7049/Clarice, Lydia, and the Training Montage

Clarice, Lydia, and the Training Montage
Date of Scene:	23 July 2021
Location:	Asteroid M: Training Room
Synopsis:	Clarice attempts to approve her ability to fight non-lethally without her powers. After Lydia shows up, Mystique puts them both through their paces.
Cast of Characters:	Clarice Ferguson, Lydia Dietrich, Raven Darkholme

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Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice has been in the training room for a while - running a program with with multiple, gun-armed assailants on the city streets of Bushwick, all projected via the holographic capabilities of the training room. She is armed with the same throwing knives she had been using in the fight with the golem, tossing them with precision, her expression a mask of determined concentration as she practices using doorways, alleys, and the periodic mail box of newspaper despensor as cover during the fight. She lets out a gasp a jolt goes through her leg, simulating a hit as she fails to get behind cover fast enough - but considering that she'd been limiting herself to non-lethal force, and that she's badly outnumbered and out-gunned? She's not doing bad.
    Bracing herself for a leap on a leg that still tingles, she tumbles forward, staying low so that the gunfire would naturally be aimed above her head, and she flings more of her knives, hitting her attackers in the shoulders and arms to try to disarm them, before she rolls into a nearby alleyway, breathing heavily.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia hasn't been to this part of the Asteroid before. It was one of those 'off limits' places that Mystique had mentioned when she first arrived here. Still, she thinks it means something that Mystique had asked her to meet her there as a kind of official debrief on what went down yesterday in Bushwick.

The tech on display in the training room causes her to gawp, much like everything she has encountered on the Asteroid. This place is a little utopia hanging out in orbit around the Earth. She still can't get used to actually /seeing/ the Earth when she looks outside. She watches Clarice go through combat drills that's simulating yesterday's firefight, and it's hard for Lydia to resist the natural urge to summon her armor.

Eventually, when it looks like Clarice is in a good spot for a pause she announces her presence. "Hey there."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
All it took was a quick check with the asteroids main computers and Mystique knew where Clarice was. A shower was taken and she was dressed, which is way easier for her than everyone else in the world... she could wear her clothing in the shower, it's all the same.

Grabbing a cup of coffee from the cafeteria, noting fresh donuts, she heads to the training room. It was a place she spent a great deal of time.

The room was massive in size, reaching nearly ten stories tall while covering half a mile on the ground. The entire space was designed to take attacked and energy blasts from supers and mutants alike, with a protective field around the walls and even across the door. The AI that ran this room was the most impressive of all. It could present city-scapes, forested environments and even freezing temperatures, all realistic and completely able to be interacted with, to the point that the rain falling made those inside wet. Enemy combatants of various levels could be offered, ranging from common humans with weapons, to super mutants strung out on Kick with high tech weapons and impenetrable armor. If the mind could imagine it, the room could mimic it, and a simple command paused it, or ended the running program.

Mystique entered the training room with her coffee cup in hand, a plastic mug just in case it got dropped. She offers Lydia a smile, stepping over by her and waiting while Clarice over extends herself, yet again.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    If she's going to over-extend herself, though - this was the place for it. And Clarice wasn't doing //bad// - she could handle this lot easily with her powers - and quite probably without her powers, if she'd allow herself to take kill shots.
    But no. She screwed up in Bushwick - so she was limiting her retaliation to 'Bushwick rules.'
    "Hey Lydia," she says a bit breathlessly. The group of combatant is converging on her location, limiting her options. And try as she might, she can't seem to break free, as they use their machine gun fire to keep her pinned down. Eventually, she's forced to close the gap with one of the men to take him one in hand to hand combat, limiting his allies' ability to take shots at her. That advantage is completely negated when she ends up ducking under a punch, rolling him across her back, and knocking him to the floor, giving the three remaining armed combatants clear shots at her. "Shit. End scenario," she says immediately, letting out a frustrated huff.
    Abruptly, she stands in an empty room. Empty, except for the throwing knives scattered about, which she begins retrieving.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia shakes her head in wonder, wandering closer to Mystique and giving her a one armed hug while she watches. There's no way she could do the kinds of things that Clarice is doing. "Four on one is... a lot to take on," she comments. Now that the room is clear, Lydia can appreciate exactly how /huge/ this room is. Stepping inside she whistles, the sound of which echoes. "This is really impressive."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique watches Clarice closely, noting mistakes in her movements or choices, but also taking note of just how skilled she is. In many situations it really did come down to luck, to knowing your limits and your own abilities, and she knew that Clarice was relearning everything from ground zero without her powers.

"Why do you say shit? You lastest longer against four opponents than humans most would. You are easily on par with military trained humans right now Clarice, and that's saying something."

Setting her coffee on the computer consoles edge, she walks around and types something in. "Go stand on the disc, I have something I want you to try."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I know it was a hard scenerio," Clarice answers. "But I left myself wide-open at the end there. Didn't really expect to //win// the scenario, but..." She'd hoped, and she'd given it an honest try. She picks up the last of her throwing knives, tucking them into place and moving to stand on the disc as requested, still breathing a bit heavily from her exertions.
    "That coffee smells good," she adds. "I'll have to get my own cup in a bit."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods to Mystique and heads over to the disk with a questioning, "Okay?" She's not entirely sure what this is for, but she trusts that Mystique knows what she's doing. "Really," she says to Clarice, "I think you're amazing. There's no way I would have been able to do that kind of thing without my powers. I'd be helpless as a lamb."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
As both woman step onto the discs, a red scanner moved from floor to ceiling and back down and the computer instantly generates a set of rather interesting looking, light weight armor around their bodies. It looks exactly like they put it on over what they were already wearing. Legs are protected on the front of the thighs and shins, with a separate knee shield over them allowing for free and easy movement. Their chests are covered by what looks like a padded long sleeve turtle neck and over it a light weight vest of some kind. Although they were both just wearing shoes, now on their feet is a pair of combat boots laced and their hands are encased in fingerless gloves.

"Well that was unexpected, but oh so perfect!" Mystique states as she walks over to look them both over. "What you are wearing is special forces, military grade, light weight combat armor. It will protect you from knives, bullets and bludgeoning weapons. Also Clarice, if you want that coffee, you can have it."

She walks around the both of them with a grin, checking the fit as she goes. Lydia's top needs a slight adjustment so she makes it. "You will find it a bit tight, but it should be comfortable and protective, and yes... the Brotherhood has numerous sets of this armor. From now on, you both will have a set available to you for combat situations. Problem 1 solved."

Making her way back to the computer, Mystique enters a few things manually, she helped create this program so she knows exactly how to make it sing for her. "Urban combat, one-on-on, basic human ganger. Let me see how each of you handle one."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice - almost automatically - moves and shifts in the armor, testing her range of motion. She doesn't understand how these programs work - how she can feel the false armor sliding against her skin. It's weird. She reaches for her knives - pullinng out a few, and slipping them back into place easily enough.
    As the program is pulled up, Clarice goes into motion, whirling with the grace that years of gymnastic training had granted her. She ends up vaulting onto a mailbox that has appeared near her, and using it to propel her down and towards one of the foes, striking out towards the man with a vicious punch. As he stumbles back, she grabs him by the arm, tucking her back and shoving it into his side, as she tosses him up and over her form - it was very similar to the throw she'd recently used which left her so exposed, but with fewer opponents to work about this time? That shouldn't be a problem.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nearly jumps out of her skin as combat armor just suddenly appears on her. "Goodness!" She takes some time looking herself over, noting how everything weighs and feels. She bends her arms and legs a few times to test flexibility. "This is kind of... neat," she concludes.

She blinks when Mystique summons a human ganger in front of her. "Wait a second, what?" But she doesn't get a chance to ask any more questions since the ganger lashes out with a knife. Lydia squeaks in surprise, her ectoplasm reflexively snapping to her skin as she hastily backs away from the man. "Am I not supposed to use my powers?" she asks, dodging another slice.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique almost giggles... almost, instead it is a higher pitched chuckle over Lydia's reaction. Clarice did exactly what she expected Clarice to do, and honestly Lydia did exactly what Mystique expected her to do, but it was still amusing.

"For you Lydia, use your powers. I'm attempting to assess what areas you may need further training in," she glances to Clarice. "Judo would be good for you, to learn to use their weight and momentum against them."

Her eyes turn back to Lydia rather quickly. "I know you have no real training Lydia, but I wanted to see what you would do. I should have warned you, but honestly your reaction was perfect. Now show me what else you can do."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice can do a lot - and she actually isn't reaching for the knives. Not with this simple, one-on-one fight. No - she concentrates on disarming the man, stomping on his wrist and then kicking his gun away. He grabs for her ankle and she stumbles for a moment, before managing to twist her foot free as she tucks into a quick summersault. The man gets back to his feet, drawing a knife, and Clarice uses a moment to glance towards Lydia. Yes, they were supposed to be handling their own opponents, but in the real world? She would never leave Lydia completely on her own.
    Her attention shifts back to her own foe as she pops smoothly back to her feet, and feigns an injury to one leg. As the man charges in towards her, her foot strikes out, aimed for his chin and knocking his head back.
    Years of training in combat and acrobatics under the Magistrates - and further training under 'Mister Creed' has left her more than capable of the current task.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, "Yeah. My mists react to my subconscious at times. There was one time there was this one guy who was getting all handsy on me and I went all prickly," She demonstrates as her glowing green armor suddenly produces spines all along its surface, "like a hedgehog."

The spines gives her opponent a pause. There's no real way to attack her with a knife without getting impaled on one of those spines. Lydia takes advantage of this pause by throwing out a hand, and a tendril of ectoplasm shoots out and wraps itself around the waist and shoulders of the thug, lifting him up six feet in the air. Then she just /slams/ him into the ground with enough force to render him unconscious before letting the ectoplasm dissipate.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
The opponents will act realistically, however if Clarice or Lydia pause or seem overwhelmed, they will simply stop and stand there until there is movement again. There is no real risk of injury unless the difficulty is pumped up, but these were starting level. If they are 'defeated', they will reset to the next higher level and start again, or at least Clarice's will, each time amping up their own techniques used and what combat skills they use. It's almost like a video game playing out in real life, though there is no score, no extra lives, and no stupid 8bit music when a 'character' jumps.

When Lydia slams her's into the ground, it disappears but the armor stays on her body. "You have an extremely wonderful mutation Lydia," she comments softly, walking over to her while keeping Clarice in her peripherals. "So many possibilities just by thinking it, for hand to hand, but what about range? What can you do, besides the armor, for someone shooting at you? Have you ever tested just how much damage the armor can take?"

Her attention turns to Clarice, head tilting slightly, "One on one is nothing to you, much like I thought. So tell me Clarice, are you ready to see how you do one on one against me?"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Bring it," Clarice says simple - flashing Mystique a confident smile. Not confident that she'll win, mind. Just confident she'll make a good showing of herself. "Mister Creed's wiped the floors with me dozens of times!" she remarks with a laugh. She sinks back into a ready crouch, her gaze on Mystique, her expression expectant and determined.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia shakes her head at Mystique. "Last night was the first night I ever had anybody shooting at it. I had managed to successfully block the shrapnel from the car bomb, so I knew it could take a hit, so I was sure that it could take a bullet, but I had never tried it until then." She throws out a hand and a tendril shoots out into the middle of the room for about thirty feet, before the end of it just starts wafting off into the air. "That's about my range for it. The further out it goes the more concentration I have to use."


She hesitates and turns to face Mystique, letting the armor and tendril drop. "I should tell you that I /do/ have a weakness. I don't want to advertise this because it's pretty bizarre, but you should probably know." She looks at her hand and a glowing green about the size of a softball appears in her hand, slowly turning into simple shapes as she stalls. "Salt," she says almost embarrassed to admit it. "Salt will just tear right through my ectoplasm."

She looks up at Mystique. "That's what happened during the car bombing. Somebody threw a snowball at me that was filled with the salt that they used to deice the streets. Tore right through my shield and left an opening for a piece of shrapnel to go right through and hit me here," she says rubbing her belly. "It's fully healed now, though."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
It takes Mystique a moment after listening to Lydia, just a few minutes to process what she heard. Two or three months ago, it wouldn't have hit her quite as hard as it did today. People get hurt all the time after all, but this was different. This was an injury she caused, completely by accident that it hurt mutants, but that didn't change one thing about it. Clarice was the reason that sort of thing would never happen again, that there would be no more car bombings or acts of terrorism against humans, because inevitably, someone would get hurt that wasn't a target and it just wasn't worth the risk.

"I..." she shakes her head, there's nothing more she could say, apologizing over and over didn't change it, so she turned her attention on other tasks... namely Clarice.

"It's not about winning or losing," she states plainly. "It's about trying and learning."

No other words are offered, she begins this slow sauntering walk toward Clarice. Honestly it looks like she's just walking across the room, but her body language indicates the readiness, the relaxed state in preparation for known combat. She didn't have super strength, or super speed, what she had was a hundreds years of near constant training, honing her body into a machine of combat and war, which gave her an advantage when you added the numerous forms of martial arts, acrobatics, gymnastics and contortionism.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    The salt was an interesting tidbit. Not that it was something Clarice expected to ever use against Lydia - no, more likely it was something she'd have to protect her from. But it's the comment on the car bombing and Mystique's reaction that catches her attention, her gaze flicking between both women. Did Lydia mean...? //Hell//.
    But then Mystique is coming towards her and since the woman had said merely 'one-on-one,' and not specifically 'hand-to-hand,' that leaves the knives as fair game. While she may not have needed them against the thug, she would need them against Mystique. She draws three in each hand, tossing them one after another in quick succession, altering her aim subtly with each toss as she watches Mystique's reaction to the attack, hoping at least one of them will manage to strike true. If she can slow her down a little before they end up within reach of one another...

Raven Darkholme has posed:
The knives were expected. As the first one is tossed toward her, Mystique slips sideways to avoid it, then into a flip back to avoid the second and finally a twisting jump as the third skirts by her abdomen, missing only by the smallest of margins, but still missing. It was almost as if the cobalt mutant knew what Clarice would do and planned accordingly, using a series of moves that would allow her to avoid being struck by a knife and put her in arms reach of Clarice in the process.

The major thing about her technique was that Mystique used every part of her body, hands, arms, legs, feet, they were all weapons, so it should come as no surprise that as she landed on her hands from the twisting flip, in front of Clarice, that it was her feet she struck out at the purple mutants chest in an attempt to kick her backwards hard enough to knock her off her feet. Whether that succeeded or not, she then sprung up onto her feet right in Clarice's face or near the woman if she went down.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia picks up that there's something uncomfortable in the way that Mystique regards her, and she tilts her head in a silent question, but it doesn't look like an answer is going to be forthcoming. She remains silent on it, however, since she promised not to pry. Instead she watches as Mystique slowly, gracefully stalks towards Clarice.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Four knives in total had been left fly - leaving one blade in each of her hands as Mystique closes the distance. She twists to the side, barely missing the kick, and bringing her dominant right hand around in an obvious strike towards Mystique's left shoulder - while simultaneously using her left to make a subtler jab at the woman's abdomen, her arm held low, on Mystique's right. Whether or not either of the blows strikes, she quickly launches into a spring that sends her cartwheeling, and then leaping up onto one of the newspaper dispensors - letting out a giddy laugh as she feels it rocking under her feet as she lands.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Predictable to a certain degree, Clarice's moves put her exactly where Mystique wanted. She accepted the first blow to the shoulder, it was part of what was coming next, but she simply wasn't there for the stab to connect, she had already done a backflip away and in mid-flip, as Clarice was cartwheeling backwards and onto the paper dispenser, the cobalt mutant pulls a handgun from her boot, lands and shoots Clarice.

The bullets are not real, they are part of the simulation running, however their impact against the bullet proof vest feel very real. Not able to permanently damage Clarice, the simulation knows to mimic the reactions that should be present. It does not however, make fake blood, not that Clarice would be bleeding... she however has had the wind knocked right out of her lungs.

"Interesting choices Clarice," Mystique offers, still holding the gun aimed at Clarice. "Would you like to know why it ended so quickly?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia watches the melee with fascination. "I... I don't think I could do any of that," she admits. "I mean, I can throw a punch, and it's helped me with visualizing how to strike people with my ectoplasm but all that acrobatics...." she just shakes her head.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Because I'm already winded from the first scenario?" Clarice quips breathing heavily, and rubbing at her chest where she'd been 'hit.' Ugh.
    That wasn't a serious answer, of course.
    "I mean, ultimately it always works out to the fact that I left myself exposed. Also: guns are cheating." And her portals weren't? "I never did train with them much." She hops back down from her vantage point, flicking her knives expertly in her hands, before sheathing them again.
    "...there's coffee. Yeah?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
A gesture of her hand and the gun disappears, then Mystique is walking over to the console and Lydia. "You forgot who you were fighting and assumed it would stay attempts at hand to hand. My specialty /is/ guns Clarice, I am far better ranged then I am up close. Knowing your enemy is key to knowing how to beat them."

She picks up the cup of coffee that she had not drank from, and offers it to Clarice. "I rarely, if ever, try to go for hand to hand because I'm not as good at it as others are. Guns are only cheating when you don't have one."

She glances to Lydia for a moment, a sort of side look before she turns her attention fully to her. "You can do anything you want to do, anything you put your mind to, but our first lessons should be learning the full extend of what you can do with your powers, how much damage the armor can take, and finding any weak spots in your natural reaction defenses. Only after that can we plan a true training session for combat."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "She'll whip you into shape," Clarice promises. "Between her and Mister Creed we have two of the most combat-capable mutants on the planet. I mean, there's a few that measure up to them - but not very many." She accepts the coffee - breathing the scent in deeply, and letting her breath out in a sigh before she'll take a sip. Mmmm - this is what she needs. If she had one of those apple fritters? It'd be perfect.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods to Mystique. "That makes sense," she says. "I've never really tested the limits of my powers before. Mostly I've been going for learning how to control it." She takes a step back and her mists coalesce into six balls that slowly rotate around her. "One limit that I do know is that I can only keep track of about six things at a time." She starts counting on her fingers, "Armor is one, wings are another, maybe claws and a couple of tentacles. The simpler the construct the easier it is for me to maintain."

"Also the easier I can visualize it the less concentration I have to use. Like... I can fly /without/ the wings. I can just use the mists to just pick me up into the air." She demonstrates by doing just this. "But doing it this way I have to keep track of how it lifts my body, keeping myself oriented right, making sure that everything moves at the same speed, that kind of things. By visualizing it with wings, my brain just kind of /expects/ things to happen a certain way and just fills in all the fiddly details in the background."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique watches, taking mental notes as Lydia talks. "That makes sense, the wings I mean. I think I'd find myself upside down way too often without them." She offers a grin, "Not that that would effect me, I've practiced shooting from numerous angles, upside down being one of them."

She looks between the two for a moment, considering then finally says, "How about we start training every morning or afternoon, Clarice against opponents while she gets used to moving in that armor, and Lydia to test the limits of your powers and then a training routine to get you more combat ready?" Again she looks between them. "However in the mean time, I can hear the apple fritters, fresh from the oven, calling to me all the way here."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I'm not opposed," Clarice agrees, taking another drink of the coffee. "Especially to the bit about the apple fritters. And maybe Mister Creed can join us sometimes - and really put us through our paces," she suggests with an amused smile. She always comes out the other end of training sessions with him with more than a few bruises - but you always learn something, too.
    "Of course, shouldn't be too much longer before I'm myself again." Or so she hopes. She starts towards the exit to the training room - coffee still in hand. After she has an apple fritter - it'll be time to jump back in the shower once more.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods agreeably. "I was just thinking that last night," she says. "If I'm going to be your girlfriend, I'm probably going to get involved in a lot more conflicts and I need to get used to that so I don't freeze up or panic." She shrugs, "And besides the more I use my powers the stronger it seems to get, so it's like a muscle that way."

Lydia perks up at the mention of fresh donuts. "Fresh apple fritters? Sign me up!"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
As Clarice and Lydia reach the exit of the room, before they even leave, the armor around them simply disappears and they are back to the clothing they were wearing. Mystique pauses at the console to clear the program she had added, and reset the AI to be ready for the next person who might want to train. The truly beautiful thing about this room, two or three sets of environments could be running at the same time, allowing for multiple people to train at once.

"The baker has the fritter recipe mastered at this point," she comments as she turns to follow them now. "I think she's even talking about trying other fruits, so we might get peach fritters, or blackberry fritters, so long as you don't care about color and frankly, I don't."

Once she catches up to Lydia, her arm goes around the woman to walk with her, this is in no way a 'this is mine' move, nope, not at all. Yeah, it totally was, she really didn't care who knew, in fact everyone should know so they knew who not to fuck with.