You know, when Cora had told her that she was going to get, like, tested at some point on how well she could climb a wall, she hadn't really taken it very seriously. Sure, she definitely could test her, and she had said that she wasn't allowed to use her power while doing it, but really... who was gonna be able to tell? All she needed to do was get rid of the majority of her weight until it was just barely enough of a struggle to get up the wall and boom! Done. 

Right? 

Right.

... Not right. 

The wall loomed ahead of her like the obstacle it was, and she suddenly wasn't so sure she was going to be able to pull this off as easily as she had expected. How was she supposed to make it look like she was hauling her whole body up that hellscape without cheating?

"So, um... what were the rules for this again?" She was sweating already and she hadn't even gotten herself fully strapped into her rig yet. This was going to be a pain in the butt, wasn't it?

It didn't help that she was tired, since she had been up all night studying for a rest.

...Or that she hadn't actually been practicing climbing a whole lot. 

Cora was not someone to cross when she was in a bad mood, and today, Cora was certainly not in a good one. Sam had re-aged, and while their first date had gone well, she hadn't quite gotten over the rush of anxiety the situation gave her. This was not just having a relationship, this was trying to restart a relationship with someone who didn't remember her from the first attempt. This was karma coming back to kick her ass for every thread she had cut without asking, and it had a serious bite. Maybe she was having cold feet, or maybe now that Sam was older and still interested in her everything just felt more...serious.

Regardless, when she came to work that day she remembered she still owed Juniper for the last time things got awkward with Sam. Yeah, being dragged to Hawaii on a jet with two people who slept with the guy she liked, and some old lady in a kids body. Cora hadn't forgotten, and when she got even, she got even.

She made Juniper suit up, and decided now was a time for the long overdue climbing test. She knew Juniper couldn't climb, but hell if she wasn't looking forward to watching the girl fake it.

"Okay kid, top of the wall, I'll time you. Stay on the blue course. You got this, right?" Yeah, she was in a great mood.

She wondered if she looked as green as she felt in that moment, but reminded herself that she could pull this off if she just calmed herself back down. It would be fine... she just had to concentrate and not go too overboard with the use of her power.

"Right. Blue course." Just get to the top in a good time and that would be that.

Easy peasy.

"Right, here it goes!" 

It didn't help that there was still lingering guilt over the fail that had been the Hawaii trip, as well as one small blonde loud mouth she had thought to bring along. It was supposed to be fun! Eloise was a fire cracker in spirit and Juniper enjoyed her... uh... unique personality, most of the time at least.  How was she supposed to know she was really a shark in a lolita dress who went for the kill whenever she got the chance?

With her hands chalked and her rig tightly fitted, Juniper headed up to the wall and began her climb. Honestly, the first few hand and foot holds she didn't need to use her power at all. After her seventh though, while struggling to get a leg over to reach the next rubber grip she wanted, she gave up on doing it without her power. All she needed to do was phase out a good percentage of her weight. 

Her hands and feet remained solid, and she tried to covertly dig the tips of her shoes and fingers into the rubber holds to make sure she didn't wall. Once she had ascended a few more holds with her new method, she got the hang of it and was heading up at a good pace. Not too fast, not too slow.

Perfect!

By the time she hit the top and turned to grin down, she was sure she had a pretty good time. All that left wad repelling back down and seeing how she'd done!

Juniper pushed off to start her decent, but.... there wasn't enough tension on the rope to actually send her down at a regular pace. She panicked, un-phased everything all at once, and smacked comically into the wall.

...@#$%, she hoped Cora hadn't seen that

Once her feet were on solid ground, she turned a sheepish smile on Cora and dusted her hands off a bit. "Haha... so, how'd I do boss?" Play it cool, Juni. No panicking!

Cora had been impressed by Juniper's ability to lie her ass off to get a job when they first met, and she was still somewhat impressed by her ability to stick to her story regardless of what evidence there was against her. But watching the girl struggle up the wall until she suddenly seemed to rise effortlessly to the top did not fool her, in fact, it annoyed her. It annoyed her even more when she went to make her decent and ended up hitting the rock wall harder than preferred.

The staff member in charge of belaying caught her in time, but the sudden change in weight had evidently surprised her. That, more than anything, upset Cora.

When she was on the ground, the older woman crossed her arms. "I have one issue with what you just did, Juniper. I will give you one guess why I'm angry, and depending on how you answer will decide your punishment."

There was a lecture when every mutant was hired, and when every staff member was trained. Sensing danger, Juniper's coworker quickly relieved herself of the ropes, made sure Juniper was unhooked, and high-tailed it out of there like there was a fire. 

Ahh, poop.

When the girl belaying for her ran for the hills and left a dust trail behind, Juniper knew she was in deep. The 19-year-old steeled herself for what was to come, fiddling with the straps around her hips as she pondered over what to say.

There were... a lot of things that had potentially gone wrong. Had she used the wrong form going up? Oh, heck, she hadn't been paying attention to if she stayed fully in the blue... had she?? She knew the obvious ones were cheating and coming down wrong, but... which one was she gonna fess up to? Which one would she get the most in trouble for?! It was a hard question to answer since Cora could be hard to pin down.

"Uh." No uh's! Firm answer! "I shouldn't have horsed around while coming down, because I could have injured myself or Shelly?"

She couldn't admit to everything or she'd be throwing her own damn self under the bus. Juniper figured maybe she could spin it that she hadn't been taking it seriously at the top and blame her little weight-related oops on that.

... hopefully.

She'd never seen Cora mad before. She'd seen her yell at a few people here or there and definitely knew there was a force to be reckoned with thin there somewhere but had hoped to never have to experience it personally.

Then again... if she came clean now would that lessen the likely hood that she was about to get straight-up fired for not being serious on the job? Cora had definitely complained about that the day she was hired.

Juniper stood there, stiff as a board, and waited.

Cora stood and waited, then listened to Juniper's answer. She felt her jaw clench ever-so-slightly with suppressed irritation, and then she slowly shook her head.

"I told you the risk with using your powers is when it compromises safety, and I don't tolerate anything that puts someone at risk. Horsing around, and being more concerned with faking your climbing abilities than your coworker's well being is not something I tolerate."

The anger had finally reached a point of action. Cora felt a glimmer in her eyes as the idea came to mind.

Lifting her chin, she raised her right hand and held her finger's as 'scissors' so Juniper could see. "Let's see, I think two hours of amnesia might be enough to settle the score. Finish your work shift; punishment starts when you clock out."

Aw, @#$% she was definitely getting canned. She'd flown too high and Cora the sun goddess had fricken karate-chopped off her wings, and all that was left to do was plummet straight back into unemployment. She waited pensively for the verdits, sure it was coming since the safety talk was in full swing, and...

... it didn't.

She tried and failed at not looking surprised that she was, apparently, still employed.

"...huh?"

Also, her brain stopped working for a moment there. She blinked a few times, processing what Cora has said like a very old computer booting up for the first time in years, and opened and shut her mouth a few times with no words.

Wait...

Amnesia? What?!

Her brain finally caught back up to her and she realized what that meant in combination with what she knew of Cora's power. But wait! Wasn't that like totally against the rules for how an employer could discipline an employee?? She wasn't about to snitch or anything, but still!

"A-Amnesia??" Oh lord, and she had to finsih her shift first?! She glanced at her wristwatch, gulped visibly and audibly, and then pointedly stared at the scissor shape Cora's hand was making.

"Oh.. uh... Is that all? Haha." She totally wasn't nervous laughing, nope. Completely sound of might and spirit right now. Yep! Not phased at all! "I'll just, um, finish my shift then."

She fluttered nervously, glancing between the ominous scissors and Cora's face, and waited to be dismissed or... whatever.

Two hours of some kind of amnesia? Pssh! Peasy easy, right. Er, Easy peasy. Lemon... squeezy. She could handle this. It'd be fiiiine.