"I'm not asking for typical," Juliette grinned, "just maybe a few less lions next time?" And maybe not spending half the time under fear of being shot by human supremacists. You know, just regular ol' not endangerment. She figured it shouldn't be too large of a bill.

"What, you don't think you can handle yourself?" She raised her eyebrows as she joked. She did feel sort of bad for just standing around, but she didn't feel the need to let Sam know that. "I thought you were a fearless lion fighter, or was I way off base?"

She blasted the lion stalking towards her with a mid-sized blast, causing it to move backwards in pain. It kept going, but stopped after another, stronger blast to the head. Juliette had begun to draw from the light in the danger room, and some of the surroundings had started to disappear. 

She turned and shot another blast at one of the lions that Sam had pinned, shooting it down right away. It would be easier if she just absorbed all the lions, but it would also make her a bit of a spoilsport.

”Just as long as you don’t think I’d be too boring without them." Sam said as he was being forced down to the ground under the weight of one of the lions that had jumped him. Sam frowned and knew fighting against the lions strength would be pointless but he did it anyways to impress Juliette a bit. The blast of light blinded him temporarily for a second both visions blurred and he felt the weight of a paw hitting him hard. Sam hit the ground and rolled and he got up to his feet slowly regaining his thermal vision.

Sam made sure not to say anything about Juliette’s powers affecting his own because he didn’t want to discourage her from helping. If she had no trouble blasting a gunman Sam wanted to see what else she was capable of and if he asked her to hold back then he’d still be curious. ”I can handle some lions all day. Nothing but a bunch of pussycats.” Sam said shooting one beam at a lion then another.

Another loud roar and Sam’s ice armor shattered. Sam grunted and grabbed his ears from the force of the sonic boom followed by the roar. Sam flew back a bit and fell to a knee. Ice armor started to coat his body again as the humanoid charge him and kicked him in the chest, hard. Sam flew back a few feet and rolled. ”Hate, hate hate. Loud mouths.” Sam grunted trying to pull some air into his lungs as two more lions charged the icemancer.

"Boring?" Juliette huffed and shot another blast at an oncoming lion. "Hardly." Her day had been anything but boring. It was probably the most action she had seen in her life. Sam, however, didn't even seem phased by it all. She figured he had probably seen more than just that in his life.

She glanced at him with a frown. He seemed to be distracted by her blasts each time, which wasn't a good thing. She wasn't going to be much help to him if every time she did something she caused him to be out of commission. It may have had something to do with the fact that his powers were to do with the cold, or maybe with his one eye. She focused on aiming her blasts a little farther out of his vision so they would bother him less.

Another obnoxious roar sounded near Sam, shattering his armour. Juliette felt herself be pushed back slightly with the residual sonic blast from the sound. The heels of her foot hung off the edge of the falls, and she was forced to put her arms behind her to steady herself. She really hadn't realized just how close to the edge she was.

She made a noise of agreement with Sam as her expression hardened. The lions were starting to get annoying, and an occasional blast didn't seem to be cutting it. Her body shifted to energy form, and she hoped that it wouldn't throw Sam off too much. 

Juliette approached the two lions that had begun to charge Sam and shot a blast at the closer of the two. This time, she could get much closer, but she also was forced to draw more light from the simulation. The lion staggered back and swung at her with its claws unsheathed. It drew back immediately as it touched her, finding that it did more damage to touch her than it had assumed.

Sam’s ears were continued to ring as his headache got worse his lungs finally filled with air but it was hard to see and feel what was going on. Lowering the temperature around him things started to become clear Juliette was on fire or at least it seemed like it her body was glowing under his sixth sense causing him to avert his gaze from her. His power tired to compensate by continuing to lower the temperature in the surrounding area causing the water to freeze and trees nearby to coat over in frost. His eye started to glow bright blue when he looked at Juliette’s form. Even his normal vision could barely stay focused on Juliette’s form.

”Hot.” Sam yelled at Juliette as she went toe to with the lions. Sam smirked and focused on the less bright figures in his field of view. Sam raised his hand and shot a few beams of ice. The ice-mancer did his best to keep his gaze averted from Juliette but it was difficult no matter where she was, she was in view due to the heat she was giving off. Sam formed a staff made of ice and swatted a female lion as she charge at Sam. Another swat and another lion was batted away. The faint rumbling of a roar started and Sam realized that the humanoid had snuck up on him. No one had managed to sneak up on him since his sixth sense had become active that was until Juliette distracted him.

Sam smirked as it was fitting, she was as bright as the sun. Turning towards the rumbling sound Sam shot his fist out and landed a punch at the humanoids throat. The humanoid doubled over and gasped at his throat and started to cough profusely. Sam then raised his hand and shot a beam of ice at the humanoid. ”Absorb him?” Sam asked winced as he shifted his thermal sense towards her.

>>"Absorb him?"

Juliette nodded quickly. Yeah, that was probably the best move at that point. She had refrained from doing so until then since she had thought Sam wanted time to show off, but the way he was acting seemed to say otherwise. She tried not to dwell too much on the fact that it probably had a lot to do with her powers. The longer she thought about that, the worse she felt.

She stuck out her hand and focused on the humanoid lion. She had been trying her best to only absorb the environment and not the animals, so it took some refocusing. As soon as she did, though, the lion immediately disappeared.

Juliette shot off another blast at an approaching lion, and then shifted back to her regular form to make things easier on Sam. She was at a good balance of energy as it was, but she knew that if she absorbed too much more that it would start to be an issue.

"Are you doing alright?" She asked Sam with a concerned expression.

With the lion humanoid gone the other lions seemed to get the message. All but the one Juliette blasted. The others found their way back into the forest and his sixth sense seemed to be handling things again. It helped that the sun in front of him went back to her human form. His head was throbbing and he simply gave Juliette a thumb up. ”Never better.” Sam lied he knew that the scenery now was just that As soon as the humanoid was defeated all the animals would go back to normal. Between the sound of the roar and the intense heat that Juliette gave off Sam’s head felt worse than when his eye was taken.

Sam shook his head and then produced a flask to dull some of the pain. He knew that she probably wouldn’t approve most people didn’t after a training session but he needed something to help with his intense migraine. ”Knew you were hot but not that intense.” Sam looked as the mists from the falls intensified, which helped with his head, ”How are you?” as if she was the one that was having an issue.

>>"Never better."

"Right," Juliette scoffed and shook her head with a sigh. "You know I'm not entirely stupid, right? I can tell when someone's in pain. It has been my job for the last year and a half." Plus, she had seen Sam injured more in the last two times she had seen him than anyone ever before.

"I'm fine," she replied quickly. "You don't need to worry about me."

There was the flask again. Did he have it on him at all times? It seemed like it was a bigger problem then she had first assumed, and it was getting harder to ignore. She would keep doing it, though. It was easier to just ignore it. She did give him a sideways glance, though.

"Do my powers mess with yours?" She finally asked him in an outright, completely ineloquent tone. That way hopefully he wouldn't be able to dodge the question as easily.

Sam smirked when she started to give him a little attitude, ”Never claimed you were.” Sam said as he walked towards a nearby river and sat at the bank. It wasn’t far from where they were and there were for the moment neither crocodiles around nor anything that would pose an immediate threat. The flask disappeared when he sat and he shifted his attention towards Juliette. ”Well you are very good at it.” Sam said trying to flatter her a bit in hopes of a distraction.

”No, you're right, I don’t but…” Sam shrugged a little his headache vanishing with less information around him and a little alcohol in his system. The fact that she wasn’t burning so bright helped and that there wasn’t a ton of heat signatures nearby. ”Habit. I’m a team-leader, a teacher and I’m told I have a hero complex.” that was Sam in a nutshell. He didn’t think he was a hero but had the urge to throw himself in danger if it meant saving someone else.

”Kinda.” Sam replied flatly in turn as he looked out into the river as if he was waiting for something. ”Not a ton of people know, but when my eye was taken back in Romania my mutation adapted for the lack of depth perception. I have a sixth sense, more of a thermal vision and when I see something as hot as you are.” Sam pointed to his head, ”A lot of information to take in. I wasn’t ready for it but.. It won’t be a problem next time.” Sam said thinking more about it.

Next time he’d either shut off his sixth sense or turn the focus off around her. He had done it with Kate before but he knew about Kate’s powers. He should have inquired more about Juliette’s.

”So, how do you like the not boring kinda dates?” he asked with a smirk his sixth sense reaching out around him again but making sure not to focus too much on Juliette.

"Yeah, well, the years of school weren't for nothing," she pointed out with a smirk, still trying to hold onto an air of not being distracted by flattery. Even if she was. He really was good at shifting the attention off of himself. She tried again to ignore the flask, but her eyes couldn't help but follow it.

"What do you teach?" She inquired curiously. An X-man, a part-time cop and a teacher. She wondered how he had found the time to help her out, and now the time to just sit and talk in the danger room. 

Kinda. There was the answer she had been searching for. Even if it hurt to hear that it was the truth. But, it was better not to sugar coat it and pretend that it wasn't an issue. "You're sure it won't be an issue? Is there a way to not focus on me or something?". Thermal vision sounded useful, and she would have hated to force him not to use it when he needed to or something.

"Well, they live up to their name, I'll give you that," she grinned and walked over to where Sam was sitting. She took a seat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. The view was incredible where they were sitting, even if some of it had been partially absorbed and was starting to fade. "What do you think?"

”Self-defense.” Sam said as if that was the only thing he could teach. In his mind that was pretty much all that he was capable of, it was pretty much all he had learned growing up, other than killing, flying aircrafts, guns and the like. Teaching self defense was the most productive thing he could think of.

”No, I don’t think it will be an issue. I fought people with powers similar to the heat output you have. Just wasn’t ready for it.” Sam said staring as the view. The mist from the waterfall gave him a little more focus on everything around him. Juliette was still the warmest thing in the room even if he was trying not to focus on her. ”Not sure I want to try it though, I like admiring your beauty.” Sam said with a smirk trying to soften the mood a bit so it wasn’t so serious even if it was true.

When she sat down next to him he was a little surprised and when she rested her head on his shoulder he was even more surprised but tried not to show it other than a smile. ”I think this might be one of the best ‘not boring dates’ I’ve ever had. Currently staring at the second most beautiful thing in the room.” Sam turned his head and looked down slightly to her, ”Now I’m staring at the most beautiful thing in the room.”” his smile turned into a smirk, the ice-mancer knew he was laying it on thick but it was hard to resist giving her the compliment. ”So… maybe we could have another ‘kinda not boring date’?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

Juliette rolled her eyes jokingly at Sam as he attempted to lay on the charm. He really wasn't bad at it, but that just made her want to tease him all the more. It was more fun than just getting awkward about it. Plus, it didn't hurt to make him try a bit harder than an overused pick-up line.

"I think that would be doable," she grinned at him and sat back up. She yawned slightly and glanced at her watch. It was far, far later than she had intended to stay.

"I should probably get going, though," Juliette said and started to get to her feet. She glanced around once more at the scenery to take it all in, and then glanced back at Sam. "I'm sure the police will need statements from both of us, so I should really be at home. Thanks for the 'not boring kind of date', though. I had a good time."

Sam nodded his head and rose as well, if it was getting late for her it was getting late for him as well. Unfortunately sleep didn’t come to Sam as easy and he knew there would be some time before the police would contact him due to he always waited to the end to give his statements he was good at procrastinating.

”I did too. You’re good company.” Sam debated going in for a kiss then remembered the first time they met and smirked as he raised his hand to offer another handshake. ”I’ll call you?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sam had almost gone in for a kiss, but then stopped himself, instead going for a handshake. Probably something to do with what she said the night they met. Juliette laughed a little, grabbed his hand and used it as leverage to stand on her toes. She then put her hand on his jawline and kissed him lightly.

She stood back flat on her feet after a minute and looked up at him. "That's why you have my number," she replied simply.

When he felt the weight on his hand and face he had a feeling what was going to happen next. A little surprising but it was a nice surprise. When she pulled away Sam smirked and gave a little chuckle while blowing out a little cold to make it look like smoke just left his mouth. ”Hot.” he smirked more then nodded his head. ”Guess I’ll have to use it for that then, instead of waiting around for you to find more trouble.”

Sam took a slight step back and then looked up to the ‘God Room’ center of the danger room. It wasn’t visible but Sam knew it was there. ”Computer end simulation and start simulation 003 level Cold Steel.” the danger room started to change back to what it was when they first entered. A second passed then a few dozen figures appeared dressed as ninja pulled out swords and other weapons waiting for Sam to make a move.

”Pause.” the figures froze then Sam turned to Juliette again and then raised an eyebrow. ”Would you like me to walk you out or take you home?” Sam asked raising an eyebrow.

Juliette watched as the simulated waterfall faded and turned back to the same room as before. It was truly incredible; the water and scenery had looked so real, but there was no trace of them.

A few seconds later, the room was once again changed, as dozens of figures dressed like movie ninjas appeared and drew their weapons. Juliette frowned at them, finding the whole effect to be a little cheesy. Plus, she had just told Sam that she needed to get going. To her relief, though, they didn't do much as Sam quickly paused the simulation.

"Walking me out is fine," Juliette told him, "I still have to take that car back, so it wouldn't make sense for you to come."