Cora had to force herself not to laugh with a mouth full of rice. Of course she took a giant bite right before an ice pun. She should have known better. Covering her mouth with a free hand, she managed to swallow while laughing around her hand. It was not a graceful attempt. "I mean, having you on a mission could be both a good and a bad thing. Hard to look like an impressive rock climber when the guy next to you can cheat. But he would probably think it would be ice to meet you." Actually, that would be exactly what her dad would say.

She attempted to eat again, taking a bite of chicken. This time he didn't make her choke. The amusement hadn't faded though. Actually, that was pretty normal around him. He coworkers would harass her for smiling so much if they caught her like this. She would ruin her impressive reputation for being a hard-ass at work. "Oh, he will demand to hear more about the natural disasters, I can promise you that. He lives for that sort of stuff. I mean, he will still bore you talking about the different cliffs he has climbed. Heck, he still brags even after busting his back. You know those type of guys who tell fishing stories but the fish gets bigger every time? Like that, but with rocks. Last time he tried to convince me he came face to face with a mountain lion and opted for falling over fighting it out with the cougar."

She rolled her eyes at that. Her dad always tried to make situations more lighthearted. Probably came from being a single parents. He didn't handle tears well, so he liked to turn them into laughter. When she got older it turned into competitions, but his upbeat attitude always seemed to be a contrast to her more cynical personality.

She made a face when Sam commented on beating her on the rock climbing wall. Speaking of upbeat attitude... "If you told him that he would probably congratulate you and make some comment about being glad some guy could keep up with me. And he is okay, I learned to be pretty kick-a@@ on my own." She bragged. She lifted her chin higher, knowing Sam knew full well how much she cared about her dad. Few things in the world mattered, but he was one of them. And now, Sam. Her eyes glanced at her right hand, momentarily distracted by the two dark threads there. It was sort of nice. She went back to eating before he could catch her looking.

"We do have to spar sometime though. Then we can decide if I'm really as tough as you say." She decided after a moment.

”Ohh good one!” Sam laughed as he started to mix his food around to get a little bit of everything in a bite. ”Not cheating if you said powers were okay.” he teased knowing it was. She had to do it without powers; she would have passed him at least a dozen times if he had to do it without powers.

Natural disasters were good. Sam made a mental note to research more into how he defeated the volcano with the help of another X-Man. He smirked, ”Climbing stories I can’t imagine are that boring. Then again, if you hear it all the time I’m sure any story would get boring.” Sam laughed, ”I can see the appeal.” falling instead of fighting a cougar would probably pan out better. He wasn’t sure what to say after that he knew it was still a difficult subject for her.

”Don’t think I ever came face to face with a cougar. They usually stayed away when I was in the mountains. Wolves on the other hand.” he smirked, ”They like investigating when they think they have the advantage.” Sam waved his ice hand a little. ”Hard to clamp on to ice.” he grinned.

Sam shoveled some rice and chicken in his mouth and washed it down with his soda, ”I never said I could keep up.” Sam teased, ”I recalled beating you.” he grinned and shot her a wink. He knew she had way more experience climbing than he ever would. She couldn’t rely on ice like he could. Meaning she would always be more skilled in his opinion.

”Oh?” he smirked into his food and nodded, ”Got no doubt you are tough, I just want to see how tough you are without the rope.” he laughed, ”Sides, I’m pretty sure I can teach you a thing or three.” knowing that if he was going to spend more time with Cora he’d want to be sure she could protect herself. Trouble had a tendency of following him.

Yes she had said powers were okay. She wagged her spoon at him and glared. "Just wait, eventually we will be in a situation where it's my powers that have the advantage, not yours. Heck, try to beat me at a street race when I can just cut the threads of any cop following me." She had a mischievous look when she said that. She had her fair share of lawlessness over the years, and she learned several ways to use her powers to her advantage.

Cora looked up at the mention of him fighting wolves. She hummed to herself. "Sadly, my powers don't work on animals. Other than making threads visible and confusing them by all the random strings in their way.

"I've run across a bear before, but heck if I was going to fight it. You just have to yell and be the biggest, toughest thing around with them. I just convinced the bear I was going to be too much trouble. Being too much to handle is my specialty, after all." She won a number of fights that way. She was very fit for a girl, and if some punk crossed her, it was a matter of proving she was going to go down swinging.

"You're going to settle for a one time victory? I have plenty of of ways to put you in your place," She smirked at him and kept eating. That could be taken how he wanted it. She chuckled and swallowed what she was eating. "I look forward to the lessons. Just don't complain if I make you look bad."

Sam nodded his head while her powers made it far easier to sneak in plain sight and make people forget about her he didn’t think escape a cop was the only thing she could do. ”I don’t even need roads.” Sam said waving his hand in the air. He had used his ice as a jump before however he didn’t think he was capable to get his whole bike on a slide like he used without it. The weight would probably be too much. So he bluffed.

”Works for other animals.” Sam said a mouth full of food. ”Just make yourself look bigger.” he puffed up his body and cheeks. He chewed and swallowed, ”Long as you don’t let them get your back you’ll be fine.” he said nonchalantly, ”But really please don’t put yourself in that situation.” he added the quick follow up into his soda.

”I haven’t noticed that yet.” Sam said with a grin. Bears were notorious for going after an easier kill. If one did cause too much trouble they’d book it. He smirked at the thought of her chasing off a bear.

Grinning into his food, ”Will that be part of the demonstration?” he laughed and took a sip of his cup, ”Never, in fact it would be an honor for a student to surpass the teacher.”

Another bite of chicken, ”Just don’t be frustrated when you have to spend a large amount of time with me to try and beat me.” he started to twirl his fork, ”I’m stubborn, not you stubborn but still stubborn.” he grinned.

"How would an ice bridge help you win a street race?" Cora tried to imagine him using his powers that way. She did not think motorcycle+ice would ever equal an effective use of powers. She was calling his buff in a different way.

Sam asking her not to put herself into a dangerous situation brought that warmth in her chest again. As much as she wanted to continue bragging about her own ability to take down wildlife, she wouldn't entirely ruin his moment of seriousness. "Hey, if I'm dragging you on all these hikes lately, you're going to be battling the wolves and bears anyway, aren't you? Clearly, you can handle the trouble."

Back to the food, she took more bites and had to force herself to swallow again before responding to his commentary. "If I'm spending large quantities of time with you just to beat you, then obviously I'm going easy on you just for the extra lessons." Her eyes twinkled with amusement. The banter could easily continue that way for a while.

As they finished the food area was getting more crowded, so she looped her arm through his to lead him to the next task. Food and drink finished, that meant it was time for panels. "Time to see some random celebrities be interviewed for entertainment."

Sam smirked ”To avoid traffic?” he said as if it was the most likely answer. True he had never been in a street race. All the other races he were in were some sort of chase. His powers worked way better as obstacles or roadblocks. ”Don’t you win if you land across the finish line after a sick jump?” he asked having seen a few scenes from movies but not them in their entirety so he might have missed something.

Laughing with another mouthful of rice Sam washed it down and nodded his head, ”True, it seems I’m attracted to it.” he raised his eyebrows at her and grinned. ”I don’t try to battle them. They just make the mistake and think I’m an easy meal.” Sam set his drink down. ”Far from it.”

”Well if you just want the extra lessons, all you have to do is ask.” Sam grinned as he finished up his food. Just in time it seemed because Cora was now wrapping up with hers. Even better timing more people were showing up for food and if he didn’t have to be stuck in a crowd he didn’t want to be. ”Let’s slide.” he said as he cleaned up the table then locked arms with Cora.

”To the panels! This is gonna be fun!” he agreed.