Quin seemed to appreciate the ideas Lee had listed off quickly to make sure that she always had some plastic available to work with. That was good, it meant that Lee hadn't put her foot in her mouth.

As Lee had continued speaking, she noticed that Quin tilted her head - was that confusion? - when Lee mentioned times she hadn't been able to use her powers. Not that such as thing was so drastic or potentially terrifying and disastrous for most mutants as it was for Lee. But it was always a possibility.

Quin didn't question it, though. Maybe she'd run into adapteds and had that experience before, though not necessarily in such deadly circumstances as Lee had had. Wait, the younger woman had been a cop before she had been de-aged. She almost definitely had that experience, Lee corrected herself. The question was whether Quin remembered it.

And that was why Quin was doing this. Working with Michael, and now with Lee, to learn how to actually fight instead of the defensive sparring she'd done in controlled situations.

"I totally get that," Lee said with a nod. "Because sometimes there is no one else to save you. Sometimes you are the one who ends up doing the saving."

Again, Quin had to think that Lee was speaking from experience as she pointed out that sometimes there was nobody there to save you. Quin…honestly couldn’t relate to that in her recent experience. The redhead knew that she’d been in a situation like that at least once.

Once. Lee knew how to fight the way she did, hadn’t been taught, and spoke like she’d seen some shit….an Quin was waxing dramatic over a single bad encounter at a bar.

Quin shook her head, suddenly a little bit embarrassed.

“I don’t know when a law student is going to need to know all of this…it’s not like I’m in those kinds of situations very often anymore.” she said.

”But I do appreciate you taking the time to work with me.”

Quin wasn't a cop anymore, not since she had been deaged. So she thought that she wasn't going to be in 'those' situations much. Because when was just a law student going to need to know how to fight like Lee would be teaching her?

"And I was just a teen the first time I had to protect myself," Lee said simply. "Just a waitress at a diner who kept to herself the first time I had to fight like this. Unfortunately in my experience as well as what I've heard from many others, simply being a mutant seems to exponentially increase your chances of being in those situations. Whether you do anything to put yourself there or not."

Then Quin was thanking her for working with her, and it was Lee's turn to shake her head. "If you think this is something important for you to learn and get better at Quin, then that means it's important," Lee told the younger woman. It doesn't matter that you're 'just a law student'."

"Plus, I've had a major lack of sparring partners who have taken me seriously. Michael was the first in years, and that won't be happening again for a long time, if ever."

Apparently being in these kinds of situations was a universal experience for mutants…at least in Lee’s experience.

Lee had been a teenager the first time she had found herself in the kind of situation they were training to prevent…that sucked. Quin knew she’d had a pretty idyllic childhood, but knew plenty well that not everyone had.

It was validating to hear Lee say that as long as it was important to Quin to learn to fight then it was worthwhile and the redhead nodded. ”I guess that makes sense…” she said, smiling slightly.

Lee pointed out that she’d had a major lack of sparring partners and Quin shook her head. It wasn’t a shock that people underestimated the other woman, but it was ridiculous.

“Why not?” Quin asked, ”I’ll give you a hundred percent, but there’s no way I can light a candle to Michael if that’s what you need to have a run for your money.”

Lee took a deep breath and shook her head as she started listing reasons the guys at her gym had given her over the years as to why they wouldn't spar with her. Or for the few that did, they would hold back. A lot.

"Because I'm a woman? I'm too small, not in their weight class, don't have any formal training, I don't know the 'rules'," Lee listed off. "None of the guys who actually get in the ring to spar were actually coming to the gym back when I had my last good match, and they don't believe the couple of trainers still around who saw me and Blaine spar."

Lee had really thought it was more than a little ridiculous over the years. And now, after the fight with Michael and her introduction to Tony, Lee hadn't been looking to spar any time she stepped foot into that gym.

But now Quin was telling her that if she needed a fight at Michael's level for it to be a good fight, that she was out of luck. "There's more than one way to be challenged," Lee pointed out. "While it was good to see how I stood against someone with Michael's training, and it was nice to actually be able to use my powers when my life wasn't on the line, I have no intention of repeating that kind of fight, or the bruising, any time soon."

Quin shook her head and let out a disgusted little sound as Lee listed the reasons she had such a hard time finding sparring partners that would actually give her a challenge. Owing to her size, Quin didn’t tend to get dismissed quite as easily as some women, but it was always assumed that she was going to be slower or weaker than her male counterparts. A lot of times it was true, sometimes it wasn’t.

Still. It was gross on several different levels that Lee had experienced these issues to a degree that she hadn’t been able to continue her training until she’d met Michael.

Michael was excellent at breaking rules. The few times they’d worked together Quin had learned that lesson explicitly.

Lee had apparently learned a thing or two as well in that fight, but didn’t want a repeat of the aftermath. Noting the several places she knew were going to be bruised after today, Quin couldn’t blame the other woman.

”Well, then we will have to do this again…” she said. If Lee wanted to toss Quin around the mat, Quin wasn’t going to argue, maybe eventually she’d figure a few things out and be able to compete.

”Maybe a couple of times a month to start as long as you don’t mind potential sudden schedule changes? I can be pretty flexible, but on top of classes I’m an aide to Senator Lanyi when she’s in town. It all depends on the Senate schedule, but sometimes I’m basically on call.”

Lee nodded in agreement when Quin stated that they would have to do this, the sparring practice, again since Lee had had so much trouble over the years finding partners combined with the fact that Lee could be challenged even if her opponent wasn't as skilled and able as Michael was.

Lee didn't need another sparring partner for that kind of challenge. Though Tony hadn't had as much training as Michael, and it was impossible for him to move as fast, the spirit made up for that in their matches due to the lack of feeling or pain.

But not everyone would think or fight the way Tony or Michael did. Quin was going to have to learn to fight completely differently since like Lee she didn't have a lot of actual training and was a woman. And she didn't have as useful a mutation to be able to use in fights as Lee did. That different way of fighting would give Lee a different challenge when sparring.

Which was what Lee wanted, because the more she was able to learn, the better prepared she would be if she actually had to use these skills for real again.

"That sounds like a good plan," Lee agreed to the couple times a month. Sparring could definitely be rough on the body, and it sounded like the younger woman's schedule was rather busy. "Unless there's an emergency at the bar, my work hours are extremely flexible. Plus once I get my son settled into the mansion for school, I'm probably going to have more time on my hands than I know what to do with."