"Thank you for showing me Toby. I believe that I can access his... program? when needed. It makes me feel better to know that I can learn something to potentially become a bit more self-sufficient, however, I do really respect you, Neena. I'm constantly impressed when I see you spring into action. As much as Toby can teach me, I can access him any time, right? So while I have you here distracted from work, I would very much like to learn from you."

Neena nodded. "Well, first thing I learned was fairly simple. To quote an old phrase...."

Her finger depressed the key it had been hovering over. Somewhere above their head, a small contraption appeared, and a volley of laser fire impacted with the ground between the two women.

".... 'Expect the unexpected'."

The lasers and impact fireworks were all show, simply a projected show with no force or heat behind them. But it was an accurate descriptor for the way the chocolate-skinned went through life.

She deactivated the light show, and crossed her arms, to gauge Ghost's reaction to the surprise.

"That, and work on your reflex speed. A split-second can make all the difference, naturally."

"Well, first thing I learned was fairly simple. To quote an old phrase...."

A whirring sounded overhead and Ghost watched curiously as a small device lowered. She had time to blink, but that was about it before it started shooting... lasers? Ghost instinctively dove away, slipping into her ethereal form as fast as she could breathe in. It wasn't planned. It was her natural reaction to trouble: run. The volley of laser fire continued to strike the ground between the two women, but Ghost was several meters away, heart thumping wildly. Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't asked for it.

".... 'Expect the unexpected'."

Neena hadn't even moved and with a few keystrokes she sent the laser contraption into silence again. She crossed her arms and looked at Ghost.

"That, and work on your reflex speed. A split-second can make all the difference, naturally."

Ghost shook her head feeling a new respect for Neena's sneakiness. She would be better prepared next time. "Running away I can do..." She called out shakily. She'd somehow made it past bullets before. Not that she thought she could do it every time, but she had a good sense of self preservation.

Neena watched Ghost's path of flight, and noted the quickness of her intangibility kicking in. Reflex speed didn't seem to be an issue after all.

"Running away I can do..."

Neena held back a chuckle, as her friend was obviously unnerved. "Running is fine. Running is good. When you're alone. Sometimes running when you're in a group is good too. The trick is figuring out the 'sometimes' part."

She walked over to where Ghost had retreated.

"Did you feel any heat from those lasers? Or did you simply react to the sight of them?"

Ghost's face screwed up with the effort of concentration. She tried to replay the scene again in her mind but it had happened fast and the order of things seemed to jumble every time she ran through the events in her mind. "I'm going to have to go with sight, I think. I'm not as sensitive to hot or cold as a normal person is."

Ghost drifted hesitantly. She wasn't sure if there was a right or wrong answer to any of these. "Should I uhh..." she tried to think of a more eloquent way, but in the end could only think of the same words she typically used. "be fleshy again? It's takes longer to go back and switching a lot tends to be draining."

When Ghost became nonphysical she always had a slight burst of energy. She found that helpful in running, but she always had to reserve energy for the 'return trip' to solidity. Becoming solid was typically more exhausting as she had to wrangle in her loosely associated particles and force them to bond back together.

"I'm going to have to go with sight, I think. I'm not as sensitive to hot or cold as a normal person is."

Neena nodded and sat down on the ground, cross-legged.

"Should I uhh... be fleshy again? It's takes longer to go back and switching a lot tends to be draining."

She shook her head. "Not if it drains you. I can't guarantee I won't startle you again, so best to stay how you are for now, as long as it doesn't tax you too much."

She leaned her elbow on the side of her knee, and planted her chin on the back of her hand. "You had the right idea in distancing yourself from danger. Real danger. But there was no heat to feel in that little light show. It presented no other danger to you than maybe a brief flash-blind. But how could you tell without letting yourself be hit?"

She paused for a moment, then asked, "How do your senses work in this form? What do you feel? What do you hear? See, smell, taste? Which senses are sharper than the rest? And which are more vulnerable?"

"You had the right idea in distancing yourself from danger. Real danger. But there was no heat to feel in that little light show. It presented no other danger to you than maybe a brief flash-blind. But how could you tell without letting yourself be hit?"

"Is that a trick question?" She puzzled aloud at Neena's wondering. It was good to know she wasn't just shooting lethal laser beams at people whenever she pleased, but Ghost somehow didn't see why it mattered if they would just blind or would actually hurt her... in either case running away still sounded like a good idea to Ghost.

Neena paused for a moment, then asked, "How do your senses work in this form? What do you feel? What do you hear? See, smell, taste? Which senses are sharper than the rest? And which are more vulnerable?"

Ghost again had to think. She'd never had to describe it to anyone before, no one had asked. Her mom might've if she'd been alive, but then again Ghost probably wouldn't even be here if she were. Ghost took her time to organize her thoughts before speaking. "My senses... are abnormal as I am now. I'm not sure how your vision works, but it's not like seeing. It's more feeling. Like an impression sonar, but not because of sound." The ethereal form of Ghost turned her head this way and that, though the motion was just habit from years of being substantially more opaque. She sighed. It was hard to describe to someone who didn't know what it was like to feel the wind. To sense currents and even be able to discern elemental differences in the molecules.

"I can 'see' this entire room 360 degrees as long as there is air. Every form that the air passes around registers as a blank space. There is no color or brightness... even texture is a bit harder to distinguish. It's just shape, structure, and mass. I hear just fine, better actually as I can feel the vibrations in the air and focus more intently. Smell?" She attempted to smell... it was something she hadn't thought to try.

"No smell, but I can more easily feel the differences in the air quality... don't think that counts. As for taste, I don't think I could eat as I am. Haven't tried, but it doesn't sound appetizing in the least. I can't physically feel anything either. Just 'see' feel... if that makes sense."

She paused trying to remember the last question Neena had asked... something about being vulnerable? "It is definitely harder to tell who is who as the finer details take more concentration to perceive... if I stopped to focus, I could probably feel every detail about everything in this room, but it's easier to gloss over the details. Makes my brain hurt less. Hearing is definitely easier... 'seeing' is easier as there is little that is obscured. It seems to come down to how much I can stand to focus on at one time."

Ghost drifted a bit farther off of the ground, loosening her particles to get the extra lift. It was like stretching and in a way felt just as good. "Any more questions?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Sort of," Neena replied in amusement.

She listened carefully to Ghost's description of her current form, nodding every now and then at certain details.

"Any more questions?"

Neena smiled and gave a 'we'll see' shrug and head shake.

"Then, if I understand correctly, what you experience in this incorporeal form is very similar to being blind. Certain senses are muted, while others are heightened to pick up the 'slack'. Plus, as an elemental, you have an added advantage, I'm sure. It's like having an extra sense, really. You can very easily use that to your advantage in a fight. As for glossing over the details?"

She shook her head slowly. "Bad idea. Details can make the difference between life and death. If the details hurt your brain," she quoted Ghost's earlier expression, "that's only because you aren't used to focusing on them. Nothing a little practice can't cure. Personally, I think you just need to gain a bit more faith in your individual senses, rather than your abilities as a whole. If you can focus on one sense at a time, and work on refining each one, then pulling them all together won't overwhelm you so quickly. For instance, let's take your hearing."

She paused her lecture for a moment, and straightened up a bit. "You mentioned you can't really tell one person from another, right? Yet your hearing can easily tell you who is friend, and who is foe. If you know what to listen for. Like this. Computer, activate Bonnie and Clyde. Ghost, listen closely for the details. Not feel, but listen."

"Acknowledged. Activated."

Another pair of robots emerged from opposite walls, and strode forward. 'Bonnie' walked with a slight limp, hard to notice if you weren't paying attention. As the approached, Neena announced, "The one without the limp is your enemy."

At that moment both robots charged, and raised their arms, as if to swipe at the wind elemental. However only 'Clyde' followed through with the strike.

Ghost thought it interesting that Neena had chosen to describe her as blind. How she could she be considered blind? Forms were clearer now than when they were when she was solid. It wasn't like compensating to Ghost... it was more a different point of view. But Neena didn't see it that way.

"...Details can make the difference between life and death. If the details hurt your brain that's only because you aren't used to focusing on them. Nothing a little practice can't cure. Personally, I think you just need to gain a bit more faith in your individual senses, rather than your abilities as a whole. If you can focus on one sense at a time, and work on refining each one, then pulling them all together won't overwhelm you so quickly. For instance, let's take your hearing."

'Individual senses, hm?' She shrugged. Her incorporeal form was rather new even to herself. She'd had less than a year to iron out the kinks on her own so far. She kept that tidbit to herself though and tried to focus on listening. This must be why Neena was the teacher and Ghost was still the student here. Of course she would attempt the lesson and try her best, but she just didn't see the point of honing her sense of hearing when she could 'see' just fine.

"You mentioned you can't really tell one person from another, right? Yet your hearing can easily tell you who is friend, and who is foe. If you know what to listen for."

Ghost nodded. She'd been confused in the hallway that night when the intruder came through. She hadn't the time to meet every one in the mansion let alone familiarize herself with every voice. She had to listen for unfamiliar voices and then she had to listen to what those voices had been saying. Really, it was only after the fight had moved outside that she'd been able to

"Ghost, listen closely for the details. Not feel, but listen."

The computer chimed in and Ghost readied herself. She tried closing her eyes... again, fleshly habits die hard. What her visual manifestation did seemed to have no effect on how she 'saw' it was too hard to separate out the feeling from the hearing. What she felt was two very dense humanoids approaching her in a similar fashion. She tried to single out what she was hearing but it all kind of came together as a rush of information.

They weren't so similar upon closer inspection. Idly she wondered if she was cheating to feel the difference in the gait of the two approaching automatons. She 'saw' it and heard it in conjunction... it seemed impossible to turn off her 'sight'.

"The one without the limp is your enemy." Neena announced the key to the exercise when the robots were almost upon her. It was a bit of twist. For some reason, Ghost had been expecting the sinister one to be the one who lurched slightly.

They raised their arms and again she reacted automatically. A strong gust knocked both of her opponents back somewhat, though the bulk of the force was aimed at the robot with the strong walk. A part of her had been tempted to do nothing... after all, a purely physical punch wouldn't connect with any part of her substance.

"I think I understand the point, but I am unsure of how to apply the lesson." The wind died as quickly as it came, though the air in the enclosed space of the Danger Room echoed with her voice. As she continued to vocalize, Ghost would sound more normal... just speaking while actively using her power meant that the power often leaked over. "Should I wander around like this memorizing everyone's features? Oh... I think I cheated too." She admitted guiltily, "I can't seem to not look. It's all kind of a package deal."

Neena watched as both robots received an air blast, though Clyde took the brunt. She guessed that Ghost had identified the limp, but assumed that would have been her target.

"I think I understand the point, but I am unsure of how to apply the lesson." The young woman's voice seemed to echo in the room. Neena glanced around, perpetually curious. "Should I wander around like this memorizing everyone's features? Oh... I think I cheated too. I can't seem to not look. It's all kind of a package deal."

Neena nodded, acknowledging the admission first. "Understandable, since it's a different way of doing something you're already used to. It just takes some practice, is all. Just keep in mind that you can't have a package without the individual pieces." She smiled.

Addressing the thought of wandering around 'not solid', she shook her head. "You don't need to do that, though it would be a good idea to set aside a period of time every day to practice it out. But it's not really about memorizing anything, actually. It's more about training your senses to take in the world around you, in a different way than they are used to."

She stuck her pinkie nail in her mouth and started gnawing, as she tried to find a way to explain herself. Finally, she asked, "How did you know something was wrong with Garrett? You were incorporeal when he attacked everyone. You couldn't really see his face, could you? And his body didn't change. So how did you know something was wrong? Before the obvious attack, of course."

Ghost mused for a time over the quandary of how not to 'see' while incorporeal. Maybe she could just... ignore the sense? How do you ignore something that is constantly triggered... and why would you want to? It just boggled her mind.

"How did you know something was wrong with Garrett? You were incorporeal when he attacked everyone. You couldn't really see his face, could you? And his body didn't change. So how did you know something was wrong? Before the obvious attack, of course."

Her question made sense, but it also made Ghost realize that Neena hadn't been there in the hallway.

"First of all... I know Garrett. I know his voice. I know him... a lot better than I know anyone else here at the moment." It was true, though she rather glossed over the why and how she knew him better. She was still getting used to the idea.

"Secondly, the dart... it went through me and into him. I was insubstantial... I'd dozed off, I think." It was a bit hard to remember at times how things had started so simply and had grown into such chaos from there. "The problem wasn't knowing that something was wrong with Garrett. I knew he'd been shot, though not what he'd been with. Really the issue there in the corridor was knowing where the intruder was... and who he might be of the masses present. Though, it was obvious that he was especially slippery since I wasn't the only one having trouble seeing him."

"First of all... I know Garrett. I know his voice. I know him... a lot better than I know anyone else here at the moment."

Neena thought she heard a slight hesitation in the young woman's voice, but that could have indicated any number of things.

"Secondly, the dart... it went through me and into him. I was insubstantial... I'd dozed off, I think. The problem wasn't knowing that something was wrong with Garrett. I knew he'd been shot, though not what he'd been with. Really the issue there in the corridor was knowing where the intruder was... and who he might be of the masses present. Though, it was obvious that he was especially slippery since I wasn't the only one having trouble seeing him."

"Slippery is one word for it," the vision specialist growled. She actually had a few other choice words in mind.

Back to the present.... She smiled and shrugged.

"Yes, I suppose the dart was a rather obvious bad sign. I guess this is a bad example then." She switched her head and gnawing to her other hand and pinkie nail. "Hmm. I think this may be hard to explain, simply because it is a different point of view. Maybe we'll just have to settle for practicing it out instead."

A related thought entered her mind, and made its way out of her mouth. "You know, I'm curious. I realize that, at the time, there were other factors and things to worry about. But that air blast you just hit the robots with? And those razor sharp winds you used to cut with? Could you have been able to do the same thing with the dart?"

For that matter, had the dart been destroyed, would the serum inside affected anyone who touched it, or did it need to be injected?

Neena listened to her explanation offering her two cents where needed. She seemed to be forming some plan for training which was good since Ghost still had no idea what to do and she was the one who wanted to train. She began to wonder if Neena was the one to create individual training sessions for each mutant who used the Danger Room... she was the Danger Room teacher, right? Is this what that position usually entailed?

"You know, I'm curious. I realize that, at the time, there were other factors and things to worry about. But that air blast you just hit the robots with? And those razor sharp winds you used to cut with? Could you have been able to do the same thing with the dart?"

A slightly pained look crossed Ghost's face then. She'd beaten herself up and down over what she could have done differently in the hallway. As they say, hindsight is always 20/20. "It all happened kind of fast... I could have... should have done something." She shook her head and thought carefully about Neena's question.

"I don't think I could have cut the dart. I haven't... really tried to cut things very many times. And darts are usually made of strong enough material that it would take keen focus and the intent to harm." To Ghost it was obvious that she typically displayed neither of those qualities. She was more often the easily distracted and meek type, though when prompted into action, it seemed she had the potential. "I knocked back the robots with the most natural manifestation of wind to me. Typically I buffet things away with a more blunt type of attack, though why I didn't even do that... I don't know."

She shook her head again as if tying to shake away the thoughts of self doubt that suddenly plagued her. She could beat herself up later, right now - she was here for Neena and possibly some robots to beat her up.

Even with Ghost not totally solid, Neena could see the guilt on her blurred features, and hear it in her voice.

”Don’t down yourself so badly, m’friend. From what I gathered, there was enough going on in that hallway to baffle even someone with precognition.”

"I don't think I could have cut the dart. I haven't... really tried to cut things very many times. And darts are usually made of strong enough material that it would take keen focus and the intent to harm."

”What about intent to protect?” she countered, curiously. ”That desire can be just as strong as the desire to cause harm. Especially when someone you care about is in danger.”

Then, in her typical abrupt fashion, she uncurled from her sitting position, and hopped to her feet. ”Well, either way, a bit of focus practice might do you some good. And a teacher always learns a bit from her students at the same time. So what’d’ya say we work on those windy batting skills of yours first of all? We’ll leave the cutting thought rest for now.”

Bonnie and Clyde unfroze from their positions and returned to their starting points, waiting for further orders.

"First, we'll repeat the exercise. I'll call out which of the robots to attack. Remember, Bonnie has the limp. The catch is, I want you to attack differently each time. You've already used the 'wind buffet', so I'd like you to try something different. Whenever you repeat a move, we'll stop and start over. Sound like a plan?"

Neena's words of comfort only went so far. Ghost's feelings of inadequacy fueld her desire to better master herself and her element. If she worked diligently, there should be no reason for a repeat of her shortcomings from that night. It was that train of thought that had brought her here even if it was some misplaced attempt as self-punishment.

"What about intent to protect?" Neena countered Ghost's thought of harm with an entirely separate train of thought. It was certainly something to think about. [/i]"That desire can be just as strong as the desire to cause harm. Especially when someone you care about is in danger."[/color]

Seemingly not one to dwell, Neena hopped to her feet and began to describe her next test of sorts. "First, we'll repeat the exercise. I'll call out which of the robots to attack. Remember, Bonnie has the limp. The catch is, I want you to attack differently each time. You've already used the 'wind buffet', so I'd like you to try something different. Whenever you repeat a move, we'll stop and start over. Sound like a plan?"

Bonnie and Clyde unfroze from their positions and returned to their starting points, waiting for further orders.

"Sounds like a plan." Ghost readied herself. This almost seemed like a test of imagination and creativity.

Neena nodded at Ghost's agreement, and wasted no time in starting.

As the exercise commenced, she began by simply alternating between Bonnie and Clyde being the target. The robots were low on intelligence, but quick in the recovery department, so naturally the directions started slow, then worked their way up in speed.

Very quickly Neena began trading up the targets, calling out Clyde two or three times in a row, Bonnie once, then Clyde again, and so on. As planned, whenever there would be either a 'misfire' or a doubled attack, they would pause for a few moments, then start over again. Very simple and, at least in the teacher's train of thought, not physcially exhausting.

Finally, as she continued to sing out, Neena moved over toward the computer console, and began typing. Two more holes opened in the wall, revealing two more robots. One stayed put, while the other lumbered forward. He did not limp like Bonnie, but a soft squeek-a set him apart from Clyde. He didn't attack right away, simply standing halfway between the first two machines.

Then, after a string of 'Bonnie, Clyde, Clyde, Bonnie, Clyde,' Neena added in the third, without missing a beat, and watched to see if she caught the little hitch. "Bittie."