It was a date. That was also a training session. Gawain was not sure which one made him more nervous.
When did his dating life start including combat simulations in the Danger Room?
...
Oh, right. The X-men.

The young knight stood in front of the DR room, waiting for Evelyn to show. His DR privileged had been restored after the riots, on the condition that he was not allowed to use the X-men settings with civilians in the room.
(And the unsaid condition that he shall not drag screaming girls into alien invasions out of spite)

He had promised Eve that he was going to teach her self defense. Eventually he would have to let Sam handle the advanced training... but for now, he selfishly enjoyed the idea of spending some time with her.

It was self-defense training, but trying to get ready for it felt like she was going to war. Her echoes were not in the most helpful mood as she fished through her clothing and tried to find something decent to wear. Most of her outfits were skirts, or nice blouses, she wasn't really prepared for anything too active. It didn't make matters easier that she was arguing with the Echoes about her clothing choices. They seemed to think they knew best in this situation.

Long sleeve shirt. [Too restrictive of movement.] Tank top. [No protection for skin.] T-shirt. [Too plain for a date. A date... she was fairly certain the last echo was just her own thoughts. She threw the shirt on the bed and finally grabbed a pale silver shirt with elbow length sleeves, a pair of black pants and put on her tennis shoes. As an after thought, she quickly braided her long white hair and tied it with a black bow. The echoes thought the bow was overkill. She stuck her tongue out at the reflection and head for the danger room anyway.

About halfway there she started feeling nervous. She was excited to hang out with Mirror but nervous for the session. She desperately did not want to make a fool of herself, and more than anything, wanted to feel like the could handle this. She could do this. Part of that wish was about self defense. Part of it was about dating. She wasn't sure which she felt more concerned she'd screw up.

Finally she saw Gawain and gave a slight smile, shifting nervously from foot to foot. "Sorry, had trouble finding something to change into that wasn't a skirt..." And that the echoes would approve of... She mentally added.

Gawain smiled as Eve showed up, and pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against for the coolness factor.

>>"Sorry, had trouble finding something to change into that wasn't a skirt..."

"You look great" he chuckled, kissing her on the cheek "Ready or not, here we go."

He punched his code in and the door hissed open, giving him the feeling of satisfaction that he was not restricted anymore.

"At least this time I'm not carrying you in on my shoulder." he chuckled as the door hissed closed behind them.

"Computer, initiate instructor program: Basic self-defense. Authorization code: MIR..."

X-MAN PRESENCE CONFIRMED, CODENAME: MIRROR. STUDENT ID DETECTED: EVELYN SUMMERS. INITIATING PRE-SET PROGRAM SEQUENCE: ULTIMATE DATE.

Gawain's jaw dropped to the ground.

"What the..."

Evelyn cheeks turned pink, tingling with the kiss, but she smiled happily and at least the echoes didn't break this time. It always felt odd not having her hair down though, and she didn't have anything to hide behind. But maybe that was good. It forced her to look at Gawain and not the carpet. She was pretty sure the echoes couldn't tell her anything new about the fibers at this point.

The door opened, and she smirked at Gawain, and rolled her eyes a little. "Probably for the better. I look more like I'm ready for self-defense when I can at least walk through the door by myself." She laughed. She turned slowly on the spot as Mirror tried to get the Danger Room to start, not sure what would happen.

The words that came out of the speakers though were certainly no where near what she expected. She shot Gawain a glance, the echoes quickly confirming this wasn't his idea. Then the room melted and she whistled slightly, the walls stretching and melted until they were covered with books as far as the eye could see. Her expression melted from confused, to amused, to bewildered as the bookshelves stopped, like giant trees stretching in every direction. The floor of the danger room was grassy, and it looked like a clearing in a forest. She reached out and touched a book. The spine felt like bark.

She shut her eyes for a moment and listened. "It's....quiet..." She whispered, and opened her eyes, turning around. "I've never heard anything so quiet..." The echoes were still there, but they weren't picking up on all the city noise and scanning every building like in the city. They skimmed book titles in a lazy way, and she breathed in the smell of books.

It smelt like a library.

Gawain turned around, not entirely sure what just happened. it took him a few seconds to catch up.

"This is... this was not what I... GAH I'm gonna KILL Sam!"

Because who else would leave a setting like that in the Danger Room, name-coded? Gawain blushed deep red, half out of embarrassment and half out of anger.

"Computer: Stop sequence. Switch to..."

COMMAND OVERRIDE AUTHORIZATION CODE: COLD STEEL.

Gawain growled, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry..."

>>"It's....quiet... I've never heard anything so quiet..."

The young knight finally turned around and noticed the...
... library in a forest?

"Um... why are we in a library?"

Evelyn heard Gawain's grumbling. It echoes around the giant bookcases in what some might consider an eerie way. But she didn't mind. He might be irritated, but she was entranced, letting her fingers glide along the covers of books, reading the titles as she passed. There were all her favorites from her childhood; classics, mystery novels, historical fiction, fantasy. She smirked and pulled Sherlock Holmes off the bookshelf, and flipped through the pages. It smelled like an antique shop, and she set it back as Gawain addressed her.

"It's like a forest, and a library... It's beautiful... You know, I don't forget, but I still don't grow tired of re-reading a good book." She smiled slightly at Gawain's flustered reaction, and walked back over, nudging him in the sides. "Enjoy it for a second. I'm sure we can get back to training in a minute, and you can kill Sam later. Just... listen." She shut her eyes again, and the echoes flickered, then went quiet. There were no sounds for them to pick up on, no wind for them to feel, and with her eyes closed, nothing to see. She paused for a moment, processing the sensation. Then she opened her eyes and reached back, catching Gawain's hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Silence. I've never heard silence. For a moment, there were no echoes." She looked around, blue eyes scanning the forest of books, still holding Gawain's hand captive. Maybe it was something silly only she'd enjoy. But that didn't stop the smile form sneaking across her face.

>>"It's like a forest, and a library... It's beautiful... You know, I don't forget, but I still don't grow tired of re-reading a good book. Enjoy it for a second. I'm sure we can get back to training in a minute, and you can kill Sam later. Just... listen."

Evelyn did not seem as upset about being locked into an artificially created date as he had expected. Rather, she seemed enchanted by the library and the forest. Gawain took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, saving thoughts of punching Sam in the nose for later.
Evelyn closed her eyes and basked in the silence of the library. Gawain, on the other hand, was watching her. She looked happy. Not cheerful or shy as usual, but just... happy. The expression on her face made Gawain's heart speed up.

Dammit, Sam knew his stuff.

>>"Silence. I've never heard silence. For a moment, there were no echoes."

Gawain was still looking at her with an awed smile on his face, before he realized that she was talking to him. He cleared his throat.

"Um... I'm glad you like it. We might be stuck in it for a while."

Might as well enjoy.

Evelyn looked around. If they had to be stuck anywhere for awhile, it could be worse. Then again, she wasn't really sure Gawain thought being trapped in a library would be as amusing as she did. Heck, she worked at a museum, and not many people found them terribly exciting to visit.

She lifted her hand to push her hair from her face, then remembered her hair was braided, and there wasn't much to move other than her bangs. She glanced over at Gawain and his expression made her blush a little, feeling a flicker of nervousness again. The phrase the room had used came back to mind, and she felt her heart race momentarily.

Ultimate Date. Sam had locked them in the Danger Room on a date. It was cute, and the room was beautiful. But she couldn't shake the little sense of forboding that came when she noted that dates she went on tended to end in disaster. Normally 'disaster' just meant Jensen threw the guy out of a restaurant or something silly when they irritated him, or her echoes got her to say something far too personal about them and they excused themselves and never returned. She wasn't sure if the field trip into the T.V. counted as a date... if it had, that was the only time one had sort of worked out, minus the awkward apologizing and fidgeting at the end.

"So... what do we do?" She remarked finally. Last time she was here, aliens were attacking New York and Gawain was making her call shots for him out of spite. There were no aliens here, just lots of books. She momentarily wondered if things could still appear like they had when Mirror wanted archery equipment. If the room stuck to the theme, she could very well see something silly like a picnic basket appearing somewhere.

>>"So... what do we do?"

Evelyn was starting to realize the situation they were in, and took her turn of blushing. Gawain chuckled.

"I haven't the faintest idea" he turned around again, running a hand through his hair, his usual sign of frustration.

"Computer: Stop simulation. Authorization code name: Mirror."

AUTHORIZATION OVERRIDE CODE NAME COL...

"... Initiate training sequence self defense..."

SYSTEM OVERRIDE

"... level one..."

Lights in the DR flickered for a few seconds, and the image of the library flickered around them. For a moment everything seemed unrealistically sharp, then fuzzy, then sharp again. A low hum filled the Danger Room that abruptly ended, and then the silence returned.

Still in the library.

"Um..." Gawain blinked, having no idea what just happened. "Eve... are you picking up anything?"

Gawain started trying to argue the Danger Room into working again. In a way, it reminded Evelyn of arguing with her Echoes. No matter what he said, it didn't seem to be listening, at least not at first. Then the lights flickered, and everything started changing. The illusion seemed determined to stay in place, regardless of what Mirror told it. It hummed. It sounded like it was annoyed Gawain tried arguing with it. She momentarily contemplated just going back and picking up a book and trying to wait it out.

The echoes started chattering before Gawain even asked. "Something's moving..." Evelyn said slowly, and turned towards one of the book cases. The novels seemed to rustle, and vines slowly weaved their way around the book cases in an almost snakelike fashion. The silence was filled with the unnatural noises now, and she took a slight step backwards as she glanced from bookshelf to bookshelf. "I think you offended Sam's program... it doesn't seem quite so peaceful now..."

She wondered if she should worry, and the thought barely formulated when the echoes called out, trying to warn her of the vine that snagged her by the ankle. She didn't get a change to move, and her feet were yanked out form under her, yelping in surprise as it started to drag her towards the bookshelf.

Gawain's eyes narrowed as the vines started creeping and he took a step back too, extending an arm to the side. He was half shielding Evelyn, half turning his back to her so they could watch both ways in case something...

>>"Something's moving... I think you offended Sam's program... it doesn't seem quite so peaceful now..."

"What kind of a messed up, kinky date is that idiot run... Eve!"

Evelyn yelped as her feet were yanked out from under her and the vine started dragging her across the lawn. Lovely. Gawain bolted after her.

"Danger Room, weapons!"

Nothing.

"*******it" Gawain cursed, running past Evelyn and stomping down on the vine with his heel. Like something that's alive, it let her go and slithered away. Gawain pulled Eve to her feet by her elbow.

"If this is Sam's idea of a date, I need to ban him from the Internet." he growled, looking around "All right, Eve, focus. We need to know what's coming next."

Evelyn shakily got her feet under her, ignoring as the echoes pointed out the grass stains on her pants and possible treatments for them. She could deal with stains later, if the pants were salvageable by the time they got out. Considering they were unarmed, and the room was attacking them, that was the least of her worries; it was looking like that whole 'disastrous' portion of her dating life was settling itself right back in.

>>"All right, Eve, focus. We need to know what's coming next."

Evelyn nodded quickly, and scanned the room. The books were still rustling, but they seemed to be waiting for something. The vines wrapped themselves tightly around the shelves, and they were left in the middle of the clearing alone. From experience, that was usually a bad sign.

Glancing down at the ground, she hoped for a stick or something they could use. There was only grass. "Someone disturbs a library, who is going to come to the rescue?" She said rhetorically, and at that moment, the was rumbling in the floor of the room, and Evelyn tapped Gawain's shoulder, pointing. "A librarian."

It was shaped out of bark, crawling like a scorpion along the ground, vines moving like tendons to animate the creature. Large sharp pinchers were out front, and it's tail was sharpened into a painful looking stinger. The book's rustled louder, almost sounding like applause now. Evelyn's stomach turned over, and she hissed under her breathe. "While I normally condone the mistreatment of novels, any paperback with lots of really thin pages is going to be the best protection in this instance..." The scorpion snapped it's claws, and she took a step backwards, scanning the beast again. "We need to find something sharp that can cut those vines. Left!" The echoes flickered with the warning and she was already scrambling sideways, tugging Gawain with her as the stinger missed their heads and buried in one of the book shelves. The books hissed angrily, and the creature lashed around in distress for harming the novels.

>>"Someone disturbs a library, who is going to come to the rescue? A librarian."

Please Sam make it a naughty one.

...

"Sh*t."

>>"While I normally condone the mistreatment of novels, any paperback with lots of really thin pages is going to be the best protection in this instance... We need to find something sharp that can cut those vines. Left!"

Gawain ducked and spun out of the way. The scorpion was nothing he had not seen in the Danger room before, but he was usually better armed than this. Not to mention in control. And the forest library glaringly lacked reflective surfaces.

"Well maybe we can find a copy of Twiligh... win win, right?" he grinned, grabbing Eve by the elbow and pulling her behind a bookshelf "Looks like we've got our self defense training after all."

He looked down at Eve.

"Look Eve, the DR is scary but it's never lethal. That doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt you or knock you out. So, here is the plan. We need to make sure that scorpion thing stays... in between these two rows, and distracted. Can you manage that?"

Evelyn tried to focus, but her brain was doing two things at once. On the one hand, the echoes were glued to the scorpion, following it's actions and making sure they didn't get impaled by the stinger or crushed by the pinchers. On the other hand, she was trying to listen to what Gawain was telling her. Keep it between the book cases and distracted... "I...I can do that." She said quickly, giving a firm nod. Her hands shook slightly and she nudged Gawain to the right as one of the vines slithered past.

"I may not be super talented in the fighting area but I can handle distractions." She flashed a quick smile she hoped would be reassuring, then darted around the side of the bookshelf, yanking about five different sized novels off the shelf and holding them tightly. They wriggled slightly in her hands, trying unsuccessfully to rustle their pages for help. Evelyn grabbed the top one and threw it into the head of the beast were it collided with a light THUMP! The scorpion turned, snapping it's talons at her, and she threw another book up in the air above it's head. Clumsily, the creature tried to catch the object, the bark that made it's skin nearly bristling with irritation. It's tail lashed out, but the echoes warned her soon enough she darted backwards, dropping a book just before she did, the scorpion's tail burying in the object. The remaining books in her hands flailed in distress and the scorpion hissed.

She hoped Mirror could think of some form of plan. All she felt like she was doing was making this creature that much angrier. It tried to rescue the books she tossed, but it was obviously not built for actions like catching. While it fumbled with another novel, she grabbed another handful of books, jumping slightly when one snapped at her. She could have sworn it growled, and the last thing she needed was ankle biting books.

Evelyn adapted quickly to the task, and all Gawain could hope for was that the books would not bite her in the process. The whole scene turned into some weird Henry Porter-esque nightmare which was only feeding his growing suspicion that this program was not exactly what Sam had had in mind.

Not that he had a lot of time to think about it.

Once Evelyn started creating a distraction, Gawain started climbing. The bookshelf was sturdy enough to support his weight, even though it was shaking all over with the scorpion's movements. The books, on the other hand, definitely did not like him around.

"Ow!" Gawain yelped as one of them cornered him in the stomach. His grip almost slipped on the shelf but he pulled himself up and kept climbing. Being on the opposite side from Eve and the scorpion he had no view of what was happening, and no idea either, other than the thumps and crashes.

Pulling himself up to the top of the shelf he balanced and looked around. The constructions were swaying with the force of the beast throwing itself around.

Perfect.

Gawain moved with the swaying, shifting his weight on top of the bookshelf. It only took a few swings for the whole thing to start dangerously tilting.

"Eve, get out of the way!"