It was probably best if he didn't think too much about this. Again. He'd decided it was a good idea when it was nice and distant in the future, only now it was here and he really didn't want to deal with this. He certainly did not want to think about what was going to happen on the other side of the extremely intimidating door he was walking towards now.

Not that he hadn't gone through it before, of course. He had. The first time had been okay right up until it led to several days of extreme depression and self-hatred that didn't break until he picked up a fever and somehow spilled his guts in the midst of a delirium he really couldn't remember even now. Probably for the best. He did remember things being really, really weird with his roommate for a while.

And there was the door.

Oh look! It disappeared if he ducked backwards. Except he had to keep going. And go in. And do... something. He really didn't want to find out, or think about what might be required of him once he went in. It was supposed to lead to good things. That was worth something, wasn't it?

Aiden wasn't so sure, but it was enough to get him to knock on the closed door and hope that whatshisface was there already. Hanging out here alone would be awkward. ... So would admitting that he couldn't remember the guy's name.

"Not good enough... Try... eh... I dunno... 500 pounds, 30 feet."

As if some sort of magic was about the place, an anvil, comically labeled 500lbs materialized exactly 30 feet above his outstretched arm, and was taken by the grip of gravity, making contact, and then bouncing off as if it were a feather to crash into the ground noisily.

"Yeah... heh heh... That's more like it!" His teeth chattered a little bit as he spoke, as if there were a chill about. There wasn't, though perhaps there might be one soon. The new fully fledged X-man twirled his signature crowbar about, feeling the energy tingle in his right arm. It acted as a battery, holding the force of all impacts, and allowing him to amplify and distribute it out to his desire. In short, Hit me, it don't hurt, but this will.

It had earned him the mutant name "Masochist," and his reputation for being one of the more brutal X-men trainees was certainly out and about. That was sorta his fault... For a long time, he'd been... Well, Grumpy. Whether he was running his security shift, or out fighting crime, he tended to be a little harsh. Looking back, he could have handled many situations a lot better, but where life had been complicated and downward aiming before, everything was looking up now.

Finally, he'd been granted full X-Men status, he was engaged to be wed, and now he was about to run his first trainee tryout! In his eagerness, he'd arrived a bit... well... okay, three hours early. He'd spent that time messing around with the danger room, and his ability.

Now, as he prepared to throw his crowbar into a car parked across from him in the otherwise blank white room, present company of many scattered anvils and weights included, he heard a knocking on the door; more accurately, he heard the comm system kick on to inform him someone was at the door, as a 3 inch thick metal slab didn't often carry noise too well.

"Wassat again... Oh yeah. Permit entry." He then let loose with the crowbar...


CCRRAAAASH!

The weapon rocked the car, tearing deep into the hood, and totally destroying the motor for the desired effect.

"Heh heh... Maybe that was a little much... Well, C'mon in, man, we got all day, but this might take that long!" He hadn't met this kid, but Cafas spoke well of him, with the note that he was a little... Odd. Didn't talk a whole lot, not a lotta smiling. That kinda stuff. That kinda stuff wasn't a requirement, here, though.

"Prolly best I introduce myself; I'm Saphirus, strange name, long story. Folks call me the Masochist." He looked to the kid, aiming to size him up as he presumably entered.

The door opened. There wasn't anyone immediately inside.

Then all hell broke loose.

To his credit, Aiden didn't bolt, and it wasn't because he was rooted to the floor in abject terror. Sure, the resounding crash was seriously unsettling, and definitely unexpected, but this was the Danger Room. Things went boom. Plus no one was screaming.

Nevertheless, it was still with some trepidation that Aiden stepped into the room. It gradually morphed into mild confusion at the sight of weights and... were those anvils? Seriously? apparently anvils littered everywhere. The lone person inside seemed to be fine with the chaos, though, so that was reassuring. Even if physical strength was obvious one of the teacher-guy's virtues, and one Aiden wasn't known for.

"Aiden," he replied warily as he approached. This Saphirus guy didn't look particularly intimidating, so the crashing and destruction and utterly mangled care was probably mutation-related. Yay. His gaze slid back to Saphirus at the man's alternate name, though. Did he really want to know where that name had come from?

The sizing up went... okay. Saph nodded a little. He'd been around a bit; from experience he could tell this kid was either an athlete or a fighter. He clearly wasn't Saph's kind of fighter, that was for sure; where Saph's movements tended to be harsh and solid, this kid carried himself like a finesse fighter, which made sense due to his slimmer frame.

"End simulation." Everything but his crowbar fizzled out, including the damage on the ground from the dropped weights. The crowbar clanked unceremoniously to the ground where the car was. "Aiden... You got a funny name too, then. We should form a club, eh?" The older X-Man turned and walked over to retrieve his crowbar, appreciating it's weight for a moment before sliding into the custom made holster on his belt.

"So, Aiden... Why are you here?" Blunt, yes, that was kinda his thing. "Lotsa people try out for the X-Men, and for many different reasons... What's yours?" He stared intently for a moment, giving the younger man time to think about the question. "Well?"

It was all the Danger Room's illusions, then. He had thought so; the ability was kind of the point of working in the space. The... crowbar? was real, though. So Saphirus had brought it himself. If he brought it, it was personal. Aiden didn't want to get hit with a crowbar.

He felt his eye twitch slightly behind his sunglasses. His name was not funny. It had its basis in his heritage, not some random assortment of sounds crammed together at random with neither thought nor care. "My name doesn't have a long story," he said, a little coolly but still evenly.

Any irritation or anger he felt quickly became obsolete. Knew that was coming, still didn't appreciate getting smacked with it. And the staring really didn't help. He shifted awkwardly, almost entirely from the weight of Saphirus' gaze before he managed to fight it off enough to answer. "I don't want to be useless, and I don't want people to get hurt. Figured this was the best way to do that right now." By the end, he managed to straighten up at least a little, and look mostly at Saphirus. Sunglasses were nice for that. It usually wasn't obvious that he wasn't actually making eye contact.

"My name doesn't have a long story."

Snarky little cuss, wasn't he? Saph didn't mind; He remembered very clearly when anything could set him off, or stir a sour mood in him. Hell, it wasn't too long ago, actually.

"Ah. Got a chip on that shoulder, then? Heh heh... S'gud. That can be turned into something productive." He listened intently to the kid's reason for wanting to be one of the X-Men. He smiled a little as the boy gave a rather interesting answer:

"I don't want to be useless, and I don't want people to get hurt. Figured this was the best way to do that right now." Well, That was an interesting way to word things. He stared a moment longer, and then, well...

"Hah! I can't say you don't have the right reasons... Two more things I gotta find out, though... First... Are you made of the right stuff? We can test that now, actually. Ask the room for a weapon, what ever suits you; You will then attack me. I won't strike back at first, just do what you can to damage me. Go all out, I promise I'll be fine." Saphirus spoke confidently as he slowly drew his crowbar, passing it to his right hand, and preparing for what ever Aiden had to offer..

"Oh... and take those damned sunglasses off. You look silly."

Aiden did not have a chip on his shoulder just because he didn't appreciate his name being insulted. If it somehow improved Saphirus' opinion of him, though, there was nothing he could rationally do to get rid of the description. Was it an insult if arguing against it was what would reduce his perceived standing?

This was why he didn't like socializing. People and their interactions were too complicated.

Okay, two things. That didn't sound too bad. And the first he had known was coming; it was kind of hard to be part of a defensive force if you couldn't defend yourself. There wasn't any question about what he was going to ask for either, although he had a hard time getting over the idea of talking to a room, especially with other people present.

Aiden closed his mouth and looked back at Saphirus. His choice of eyewear was none of anyone else's business. Still, actually making Saphirus mad was probably one of the stupidest things he could come up with, at this time or at any other. Except maybe hunting down Isabel and making her mad. Hm... at least he knew he'd die in that case. He wasn't sure if he'd survive an angry assault from Saphirus or not. He didn't want to find out, though.

"I don't wear them to look cool," he said, forcing a dry touch to his cool tone. Now. Details to counteract a crowbar and someone who could clearly supply an immense amount of force. He couldn't withstand sheer force. Trying would be stupid. So. Deflection and speed. He eyed Saphirus for a moment longer. Just speed. A lot of force could make even something as clumsy and unaerodynamic as a crowbar move fast and with potentially high dexterity, and it was probably a regular tool of Saphirus'; he'd be very used to wielding it.

So. Durability in terms of taking a blow was probably useless. They only needed to be strong enough to land a solid blow. How long was the crowbar? Saphirus looked to be about the same height, and unless he had some unusual trick for lunging with a crowbar, Aiden should have a basic advantage in reach. So. "Blunt french-grip rapiers, one slightly heavier," he said shortly, forcing his concentration to override the awkwardness of talking to a room. When the weapons appeared, he caught one in each hand, but almost immediately swapped them. With the heavier blade in his left hand, he gave his wrists a moment to work out their balance.

He may have briefly forgotten about Saphirus then. These blades were infinitely better balanced than his ratty old imitation things, even if they were made of light and didn't really exist. It was going to suck so bad going back to his real ones. Oh, right. Saphirus. He shuddered at the thought of attacking him, but didn't he have to trust that a xman could take care of himself - against someone like Aiden especially - and that even if he somehow couldn't, the danger room would handle things? He was trying to prove he could handle himself; Saphirus had, by virtue of his position, already proven that.

So he walked towards him, blades held neutrally tip-down. He really didn't want to have to do this -

but he pivoted his rear foot when he was close enough, found his balance, and struck: right bladetip to just below Saphirus' left collarbone, left curving in and up for Saphirus' right wrist.

Odd. Usually when you provoked an opponent by assuring them they could not hurt you, they charged right in. It seemed this kid had a healthy sense of caution about him. That got him some points. Saph remained silent as the young man commented about his glasses, and watched as he called forth his weapons.

Interesting. He'd fought against people who favored swords before, but never two long, thin bladed weapons at once; at least not held by the same person. Man, he'd really been in a lot of fights, hadn't he? Jees... It was like there was an endless supply of would-be villains and gangsters out there.

Still, this was new, and Saphirus really had to question the choice; wouldn't there be a risk of entanglement? Yeah, he would have to point that out.

Now, approaching Saph, it would be easy to note that his guard was unusual; He held his weapon in his right hand, though it heavily guarded his left side; it was almost like he didn't fear a strike destined for a whole half of his body, though a more experienced fighter might guess he was baiting an attack to the open side, and perhaps being a bit too confident about it.

Aiden made the first move, as requested. It was an interesting one; he struck with both blades, which, considering their equal lengths, required him to stand square to Saphirus. Saphirus quickly stepped at an angle toward the thrusting side, catching the tip of the blade meant for his collar bone near the handle of his crowbar, and pushing quite dangerously across his body, rather than toward the outside, so that it instead briefly found home on his right pec, which oddly enough, seemed to do no damage whatsoever, he then continued moving it until the blade was in the way of the secondary strike; this would leave both of Aiden's swords on one side of his body, putting the younger combatant in a bad position.

Saphirus would then, having closed the distance with his first step, reach out and attempt to pluck the sunglasses right from Aiden's face. "Don't care why they're there. Off with em." He would then disengaged with a heavy shove.

Fighting real people was weird. Simming fights in his head to work out dynamics and movements was one thing, shadow-sparring with trees was another. People complicated things.

Details, details, details. He needed details. Saphirus guarded his left from his right. Honest sensitivity or ruse? Either way, he was probably more proficient with his right hand, as a left-handed left guard would be way more effective. Extended limbs were weaknesses, areas that couldn't respond as aggressively and often as quickly. More details. Saphirus was experienced. Duh. Definitely an advantage for him there. Aiden wasn't used to dealing with people.

He couldn't put the details aside as he moved. Saphirus reacted to the collarbone strike. Reasonable, but noted. The block was awkward, though, or normally would have been. An inward parry, and one that didn't even manage to clear Saphirus' body.

Aiden's eyes narrowed thoughtfully when his right bladetip visibly struck Saphirus, but the stiff blade didn't so much as quiver. Most distinctly curious. Intentional? He was fighting someone with a force-based mutation. But he was growing distracted; continuing to give no unnecessary resistance to the crowbar through his right blade, he dropped his left tip, stepped to his left, and brought his right foot behind him, neatly retracting his right blade.

Aiden noticed two things at roughly the same time; the less stressful came slightly earlier, and so was able to be computed before the more stressful was processed. The general heat he was gradually getting used to was gone, and he could breathe easier. A vague white motion by his left shoulder, travelling outwards and upwards, was enough without looking at it.

Okay. Here was hoping Saphirus wasn't too used to fighting in winter.

And then he realized that his opponent was going for his sunglasses. Oh shi-

Wait. Snow. This wasn't going to be resolved quickly. Snow was already settling onto what he could see of himself without changing where he looked. What was one eye that changed faster than the other, when there were already growing patches of white spreading away from the heaviest band of drifting snow? So he let Saphirus take his sunglasses, and so was able to see the forceful disengage looming.

A quick step backward, eyes narrowed slightly while his eyes adjusted to the light - no, Aiden kept his left foot moving, bringing himself around until his right foot was fully forwards and he was to Saphirus' left. Getting shoved? Bad idea. Okay. This was either as bad or somehow worse than he expected. Giving up wasn't going to help anything, and so retreat wasn't a viable option. With his right foot forward, his left side had seriously restricted range and mobility. Saphirus was fast enough to take advantage of either rotation on his right, and he didn't have the reach to do anything if he dropped his right foot back. There was nothing for it- hm. Aiden held his left blade diagonally across his chest, squared himself, and struck out for Saphirus' lower left shoulder. "What other people wear is none of your concern," he said, almost distractedly, as he moved, a swirl of snow caught in the path of his striking blade and seeming to wrap around it.

Aiden wasn't helpless. Cafas had mentioned as much, and Saphirus wasn't surprised when he didn't allow himself to drop like a sack of bricks. A pair of sun glasses were carelessly discarded behind the X-Man's back. Already, Aiden was changing. The room was getting colder... This was his ability kicking in.

Careful footwork on Aiden's part prevented a major fumble, and put him in place to attack once more; Saphirus quickly adopted a right foot forward stance in order to cut off availability to his vulnerable left shoulder; Had Aiden already discovered his weak side, or was he still just testing the waters? Either way, he couldn't let this go too much further; the real tryout hadn't even begun yet!

An easy parry with his crowbar allowed him an opportunity to respond with an attack, though it wasn't toward his opponent, but rather his thin bladed weapon; he moved his body so that he was parallel with the strike, encouraging follow-through with it just enough for him to join his hands together on the crowbar with it still in contact with the weapon; normally this would leave his whole right side open for attack from the secondary weapon, but he clearly wasn't worried about that. With practiced ease he let go of his weapon with his right arm, caught the slim blade in the arc of his own, and twisted.

Normally, it would just lock the weapon up, making it harder to move for a moment, though with plenty of kick from some added gathered force, it would be enough to snap the blade cleanly half way down it's length. It might seem an impossibility, as people often underestimated the flexibility of such swords, but enough force applied to a small enough area always did the trick!

"Alright, alright, not bad Snowflake, but before you get too worked up... I want you to tell me about my ability." He dropped his guard wide open, and stood disarmingly; the fight appeared to be over. "what have you gathered?"

Those sunglasses had better not get broken. He couldn't count on replacements as readily as he had managed last time.

Okay, scrap his thought. Saphirus... moved into range to shield his left? That was very interesting. Aiden wasn't so interested a moment later, though, when his opponent traded hands with his crowbar... and snapped his blade. Normal people would have just hit it with the crowbar. A proper strike from that would be plenty to ruin a weapon designed for rigidity.

Excellent time to use two, and to avoid that happening again. Or not, as Saphirus disengaged and disarmed. Was that enough for him? Evidently. Aiden shifted his grip on the intact blade and passed the shattered one's hilt to it before walking past Saphirus to reclaim his sunglasses... and move out of the snow for a while. Better to cancel things before they got too far.

Tucking his glasses back into place, he was facing away from Saphirus when he began to answer but turned back to him soon enough. "You're really obvious that you don't want your left side getting hit," he said bluntly, less than impressed by the nickname. "Good enough at deal with it that it's permanent and long-term, but still." He paused, sorting through his collected details and trying to assemble them into a proper image. The mangled car was quite happy to intrude, and the blade that normally would have had to be forced into bending considerably before snapping like that. "Force. Applied and... absorbed?" he finished hesitantly, thinking of the blade tip catching on Saphirus' chest and feeling like he was trying to cut through fog.

The kid clearly didn't like the nickname, but he was of mild enough temper not to make a big deal out of it... at least for now... He'd have to test that more... Was he bigger than getting angry at annoying little nicknames, or was he internalizing it for a later occasion?

"Force. Applied and... absorbed?" A wide grin appeared on the older man's face.

"Excellent. You see... Anyone can make themselves dangerous, any weakling can be taught to hit someone with a stick, but the ability to go into a situation knowing nothing, and come out knowing something... That's tough to teach, and even tougher to learn. That's what I was talking about when I mentioned being make of the right stuff... A smart hero, strong or not, saves lives." He nodded his head. That was good; He'd given the kid just enough to go on; the weights and the damaged car, allowing him to make contact with his weapon just once, presenting his right side openly whilst protecting his left side heavily. He did a good job finding that out. Odd, though, that Aiden retrieved his glasses before even talking about it.

"Why do you wear the shades, Snowflake?" Yup, that name was sticking. It was most definitely going to stick. Stuck. Stuck stuck stuck. Hah. "You got something to hide?"

He slid his crowbar back into it's holster, where it swing loosely, looking as if it would scrape against the ground if he crouched just a little bit. The fresh X-Man placed his hands on his hips as he awaited the young man's response.

There was indeed an effective point to all of this. That was definitely a good sign. Intelligent people did generally make for better environments, and if he really did have to work with people to get by in this horribly large world, well, he'd much rather work with intelligent people than incompetent idiots. People were stressful enough to start with; who needed extra aggravation?

Which Saphirus seemed bent on providing regardless of the intelligence of the current system. Why did people have to comment on his sunglasses? Staring was one thing, a little extra attention. Generally there wasn't anything to hold that extra attention, so he could tolerate it until it passed. It was better than all the flack he'd undoubtedly get for going around without them, even if he wasn't going to set people on fire with his gaze or anything dangerous like that.

"Some things just make everyone awkward." Like bringing up topics that people clearly didn't want to talk about. Being a mutant was one thing, and he was doing pretty well with that. Being a mutant with his powers completely on permanent autopilot was another thing, and though one of those mixed blessing-curse things, he was mostly over it. Being stared at because the pressure of his gaze was so lopsided was quite another, and even here people weren't going to treat him the same. To be completely and utterly honest, his light-dark eyes were downright creepy.

Saphirus nodded slowly as the kid spoke up about his glasses. What he'd seen when he pulled them off must not have been temporary...

"Some things just make everyone awkward."

"This mansion is meant to be a place where people who are different can go to be different. I think you would be shocked at how accepting the people here are... When I first came here, I was homeless... I was a criminal. They accepted me with open arms when I'd hurt people with my mutation. If there was ever a place you didn't have to hide, it's here. Yeah, people are people, and for a while they were stare, or be wary; I know they did when I arrived, but soon enough I was part of the family. I would gladly die for any of those people up there." He pointed up, where the mansion stood.

"Trust us, and when you feel like it's the right time... I'd like to see you walk around with those off."

He smiled warmly, and then it slowly turned into a grin. "Now, You ain't done with your trial. You see... The first part tests if you're here for the right reasons, the second tells me if you're made of the right stuff... Part three... Well, if you wanna be an X-Man, you really gotta want it. This will test how bad you want it. Good luck! Heh... heh heh heh. Begin simulation!" Saphirus then stepped back, and disappeared beneath an invisible veil of light.


The room then suddenly blurred and shifted into... kid's room? It was all pink.. girl's room? Yup. A very pink girl's room. There was a mess of toys across the ground...

"Begin level 1, trainee test." Saph's voice came from everywhere. Suddenly the ground would rush up, and the walls, the bed, everything would seem to grow larger. Or was Aiden shrinking? By the end of it, the young mutant would be the size of a toy. His tiny weapons would be placed at his side, apparently in perfect condition once more.

"I hope you like playing with barbies, snowflake, because they want to play, too."

With that warning, a barbie doll, stiff joints and all, slowly rose to it's feet, snapping into place, and turning toward the would-be trainee.... She had a butcher's knife in her little plastic hand. Several other lady-dolls started climbing to their feet and staggering forward as the first approached and attempted a clumbsy strike. "Oh my gosh, I hope I don't chip a nail~"

Acceptance speech. Yes, he knew the theory. Yes, he saw that tails and horns and wings blended in quite well. Those were symmetrical, though. He got a headache trying to figure out which eye to look at in the mirror, and then having the contrast glare at him from his peripheral vision.

Quietly sliding past the whole dying for people deal, Aiden found himself growing just a bit apprehensive as Saphirus's mood leapt upwards. Amusement like that probably didn't bode well, and he found out soon enough that he was completely correct.

So.

Much.

Pink.

Was this what a girl's room actually looked like? He'd never been in one, not having sisters and definitely not having any female friends. He prodded a toy with one toe, only to have it balloon and grow. Um. Right. Smash-happy guy at the controls of a room that could make anything. And somehow he came up with a giant princess room littered with toys.

OH GOD THE TOYS WERE ALIVE.

Aiden didn't even notice the nickname; he was tossing his (fixed) swords to their appropriate hands and looking for somewhere he could narrow the shambling group down. There may have been a continuous stream of muttering in his head, but though his face was a little pale his mouth remained closed. Okay. Not much he could rely on for protection or use to bottleneck them. Okay. There weren't... too many of them... Right?

He'd deal with the logic of a giant animated Barbie doll holding onto a butcher knife later. And hopefully forget about what it suggested about Saphirus' mind, to have come up with such a scenario. Okay, Barbie was moving like its joints were where they appeared to be. How were they made? What would keep them down? Dismantling them? Hopefully not; his swords would be rather useless for that. Wrenching Barbie's head off a few times over with his bare hands didn't sound very appealing, though.

... Okay, he had an idea. Which was good, because the first Barbie was right in front of him.

Ohcomeon. Aiden sidestepped the doll's attack easily, marking the direction of movement its arm appeared to be capable of. No guarantee that taking the thing's head off would stop it, but if it had no arms it shouldn't be able to hold a weapon. That was a start. Surprisingly good time to have a rapier; no sharp edges along the length of it! Aiden shifted his grip on one, lodged the hilt in the Barbie's armpit, and tried to wrench it out of its socket.