Issue 1 Downtime

Trev lay sprawled face-down on the floor of the danger room his ear to the soft floor that looked like grass at the moment and his lungs knocked completely out of air.

Owww....

He was wearing a training uniform that he'd modified with a bit of a cape, but after 45 minutes of practice, he was getting damn close to ripping the thing off and giving up on the whole flying thing. Finally regaining the ability to draw in breath, he groaned audibly.

((open!))

"This is... really bringing back memories," Ryan commented from the doorway.

"No pictures, no autographs," Trev groaned, still not moving.

"And that's enough cognative dissonance to break me free," Ryan joked, walking over. "Things not going that well, I take it?" he asked, reaching down to help him up.

"What gave it away," he smirked, grunting as he was helped up.

"Banshee made it look easy. I have no idea how this shit is supposed to work."

"Heh... Well, not going to lie, I have no idea how that ever worked. Of course, I could never get Kevin's power to work like he does, so I might be the wrong person to ask."

"How'd the summer treat you, man?" Trev asked stretching and wincing a bit. While he's lost a bit of weight it was still clear his training uniform was a bit too small.

"It was... all right," Ryan allowed. "Kept busy. Some of it fun, most of it just busy. What about you?"

"Ever seen that show on MTV? Catfish?" Trev smirked.

Ryan winced. "Soooo... how many online dates did you go on?"

"Too many," he sighed.

"Bill is a nice man in his 70s from Northern Ireland with two grandkids and a very colorful vocabulary. Most certainly not a hot redhead amateur model and Magic: the Gathering player."

"...And if that leaves this room, then all the pictures from that last party senior year get posted online."

"Hey, I've got no room to complain. All the times I've tried online dating? Turned out to be either giggling teenagers or an ambush. Well, except for Natalie. We don't talk about Natalie." He shuddered.

"Is Natalie still single?" He joked.

"Sure. Do you have the kidneys to spare?"

"...wait. That's a thing? I thought that was just like an urban legend."

"Yeah, people think Madripoor ninjas are an urban legend, too. Side note, they're much more sexy in theory than in practice."

"I....seriously?" Trev shook his head. "I'll trust the Internet-famous X-man on that one."

"Dunno though. I can't start excluding girls from my 'hot' list just because they could kick my ass. Anyone could do that. Hell, that short blonde girl in your power control class probably could beat the hell out of me."

"Yeah, and she's fucking scary, your point?" Ryan said, smirking. "You don't want to rule girls out for being able to kick your ass, you want to rule them out for being fucking crazy enough to want to kick your ass."

"She's just scary because she wants you," he teased.

"Well, I do kind of have a 'scary chick' history," he admitted.

"I wont argue there. I don't know why it's so hard to find someone not crazy or already taken though, man."

"We don't move fast enough?" Ryan suggested.

"Probably," he agreed. "New school year though, right? There's bound to be someone sane and single amongst the new students, no?"

"How often is 'sanity' a trend here?" Ryan pointed out.

"Alright. Hot and single then."

"Yeah, that's more likely. We've got some girl that thinks she's the daughter of the Lady of the Lake. Maybe she'd like some nice guy to show her how the real world works."

"I'll refrain from taking the easy route and commenting on seeing how well she can wield the euphemistically named Excalibur," he chuckled.

"Seriously though? Is she real? I'm still having the hardest time with this magic shit being actually real."

"Preaching to the choir, man. Why do you think I'm suggesting it to someone who isn't going to enable this 'I'm an ancient celtic princess' crap?"

"But is she? I mean the white chick who dresses like she's going to an S&M show seems to be able to do all kinds of magic. I think several of our teachers can. I feel like I'm at hogwart's sometimes."

"I don't even know, man. All I know for sure is that she's a sword-crazy chick who thinks rules are for other people."

"I'm not sure I want to show her the modern world if she's armed..." he mused with a chuckle, looking back at the cliff face they were standing in the shadow of.

"Any protips for falling more gracefully off a cliff? I obviously don't have wings, but maybe I'd make the whole 'keeping myself aloft with my voice' thing would be easier if I was moving or not moving a certain way."

"Honestly? I'd suggest programming the Danger Room to give you a bottomless drop. Then just make it freeze you if you can't manage it and need a break."

Trev stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hadn't really thought about that before...maybe I've been almost using the ground as a sort of...crutch, you know? Like I'm trying to keep myself up in the air by yelling down at it or something. I know that works on some level--definitely can slow down a fall if I'm doing it right."

"Do we have any sims of Banshee flying? I had to spend so much time watching Archangel sims that I felt like I was dating him when I was fifteen. And that doesn't leave this room either."

"Ohhhhh Warren..." he cackled.

"I've watched some--maybe not enough, or not in the right environment. I haven't actually done it in here--just footage on my computer."

"Gives you an idea, yeah. If the Danger Room recorded him flying, though, it could tell you where he's focusing, I guess? I felt like an idiot after it showed me how my air flow was going compared to... bah. Bad awkward teenage memories."