Evelyn let her legs dangle over the tree branch, and gazed down at Locke as 'Fluffy' returned to the ground. All of this seemed much simpler when she first got into the situation, now she wasn't really sure how much she was learning. Find a way to take care of herself...right, easier said than done. The earth was her enemy, she had no powers, she was unarmed, and the only person nearby was Locke who was controlling the monster.

The echoes were taking pinecone inventory. Clearly not helpful.

"So, any recommendations, or should I just hang out here until some idea comes to mind..." Evelyn asked casually, giving herself time to think. The echoes scanned her surroundings, looking for anything useful. What could help against earth? Water maybe? Could water do anything? She needed to learn more about Locke and what he could do. It would have been helpful to have a water bottle... And she was barefoot still. That didn't help much.

Locke sighed. It seemed that he still had a ways to go before he was to be able to come up with effective lesson plans. His intention was to have Ms. Summers have to deal with Fluffy alone, that she would have to defend herself against the golem. Problem was that where they were, the only things she could do really was to climb in trees and maybe spit on the head area of Fluffy. Locke drummed his fingers on his thighs for a minute, giving serious thought to her question. Well, she wasn't as large as Fluffy, and he had thrown himself to the ground plenty of times in his own practices with the golem.

"I could put a time limit on you," Locke offered. Sometimes the pressure of a time constrant made you decide on things faster. If Ms. Summers was forced to think fast she could react well, as Locke had seen with his test with the charging Fluffy. The trouble was getting her to use that same sort of fast thinking whenever there was a possibility of a threat. Now that she was in a tree Ms. Summers was balking again, not taking the entirety of the situation in, and asking him what to do. ”I’ve given you two options. Handle Fluffly or get assistance in dealing with the problem. The latter will just mean you have to depend upon others to come in and save you.”

Just to reaffirm his message Locke had Fluffy crash against the base of the tree, a smaller golem than he would have normally used since he didn’t want the tree falling down with Ms. Summers in there. Not only that but also the fact that there were tree rooots to try and work around. He was willing to risk having Ms. Summers hurt him.

Evelyn looked at her surroundings, and considered what Locke had said. To be honest, she didn't find it very helpful. The knock on the tree just made her cling to the branch in desperation and grumble under her breath as the bark dug into her skin. The echoes noted the indented texture in her fingers, and chewed her lip as she tried to analyze her options. In the distance, the echoes caught the glimmer of a faucet attached to the building. The weather was still cold, but maybe...

"Well, I never was a fan of having someone come save me..." With that she jumped from the tree, tucked and rolled, getting her feet under her, and bolted towards the hose. It was doing something at least, although the dirt and rocks dug into her bare feet as she scrambled away from Locke. She wondered what it looked like from his end of things. New student running away from her first lesson.

Well, it probably looked better than throwing pinecones at Fluffy...

"That's why we're working together," Locke said, giving Ms. Summer's a knowing grin. He couldn't help but feel the need to poke a little bit of fun at her previous statement, especially since the two had hit an impass in the lesson. Maybe joking with her would get her to be less stiff. That in itself was a rather ironic thought. He was Locke Tori, known to his friends as the rock man, not because of mutations, but because how immovable he could be, and how he did not give way to others. Locke did not often crack jokes, and on the rare occasion in which he did so, it was always with a sense of dry humor that went unnoticed. "We're working to getting you were you don't need to call for someone to rescue you, which means you have to think only about what is useful to you."

Her weight came dropping down to the ground like a hammer, causing a sigh to ripple through Locke's body. Honestly, when were people going to learn that the earth did not like having things thrown into it with such force. Ok, so it wasn't nearly as bad as Saph's landing on the beach, but still. Locke could have just as easily had the earth start gobbling Ms. Summers once her feet touched down. He had seen her leap from the tree, and was already in contact with the thing that would be manipulated to do so. It was good to see her roll with the landing though. It was a hard lesson for Locke to get himself. His knee occasionally had flare ups after the accident and just did not want to bend, so it was confusing to both the earth, and the young adult himself, when he didn't remember to use the momentum to soften the blow.

Now what are you up to? Locke pondered as Ms. Summers took off running past him. She had clearly come to some sort of plan while he had been busy staring up at the tree. In any case she was on the ground now, and to make sure that she didn't forget what was happening, he really should do something to startle her. Like in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, a lump of earth raced beside her, swerving in front to switch to the opposite side. Nothing striking at her, only at worst trying to make her trip.

Trying to fight the ground sucked. Evelyn would rather have trained against something less unfair. Not that life was ever fair, but really, when your primary defense was hand to hand combat, squaring off against rocks seemed cruel. Whether or not her plan worked this time seemed irrelevant, if she could at least make some sort of effort, maybe it'd make a difference.

Bugs bunny trick was sort of rude. Evelyn wanted to smack Locke after tripping a few times, but redirected her irritation back towards the task at hand. Water water water.....

Reaching the faucet, Evelyn turned it on and darted sideways, hoping the stream of water would at least make some impact.

Mud was something that Locke could work with, sort of. Fluffy moved so much faster when there was the introduction of water. However keeping Fluffy together when the dirt became mud was harder. No longer was Fluffy able to keep doing the Bugs Bunny impression. That required the earth to be a bit more solid. Locke was going to have to move quickly before the ground became too saturated for him to be able to do anything. Already he could feel the topmost layers getting hazy in his earth vision.

Such a combo of mud would make just keeping a Fluffy together a challenge. Time for a change in tactics. Ms. Summers had seemed to object to taking her shoes off. Either she was even more insecure about bare skin than he was, or she did not want to risk getting dirty. Locke chewed his lip in thought as he weighed the options. A part of having her take her shoes off was because he did not want to risk getting them dirty. Thankfully that was only a part.

The mud, slick with water, wasn't able to take shape into the golem, but that did not mean that Locke had no affect on the dirt that was in it. What would have usually been an arm pulling up the rest of Fluffy came out as a burbling mess of a bubble that burst. The mud splattered by it didn’t bother Locke. Dirt and mud tended to be attracted to him anyways like iron shavings to a magnet. There was a reason why Locke had to do his laundry separately from the rest of his family.

Frickin mud. Evelyn was hating this day more and more. While Evelyn liked looking nice, she wasn't too adverse to getting dirty. She played with paints. Paints were messy. But this was just annoying and frustrating all together. She didn't like the way the mud felt against her feet, and she didn't like how much more difficult it made it to move.

As the bubble burst, so did Evelyn's patience. Pressing her thumb against the water stream so it turned into a jet of water, she spun the hose, and pointed it at Locke.

It was clear she chose a new target. Fluffy was the least of her problems right now.

For the most part Locke was a fairly easy going guy. Life had thrown him a curve ball and now Locke had no choice but to accept things as they came. He'd learned to cope with roommates that were so far away from him in personality and behavior that they might as well have been from a different country. With stone faced solidarity Locke approached every surprise that came his way. One thing that he could not deal with though was cold. Locke craved being warm and comfortable. Being wet and cold did not make for a happy Earthwalker.

Locke sputtered and held out his hand, trying to block off the worst of the stream of water. Such action meant that his concentration on the earth was given up. He had wanted Ms. Summers to do something to stop him, but he had expected a different type of attack. Bruises and bumps he'd have no complaints about. After all he was the guy who split his lip wrestling with a pile of dirt. The water had made operating Fluffy more difficult, but he didn't think that Ms. Summers would turn the hose on him.

"That's enough!" the Californian managed to get out between coughs. A spray of the water had actually hit him square in the face and he was blindsided and dealing with a mouth full of water before he could say more. "Kill it." He hadn't even stopped being drenched but Locke already was shivering from the cold water. And the day had started off so promising, with the sun heating the air to something that he might even say was hot. Good thing he had taken off his hightops or else he'd be squishing the rest of the day.

As the water soaked Locke, Evelyn momentarily considered whether it had been the right course of action. In the end, she decided since she had no powers, anything she could use in her defense was fair, especially when this was training and nothing that could cause lasting damage. Locke didn't seem happy though, and as she turned off the water, she wondered if she should at least feel sheepish.

Looking at the remains of the muddy monster and her dirty clothing, she decided she didn't feel entirely regretful. Evelyn was all for fair play. If she had to stand in the mud, Locke had to at least suffer as well. At least that was her thought pattern.

"I think I prefer the danger room." Evelyn finally remarked, wondering if she would ever be forced to defend herself against danger with a hose in the future. She doubted it.

"The Danger Room is great for all the possible scenarios that you could face. In there you can learn how to handle anything from Lovecraft creatures to zombie pirates, to just hitting a target," Locke explained as he started ringing out his shirts. The fabric clung to him and hung heavily making him feel more miserable about it than having had Ms. Summers get the best of him. The idea of it was to eventually loose, but it wasn't to surrender. It certainly wasn't to get a soaking. "The problem is that because it's a computer program everything is predetermined. Technology is making improvements everyday, and the computer that runs the Danger room is amazing. But as amazing as it is the technology just doesn't exist yet that allows a program to think and make adjustments. We can't make the Danger Room replicate the human brain, and that's something that you need to learn how to deal with. Not everyone follows logic the way you and I do. Got to practice for spontaneity.”

It was admittedly funny to hear Locke telling someone to be more spontaneous. He liked it best when things were regular and dependable. When people started acting in ways that he could not predict or understand it frustrated the young man. With the twins it was easier for him to get their sometimes insane behavior, but for people like his buddy Eaan or Saph, there was just no getting what was going on. Kids were so much easier. That was why he enjoyed working with them. You can't really tell someone who's older than you when they are doing something you don't like, especially if it's a person with authority over you. Exceptions being when it was some form of abuse. Even then it is hard for anyone to speak up, especially Locke who found it hard to express himself. Younger people you could speak more openly with in his opinion.

Dripping wet Locke had to admit that just wringing out his shirts wasn't going to be enough. He'd need to change his clothes and towel off his hair. At least these days there wasn't the unruly mop of it, and just rubbing his hand against the top of his head got a good chunk of the water off there. Now that Ms. Summers was no longer hosing him down he felt safe to approach her. Being barefoot in the mud you would expect some sort of slippage, but that would be a wild underestimation of the teen's powers over the earth. With each step the ground beneath him seemed to be on a tumbler, and the wet mud was rolled over to make room for the dry dirt. “When you're working with me, we'll be outside in good weather. Unlike you I don't do too well in the Danger Room. It gives me things I can work with, but it's like practicing for a triathlon using training wheels on your bike and a bathtub of water. And we will be working together some more Ms. Summers. You can count on that.”

Maybe he sounded a little too adult as he said that, as if he was trying to say that because he was a full fledged member of the X-Men he was superior to her. Locke was in reality one of, if not, the newest one to don the title. His only advantage, and only reason why he was so confident in his powers was because he depended upon them for his day to day life, usually in a way that the others did not have to. Locke's head tilted in thought for a second before he asked, sounding very much like he was the student and Ms. Summers was the teacher, ”Why didn't you hit me earlier?”

Evelyn was already starting to regret the idea to learn self defense. Training with Locke was looking muddy, and messy, and silly. Why train with someone who can move dirt around when all you had to work with was voices? It didn't feel fair. Spontaneous didn't enable her to fight back. The hose may have worked this time, but what else could she do?

Why didn't you hit me earlier?

Evelyn just gave him a look like he asked why she didn't just run around naked.

"Hit you with what? A pinecone?" It came out in a somewhat sarcastic tone, but the expression on her face was genuinely confused. She wasn't physically built to hit anyone, and there was a lack of real weapons out here. It all seemed silly when they added powers to the mix.

"Ms. Summers, I want you to tell me something," Locke started, but his voice was muffled part of the way through as he started pulling his shirt up and over his head. Sure he didn't like being seen without a shirt on, but he hated the clinging of wet clothes even more. In any case his uniform as a X-men was significantly tighter and really stretched the limits of Locke's comfort zone. With his wet shirt off his back Locke could really wring out the water from it. It had been soaked thoroughly, and Locke wondered how long he had been out of it before he had shouted for Ms. Summers to turn the water off.

"What did your powers tell you about me. Every little thing that it said," Gone was the student like questioning, Locke had taken the role of instructor once more. "Before we even started the exercise you had to have noticed that I have a disability. I know that it's not in good taste to take advantage of that, but when you're trying to survive, use every little thing you have at your disposal. I don't bump into things the way that I should because of my lack of depth perception and being totally blind of everything happening on the left hand side of me. Why is that? You know I work with the earth."

He sighed. Ms. Summers might be his elder but that did not mean that she was more mature than he was. Admittedly his life events had lead him to group up quickly, even before the car crash. Her whining about things was getting on his nerves a little. But Locke was a patient man. "Yes Ms. Summers. It would have been a good idea to hit me with a pinecone. Or drop on top of me while you were in the tree. Alright, homework time. First watch three episodes of the A-Team and tell me how you would have gotten yourself out of the situation versus how they do it for each episode. Second, spend an entire day with someone you don't know well at a mall, and record what your senses tell you about the person, not what happens in the mall."

Locke's discomfort at the wet clothing seemed somewhat unnecessary, at least to Evelyn. Here he had her get rid of her shoes, and he was upset over some water. It was summer, the weather was nice. She was pretty sure the younger kids would be in the pool or playing in the sprinklers. Yet the echoes just kept jabbering about Locke's dislike of the wet clothing. She almost missed his words a midst their clamor. She crossed her arms and sighed unhappily.

"What did your powers tell you about me."

"That staying on the ground was a bad idea? Listen, I don't know your powers. I'm building on them as you go along. Yeah, I see a disability but shouldn't I be running on the assumption you know your own weaknesses and would defend it? Throwing a pine-cone at your head isn't going to change the fact you can make gigantic creatures out of the earth and yank me out of whatever tree I was hiding in. You rely on the ground a bit much, waiting for it to tell you where I was, but that didn't prevent you from identifying where I ended up in the first place. I went for the hose because based on the information I had, it seemed like it would be the most effective. Add water, dilutes what you're controlling. You're just grumpy you got wet." Evelyn grumbled, and glared at him. Irritation wafted off her and she was frustrated with this whole stupid idea of self-defense. What did he know about how she should or shouldn't fight? She was older anyway. This idea was ridiculous and dump. And thennnnnn. Then he had the nerve to give her a homework assignment.

"Like television is going to help me. The physics are all wrong anyway."

Maybe she wasn't the best student. She blamed Mirror. This was a dumb idea after all.

"They should have filled in that I was staying still, that my eyes got distant. If I'm not moving the dirt physically then it has to be mental. The important thing is to keep an eye open for even the smallest advantage you can take. Pinecone would have been an aireal attack that I wouldn't have been able to judge the proper distance from if I was paying attention. Hitting me with it would have broken my focus and given you a chance to do something more." Locke wasn't giving her an inch on this. Ms. Summers would come to learn in future sessions that complaining about things would get her nowhere with him. The young man wasn't prone to cave like that. "You're right, I do depend on the ground, and the reason I was able to tell where you went was I went to where I last sensed you."

She was annoyed at him and he could see it. It made him think of a little kid who had just been told that they couldn't have a cookie until after they had dinner. Trying to treat her like a little kid was probably not the way to go. Ms. Summers was already frustrated, no need to injure her pride. "I know the physics isn't always right, Eaan tells me that. The point though is for you to see how they are creative with their builds, how they can look at things and see them as more than just what they are. I'm going to guess that your echos just say the most basic facts. You need to get past thinking just in facts. Watching the A-Team will be easier for you than playing with a four year old."

And he had no doubts about that. Ms. Summers had issues with going barefoot. Somehow he doubted she would do well with the inevitable sticky and squishy that happened with little kids. Mud was just dirt with a little bit of water. Add soap and the entire thing washed right off. It was easily identified, but you never could be sure what mess a little kid had.

Evelyn gave up arguing. In her mind, she had chosen a tactic that worked, so it felt silly he was arguing towards something else. This whole idea was silly. A pinecone wasn't going to teach her self-defense in her eyes. She just bit her lip and let him talk though. Her pride was already injured at this point and she didn't want to spend the rest of the evening arguing. Especially not while barefoot. She was cold, and irritated, and probably not listening the best right now.

And training with a four year old seemed even more ridiculous.

"Fine. I'll watch your show. I still don't think it'll help though." She muttered under her breathe. She just hoped it wasn't a dumb show. She avoided television for a reason. The last thing she wanted was to be seeing a terrible t.v. episode for the rest of her life. Over and over and over..