”Death is worse,”

Maya shot him a bald look as she dabbed at her eyes, something she probably wouldn't have done before Romania.

"It's not worse." She didn't mean that, but... she did. Death was an unknown but it was final and absolute. There was no in between. No half-sight, no half touch, no half anything. Just dead. Boring old dead. Her hands flittered from wringing to hair running and back to wringing. "I didn't mean it. Not like I want to be dead. I'm not that... selfish."

”If it’s part of your mutation, then it’s part of you right? So how is it that you loose yourself when you’re doing what you do?”

"Because..." Because of the very nature of the beast. But how did she explain that her body went poof and became something less than solid. "Because it's not entirely under control. As much control as I think I have, there is still bits that slip." Through her fingers? No. But her fingers might slip away someday. "It just gets away, you know?" She hunched more if that was possible.

"Whatever," Locke said, sounding very much like a stereotypical teen when Mrs. Csendes argued that death wasn't the worse thing. It was a dismissal of what she said, but even with that he could not keep a small amount of hurt from coming out. She apologized and he mumbled an apology back at her. "Death is selfish, no matter if you're the one dying or the ones left behind. Nobody really wants death." You want there to be life because you don't want to say goodbye. Locke's leg was starting to bother him a little, as it usually did if he was tired. The damage that had been done to his leg had been pretty bad at the time, but with surgery and rehab he was able to walk again. Chris, Mai, and his insane friend Eaan had built up his endurance. Still Locke had his limits and with the amount of sleep that was in him, he was going to need to sit down soon. His leg gave a little shake reminding him of the fact, and he sat against the wall where he could keep Mrs. Csendes in sight.

He wasn't sure if he was being of any help to her, so Locke admitted it. "Seventy two hours ago I was pretending I was normal because that was what my step-mother wanted. I can be a mutant, but we can't say what it is. So I can't lecture or comfort you on how you use or how to use your powers. Hell I don't even know if I can do what I do right anymore. But I do know, that I loose myself when I use my powers, and for the first time in a long time, it feels right. By loosing myself, I get back who I am."

Maya felt miserable. There wasn't a whole lot of place to hide even if it was dark. She felt... stupid. And young. Funny that a teen was the mature one in the room.

"Seventy two hours ago I was pretending I was normal..."[/color]

Ghost had left normal behind a long time ago. Two years ago? Perhaps? When she came here. It seemed this place was good for finding one's self. And loosing one's self too.

One hand went to either side of Maya's face.

"How do you like it so far? Being one hundred percent abnormal?"

She'd left normal behind, not entirely by choice. But she was enjoying it alright. White hair and lack of color and all...

He was smiling. Locke actually was smiling from something that someone who was talking to him. "This is normal now,". Being a mutant had very little to do with his reasons for leaving the only place he had ever known before. Yes the inability to talk with his stepmother about what he was made that silence all the more imposing, but as far as Locke was concerned, that was just a grain of sand on a beach of things that were wrong. The fact that each day remained the same repetitive actions lacking in any emotional or psychological growth. Memory ghosts that clung to the corners of his mind like cobwebs. Something in him had changed, something other than being able to make things with dirt. "I'm not here because the world's afraid of me, I'm here because I couldn't stand it back in San Francisco"

He bent over slightly, placing his hands underneath his feet to stretch his back out. With the terror out of his body from the nightmare/bad memories last remnants flushing out of his system, Locke's body now had a dull throbbing ache to it, and he felt the need to move. That's just the way he was. Even if he was a rock in other ways, Locke had a bit of a wanderlust to him. Maybe that's why getting on the train had been so apealing rather then just doing something different at home. Strange how even though he should be out cold Locke felt energized.

"This is normal now."

Maybe it was because his voice was smiling or maybe because it was so very true. This. This weekends up town and weekdays in Manhattan. This married thing. This mutant thing. This was normal here.

And so was Romania. And the muffin incident. And the assault on the Full Circle and the day the bus blew up and runaways and orphans and murderers and...

...

Maya took a good look at her hands. In the future. She took those hands and made things happen despite what was happening to those hands. And things were different now. She had people on her side who would do everything in their power to keep those hands from disappearing. Even if that wasn't enough there were things she could do. Should be doing.

"I'm not here because the world's afraid of me, I'm here because I couldn't stand it back in San Francisco."

"I came here for an education. I certainly got one... not the one I was expecting, though." No diploma in Ghost's name. Just a uniform.

Ghost stretched. Her huddled ball was broken and the time for moping was over. Who cared if it was the middle of the night? She should be doing something constructive. "Ever hear about the danger room?" Or reckless. Sometimes Ghost could go for some recklessness too.

The blank stare on Locke's face should have answered Ghost's question. It said that he had heard the words before, but never in that order or that context. Somehow he got the feeling she wasn't talking about a disorderly room. "I'm guessing it is someplace in here that I haven't gotten to yet, and I'm pretty sure that I'm right about that. I've only been here three hours, most of that was spent asleep." This was one of those moments where he wondered if adults knew things or not. Granted since he had said he had only just arrived there had been a severe emotional breakdown on her part, and she didn't look that old. Still it was kinda a big thing.

Locke hesitated before standing up again. The carpet had been soft and nice to sit on, not to mention warm for the Californian who would think a trip to Alaska in the winter would be a form of cruel and unusual punishment. His leg made a slight protest, but it felt more stiff than anything. Wiggling his toes there was something familiar beneath him. Sand. Gravel. Both things he knew how to work with, both eager but unfocused. Something rode along with the two ingredients that Locke didn't recognize. It felt good though, and his leg felt a bit sturdier. 'I'm not going to need a helmet am I?"

Hmm. Three hours new? She was thinking he was something more like a few days new. And if most of that had been sleeping... At the Mansion, it was totally plausible that he'd heard of their training device in that time. The kids especially loved their time in there.

"You could probably use a helmet if you wanted." But they both knew it'd look totally dorky.

Ghost uncurled more and more. In her less-than-rested mind, a good training session sounded wonderful. It was progress. To get better at defending. To protect herself in her physical state. If she could get better at those things then she could go on to protecting others.

She stretched her legs out from underneath herself and then put them down onto the squishy carpet one toe at a time. It was carpet worth savoring.

"You don't have to come if you don't want, but it's worth a look at least. Since I can't sleep I thought I may as well tire myself out." Then she would have no choice but to sleep, right?

Dancer like steps around the couch, down a short flight of stairs and into the barren hallway. There were secrets down there. Ghost had explored them before. But they weren't here for pit traps or helmets that may or may not have been evil.

Ghost put her hand against the scanner, realized it was against the wall next to the scanner after she waited a good two seconds, and then adjusted herself to actually provide the prints to gain access into the training room. Ghost wasn't entirely in her right mind.

The doors hushed open to down sloping ramp and a cavernous room.

"Self defense? Personal combat?" Ghost was wandering toward the control panel as she she tried to remember her options. She also needed to remember to set the parameters to exclude fire. "Care to take a spin or do you want to observe?"

The helmet thing had been meant as a joke, which reaffirmed Locke's belief that he was as funny as a sack of potatos. How was he to know that Ms. Csendes would take him seriously, and even more importantly, that safety gear could be recommended. Of course Locke had been logical in what he had packed before "going on vacation" and a helmet had not been stuffed into his backpack. Nobody normally would include that unless they were planning on doing some biking or rock climbing, neither of which had been on the agenda for the Californian. Still if such an item was a good suggestion he did not want to go in totally unprepared. Locke hated not having something figured out in advanced. Life was so much easier if he knew what he was going to make for dinner the night before, or how to keep Eaan from getting into a debate with his little siblings over who got to use the glow in the dark crayons, (yes, his best friend who was a year older fought with, and lost to the logic of a five year old). He didn't know anything about the Danger Room other then that it existed, and that bit of knowledge had just been given to him. Would there be anything he could work with? Would he be able to do anything at all given his lack of sleep?

"Just a sec," he told Maya, looking about the room. His palm itched a bit, and he turned towards the itch. In a forgotten pot a plant looked close to its last legs, relatively speaking. It was one of those tall fern like deals, the kind that bring about images of jungles and rain-forests, but the leaves were yellow from either over or under-watering. Drawing close it did what all potted plants had started to do when Locke got too close. It tipped over. He was starting to worry that picking up Chris and Mai would result in the genocide of a room full of bean sprouts. Locke grumbled and nudged at the spilt dirt with his mind. Of course he could have tried picking it up by hand, or even getting a broom and dustpan, but neither one of those methods was as effective as just commanding it back where it was suppose to go. To Locke's surprise it listened to him, moving slug like back into the upset pot. It's got to be bored by just having that thing in it.[/i] he thought before grabbing the pathetic plant, ceramic pot and all, and trudging his way behind Ms. Csendes, slowed a bit by the weight he carried.

Of course if it weren't for Maya Locke would be utterly lost once they reached the Danger Room. Learning the Braille alphabet had been easier then understanding the concept of mental maps. Sure places that he been a thousand times maybe he could do. Like he still could remember the way the photos were arranged on his Dad's dresser, and how many steps there were all together in his house, but for something like this, a school that could probably fit his old high school twice in the grounds, there was no way to remember what way to go. Ms. Csendes was asking him questions. "I never did any sort of self defense stuff before and I'm not sure what I'll be able to do. I only made the thing once before, but if I'm in here I might as well do something right?

"I never did any sort of self defense stuff before and I'm not sure what I'll be able to do. I only made the thing once before, but if I'm in here I might as well do something right?

"I'll warn you now, I'm not very good at most... physical things." Hiding as a mutant meant not using your power or at least only in subtle ways. After hiding was no longer an option? She used her power openly and probably more often than she should have. Ghost now depended on her abilities.

"But it's good to... try ... new things." Reading and talking did not go together very well.

Did they make a scenario for that? How to survive without your gift? Or with only half of it? It was akin to having one arm tied behind her back. Maya prodded at the display, not really reading every detail in her jittery not-tired-but-really-tired state.

"Obstacle course." That couldn't be too hard, right? Ghost mashed the button with her entire hand. Good enough. Go, go, go gadget Danger Room.

The walls and floors darkened and seemed to shift. It was all a trick of the eye and or some mechanizations, but it all felt pretty real. Soon the teen and Maya were standing in a dimly lit corridor. The ground felt like concrete. It sounded as if there was a far off drip somewhere.

Ghost shoved her hands into her pajama shorts' pockets. "Puzzles, traps and physical feats. Nothing too dangerous." Or brain cell consuming. Hopefully.

((OOC: Feel free to make up a challenge. Anything, any place, any scenario.))

Locke was beginning to think that it had been a mistake to grab the big plant, especially as walls formed around the room. He was forced to put the pot down, arms starting to get an ache in them. If he was going to drag the dirt around he was going to wear himself out while slowing the two of them down. Had this been the army or a boot camp that would mean shouts and running the course over and over again until he finally got the time down. "This is going to be interesting..." Not fun. Fun would be if he didn't have to lug the pot around. Bare toes wiggled slightly, getting a better grip on the ground. It felt a bit like the concrete that had been beneath the carpet. Could he work with it? Experimentally he poked his mind about. The ground made a slight groaning noise in protest, but unlike the frozen dirt earlier, which said it was too tired to move, this was just a bit annoyed. Sand and gravel were like little kids, eager to help but unable to focus. Concrete was a teenager, stubborn but would eventually listen to him.

It looked as if the plant wasn't going to be needed, but Locke wasn't going to just abandon it forever. Should things get too dangerous, after all, they were talking about a Danger Room, he could double back and get the dirt. Early he had proven that the pot would indeed tip over if he got close. Cautiously Locke made his way forward, trying to figure out where exactly they were suppose to be going and what they were suppose to do. At least it wasn't a maze. As far back as he could remember Locke hated mazes.

"This one's called Love-craft." She'd picked it for it's nice and simple sounding name. Who wouldn't like a challenge crafted from Love, capital L?

There was scritchy, scratching... in the walls? "Uhh. I think we should start moving." Something brushed against her ankle. She yelped something like the word now and jumped forward.

And immediately tried to jump forward again when the floor was suddenly not under her feet anymore.

Another yelp and with an oof Ghost caught the edge of the lip of a... pit fall? Her legs dangled uselessly into thin air below her and she grabbed at the floor in front of her.

Well it was surely starting off fast! "Ah. A-uh... a little help?" Something scrabbled across her knuckles. Maybe having the danger room be dark and... infested was part of the challenge?

"Lovecraft?" Locke had to ask, already falling behind Ms. Csendes. He did not know that it was actually two words when she said it. The name Lovecraft sounded familiar, which meant that he probably had heard it many times before. There wasn’t much time to figure out why as the adult sprung forwards. Something did not feel right with the ground up ahead despite what his eye was telling him. As he rushed ahead Locke did a soft probe of the ground. A sort of empty feeling was there that made him think of missing teeth or when he first opened his eyes and half of the world was not there. Part of the earth was missing. Snapping back to reality Locke opened his mouth and shouted "Wait!", one second before Maya almost vanished.

They weren't alone, or so it sounded. Locke was starting to think that something was living in the walls around them. He smacked his hands against the nearest one, and shut his eyes. Nothing, and he could have sworn that he had heard something from that exact spot. Maya was calling for help, so he crouched down, palms touching the ground. Again, nothing. "Don't freak. It's me," he said wrapping his hands around her wrists and pulling towards him. "You said Lovecraft right? Like in Cthulu Lovecraft?" He pulled harder, hoping that he was strong enough. Now that he had felt nothing there he realized why the name had sounded so familiar. His dad had been big into video games, one of which had been strongly influnced by the famous H.P. Lovecraft story. In the game this sort of thing happened. There were noises that came from nothing, invisible things hurting you, only for you to find out that it was just the game messing with your mind and nothing had happened.

"I don't think I can make that jump," Locke confessed. He had virtually no depth perception and he did not know how close the other side of the pit actually was.

"Don't freak. It's me,"

He took hold of her wrists. Why was it always the wrists? In the camps, both camps, the wrists were like a way to steer her, control her... or in this case help her.

Maya scrabbled up. It was an ungraceful move in her pajamas, but she wasn't in here to look good. She was in here to work off some guilt. "Thanks." She needed to look before she leapt.

"You said Lovecraft right? Like in Cthulu Lovecraft?" Maya rubbed her arms. It wasn't cold. Not exactly. "Did I choose bad?" Whatever a Thulu was she wasn't sure that it was crafted of love. Not after this. Maya pulled her feet closer together when something scampered close. She was an air elemental. Sounds meant a lot to her, vibrating through the air like that.

"I can take us across." And she could do it without changing states of matter. "It's going to be bumpy, though."

She nodded, waiting until Locke might feel okay with the idea and then set her feet firmly on the ground. None of this toes or flight and fancy stuff. She was going to exercise her raw power.

The gust started around their feet and rose in direction as well as strength. She focused on Locke first, pulling a classic Zephyr and pulling the air molecules tightly together. It was like a big lifting scoop, buffeted up and over the hole. The not so graceful part was letting go. She could let him down some, but unless she wanted to ram him into the ground letting go slightly above the ground was a better idea.

After Locke was safely grounded again, Maya took a graceful leap. It was easier for herself. She was part air already, lighter weight and more familiar with her own eddies and perceptions of currents. She touched down as if the leap were a natural one, not the bumpy ride that Locke had probably not enjoyed.

One stiff nod from Maya. Right. Next challenge. She rubbed her arms again to ward off goosebumps from the sounds.

Did I choose badly? ”Only if you have issues with gods of chaos and insanity that are too terrible to look at or describe,” Locke was not entirely sure what exactly Cthulu was or what he did, but he knew that when it was about only bad things happened. Right now he was preparing to face a world ending doom. This was not a basic obstacle course by any stretch of the imagination. The pit wasn’t that odd or out of place he supposed, but the random noises were. There was a conflict in his six senses, which meant that there was conflict in what he should trust. On one hand the earth sense had not lead him wrong before, and it did warn him about the pit. On the other hand was sixteen years of being just a normal human.

Being lifted up and over the pit was an experience that Locke did not particularly enjoy. There was nothing solid for him to stand on or comforting vibrations. He was quite literally out of his element that left him blind-sided. The brief time in which he was in the air made him feel as defenseless as a newborn kitten. When his feet finally touched ground, not all that gently, he understood why people kissed the ground in movies. Being able to stand on his bare feet felt more right then anything else short of being in the earth itself. ”I’m not sure if any of this is real,” Locke said, in references to the noise. He leaned against a wall for a short moment to get his legs back, and to nurse his elbow that got banged on re-entry. Suddenly the wall bulged outwards near him and he stepped away from it. ”That wasn’t me.”

”Only if you have issues with gods of chaos and insanity that are too terrible to look at or describe,”

Maya wasn't sure what to do with that comment so she left it alone. Insanity would not have been her first choice had she really known what they were getting into. But they were across the pit now. The console was on the other side.

That meant that they should just continue.

He made a noise and she felt a shift behind her. ”That wasn’t me.”

Ghost turned her head and... there wasn't anything happening. "What wasn't you?"

Wall bubble. "Oh." Wall bubblebubblebubble. "That."

"My guess is that we keep moving." And don't touch the walls. Musn't touch the walls that were bubbling outward almost to the point of touching.

Maya stepped lightly and pulled up her knees as she stepped so that her long legs would not touch any of the wall's protrusions.