16905/X-men Danger Room: Potent Pairings

X-men Danger Room: Potent Pairings
Date of Scene:	18 January 2024
Location:	Danger Room
Synopsis:	The X-men and students gather in the Danger Room to work on cooperation and power combinations.
Cast of Characters:	Kitty Pryde, Monet St. Croix, Joshua Foley, Tabitha Smith, Jonothon Starsmore, Jean Grey, Henry McCoy, Noriko Ashida, Jubilation Lee

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Kitty Pryde has posed:
The Danger Room doors are open when people arrive for the training session. It appears at present to just be a big room, with white floors, and near to the door itself, white walls. Though the room's current configuration looks like a gigantic chamber with the distant walls somewhere off in the darkness, a big patch of light nearer to the door.

"Alright, listen up you maggots!" a female voice cries from the dark, preceded by footsteps as Kitty Pryde walks forward into the light. She's wearing a black and grey X-man uniform, and carrying a tablet. "We are here to improve our skills and-" she starts to shout, before stopping herself, and then dropping into a more conversational tone. "Ok, yeah, drill sergeant really doesn't really work for me does it?" she asks. "Sorry, was just watching Full Metal Jacket and it stuck," she says with a sheepish grin.

"Seriously though, I have a bunch of scenarios on hand we can practice with. Sentinels. Terrorists. Hostages. Environmental disasters. Riots. Zombies. Nazi Zombies. We can pull up just about anything. Our focus to start with is going to be brainstorming up, and practicing, any power combos we can come up with. Most of you know the Fastball Special that Logan and Pete have where Colossus throws him at the enemy. That's just one example of course," Kitty says to open things up.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance over at Kitty, "That suits you poorly, Katherine. At the very least if you're going to do so you should do some further research on proper presentation." Monet has a moment to look mischievous. "May I?" She would fold her hands together behind her back while glancing over at the things being offered. "And you're not remotely properly channeling the training from that. If you want I can give you a remedial course in it." Oh yes, she's wanting to offer up something to Kitty mentally.

Sh would muse over. "And that last one particularly sounds amusing." Nazi zombies. Why not? IF anything would let them for a change cut loose and be outside the norm. They'd not had any sort of thing that ridiculous since the self-declared angel-vasion. Not that they had bene. She would nod over, thinking of the others present while being thoughtful.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"You need the hat. Totally need the Smokey hat." Joshua comments, but he's kind of hanging in the back, the golden mutant with his hands in his pockets as he listens to the others as they share ideas. "I'm not much good for... buffing or anything? I'm more heal plz than anything?" he asks, still acknowledging the death touch part of his powers.

Even now, on that golden skin, one can see one little blotch of black on his left wrist, unable to completely remove that little dark part of him. His attention returns back to the others, and he offers a smile. "Unless it's skateboard related? Then I might be able to help."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Sure it's a training thing, Tabby even wore one of her training uniforms. Which meant New Mutants black and yellow. Though in more of a one piece catsuit style. Hair up in a high pony tail while red tinted glasses sit on her nose.

Kitty's attempts at Drill Sergeanting just gets an amused chuckle. "You're too cure to pull off the Ermey impersonations." she states and grins.

As for the why of the session. Boom-Boom is no teacher but she's combined her powers a few times. "That whole thing with the Kaiju. NOT MY FAULT!" she states. "Evan and I linked up and made a plasma cannon that made one of them giant critter reel back." she points out with a grin along with the example.

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
A notice went up on the board for training, and Jonothon didn't have too much else going for him while he waited for some followup on leads from other investigations. Which is how he finds himself down in the Danger Room, having nicked a pair of uniform pants and boots from an open locker, keeping the straps and the leather jacket for good measure.

Lurking somewhere in the back of the crowd the telepathic Brit watches Kitty and Monet discuss the training, brows lifting at the litany of possible scenarios available at hand. And at the little mini-assignment. <~~I'm a walkin' glass cannon.~~> the young Brit without a face points out. <~~Not sure `ow that works aside from point an' shoot.~~>

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde snap-points as Tabitha mentions combining with Evan to do a plasma cannon-like combination of their powers. "Good example. And there might be others who could do something similar to that with Tabitha," Kitty says to the group.

She turns her attention to Joshua Foley after his comment. "One thing that's needed with Josh's power is to get him to where it needs to go. That can mean teamwork. Whether it's one of the telekinetics floating him to a person in danger. Or maybe someone is going to have to charge or fly into radiation, fire, or any number of other deadly effects. And Josh riding with them healing them both constantly to keep them alive long enough to reach the target might be the only way to win."

Kitty gestures to herself. "Or it could mean me phasing Josh up through a floor to get him to hostages. For that matter, the ground makes a wonderful defensive shield. Any number of you could work with me to where we pop up and you use your power and then we duck back down and move so the bad guys don't know where we're coming up next. People like you, Jonothon. That means practicing holding your breath since we can't breathe underground, making sure you get your next breath before we duck back down. That means being able to tell as we move through the ground which way we're traveling so you know which way to aim as I raise you back up again. I can help, I've developed a good spatial sense from practice. But these are things we can practice now so we're skilled when it's needed. And so we can communicate what we're doing with a minimum of talk needed."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over at the others and listen as Kitty would go and muse over. Not tleepathically then, is what Katherine seems to be implying. Which is fair enough, they can't always expect to be able to steup a battle meld or have everyone be in contact telepathically. She would cross her arms over and listen over to Kitty, giving a nod over and then looking to the rest.
    "A warning would help there." She would intone lightly over at the whole 'underground' bit when it came to things and watch the others over. "And how many others can you take with you when you're going underground?" She would ask Kitty in curiousity while watching over at her while nodding at Jono and Tabitha. "Both of your abilities would have ag reat deal of overlap."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Quietly, Joshua watches as the others share ideas and beliefs, and he takes mental notes where he can. The mutant healer drums his fingers on his arm as he gives it thought and comes to the realization that he really does not know anyone as well as he should. He's met some of them in the field. He's healed them when needed.

But for the moment, he has no suggestions on what would work as a joint attack or anything else as he offers lamely. "I bet if Alison was here, here and Tabitha would work really well together."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Chamber gets a grin and a snappoint. "I might have an idea for ya." she states as Kitty agrees with Tabitha's suggestion. "We're both psionic plasma generators." she states and chuckles.

In her palm a baseball sized orb appears with a crackle of energy before it appears to solidify. "Sometimes it's just a simple thing. Like say, Illyana opening a portal and me throwing one of these through it. My powers are surprisingly versatile." she adds and lobs the bomb. It's a dud as she reassures Kitty, the intended catcher telepathically. "Or even someone else throwing one of these." she states and puts her fingers in her ears like it was about to explode.

Josh gets a snappoint too! "We do, and we have."

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
If Jonothon had a face, he'd probably smirk at Kitty's comment about holding one's breath. But then again, if he had a face, he'd actually have to hold his breath. Unless he's been holding his breath this entire time since his mutant powers manifested, which in that case someone call Guiness. (The Records Book, not the Brewery).

But the leather straps defining his missing jaw remain in place, since there's nothing to shift about to a smirk. He does, however, nod in agreement with Tabby's succint description of the roiling energies hiding behind the simple leather wound around his upper body. <~~Prob'ly a lot more `ffective t'ave two of us blastin' on some ugly than jus' the one.~~> he agrees.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde catches Tabitha's energy ball in her left hand, flipping it over to her right and then turning to throw it off into the darkness of the Danger Room that surrounds them. "A move we've done in combat before," she mentions to the rest with a smile to Tabitha.

"Tabby, I was thinking maybe we could practice on you making arrowheads explosive if I have a bow. Maybe start out just firing arrows, let you get used to it. And then I could dodge about some and see if you can keep doing it while the arrows themselves are moving around?" Kitty suggests for one exercise.

The Jewish mutant turns back to Monet. "Well, the difficult is keeping everyone in contact with me. Going through solid matter I'd prefer to be able to keep hold on people. So two, or one is better so I can use my other hand to help direct them if needed. Though in pinch, I mean if we needed I could bring up a half dozen from underground at a time."

"So, doing a few practice runs with me, being phased, is one thing we should do with everyone. Monet, you're someone else that could be a good one to practice with Josh. If you're flying into heavy fire and he might be able to keep you both going with his healing. Is that feasible, Josh?"

Kitty looks to Tabitha and Jonothon again. "You two have something you have in mind with each other?" she asks.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over then and muse over, "In the event that we're having hostages taken, Mister Starsmore would be effective combined with you." She would glance to Kitty, "He blasts the area with psychic fire, obscuring everything. Even if ti does not hurt the targets, in the case they are shielded or mechanical, it will disrupt their ability to react to what is going on. Then Katherine comes up and out of the ground, grabs the hostages, and retreat with them. Whereupon they are vulnerabl eto being blasted by another. Whether it's Tabitha taking them out with a heavier attack or MIster Starsmore going to blast them with a mor econcentrated bit."

The bit on 'arrows' catches her attention - that seems more of Dani's thing. So she goes quiet and thoughtful. "Very well, I'm more than happy to." She would gseture over at Josh.

Joshua Foley has posed:
The suggestion that Joshua do healing /while/ under fire startles him and the young golden mutant looks utterly confused. "I... I don't know." he confesses. "I mean, I usually come in after the fact. I've never tried healing someone instantenously while they are taking the damage. I... I don't think I'm that powerful..." he confesses, utterly underselling himself as he draws in a breath.

It draws a little laugh and shake of his head. "Not much of a help, am I?" he comments dryly, his arms drawn up to give himself a hug more than anything. They all have these neat offensive powers and stuff, and he just wants to shrink into the wall.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The idea of exploding arrowheads just sings to the Southern Girl side of Tabitha's soul. "It'd likely be attaching bombs more than making them explosive like Remy. I've charged through swords too. I bet I could make Colossus into a tank." she ponders how far that trick can go.

"Honestly. I've tried replicating other peoples powers before." she demonstrates that by looking over at Chamber.

Then with a wink, her head, and all that long blonde hair seems to ignite. There's even some extra flame of plasma coming up from her chest before a magnificent hair toss flicks the fire out, or she just reabsorbs it.

"You should see my Phoenix impression. Jono, I bet pooling our powers we'd be able to fire a whopper of a blast. And make it turn a right angle."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The Danger Room doors are open. The floor is white, as are the walls that can be seen. Though the room currently is a huge space that fades off into the dark, leaving just one well lit area where the various X-men and others that are training are standing together, discussing different ways people can combine their powers usefully. Kitty is in a black and grey X-man uniform, and holding a tablet which controls the Danger Room. Able to pull up most any scenario desired to test out the power combos being dreamed up.

Jean Grey has posed:
Being head teacher-lady aboveground along with whatever you want to call the equivalent down here, Jean always has an interest in team development, even if it's somewhat rare she runs these sessions herself. It's always been Scott's thing, taking over from Xavier himself back in the old days. But knowing her, she's probably tickled to see Kitty running the show. They grow up so fast!

Busy practicing, some of those below may not even notice when she first arrives, as it's to the control room that overlooks the Danger Room proper. There, she has access to the control systems, and to the computers with all their vast compiled store of information and statistics, everything from individual performance records to the top scores for various training programs. Without interrupting anything, she browses through some of the programs that Kitty has queued up and ready, occasionally hmm'ing to herself as she checks a parameter or detail here or there. "Oh it's been forever since I've seen anyone run this one..."

After a bit of silent observation, she taps a button for the intercom. That is itself a bit of a choice, considering she could easily 'talk' to them without it, but... it has a certain nostalgia. "Not all combinations are going to be about simple physical syngery, either. It's worth keeping the big picture of whatever mission you're on in mind, thinking about how everyone can work to achieve parallel goals, building to a bigger win."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance over at Josh, "THat is what training is for. To discover what you can do, and also what you can do without overloading yourself. Have you tried working with injured in the Danger Room? Is it capable of simulating individuals that are badly hurt that your powers could work on? That would be a way for you to test, if you were comfortable with it."

That has her thoughtful over as the others are splitting up and going to work together. She would nod to Jean, "Doctor Grey."

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
<~~All that wit'out the..~~> Jonothon says as Tabby gives him a wink and temporarily mimics his schtick. He gestures to the straps across his face to include the downsides of his particular mutation. <~~..`Nough to make a bloke feel inadequate.~~>

There's no heat to the words. Maybe a tinge of surprise that she could do it, and jealousy to boot. He does amp his power like taking a breath, the glow of psionic energies seeping out from between the individual straps across his face and chest.

Henry McCoy has posed:
It is very true that seeing Kitty take charge is a treat, having been one of her mentors, and still her friend, Hank sees the open doors of the Danger Room as he exits his lab, and smiles. "Helloooooo...what's this?" Curiousity Piqued, the fuzzy blue guy is dressed in a lab coat, a t-shirt, and some shorts as he makes his way to the entrance.

He takes his reading glasses off, tucking them into a case, then the case into a pocket as he approaches.

The man has been spending more than a little time in the lab lately, but even the Bouncing Beast needs respite from time to time, and this bids fair to be of great interest. Sure, the utilities software won't debug itself, but after the first million lines of code even he is starting feel early onset of 'dain bramage'.

A warm smile, one fang prominent over his lip, the rest hidden. "Good evening all." His voice, as ever, a warm and cultured bass one can almost /feel/.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I have to know how a wound happens and visiualize it's repair." Joshua explains to Monet. "I can't just lay hands on someone and like, put their chest back together." At least, not yet. That will come with time. And practice. "But I can heal some more serious wounds. Some minor illnesses and reactions... I'm still studying things. I mean... I resurrected myself, but that was totally a fluke."

He reaches up, scrubbing his hand over his face. "Like I said. Never tried to heal someone /while/ they are being hurt. And I'm not as smart as Doctor McCoy to know what all injuries are to fix them." And that's when the same doctor speaks up. "Like, that day with that one student that supercharged our powers? That was... I've not been able to replocate that." There is so much a lack of confidence and self-doubt there - and he's fairly sure he will screw up in front of everyone and doesn't want to embarass himself.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby again grins to Jono. "I been doing my thing since I was around twelve, thirteen. I've had a lot of practice since I first blew up my school." She'd been lucky that in addition to her heat and fire immunity, she'd also gradually become decidedly durable.

All those walls she'd blasted her self through. It's not exactly something she wants to test.

There's Doctors Grey and McCoy making themselves known as well. "Josh, this is where you'd get a threefer with a telepath. The mindlinks we use to communicate when radio is impractical. We can use that to share information between willing parties. So Jean, Monet, or one of the other more experienced telepaths." not herself yet. "Can do a transfer on knowledge in a pinch."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty waves up to Jean as she comes in over the intercom. "And everyone needs to get comfortable to having Jean or one of the other telekinetics yeeting you. Keeping yourself upright, ready to grab hold of something, shoot or blast or whatever it is you might do while she's getting you somewhere," Kitty suggests.

Henry McCoy's arrival gets a similar warm reaction from Kitty, who flashes a smile over to him. "And maybe I can get Hank and Monet to do a Phaseball Special with me. That's where they throw me through something electronic to break it. Like a Sentinel's core processor," Kitty says.

She walks over nearer to Josh. "Most of us have had years to figure out what we can do, and find ways to use them. Believe me, there are so many times I'd have given my right arm for your power, Josh. Like Monet said, we can use the Danger Room to create someone that you could try healing as the injury happens. Start tiny, and work our way up as you see what you can do there." She gives him a grin. "Though, if you'd like, maybe we could do something together first, you and I, where I phase you up through a ceiling so you can heal some hostages on the floor above, without being spotted by the bad guys. Want to give that a go?" she asks, pulling up the tablet and tapping away on it.

An area of the dark room lights up. It's like a doll's house, showing an upstairs floor where hostages are huddled on the floor. Two of them appear to be shot, other hostages holding hands over the wounds that are bleeding. Four gunmen are wandering the area, keeping an eye on them, but also looking out windows, their attention coming and going from their hostages.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance over at Henry thoughtfully, "Doctor McCoy, do you have a few moments? You would probably be of aid here with Mister Foley when it comes to helping figure out how to use his powers in a circumstance like this." Henry is the expert when it comes to fixing things. If anyone would have suggestions as to how to go bout this, he likely would.

She would nod over at Kitty's suggestion and go to watch her. Cocking her head to glance about the others. Monet is being passive here to give the others a chance to plan and work on things. She's just going to work at trying to pinpoint the locations of the hostage takers and the hostages to pass along to the others.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"It's fun being yeeted, at least when you know when you land." Tabitha states with a big wide grin on her features while she talks to the group. "Throw me over a horde of bad guys and I can drop bombs en masse." she states and sweeps an arm over head with a series of popper sized blasts harmlessly going off.

"Multiball special!" she dubs the gag.

As for the Danger Room scenarios, Boomie is pretty sure some of the more dangerous ones are off the list. "You might wanna save Sentinel Horde Mode for later. That's one of mine." It's not one meant to be won more than survived.

Jean Grey has posed:
Beyond vague advice and broad philosophical commentary, Jean isn't giving too many hints. After all, it's Kitty's show to run, and on those practicing to work some of this out themselves. But from her vantage, she is paying close attention to all the discussion, and she does seize on one would-be technique in particular, as Tabitha speaks up. "Now there's an idea." She lets the comment echo a moment, without giving more commentary, before catching something from Kitty. "Oh, do you want me to toss some of them around?"

She sounds just a -little- too enthusiastic about the idea!

There's a pause after this. Although the control room offers a certain vantage point over the procedeedings, and has allowed her to confirm whatever she was interested in about the programs Kitty has set up, the distance it places between her and the practice field is impractical for any kind of hands-on work. Yes, she can do plenty without her hands, but that isn't really... it's an expression, darnit! Either way, the point is, she soon makes her way toward one of the accesses and re-appears at ground-level, walking out to join them. Like Hank, she's not dressed in a team uniform, but rather her usual school clothes ('Librarian chic' has been a term thrown around...).

"Telepathic transfers can be rather overwhelming if you're not used to them," she now continues, picking up on what Monet and Tabitha have been talking about, although it's Joshua she's speaking to. "It's definitely something you'll want to practice before attempting." Her tone is pretty serious on that topic. It's... less serious when Tabitha continues on with 'throw me'. "Well, if you insist."

Obligingly, Tabitha goes flying.

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
One of those days Jonothon might be included on the short list of those that can make a good telepathic radio, but for now he's decidedly a short-range transmitter. Which is all he needs to be, with everyone he needs to talk to right here.

<~~Luck o'th'draw then, gel. I cut loose too far an' I'll blow out th'rest of m'chest, I'm told.~~>

Wow, way to be a downer, Jono. He does keep with the group however even as the Danger Room displays a hostage scenario off to one side. Not that guys with guns are particularly frightening these days, at least when they're reasonably expected.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Mm...not a shining moment, but we got through it, Mister Foley, with teamwork. That, at the end of the day is what allows us to do the things we do, none of us are able to do everything, everywhere, all at once." A grin, because after all, who doesn't love Michelle Yeoh? He considers what that suggestion was, and smiles over to Jeanie, and then to Monet. "I not only have a few moments, I desperately need a rest from coding, this is right up my proverbial alley, Miss St. Croix." Yes, always fairly formal.

The dollhouse spawn that Kitty summons draws his gaze. "Good thought..." He looks towards Josh then, pondering. "...it is true that concentration is hard to sustain under stress, but that's when you need it most. And as has been stated, that's what the Danger Room is all about - practicing under stress, but with controlled risks and access to resources such as your fellow students, and the faculty both." A firm nod. "Personally, Miss Pryde's idea is a sound one, having a floor between you and the others, along with a bit of stealth as you 'phase-heal' someone could be invaluable."

And then a soft laugh. "And yes, Kate, I'll be glad to toss you about if you wish."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has been on a little bit of a hiatus, having left Jamie to cover for her in her duties.  Well, she thinks she did.  She left him a note that may or may not have gotten to him, but her apartment still had all her personal effects in it and she left no other word so it was a good bet that she'd be back around.  In the meantime, everyone has eaten like kings and probably wondered how they were going to get rid of all the food.

Suddenly a section of the Danger Room is simply an alley between two skyscrapers adjacent to the hostage building.  Looking up, they seem to have no end in sight, though that could just be the darkness swallowing them up.

"Don't mind me."  The words sprinkle in the air as if delivered by the Road Runner which is all the blue-haired speedster provides as evidence of herself before she darts into one of the alleys and tries to run up the wall.

"ACK!"  Noriko tries to jump at the opposing wall after she gets ten steps up and overdoes it, splatting into the other wall instead of finding her footing.  "NONONONONONONO," she manages to get out before her gravity helps her body overcome some momentary static friction.  She scrambles her hands at the wall in a blur and immediately regrets it.  "OWOWOWOW," she says before she lands with a thump in a puddle.  WHY IS THERE A PUDDLE?!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would glance over at the arriving Noriko, "Do watch where you're going, Ms. Ashida. I hope that things are going well for you.." Other than nearly pulling a Wile E into the wall routine. However, her normal tone of voice in greeting someone aside, there is a quick softer expression on her face that may or may not be noticed. Noriko and her significant other are still ones that she has not checked in on for awhile and so wants to make sure indirectly are all right - not that she would show it.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I'm not sure if I'm ready for all that." It doesn't take a telepath to tell that Joshua is overwhelmed. "Thanks for the offer, Kitty." That said honestly to her, before he heeds the warning issued to Jean. "See. I'll just keep borrowing medical texts. I can read up on things and learn them. It's just going to take time." And then there's the arrival of Noriko.

Joshua freezes in his tracks, a quick feel with his biokenesis to assure that she's okay. But to Kitty, he comments, "That's the thing with my power. Lose your arm? It'll grow back, eventually. And I don't know what will happen if I was to do a telepathic link to borrow someone else's knowledge. I mean. Maybe. Sometime. With not so many people?"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde moves over to rest a hand on Josh's shoulder. "Sure. We can work on it tomorrow, just us if you'd like," she offers, voice softened so the words are just between them. She gives him a reassuring smile before turning back to the rest of the group.

"Monet," Kitty offers. "What do you say you take out the four hostage takers. I'll phase you up through the ceiling," she says. "What we'll need to focus on, you can fly. But you need to make sure I've got you through the point your body clears the floor. If you fly out of my grasp while your leg still in the floor, you aren't going to enjoy it. It probably wouldn't cost you your leg, as tough as you are. But as Juggernaut can attest, it isn't fun. I've sunk him into the ground a few times."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
With Nori not having a good time putting on the breaks, Tabby chuckles. "Don't look at me. I'm housebroken!" she's also wearing a catsuit and that is a pain to take off fast.

Impractical Jokes.

"Surge and I are able to sort of Synergize as well." she says to the group. "Or more accurately her ability to absorb electricity actually drains mine. I'm pretty certain she could actually eat one of my bombs." she says as she's levitates and then flung where Jean aims.

"WOOOOOOOOOO!" she yells as she lands in the Doll House scenario being projected.

Soo, volunteered. Not her first, not her last time. The trick is not reacting like she might normally.

That being exploding bad guys painfully. She at least lets them put cable ties on her wrists. "You'll never get away with this!" she says in a pretty deadpan sounding voice incongruent by the grin beaming on her face.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over at Kitty, "Understood." After she replies over to Noriko, she goes to take a breath and readies herself to hold it. While also going to work on setting up a quick mindlink over with Kitty to get the exact positioning down.. And also if permitted over with Henry. He had excellent senses and a sense of positioning. Hopefully between the two she would be able to fixate exactly where everyone was on the way up and as soon as Kitty had her up and through the ground over to launch herself.

Presuming that there's no issues with the link, she would be also allowing any others observing that wanted in to get an idea as to how Kitty's ability worked to follow along.

And there goes Tabby and Noriko, enjoying themselves.

Jean Grey has posed:
"It's nothing to rush," Jean agrees, with the concern Joshua is expressing. On this range of topics, she's never anything but serious and careful - minds can be a lot harder than bones to heal, if you manage to break them. "And, typically, it's easier if those neural pathways are already prepped. Which is to say, I think it would be good if you spend more time working with Hank the old-fashioned way first. Then we can worry about skill-downloads for emergency situations."

This suggestion is accompanied by a little finger-wave back in the big blue guy's direction.

In the meantime, while she's being oh so very cautious and mindful of Joshua's brain, she's seemingly far less so of Tabitha's physical well being! Well, that, or she just trusts that the younger woman will handle it. Beyond whatever physical resilience, Tabitha's also seen a lot of field experience recently, despite her more junior status. She'd probably assumed Tabitha WOULD, indeed, blow them all up, and possibly the dollhouse type structure with them. But swapping places to play hostage works as well.

Then there's Noriko. She barely holds back a grin. "We don't get to pick the weather on missions."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank is more than willing to link minds, he's no tepe, but his mind is very disciplined and his mind voice very clear and precise. The discipline keeps his stray thoughts from leaking too much, though with the animal side to his nature does muddy the waters a bit. Even so, he is glad to allow the mind link. To Joshua, he rests a fist on the lad's shoulder. "I'll send you some excellent books about field medicine and trauma care, any time you wish to discuss them I'll be happy to."

Tabi's hijinks draw a low rumbling chuckle, even as Noriko nearly splats, which has him twitching to resist the urge to jump and save her.

"Agreed, Jean, learn the base info, make it part of you, /then/ see about 'add ins'. They're useful shortcuts, but no substitute for doing the work." An aside. "Unless Storm is about, of course."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde grins over at Noriko as she and Monet head into the simulation, moving into the floor below where the hostages, and Tabitha, are being held. "Ok, so what I'll do is hold one ankle, and I'll give you a tab with my fingers when it is completely clear of the floor. Make sure you get your other foot higher than it. At that point when I tab you I'll let you go," Kitty tells Monet. "Since we can talk telepathically, we could also do it that way. But let's practice it without that for communication so we are ready if we can't do that for some reason," she suggests.

"Remember to hold your breath before putting your face into the ceiling," Kitty says. And I find the least obtrusive way to look is to bring your face flush up against the floor. So your nose is the highest point, instead of the top of your head. Realize some of the hostages may react to seeing you," Kitty tells Monet. "So shushing gesture, a wink and smile to help calm them, those sorts of things can help," she says. "Normally I'd leave bits of the bottom of your feet unphased that would let you stand on the air. But you can fly, so I won't bother with that with you," she says. Kitty steps upwards, walking on air, taking hold of Monet's ankle then and nodding, giving a little tap so Monet knows she's phased.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would go to take the instructions over from Kitty, moving to brace herself over as suggested. The exact way of going about it has her irritated - her picking up 'floor face' from someone has a mental grumble that for those that can see her face is definitely what is going for them. She would nod over at Kitty.

"OF course. I'll also trust that Ms. Smith will be able to provide some assist with crowd control." The idea is to get down, get up, and then work at repositioning and freeing herself over quickly. "And then you can come up wtih another layer of reinforcements if need be." Getting ready to brace herself for the launch.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I'll keep it in mind." Joshua offers as he offers a quick smile to Kitty. "I've been getting a lot of experience working in the Mutant Town Clinic, and I do two weeks every other month in Genosha, just to help out there where I can." He watches Tabitha's antics for a moment and then glances away as he hears Jean and Henry's words.

"The texts will be a good start. I want to understand what I'm doing before someone uses a cheat code on me, if that makes any sense?" he suggests. "I know, it's probably best to get me to as optimum as possible as fast as possible. But safely. So. Yeah. When we know I'm ready and won't end up with a fried brain."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I'M NOT EATING YOUR BOMBS!" Noriko shouts out from the ground in the alleyway after her fall.  That's a good indicator that she's alive, for those who don't possess Joshua's powers.  He can feel she is hurt, but then after she yells, he can suddenly he can sense her processes speed up, including her healing.  By the time she hops up onto her feet, her fingertips are just scabby and gross, but also covered with coagulated blood, some of it breaking away when she 'dusts' herself off (yes she's not wearing her gauntlets today, or rather, right now).  There's also a purpling bruise on the side of her forehead.

"And my name isn't Surge!  It's just something you keep calling me!" Noriko futilely directs to the flying Tabitha as electricity splits off of her to nearby objects in small spindly bolts.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation has been a scarce sight these recent nights. There was a rumor that she ran away. Others claim she tried flipping real estate. Some even claim she was living at the mall again. No matter what she was doing or where she was, she's at the mansion tonight and keen to take advantage of her special permission to blow off that vampire bloodlust on some Danger Room holograms.

    "What will it be tonight... Orange Julius assistant managers?" Jubilee wonders aloud, considering all of the possible holograms she could murder tonight. "...Or maybe... Fleebs On Parade? Oh! What about---" The side of one of the exterior walls of the buildings splits to reveal a doorway, allowing the vampiress to step into the Danger Room... Already in use!

    "I guess I should've knocked," Jubilee declares, grinning a little as she looks around, trying to take it all in.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua was about to ask Noriko if she wanted a little boost in healing... whatever happened to her. But she seems to be doing fine, and her healing has kicked in, so there's no need. Especially when that door opens and of course, where there is a Noriko, there is a Jubilee.

"Hey." he offers the vampiress as he leans back against the wall, content to just watch for now, in no real hurry to go rushing in to the various scenarios being bandied about.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
With Monet on her side of the floor and ceiling, Kitty and Monet can still speak without being heard yet. "Ok, go ahead and peek up, get your timing. I mean you have your power to know where they are and which way they are looking too of course. But it won't hurt to use your eyes first just for the practice," Kitty says. "Never know when one of us might find ourselves without their powers for a time."

She nods to Monet then, letting her move when she's ready. Kitty will keep her hand on Monet's ankle to keep her phased, until whenever Monet is fully clear and Kitty's hand will be through the ceiling, tapping before letting her go when it's time.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix does know how to use her eyes! But Katherine is the senior member of the team here, and by facr the better tactician to things. Monet goes to quickly hold her breath, and then going to pop her head up and over to scan along. Moving to rapidly pinpoint where things are, and where the hostages can be. She goes to go up only for a second. Among the benefits of her hyper-intelligence is that she can rapidly memorize things and where exactly they are. It just takes her a quick scan. She goes to ready to coordinate with the others..

And then she goes to drop down lightly. Horizontally. She's still hugging the ceiling, floating up against it and floating forwards as quietly as she can to not get attention.

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
Jonothon kept to himself as people started flying through the air; that's really not his scene, possible application of powers not withstanding. That's a problem for Future Jonothon. For Present Jonothon, the problem is getting through this training scenario in relatively one piece. Thankfully he grabbed the bottom half of someone's black & grey uniform; between that and his leather jacket he blends well into the stark darkness surrounding the spotlit doll house training grounds.

So instead of sneaking around like he's been the last few nights running around looking into this HELP! App thing, he stays with the rest of the group as Kitty and Monet take their turn at defeating the hostages.

<~~She's lit'rlly super strong an' bullet proof. what's th'challenge there?~~>

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean seizes on Kitty's little bit on not relying on the psi-link and echoes it as another Teachable Moment: "It's always best to practice these things the no-frills, basic version first. We can never truly be certain who we'll have with us when things go down, and what sort of countermeasures might be in place. Psi-blockers happen. Power-dampening happens. " Somber reminders of the world they live in and the threats they face!

Jubilee's arrival catches her attention after that, despite whatever super-shenanigans are going on in the training. Because, all rumors aside, she has been scarce and Jean might just have _missed_ seeing her. "Don't be shy, come on in. We don't bite." Vampire jokes, Jean?!! Then, after waiting a moment, a gentle, yet slightly more uncertain: "You doing OK?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The denial of the name Tabby keeps using only amuses the blonde more. "Sure Zappy McSparklebutt!" she could easily come up with something way more embarrassing.

But for no she also plays hostage and tries to look more bored than the thoroughly amused.

Jean would be right, Tabby doesn't need hands for her bombs and she's been 'on the job' for a good while in he last couple years back at the school. Let alone working for Cable as part of X-Force.

It's way better that waiting tables and she can do a lot more to people that put hands on her compared to the occasional goosing of her but by a drunk.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Hey Josh, can you get rid of my scabs?  I don't want to wait."  Noriko says as she strides over, her legs blurring as she walks like some cartoon.  She probably also has a bit of a woozy head still, but she's not talking about it.

The blurry stride comes to a complete stop when she notices Jubilation.  She looks down at her scabby fingers and that nasty blood, some fresh, some coagulated, some freshly de-scabbed.  "There's plenty of room for more bloodshed," she offers.  "I was just practicing my wall jumping," and by practicing she means falling without style.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde nods to Monet to go ahead, this her 'mission'. Kitty turns her head towards Jonothon and replies, "This isn't about the hostages and the hostage takers, so much as it is about practicing being phased into such a situation. Maybe the hostage takers all have remote detonators to bomb vests on the hostages. Maybe they have powers that can do more than bullets. Practicing the entrance, practicing getting all the way through the floor since she's flying and not leaving my grasp and getting caught in the floor and drawing their attention... that's the goal of the moment for Monet," she explains.

She only glanced Jonothon's way, keeping her attention back on Monet to be able to let her go after that tap so Monet knows she'll no longer be phased. "You can go next if you'd like, Jonothon. I can practice taking you underground and you popping up to take a shot, then ducking back down and moving again."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"You have one of the fastest regeneration rates of anyone I know. Including myself." Joshua responds to Noriko. And then a sigh. He doesn't say no. Instead, there's a quick assessment of her with his biokenesis and he puts his hand on Noriko's wrist as he closes his eyes.

A faint golden glow comes off of his skin as he starts to treat all the small wounds and bruising that remains on her, before he releases her when he's done and blows out a breath. "Right as rain." he offers to her dryly.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet goes to float along over, and moing to get along while quickly evaluating positions.. Then she goes to give a quick comm over to Kitty mentally. <<I can pass you along where to jump up..>> Her thought being to have Kitty rapidly drop down, grab detonators while M goes for the hostages to yankt hem up and out of th eway. Which would let Tabitha free herself to blast any of the other 'villains' here free. This is sent over to Kitty for her approval.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"The idea is to practice 'combos', Mister Starsmore, and the scenarios are very flexible, and rather seat of one's pants at the moment." This starts Hank to thinking, and he muses through the mind link as well, thoughts racing with some ideas for sims to run. Still, this is a sort of ad hoc assembly. A smile. "Pardon me." He scrambles over to the hostage scenario, but he takes a tablet out of his lab coat, and remote accesses the controls. <<Do you want /actual/ psi-dampeners?>> This to Monet and Kitty. <<For verisimilitude, perhaps a low level power dampener as well to make the thugs more dangerous?>>

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee hears that voice, that once familiar voice belonging to Joshua, and hesitates. She eventually gives an up-nod and tries to match his tone. "Hey," she offers back. Smooth. Jubilation plucks her smart phone from the elastic waistband of her black Lycra shorts and taptaptaps on the screen, suddenly overcome with understanding. "...Daylight savings..." she mutters, realizing the error she made in thinking that the Danger Room would be empty at this hour. Oh Jubes.

    Despite her goof, Jubilation looks up, down, all around, at the different sights and sounds of the Danger Room apparently configured as a cornucopia of scenarios. Never shy, always great, Jubilation shrugs at Jean's question. "I'm great!" she insists, though one doesn't need to be an omega-level telepath to know there's some deception peppered in those words.

    Noriko's approach gets a fangy smile and an easy-going shrug from Jubilation. "Absolutely. Remember how we used to mix all the soda flavors together?" she starts before pointing at each real, non-hologram person she can see, naming what she believes is their blood type just from the smell. Is she kidding? Is she serious?

    Jubilation doesn't elaborate, as the sight and smell of Monet St. Croix flying overhead distracts her. "Hank!" she calls out, waving her hand towards Dr. McCoy and his tablet. "Can you add some floating rings up there? Like, for flying through? Say... like... ten points a ring?" Jubilation can't fly. Everyone knows that. And yet...

    Jubilee gets a running start and begins flapping her arms. She leaps into the air just in time for her arms to darken and contort into scaly bat wings! They're large at first, but instantly shrink down to be normal bat-sized! This instantaneous transformation into a bat is masked by a thick plume of fog. Her enthusiastic laughter shifts to a high-pitched bat squeal.... until.... she immediately transforms back into a girl and slams back down onto the ground...Hard! It was only a few feet, but enough to deliver quite a blow to the ego. "Ow," she stage-whispers. She's fine.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde sends the equivalent of a nod back to Monet through her telepathy. "Probably good how it is for now, Hank, just so we're focused on the mechanics of getting in there for the moment. But can pull up another simulation for the next group to work together on?" she suggests. "There's all sorts in there."

Kitty goes up through the ceiling, phasing hostages out through the floor one at a time. It's nice and quiet and quickly gets them out of the danger zone.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And then Monet goes to quickly dart along, going to rapidly pick up as many of the hostage takers as she can, even as Kitty goes to free the hostages! Trying to rapidly grab them away from the hostages before they can set off their bombs. Also giving Tabby a distraction hopefully to work herself free to go to blast through them!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I'm not regenerating.  I'm healing.  My body just speeds up.  So like, if you sever an artery, I'm just going to bleed out really fast," Noriko explains her limitations quickly.  "I /wish/ I could regenerate," she says, as if this would just give her license to hurt herself more.  "Maybe then I'd have this wall running thing down.  Though maybe I should just have the Danger Room get a giant pit of fluff to land-."  The thoughts come faster than she can get out of her mouth.

As soon as Joshua touches her wrist though, Noriko shuts up.  "Oh yeah, that way is way less painful.  Thanks."  She then brushes her hands against her cargo pants to flake away the remaining debris.

"You mean the soda suicide?"  Her attention is already stolen by the vampire again.  "Can you tell their synthetic blood type?" she wonders aloud, though Jubilation can tell this is just a passing thought and nothing strictly expecting an answer.

"Oh no..."  Noriko says softly when Jubes asks for rings.  "Just wait for it," she says softly to Josh.

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
And that would be why Jonothon is not running a team. He's not thinking sixth dimensionally yet, instead focusing on just what he can see. Which is a bad habit for a telepath to get into, but he's still in training, after all. He does give a nod after the soft chiding from Kitty and Hank, showing that he at least better understands the assignment.

He starts towards the front of the simulation, giving another nod as he squares himself up for being phased through various pieces of walls and ceilings. <~~Sure, we can try it that way.~~> he calls out telepathically as Monet & Kitty work on rescuing the hostages for their round. <~~Jus' need t'be sure I don' blast a wall out.~~>

As Jubilee flies over his head after transforming into a manically laughing bat, he ducks his head, clearly not expecting THAT in this particular training scenario. As she crashes back down he does venture an <~~You al'right over there?~~>

Joshua Foley has posed:
With Jubilee taking off flying, Joshua watches for a moment, a rise of his brows as she turns into a bat. He glances aside to Noriko. "Well, that's new. Is she any..." he was going to ask if Jubilee was any good at this new form of hers...

And he's clearly shown that she's not as Jubilee flaps around and then transforms back before slamming into the ground. There's a wince, almost sympathetic, from him and he shakes his head.

"I should get back home." he admits with a shrug. "I'll grab those texts on the way out!" he calls out to Hank before he smiles. "Sara will let me use her library to study in, after all."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Torn between which scenario to join, Hank instead stays in linkage with Monet, and then makes whatever scenarios people mention a reality, tailoring things on the fly for them so they can focus on the scenario, not coding it. Which is perhaps a little ironic since his break was to get away from code. Granted, the other code had to do with the plumbing, and this is VERY different from that.

Which makes it fun!

"No actual dampers..." He nods to Kitty, then smiles to Jubilee. "Rings? Of course! Shall I ignite them for extra bonus fun..." Anyone who wants anything, he'll do his best to code it, which might be a fun way to pass the time in its own right! Stump the Hank!

Jean Grey has posed:
The not-entirely transparent answer Jubilee provides leaves Jean with a tight-lipped, uncertain expression, but for the time being, she doesn't press the matter. There's a whole lot there!

In the interim, she watches the 'mission' continuing on, as well as the interaction between Noriko and Joshua. "Do you want a little help with the wall-running? Just a -tiny- bit of a leg-up." There' a small, secretive smile that accompanies this offer, as if she's breaking some sort of rule by making it. But really, isn't practicing combos precisely what they're supposed to be doing?

However, all of this is quite a lot less dramatic than what Jubilee pulls next. "I... didn't know she could do that," she admits. Obviously, the whole Vampire thing isn't exactly new news. And the lore on the creatures of the night is so unniversal as to appear in various mass media. Still, what of that is fact and fiction is always a bit of a grey area, and presumably, not all Vampires follow the same rules.

So it's news to her!

As for flaming rings: "Sounds like the old days with the Professor running things. Flaming rings, buzzsaws and spring-loaded boxing gloves galore." Some of those sound... a lot worse than others!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah, yeah, I'm good," Jubilation tells Jono as she sits up, sounding none too pleased about how that turned out. "I didn't land on any sharpened wood and, well, that was a new record for me. Three whole seconds...." (as a bat). She rises to her feet in that creepy, unearthly way that vampires sometimes do and brushes herself off. "You can 86 the rings, Hank..." Jubes calls out, talking about them like she's a waitress and her customers decided they're not actually as hungry as they thought they were. "Stickin' with wheels tonight, I guess," she adds, sounding a little disappointed about it. Jubes shifts her weight so the concealed wheels in her Heelys sneakers pop out and engage with the floor. She pushes off and skates towards Jean and Noriko, just in time to weigh in on Jean's offer.

    "Oh, oh, yes, yes, do it, do it, do it," she insists, throwing both arms over her head in a V. "C'mon Nori, let Jean juice you up. It's not the Olympics!" she declares. Jubilation brings her hand up to her mouth to project her voice. "Change of plans again, Hank! We need rings again.... but this time, up the wall instead of the air!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Jubes, I gave myself a kick and sp-" but Nori knows there is no arguing this, especially when Jubilation calls for rings.  Plus she knows the splat was more of a panic reaction than a calculated maneuver on her part.  "By the way, your falling was way cooler than my falling."

"Okay but I'm not even going to jump.  If I do, I don't think I'll be in the basement anymore.  Jean how slow should I go so you can catch me?-okay just a little push against the wall!"  She obviously has no idea how telekinesis works, but a moment later Noriko shrugs and decides to wing it rather than waiting for an answer.

The speedster takes off at a light blur toward the alleyway and approaches one of the buildings diagonally, building up momentum to try and change directions.  Physics doesn't really work this way.  She has enough momentum to get up a little ways, but there just won't be enough sideways force to keep her stuck to the wall as she runs without help.  Course there's always the choice to just...boost her vertically while she air runs without wall contact.

Jean Grey has posed:
Now, obviously, if Jean wanted to, she could just... pick Noriko up and put her where she wanted to go. But that's not the point of any of this. Here, maybe it's not really about a 'combo,' then, so much as letting Noriko push herself to that limit and then giving her the narrowest little opportunities to push beyond.

She starts running again, zooming up the wall like a video-game character. Eventually, she reaches that predictable apex where the laws of physics conspire against her. Jean could give her a nudge, but that's not it, at least not to start. What she does, is give her some more runway, more leverage. With her hand held at her temple, taking the two faux-buildings she's running up between and... starting to tear them apart. Thus it's not a push to adhere Noriko to the surface, but rather, the gift of a whole bunch of new surfaces, each of them with a variety of vectors of motion. Temporary landings, ledges, foot-holds, launch-points, all moving in crazy ways.

She builds her a falling obstacle course in the sky.

And yes, maybe she could have done some of this with the simulation computer. It no doubt has settings for 'building blows up.' But this is a bit customized, a touch more bespoke, giving Noriko just barely enough that maybe she can do it, or just fall short. And she definitely couldn't program that all in as fast as Noriko runs, her fingers wouldn't be up to the task. But her brain is!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Obviously, Noriko had her ideas of what Jean was going to do, and she also wasn't sure she liked the idea of feeling extra forces against her body.  Would she trip and eat wall?  That's a worry for another time.  Realizing the changes in forces aren't happening to her but around her, the speedster's eyes widen and she sprints /fast/ on her last bit of friction.  It sends her into a bit of a vertical leap and her instinct to go faster is rewarded.  She scrambles up the first bit of breaking building like she's running a wave, but things get hairy fast and Noriko has no choice but to /react/.  No thinking, even at this velocity.

But this is when her mind and body seem to work in concert.  It's an odd thing in that she bounds off of each bit of building like she's hopping up clouds.  At one point, she looks like she's not going to make it, but grabs hold and swings up to the next ledge, almost sending herself into a flip.  "Aaah!" comes out in a blip, then a victorious, "Hee!" before she lands on top of the other building into a roll.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Noriko shouts.  No rings necessary.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "One of these nights... I'm gonna get it...I can /feel/ it," Jubilation insists, nodding her head at Noriko. "Four seconds that time. I was a bat for four whole seconds!" She doesn't sound too disappointed about it, either. "...And on purpose."

    Jubilee finds a spot near Jean and the starting position for Noriko the Hedgehog. "She's gonna love that..." she comments, grinning up at Jean and gesturing to the floating playground that's been created for Noriko to enjoy. With that decided, Jubilation just falls silent, content to watch what's going to unfold. Her fangy smile grows as she watches the speedster scale the wall like she's always wanted to do. Jean gets a little nudge from Jubilee's elbow before Jubes brings both hands up to her mouth so she can project her cheers as far as they need to go to reach Nori's ears.

Jonothon Starsmore has posed:
The hostage scenario has pretty much played itself out, but Noriko's training is interesting enough. Jonothon ambles his way over there, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket as he watches the speedster make her way up the wall and through the falling obstacle course Jean Grey puts up.

<~~Pretty nice, gel.~~> the telepath calls out as Noriko drops after getting through the last obstacle.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Well done!" Jean declares at the end, in her best prim, moderately judgmental and yet pleased in the moment Headmistress-y voice, a contrast to the more raucous cheering.

...although that put-on really only lasts a moment. Both during the exciting run (as much as she can actually make out of the blur of motion), and after, she's grinning just as much as Jubilee (sans the fancy canines), or as Noriko herself. It's a very pleasing outcome.

With the speedster laying there recovering, the hostages free of their peril, and several of the others retreated, she soon looks over to Kitty. "Think they've had enough? It's been a pretty productive session."