8597/Distant Fires

Distant Fires
Date of Scene:	31 July 2019
Location:	Danger Room - X-men Base
Synopsis:	Shannon undergoes flight training.
Cast of Characters:	Cypher, Cannonball, Nightingale

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Cypher has posed:
"All right." Doug says. "Resuming strength and stress testing exercises." He's wearing the lower half of a yellow and black uniform, and standing in the otherwise bare middle of the Danger Room, except for two sawhorses and a wooden plank.

"This is a standard thickness oakwood plank. If I tried to break this with my ordinary arm, I'd break a bone on it."

"Beginning testing... now." He sucks in a sharp breath, and raises his techno-organic arm up.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie has planned Shannon's first exposure to the danger rom today. He set up a time for it and knowing it was getting close asked her to come with him. "Ok, taking you to your first officially power testing. This is a special area your only allowed t go with staff or those who have special permission. We call this the Danger Room, it is well, do you know what a halo deck is?

Cypher has posed:
Doug continues talking to himself, as he has his arm in the air. "You know, thinking about this, maybe I should rethink this?" He says to the recording device. "I don't have data about how this arm recovers from damage yet, for instance. I mean, what if I irreparably damage it?" He strokes his chin with his left hand.

"Hmmmm."

Nightingale has posed:
     Danger room? What on earth was Sam talking about? This sort of thing was the stuff of science fiction--wasn't it? And power testing, well, it was not something Shannon had been looking forward to. For some of her gifts to be tested, it meant someone would have to be hurt--and that was a thought she did not like in the least. Would she be able to do any real good in here? Yes, it was a test, but if she failed, it was someone else putting themselves on the line... a responsibility she was keenly aware of. Her white feathered wings flutter nervously behind her, her entire body tense. "Sounds kind of like Trek. But that stuff's just science fiction... isn't it?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will step up, to the door, and says "Hmm, someone is inside." He looks at who it is and smirks a bit to this and says "Payback." He grins and taps on the controlls for the door. The door will open and Sam will lead Shannon into what suddenly look like the Karate Kid 2 village, complete with Doug's board being the timber from that movie "Mr Myogi stands next to him "Paint the fence Doug-san."

Cypher has posed:
"Gyahhhh!" That one startled him. Doug had almost talked himself out of it, when he brings that black and gold arm down across the board, splintering it. CRACK!

He looks up at the booth. "GUTHRIE!"

Nightingale has posed:
     There's a low whistle from Shannon, and perhaps one of the few times one will ever hear her curse. "Holy hell..." Her eyes go wide as dinner plates at the abrupt change of scenery; just how had she landed in this particular scenario? She jumps back as the board is splintered, with a rather loud CRACK. "Sheesh... remind me to not get you mad!"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will open the doorway to the control room, and walk in with Shannon "Yes Doug, would have preferred if I showed up all huck finn looking in the corner?" He will smile at the other and says "Was bringing Shannon down for some flying acrobatics lessons."

Cypher has posed:
"That one was funny. I could've broken my arm!" Doug says. "Hmmm, note. This arm has a degree of enhanced strength and reilience. Further testing is required. Likely not superhuman to any exceptional degree, as it would risk pulling my arm out of its socket." Then he says, "...Room's yours. Toss me that towel?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon just smiles when she sees another familiar face. Well, at least semi-familiar. And that someone didn't seem to be at all injured. Thank heavens, at least that power wasn't to be tested today. That was something she could do without! "Hi, Doug... I've seen you around once or twice, but we didn't really get to meet properly, I don't think." She sticks close to Sam, though, not at all keen on fouling up this soon into her time here at the school!

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will toss him the towel and says "So, you pick up any of the shape shifting with it?" He will ask the other man about the arm. You want to help me with the controls. Poor girl here has to get flying tips from me." He will feed his friend the easy lay up.

Cypher has posed:
"Nothing I've been able to unlock yet." Doug says. He raises an eyebrow, and then says, "...Sam's the best flier here. He worked hard to master it, too." He dries his head, neck, and shoulders off, before he adds, "You couldn't ask for a better teacher."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon rolls her eyes and chuckles softly. "Hopefully those flying tips won't wind up with one of you getting hurt, and then you'd be sending me into the infirmary." She shivers slightly, but keeps a smile on her face for their sake. Stretching out her wings, she looks around, getting a sense of the area and any obstacles she might encounter--at least, when low to the ground. "Okay, so how is this going to work?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and says "Ah don't know about being any where near the best, but maybe the fastest." He will add in "Clear room, and load flying slalom course 1, rings large timer on the wall." As he says this the room changes around them. "This room is basicly like a holo deck, but less likely to go rogue on you.

Cypher has posed:
"Well, there is a non-zero chance of it--" Doug says. "...Not helping." He stands nearby, and watches. "So Magneto is flying a giant sky fortress toward the country, and he's declared war on the U.S. - Sam, has it ever occurred to you that our lives are ridiculous bullshit?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon freezes in place as she hears Doug talking. Sky fortress? Heading for the U.S.? The color drains from her face almost entirely, and she is silent as a tomb. A lot of people were going to be hurt, and they were in here playing at flying games?? She closes her eyes and forces herself to take a deep breath. No, not games. This was deadly serious training, and to treat it otherwise would do nobody any good. She swallows hard and looks up at the course. "Guess we've got a lot of work to do, then, if that's true."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will raises a brow and says "Ok, Ah aint heard about this, when did this happen, and has anyone went out to talk to him?" The guy will look over to Shannon "Hopefully someone can talk to him, and we can get it handled without a fight. Do we know where he is heading?"

Cypher has posed:
"I think he's trying to spook people into shutting down the sentinel program, or failing that, provoke a confrontation that'll let him crush the Sentinels and make a point. But if someone can't defuse this whole thing a lot of people are gonna get killed. And if it comes down to a choice and we wind up helping him fight the sentinels, politically, we're *boned*."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon grimaces as she continues to listen. "I'll never understand hatred," she mutters. "Never." Her brows draw together in a distinct scowl, and she eyes the first few rings, her hands balled into fists at her side. No. If there was anything she could do, she would. And it had to start here. She'd be useless if she didn't train. "So pretty much it's damned if you do, damned if you don't?" Break out the soap--three swears in one night?

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hmms and nods his head a bit to this and says "He comes in it could be war, not just with America, but possible multiple places around the world. " He starts to pace seems he has forgotten about the training for a moment. The man will pace a bit "He is doing what he thinks is the best, which of course will make things a lot harder. Part of me doesn't want to stop him to be honest, but we can't let him do this, it could mean world war 3."

Cypher has posed:
"Sam." Doug says. "World War 3 later. Flight training now." He points. "Sorry, kid, he's a worrier. It's what he does. He already had to bury me once, and it stuck with him."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods, and can't quite help a little smile. "Yeah, he does worry. It's one of those things that happens when you have a good heart." With a fairly strong downstroke of her wings, she rises into the air; not the most agile or graceful yet, but that might come with time. "Okay, so what do we do from here?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and shakes his head a bit to this and says "Sorry sorry, yea Ah worry, ok, Ah want you to do first path following along the rings. touch the top of each one as you pass over them." He looks to Doug, and says "Ah think she may have potential, but gotta find her place. Flying healer could be handy.

Cypher has posed:
"Might be." Doug agrees. "Just keep your mind on where you are and what you're doing. Magneto isn't just on you, that's an all of us problem."

Nightingale has posed:
     "And that means -all- of us." A mere student she might be, but the thought that perhaps one day the gifts she was herself wary of, perhaps even a little fearful, could actually do some good out there did make her smile to herself. Well, time to see just how this would go! Focusing on the first few rings, she sets off for the first one; not at her top speed, not just yet, more focusing on accuracy for the moment. She touches the top of that ring, setting off the counter, and adjusts her course to soar upwards towards the second. Okay, this wasn't so bad!

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will watch her, and says "We will figure out how to do this." He will add to her "Until your trained you are not to go out into combat." The course right now is a rather simple one, he is checking her speed and maneuverability. "We will see what you got up there nightengale.

Cypher has posed:
"Hmmm. Not a bad callsign." Doug says. He glances toward Sam, and strokes his chin, in thought. But he keeps his thoughts to himself.

Nightingale has posed:
     The next two rings seemed to be on more of a straightaway, one right after the other. So Shannon puts on some speed, her wings slicing through the air as she heads for her targets. One can see the wind of her passage whipping her hair about behind her, and fleetingly, she's thinking it might be a good idea to tie her hair back on a more regular basis. But she manages to touch the second and then the third ring. However, the fourth is on a quick 90-degree turn, and she overshoots her mark. "Damn!"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "Yea, she picked it thought it was a decent one, but Negasonic is calling her Fluttershy. And she is such a fan." He grins a bit at this and adds "In a lot of ways she reminds ne if a young Rahne. Think she has seen a bit more of the world though to be honest.

Cypher has posed:
Doug is quiet, thinking about that. "I think what we all had was once in a lifetime, Sam. ...You know what though? I think maybe we need to get them together, and then butt the hell out, and let them find the once in a lifetime thing THEY all have. So far, they seem to work with us more than they do with each other."

Nightingale has posed:
     Rings five through seven are in more of a zig-zag pattern, and Shannon is forced to sacrifice a little speed in favor of accuracy. One after the other, she touches the tops of the next three rings in a row, only to wind up flying right underneath the ninth target. "Son of a... peach!" Her face flamed with embarrassment, and she grumbled, irritated at herself. This was not going so well as she'd hoped, but then again, it was just a first run in the danger room. There would be time for improvement on later runs. She spares a glance down at the ground where Sam and Doug are talking, hoping they weren't watching that one -too- closely.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "Ah was hoping to do that, set them up with their own leader, making sure they are trained and will come to us if they need help but letting them find their own paths. " He will motion for her to land beside them when she goes past the last one "Come in softly, we might have to see if you can come close to hovering.

Nightingale has posed:
     The tenth and final ring is just too tempting to ignore. Shannon pulls her wings in tightly, diving towards and through the ring, reaching up to touch the top. It might be a training run, but it felt damn -good- to be able to fly freely. Once through the ring, she banks towards Sam and Doug, spreading her wings out and straightening her body in an attempt to hover nearby. The wind from her wings brushes past them both, and she actually does manage to hover in place, fairly close to the ground. "Sometimes, this is all the flying I could do, before coming here," she offers to them. "You have no idea how good it felt to be up there."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie waves to Doug as the other man heads out to hit the showers. "Ah was lucky lots of open air and such were I grew up, so was plenty of places to land just had to make sure I hid where I landed.

Nightingale has posed:
     "It couldn't have been -that- bad when you flew?" Shannon tries to stifle a giggle as she hovers in the air nearby--and fails. "Come on, you're pulling my leg... seriously, you couldn't have been all that bad, could you?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to her, and says "I had real trouble with turns, I was good at a straight line but I really was that bad." He will hmms and says "Bring up Guthrie Sam, file 8.5" And a younger version of himself will apear next to him.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon shakes her head. "You don't have to do that, it's okay." Still, she hovers in the air a moment or two longer, finally allowing herself to land next to the present-day Sam, and letting what will happen, happen.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "Fly this course mini me." He smirks and the younger version does and about he third one he hits the ring bending it out of true, before ending up plowing into a cushened wall. "And yes that happened"

Nightingale has posed:
     "It also looks like you were going a whole lot faster than I was," Shannon pointed out, her smile turning into something of a grin, eyebrows quirked in amusement. "However fast that was, anyways. Hey... that was you then, I bet you're a whole lot better now."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "I have learned some tricks, and most of them are specific for my type of flying. Like if I need to do a 180. I kill the power, do a flip andkick the juice back in. I learned that one from both one of our teachers here and a run in I had with spiderman.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon tilts her head to look up at the rings as she considers this bit of knowledge. "I wonder if something similar would work for me on those quick turns. Those were really a pain in the neck." Her laughter rings out like silver bells, and she shakes her head. "In your case, it was very literal."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie says, "Not so much for me, that field around me protects me. I can fly through most things but even if something stops me, the impact happens before the shield is gone."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon breathes a sigh of relief, her face going just a little bit rosy. "Good. I don't want to see you the hard way." She glances down at her hands, then back up at Sam, smiling some.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "Luckily when Ah am flying am neigh invulnerable. And am curious about something. When you heal something, do you heal faster than the original person would of the injury?

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods. "Thankfully, yes. Remember that sprained ankle from Megan's accident a couple days ago?" She extends her right foot a little, with the swelling and bruising from a couple days past having vanished. "It's just a little bit stiff now, but that's nothing worse than waking up with a stiff neck in the morning."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "I was a bit concerned it was just moving damage around and not speeding up the healing process, good to know."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods, and smiles, resting her hand on his shoulder briefly. "I'm a little tougher than that. But I don't know if there's a way to speed up the healing process on my end, or to control just -when- I want the healing touch to happen. Right now... well, it's kind of a crapshoot."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hmms and says "Have you noticed, does it work on just wounds, or if someone is sick with a cold do you absorb that?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon shrugs, moving her hand away. "I don't know that yet. I've seen it on wounds for sure, but I haven't tried it on diseases. It seems to work when I touch someone, haven't seen it work otherwise. Probably a good thing or I'd be a walking wound just going out in public."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hmms and says "Well how long has your powers been active? " He will ask as he things, and says "And Computer reset course." He grins and says "And now this time, through the rings"

Nightingale has posed:
     "They started the summer I turned fourteen. I was at Camp Pinewood back in Connecticut. My best friend and I were by the campfire in our unit." She sighs softly, and shaks her head. "It was such a stupid thing. Ever read the kid's story, 'Stone Soup'? You know, the one where a beggar somehow manages to talk everyone he meets into contributing something to a pot of hot water with a stone in it, that he calls stone soup? Kind of a story about getting everyone to work together whether they realize it or not. Anyways..." She closes her eyes, a single tear falling. "We were kind of having fun with it, following the story. The pot started boiling over, and my friend went to pull it off the fire. Oh, she had something on her hand to protect it, but she lost her grip and scalded herself all down her front. I went to put a cool compress on it... but when I touched the burn..." She falls silent, opening her eyes and looking down at her hands. "It freaked everyone out, and I got sent home. My friends never talked to me again. A little later that summer, I wound up with these." She points to her wings and smiles a little.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hmms and nods his head a bit to this and says "Well then to be honest, probably does not work on colds, and such, because if you did, you would have noticed your mom or dad getting instantly well from being sick.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon shrugs lightly. "It could. I don't know for sure. Seems to work with physical contact, so who knows." With the course re-set, it was time to shift her focus; she lifts off into the air, taking a moment this time to study the course and think about how Sam had described handling sharp turns. Would she have time for a maneuver like that, going through the rings instead of over them? There was only one way to find out! She takes off through the first three rings at considerable speed, reaching up to touch the top of each one on her way through. Partway towards the fourth, she tilts her wings and straightens her body to slow herself down, turning 90 degrees to starboard before heading through the fourth ring. "Ha! Take that!"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie smiles and says "Ok, on the next one, you grab the side of the ring as you go through it. You will feel a bit of a tug in your arm, but should be able to use it to spin to that direction and make the next one quicker."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods and takes off for the fifth ring, zooming right through it. On her way through she grabs the side of the ring and swings herself around for the sixth target, and again for the seventh--with very little loss of speed. "Nice!!"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "If your doing that a lot, you will need to make sure you work on your arm strength. You don't want to pull your arm out of the socket or anything when your doing that. So, tell me your friend, did she freak then or after she had ben home?

Nightingale has posed:
     "She freaked then. Told the counselors what happened and it didn't go too well." Shannon zips through the eighth ring, and tries to gain some altitude quickly for the ninth. THUD. She smacks right into the bottom of the ring, brought up short by the impact. "Owwww..."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie winces and looks to her, and says "Are you ok?" He will ask after the impact. He hmms and was hoping might be a way to help her get back with her friend but seems it is less likely.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon hovers in the air a short distance away from the offending ring; at least she wasn't sent careening to the ground by the impact. "Ooof... that's going to leave a mark. I'm okay, it's just going to sting for a little while." Damn, this was going to kill her time on this run through the course, but there was no help for it. As soon as she feels able, she resumes her flight, through that evil ninth ring, and diving through the final one. "Evil... evil..."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie chuckles a bit at her, and says "Well eait till you see some of the other ones." He will smile and once she has landed he will speak to the computer "Cannonball 12-19. Load it." He will say and the course changes to one he practices on currently. Much closer turns, and smaller rings.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon comes in to land next to Sam again, looking at the course appreciatively. "You really -were- going easy on me weren't you?" Shaking her head, she laughs to herself. "Man, I've got a long way to go...."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie shakes his head and says "Na, your starting pretty much the same places Ah started. you have to start somewhere. We all start at the base and work our way up.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods and smiles sheepishly, her face a bit red. "Okay, let's see how you do on this." This should be interesting--the gauntlet had been thrown down!

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hmms and nods his head a bit. He moves towards one end of the course, and kicks it on, he is going about 100mph or so, and makes it through the course once pretty good but as he kicks it up to about 200 he hits a couple of the rings, but still makes the course. He lands and you see that a couple of the rings are glowing now.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Wow. Glad I'm not those rings!" Laughing, Shannon claps, her eyes twinkling. Okay, maybe it was training and that was serious business, but there's no reason not to have a little bit of fun with it, was there? "Who knows, maybe I'll be that good one day."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie smiles and says "Well a little hint from me for seriousness, if you have done a course 5 times with no issues, then you need to go to a harder version.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon laughs and nods, eyeing the course again. Yeah, right. There was no way she was going to try those rings, not at her current skill level--or lack thereof! Turning a little red, she hugs him, folding her arms and wings around him for just a moment. "Thank you."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will hug her and lightly pat her wings and says "With the rings watch the tops of your wings as well. Don't want to hurt yourself in that area so need to be careful with them.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon lets go, nodding as she listens. "Something to watch out for." She crosses her arms and sighs softly, looking up at the rings, very quiet for a long minute. When she speaks again, her voice is soft, her tone serious. "I kind of figured going into combat would be a pretty stupid idea. But there's got to be -something- us students can do when that nut gets here, besides hide."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and says "Do you mean Magneto?" he will ask her to see which nut she means.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods. "Yeah. What are we supposed to do when he gets here? I mean, it's only what, a couple days till that happens?" She stretches her wings out and ruffles them, looking more worried than anything else.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to her, and says "He is not really a nut job, he is actually someone Ah respect, he is trying to protect mutant kind, but the problem is his methods. There are some nut jobs I know, but he is more a concerned man with strong convictions, who takes the wrong path. If some of us here have to fight him we will, but Ah am hoping we can talk to him, but we will see. Well enough for today ready to get back upstairs and grabbed some food.