>>”Juliette. She is. Too good for me but she cares about me for some reason. She’s either crazy or the most patient woman alive.”

"I'd say both." Gawain grinned; he still caught some of the punches, but he also blocked and ducked some. Now that Sam was not actively trying to destroy him, sparring felt more like an exercise, and less like a punishment.

>>”You’ll meet her eventually I’m sure. She’s on the team. You might need to do a tryout again though. You’re out of practice, would have thought your hot mom would have taught you some things.”

"Oh she did." Gawain blocked the next punch, then spun to the side, grabbing hold of his arm before he merged into a patch of ice on the floor, pulling him down and letting go just in time that he would not merge with him and hit the floor instead, if he was not quick enough on his feet. Gawain appeared again a couple of feet away, shrugging. "I just don' wanna kill ya. You're a pain in the ass, but not that much."

Sam smirked when his face hit the ground, he pushed himself up quickly enough then started to laugh. ”Oh, you’re holding out on me?” Sam raised an eyebrow and then raised his hands willing several walls of ice to appear around them. ”Good!” Sam said his frustration dissipating the more time he spent in the spar session with Gawain. ”Me too!”

Sam knew he’d put himself at an disadvantage with the walls of ice around them. Gawain could step into it at any point and then appear somewhere else. Which was fine by Sam, again he wanted to feel adrenaline and nothing kept his heart beating faster than the thought of fighting for his life. Ice started to coat his wounds and bloodied knuckles.

”Maybe I can be more of a pain?” Sam asked, You know your mother gave me her number, and not one of those burners either.”[/color] the icemancer smirked as he got into a fighting stance and exhaled, his fighting style started to reflect a far less aggressive stance. ”I feel bad about not calling her.” Sam taunted.

>> ”Oh, you’re holding out on me? Good! Me too!”

Sam had always enjoyed a challenge. Several ice mirror appeared around them, and Gawain took advantage immediately, merging into one to circle Sam faster, hopping from one mirror to the next.

>>”Maybe I can be more of a pain? You know your mother gave me her number, and not one of those burners either. I feel bad about not calling her.”

"Maybe we should ask Juliette about that" Gawain grinned, shifting out of a mirror to aim a sweeping kick at the back of Sam's legs, before merging back into the floor "Mom's changed phones at least five times since then, Sam. She's a professional assassin, remember?" he circled again, appearing in one mirror, and then then next "But if you want some training advice, I'm happy to stand in for her..."

As soon as Gawain merged in the ice he was talking again. Sam knew he couldn’t attack from the mirror world unless he had a projectile or something meaning Sam would have to be faster than Gawain as soon as he emerged. Luckily for Sam his sixth sense helped him with that. If Gawain had a body temperature there would be no sneaking up on Sam.

”I had a lot of phone numbers before Juliette,” Sam said feeling Gawain appear behind him and sweeping his leg. Sam lifted it as soon as he felt contact and then tried to attack but he already merged into the floor again. ”Wouldn’t that be something? You teach me something.” Sam turned around then snapped his fingers causing one of the ice mirrors to shatter then reform shortly after.

Sam was forcing Gawain to keep moving and occasionally appear. Sadly Sam couldn’t attack Gawain where he was all he could do was play defensive until the kid attacked. ”Where would you be if I didn’t start whooping your @$$ everyday?” Sam sad mocking him. ”and even the best assassins slip up.” Sam added. ”Otherwise I’d be dead and you wouldn’t have someone teaching you how to fight.” Sam said closing his eye but still being alert.

>>”I had a lot of phone numbers before Juliette,”

Gawain rolled his eyes from one of the ice mirrors. "More than girlfriends, that's for sure." he grinned, before he skipped into another surface.

Sam made some of the ice mirrors shatter; Gawain slipped out of one just in time. "HEY!" Shattering mirrors were dangerous, possibly lethal, if he got caught in one in just the wrong moment. Gawain still had scars in the shape of shattered glass, and he had no intention getting a new one.

>>”Where would you be if I didn’t start whooping your @$$ everyday? And even the best assassins slip up. Otherwise I’d be dead and you wouldn’t have someone teaching you how to fight.”

"I never said I don't make mistakes." Gawain noted, stepping out of a mirror to throw some punches at Sam before he merged back in "Between you and Mom, I've had good teachers."

He shifted around a couple of times before he managed to get to Sam's back; coming out of a mirror he wrapped his arms around his neck and shoulders, hoping to tip him backwards into the mirror with himself "But dude, you gotta get your... **** together... you look like hell."

Sam smirked, ”At least you are smart enough to know that.” Sam said as he blocked and dodged the round of punches. Knowing that shattering the ice was dangerous he continued causing them to reform just as quick. This was good practice for the both of them because this wasn’t the first time they had done this and when they used it in the field Sam liked it to be well practiced even if he didn’t explain that to Gawain.

Sam was normally good at watching his back though this time was a little different he relied too much on his sixth sense which came to bite him. He felt the heat signature before he felt Gawain come in behind him but it was too late at that point. Tensing his neck and tucking his chin he tried to evade Gawain before he was latched on.

Sam struggled for a second then pushed off the ground allowing himself to be thrown into the mirror. Sam struggled to get free but then grabbed Gawain’s hand and then turned it into a joint lock. Sam grimaced when he realized he was in the mirror world. Gawain’s realm. ”I’m working on it.” Sam said as he fired a kick out to Gawain’s chest.

”You’ve been gone for too long to come back and tell me what I should be doing though.” the ice mancer said. He didn’t like being told what he should be doing even if a friend said it he still felt like he was upsetting them more than he was upsetting himself. Sam didn’t like upsetting anyone.

His attack was successful - Mirror pulled Sam into the reflecting surface of an ice panel. Sam grabbed him too, and they struggled for a moment before they let go, Sam aiming a kick at him instead. They were both in the mirrorworld now, which worked to Gawain's advantage; he was a lot more comfortable in there than his opponent, after all.

>>”I’m working on it. You’ve been gone for too long to come back and tell me what I should be doing though.”

"Yeah, like we never thought you were dead" Gawain rolled his eyes, dodging the kick. He was on the defensive now, hoping to do more talking and less fighting. "I guess this makes us pretty much even... but don't tell me you have been drinking and getting beat up over me. As flattering as that is, I don' want the responsibility..."

Sam couldn’t argue that. He had feigned death before; even if he did technically die he was brought back then kept up the guise. He knew Gawain was still pretty upset with him over that but again he had his reasons. If Leo knew he was still alive he would have attacked the school and the kids Sam was charge with protecting would have been put into harms way. Was Gawain still mad about that? Probably not given the current circumstances.

Sam scoffed and laughed as Gawain dodged and asked who was responsible for his current life choices. ”No, you aren’t to blame. No one I like is to blame.” Sam said, he was partially to blame so that much was true and as far as he knew Amanda and Sydney were dead meaning those who orchestrated the whole mind control thing are dead. He hoped they were actually dead.

Sam threw a short combination of punches trying his best to tag the gender bender once or twice before adding, ”and I’m fine. I don’t need to talk about it.” he had Juliette for that.

>>”No, you aren’t to blame. No one I like is to blame.”

Of course not. Gawain would have said the same thing too. Sam had feigned death before to protect the Mansion, so he could not exactly blame a teammate for doing the same. In the end, they had both made their mistakes, which was been different in some ways, and similar in others. That was just how lives in the Mansion tended to go. And they were fin enough to keep punching each other.
Sam threw a series of punches his way; Gawain blocked some, but some landed as well.

>>”and I’m fine. I don’t need to talk about it.”

"Well, I don't either." Gawain smirked, returning the attack "I guess were're good then." he stepped back, catching his breath. The fight had gotten his heart pumping "Good to be home."

Sam lowered his guard slightly so he could take a few of the attacks. He then smirked and brought his hands up as Gawain stepped back. ”No, you still hit like a girl.” Sam joked and spat into the mirror world. It wasn’t blood but he had a dehydrated taste in his mouth. The lack of whiskey was catching up with him. He felt somewhat sober.

”Guess it is.” Sam said giving Gawain a slight bow. ”Now get me out of here. I have to get another bottle because some *** broke mine.” Sam put his hands to his sides, ”Beers later on me. You can tell me all about your trip.”

>>”No, you still hit like a girl.”

"That's funny, I have seen girls kick your ass before." Gawain grinned. Several women on the team, actually, could have given Sam a run for his money, even if Maya would have been hard pressed to actually win an all-out fight against him.

>>”Now get me out of here. I have to get another bottle because some *** broke mine. Beers later on me. You can tell me all about your trip.”

Gawain put a hand on Sam's shoulder, and walked him out of the mirror world, back into the Danger Room. He patted him on the shoulder before he let go.

"If the mental block wears off, you will be the first to know" he promised. "Until then, you can have the booze. I'll go have some ice."

On his face, which was bruising up pretty well already. Gawain smirked as he walked out of the DR. One was not truly home until Sam had punched him in the face for leaving...