10928/Tea For Two

Tea For Two
Date of Scene:	30 January 2020
Location:	Danger Room - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	Piotr and Bean debate the correct way to pour a cup of tea.
Cast of Characters:	Colossus, Samuel Morgan

---

Colossus has posed:
    The X-Men's danger room is a grand endeavour and created with the greatest technology available, mingling with even what some might consider a touch dangerous, thus living up to its name. It is the home where the X-Men hone their skills, where they train to save lives and battle their enemies. It has the capability to create the most forbidding of terrain and challenges, sweeping beautiful vistas... and frightening hellscapes. It is a miracle of the world with monumental potential.
    And almost none of it is being reached in this instant.
    For currently in the great circular chamber with the silver walls there stands a mountain of a man gleaming just as much as the room itself. Metal standing upon metal surrounded by metal. All except for the small table before him. A tiny table, seemingly painstakingly hand-crafted. Upon that table is a small tea service that's composed of a wooden tray. A black ceramic pot, and three black ceramic cups.
    It is this table and its tea service that has Colossus' attention as he stands there in his armored form with the red suit contoured to his shape. He is leaning forward over that tea service trying gently... very gently to manipulate it.
    All while a wizened old Japanese man snarls at him. "You move like a gigantic ox in heat. You are clumsier than any of my other students."
    To which Piotr answers with a scowl, "Yes, sensei." He tries to pick up the pot, to hold it carefully with two fingers and turn it just so... only for it to break along the spine of the handle with a faint 'click.'
    "Another one you destroy! You are a waste of effort!"
    To which Piotr replies, "Yes, sensei." Though his voice rumbles with a faint growl.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The Danger Room is where the X-men, and by extension the New Mutants, come to hone their skills. Grand vistas, hellscapes, New Jersey... everything is possible. And given infinite possibilities and infinite permutations, not even a fraction of a percent of its full potential is ever in use, or has ever been used.

    Not even by the resident technopath, who treats this place with all the respect it is due, even when he's required to spend, yet again, another few hours down here with the by now dreaded social simulations. Because when every skill can be taught, why not soft skills? Often it's an exercise in frustration, and the teenager is surprised to see that the room is already in use as he comes through the hatch.

    Really, someone should install some kind of indicator in the corridor...

    But he spends a few moments watching, grimacing when he realises just what Piotr is trying to do. It's no less frustrating than his own challenge not to knock out an odious conversational partner, or try to de-escalate a situation that can just as easily be solved with the straightforward application of violence. For a room that is often used to teach the proper application of force and violence, it seems to be used quite a bit more on teaching how /not/ to use force.

    "Domo Suimimasen." Bean bows to the Sensei as he approaches. "I have intruded on your ceremony."

Colossus has posed:
    The old master scowls, turning a grim expression upon Bean. He's standing there opposite Piotr, garbed in black hakama with his hair tied back into the traditional chonmage. A fan is held lightly in his hand that he snaps shut and slaps into the meat of his palm at Bean's approach. The program sticks purely to English, however, and Bean might likely detect that it has occasional loops of movement signalling that whomever programmed it did so only with a cursory attempt.
    "Perhaps you wish to participate?" No name used, the automaton perhaps not tied into the higher functions of the system. "You cannot help but be better than this mighty oaf!"
    The sensei then rounds and glares daggers at Piotr, who at the least does not seem to take umbrage nor pay too much attention to the simulation for now.
    "Samuel," Piotr smiles a little as he sweeps his hand across the table, clearing it and causing the fragments to slip over the side where they disappear. Then the service is reset entirely, ready for the next attempt.
    Though for now Colossus' attention has shifted. "Have I exceeded my time? This is unimportant, you may take over if you wish." He gestures to the side even as he minimizes his own efforts.
    Though the teacher scowls, "That is why you repeatedly fail. Unimportant he says!"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Arigato" Bean bows again, and this time takes a careful step around the Sensei, keeping in front of him but passing behind Piotr to join him on the side of the table. The teenager sits, cross legged, as if he's done this many a time before, a fixed smile on his face. A smile that lightens significantly when Colossus clears the table in the most straightforward fashion, so that the attempt can be made anew. "If it's all the same to you, Mister Rasputin, I'd prefer to sit in with you. My simulations can wait... I've gone through them dozens of times - " With, at current, less than a twenty percent fatality rate to the simulated participants, a marked improvement over his first attempts " - and if I have to do them again this week, even once, I'll probably end up wearing out another punching bag in the Gym. Besides... I have to ask this, have you ever asked anyone to help you with this?"

Colossus has posed:
    "You are free to spend your time how you wish, Samuel." Colossus says, his voice taking on a slightly more resonant and reverberating tone with in his metal form. His metal eyes focus upon the service before him as he then lifts his arms and stretches them a little, then make claws with his fingers, tensing and releasing as if trying to get some sense of chill out of them.
    "Though I fear you may not learn much from such time spent." He says this with a half-smile as he looks sidelong toward the young man, then shakes his head and looks back to the table.
    "He will learn much!" The instructor tells them, looking back and forth with a scowl. "He will learn that a fish will sooner walk on land, than you will ever experience success!"
    But the heckling does not seem to bother Colossus, not much anyway. He leans forward and delicately, gently, begins to lift the small kettle. "Help?" He asks in reply. "With this?" Another shake of his head. "Nyet." He starts to pour sloooowly.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "And yet the fish has walked on land, and grown legs, and became the forefather of all that walk on land today." Bean mentions to the Sensei with a smile. A polite smile, that is to say his eyes aren't smiling at all. "Tenacity and the drive to continue are the means to success, as sure as the flexible reed bends in the wind rather than breaks with the gale." Yeah, he's probably run into this simulant before.

    With great care, and with the cupping of both hands, Bean picks up the delicate cup in front of him and holds it out for Colossus to pour into. Well aware that it's a small target, and a failure to get it right will end up with scalding tea all over his hands. A sign of trust, if ever there was one.

    "With respect, Mister Rasputin, but I can tell. May I offer an observation?"

Colossus has posed:
    "Nonsense!" Is the abrupt reply from the Sensei. Though his programming perhaps does not allow him to pursue that challenge further. Instead he returns and keys on the latter part of what the young man says and perhaps it triggers some word recognition as its countenance shifts.
    "You should listen to your young friend!" The elder Asia man snaps, "Within his words lie wisdom. Even for a great monstrous thing such as yourself!"
    Again Piotr scowls, but he shakes his head and continues to slooowly pour and then...
    /CLINK!/
    The handle snaps and the plate he had lightly been holding down seems to fracture a second later. Colossus' eyes widen, then he sucks in a breath through gritted metal teeth. Before he exhales slooowly and looks back toward Sam. A slow nod is given as he says simply, "Please."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    With infinite care and patience, quite at odds with his reported temperament, Bean puts down the cup on the plate and then carefully reaches out to place a hand on Piotr's arm. "It's a matter of physics, Mister Rasputin."

    Standing up, he walks to the side of his teacher and observes him from this angle, then walks forwards and backwards, nodding to himself. "What are you trying to teach yourself?" A warning glance to the simulated teacher before he continues. "Dexterity? You have plenty of that, you're an artist. Control? You have plenty of that as well, I saw how careful you were in the warehouse. You're big and strong, Mister Rasputin, but I imagine you try very hard to keep all that strength under control, am I right?"

Colossus has posed:
    "It is..." Piotr's voice falters and for once the automata is silent, though its idle animation is only fourteen seconds long as it goes through its shuffling shifting step precisely for that amount of time. "That, in some ways. Da." Piotr straightens up and then holds up a hand as if to stay Bean's thoughts or perhaps to offer further data for the young man to consider.
    "Yet it is also a feeling that is different. It is hard to describe." His silver lips twist as he turns his head toward Bean and he murmurs, "For we share not the same experiences, no?" He then says as he seeks the words, visibly slowed at this perhaps difficult progression.
    "I feel... thicker. Or that there is a heavier weight? To my hands. To... the world, different than the past."
    It's only then that he wipes the table clean again, the broken pieces falling over the side of the table to disappear and reset.
    And then the Sensei pipes up, "Again we are trapped here in the hell of your own making!"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    In months past, the Sensei would have gotten himself a broken china plate in the neck for that comment. As it is, Bean only shoots him a further warning glance with a ferocity that is probably wasted entirely on the simulant's programming. It takes a few seconds for the teen to regain his composure, kneeling down to feel one of Colossus' hands. "Are you worried that you are losing your control? That is an experience we do have in common." Different control, and yet...

    But there are other matters to address, patting Piotr on the bicep. "As I said, it's a matter of physics. You know exactly how much force your fingers can exert on that kettle, and the handle always snaps. Why? The problem isn't a lack of control, I believe. The break appears to be consistent. So the issue is with the interaction of the material with your fingers. Metal doesn't flex, or yield." And to illustrate that very obvious point, he pats his teacher on the bicep again before sitting down in his previous spot.

    "The problem is therefore not that pressure exerted by your fingers, or a lack of fine motor control. The issue is the motion used to transfer the weight of the liquid inside the kettle. Try locking your wrist, and raising your elbow rather than rotating your forearm. That might distribute the weight slowly enough, and equally enough, that the tea won't break the kettle."

Colossus has posed:
    The tall Russian follows along with Samuel's words, nodding slowly as he listens, and in truth... Piotr is quite a good listener. He takes a deep breath though he speaks not a rebuttal nor a negation. He simply listens and then gives due thought to what has been said. There is a faint creak-creak-creak of sound coming from his mouth which Bean might eventually realize is Piotr chewing on the inside of his cheek.
    Then he straightens up. "I am often in a place where I cannot lose control." He says that at the least in answer. Though perhaps not entirely an answer either.
    That said he extends his arm and holds his wrist tight. He then hooks a finger under the arch of the tea kettle's handle and lifts it up slowly. At least in this way there is no pressure placed upon it. Nothing to break yet.
    Then as if keying to something he extends another hand to lightly give the tea kettle something to tilt against. Not pressing against it, but allowing it to gradually shift forward until it begins to pour.
    Tea begins to come forth in a sluice of liquid, though it does slosh beyond the lips of the cup. At the slosh the programed Sensei makes a quick cluck of its tongue, but says naught.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "The only ones who are truly terrifying are those who should control themselves, and never try. But when you share a body with a monster, no matter what form that monster might take..." and Bean nods gratefully for the tea, even if some of it spills into the saucer underneath "... the only way to know true control is to become familiar with the monster, and make peace with it."

    He watches the technique, calculating the stresses on the kettle, the weight of the tea, and the likely chance that the torque of the rotation had been the culprit all along. "Do you feel as if staying in control is becoming harder?"

Colossus has posed:
    "Nyet." Piotr tries to pour a little bit more, and does not slosh some. But it's clear his control is not necessarily better, at least to his way of thinking. But more he is coming at this from another angle. Which is a success all on its own.
    He then sets the kettle down and tries to shift its placement just a touch as his fingers tighten and that causes that small /click/ of sound again as the spine of the handle fractures just a little. Better, but still.
    His brows rise as he confides, "I know not if this is a new thing or... if this perhaps has been present in the past? For it is not common that I must be so. When I am strong." Piotr then straightens up and says upward toward the control spire.
    "Danger room, end my program, please."
    There's a rush of motion and a faint displacement of air as the objects and humanoid cease to exist. It leaves Bean and Piotr there in the silver landscape. He then looks back to the youth, "I should probably speak with Dr. McCoy. Just to be entirely certain."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Perhaps you are getting stronger?" is Bean's only logical inference. He sits on the silver floor when the simulation ends, still cross-legged, as much at ease as if he were sitting in a comfortable chair. "Talking to Doctor McCoy sounds like a very wise idea." Another angle? Always worth exploring.

    "Thank you for letting me assist."

Colossus has posed:
    "Forgive me, Samuel." Piotr says as he extends a metal hand to the young man, "You are kind to do so. And forgive my churlish mood." Should that hand be accepted he'll help him rise to his feet so that he can stand before him, nodding slowly and resting a hand upon the New Mutant's shoulder.
    "When I am... distracted by matters, I sometimes become so inside myself that I forget my manners and my friends." Though that might be stretching it, he does seem apologetic.
    Then there's a smile as he gestures, "The room is yours if you so need. I..."
    He stops and his gaze distances somewhere past Bean's shoulder before he looks back to his eyes. "Believe I am going to find somewhere nice and quiet with my sketchpad, and then return later."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The hand is accepted without hesitation. Clearly Bean isn't worried that his hand is going to be accidentally crushed, and he gets to his feet with a surprising lack of effort required. "It was my pleasure, Mister Rasputin. Most people only listen to me when they need advice on firearms, or explosives, or some kind of combat scenario... They want to talk to the monster within." He gives a wink, to show that it was poetic hyperbole. Probably.

    "If there's anything you'd like to talk about, please do. It doesn't do to keep some things bottled up." Which, it turns out, is advice he's having to give with almost frightening regularity around the school.

Colossus has posed:
    "You are correct," Piotr says, as if remembering his role and pointing at Bean. "It is best to have people to talk to around you at times. So thank you for providing that for me." That said Piotr then gives another pat followed by a step drawing back. He turns and begins to move toward the door with an easy gait even as a silvery energy begins to flicker around his form.
    A latticework of lightning dances across the tall man's arms and neck, racing along the metal turnig to flesh and leaving his turn silhouette once it is past. Over his shoulder he says, "Til next time. Dasvidaniya."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Gesundheit." Alas, Bean doesn't speak Russian. Something to learn later, perhaps, making a mental note of that as his teacher leaves the Danger Room. Which leaves him free to pursue the simulations he came down here for... or the ones that he's going to need soon, for Cannonball's request. Sometimes... sometimes the monster was useful.

    "Open project in progress Scorpio Six." The bare concrete room with a stack of plastic explosives in the center appears...