When she slowed down to talk he knew she was just being nice. She could have made it to the top way before she got there that much was clear. She even confirmed his thoughts when she was here daily. ”Boulder course?” Sam asked kicking himself up two handholds so he’d get a little closer to Cora too bad she was already at the top.

”That’s pretty cool!” Sam agreed pulling himself up with a little grunt. Sam was in shape still from years of training with T.A.T. and even his own training after he left he had to stay on the ball incase anything surprised him. Rock climbing wasn’t part of his normal training regiment his shoulders were starting to feel that. So when he sat next to Cora at the top he enjoyed it for a second.

”Smart business decision.” Sam agreed, defiantly keep injuries down if there was a crew of mutants to make the place safer. ”Lazy is bad.” Sam agreed as he watched her start climbing down already. Sam took in the view of the gym one last time from the top. He then looked down and saw that Cora was already halfway down. He could definitely beat her on the decent if he wanted. Though he did saw no powers.

Debating on jumping (he didn’t) Sam turned and started to follow Cora’s path down as well he managed to see her get down halfway so the colored handholds started to stand out as he passed them. Until halfway. Sam foot missed a hold and he dropped to one hand holding him on the wall. ”Smooth.” Sam caught himself and hit his knee against the wall. He grunted and then made up from it by dropping down to another handhold. Then another. Using only his arms he made his way down.

”Clearly need to do that more.” Sam said when he touched to the ground shaking his arms loose. ”So this bolder course?” Sam asked trying to show he wasn’t starting to get sore. ”Also you haven’t told me about your mutation yet.” he said smirking as he unhooked himself.

Ah, the mutation. Cora got out of her harness then nodded as if surrendering that it was time to come clean about that. ”I’ll show you, then you can decide if you really want to try bouldering.”

She held up her left arm and focused on making the strings show. Different colored threads that were visible to her would suddenly be clear to him. The parts she revealed would seem to disappear after a couple of inches. It was almost like a ton of very fine spiders silk hanging off her skin. Different shades of light pink were visible in this spot.

”Around here they call me Threads. I can see relationships. These all represent people. I can see them on everyone.” She reaches for the new string, carefully lifting it free This time she put more energy into it, so the almost coral colored thread was visible where it now looked around Sam’s wrist. He wouldn’t be able to feel it or interact with it. His end was a bit more coral than hers. ”Every sting has someone on the end of it. If I were to cut this right now, you could go home with a memory of a fun bike ride and rock climbing with someone, but have no idea who it was.” She released her powers and crossed her arms, giving him a moment to process.

Sam smirked, ”Take a lot to convince me.” Sam said wanting to play more follow the leader.

When she started to show him colored strings he looked around a bit trying to see where they went. To him it almost looked like spider silk you were passing in the woods and got the right angle of sunlight to illuminate a few inches. Her silk was colored though. Sam studied her arm with the pink spider silk. The tattoo caught his attention as well.

‘these violent delights have violent ends’

Shakespeare. He was forced to study several of his plays for a mission. He would never admit it but he found Romeo and Juliet moving. It was chilly how relatable he the words. He didn’t comment on it but studied the silk extending from her arm and disappearing.
”Threads huh?” he too had a nickname but he was more focused on her powers especially when one showed around his wrist.

Sam stepped back slightly surprised then stopped. He wasn’t being attacked he was being shown his relationship with her, they just met though were they already attached? Or did she see friendship relationships as well?

Sam’s nose twitched as he sniffed and reached for his phone in his pocket. ”That sounds super useful or super depressing.” Sam said walking over next to her unlocking his phone to take a selfie. Apparently this was something everyone did now. This would be his first but the thought of not being able to remember someone was super depressing especially since he had a decade wiped from his mind recently.

”Say Munster.” Sam raised his eyebrows and over exaggerated a shocked face as he put rabbit ears behind Cora. He snapped the photo before she could object if she was going to. ”Cora.” Sam said trying to commit the name to the photo. ”Unless you can delete photos with your mutation I guess I’m stuck with you.” Sam said with a smirk and a shrug. ”So the boulder?” Sam asked looking around for it and putting his phone back into his pocket.

Cora watched his reaction. He did good up until he noticed the one that linked to his own arm. Cora laughed. She had already guessed he had a little flight syndrome when it came to relationships, but actively seeing it pan out was actually quite comical in a way. ”Cool your jets, you realize relationships isn’t always a romance, right? It’s coworkers, friends, and interests. Like, this one,” she plucked a red string free, and isolating it so he could see. ”That leads to my manager. Friend of my dads, keeps the place running. Definitely not a romantic inclination anywhere in that situation.”

She released her powers, noticing his gaze had lingered on the tattoo, but he didn’t comment. Other than the initial jump, he had composed himself.

Then he did the unexpected and yanked out his phone. Cora responded by making a bratty face, and the phone flashed. She listened as he explained the photo couldn’t be erased, and she actually felt a little flattered. Not that she would admit it. But no one had tried to keep the memory of her around like that.

”Guess if you plan on sticking around, I’ll have to see how you handle yourself without ropes.” She didn’t tell him the threads couldn’t be cut against his will. No use showing all her cards.

The bouldering area had lower walls and heavy mats. The course curved at an angle so the top rocks would leave you hanging almost horizontal. Cora picked a spot, choosing the blue zone to start. ”Players choice, you can use your powers if you want.” pausing to chalk her hands, she began to climb, moving fast and setting her eyes on the targets, the difficulty taking more concentration.

”With ropes or without. I can handle all kinds of fun.” Sam said with a smirk, chalking his hands right after Cora did. She enjoyed giving him a choice, Sam noted that and decided to stick to climbing without his powers. It would have been easier. Hell he could have just walked upside down to the end of the course with the help of his ice but decided the struggle was part of the fun. Again his life wasn’t on the line so this was already way more fun than he could have hoped.

His hands now chalked he waited till Cora started and headed towards the blue area. Sam went to the nearest open one not knowing if the colors indicated areas or difficulty he never had done indoor climbing before so he had no idea. Sam watched Cora for a minute till she disappeared and decided the area he was standing in which was green meant he could only take the green path. Right?

Sam jumped up on the wall and started moving as fast as he could to catch up t Cora. This in his opinion would have made way more sense to use his mutations on. The way his body hung when he grabbed on to the handholds would have meant way more danger anywhere else. ”So do the color mean anything different?” Sam asked as he swung from one handhold to another like a monkey. The icemancer found it way easier to use his momentum.

Cora heard him ask questions when he finally caught up, and she took a moment before answering, trying to move her foot from one difficult hold to another. She didn't want to be caught hanging like a sloth while trying to speak coherently. "We use colored handholds to map out different routes. Makes it more fun for the climbers. We rotate the colors and path's from time to time. Little harder to maintain, but better than having those little tape flags everywhere personally."[/b][/color]

She focused on reaching her last mark, now hanging entirely by her arm strength. This was where your muscles started to scream at you for the brilliant idea to use the course. A few quick adjustments and she hit the last rock, before lightly releasing her legs, and then dropping like a cat back to the ground.

"You must...be more familiar with climbing outdoors. I don't get a chance to do that as often these days." She was a little more winded this time, the strength needed to efficiently finish the course creating a good rush in her system.

"I think right now, we have red set up as the hardest? Then there is the extra climbing zone we set up specifically for mutant climbers. That one is just a basic cliff, no artificial crevices. I have to let the other staff check it."

Sam shook his head as he was climbing. ”Meant your mutation.” he made sure he was still on the green handholds luckily he was doing that already. ”That is good to know honestly. I was just guessing.” Sam said following her sticking to his green handholds.

He swung his on the last handhold and landed next to Cora. Letting out a little laugh he shifted his shoulders a little trying to loosen them up. ”It was either climb or don’t. Never did me any favors to not climb.” Sam said still being vague with his answer. ”All out doors, first time I ever climbed walls inside. Especially without any mutations.” he said patting himself on the back.

”You got a wall you can’t even climb?” Sam asked smirking. ”Threads don’t help?” Sam asked placing his hands behind his head trying to slow his heart rate down.

Cora raised an eyebrow at him. ”We just met and you already want to know my secrets? Not that it’ll do you much good I suppose. You can’t see them unless I show you.”

There was a mocking twinkle in her eye then she lifted her hand again, pointing out a few colors for him to see. For her, there was nothing to hide, even when it came to the coral strands. ”Lightest are the most casual interactions. They disappear on their own. The deeper they go, the more permanent. Someone has a crush? I see that. Or someone is seeing another person on the side, there’s a string for that.

“The last stage is dark red. That would be that lovely thing people seem to call true love or devotion, if it’s a friend. Not to sound like a cynic, but not everyone is gifted finding relationships that work. Most of us mere mortals end up with these:”

She picked out a purple strand, what once was pink and stained with black patches. The rest she let fade again, giving him one thing to focus on. ”This is a relationship gone bad. More than enough of these to go around. Friends fight? Purple thread. Bad relationship with the parents? Purple thread. New York has a heap of those.”

She let go of her visual aid, and started walking toward the wall she mentioned. She grinned at his question. ”The threads aren’t tangible. I can hold them to cut them or show them but if I tried to put any lasting weight in them it would be like holding water. No use for rock climbing. But that would be a bonus: using your relationship with an x to literally climb a mountain.”

She motioned to the clifflike structure. Today only one mutant was climbing, a rather catlike female with green tiger stripes. She was using claws to pull herself up, and it clearly took a lot of strength to manage.

Sam shrugged when she was giving him a hard time he was always curious by nature it only made sense he wanted to know the limits of someone’s mutation when they first explain it to him. Call it left over conditioning from a past life.

Explaining it further Sam nodded his head as if it was all starting to make sense. Different colors did mean different things, she could cut them if needed or they’d fall off on their own. That made sense. He wondered if he had a bunch of dead threads due to his deaging. Suddenly Sam felt very sad for all those people his older self interacted with did that mean most of them would forget him over time? His older self no longer existed, right?

”Purple is bad.” Sam nodded his head agreeing as she explained further. He wondered how many purple threads he had but didn’t bother asking he was afraid of the answer.

”So you’re single.” Sam said following her to the rock face with only one climber. ”Another question answered for me then.” Sam said with a smirk. She never said she was single but the ex comment gave him hope. A cat woman who was using claws to climb. Sam didn’t see any handholds just small ledges that barely protruded.

”I could see this being more difficult.” Sam said walking closer to the rock face. ”Never tried it?” Sam said walking over and touching the rock face and looking up. The cat woman was about halfway up now Sam could see her claws digging into the wall. He debated trying the wall as well but didn’t want to leave Cora behind.

He was direct: that made it a little easier, honestly. Cora nodded her head, "Currently unattached." The unattached part also functioned as a joke, since he had literally seen all of the threads running from her to other people. The difference was, romance. She was not tying herself down with another person right now. Enough purple threads in her life to go around.

The were facing the mutant wall and he asked the loaded question. Never tried it?. Cora shrugged, and watched as the cat woman came back down, doing a little jump at the end and landing on all fours. Trish turned and gave her a look. Cora returned it, almost like answering a challenge. Scout would have words with her later. She was all ready to tune that out. "There's a first time for everything." She found a belt nearby with chalk, and strapped that on. She would need it. None of the staff said a word, but she already knew they were focused on what she was doing.

"We better hope you have fast reflexes. I'd rather not break anything to impress a guy," she dusted her hands and then took the first few handholds, starting upward.

Cora was much more careful on this course. If she fell while bouldering there were plenty of safety mats, but this was free solo climbing. On normal circumstances, you fell, it was not going to be pretty. Her dad broke his back doing something stupid like this, and maybe that's why she could feel Scout glaring at her. Yeah, she was made of the same vein of bravery. You couldn't get rid of that easily. It took a lot of grip strength to hold onto some of the tiny notches, body flat against the rock to prevent herself from leaning backward. There was a familiar rush that came from trying something dangerous. She owned the place, right? She was just making sure everything was a-okay for people to use.

Watching her interact with her staff Sam pretended not to notice and just stared at the wall wondering the best way to climb it. She started to dust her hands Sam didn’t. Ice started to form over his hands and feet giving them a blue coating. Mist started to rise off each limb as he shrugged.

”You might be confident in your abilities to climb but I’m not as much.” Sam said with a smirk, ”I might have signed a wavier but I’d still prefer not falling.” he smirked. ”Even though you are trying to impress me.” he gave her a wink and walked over to the wall.

Sam waited till Cora started the icemancer wasn’t stupid. His powers made it a lot easier to climb they could provide gripping for him and take most of the physical strain that or he could have launched himself up half of the rock face. No, he was more concerned about her safety even if he didn’t voice it. What they were doing was dangerous and the fact that she was willing to do it was yes, very impressive. Some would also consider it more dangerous than anything. Sam wasn’t one of those guys.

”So what happens if I beat you to the top?” Sam asked quickly making it close to her. Every time his fingers reached a handhold they hooked into it using ice meaning he hardly was using any finger strength. The ice on his feet started to do the same so he could push himself further off the wall.

Cora heard his question, but waited until she had a good solid grip on the wall before answering. She wasn’t kidding when she said this was hard, and her hands were already burning trying to hold the rock face. ”If you beat me to the top, we can have that drink we discussed,” she smirked. Honestly, it was like a freebie for him. A glance to the ice mutant proved he had a much more useful technique for tackling this.

She already knew he could get there first. Heck, the higher she climbed the more she wondered if he would be the only one to get there. There were no solid footholds, her hands holding more weight than she expected. She chalked her hands between reaches, jaw set with determination. The higher she got, the more focused she became, as it became less about showing off and more about not falling.

He got there first, but she found the last handhold at the top. She felt her arms shake a little as she paused. ”What are the chances I...can trouble you for a safer route down?” she asked, feeling her body admitting defeat despite her mind wanting to object. If she tried to move now, she would take a very fast, very painful path to the bottom. Trish would catch her, but it was not how she wanted to end this.

When he passed Cora and beat her to the top he waited kicking his legs off the edge and let them dangle, honestly he was worried about her making it and was impressed when she got as close as she did. It was clear however she was struggling to make it.e he could see her fingers straining and her arms shaking then she mentioned about a safer route down.

”What you down climbing?” Sam asked smirking as he reached down and grabbed her arm. He wasn’t tired and pulling up Cora instead of pulling himself up was far easier. A little grunt and he pulled Cora to the top. ”And look at that you made it.” Sam said smirking.

”Way down is easy.” Sam nodded his head, ”Should only take a second maybe a little flashier than falling but you won’t have to worry about the lack of mats.” he said. He waited for a second and sat back down enjoying the view again and offered up a fist bump to Cora. ”You impressed me.” he started to laugh, ”You lost but you impressed me.”

”How’s the arms?” Sam asked his feet and hands still misting from the ice on them.

He was a smart ass about her final defeat, but she tolerated it. Once she was settled next to him, she breathed in relief. Her arms felt like jello, and her fingers felt raw from effort. ”Don’t gloat, I could turn out to be a sore loser after all,” she warned. Not that she really wanted to rid herself of the most logical path down. She could feel Scout watching from across the room, still unconvinced she would get herself down safely. She resisted flipping the father figure off. For now.

Sam offered a fist and Cora laughed and accepted it. She felt like he was making her laugh a lot so far. It was a sort of relaxing feeling. It had been awhile since she spent time with someone that had so much energy and, well, wit. She would call it that. It wasn’t all good humor, but he thought fast and it amused her. Made it worth putting up with a cheesy pun or two.

”Is impressing you hard to do? Now you got me curious where I rank among your daily pursuits.” She raised an eyebrow, watching for the skittish tendencies he seemed to show earlier. When he asked about her arms, she waved him off. ”They’ll be fine, tomorrow I’ll probably regret more, but hell, builds muscle. Can’t say I want to try this one again, though.” she looked at the pads of her fingers, feeling where the rocks had dug into skin. She wouldn’t be surprised if she found scratches under all the chalk when she washed later.

”I don’t think that’s the case.” still dangling his feet off the ledge of the rock face. Leaning back he decided to think on the answer before answering the double edge sword that was her question. ”I mean, impressing me is pretty difficult. I’m the definition of cool.” Sam said smirking his feet giving off a mist as they iced up further to past his shins. Yep, another ice pun. He had a load of them.

”Daily pursuits make it sound like a game.” Sam said trying to avoid the question. ”You cut me off. Led me on a chase and then brought me to this awesome gem.” Sam said waving out to the gym they were in. ”You are ranking pretty damn high.” Sam said the only way she could rank higher is if she owned a fight club or had a plane of some kind. Sam was very happy with his ‘daily’ purist.

A ball of ice formed in his hands and he handed it over to Cora when she started to examine her hands no doubt they were on fire still and the best thing to combat fire or pain in his opinion was his ice. ”No pain no gain right?” Sam said with a smirk. ”So how often you try to impress guys you just met?”