((ooc: Continued from “Rough Living”.))

Calley was standing in a corridor in Mondragon Labs. His hand was half-raised to knock on the door the before him.

So. This is probably a bad idea.

Perhaps. I believe we had reasoning for it, when it first made our list. That reasoning, unfortunately, was every bit as fragmentally buried in the clutter as the rest of their list. It wouldn’t do to have a physic causally reading their plans. Believe it or not, they had no intentions of dying.

I think it was something about us not respecting Kaz as much as Abyss, so it doesn’t matter if we look like a wimp in front of him.

Let us refrain from mentioning that to the man.

________________
| . . . Nicki & Kaz . . . |
| . Katrina welcome . |
| . . .(knock first) . . . |
---------------------------


...That is a fairly wimpy sign.

Heh. Yeah... yeah, let’s refrain from mentioning that, too.

They knocked. The sound was alarmingly ominous, after it had been relayed on by their eardrums and filtered through their haze of ‘yeah, maybe this was a bad idea’. But the deed was done, the knock was... knocked, and it wasn’t even like Kaz would agree. He’d probably threaten them a little, shove them against a wall or two, and then slam the door. Yep.

Calley stood a step away from the door, put his hands behind his back, and fidgeted. Maybe the guy wasn’t even in. That would be great.

Calley was right, Kaz wasn't in at the moment. He was just returning when he saw the boy standing in front of his room, fidgeting. Sighing in a very audible way, he walked towards Calley, "What do ya want? And why are you so nervous?" Kaz's hair was cut very short at the moment, and quite spiked up, though without the aid of any hair products. Noticing where Calley was looking and the look on his face, "Is something wrong with the sign, or are you just that fascinated by simple things?"

Reaching the door Kaz stopped and listened for a moment before opening it. Just as he thought, Nicki wasn't in the room. <Maybe she's at the library...> Kicking off his tennis shoes he stepped into the room, "Well come in and speak."

"What do ya want? And why are you so nervous?"

Calley’s every hope was correct: Kaz wasn’t in. Calley’s every hope was snickering cynically behind his back: ‘cause there was Kaz, coming at him down the hallway, looking slightly like a silver-dipped porcupine. That hair... Calley had always found something a little funny about that hair. It, ah, went well with the man’s elf ears. Yep.

"Is something wrong with the sign, or are you just that fascinated by simple things?"

Oh. Right. ‘Cause I’m supposed to be explaining myself quickly, not... being fascinated by simple things.

Indeed.

“Umm, yes. I mean—no. I mean—”

The man brushed past him casually, and went into the room. "Well come in and speak."

“Ah... yes, Sir.” Calley tried to straighten up and not look like he was cowering. The man had seemed very insistent that Calley keep up such appearances, the last time they’d met. He wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of following the cocky man into the room, where they would then proceed to be alone together, and the door would no doubt be closed, making escape one step harder. He comforted himself with the fact that Kaz was fast enough that, really, escape routes wouldn’t help if the guy decided to hurt him. Right. With that in mind, he transferred his fidgeting from the hallway into the man’s room, and stood awkwardly by the door. “I was wondering if I could ask you a question, Sir. If that wouldn’t be too much trouble. And I mean, you can always say no. If it is too much trouble, I mean. Which it probably is, what with the taking up your no-doubt valuable time, and all.” Which he was also doing now, by rambling. Calley attempted to straighten up his shoulders and look the man in the eye. He was a confident, proud specimen of a mutant. That was him. Yup.

Kaz sighed as he sat on the bed and took of his shirt, which was covered in small silver hairs. "Ah... yes, Sir." He gave Calley an annoyed look, though not for the reason the boy would guess. Kaz didn't interrupt the boys rambling. He did take note of how Calley was trying to be as confidant as possible, <He probably remembers what happened last time...that's good. At least learns somewhat quick.>

"First of all Calley...don't call me Sir. Makes me feel old. And second," Kaz moved to the closet and grabbed a loose gray jump suit, "I know you don't like me, nor respect me. So the fake respect is rather irritating." Kaz continued to disrobe, undoing his pants and letting them drop to the floor before. "Third," He raised an eyebrow at Calley with a smirk on his face, "Didn't you just ask me a question?"

Grabbing the sleeve of the jump suit he bit down just below the shoulder seem. It happened almost unconsciously, his jaw and teeth had shifted halfway between his second form and his normal one, enough to sever and tear the fabric with ease without deforming his face. Tearing the sleeve off, he repeated this with the other side, making the jump suit totally sleeveless. "Never did like having things on my arm." He said more to himself than Calley. Kaz stepped into the suit and got dressed. "Just tell me what you want. I don't need you beating around the bush like Hunter. It's not a good trait. It's something Humans do when they're too cowardly to speak what's really on their minds."

So no ‘Sir’, less fake respect than he used with Hunter, and dropped pants. Well, that was one way to answer. And yes… yes, indeed, he had just asked the man a question. And while this sudden evidence that Kaz had a sense of humor was nice, it rather defeated the point of Calley’s inane ramblings if the guy just sort of cut to the chase like that.

It takes a lot of effort to inanely ramble. A total lack of precision is an art.

You certainly make it so.

“Just tell me what you want. I don't need you beating around the bush like Hunter. It's not a good trait. It's something Humans do when they're too cowardly to speak what's really on their minds.”

Calley snerked, then wiped his sudden grin off of his face. As much as he’d love to bash Hunter, that really was a hobby that only people who could take care of themselves were permitted to indulge in. Hence the point of this all. Calley attempted to look respectful but not fakey-respectful and in-need-of-assistance but not pathetic. “I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight, Sir. Maybe just a little. Not to waste your time. I probably can’t learn, anyway. Umm, and just to ask... is there a particular reason you're getting naked in front of me? Sir.”

Escaping out the door was still an option.

Kaz's eyebrow twitched when Calley called him 'Sir' again. "I'm not trying to get naked in front of you. You're here, in my room," He left out that he told Calley to come in, as that was quite obvious, "And I needed to change. Besides, it doesn't both me who sees me naked or near to it." He sighed slightly, "It's something that comes with confidence in yourself, which you still seem to lack." Shaking his head a bit as he spoke, his tone wasn't angry or annoyed, it almost seemed as if he felt sorry for Calley. A thought came to his head, "Confidence my have nothing to do with it in your case though....Perhaps you're just not mature enough?"

Kaz stepped towards Calley, not in a threatening way, but like he was going to leave the room. He stopped as he was passing the boy and threw his elbow out to the side at Calley. His intention was not to hit him, but to see his reaction.

"I'm not trying to get naked in front of you. You're here, in my room." Because you invited me. To come in. You creepy, creepy elf-eared man. "And I needed to change. Besides, it doesn't bother me who sees me naked or near to it." But it rather bothers me, Pantsless MaGee. "It's something that comes with confidence in yourself, which you still seem to lack."

…He’s brilliant.

A real certified genius.

I wish to place his words of wisdom upon a pedestal as high as his ego.

Ooo, you’ll have to specially commission that one. Zing!

Heh.

"Confidence may have nothing to do with it in your case though....Perhaps you're just not mature enough?"

Not even sure what that’s supposed to mean. Calley kept up his wimpy trying-not-to-slump posture as Kaz approached, heading for the door. And getting closer. Calley still didn’t have the guy’s answer, but closer didn’t seem good, and the doorway path didn’t seem to be saying ‘sure, let’s train’. So, hypothetically speaking, what’re we going to do if he pulls a knife, or something?

I would suggest—

Dropping to the floor. Okay, not a knife, but an elbow wasn’t all that nice, either. It passed over their head as they dropped, but not by much. “That wasn’t as fast as you could go,” he said from his new seat, before his brain quite caught up with the situation. Did he have any reason to know that Kaz’ powers involved speed, outside of his role as a spy? That was something to think about later. For now, random elbows weren’t raising Calley’s comfort level in this conversation, and Kaz was effectively blocking the doorway. So… He stayed where he was. If Kaz had actually wanted to hurt them, he would have. Painfully. And faster than they could have seen. Out the door wasn’t an option, shifting to anything besides tiger wasn’t an option, shifting to tiger wouldn’t help anything, skittering further into the apartment would be like a bad horror movie mistake. Yes, Calley stayed sitting. He even blinked cutely upwards. “May I ask what that was all about? Sir.”

<I suppose that works. Sluggish, but at least he reacts well enough.> Kaz was about to offer his hand to help Calley up when, “That wasn’t as fast as you could go,” Narrowing his eyes, he let his jaw and teeth shift half way again. "And HOW do you know THAT?!" An image flashed through Kaz's mind, a thick tail tapping the floor before bashing Calley like a rag doll across the room and through the wall. <What the fuck?> "Get up." He waited a moment, "If you don't get up I'll pick you up. And you remember how that went last time."

As Calley stood up, "If you call me 'Sir', one more time, I'm going to rip your tongue out. I should warn you now, I only give mutants two chances before I kill them. I've been giving you more slack since Hunter seems to have a vested interest in you, and that you seem to have some sort of mental condition. The elbow was to see if you're even worth my time to train. You've got decent reactions, but you don't seem to have a clue how to move beyond ducking." He paused as he stared into Calley's eyes, "But before I teach or help you with anything, you're going to tell me what you know about me, how you know, and you WILL tell me about yourself. I don't buy that all you can do is shift into a tiger. If that was the case you wouldn't have been sent to the mansion or sanctuary. There's more to yourself and/or your abilities than Hunter's willing to tell me. But he won't be back for a bit, and who knows what could happen to you between now and when he gets back...." Kaz let the unsaid threat hang in the air for a few moments before backing up and giving the boy some space.

"And HOW do you know THAT?!" Well, that conclusively decided that: they definitely were not supposed to know about Kaz’ abilities, outside of the whole spying thing. Whoops. “Get up.” Calley wasn’t opposed to that idea, per say, but the man was rather unhappy, and rather large, and rather looming over him, and—"If you don't get up I'll pick you up. And you remember how that went last time." –Why yes, yes he did. And neither Hunter nor Abyss was here to provide a weird sense of security, this time. So... standing up.

“If you call me 'Sir', one more time, I'm going to rip your tongue out. I should warn you now, I only give mutants two chances before I kill them. I've been giving you more slack since Hunter seems to have a vested interest in you, and that you seem to have some sort of mental condition. The elbow was to see if you're even worth my time to train. You've got decent reactions, but you don't seem to have a clue how to move beyond ducking."

This was true, but Calley had a bad feeling that they weren’t about to have a tea party chat about his weaknesses as a fighter, or about his mental condition. Especially not with the man’s sudden intentness on having direct eye contact. Red eyes, for the record, were a little creepy to have staring at you. Especially when their owner was growing fangs at an alarming rate.

"But before I teach or help you with anything, you're going to tell me what you know about me, how you know, and you WILL tell me about yourself. I don't buy that all you can do is shift into a tiger. If that was the case you wouldn't have been sent to the mansion or sanctuary. There's more to yourself and/or your abilities than Hunter's willing to tell me. But he won't be back for a bit, and who knows what could happen to you between now and when he gets back...."

Calley’s back was thoroughly pressed against the wall by the time Kaz backed off, and he decided that he was rather comfortable there. His first thought was to tell Kaz that yes indeed, there was more to his powers—he was a healer. But he was suddenly quite sure that such a statement might lead to Mister Pointy Teeth being less worried about damaging him. Calley liked his various body parts, and he liked them in working condition, without need of repairs. The thought never crossed his mind to actually tell Kaz his real power: after all, that was very distinctly in the realm of ‘Hunter’s business’, and Calley was feeling less and less inclined to talk about those things. “Umm, I think you already know that I’m a spy, S—” He caught himself just in time, on that one, and swallowed rather convulsively. He could admit it: a couple of those ‘Sir’ tag-ons before had just been to annoy the man in a petty low-effort one-word manner. That last one had just been his first instinct in a highly stressful situation. Most people, he had found, did not get insulted when you upped the politeness level. Most people weren’t threatening all sorts of bodily harm to him at this precise moment in time. It was important to keep vital distinctions like this in mind, when navigating in tricky social waters. “Sorry. Habit. Sorry. I don’t really know what you want me to say, S—Kaz. I’m a spy. Of course I know about your powers. I mean, you kind of don’t really hide them. I mean, you’re kind of, ah, sprouting teeth, S—Kaz.” Stress-induced habits were alarmingly hard to break in stressful situations. “It would be rather nice if you decided not to hurt me for doing my job. What with us having the same employer, and all.”

Crossing his arms, "Of course I know you're a spy, I think I already said that, mentioning the whole Mansion/Sanctuary thing." Kaz waved a hand dismissively, "To be good in that line of work, you not only have to be quick on your feet but quick of mind as well. Since you seem to be good at that job, it tells me you're not a moron. You just have stupid tendencies. Being a smartass at the wrong time while no thinking of the repercussions. Though if you don't know why I have these," Kaz ran his tongue along is now very sharp teeth, "Then you're slacking on the job. So tell me something I don't know."

Kaz motioned for Calley to leave the room as Kaz held the door and began to close it. "Common, we're going to one of the training rooms."

Sighing as he walked down the hallway, "Calley, if you've bothered to think about it, I've been honest with you since the first time we met. I expect the same from you. I'm not going to hurt you for doing your job. But I will hurt you for lying or holding out on me. Unlike you, I don't concider myself 'employed' by Hunter. It's more a partnership of sorts." He looked to Calley. "So, tell me what you can do and why you want to learn to fight."

Calley listened to Kaz’ little Kaz-like speech, maintaining a polite and intensely wary silence until the very end.

"Common, we're going to one of the training rooms."

Okay... so, he wasn’t about to get hurt, at the moment. That was every bit as nice as he’d imagined it would be, actually. He followed along, stray-puppy-like, and tried not to jump at sounds like, say, a dramatically loud sigh.

"Calley, if you've bothered to think about it, I've been honest with you since the first time we met. I expect the same from you. I'm not going to hurt you for doing your job. But I will hurt you for lying or holding out on me. Unlike you, I don't consider myself 'employed' by Hunter. It's more a partnership of sorts. So, tell me what you can do and why you want to learn to fight."

First off: Calley couldn’t help a very small laugh from getting past his lips before he could clap a hand over his mouth. Partnership. Ha! Employed. Funny! Funny, funny, funny—Kaz made it sound like Calley was ‘considering’ himself to have a certain status with respect to Hunter. Oh yes. Kaz was a funny, funny elf man. But in any case, it was time to answer the silver haired man’s question. “Umm, I can’t do anything, really. Like you know, I can shift to tiger, but it really doesn’t help. I mean, I get claws and a nice set of teeth, but I don’t know how to actually fight as either a human or a tiger. As to why I want to learn to fight... I guess you could say that I’ve found this job a lot more dangerous than I thought it would be. Particularly when I’m around my lovely fellow team members. So it might be nice to know how to hold my own, especially with the random people who stab at me. Or pick me up by my throat.” He thought for a moment. “You’d probably be surprised by how many people pick me up by my throat.” Kaz was, of course, in that category. Besides him, it was mostly just Hunter. But Hunter did it so often, it felt like he should count as a few people.

Kaz heard the small laugh from Calley, though he wasn't sure why. "I think you've probably brought the throat grabbing apon yourself. Your attitude probably has a lot to do with it. Though I your reason for wanting to learn is a good one. What good is a spy that can't keep themselves alive to deliver info." Kaz continued to walk for a bit in silence. "You're the one who got all the info about the Order members correct. I never saw you, or a tiger walking around Sanctuary. I can hear every beat of your heart right now, and I never heard or saw anyone hiding in the shadows at Sanctuary. So how'd you get the info without being noticed?"

It didn't take long to reach their destination. Moving into the room, Kaz waited for Calley to come inside as well before shutting and locking the door. "Just so you know who you're asking for help. I fought Hunter to a draw already. Limiting ourselves to maximum Human levels. Without those limit's, I'm faster and stronger than Hunter is."

"I don't believe you're telling me everything about yourself but we'll see in time. Before I can help you, what are your strong points, and where are you most lacking?

Calley couldn’t argue the correlation between the throat grabbing and his own fine self, and he said as much: “I can’t really argue with that. The point is, though, it’s not too nice for people to be picking other people up by the throat. Especially harmless people. It’s not too socially acceptable, last time I checked.”

...Opinions. Again. Really, is it that hard to keep them to ourselves?

Sorry.

As for how he got the info on the Sanctuary members? That was an easy one. It was so easy, he actually stared over at Kaz with an eyebrow raised. “Are you kidding? Umm, I mean, no offence, but just because you don’t notice a person doesn’t mean they’re not there. I have a room at the Sanctuary—well, had, before the raid thing—and I’ve been dating Issie for awhile. Not to say that you’re not too observant, or anything.” Not to say that at all, no. But he had moved into the Sanctuary before Kaz moved out. The guy really hadn’t noticed him, apparently.

The training room was in just another non-descript Mondragon Labs hallway. This place really reminded him of a mouse maze—it was designed so that you had to wander around for a very long time before you earned your cheese. Fortunately, Calley had been there and done that, quite a few times. Not the cheese earning: the maze wandering. He knew, in a round-about manner, where they were and how to get to all the other important landmarks from here. They went inside, and Kaz... locked the door. Well, that wasn’t potentially threatening at all. Calley tried to not look at the door in highly paranoid fashion. It wasn’t the door’s fault, after all. He tried to reserve that look for Kaz.

"Just so you know who you're asking for help. I fought Hunter to a draw already. Limiting ourselves to maximum Human levels. Without those limit's, I'm faster and stronger than Hunter is."

...Now that, Calley did not know. Paranoia faded as curiosity perked. “Really? That’s... really good... for you, and all. Impressive.” Very nice. Very, very, very nice. He’d chosen to ask Kaz more because of the process of elimination than anything else; this was a nice development. If he trained against someone better than Hunter, he might just stand a non-suicidal chance against the Scary Boss Man when the time came.

"I don't believe you're telling me everything about yourself—” Well give the boy a cookie. “—but we'll see in time. Before I can help you, what are your strong points, and where are you most lacking?”

Calley gave a shrug. “Umm, like I said, and like you probably know: I pretty much suck at life. And definitely at fighting. Hunter tried to show me some judo moves one time, but that sort of ended when he broke my arm for the hell of it.” And because Slate, ever the considerate split personality, had asked the man to, for the express purpose of keeping Calley repressed. Nice of him. If it is any consolation, I would be more hesitant to pursue such courses of action now. I dislike Hunter more than I dislike you. Greeeeeat, Slate. “So yeah. Never really learned the judo thing.” He tilted his head to the side slightly as he thought. “I guess I’m pretty good at acrobatics-y stuff. I mean, my balance is good, and I can pretty much do flips like a circus freak. Probably comes from the tiger-y-ness.” Actually, it came from adapting that two year’s experience as a stray cat for use in his human form. He’d been rather an active kitty.

"So what happened to that 'blue eyed' cat that was following Isabel around?" It took a moment for what Calley said to sink into his head, "You dated Isabel? And she didn't stab you in the chest? I'm rather surprised. I suppose I missed out on a lot at Sanctuary and the Order, since I had been spending very little time there between going to the mansion and my own place."

“Really? That’s... really good... for you, and all. Impressive.” Kaz laughed. "I suppose it is. Though physical capability only plays a certain part in a fight. He has a lot more experience than I do, which means he probably has more tricks too." Kaz smiled with a glint in his eye, "Which would make a real fight with him all the more fun." Kaz gave Calley a good look over, but focused on his arms. "He broke your arm huh, must have been quite a few months before I met you."

Kaz walked over to a supply closet and pulled out a large sack of baseball sized rubber balls. "You say you're agile huh. Shall we see how well you can dodge?" Kaz let his second pair of arms shift onto his form. In each hand he held a ball which he threw at Calley, the ceiling, and the walls. "It may seem odd, but this serves to test your reflexes, your ability to dodge, how well you think on your feet, your defenses, and if you get hit, your pain tollerance, as well as how well you continue on after being hit." Kaz grinned devilishly at Calley as he continued to throw the balls at and around Calley, increasing the number that were bouncing around the room and at Calley.

"So what happened to that 'blue eyed' cat that was following Isabel around?"

Calley blinked. “Oh, Kitten? I only met him once—I’m not sure he liked me, which could have been a problem, since Issie seemed to really like him, and when it comes down to the cat or the new boyfriend...” He gave a little sheepish shrug. “Can’t say I was too sad when he ran away. Issie was bummed, though.” He laughed. “And she never stabbed me—saw her get a werewolf in the chest one time. That was really cool.”

"...Which would make a real fight with him all the more fun." Calley caught the glint in the guy’s eye. Oh, you have no idea. "He broke your arm huh, must have been quite a few months before I met you." Calley shrugged half-heartily. At some point, he’d probably mention the healing thing to Kaz. His trust level with the guy wasn’t exactly sky-high yet, though, despite the fact that the man was being significantly nicer than that first time they’d met. It would have been pleasant if he’d been like this back then. Calley had been having a very bad night, what with the being-found-out-as-a-spy by Abyss and the upcoming quality torture-time with Hunter. Having Kaz get on his case about sitting on the floor really hadn’t made things go easier for him, all and all.

All the bag of dodge balls did was give Calley bad flashbacks to middle school phy ed.

“You say you're agile huh.”

“I did say that, yes.” He agreed, dubiously watching that bag.

“Shall we see how well you can dodge?”

“I suppose we will.” He agreed again, watching Kaz show off his amazing ability to grow additional appendages. Now that must be a hit with the ladies.

Once the balls started flying, Calley stopped listening. It didn’t take a genius to figure this out: they were dodge balls. Hence, he was supposed to dodge the ball.

Which he failed miserably at, the first couple of throws. Middle school had been a very stressful time for Calley: he’d been short, uncoordinated, and changing in ways his Health teacher did not understand, despite the burly man’s claims to the contrary. Dodge ball had not helped increase his love for school, and round red balls did not inspire love and affection in his mind.

Oww—! I—oww! How fast is he throwing those things?

...Left.

Calley stepped left, and dodged a ball ricocheting off the wall. He promptly got hit by one that Kaz was actually aiming, but hey, he was used to a lot more pain than this. This was just bruises. And you know what? These were just balls. And look—they weren’t even moving all that fast. Kaz was right over there, and if they just watched his hands, then—

—they could dodge. Calley looked rather startled at his first intentful dodge. That was kind of easy. It’s like at the X-Men tryouts, with those robots. They were throwing punches about this fast, and they were a lot closer. Sidestep, sidestep, casual sidestep. This really wasn’t so— Calley got hit in the back of a head by one the ricocheting balls. Oww. Forgot about those.

I would advise against doing that.

Thanks, Slate. I’ll keep that in mind.

But you know, this really wasn’t that hard. Kaz was upping the number of balls, but the speed was staying about the same, and Calley was officially done with his awkward pre-pubescent flashback. This was sort of fun. All he had to do was watch the happy moving balls. They look a little like really fat pigeons about to explode. He had to up the pace of his movements and lose some of his casual air to make up for the ever increasing number, but he found his mind, surprisingly, keeping up. With a grin, he grabbed one of the balls coming at him, ducked under a ricochet, somersaulted from an aimed one back to his feet, and threw the ball to intercept in mid-air one of the oncoming ones. He laughed. This was definitely... fun. And he hadn't even had to get fancy with the flips yet, either.