mildly embarrassing. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but it's never fun having an audience when you're getting your a--- kicked."

Well, at least he wasn't the only idiot, most of the time. His ears did perk up at her mention of donations. Considering her powers, did she replenish blood quicker than normal? That was, amazing. He was in the rabbit whole firmly now, might as well ask. Worst she could do was not answer. "Donate? You do that often lass?"

He really did try to not laugh at the suggestion, but he was pretty tired after the days events. Chances are she wasn't quite aware of his thoughts on the cops, or police in general. Or government. Artair was hardly the biggest fan of those kind of organisations and he had fair reason to dislike them. They hadn't treated his people well over the years.

"Look, I can't really promise that's ever going to be my first reaction. I'm not not a huge fan of them at the best of times." He was also well aware of the bystander effect, but he wasn't going to let it stop him from acting, even when others wouldn't.

Serena's lips blossomed into a playful grin whilst Artair and the kind Doctor chatted in the background. He seemed embarrassed about the way the Doctor's power worked, she burst out laughing. "Oh, Art, it did look pretty embarrassing from my angle." The Doc flashed her a look. "What? You saw what happened, he really does need the training. I mean, hitting the large resistant metal man with a shield?" She winked playfully.

She chuckled at his response. Was... Was he nerding out over her power? That was so James. That was so cute! She smirked. "Yes, I do. I go through and create new blood cells much more efficiently and rapidly than most humans, so it only makes sense for me to donate as often as I can. Mostly at the mansion, because I know for a fact the Doc uses it for good." She smiled at him.

She shook her head in dissapointment. "Regardless of how you feel Artair, they are trained to deal with situations like this. If you'd slipped, or messed up more, he could have hurt you more, or other people. What if I'd not been there?" She sighed. "Look, I don't want to scold you, you seem to have pretty good judgement over all, but my point is you don't have to like them. But especially with your career, you're going to be seeing a lot of them, so you're gonna need to accept them on some level." A lot more bitterness carried off in her voice than she'd intended.

Doc Prof gave her a very outwardly concerned look. She bit her lip. Had she said too much? "Sorry if that came across more aggressive than I wanted it too. I'm not crazy about them on a lot of levels either. They have fucked up before, but a lot of the people there are just like me or you, and have good intentions. Hell, my Girlfriend is a cop, and she's one of the most level headed, moral people I've ever met." She added.

Yeah, it probably had been. Today hadn't been his finest hour but the shield had made a certain amount of twisted sense at the time. He couldn't cut the b----- thing and its armour had been some weird liquid metal, it would easily absorb shocks.

That was incredible, he could only imagine the kind of applications that would have in medicine if they ever figured out the genetic component to mutations. "That pretty damn impressive, and a lot more selfless than most would be." They were struggling as is with donations of all kinds so he was well aware of how commonly it was for people to do that kind of thing. Usually it took a tragedy for them to actually get the blood they needed in hospitals.

He kept his face neutral as she spoke, letting her say her piece. She may have good points, but he didn't have to like them, or necessarily take them under advisement. Artair had good reason to despise the police force as a whole, and even if his job demanded it, he wouldn't have to respect them. One thing he did pick up on was her own distaste for them, she must have a history with them. His dislike was systematic, hers sounded personal.

Sighing, he didn't really thing he could explain his issues with them to her. "Serena, I don't have issues with individuals who work for the police. But I cannae just ignore their crimes. And I do mean crimes, lass. Some things are unforgivable." Thanks to them, and the government that ran them, his culture had nearly been destroyed. That couldn't be glossed over.

"I get your point. I can't make promises for the future, or that I would call them on more minor issues, but I will try. That's the most I can do right now."