It wasn't a long trip over to Red Hook. A jump on the blue, then the orange, and a few streets over to the seedier area of Brooklyn. Now there'd certainly been many restoration projects since the days of Lovecraft's tale. Many immigrants had made Brooklyn their home and many mutants had since. There were nice restaurants and even some homes, but it still wasn't a good neighborhood and that was owed partially to the wharf and all the warehouses.

Gone was the maze of hybrid squalor of the day, replaced by the dingy umbral miasma that cloaked the area's activities at night. "It's not great," Tempest had said, "But it's not terrible. I wouldn't be a human walking alone at night but for mutants, I don't worry. I had a small run in with a pick pocket once but I convinced him instead to find a home at Sanctuary instead." He'd chuckled.

Now after maneuvering down one street's barely lit sidewalk and behind a couple old buildings, Tempest led Firefly behind a couple broken walls and into an underground path that led up into the warehouse he'd used. He had to admit he appreciated its open air feel, owed partially to the wide space. There were few interior walls, large sections of floor missing for lifting crates and other boxes, and of course part of the roof had collapsed. The early evening air was fresh though it'd clouded up some in the last ten minutes or so...

"Don't ever say I don't take you to nice places," Devon smirked. "Sad to think there are run aways and homeless living in places like this..." He sighed, "Here we are then. Four floor to practice on. I can catch either of us easily, even both of us if necessary. I can move us from one side of a hole to another too so I think this should be an easy place for us to practice."

"Charge up first, right?" Tempest asked as his eyes blackened to empty pools. As he moved his arms the air smelled stiffly of ozone and then thunder boomed as lightning peeled away from the atmokinetic and roared at Juliette. "Catch!"

Juliette followed Devon silently to an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn, on par with what she had expected from his description. It was rather open and airy, perfect for them to practice with.

"Perfect," she nodded at his explanation of how they were going to proceed. It made sense, with him looking out for the both of them. She didn't really need it in that small of a space, but it still helped to know she had backup if she need it.

>>"Charge up first, right?"

She shook her head quickly. She still had the majority of what he'd hit her with back at the Sanctuary, and she hadn't had the chance to use it or have it leave her naturally. The brief second she had switched forms for had simply not used enough. If she got too much more, it could start to be an issue. "No, I should b-"

She was cut off quickly by a large clap of thunder. It seemed that Devon's question was actually more of a statement. Juliette raised her hands instinctively and caught the energy, despite her better judgement. It was better to deal with it rather than let the lightning hit the building and possibly cause more problems. 

Her mutation did the work of absorbing it for her. What had been a nice balance before was thrown off entirely by the lightning, and she was forced to change forms. Without waiting for Tempest, she flew up to the top of the building and landed, having used enough to safely switch back.

"Sorry!" She called down. "I had to use some of it right away!"

Tempest's eyes widened and he frowned deeply, suddenly. "No, I'm sorry!" he shouted back up. "I didn't realize." He glanced down at the floor, brow furrowing. He'd assumed she needed another boost. He hadn't realized that she might not or possibly be hurt by it. She had to switch forms, maybe to release energy?

"Are you okay?" he asked, then called out louder. "Are you okay?" His eyes were blue again as he gazed up the four floors to the top of the building. "Was that too much? Is there a limit or something? I'm really sorry," he sighed.

Devon shook his head and looked about the darkness of the warehouse. lit only by the glow of the city outside. He was half contemplating stopping now and heading home. If there was one thing he didn't want, it was to hurt Juliette. She was one of the few he could practice with and one of his few friends it would seem. This city didn't make it easy.

Realizing he was still frowning, Devon's lips turned up a practiced smile.

"It's alright, I'm fine," Juliette called back down after Devon. "You didn't know." How on earth would he be able to know that she had a limit if she hadn't told him? There was only so much one could infer about another's powers.

She held her hand out in front of her and examined it idly. It wouldn't do anything, but it helped to focus on something while she was judging her energy stores. She was safe after flying up there. Maybe a little on the higher side of things, but the crisis had been averted. No real harm had been done.

"I can explain if you come up here," she told Devon. It wasn't really the best scenario for talking, while one of them was four floors higher than the other. It would be entirely too difficult to explain anything while shouting at him from that height. And it would probably take too long. 

"Alright! Good!" Devon shouted. "I'm coming up then, no laughing!" He sighed. His attempts at flight were still limited but he was practicing often. He had to find the right combination of maneuvers while also train himself to maintain some sort of subconscious concentration on what he was doing. He felt like a child again learning to walk and talk at the same time.

The light of his eyes was consumed by darkness as the wind picked up. Swirling gusts lifted him as he leapt up and pushed the current around him forward. He flew in a wide arc, having little trouble maintaining an upright posture as he landed on the second floor. It wasn't that much distance, but he was more flinging himself along than flying.

The winds around him gusted again as he jumped and also pushed from below, tossing him with a slight wobble up to the third floor. He landed a little deeper than he had meant to but deeper was always better than short. Tempest tended to aim past his location just in case of such a scenario. The wind also kicked up some debris below. He turned around, gazed up and shouted, "Okay going to try to do these two at once!"

His hair and shirt fluttered as the wind whipped around him. A gust pushed upward as he jumped and tried to steady himself while also thinking of the air currents around him to gather and gust upward at the right angle. His legs kicked out in front of him, having pushed a bit too hard from below. He sailed upward at nearly the right angle, going a bit higher than intended. What with his legs out a little too far in front of him, he didn't quite make connection with the floor.

So instead of sailing on, the gusts suddenly died and Tempest dropped the foot as the winds swirling around him let him land carefully. "As you can see," Tempest said with smirk and a head nod down, "I'm very much still practicing. It's getting there but I think it'll be a few months yet. Precision takes time I guess. But you..." He gestured to her. "Bravo!"

Juliette took a step back as the winds picked up around Devon. Even from her height in the building, the openness allowed her to feel the effects of the increased speeds. She watched as he rose shakily to two floors below her and then landed.

"I think you might have missed," she teased, leaning over the edge to yell down to him. His flying really wasn't as bad as she expected from the way he described it, but it didn't hurt to tease him a little. Teasing built character.

She continued to watch carefully as he attempted the next two floors, ready to intervene if something went wrong. The winds suddenly died down and he took the last foot with a graceful swirl of wind.

"Not bad, Hadden," she grinned at him as he landed. "But you really did just see a quick flight for me. It's harder to go long distances or to go on less energy. With yours, you'll never have to worry about running out."

"Alright," Juliette clapped her hands together, listening to the reverberations the sound made on the concrete walls and floors. "What's the plan?"

Teasing him was she? Oh two could play that game!

>> "Not bad, Hadden," she grinned at him as he landed. "But you really did just see a quick flight for me. It's harder to go long distances or to go on less energy. With yours, you'll never have to worry about running out."

He resisted the that's what she said joke. "Yeah once I get to that point I guess," Devon sighed. He grinned, "I've got the stamina. You'll literally run out of energy I guess? So if we were flying together, I could keep you charged up. What if you were in a storm but the lightning was a few yards away? Ten yards away? Could you learn to catch it or draw it to you?"

"Maybe that's what we work on next? While I practice flying, we could try having me blast lightning at varying levels away from you so you could practice trying to draw them in? We could start close but to help you practice it as a subconscious effort, like how I need to train my flying, we can have some shots farther away while you fly," Devon nodded slowly. "And don't worry I can keep firing some right at you so you stay charged enough to fly. Seems like a good goal."

Devon, despite not having an energy absorbing power, beamed. He enjoyed this, enjoyed helping people better themselves. The aspect of mutantcy and powers made it all the more enjoyable of course, but it got to the route of his interests and career. He liked helping people be more than what they thought they were. They could be more.

"I could also try increasing prevailing weather conditions so you could better your flying skill. Windstorm, hail storm... A snow storm would tire me out with these prevailing conditions, but I could do it locally with effort."

"It doesn't work that way," Juliette frowned. Devon seemed excited about the prospect, and she hated to have to tell him the bad news, but it had to be done. "The light needs to hit me in order for me to absorb it. That's why I caught the lightning before. If it doesn't hit me, I can't do anything with it."

She smirked a little a him and added, "so I guess you're going to have to get better with your aiming. And I'll work on going fast enough to catch some of it."

Juliette itched to fly again; it was such a freeing feeling, and it was one she didn't get to experience often enough. She made a mental note to remember to come back to a warehouse like the one they were in on her own some time and just fly around for a little while.

"Alright, lets start with both of us in the air for a bit, and maybe some lightning first," she decided. It wasn't quite what Devon was suggesting, but it sounded like fun, and she had been dying to do something. They could plan as they went, and they could definitely do most of the things that Devon was thinking.

She switched forms and threw out her arms at ninety degree angles from her shoulders. She stepped back to the edge of the floor so that her heels were hanging off and fell backwards, letting herself simply free fall for a few seconds. It was one of the rare times she let herself be swept away in the moment, and she didn't retain complete control. It was a truly incredible feeling.

After just a few seconds, she corrected her flight and soared back up. It felt so good to be fully charged and to not worry about running short. At least for a while, anyway.

"You coming?"

Devon nodded along with Juliette but he had to wonder if that was simply the way it worked right now as opposed to the future. If it was something she could absorb, how much effort might it be to try to draw to her? Of course that wasn't his power so he didn't know, but he hoped to help her with it anyway.

An affirmative nod confirmed her direction, "Yeah I'll work on my aim, certainly, if you promise that you won't give up on trying to attract it. Ya never know, right?" He shrugged a shoulder and smiled, "I'm sorry if the pushing comes off as too much. Just want to help."

She suggested flying at the same time and while the wind might give her difficulty, Tempest figured again it was a good chance for her to practice in such an element. Sometimes you had to fly in bad weather, right? He wouldn't always be around and heck, sometimes he might be creating that bad weather for a good reason.

>> "You coming?"

"Yep!" Tempest shouted, his eyes darkening. The air started to encircle him as various breezes wafted out. His hair and clothes danced in the crosswinds. He stepped off the roof and fell slowly as gusts rushed up, likely creating some turbulence for Firefly though Tempest did his best not to hit her directly.

His descent began as he started to gesture with his hands, urging different currents of air to toss him from side to side. It looked a bit more like he was slowly knocking himself around than truly flying.

"Trying!" he shouted with a smirk.

She frowned, but nodded. There were limits to her power that she knew she wouldn't be able to push, but it couldn't hurt to try. And Devon didn't seem like he was going to back down, so she figured maybe if she humoured him and showed him that she hadn't been kidding, then he might see where she was coming from. "Alright, but you're paying for any damages done to the surrounding area."

Juliette attempted to keep her path straight, but the wind that Devon was creating was making things difficult. If she had been able to make a face at him in her energy form, then she would have, but it was not so. Instead, she simply huffed to herself and tried to steady her course.

She knew approximately why Devon was doing it, but nevertheless, it wasn't her favourite pastime. By the time she had managed to steady herself, several minutes had passed.

So much for some relaxing flying.

"Well this just isn't fair," Juliette shouted up at Devon. "You're in your natural element while I'm here trying not to get sucked up in a tornado! We need to make this more difficult for you somehow."

"Tornado? This is barely a breeze," Tempest laughed. He smirked and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry if it's giving you a problem. Flying and I are more of a controlled wind storm. Maybe I should try focusing more on hovering and small movements instead of flying around so you can actually be flying."

He nodded, "I probably need more control in the minutia of the movements anyway and then work my way up. In this case, speed will likely be easy. It's the precision that's hard. I can focus on supporting myself while not impacting you. I won't really fly much of anywhere, and might descend here and there but it's a start."

With a dramatic wave of his arm, the winds died, causing the air to go still. "You need another boost?" The air around them was already beginning to tingle. "Whenever you want me to fire at you, just let me know. Probably a good way to test my concentration and focus anyway."

"You need another boost? Whenever you want me to fire at you, just let me know. Probably a good way to test my concentration and focus anyway."

"Give me a minute," Juliette nodded while looking down. She could afford to take some in a minute or so, once she'd drained her stores a little bit more.

It was so strange to need to refuse energy. Usually, she need to constantly find new sources and charge up, and it was difficult for her to get enough to fly for long periods of time. The longest she had ever been able to fly before had been about six blocks, and that had been mostly luck. Now, without needing to worry, she could actually test the limits of her flight abilities.

"Alright, how difficult do you want me to make this for you?" Firefly called up to Tempest with an indistinguishable smirk. She flew around the levels as quickly as she could, weaving in and out of view from him. She had used up a sufficient amount, and could take some new energy at that point.

>> "Alright, how difficult do you want me to make this for you?" Firefly called up to Tempest with an indistinguishable smirk.

"Well, how about-" and then she started doing it, before he'd even suggested it.

She flew quickly around one level, then weaved out in front of him and up before slipping back down a couple of levels. Tempest, meanwhile, focused on keeping himself aloft as he stopped into open air. Darkness filled his eyes as cyclonic gusts flowed around him, tussling his hair and clothes and keeping him stead.

When Juliette darted by, he'd waver, but then soon steady himself. "Firefly, exactly," Tempest laughed. He urged the wind to keep him bobbing, even if he was drifting to one side. His concentration was tested as he waited and calculated her movements, then when she darted back up...

Thunder clapped as he shot out an armful of lightning at the lightning bug. "Zap!" Tempest yelled and then laughed slightly as his drift turned more into a leaning falling to one side. The bolt forked toward Juliette as he regained focus and steadied himself, slowly rising even though he was spinning slowly.

"This is not easy."

>>"Zap!"

Juliette tried to stay a little more still once Devon actually shot off the lightning bolt. Sure, she was trying to make things difficult on him, but she didn't really want the thing to go to waste. Plus, all the flying was putting a huge strain on her powers.

She swerved a little to the left and extended an arm in order to absorb it. Once she could touch it, it was easy to do so. She was fully charged again within seconds.

Juliette stayed in the air for a little while longer before landing on one of the floors. She looked down at Devon and crossed her arms, trying to think of what to do next.

>>"This is not easy."

"It's not meant to be," Juliette grinned at him, "we're training, remember?" The double standards were evident in her difference of tone from a few minutes ago when the wind had been bad, but she didn't point that out. "Alright, any other ideas?"

Devon smiled up at Juliette as she absorbed the lightning. Finding ways to work together was exciting, fun. You wanted to help your friends and the fact he could help her fly for long periods was even better. He longed for that and now he could help her have that. Helping someone learn more about their power while mastering themselves now that was a career he would love. He wanted to help people, mutants especially.

"Oh I know we're training," Tempest chuckled as he leaned and let a localized gust blow him to a floor he could alight upon. "I meant more keeping the winds focused around me and not knocking you around," he shrugged his shoulders back, stretching. "I keep just blowing to one side or the other. Hard to float in a controlled way, let alone hover. If you were attacking me there's no way I could have kept my concentration to do what I was doing."

He gave her a curt nod, "Clearly we need to practice often. I need as much distraction as possible. Maybe we should try flying in unison? I have to focus on keeping myself aloft, traveling with you, without knocking you around as much? I could instead fill the building with fog, though that's really a challenge for you, but not for me. Maybe we can see what kind of effect we can make together with our abilities too."