xmutanthigh | [closed log] There's a first time for everything, even in the Danger Room...

Entry tags:

[closed log] There's a first time for everything, even in the Danger Room...

Characters: Emma Frost, Dazzler
Setting: The Danger Room, eleven am. Sharp.
Content: Training faces are awesome faces.
Status: Incomplete and open.

[Ali's a good five minutes early for her session with Emma, a little terrified of what the white queen would do to her if she was tardy. Half a bottle of aspirin, countless litres of water and a little help from Josh keeping her hangover at bay.

The White Queen is waiting, arms crossed over her chest, peering at Ali from centre of the Danger Room.]

So fill me in, Emma. What are we doing here?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's called training, Alison.

[The words are said with a hint of condescension. Special training with Emma doesn't get you out of her snark; just ask Julian.]

We're going to be working on your control today for the foreseeable future. You have a great deal of potential power but you have yet to completely harness it and you overextend yourself.

[Ali crosses her arms defensively at her tone.] I thought we were supposed to give it our all.

[Despite her demeanor, Ali can't deny that Emma's right, and she's not going to fight her instructions. She's brought headphones and music with her and she's threading the cord underneath her shirt to keep it safe.]

So, what do you want me to do? Put on a show?

If that's how you want to put it. [Emma nods as she moves towards the control panel, quickly keying in a few commands for a short sequence. The room shimmers and resets itself into a city street. Three mutant figures are half visible from where they're hiding behind a dumpster, preparing to attack.] I want to see what you can do first.

[Ali turns her music up loud, using it to charge her body, preparing for an offensive attack. She takes stock of her opponents, she's read the files on these guys: Sabretooth, Toad, and Magma.

She steels herself for an attack, taking a battlestance, throwing a photon pulse upward at Toad as he launches himself at her, sending him flying back. She put both hands together for a blinding light burst, slowing the other two so she can tuck and roll out between them, sweeping her leg around to trip Magma, but getting caught by the ankle and lifted up by Sabretooth, grinning sadistically.]

Get bent, furball...

[Another light burst directly in his eyes gives her an opening to kick up with her free leg and catch him under the jaw, barely knocking him back, but flustering him just enough to release her...well, more like throw her down the street into a stack of trash bins.]

[Emma stays silent for now as she observes from the side. As Ali gets to her feet, Toad launches himself back into the mix serving as a distraction as Magma gets powered up.]

[Ali throws up a weak hard light shield just in time to stop the sticky spit Toad's aimed at her face, the goo hitting the thin purple wall just inches from her face, but he still knocks her back, pinning her down, squatting on her chest. Ali looks at the smile and then up at Toadn and grimaces.]

Ugh, gross!

[She focuses a small photon pulse out through the light shield, shooting it back up at Toad, launching herself up to throw him off and back. Just as she regains her feet, however, Magma strikes: a series of multiple tremblers coming towards her, shaking the ground and everything on it, including the Dazzler. She panics, thrown off balance, her hands going out to brace her fall, an idea striking her as she does. Another light projection, a little stronger this time, forms just above the shaking earth, giving her a wide enough platform to balance on her hands for a second and then push herself up into the air, arcing backwards into a flip, giving herself a bit of extra velocity with a photon pulse directed behind her. It's enough, the heel of her shoe comes crashing down into the side of Magma's head, the sole melting just a little and the stench of searing rubber filling the air.]

[Emma nods in approval at the improvised move. Magma seems to be knocked out of the fight for now which just leaves a rather annoying Toad and a quite ticked off Sabertooth who's taking advantage of the Dazzler's distraction to throw some punches.]

[A solid hit connects with Ali, right in the kidney, and she buckles, doing her best to roll away from the monster that is Victor Creed. He kicks her in the ribs and she struggles to keep hold of her focus, her arms up over her face to block the swipe of his claws. He picks her up easily, lifting her high and sending her flying toward a lightpost, and Ali takes the distance as opportunity, each hand charging with a photon, using one directed behind her to prevent her from connecting with the post, the other blasting full force at Sabretooth, singeing his fur, slowing his approach only slightly.]

You won't back off? Fine, then take off...

[She crouches low to the ground, getting the post at least between her and Sabretooth, her fingers splaying out, teeth gritting together as she tries something she's not sure will work.

She covers a wide patch of the ground between them with a light projection, doing her best to make it look identical to the asphalt he's closing across. Once he's standing well in the rang of the projection, she grunts, her eyes starting to glow white as she forces the projection off the ground. Once her opponent was well above her, she curls her fingers, closing her eyes and adding one giant photon pulse to the momentum, sending Sabretooth flying off, at least a block or two's distance away.]

That's enough for now. [Emma narrows her eyes at the constructed illusion. That's very interesting... She abruptly shuts down the simulation, Toad disappearing mid leap.] That was an interesting tactic with the illusion, Alison. Had you ever tried it before?

[Ali pops out her earbuds, catching her breath.] No, but it just seemed...well, who in their right mind is gonna just hope onto a little purple runway? [She shrugs nonchalantly.] I was pretty simple to just match the colors. Like a paint by numbers or something.

Do you think you can maintain these images for prolonged periods of time? [Emma's interest has most definitely been piqued.]

That depends. [Ali's interested is piqued, too. She's never really considered the possibility before. She's sure she could but...] How long is long?

Long is as long as you need to in a fight without exhausting yourself. [Emma's in total teacher mode right now. She's originally planned to have a more physical training session but this is much more useful.]

I guess I won't know until I try, will I? [Ali's grinning just a little. She loves a challenge, especially one as focused as this.] Boot it up and I'll give it a go. [She pauses before turning her music up again, looking to Emma quite sincerely.] Any suggestions?

[Emma raised an eyebrow.] Honestly, dear, I doubt our choices in music intersect. [She turned towards the control panel again, punching in a short command to change the surrounding environment to a more realistic one.]

[Ali rolls her eyes, scoping her surroundings.] I didn't mean the music.

[Emma just shakes her head.] Just start with something simple. Add whatever detail you can though.

[Ali shrugs, considering what would be a useful illusion, and then grins. Holding out her forearm, a thin circle of purple light glows against it, two projections from it wrapping around her arm, taking on the appearance of brown leather straps. She narrows her eyes and focuses, the shield taking a more classic, galvanized appearance of steel though still tinted purple.

In her other hand, she's given herself a broadsword to brandish, long and lethal, the burnished metal glowing, alight with a purple flame.]

How's this?

[Emma's word of the day here is officially 'interesting'. She doesn't say it though and merely nods as she programs the Danger Room to produce three tall metallic figures- robots essentially. They're here to attack and distract.] Maintain your focus and defend yourself at the same time.

[Ali watches, puzzled, as the robots' hands morph into guns. She raises her shield to protect against the barrage of bullets. She's surprised at how effective it is, and she stays crouched behind it until the first assault has died down. She takes a deep breath, springing into action, charging at one and raising the broadsword, hoping that it'll actually penetrate and do some damage and not just pass through the machines like a flimsy ghost.]

Here goes nothin'...

[She closes her eyes and drives the tip of the projection deep into the mechanical abdomen of one of the machines. She freezes for a second, then opens one eye just a slit. The sword has, indeed, plunged deep into her opponent and the thing is crackling and sparking around the projection. Ali steps back just a little to admire her work, impressed and surprised with herself. Her face brightens with a devilish grin and she raises the shield to cover her face, emitting a photon pulse from the holographic blade, blowing the metallic creature apart from the inside.]

Oh, buddy, you're toast.

You do have more than one opponent, Alison. [Emma's leaning casually against the wall of the Danger Room. Her entire demeanor was calm, even bordering on bored. Both of the other robots are already advancing on her from behind, guns at the ready.] Don't allow yourself to become so cocky.

[Cocky. Yes, Ali's being cocky. It's going to get her into trouble. Like, now. A stray bullet pegs her shoulder and her projections flicker, faltering for a second. She lets the sword vanish, maintaining her focus on holding the shield between her and her attackers. She throws two photons with a side arm pitch, pegging only one of the attackers, knocking it back. This two on one is a little more challenging than she was expecting, her focus is splintering, her eyes losing focus momentarily.

She grits her teeth, pulling herself together, reigning in every sonic vibration she can to charge herself up. She surveys her opponents, noting the slim red optic band in place of eyes. She grins, her tongue poking out between her teeth, free hand forming the unmistakable horns of rock. Her unbound fingertips alight, a slender, hot laser emitting from each tip. She takes a deep breath and holds her hand aloft, aiming for the eyes]

[It's a damaging strike, not a crippling one. Robots aren't as easily taken out with headshots like humans. The guns are going again. Ali's particular style of combat is a bit... flashy for Emma's tastes but if it is effective, she won't say much. The robots have split up now, attacking from different angles.]

[Ali grunts, cursing under her breath, trying to hold the projection, fire off more photon pulses, and keep from being turned into swiss cheese. It's taxing her pretty heavily, she's starting to feel a little weak, dizzy. Her vision is swimming and suddenly there's an extra two robots in front of her.

She fights, tucking and rolling to try and get a photon blast at the knees, but she hits wide, just grazing her attacker. She gets swatted hard by one of them, skidding toward the wall. She drops the shield projection, protecting her face with her forearms, her palms throwing up a thick, hard wall of purple light, emitting intermittent photon pulses from the exterior surface to keep her opponents at bay.]

[Emma can tell that Ali's had enough for the day. She's seen enough to begin forming some sort of training plan for the younger woman anyways. She ends the simulation with a short command, the robots vanishing almost instantaneously.] Well. Power endurance is certainly one of the things we'll be working on in the future.

Good plan. [Ali leans hard on her hands, dragging herself up to standing, wiping her hand across her mouth, frowning at the small spots of blood she finds when she pulls it away. She looks over at Emma, holding herself tall and upright, even though all she wants is to collapse back onto the floor. She's a little disappointed that she couldn't hold her own in the simulation. She looks at her shoes, wiping her damp hair from her brow.]

Anything I can work on, between now and next time?

Mmm, just see how long you can maintain illusions when you're not distracted. That should serve as a decent enough exercise outside of the Danger Room. [She glances down at Ali's wounds before continuing.] And make sure you find Mr. Foley in the near future.

Right. Foley. Got it. [Ali nods, stumbling a little as she starts walking to the exit, holding the shoulder that got pegged. She catches herself, determined not to embarrass herself any further in front of Emma.] I'm gonna go...do that...now.

Probably a smart idea. Oh and Alison? [Emma waits until she stops and turns.] You did well today.

[Ali nods, smiling happily. She needs a pat on the back once in a while.] Thanks. I'll work on the projections. When're we back in class again?

[It's one of the benefits of becoming one of Emma's favourites: you get those pats on the back every now and then.] The day after tomorrow at the same time.

Got it. [Ali hisses at her shoulder wound, looking down at it.] Okay. Finding Josh is sounding better and better every second. Thanks, Emma.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[closed log] There's a first time for everything, even in the Danger Room...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject