"Here it is," Devon gestured as they came to the first level of the sub-basement. "Ghost said the X-Men have things like this, though obviously taken care of and up to date. I worked with Lisa to make sure all the training stuff in that room," he pointed to one set of doors, "are deactivated. We can train in there."

He sighed, "I knew something was going on here, but a secret criminal organization operating out of a shelter? That's crazy. The police must've thought I was some crime lord or something." He shook his head. "So now I'm trying to ensure they know that's not true. No Order anymore that I can tell and not operating out of here as far as I can tell. Lisa seems all for the normal Sanctuary activity but she's not exactly forthcoming with details. It's more I have to know the right questions to ask I guess."

Devon smiled at Juliette, "I appreciate you wanting to chat and all about this. Not all the volunteers are mutants, let alone easy to talk to but I aim to make certain ones all aware of this space. For now I'm keeping control and access to it tied to Lisa and I only though. That seems safer, right?"

At the training room's doors he put a hand to a side panel and the doors slid open. It was clean, but still run down. The broken tether and guns parts had been removed too. Maya could do some damage when she wanted to and Tempest hadn't exactly been sure how to approach her being stuck. For now he was happy to have an open area to practice. If they wanted to activate specific things, they would do that. They didn't automated attacks.

Juliette let out a quiet sound of recognition as she listened to Devon. She hadn't ever heard about the Sanctuary being a 'secret criminal organization', as he had put it, but then again, she realized that there was a lot of common New York knowledge that she seemed to lack, and she didn't typically run in circles that would know about secret criminal organizations. At least, not until recently.

"No problem," she shrugged at him. "It's nice to talk about these sorts of things without being scared or worried about who might be listening." The area was interesting, but there wasn't a lot to look at. She stood against the wall and focused on her conversation instead.

"So what exactly are we going to do here?" Juliette asked him curiously, waving her hand quickly over the room. "Nothing too illegal, I hope."

"Nothing illegal!" Devon shouted with a quick laugh afterward. "Man, fighting down the stigma of this place is hard enough. Don't say that!" He laughed. "You do never know who might be listening. I can't even guess at some mutant powers . It does sound like the Order was bad news, created trouble for the X-Men and others around here."

He sighed as his voice quieted and he stepped further in, "But I figured we could toss some power around. I could try charging you up if you want. No need to ignore the room just because it was once used to train... whatever they thought of themselves. Sanctuary's doing well and since we're here often enough, we'll use it. And I," he grinned, "for one am happy to have someone along with me."

"Have anything you're trying to do that you think might take a lot of power? Or maybe there's some clever combination we might accomplish through lightning bouncing around your light manipulation? If you want, you could fly while I struggle to do so and likely blow myself into a wall," Devon laughed again.

Juliette grinned and stuck her hands in the air as a show of surrender. "Sorry, I mean absolutely nothing illegal going on here. Nope," she made a show of talking extra loudly and looking around as if the room had been bugged.

"That works," she nodded thoughtfully. "I could use a charge, actually." It had been a while since she had absorbed anything, and she had never actually tried absorbing lightning. It would be interesting to try out. Especially in a controlled environment.

Juliette paused for a minute to think. "How much experience do you have with lightning? Maybe you could try to aim and direct it at me, and then we could try a couple of other things that require a bit more energy?"

Devon grinned and laughed at Juliette's antics. It was nice to have a friend that was simply aware of things and that he could be at ease with. It was good to know she was a volunteer here he could trust; he was certain she wasn't secretly Order.

"I've spent far too much time shouting at the sky, throwing lightning around," Devon sighed. "So quite a bit. I'm not sure I should actually hit it with you though. It's electrostatic... more like electricity. The light is from charged plasma and the sound from the air splitting." He grinned and winked, "I've focused a bit on earth science since I learned of my abilities."

"How about I aim above you for a start?" he asked as the entirety of his eyes darkened to coal black. The air began to tingle as the humidity level rose. "It'll be harder in here but possible. Good for me to practice."

He lifted a hand in front of his chest and inhaled deeply, watching the air particles gather and then as his fingers began to tremble he thrust his hand out. White hot forked tongues of electricity danced over his fingers and then projected out in a crooked arc. It sparked and danced through the air not altogether in a perfect line but under Tempest's control it would not hit her, instead going over her head as he'd noted.

A clap of low bass thunder echoes back from Tempest, echoing off the walls.

"Earth science, huh?" Juliette said thoughtfully. It had never been her forte, but it was definitely an interesting area. A lot of what Devon had just said went right over her head, but it seemed like he understood it, at least. "Is that what you're in school for?"

He was going to aim above her. Okay, she could work with that. His eyes suddenly turned entirely black, including his sclera. It was sort of creepy, but she felt as though she knew him well enough for it not to be too off-putting.

Devon raised his hands as the air grew more humid. Electricity jumped from his fingertips before he projected it in an imperfect arc. It was really amazing to see, and she would have focused on it more if she hadn't been so focused on trying to catch it.

She stood on her tip toes and put her hand in the middle of the stream of electricity. It stopped just short of her fingers and gathered into a ball in her hand, shifting from bright white-blue to yellow-gold. The stuff that she hadn't caught bounced off the walls before circling back and joining the rest in the little ball she held.

"That was cool," she grinned at Tempest before letting the ball of light disappear into her. 

Tempest grinned, "Wow, very cool. You gathered that all up even though it's just more than light. You could be a danger to the power grid." He chuckled. "Good thing nothing illegal is going on here," he winked. "But seriously, that was amazing."

"And yes, earth science. It's pretty much a minor. I could work a little harder for the full degree, though it's Environmental Studies. No, I'm in school for Psychology. Hence, the enrichment programs, group seminars, etc. I'm certified for all that, have been a little over a year. I figured I could put it to good use here."

He inhaled, studying her with the darkness of his eyes. She'd absorbed the ball of light she'd gathered. It was simply, gone. "More then?" he asked, tilting his head to the side like a confused beagle.

The air became thick with potent potential. It was humid ; it was charged. Devon saw it all and with a few moment's concentration, he raised both hands as they crackled with electrical energy. "To either side this time so you can pull back when you want!" he declared, firing them off to either side of her.

They arced and snaked across the room, thunder booming again around Tempest. There were white-hot and forked like an electrical snake, but true to his aim neither would directly hit Firefly.

Juliette grinned back at him, glad he shared her sense of humour. "It's only because it's visible light. Other than that, my mutation isn't very picky. I can't absorb anything that doesn't give off a great deal of light or electricity in walls. And anything that the light comes with, like heat or otherwise, I think is just converted like the light." She shrugged. She really didn't know much of the science behind her mutation like Devon obviously did.

"Psychology?" Juliette nodded, "that should come in handy around here. How far are you into your degree?"

Devon was going to shoot off more. Really, she didn't need more, but she could take some. Just not too much. Hopefully he would stop at a reasonable point. She didn't want to have to deal with being overcharged. It wasn't a wonderful feeling, but thankfully with electricity rates, it wasn't one that she had to experience very often.

She stuck her hands out either side and caught the two streams of energy, doing the same thing she had before. She gathered the two new balls of light together and merged them into one in her hands, grinned at Devon, and then made them disappear again. "We could pass for magicians," she mused with a smirk, ignoring the fact that her skin had taken on a yellow-gold glow.

Devon nodded slowly at Juliette's explanation of her ability. While it didn't sound like she had the scientific understanding of it like he had of his, Devon recognized a more pragmatic approach. Considering he had to worry about many conflicting aspects of the weather like the atmosphere, various fronts, humidity, it only seemed to make sense to study it. Yet he did enjoy the weaving of the elements he could see. Watching Juliette was like watching some artist weave light.

He would have answered her immediately but he focused on firing off the dual lightning bolts. She caught them with ease and gathered the energy together. Maybe one day they'd try for a direct hit but he definitely didn't want to hurt her.

"Magicians totally? The way we must look! With your power it must be more that there is light than what the other energy is. Light is your medium, I guess," Devon grinned, "Which fits my artist thought of you. And yep, Psychology. I'll be done this winter. I've been pushing these summer classes to get it done as soon as possible."

"And...while I can make plenty of brilliant jokes, you do realize you're glowing right?"

"We could start a two-man show," Juliette said with a grin, continuing along with the idea. She was kidding, but it was still fun to joke about it. "Call it Tempest and Firefly's unfathomable light show!" Of course, if they did that, then every mutant in the city would come up with something similar, and it wouldn't be a novelty, but who needed reality at that moment?

"Good for you," she grinned at the idea of finishing earlier than the rest of his class. She hadn't had the motivation or the money to be able to take classes during the working months, but she commended him for being able to do so. "Do you have any idea what you're going to do after you're finished?"

>>"And...while I can make plenty of brilliant jokes, you do realize you're glowing right?"

"Oh, that," Juliette blushed slightly and looked down at her skin that she had been happily ignoring. "That happens sometimes when I absorb a lot of energy. Much more and I'll have to shoot some off or switch forms."

"Call it Tempest and Firefly's unfathomable light show!"

Devon chuckled as he wiggled his fingers and made oooing sounds. He shook his head out of embarrassment as the laughter subsided. Certainly some mutants had to put their abilities to such use. Entertainment and the arts had their value after all.

"Do you have any idea what you're going to do after you're finished?"

The future had many possibilities and he'd considered many of them. Go for his masters? Work with kids? Get into a big corporate job? Work in research with any of them or maybe drug testing? Someone with experience could really help there... But no, Sanctuary was making it clear where his future rested.

He paused a moment as she explained her glow. "Ah, well I'll stop then for the moment. I guess I understand the Firefly nickname then," he nodded slowly. "Makes even more sense now. I haven't seen you switch forms though. How's that feel?" Then he shrugged a shoulder, "As for after school, I want to do what I'm doing here, but on a bigger scale. I've got an idea for a better ways to approach treatment, but I like being with people, the public speaking aspect too. Okay, I guess I have a few ideas," he chuckled.

"But you, the form switching? Can I see?"

"Oh," she paused and turned slightly red. Firefly was sort of an unspoken nickname that she had given her powers, but never really told anyone about. It had sort of slipped out when she was talking, but it seemed to work. Since it was out in the open, it seemed less embarrassing than she had assumed it would. "Yeah, I guess it does fit. Tempest fits you just as well, though."

Juliette ignored his comment about switching forms for a moment while he talked about what he wanted to do with his degree. It was always awesome to hear from people who had plans about things, especially things that were as important as the Sanctuary. "Do you think you would move on from here, then, or expand this place a bit?" She asked him curiously.

Back to the form switching. She concentrated for a moment as she thought of a way to describe how it felt. As she thought, she switched forms back to her energy form.

"I'm not really sure. It feels... Different, for sure, but not a bad different. It feels natural." There really was no good way to describe it.

"Thanks," Tempest smiled. "One part storm, another part lonely sorcerer. It's a good book if you've never read it. I'm a big Shakespeare fan. I didn't think Ariel fit, considering no one would compare me to an air spirit. They'd think I have some sort of mermaid power." He laughed good naturedly. "Not that it'd be terrible to be able to transform like that."

"We're always transforming as people, right?" he waxed philosophic. "Even as I grow and really get into my career, I wouldn't give up on this place. After all I've learned about its history and how deeply its needed... Even if all the mutants move to Utopia, others will continue to be born here in the states. There will still be people without powers who need a home or want to go somewhere with their friends who are and just feel safe. I want to help those here and keep them safe. I'm sure we won't be the last to feel that way. The Order remnants will hopefully respect that."

"If not, we'll work it out one way or the other," he grinned and shrugged a shoulder. His tone was calm, even friendly but there was nothing in his eyes but darkness. Right now, the only light was before him.

"Your power feeling natural is what I want for the people here. Heck, how many people never feel they are right or normal? Powers just make that even more difficult. You must see crazy things, I do, but I've lived that too." Devon shrugged, "Not that you haven't, but we don't need to dig into memory lane if you want."

Devon chuckled, blushing slightly and scratched the back of his head. "I need to learn to stop talking. What we were talking about again? Oh right, your transforming ability. Did you learn of it on your own?"

"What, you can't transform into a merman?" Juliette made a fake gasp and put her hand in front of her mouth. "This is news, Devon. I really think you should have explained that first. I'm incredibly disappointed."

"But seriously, you seem to have a good grip on things," she continued once he was finished talking. She didn't really know what else to say on the topic. Everything that Tempest had said had been incredibly philosophical, and she felt a little out of her area. She did note a certain shift in his mood. His tone was normal, but his expression was dark. It was odd, how he managed to do that so quickly.

"Yeah, on my own," Juliette nodded. "Sort of by accident, actually. I was playing around with how much energy I could absorb, and then my skin started to glow. I just sort of went with it, and here I am now. That's pretty much how it happened for most of my abilities, and I sure for most people it's a similar tale."

"What about you?"

Devon laughed at Juliette's joke. He frowned as if a naughty child having lie to a parent. A merman power certainly did sound different, if not very useful. Surely he'd spend a lot of time in the water then.

He shrugged it like his concern for the Order off one shoulder. Maybe he could talk to them, maybe he could. Geist seemed reasonable enough when she wasn't threatening him with a knife anyway. He had to imagine she was worried about whatever friends she'd worked with. Let them keep it out of Sanctuary as it were. Still, he knew she'd visit again.

Meanwhile he listened to Juliette's explanation of how she learned of her capabilities. He nodded as she spoke and smiled at the skin glowing. He nodded again; he did think that's how it went for most.

"I think my power started rather early on actually, though in a small way," Devon smiled faintly before frowning. "But I had lots of issue growing up that got worse. It sort of ran away from me until I got a hold on it. Weather is a part of nature and nature has its many sides after all." He nodded, the smile slowly returning. "I've spent years working on it, before really investing in the other aspects of my life again slowly. I haven't stopped of course, but I don't train into things like I used to."

Devon grinned, "Except flight. I work at that pretty often. I can manage various winds pretty well, especially flinging and catching, but that precise control to fly easily I'm still working on. I have to get more comfortable with prolonged efforts. In a way I think it's trusting myself to let something keep going to support me. What's flight like for you?"