The grounds were covered in a fresh blank slate of a landscape. Snow covered everything and he meant everything a storm or rather one of the wind manipulators managed to add a little extra chaos in the last snowfall. The walls and windows were plastered with snow and ice and he had nothing to do with it. Sam was just the guy that volunteered to do the job, which was fine, the grounds were dead.

Normally there be kids running and playing but given the recent storm most of the mansion residents kept to the indoor, which made being outdoors all the greater. He might have been avoiding a few people still since he re-aged, awkward conversations and apologies were best avoided.

Bruno, Sam’s large fuzzy Saint Bernard was coated in snow as he rolled and burrowed through the snowfall. It wasn’t a lot but Sam already shifted a good portion of snow from the sidewalk to a large pile around the drive. He was planning on making something out of it later for the kids to enjoy but now he was assessing the work he was about to do.

Sipping his coffee and eyeing the exterior of the mansion he smirked at the work of whoever wrote ‘we want a snow day’ on the building out of the snow. Did they put water on the wall first? It narrowed the suspect list a bit. Maybe he needed to throw them a training session. If they had this kind of time on their hands they must have been bored.

The snow was fresh and the grounds were quite a situation Luna enjoyed for the most part. She wore a black t shirt and a jeans and was as normal for her barefoot. She simply shredded shoes with her claws, even trimmed the issue was only reduced. Her fur was coated in snow both from still falling flakes and rolling in it. Her fur may have been a pain to maintain but it certainly kept her warm in the winter as long as the temperature did not dive to low.

She shook her tail a bit to clear the extra weight off of it as she moved across the grounds enjoying the freedom. It was a freedom she had lacked up until the mansion and she was slowly starting to make use of it.

Luna started running, her body leaning forward to balance out her tail as she did. Running as she was she was paying little attention and without her glasses her sight was just bad. She heard snow being crunched and sniffed the air, realizing it was a dog and someone she knew. She tried to stop herself to better focus her eyes and make out the exact positions of both. Her claws found mud and she leaned down to use her paw but instead the momentum and weight of her tail flipped her around letting her on her but looking up at Professor Sam and his dog.

Shaking some snow off of her snout and face much like a dog would, she smiled embarrassed but happy. "Hey Prof, enjoying this wonderful weather as well?" she asked as she glanced at the large dog with Sam. She liked dogs though her appearance she knew could be off putting to ones that had not gotten use to her.

She stood shaking her tail a bit to clear whatever snow had gathered on it."So Teach what do you do with all this stuff? Build a giant Ice maze survival course?" she said unable to contain the idea. In truth of all her teachers she enjoyed the self defense and power training classes the most, she made little secret that she wanted to be an x men one say and so while prone to skipping other classes tended to always be on time for those.

To say Sam let his guard down at the mansion was an understatement, with Bruno around and mansion security being what it was he kept his thermal sensing to a minimum which was good and bad. Good because he didn’t invade anyone’s privacy around the school and bad when kids managed to get close enough to give him a little surprise when they came out of nowhere. Deep in thought he didn’t hear Luna approach.

Bruno barked and bowed his tail wagging at the newcomer. Sam raised his eyebrow and turned his head, ”Hey Luna. How you doing today?” he asked watching his dog get a case of the zoomies. Burying his face in the snow and rolling he got up and started doing laps around them. ”Easy buddy.” Sam said as he bent down and scooped up some snow. The ball grew in his hand as he made it before throwing it far for the dog. Bruno took off with an excited bark to track the snow ball. [”He’s never gonna find it.”

”No, right now I’m getting rid of the graffiti of snow. Not a bad idea. Gonna have to start using this method. You kids keep giving me good ideas…” he registered what Luna said, ”And that’s added to the list.” Sam said as he smirked. ”You offering to run it?” Sam asked waving his hand causing the ice on the wall to drop.

”No snow days here.”

Her twitched as the dog barked. She watched the dog with a smile. She did love animals and seeing Bruno's excitement was a fun addition to her day. "I'm good, just enjoying the weather. The mansion has way more room then I had back home. she tried to explain. She had never cared much for snow before her mutation but now the cold did not feel as bad, a consequence of being covered in dense fur. She watched as he formed and threw the snow ball and the dog heedlessly chasing after it.

"Glad i could help and yea I would love to run such a course. First of course, otherwise i could just follow the last person's smell she said tapping her nose. She would never be able to track like Bruno, but she could identify people if she tried. It made skipping history class far easier as well as letting her know who was in a room before entering.

"About as many snow days as home schooling then. A shame but a hero can't fear a little cold" she said with pride. She was determined to be able to save others as she had been all those years ago. She was sure her powers could be useful though she was not at all sure how. She also had to have the issue of her crippling fear of humans which she had been trying to do, even if one of those attempts had gotten her shot. Their had also been the five block chase just for someone to let her know she dropped her wallet.

"This place is great, so many people to interact with. My mom kept me inside most of the time after I got my powers, so running around like this feels so free" she went on running her claws on one hand through the wrist fur of the other. She considered maybe she should have said a bit less or paid more attention but it was two late now to consider either of those things.

The icemancer smirked at Luna’s attitude. It was infectious and he liked it. More kids needed to have an attitude like hers. ”So you can be the first then! Don’t want to make it too easy for you. He said with a little smirk.

”No they can’t!” Sam agreed with Luna. ”A little cold never hurt nobody.” he said turning towards the mansion grounds and stomping his feet into the layer of snow which quickly wrapped around it.

”Can imagine.” he said with a sadder smile. While he never had parents as a kid he often was glad he didn’t after hearing what some of the parents did once they found out their child had a mutation of some kind. ”Well let’s get started then!” he moved his feet under the snow and raised his hands up.

The snow in front of them on the grounds started to rise up under the effects of his mutation. By the time he was done they were looking at a ten foot wall. Nothing crazy but the walls turned and twisted with his imagination till a maze was formed. ”How long you think it’s gonna take?” he asked smirking.

Excellent! she said enthusiastically. Her other teachers only wished she was this excited in their classes, she was sure. Luna was confident she could do it even if her powers were not exactly combat oriented. Still she was wearing slowly expanding holes in the snow around her feet as she practically bounced.

She watched as Mr. Johnson used his power with an undisguised awe. She was a bit jealous of the raw power she was seeing, if she ever got that powerful, entire cities would be in trouble she thought to herself. She was so fascinated on what he had done, it took her a few moments to recover from the display. "yea, after the anti mutant people hit the school mom got super protective....and that was so cool" way to enamored with cold steels display to continue.

She scratched her ear. "Hard to know from outside and without knowing the rules. " She considerd the maze and that she was was only seeing a part of it. "Being adapted for cold weather certainly is an advantage as well" she consider looking around the the outside or what she could see of the maze.

"I wan to be X man one day. Not entirely sure how my power would be useful there but i can do it" she said having made no secret of her ambitions before. "[/color] she replied continued on, still looking over the outside of the maze.

Once the maze was complete or complete enough for Sam he looked back at Luna and smirked at her reaction. ”Keep in mind I couldn’t even make a snowball when I was a kid. Years of practice… years.” he didn’t mention his forced training as a kid but Sam had come a long way. ”Also I see what you did there.” he said pointing to his eyepatch then pointed to the walls of ice in the form of the maze. Puns usually made him laugh. As long as Zek wasn’t delivering them.

”Rule is get through the maze, I might change something if I think it’s too easy for you.” the icemancer said smirking. ”Especially if your planning on joining the X-Men.” he said with a little laugh. He always found it inspiring so many kids that came to the school were shooting for the team. What he didn’t care for was her down play on her abilities.

”It’s not the power set it’s the skill set.” he smirked, ”I’ll teach you the skills. Just need to keep that attitude. Love it!” he said as he started to walk to the maze each step raised him higher into the air till he walked on top of the wall. ”Impress me!” he said as he hopped from view to the next wall. Where he was standing the wall collapsed into a pile of snow giving Luna an entrance.

Luna knew everyone had to start somewhere but he was well ahead of a snowball now. She knew he was trying to draw a comparison to her comment on her power. She had doubts but if he was right, well towns would flee her rear end's wrath. "Years? Well i got the time" she said knowing that well her mom's illness had not gotten worse it had also not gotten better. In many ways things were way better here anyway, the freedom was something she did not want to give up. Hear she got to stand with hero's and it here she would learn to make a difference and repay what she owed to the one who saved her. She was grown up watching the X men on TV, cold steel included. She had been a fan since well before she had powers. She would not voice it but she had quite a few X men related merchandise, including a shirt of her current instructor.

"Oh' i can do that then" she said believing she could get through the maze given time and maybe some careful marking. Sam's words had an effect of making her realize she needed to do good here. She trusted her claws on ice. She could do this, she told herself again.

"Impress you? she repeated stunned for a moment as one of her childhood hero's asking to be impressed registered with her. Still she jogged to the entrance not knowing exactly what was ahead and entered the maze with a hint of coution running the claws on her feet over the ice seeing if she could mark it, before moving in. She wanted to know if she could rely on it or not. Either way she would make her way into the maze looking around.

The ground and air would have been cold wherever she went in the maze luckily for her he didn’t cover the whole thing in mist, that would have made it even more difficult. He suddenly got an idea for a search and rescue session later. However, while he was aware of some of her abilities he was curious to see what she could do on her own. He was more focused on what she was capable of not her powers.

While she entered Sam went to work on making a few obstacles, half walls small burrows that lead through walls and the occasional spike pit. The spikes of ice were blunted at the tip and would shatter if the weight of someone fell on it. They were outside in the real world no danger room safeties were out here. Just the ones that Sam had set up.

The biggest challenges for Luna were waiting towards the middle and the end of the maze. Each spot had a large golem that started to form as he walked across one wall to the next while they remained motionless now, when she got close they’d spring to life with a little help from Sam.

Speaking of which... Sam felt for Luna using his sixth sense and then focused on the walls closest to her. Hands erupted from the walls next to her reaching out to grab her. It was mainly meant as a distraction for the first drop where some blunted icicles waited to catch her.

This had all looked quite a bit easier from the outside she realized, but kept moving. She came to the half walls and her claws and experience climbing various things let her pull herself over them. The burrows were tight but her body was made for them to. Still a few of them really made her squeeze thrue.

The strange hands distracted her and She almost ran straight into the first spike trap as she paid attention to them, however stopping just a hair before she would have 'impaled' her own foot, moving around it on the narrow ledge she could find. The second however made her try jumping over it, landing on the far wall of the pit by her claws, she did not notice snapping one of the blunted ice spikes with her foot.

The middle of the maze however was a different animal entirely or golum, as the frozen case might be. She knew outright fighting it was likely out as an option. So she tried to dodge it, it's fist just missed her shoulder, its other fist knocked her square on her butt, forcing her to scramble to avoid the follow up, which let her get behind it. She charged down the corridor.

She paused again trying to time it perfectly and almost succeeded but the golum reached out and grabbed at her, it's hand clenching and scooping her up by her tail. She clawed at the golum as she hung upside down, trying to fight it but clearly in a compromised position.

It was hard watching a student fall and not do anything other than making sure there wasn’t a sharp spike waiting for them. His job was to train, and if she was a serious as she sounded when it came to the X-team he wanted to make sure anyone who was trained by him was ready for anything. Nothing was worse than watching someone on the team get injured.

Training like this however just prepped them. It made him feel better when he had control over the training. He didn’t like having to worry about everyone on mission. Especially the younger generation. He wanted them strong, ready for anything. One day he wouldn’t be there and he wanted them to be able to look out not only for themselves but others.

”Excellent!” he shouted when she dodged the pit traps, avoided the hands and made it to the center of the maze where one of his golems waited. She dodged, it swatted at her. She ran and then the Golem of Ice caught her by the tail. She fought for a moment and he waved a hand towards the golem. It’s hand that was holding her by the tail separated from it’s body. ”Don’t stop! You might have one or two of us out there in the field with you but we aren’t always gonna be there. Spatial awareness is important. Especially with a big busy tail! Go, go, go!”

The golem looked at it’s arm where the hand used to be then looked down to the girl in front of it trying to study what happened. It was slow, Sam wanted them that way. They weren’t the Golems you wanted to fight. They were bigger for a reason. The golem reached out with the other hand towards Luna again hoping this time it’s other hand wouldn’t fall off.

She felt herself dropping and managed to get her paws under her as she did her claws on her hands and feet digging in. She was caught looking back up at the golum as it questioned it's missing arm when Sam told her to go. She had no idea what she could do when held by her tail by a foe who lacked a nose but who knew. She knew she would learn many new skills if she was going to be an x men. Whoever the woman who rescued her was she would repay her by passing on the good deed. This was just one step on that path she told herself.

She got the feeling now was not the best time to reply and simply nodded. Her first few bounds she used her front paws to help pull her forward just out of reach of the large creature, though she felt the rush of air as it's hand passed behind her. She shot down the corridor, barely keeping herself from slamming into the wall sliding a bit on the ice. Her toes did not much care for the maneuver either, her hand rubbed her tail as she continued. She had never been picked up by her tail before, the pain had been bad but much of it had ebbed once she been let go.

She nearly missed the next pit trap, overcompensating for her tail and tumbling torward the pit, only her claws keeping her from going over the edge. The golum after she was less thrilled about that but still made her way to the exit, she saw a hand slam down in front of her and tried to jump over it feeling the other hand missed her tail by inches. the first hand came up as she was jumping sending her tumbling. She recovered her wits quicker then the golum and made her way to the exit. She looked back at the maze then at her Teacher. "That was fun, well other then being picked up like a claw machine prize part. You really are amazing though teach" she said looking back at the maze and recalling how quickly it had been raised.

One of the things Sam loved most about teaching was seeing the moment of success when a student completed a task or finally understood something for the first time. Their faces usually light up and they get almost an infectious smile. One that either started with Sam or ended with him. This was no different. Sam grinned when Luna ducked, dipped and dodged the iceclone and constructs till she made it to the end of the maze where Sam was waiting.

Leaping down and landing in a pile of snow that rose up to catch him he lowered himself till he was ground level with her. The one-eyed X-man grinned more at the complement. He knew he was amazing but it was nice to hear it from other people. Sam could only pat himself on the back so often. His grin faded however when she mentioned what wasn’t fun. Tempted to add what else wasn’t fun he held his tongue not to scare her off.

”Well, now you know you got to keep an eye on your tail. Ice golem’s is one thing just be glad it was me here and not someone else in the danger room.” he said nodding his head. ”Even with the safety on in there you can get hurt.” he said speaking from experience.

”Not a lot of the other students agree with you but I’d rather be tougher on you guys now. Especially if you are planning on joining the team. You can handle my classes you can handle anything else.” he smirked and gave her a thumbs up. He was raised as a field operative, he’d more than likely die as one. He just wanted to make sure if anyone decided to join the team or engage in heroics they’d be able to handle himself. His preferred job now was to instruct and guide the future generation.

”I’m glad you liked it though, I think you’ll make a great addition to the team one day. Let’s get you a little more training in first though.” he looked back to the maze and clapped his hands activating his powers guiding the maze and constructs back to the ground in a giant mound of snow one without spikes, hands or ice golems.

”Now, then.” he said looking over to Luna, ”have you ever thought about weapons training?” he asked curiously.

"The tail gets in the way a lot and you are right, can't aim like that either" she said not entirely sure how she could watch her tail in combat like that but she figured it had to be possible. She still sometimes swept entire shelfs bear turning around. She had not been in the danger room yet but she had heard stories from older students.

"It is a dangerous world. More so for the team i bet" she asked her eagerness undulled, she even forgot about her fears. She held on to Sam's words like a treasure, if he thought she could make it, then she could in her mind. Still she knew it would be tough.

She watched the maze and constructs dissipear like they had never been there at all cept for the pile of snow. "A weapon? Like a spear?" she asked scratching her ear. She had not considered weapon training at all and her mind raced at the idea. "I mean i considered my claws" she said looking a them, something in her was reluctant to use them if she did not have to, but she pushed that away.

"I read online once that skunk juice is flammable but so is fut so i never tried that" she said thinking to herself. Fur also smelled really bad burnt. "What's the strangest thing you have ever seen?" she asked saying it even as the thought entered her mind.

”Right now I don’t need to much any more because of my thermal sense, but keep your head on a swivel, look around often and try to adapt it into your movements. But you can bet I bump into an adapted in the field I’m turning my head even more because of the lack of depth perception.” he waved a hand by his blind side to give an example of what he meant.

”Just be a bit more conscience of your tail I tell all the other tailed kids the same thing. Carrick.... I think he just tries to hit everything with his tail... don’t be like him.” he said offering wisdom he found to be sage. A lot of the other teachers would probably agree with the master of ice.

”Like a spear.” he agreed at first stomping his foot and activating his powers, a pole of ice rose from the ground and when it was done rising from it the weapon came to a point. Sam twirled it around making sure not to be anywhere near Luna when he showed off some of his training. ”Claws could work, I try to recommend something that would add a little distance between you and whoever is trying to hit you.” he said jabbing the air once then offering the spear over to Luna.

”Gawain/Maya uses a bow, I use whatever I want out of ice, Saph uses a hammer and Luke used Cali sticks. If you are comfortable with it and know how to use the weapon of choice it can open a lot of opportunities. Sides, how often you want to block a sword with your claws?” he said grinning.

”Then again, we also had a lot of people who didn’t use weapons.” he shrugged, ”Just something to consider. Our next lesson can focus on finding something that works for you if you like.” he said icing over his hands and making some claws of his own. Each finger of ice came to a point.

”I’d stick away from flames if you are worried about that. Fire... is a bit harder to control if you aren’t trained for it. Also don’t tell Eve about that.” he said giving her a warning, ”She doesn’t need anything else that’s flammable.” he finally smirked and then waved his claws away.

”Strangest thing? What like a weapon? Or mutation?” he asked curiously but had an answer for one of them, maybe both. ”One of our students here, Fausto. Had acidic spit, he used a sword of glass and drooled all over his blade before training. He’d neglect to tell me sometimes.” Sam shuddered, ”It burned.”