All through her childhood and teenage years Jewel attended more special classes than she could count. Most of them were part of the unwritten curriculum of a well educated young lady - think French, piano lessons, etiquette and other essential life skills. She also did sports, both with her parents and at school - sports like tennis, golf and horse riding. The only thing she ever did that marginally resembled fighting skills was the fencing lessons in high school.
Not that any of it mattered right now.
She was waiting for Sam to arrive. She didn't know much about him, but she's met him at Kasumi's party - at least she knew who to expect. Streak directed her to him as teacher of self-defense, something Jewel found herself in desperate need of a couple of days ago. She shuddered at the memory of the fight with Meld and Aura. This was a strange new word, and required strange new skills for survival.
Jewel didn't really know what to expect from this class/training; as she stood waiting for Sam, she was dressed in what she found most comfortable, black pants, black T-shirt and sneakers. On top of all that, she was still wearing her jewelry, which must have looked ridiculous, but she always felt calmer and more comfortable when she had some gold or silver touching her skin. She'd take it off when Sam arrives, she decided.
Even if Jewel grew up protected and cherished (in a household that included maids and even a butler), she was never really afraid of getting her hands dirty. Then again, when it came to this, she didn't really know what dirt was, or where to find it. But she was eager to find out.

Walking down to the Danger Room Sam let out a loud yawn; as usual the time he should be sleeping he spent it going out and was trying to make the city a safer place. Two robberies and a street gang were foiled last night and a total of seven people were now in police custody thank to him. What he really found comical about the events of last night was most if not all tried to pull a knife on him at some point. Guns were one thing but knifes he just found funny, not only did the thugs held the knifes the wrong way but they were better off throwing rocks at him. His entire childhood, and almost all of his young adult life was spent fighting, and stopping people, so with that kind of experience under his belt he had no trouble disarming a few street thugs.

Kill or be killed, that was how he used to see things, he had no one to trust or rely on, but now that he lived at the mansion he had dozens if not more people he could trust or talk to. Granted only a handful of people know his actual history and by a handful he could only think of three. Even if those three knew more about him than everyone else in the mansion there was one thing that they didn’t know, and that was one of his passions. He always played off his job as a the Self Defense teacher as a burden but in reality he looked forward to everyone of his classes, a chance to teach things that he was forced to learn as a kid, a chance to share his knowledge.

Scratching the back of his head as he entered the Danger Room Sam caught a glimpse of the woman he would be teaching. Wearing his usual Danger Room outfit (basketball shorts no shoes and no shirt) Sam walked closer to the woman and waved slightly and picked up on the jewelry on her person. Sam didn’t say anything as of yet but just looked the woman up and down. Seeing if he could get a better grasp of the woman he was about to teach.

As he approached the woman he smiled and extended his hand, “ You must be Jewel, my name is Sam,” looking at the woman he tried to remember what he read about her in her paperwork. ”So what exactly do you want to learn?” He was usually really up on reading peoples information but lately he had been behind seeing as there had been an influx of new residents, which is why he couldn’t remember her mutation, ”I’m sorry what was your mutation?”

"Good morning, Sam" she greeted him with a smile. The old private classroom instincts kicked in immediately - she wanted to show him she appreciated that he took the time. For training a newbie as... new as she was. Among other things.
"My mutation is to sense and control precious metals - gold, silver and platinum - as well as gemstones with the exception of diamonds." she answered the best she could (official Miss Overachiever of every class she ever attended); in fact she didn't know the full extent of her powers either. And because the question reminded her about her outfit, she used her powers to hastily unclasp her jewelry and slide it down from her wrists and neck.
"Um... I'd like to learn self defense." she answered. She realized it was kind of obvious, so she went on "I came here to learn about my powers and to learn how to use them for something good." she told Sam truthfully, but not really sure how much to tell "But after the... fight I got into a couple of days ago... I realized I have to learn to defend myself before I can defend anyone else. So. Here I am." she smiled at him again, ready for... whatever.

Lowering his hand as she didn’t take his hand he nodded and smiled to her reaction and played it off as nothing, he was glad she seemed eager to learn, those that were interested and excited to learn were often those that made the most progress, well as long as they kept their mind focus, an unfocused mind made every thing more difficult. Looking her up again as she explained her abilities Sam nodded. He was listening but was distracted slightly, the way one carries them self could tell more about them than words could.

The jewelry she was taking off also said a lot, she certainly had a lot on and the fact that she was wearing it to one of his training sessions told him that she always wore them, which meant she could use her mutation at a moments notice. Seeing as she unclasped them with her mutation opposed to doing it with her hands Sam picked up on that and let out a small smile, ”I want you to keep those on, however any piercing you have,” Sam paused and aimed near her and focused his mutation through his hands as a blue cool jet of light formed. The light followed the path of his hand and started to focus the ice near Jewel, it was undeterminable at first but within a few seconds a pedestal with a small basin appeared next to her, ”put any and all piercing in there, they will stay there till the end of the training.”

If she was more comfortable with the jewelry on her person or not it didn’t matter to Sam much, if she wore them to everything she might as well learn how to protect herself while wearing things such as that. ”Before we actually start how about a stretch while I ask you a few questions?” Sam plopped down on the ground and began to stretch as he kept his gaze fixed on his student for the duration of the lesson. ”First I want to ask what your able to do with your mutation, you told me what it is but how do you use it, mainly regarding if it is offense or defense uses, I’ll be able to determine what would be easiest for you to learn then.”

Crossing his legs and stretching out his back he smiled and said, ”For instance,” the air grew cool as ice started to form over Sam’s body all but his face, ”The first thing I learned how to do is use my mutation for defense purposes, not only does it protect me from oncoming attacks but in time,” Sam raised his arm as a large blade formed on his forearm all the way past his finger tips, ”I was able to turn the defense into an offense as well.” with a small twitch of his eyebrows the ice around him shattered as he crossed his legs and then turned his legs in the opposite direction.

”Second thing I want to ask you is do you have any past experiences with sports or anything along the lines of martial arts?” he paused and then stuck his legs out in opposite directions and leaning forward, ” Again it will be easier for me to teach you things that were similar to what ever it is you learned in the past, it is always more efficient to build on something opposed to build from the ground up.”

Jewel decided he liked Sam's way of teaching. It was clear and simple, without the slightest hint of giving out orders, and she'd always appreciated mentors like that. She watched the first display of his powers tilting her head curiously, with a slight smile of amazement. She heard about his powers from Shawn, but seeing it was a completely different matter.
"I don't have piercings. Do earrings count?" she asked, and she made her bracelets and necklace sneak back to their place. She adjusted them to the simple form she designed earlier for being able to move freely; now she wore a collar instead of a necklace, and her bracelets were tight around her forearms with the gemstones set in them. They looked like a weird mix of forearm protectors and jewelry like this, but she was really glad she didn't have to take them off.
With that done, she started stretching too. She was quite flexible, thanks to all the ballet lessons of her childhood.
The first question surprised her. She was touching her knees with her forehead; she lifted her head for a second to look at Sam.
"I've never used my powers for either offense or defense" she admitted "I never had to... I mainly use them to create jewelry. It's more precision work than anything else - usually there are only small quantities of materials available." she stood, then bent back and looked at him upside down "Unless you count the fight I got into. It was in a jewelry store, so I... um, kind of ripped all the jewelry from the cases and used them to... buzz around me. Like an aura. I can't really explain, I did that without thinking. Didn't do much good either." she admitted.
She sat on the ground cross-legged like he did, and waited for him to ask the next question. Once he did, she shook her head.
"Nope, no martial arts at all, unless you count fencing classes, but I might as well try to fight someone with a toothpick. Maman would have died of worry if I did anything more violent than that." she chuckled a bit, stretching her legs "I did lots of sports suitable for spoiled b... I mean, Southern belles like me. Horse riding, tennis, golf, you name it, I did it. Ballet hurt the most."
She did the splits and rested her elbows on the floor, looking up at him with a smirk "I look quite the fighting type don't I." she said, mocking herself. She knew her faults exactly, she might as well accept them.

Moving from his current position he leaned back and pulled his legs into a butterfly stretch he cringed slightly as Jewel did the splits, no matter how many times he had seen someone due the splits he still couldn’t help but cringe, the thought of stretching you legs that far just made him uncomfortable. Leaning forward he nodded slightly, ”Earrings count, last thing I want is for you to get impaled with the end of the earring, there is a pressure point around there and I don’t want to spend our time with each other trying to get Doc to heal you.” he smiled and then started to stretch out his arm pulling is across his chest as his muscles started to tense and stretch.

He thought more about the type of training he should give her as she mentioned that she fenced, that was at least a start, he could always start from there and build on it. The basic footwork was all she needed but he wasn’t sure how well she was in that area. Another thing that he pondered was the fight she was in recently. ”You don’t have to look like a fighter, appearances are always misleading, I for example like star gazing, cooking, and everyone in a while planting a flower or two.” he smiled, and let out a small chuckle as he leaned back and then pushed his hands off the ground to force his body upright, as he recalled how many times a student had commented about his someone his size planting a small flower or looking through a telescope with an intense concentration.

”You, from what I heard met Shawn or Silver Streak right? Does he look like a computer geek to you? Appearances are often misleading and when you find yourself in need of self defense keep in mind that being misleading is sometimes the best defense, your opponent thinks you have a weakness, you turn said weakness into a strength.” Sam smiled and raised his hands in a guard as he looked to Jewel and said, ”Now, we are going to determine if you’re more of an offense or defensive person.”

Sam raised his right hand up and to the side as a holographic man formed he wore a white fencing suit and pulled out his sword before bowing to Jewel and getting into a stance. ”I know it might have been a long time but I am curious to see your stance, your foot work, basically everything you remember from you fencing days.” Sam knew next to nothing about fencing but he knew that foot work and a guard with a sword was a universal language to many different styles, both sword and fighting. If he could determine what her footwork was like he could determine on where he should start with the training.

The holographic fencer kept his head forward as Sam took a few steps back, ”Not sue if you ever used the danger room before, he may be a hologram but it will hurt if he hits you, might I suggest you create a chest plate of some kind along with a sword, he will move slow until you show that you can handle yourself, I want you to try your best alright?” Sam asked as he looked from the fencer to Jewel not focusing on any particular part of her body but rather watched and waited for her to make her first move both curious and excited to see her not only use her mutation but prepare for the skirmish.

Jewel chuckled at Sam's confession about his hobbies. "Are you kidding? Those things are fun. Besides, girls like a guy who can cook." Sam was right, it was kind of funny to hear things like that about a man like him. Or Streak. She chuckled again, remembering the concentration on Streak's face when he created a rose for her as a welcome gift...
She listened to Sam talk about strengths and weaknesses. She knew it was an important lesson, and her brain just went into learning mode by itself.
She looked at the holographic opponent, tilting her head, then back at Sam. So he was expecting her to create a weapon using her powers? That was a fairly new idea for her, although she had a thought or two about it since the infamous jewelry fight. All right, here it goes.
Jewel pulled her heavy bracelets, her collar and her earrings from herself; also the silver decorations from her belt and her hairpin. Earring problem solved, she thought. After melding them together in mid-air, she paused; she lifted one hand to her side, and pulled a second set of bracelets from her bag she left at the door. Glancing at her opponent every now and then, she shaped the metals into a fencing sabre; the gemstones that were left over from the jewelry she put aside into the basin Sam created earlier. Right now, she had no use for them. Once the sabre was complete, she held it in one hand, observing her work. She touched the point with her fingertips.
"Now, this is electrum, an alloy of silver and gold. It can't be compared to that" she nodded towards the hologram's sword "either in strength or in flexibility. It wouldn't be a match for Streak's silver either... But I guess I can correct that if I maintain concentration." she said that last part mostly to herself; she was thinking out loud. She looked down at herself; no chest plate. She sighed.
"Well, unlike Shawn and you, unfortunately I am not able to create the materials I work with..." she added "That hasn't occurred to me as a problem before."
She took her stance; it has been a while since those fencing lessons, but the basics were really not that hard to remember.
Still, she was careful at first. Besides being out of practice, she was well aware that her performance was being watched and evaluated; she wanted to do her best. As usual. She took the whole thing as a challenge; after the first few, tentative moves, she picked up the pace.
As for the footwork, she had fair balance; besides fencing itself, long years of dancing and gliding on high heels counted more than one would think. Her movements were composed, not to mention elegant; they had a certain symmetry to them. All in all, she did a decent job; but she fenced by the book. It could have been obvious to anyone who's ever been in a real fight that Jewel would be simply unable to fight dirty - also, that she would be utterly surprised if her opponent did so.

Lifting an eyebrow not exactly sure he got the message across when he describe a few of his hobbies he let out a small chuckle as she responded to him. ”A fact I have known for a long time,” it was true he had known that women like men who can cook it was one of the reasons he was so enthused to learn about cooking as a entered his teenagers years. One of the few things he was proud about learning when he was in T.A.T. he could easily crate a five star meal if he had all the ingredients in front of him. All it would require was some time to think more time to cook and even more time to think about the presentation of the food.

But she didn’t protest his points so it seemed the initial point was made which was good, all he had to do now is figure out her weakness and point them out to her so she can benefit in situations that would demand her to fight back. Watching with satisfaction as Jewel rose to the challenge by creating a sword of her own Sam just smiled, ”Just focus on maintaining the shape for now we can work on everything else after, to be honest I just want to see your foot work and your stance.” Hoping that she would comply with his request to see what she could do Sam took a few steps back as the holo-fencer and here danced back and forth swing their thin swords about.

It seemed pretty even from what he could tell, she defiantly was quick with the sword what’s more her footwork was excellent. The one thing he noticed however was her lack to do anything out of the ordinary to get what she wanted and that was a win. Frowning slightly Sam waited a few more moments. He liked the fact that Jewel wouldn’t get her hands dirty it means that she fought fair but as a teacher that was something that he wasn’t to big on. The teacher’s job is to make sure that the student in the end can get home all right. The Hologram seemed to pick up on this and charged forward using his hilt and trying to ram it into her stomach.

Watching and waiting Sam kept his gaze locked on the two the a way an owl or a hawk gaze at prey, he watched them both so intently he could plot out future moves for the pair. He kept his mouth shut as watched hoping that the pair would step up soon before he stopped them to critic the footwork and fighting style that Jewel was revealing, he was now almost sure he discovered the way she should be fighting.

Because she almost completely lacked any previous fighting experience, Jewel couldn't rely on her instincts. Instead she kept thinking her way through the whole exercise; she used her technique consciously, planning her movements according to the rules she knew, not to mention focusing her powers to correct her weapon's faults. It worked considerably well, until...
Hey!...
By the time she saw the blow coming, it was too late to block or parry. She tired to step sideways, out of the hologram's reach, but surprise slowed her movements down; the hilt collided with her left side, knocking the air out of her lungs. She's never been hit before, so that was a first. A memorable one, too.
He was not kidding. It really does hurt.
She tried to get away from the attack, this time doing it instinctively, using her hands and her weapon to push her opponent away. She staggered backwards, catching her breath, her free hand clutching her side. She suspected that bending over and resting her palms on her knees, however necessary it felt, wouldn't be a good idea; she had to keep her eyes on her opponent, in case another attack followed. She took a deep breath, and raised her weapon, ready to guard.
She wouldn't have admitted just yet that deep down she enjoyed the challenge.

A slight grin of approval escaped Sam’s face as he watched the pair one fighting dirty the other trying to fight fair. It was clear that Jewel was starting to have fun or at least getting into it, for he two would have similar looks on his face when he was fighting. He might not like the reasons for fighting or the fact that some only resolved their problems by fighting, what he loved was the adrenaline the thrill of the challenge two or more people pushing themselves both mentally and physically to best each other. It was after all, all fun and games till someone gets hurt or worse…dead.

Taking a step forward as Jewel seemed ready for another round Sam smiled and cleared his throat as he spoke up, ”Think I have seen enough Jewel for the moment,” as he spoke the holo-fencer waved his sword quickly and then sheathed it before he faded into the background of the danger room. Paying no mind to the actions of the fencer Sam looked to Jewel and continued, ”Now if you could change your sword back to it’s original form I think I might have an idea for you.”

Smiling as he instructed her he took a few steps towards her, icing his hands and bare feet over till they were covered in the slick blue material, ”When you can I want you to try an mimic me see my hands and feet?” he waved his hands about and then his feet and then continued, ”From what I could tell your not one to take an advantage and play to win, which in some circumstances is alright, but unless you plan on crippling and taking any chance you can get I don’t think you are much of an offense fighter. Your little spar session made it clear that you don’t usually make the first move.”

He raised his fist and slammed it into the ground as it let out a small thud and then raised his hand again and moved the ice around the now open hand, ”I think from what I have seen with your abilities so far are better suited for a stronger defense opposed to a stronger offense. Now if I was to throw a normal fist at you, if you couldn’t dodge it you could simply block using your limbs which would be covered in your metals.” smiling slightly happy he had figured out in his opinion the first step to her safety on the streets Sam asked her, ”Care to try it out with me?” he took a step closer to her the limbs, which were covered in ice shook rapidly before they shattered to be bare once again.

Jewel was relieved the first fight was over - even though a small part of her quite enjoyed testing her skills. She saluted the holo-fencer without thinking about it; it was part of the routine.
She still felt her left side; the hit would certainly leave a bruise. Purple, probably green too. Whatever. She still felt good about the whole thing. If she knew how to fight, she wouldn't need the training.
She smiled at Sam. "I have a long way to go, huh?"
She watched him ice his hands and feet, tilting her head in her usual sign of curiosity. No hologram this time. Interesting.
"I don’t think you are much of an offense fighter. Your little spar session made it clear that you don’t usually make the first move.”
"That's because I never had to fight in my life up until this week." she nodded, smirking "I'm still working on the whole 'real life' thing."
She watched Sam slam his fist into the ground. Impressive. She hadn't seen much of that either before.
"...your abilities so far are better suited for a stronger defense"
She nodded again. Probably right. She watched as Sam moved the ice around then sake it off. The way he manipulated it resembled her own way of working with metals. Not to mention he had more control over the whole thing than she did. And more material to work with.
"You mean, like this?"
Putting her left hand on the hilt, she focused her powers on the sword; it slowly melted away, till it became a pair of heavy bracelets, embracing her forearms almost from wrist to elbow. One was slightly darker than the other. Jewel frowned. Creating an alloy was much easier than pulling one apart. She'll have to work on that too.
Lifting her right hand first, she made the metal slide up to her wrist and around her palm and fingers. It took her a few minutes to copy the way Sam covered his hand with ice; she flexed her fingers, testing the new cover, before pulling it tighter and turning her attention to the other hand.
When both hands were covered in electrum, she looked up again. The corner of her mouth curled upwards into a smile.
"Ready."

Nodding his head with an encouraging smile Sam said, ”Patience is key Jewel, took me almost a decade and a half to learn what I know and I still feel I have a vast amount of room to improve in.” Again she commented about the fight she got in this week, ”After our session I want to ask you a little more about the fight you got into, and any fight you can walk away from safely is a good learning experience.” he hoped it was a good learning experiences other wise he would have to inquire when and where and with whom. All questions he planned on asking but if it wasn’t a good experience some one might have to get there but kicked.

A grin touched his lips as he watched Jewel perform her mutation like some sort of magician. No matter how many times he had seen a person use there mutation like this he still couldn’t get used to it. She was so much like him yet different in every way possible. He controlled something that seemed so natural to him while she controlled something so foreign to him. ”Yes, that's good!” Sam said as he took a step closer, the sword now vanishing and forming on her arms like a liquid before it trailed up to her fingers and her wrist.

The shiny metal now covering her hands Sam smiled and said, ”Excellent!” ice now forming on his hands again Sam smiled as his hands were now a light blue, ”Block as many hits as you can, I’ll try my best to refrain from hitting your body at all just make sure you keep your hands open handed or in a fist, I don’t know how strong the metal is but the last thing I want is the metal crushing one of your fingers.” Sam stepped foreword fast and struck with his right hand faster, he rotated his hips slightly making his strike that much more quicker, if she didn’t pull her hand up to block the on coming fist she was going to be staring inches away from his largest knuckles.

”After our session I want to ask you a little more about the fight you got into, and any fight you can walk away from safely is a good learning experience.”
Jewel simply nodded at that - yes, she was willing to talk, and yes, definitely a good learning experience. Especially because no one got killed. After talking to Streak about the fight and... other things, she was starting to feel more comfortable with the whole concept. Whether she liked it or not, she was now living with people for whom fighting was an everyday routine. That thought took a bit of getting used to, but at least these people were the ones she could trust.
Talking about trust - even though she said she was ready, getting punched in the face was something she was not used to at all.
Instinctively, she used both hands to block the punch, lifting them in front of her face, one open palm behind the other. Sam's iced over fist collided with cold metal; it sent a shock wave down her arms, and it would probably have twisted her wrists back if it wasn't for the thick layer of electrum. This way, it didn't really hurt at all - but it was still a surprisingly strong hit. Jewel's right foot slid back, and she shifted her weight, regaining her balance; her fingers closed around Sam's fist as she pulled it down to look at his face.
It was the second time she got hit in her life, and the first she managed to block. Lame as it was. Behind the look of deep concentration on her face, there was a hint of triumph.

Through the ice he felt his bones shake when his fist came into impact with the metal on Jewels hand, as she caught it and lowered it he caught a glimpse of a smirk,
”Excellent, however….” stepping forward and pivoting behind Jewel then forcing his foot behind hers Sam attempted a calf to calf sweep in hopes to get her back. ”Don’t hesitate, if you can catch a punch be sure you know what to do with my hand after!” taking a few steps back Sam waited a moment in an attempt to let Jewel back up on her feet if she should have fallen. He didn’t plan on teaching her much about grappling today; long and close range was his main focus for the session today.

Despite the situation he was impressed that Jewel was able to block, let alone catch the first hit, he was defiantly going to give her more praise later on. Once she seemed ready enough Sam mounted his next attack this time a string of barrages all aimed at her face of her stomach and all the strikes had enough energy and focus behind him to hurt should they hit, but Sam however pulled the power away last minutes if she should be incapable of meeting the strike with a block from her metal covered hands.

Three to the gut and three to the face that was all he was going to do for now if she should get manage to block them all then he would have deemed the session as a success, if one or two strikes managed to get past her guard then well… there was always next time.

”Your making good progress!” Sam said complementing her, not only was she skilled with sidesteps and blocks but they managed to figure out a decent way for her to fight for the time being.

Jewel was, by nature, a very graceful person; if there was any grace in falling backwards and landing on her butt, she sure would have found it. Unfortunately for her, there really wasn't any. Sam's attack took her by surprise; she fell with a yelp and a 'clang' as her metal covered palms hit the ground to stop the fall. She looked up at Sam, her cheeks turning pink.
"Point taken."
She stood quickly, fighting the urge to rub her backside - well, at least falling like this wasn't het first. She remembered her early horse riding lessons. Everyone has to start somewhere...
She kind of expected to get punched again; she was getting the hang of the whole training thing. What she didn't expect was the two other attachs to follow so soon. She managed to block the first one like she did before; she ducked to the side from the second one, almost loosing her balance; the third time Sam's fist grazed her cheekbone as she tried and failed to swipe the punch to the side with her wrist. There was the familiar pang of ice on metal again.
She didn't get quite as lucky with the hits to her stomach. She stepped aside from the first one, but the other two went in, even though she tried her best to block them. She stepped back, panting. Three out of six, that's a start.
Your making good progress!
She smiled at Sam as she straightened up again.
"Huh... thanks."