Designing a tryout program for a mutant whose sole power was perfect memory and analytic echoes in her mind, trying to put them to actual use on the field? Tough, and near impossible. Definitely a programming challenge at best.

Designing a tryout program for your girlfriend?
Totally doomed.

Gawain sighed and ran both hands through his hair as he sat back in the God Room's comfortable chair. Evelyn was waiting for the doors to open and the test to start. He did not want to make her wait too long. But he also wanted to triple check one last time that everything was in place. The two of them and the DR had a history.

"All right" he said finally, speaking into a mic that projected his voice outside the door "Ready when you are. Here are the basic rules: This program will test how much control you have over your echoes. It doesn't have a definite ending, it pretty much goes level by level until you decide to quit. This will let us know what you need to work on and what you can handle. You will probably take this test again a few times, to see how much farther you go after training. For now, all you need to know is it will throw more and more information at you as you go along. Good luck, Eve."

At the push of a button, the door slid open. Beyond it there was only silence and darkness.

As Evelyn stood waiting outside the Danger Room door, there was plenty of time to think. Think, and panic, then calm down, and panic again... The bad thing about thinking faster than a normal person was there was even more time to process information and stress yourself out over things, especially tests. Normal quizzes, she didn't really mind. Memorizing answers to questions and reciting stuff was no big deal. But responding to situation challenges was something entirely different. No amount of thinking beforehand would give her the answers of what she needed to survive. She couldn't find a solution to a problem until she knew what that problem was.

She was also getting fairly acquainted with what the doors of the Danger Room looked like. Maybe she would sketch it later. Metal texture was always a challenge to work with, and thinking through the artwork helped distract her from the task at hand. But then Mirror was speaking and she was forced to listen to the instructions.

Panic resumed, but she squared her shoulders, took a deep breathe and stepped into the darkness.

Holycraptherewenttheechoes.... As the door slid shut, there was little to get feedback from beyond her footsteps. She kicked the ground slightly, listening for vibrations or echoes off any surrounding objects. The Danger Room was funny in the way it altered the senses and was never the same. She couldn't walk by memory here. Any second, something would happen.

Maybe taking up a detective gig was a better idea....

Gawain sighed as the DR doors slid closed. Evelyn was enveloped in darkness, but he could see her on one of the monitors clear as day, surrounded by the greenish hue of night vision.
She stood blindly, tilting her head, trying to assess what was going to happen next. Gawain hit a few buttons, and added some sensory input to the mix.

First came the smells. A mix of them, one by one, from all directions. The smell of champagne. Chocolate-covered strawberries. Rich food in small portions, and exotic flowers in great quantities. The smell of perfume worth more than gold, and some even containing gold. The smell of cologne, silk, left-over cigar smoke, and the breeze of salt air. It was a mix based on reality, but detached from, sound, vision, and touch, it seemed like a surreal mix of things. Gawain sat back and allowed Evelyn some time to catch the echoes up on what was going to follow next.


((Mati: feel free to godmod parts of the training, you know what would freak out the echoes more))

At first, there was nothing to go off of. The emptiness was surprisingly frightening, more than many of the monsters she faced would have been. Silence and darkness meant there were little to no echoes, and she could only process the thundering of her own heart and her nerves. Then something happened. The smells started registering, first a relief, then a distraction. There was no real reason behind any of them. She turned, trying to pinpoint something to defend herself against, something to attack. But the echoes were bewildered by the mixed signals.

[Champagne. Chocolate covered strawberries. Restaurant? Silk, cologne, salt air. Sea? Restaurant by the sea? Noise: absent. Lack of clatter rejects idea of occupied area.] She tried to remind the echoes they were in a simulation, but to them, this was real, and it was up to her to do the directing. She waited for more clues, more action...

Then the floor started rumbling.

It felt like a train was passing by. It made her skin tingle and 'wind' pressed against her side. Meanwhile, she heard what sounded like shuffling in the darkness, almost similar to noises her sewer monster acquaintance made. Slowly turning, facing the noises, she started blocking out distractions one by one. The smells weren't useful here, and the feelings could be ignored. Something about the sounds seemed more dangerous, and she tried to focus on them. Deprived of sight, however, put her at a disadvantage. She wished she had a weapon.

Clatter clatter clatter. Hiiiiissss.

[Food smells consistent.] Why was that important? Why did the echoes refuse to ignore that? There was something moving in the darkness. Shouldn't that be more important? She wondered how this must look to the outside observer. She was frozen in place, trying to pick a direction to move....

She stepped forward. The floor lurched and nearly sent her sideways. Her training enabled her to catch her balance and sidestep, listening to the rattles of movements from underneath. The floor was shifting, and her echoes refocused, panicking and trying to decide where it was shifting.

Darkness. She couldn't fight what she couldn't see....

Hissssss.

She thought she saw a flicker up ahead, a light. She stepped hesitantly sideways, and the floor stayed put. Another step forward, and the floor rattled again. She scrambled to recall the instructions Gawain had given. This was supposed to test her control over the echoes. The deprivation of site was making them cling to her other senses, each new bit of data overwhelming the last. She had to look at it all as a whole. Smells, sounds, movements. She had to focus and identify what was coming from where.

The smells were to the right, the hissing was forward. She side stepped more and the ground didn't protest. While the light was up ahead, so were the clues that something dangerous was up ahead. She went towards the signs of safety.

She was either adapting, or really screwing this all up now.

((hopefully that'll work. Wasn't sure where you were going with the challenge so winged it!))

Gawain folded his arms on the control panel and kept his eyes on the screens. There was not much for him to do at this point - the program ran itself automatically, mostly as a failsafe so he could not intervene out of worry if Evelyn got in trouble. He made sure she would not get seriously hurt; but this was an official X-men tryout and he needed to be able to prove later that it had been done properly without bias. Just another one of the things one has to be aware of when throwing her girlfriend to the monsters...

The program picked up some pace and added sounds, movement, and light to the mix. At the same time, the number and intensity of the mix of smells would get stronger, and the source of the sound was moving faster as well. The light grew brighter, but instead of revealing a landscape it fractured into a kaleidoscope of color and shape, as if someone was shining a bright light through a stained glass window.

As trippy as the whole thing looked, there was actually a source of threat implemented in the game. There was also help. Hidden within the sound of hissing and rumbling there was a faint bust distinct other sound: the clink of metal on metal.

Come on Eve, you can do this.

Rather than making more sense, the simulation grew more confusing. Her senses were trying to take in what was happening, but none of it added together. It was a problem with too many variables and no question immediately coming to light. The sound was moving, quickly circling while the room itself began to change.

As light returned, relief immediately vanished as the kaleidoscope effect made her brain dizzy and nauseous. The light was split into pieces, just like the movements and smells she was encountering. The only way to face this was to treat it like the real world. Something was causing this confusion of the senses. She needed to decide what was masked in all these distractions.

Focus...you can do this... She told herself through the echoes clamor, and picked out what was hidden. The hissing was too loud, but distantly, she thought she heard metal on metal. It was different, not quite as notable, almost lost as the echoes struggled with the pattern of lights going across the room. She started forward, ignoring the movement around her and the smells. She tried to focus on what didn't immediately seem important. At the same time, she didn't shut up the echoes entirely. She let them work, keeping an eye out, but tried to redirect them at the same time to what she felt was important.

Gawain watched as Evelyn moved cautiously, no doubt filtering relevant information through the echoes. He saw the slight tilt of her head at the metallic sound. That was a good start, provided the growing amount of sensory input and the conflicting information it was conveying.

As she neared the pace the metallic sound came from, the hissing circled around and grew louder. The impression was clear even from the God Room: there was something solid, metallic and possibly helpful right ahead... and right behind something definitely not helpful, rapidly approaching.

It was a classic decision. Turn and run, sacrificing the only tangible weapon, or go for the weapon and... take a risk.

As Evelyn moved forward, she struggled to identify what the sound had been up ahead. It seemed familiar, and she felt drawn to it but couldn't quite decide what it was. In her head, there was too much information clamoring. [Fresh baked bread. Purple lights. Ground moving. Chocolates. Disco with bread?] Not helpful! She would have sighed, but then they spoke up more intently as the noise behind her grew louder.

[Hissing approaching. Danger. Recommended course of action run!]

...Sai...

The warning and the identity of the sound clicked at the same time, and Evelyn staggered at the mental collision. Instinct tore her two directions, but training helped push her forward, running ahead and reaching where she had heard the weapons. She needed to fight whatever was here. Running would take her straight into the disorienting room with nothing to defend herself with. As her hand touched the metal handle, the hiss turned into a louder snarling sound, and she scrambled out of the way as the air swished with an attack that barely missed her arm.

Back pedaling, she shifted the sai into a battle ready position in her hands, pulling on the memories of training she had. She spent time with a variety of teachers: Mirror, Kyle, Locke. Each one taught her something new she needed to use now. She tuned out the smells and lights around her, focusing on the sounds of the creature circling her. Something moved forward, snapping, and she turned the sai, driving the thick handle at the passing creature. The lights made it impossible to make out the shape, but the snarl was somewhat reptilian, and mostly angry.

Backing up a few steps, her adrenaline was racing, but she tried to stay focused. She needed to pass this. She wanted to prove to herself and to Gawain that she could stand on her own feet.

She got to the sai and Gawain smiled to himself. The scenario was far from over, but she had made the first of many important steps towards proving that she was in the X-men training for the long haul. She shifted her grip on the sai and took up a battle stance, and the young knight realized, tilting his head curiously, that he had not seen her train with her weapon of choice yet. Interesting. He wondered who taught her all that.

The hissing and rumbling circled around, more cautious now that it had been hit. It was, however, not the only threat in the room.

The program was designed to confuse the senses, more than to replicate a real combat scenario. With that in mind, Gawain scheduled it in a way that it was going to keep adding opponents to the mix. The hissing only marked the first one - audible, but otherwise invisible. The next one was not quite that obvious.

The smell of raw animal fur mingled with the background of eclectic scents and odors, and moved in a concentrated cloud, opposite from the source of the hissing. The otherwise indetectable creature stalked, waiting for the first enemy to engage in a second attack, for Eve to be distracted.

Gawain watched curiously. It was not really about winning. It was about how far she could go.

Trying to fight with the disorienting input from the echoes was like trying to do a dance with a hangover. Evelyn didn't know how she was managing, but somehow she didn't get eaten alive by the first monster. The sai in her hand made the echoes focus more though, and somehow, her body responded to the battle instincts she was developing.

Even though this was a simulation, her body didn't know that. She felt pain, she remembered it, and getting hit by something that would hurt and reliving that agony made her try that much harder to avoid the sensations again. As teeth snapped at her, and the echoes picked up on change in smells and danger warnings rose. Something else was appearing. She saw a cloud in the flicker of lights and backed away slightly.

Please....don't be lightning... She inwardly cringed. The last thing she needed was to reboot her brain today. A wayward flick of a tail hit her across the leg with a stinging strike and she focused back on the closest adversary. The echoes split their attention, trying to keep her alert to the danger from both sides. Now the smells were easier to tune out at least. There was something tangible to fight.

Jaws appeared close to her hand and a stab of the sai into the mouth caused a cry of pain from the creature. She jerked her weapon back before it could retaliate and hissing was answered by another animal noise growing closer.

Evelyn was holding up, but Gawain could see the hesitation in her movements. She still managed to stab Monster No. 1, which was a good start. Monster No. 2, the one mostly present in smell, held back, circling again.
She was even more hesitant about the cloud, barely visible but very much stinking. Gawain remembered the date scenario gone wrong in that very room, and cringed too. He didn't program lightning in the tryout; it was not entirely fair, but with Evelyn's specific set of powers, it was potentially very dangerous. Tryouts had their limits.
Monster No. 1 retreated for the time being.

As the monsters stayed out of reach, Evelyn took a moment to breathe. As much as the smelly second monster had made her nervous, it lacked the distinct lightning sounds to keep her concern. This was a tryout. Mirror wouldn't let the tryout use electricity against her. Right? Right. That didn't make fighting it much easier though.

She took a swing at it, more out of warning than anything else, and the monster growled low, cloudlike form stretching and condensing like it was readying to attack. Evelyn's eyes were struggling to stay focused now though. The light show was giving her a headache, and the echoes were becoming less decisive about what they wanted to focus on. [Hissing monster, circling around. Smelly cloud circling, gradually moving closer. Lights with no tangible source. Chocolate smell still evident.]

She swung again, this time her weapon passing through the cloudlike beast. Was the cloud part of it? Was it a mask? Questions rushed to the surface as she regained her footing and stepped backwards. The snarling continued, and something lashed out, hitting her on the side and buffeting her back. Ok, so it could be solid. She just wasn't sure how to--

[Incoming attack.] This time, she used her powers for the time to think she needed. The figure lashed out, and she focused on the solidifying form. With a swing she stabbed downwards, feeling the sai strike something more solid. The animal screeched and yanked backwards, sai momentarily jerked with it, then clattering a few feet away. In the chaos, the second animal had lurked closer, and the warning echoes got her to turn only for a moment when the tail knocked her flat on her back.

Training, training! She fell, she rolled, got her feet under her, and stabbed out with the remaining sai. She struck the creature and the cry and writhing of pain stood out amongst the other senses. She got to her feet, staggering slightly as she freed her sai, and focused on her adversary. She was down a weapon, and now the monster was in front of it. She felt like this could go downhill fairly quickly.

Gawain bit his lips as one of the sai clattered on the floor. Evelyn had done surprisingly well so far, despite the conflicting flow of information, but it was not quite enough yet for her to pass the tryout. It was a matter of stamina, not skill. She just needed to keep going.

She got another stab in as she scrambled to her feet, and Gawain felt himself smiling. She was not giving up yet. Touching a few buttons on the control panel, Gawain gave access to the program to go to the next level. Monster No. 2 lunged at Evelyn... but never hit her.

Walls grew out of the floor and surrounded the trainee who was now only visible to Gawain's screens. She was in a maze, plain and simple. A maze she would have to navigate while trying not to run into any of the other monsters lurking around the corners...

Usually, having walls appear out of the floor in front of you was a bad sign. Evelyn, thankfully, was not claustrophobic, or the tower forms could have given an immediate boxed in sensation. But with the monster lunging she had been preparing for, and the disorienting smoke creatures somewhere lurking off to the side, walls meant temporary safety. Unfortunately, it meant there was now no way to reach her second sai. Turning slowly, she assessed the situation. The echoes could still hear the snarls and sounds of her assailants, but they were muffled by the thick forms. The lights seemed less distracting now that there was something solid blocking some of the light. Instead of wandering in the bright reflections, she was surrounded by new shadows.

Smells lingered, shifted, and Evelyn tried to tune in on what was happening. Three walls surrounded her, and now there was only one opening. A few careful steps forward revealed a split in the path, and she paused, carefully checking around the corner. To either direction, the path was currently empty.

But only one direction was towards her missing weapon.

Turning left, Evelyn carefully continued forward, listening to the sounds moving on the other side of the walls. At one point, she could have sword the hissing creature passed right next to her, scratching at the barrier bitterly. She continued though, taking one turn into a dead end, then another left. In her head, she tracked her footsteps, formulating the blueprint of the maze. Her back straightened, her mind cleared, and her focus grew more mathmatical. She could do tactical challenges like this. Finding her way shouldn't be a problem.

But pausing a few walls from where she remembered the sai falling, the scent of the first monster grew stronger. Somehow, she had a feeling she couldn't just sneak her way through this.

The growl echoed through the wall as Evelyn shifted into a defensive position, setting aside her mental map as she slowly crept around the corner. The smoke-like creature was there, but it was impossible to tell whether it was facing her or not. It made a rumbling noise, moving forward in an aggressive manner, and Evelyn responded quickly, feigning left then summersaulting under it, slipping slightly as she snatched the second sai and stumbled out of it's attack range. A--arm, paw, limb?--lashed out, and she brought the weapons together in a protective barrier, the blow ringing against the metal and sending vibrations up her arm. With training, she would learn to turn that block into an attack, but for now she just turned it into a done with you, running away now retreat.

Two more rights, a left, and then she found her second dead end. It would be a bad place to be stuck if the monsters caught up...

Gawain let out a low whistle as Evelyn dodged the monster and got the second sai back. That was pretty well executed, especially a not-yet-trainee. Maybe Evelyn was right, and she could hold her own in a fight. He had never seen her in one where he was not allowed to intervene. Now he was curious what other surprises she had up her sleeve...

The dead end threw her off. Gawain looked at the screen that was running the schedule for the program. There should be another monster coming up... or a few of them. A lot of them. A cloud of them. Flying.

Thinking about it now, maybe that was not the fairest idea of them all.