Evelyn frowned slightly at Gawain's remark, some of the fun of the situation dissipating as she remembered what initiated the playful brawl. She considered letting it stay serious, or letting it go for now. Angua barked and licked her face and she decided maybe they could deal with that later.

"We can work on not getting distracted. You start." She scooted closer, intentionally planting herself inches from Gawain, petting Angua to keep from getting head butted while she was trying to be distracting.

"I'll keep talking, you don't get distracted." It took all her focus to keep the pink in her cheeks from flooding her face. She was feeling brave today though and it was helping her keep her cool at the moment. Her face still felt warm though. Maybe keeping her cool was a sort of technical thing...

>>"We can work on not getting distracted. You start. I'll keep talking, you don't get distracted."

What has gotten into Evelyn? Gawain blinked, not sure if she was teasing him, or actually trying to prove that they could work on the field. She was definitely too close for comfort, even with Angua still trying to get in on the action.

"All right" he said finally, looking at her blush dangerously close "Go ahead."

Inching away he stood, reached up, and unhooked the bow from the tree, then walked back to the archery target. Archery was a sport of concentration. Gawain had as much to prove to himself as to anyone else...

As soon as Gawain scooted away Evelyn's face returned to it's stunning shade of red for a moment. Thankfully she was pretty sure Gawain's back was turned. She was somewhat glad he moved. Her echoes were processing at a painfully choppy rate that was somewhat consistent with her hearts thundering. Personal space was something that was hard to mess with without embarrassing herself, but it was a small victory. As Gawain stood and set himself up to shoot she tried to think of something to talk about so she could try to distract him.

"So, that time that guy Kyle was here he tried to help me with my self defense. Nearly gave myself a bloody nose. Helped with a few things though." She said in a string of words. She trained the echoes in on Gawain's aim, watching for signs he was messing up, while leaning back and trying to be casual.

Her face was still red. Casual wasn't working so well.

>>"So, that time that guy Kyle was here he tried to help me with my self defense. Nearly gave myself a bloody nose. Helped with a few things though."

Gawain's arm shuddered, but the arrow flew straight out before the full meaning of what she said had sunk in. He knew she was trying to throw him off - and he also knew that she was succeeding.

Another guy, whoever this Kyle dude was, showed up at the Mansion to teach her self defense.
That was wrong on so many levels.

"And is he any good at self defense?" Gawain asked while putting the next arrow on the string, his tone calm, but unmistakably implying that he'd better be, if he wanted to survive the next encounter...

The remark seemed to work. While Gawain still managed to hit the target, his body language was shifting. Intentionally needling Gawain felt strange, but it was also turning into a matter of 'winning' or 'loosing'. Conversations like this came up between them, and should one happen on the field, they would have to work while they worked through it. Feeling like she legitimized her intentions, she continued.

>>"And is he any good at self defense?"

"Better than most people I've met. Although considering I was trying to fight off burglars with a broom when I met him that's probably a good thing. Almost got kidnapped that night. He was the one who stopped the van before it got too far though." Leaving out information here and there was likely to earn at least some reaction. Even though Gawain might have heard of the broom incident, she was fairly certain he never got the whole story of the car chase and crash, the explosions, flames....

She was careful though. Needling too much would definitely come back to bite if she nudged the 'jealousy' vibe too much. Having Mirror try to pick a fight with Kyle would probably not be the most preferable outcome of this experiment. But it was up to the mirrorwalker to work through that sensation.

>>"Better than most people I've met. Although considering I was trying to fight off burglars with a broom when I met him that's probably a good thing. Almost got kidnapped that night. He was the one who stopped the van before it got too far though."

Gawain had the sudden urge to whip around and glare at Evelyn. She knew how to push his buttons, that one was for sure. Teasing could get awkward, or way out of hand, but talking about her being in danger and rescued by another guy made Gawain see red.
Still, this was a test, and one is not allowed to randomly turn around with a strung arrow in hand. So the young knight bit the inside of his lips, his shoulder straining painfully as he drew back the arrow, trying not to think of the implications of what she was saying.

The arrow hit outside the bullseye, and Gawain rubbed his shoulder with a frown.

"I don't remember hearing about this."

Gawain might not have said anything, but his body language was yelling loud enough for the echoes to hear. Evelyn felt the tables shift a little, and it took effort on her end not to back out of the conversation. Gawain was keeping his head, she was not dodging arrows, so far that should have been good. Although it felt a little awkward now and she had to keep the color from her face.

>>"I don't remember hearing about this."

"It was before we started dating. Heck, before the riots even. I don't really like remembering that event though. Getting smacked in the head with a bronze statue has a sti--" The experiment provided an unfortunate side effect at that particular moment, as the echoes pulled up the details of the memory. Those details included a rather painful burst of pain, enough she put her hand up to her head for an injury that wasn't there. Pain was a funny thing. It was based on nerves sending signals to the brain, but when those signals were already stored in the brain...

She stayed on her feet. All things considered, that was a step up for her. She squinted at the target and waved her hand at it. "Keep shooting." She remarked, voice firm regardless of the slight waver the memory set into it.

>>"It was before we started dating. Heck, before the riots even. I don't really like remembering that event though. Getting smacked in the head with a bronze statue has a sti--"

Gawain's next arrow barely stuck in the edge of the target as he turned around to see what was wrong. Evelyn was still standing, definitely flushed, and he caught the tail end of a painful frown on her face. His educated guess pointed to an echo or a playback, and his frown mirrored her own.

>>"Keep shooting."

She really seemed determined to make this a test. Gawain turned back to the target and stuck a row of arrows into the ground at his feet.

"How bad is it?" he asked, picking up the first one "When you get playbacks of stuff like that. Is it as bad as when you're asleep?"

Gawain's next question was a welcomed distraction, and Evelyn keyed in on it to pull herself out of the memory. Pain dissipated almost as quickly as it had come, but the mental rattling stayed for a little bit. Having something to answer though was like a ladder to climb out with.

"It's sort of a yes and no answer I guess.... It depends on how much I'm focusing on it. It's like if you stare straight at the sun or sort of off next to it. Most of the time I'm not getting the full force of memories. I'll get faces and names and information, but the actual details like pain and experiences only pop up when I sleep." She watched Gawain's shooting, noting the one arrow clinging to the edge of the target. Obviously, your girlfriend's brain trying to break her was distracting enough to almost miss...

"I must have had that playback recently though. It was....pretty close." She finally said, crossing her arms across her chest and leaning back against the tree. She sifted for something more recent with a pleasant element to it.

>>"It's sort of a yes and no answer I guess.... It depends on how much I'm focusing on it. It's like if you stare straight at the sun or sort of off next to it. Most of the time I'm not getting the full force of memories. I'll get faces and names and information, but the actual details like pain and experiences only pop up when I sleep."

Her voice was a little bit strained, but whatever the truth was about the playback, she seemed to be handling it pretty well. Gawain counted back in his mind, and settled in for a series of rapid fire.

>>"I must have had that playback recently though. It was....pretty close."

"So." the first arrow flew out and he already had the second in hand.

"... does it, like, work the same way?"

The second arrow hit outside the bullseye, and he reached for the third.

"... with pleasant memories, I mean."

The third arrow inched closer to the center.

"If you concentrate on them. Do they get as strong as the bad ones?"

The fourth arrow hit right next to the third. Not quite on target.

>>"Does it, like, work the same way? With pleasant memories, I mean."[/b]

Evelyn started to nod, then realized they were still working on the concentration testing. She answered out loud as the echoes shifted to study Gawain's shooting. "Pretty much the same. That's why I ended up liking art so much. If I keep stuff around to focus in on the good memories, it's less likely I deal with a bad memory. But beyond that what I remember is sort of random. Same intensity, but unless I like....meditate on something to specifically get information there's not much control over specific memories I get..." She felt like she was rambling. Maybe she was. A lot of how her powers worked was trial and error for her. Sleeping next to an adapted and busting her brain? Trial and error. Getting electrocuted and learning that set off the playbacks? Trial and error.

Trying to join a mutant super-hero team with no offensive skills? Trial and error.

"Swimming. That was a good memory. And I can still remember it pretty clearly." She smiled, the echoes taking a break to see where Angua had wandered off to.

>>"Pretty much the same. That's why I ended up liking art so much. If I keep stuff around to focus in on the good memories, it's less likely I deal with a bad memory. But beyond that what I remember is sort of random. Same intensity, but unless I like....meditate on something to specifically get information there's not much control over specific memories I get..."

It seemed like talking about them was one was Evelyn tried to work out her own powers. Mental powers were always less straight than physical ones, and Gawain could not even begin to comprehend the work that could go into figuring them out, especially without help. Whatever she was planning on doing with the X-men, she needed to get a grip on that first.

Another arrow flew out, and inched closer to the bullseye.

>>"Swimming. That was a good memory. And I can still remember it pretty clearly."

"Yeah me too" Gawain smirked, allowing himself to call up the mental image of Eve in a swimsuit while he reached for the next arrow. "And I don' even need playbacks for that."

Evelyn's face went pink again, but this time a smile was on her face. As embarrassed as she got sometimes, she was still enjoying the attention. Having a bodyguard had prevented a lot of trouble, but also a lot of fun. Part of her still got nervous without the protection, but she enjoyed the freedom whenever she could.

"Well, even if I can remember it, it'd still be fun to do again. I'll have to drag you out sometime too. I never got to just go out on a nice dinner date when Jensen was around. I think it may be nice to see what I missed. And if it's awful you have full permission to ditch me through the dinnerware." She smirked, glancing at the target. The shots were getting better so at least the conversation shift wasn't effecting Gawain's aim as much.

A nudge at her leg reminded her of someone else needing attention. Evelyn obliged and gave into the demands for pets. "I never did have any pets. I do occasionally feel like I've been missing something though..." She remarked.

>>"Well, even if I can remember it, it'd still be fun to do again. I'll have to drag you out sometime too. I never got to just go out on a nice dinner date when Jensen was around. I think it may be nice to see what I missed. And if it's awful you have full permission to ditch me through the dinnerware."

"I would be a really poor knight..." Gawain observed, almost missing his next shot "... if my girlfriend had to drag me out on a date."

It was kind of embarrassing, really. With the X-team and the riots and everything else, they definitely neglected normal young adult dating life...

"As long as ya promise I get a kiss at the end of the night, I'm game" he added, smirking at her over his shoulder before he sent the next arrow on its way.

>>"I never did have any pets. I do occasionally feel like I've been missing something though..."

"Angua is awesome" Gawain agreed. He was out of arrows, so he walked over to pet the hound on the head too "She ended up with me by accident. I never regretted it, though."

Evelyn, having pretty much lacked a dating life at all, had yet to realize there was anything she was missing. But the echoes were quite the tattle tales and figured whatever it was Gawain felt a sliver of guilt over it. She shrugged it off with a smile, though, knowing with all the chaos time to hang out had been rare anyway.

>>"I would be a really poor knight... if my girlfriend had to drag me out on a date."

"I think our relationship had a fair amount of dragging in it from the start, so one way or the other we'll get somewhere. But I don't mind, as long as that kiss stays in the deal." She smiled. She was doing good not getting embarrassed today. Maybe it was progress. Maybe it was the training mindset kicking in.

>>"Angua is awesome. She ended up with me by accident. I never regretted it, though."

She glanced back down at Angua and the line of drool starting to stain her pantleg. Ok, that was sort of gross, but the happy expression sort of made her forgive it. "Maybe someday. Although, i have no idea how compatible I'd be trying to take care of something full time. It would either be good practice at controlling my echoes, or I'd quickly loose my mind."