There was of course the question as to where certain lessons in coordinated movement might be undertaken without undue embarrassment of all parties concerned. They needed an unobserved place to practice in other words. Because Granny had no intention of making the girl repeat The Things That Had Been in a public setting. No matter the older people. Teenagers could be quite cruel.

Luckily she already had the perfect location in mind.

It was not called the Danger Room for no reason after all.

She skirt flowed through the halllways with practiced ease. She knew where she was going. And she got there quite rapidly considering everything else. The computer panel greeted her blinkingly, but she ignored it and went right in.

To land in a frozen wasteland where, as it happened to be, ice giants were lobbing great snowballs in each others faces. Sometimes it pays to look at the in use signs. In the form of giant snowballs. Sometimes it does not.

Gina didn't ask where they were going, yet she had an inkling.

She'd never before been to the Danger Room, for she wasn't in any classes that utilized it, and wasn't on the X-Men. Yet, as Gina and Granny ventured deeper into the belly of the building, Gina seemed to grow more aware of where they were going.

Gina began to apprehensively wonder if "dance lesson" had been code for something else, but she didn't show her apprehension outwardly. She simply followed Granny into the Danger Room.

And, was met by a frozen tundra, complete with gigantic ice-men who were trying to pummel Gina and Granny with enormous snowballs. Gina arched her eyebrows, her apprehension now showing through quite clearly as she danced aside. Snow didn't mix well with her bony feet, and she wasn't too keen on getting pelted by snowballs that were as big as she was, either.

"How do you... can you... turn them off somehow?" Gina inquired crisply, "Where are we?"

Gina was behind Granny, which probably was a good thing as one of the Giants reacted to their presence - quite predictably really - by throwing them a present. It was about two meters in diameter and consisted of icy snow hurled at a speed that was possibly - just maybe - big enough to, you know, damage something. Like... bones. Only that Granny did not much appreciate the threat at all. She turned to her dancing student as if all the world was peachy-pink and there was not an object hurled in her direction. A heavy object.

"Dear, we are in the local training facility." Her voice was all musical Alto. The ball was still whistling closer. "Which, as it appears, someone left running." She tsked lightly through her teeth, expressing displeasure at the misuse of energy. One of her hands, firmly lodged on her stick before, came up and a green wall interposed itself between herself, her charge and the snowball, splattering it harmlessly against it. Splattering with the force of a small viecle driving against it, mind you. And still. Splat. Nothing. A giant roared in obvious displeasure.

"Computer, deactivate current program." Her voice was clear and cold - she was old and did not appreciate being hit on, thank you - and the computer obligingly made the giants and the field of snow vanish and let the steel walls of the room reappear. Except somewhere in the width of the electronic programming a glitch occured. Just some few misplaced electrons.

>> "Dear, we are in the local training facility. Which, as it appears, someone left running."

"Yeah," Gina agreed, her voice sounding strained and not even remotely as relaxed as Granny's. Granny was a telekinetic with a decent power to protect her, Gina was a girl with wings. The best she could do is dodge the projectiles and hope for the best. Granny erected a wall to defend herself, which seemed to piss-off the giant... thing. Gina was about to inquire as to how they could stop the barage of giant snowballs, when Granny answered the question by demonstration.

>> "Computer, deactivate current program."

With a flicker, the tundra and the giants vanished, leaving nothing but a cavernous room before the two. It was all metal, and bore a bit of a chill. Gina looked around, mystified.

"Never been to the training facility before," she confessed with wide eyes. There was something about having a mutation that manifested itself thusly that made Gina exempt from "control" classes that would typically use this area. And she wasn't by any means on her way to becoming an X-Man. Gina took the time to soak in her surroundings, now that she wasn't faced with an attack by artificial intelligences.

Granny turned with a smile. "It's my classroom." She said with that smile spelling out the word 'danger' quite well. If one wanted to categorize her humor as a dangerous one. She would not. Sam Johnson would probably differ in his opinion. (And possibly something more. She had stuck a nude calendar on his office door after all.)

"And it has certain parks." Cue: Dangerous glimmer. "Computer: Activate program Granny Two." Somewhere electrons started buzzing as machinery turned alive. Lenses started focusing beams of something (and of nothing) and proceeded to change the fabric of reality (take that, perception...) with another heavy shimmering.

The room exploded into color. It was like someone had codified a bad trip on LSD and mixed it with enough neon paint to hurt the eyes of even the most recalcitrant teenager. Furniture appeared in a hodgepodge of styles and color that was almost as hurtful as their respective colorations. And in the center of it all a black square. The altar of salvation, place of celebration.

The dancefloor.

Grannys smile was slightly evil. She had to admit as much herself.

>> "It's my classroom."

Which meant that Granny trained people. But who? It was hard to say, by the grin that the elderly woman wore-- the X-Men? Students? Both? Gina had every reason to be apprehensive. She smiled sweetly, her tail twitching faintly as she waited. What was a teenager supposed to expect out of the danger room? Gina wasn't sure. So she just expected the most unlikely thing to happen, and if anything less occured, then she wouldn't be surprised.

>> "And it has certain perks. Computer: Activate program Granny Two."

The room hummed to life, and Gina looked around curiously, uncertain of where her eyes should wander. It was as if someone flipped a switch-- bland, bleak grey walls were replace by colors. Bright, neon paints and a colorblind clown's taste in furniture decorated the surrounding area, all of which led up to a very out-of-place patch of black. Gina blinked, willing her brown eyes to adjust

"This is incredible," Gina said in admiration, giving her eyes one final bit of respite before forcing herself to look around, back towards a Granny that was looking rather sinister. What on Earth had Gina gotten herself into?

Had she been asked what she had expected out of her lesson with Granny, Gina would have answered that she didn't quite know. Something low-key and... well, granny-ish. Nothing that entailed or mandated decorations that looked like someone blew up a neon-colored rainbow, that was for dang sure.

She smiled indeed. And through that smile mouthed loudly: "Music!" Her walking stick was already settling itself on something far too bright and Granny was presently limbering up. That is: She was rolling her ancient hips in quite unladylike motions. Her smile turned into a grimace. Rolling wildly. Her grimace was something that proceeded to disappear slowly. With every bit of movement things got a bit easier. Rolling. Hips.

The music started with a heavy bass line that shook the very floor on which they were standing. It moved up the legs and into the stomach, where funny things happened with the food you might have just ingested. Grannys hips found the rhythm rather quickly.

Then came lighter parts. Melody - if something electronic might be called a melody. Grannys arms and fingers began weaving around her. Up her... chest. Down. Her hips still rolling. Someone started singing. A deep male voice saying things that were decidedly not made for young ears. Gangsta rap at its finest. Criminals. Weapons. Women. And... Explosions. Because there always had to be explosions.

Granny made her legs do... things. Again they were quite unladylike. She shot Gina a look that very much questiones whether she would have thought *that* of her teacher. And spun around her axis, her skirt flowing around her like a big sunflower. Some things were better without words after all. Who would have thought the old lady to be that... limber.

Gina laced her arms across her chest and wore a small smile upon her lips as Granny stretched. She didn’t really know what to expect, now. The state of the room before the teen was unexpected, and thus Gina knew that how Granny would dance probably wouldn’t be “normative” for an old woman. How unnatural her dancing would be was beyond the teen, though. The elderly woman demanded music, and the Danger Room complied.

A heavy base arose, pulsating through the room and causing the ground to reverberate beneath their feet, and literally throbbed through the air like an enormous heart. It was then that Granny began to stretch. It started with gyrating hips. Gyrating. A grandmother. Some may have been mortified by the thought alone, horrified by the sight, but Gina… well, Gina was weird. She grinned. What in the world was going on?!

The base ushered in melodic overtones and the voice of a young male rapper, and the dance grew even more unbelievable. This old woman was moving in ways that some young people couldn’t, and Gina could only laugh. Her sharp peal of laughter was lost to the music, though. This was probably for the better.

Granny tossed a look in Gina’s direction, and Gina stopped laughing, covering her face modestly, yet watching the older woman through the gaps between her taloned fingers. Nobody would believe her if she told them. No one would believe that Xavier’s grandmother could dance like that unless they saw it with their own eyes. If only Gina had a video camera… nobody would believe her.

Granny was sweating. Her old body was complaining in a multitude of places - all of them with slightly different aches. And she was (rhyming aside) utterly satisfied as the beat abated slowly and then faded into nothingness. She still looked very much out of place in her garish surroundings. breathe through your nose, old woman, she thought to herself admonishingly.

She looked at her young charge for this day and hour and slowly, very slowly, a smile spread over her features, folding the old skin in wrinkles. Her hands clutched for the walking stick that obediently came flaing twoards them.

"Your turn." She simply announced. And, like some bad wizard, she pounded her stick unto the ground. Maybe for emphasis. *Boom* maybe not. Yes, that was a bass. *Boom* Like *boom* heavily falling *boom* steps. Of some *boom* giant.

Grannys right hand made an encouraging motion. Talking was an impoosibility now anyways.

>> "Your turn."

"Oh geez," Gina breathed, grinning.

Granny looked winded, and Gina looked blatantly at a loss. Granny beamed, the music having paused for the elderly woman to catch her breath. But, as soon as her stick met the ground, the bass arose once more. Gina still looked really lost. She had just never taken the time to learn to dance. And even if an old woman could move like that, Gina certainly couldn’t. If it wasn’t the ability that she lacked, it would have been her mind over matter. She mentally wouldn’t be able to force herself to do it.

But Granny was expecting results, or at least something to work with, so Gina did the best that she could. Granny had began with rolling hips, so maybe Gina could too. She let her hip rock to the right, looking down at herself, before looking up at Granny. She was going to bust-up giggling at any moment now. Gosh, this was so embarrassing. She let her hip rock to the left, before wedging in a mediocre hip roll. And then Gina paused, looking towards Granny for guidance. The music was too loud for speaking, yes, but Gina didn’t know how to dance. Not like that. She had no idea as to what she was doing whatsoever.

Well, yes...

That was what she thought upon seeing the girl names Gina make her attempt at dancing... it could be worse. Not by much, mind you, but it could always be worse. Not so much a matter of the skill in itself it seemed to be as a lack of certain coordinative abilities coupled with a decided lack of self-assurance. It was very teenaged, what she saw right now. The tentative approach to her wishes. The persistent questing looks that shot out from under the girls brow. It was... so long ago. She had forgotten, almost, what it had been for her back then. She was, she surly admitted to herself, too much time that had come and gone. Too much of a good thing. And too many of the bad things. Too much life, in short, it was that divided her form the situations ond thoughts of the youngsters in her care.

And then again: Not. She was a bit younger than she looked inside. A bit more... youthful than many of her cohort. Less restive. More... about things.

It was her answer to aging. Getting more youthful inside. Like Merlin himself, the magic was not without. It was the lay within that forced her. Forced her to answer Ginas dance by steps - briskly she stepped as she always did. Short steps. Forceful steps. With the bass she stepped. Into the Music.

Here... I come?

Her hands were feathery with age. Clean and lightly they rested upon Ginas hips. Like this, they said. just... lightly a push in an unnatural Direction... like this... boom... with the beat. Slightly. Granny was not self-conscious. She would do as she had to to teach the girl. Pushes. Oh, she could have made those with her mind. But hands were personal. I am touching you, am I not. Gently taking charge. Look... into my aged face.

Gina stopped in the awkward motions as Granny drew closer, to give some of her own input. Gina paused and Granny put her hands upon her hips. Was it really that atrocious? Granny gave her hips a light push, and Gina’s hips swung in a way she hadn’t thought humanly possible. Her wings twitched curiously, before clamping to her back once again. The last thing she needed was to accidentally bat an old woman in the face with her wings.

Gina tried that gesture again, with slightly more success than when she'd just been standing there. How odd.

Oh, if her mother saw her now—Pamela would either laugh at or be blatantly mortified by the fact that Gina was receiving this sort of dancing lessons from an old woman. Gina looked up at Granny, adopting an uncertain smile. This was just so absurd. And, in a sense, lots of fun.

The old woman was not shy. She smiled back broadly. Yes, the smile said. Yes, that is how its done. And indeed she proceeded to step back a few feet and showed Gina again, quite slowly, what she had in mind. Rolling hips and a smiling, wrinkled face... who would frame resistance? "Now try again!" Her voice was full of encouragement. Like the colors of the room it went through the full spectrum of her range. She rolled her hips again and then started clapping an easy rhythm with her hands.

"One, two, three..." Rolling hips. Repeat. "Yes, thats it!" Oh she could be quite encouraging when she wanted to. (She rarely wanted, but that was another matter. Old people have a right to Old People Grumpyness (tm).) It went on a few minutes until Gina had the hip rolling at least passably done. In between her hands like feathers corrected the young womans posture. And then came the next part of the lesson...

Shaking your upper body suggestively. She even managed to say "Yes, send them bouncing..." with a totally unconcerned voice. As if things could get worse for a shy young woman. Granny certainly did not think this odd at all.

It was almost like a ballet dancing class, except slightly less refined. In fact, as Gina closed her eyes and let the music pulse through her, hips swinging freely. Occasionally, Gina would pause, as if confused by the fact that she could even move like this, but whenever Granny would speak up, Gina would return to the lesson at-hand. Granny even clapped out the beat as she called out instructions. Gina allowed herself to grin broader, thinking with humor, If only Mom could see me now.

Granny poked and prodded at Gina until she was dancing in a proper position, before stepping away. Gina let the music overcome her again, but no before Granny hollered another instruction at her. Gina paused, her eyebrows stitching in momentary confusion.

"Send... who bouncing?" Gina inquired, her tone noticeably baffled as she turned her attention towards the old woman. It only dawned on her, after a few moments, that Granny hadn't meant a who, but rather a what. Ginas' cheeks colored. She didn't believe that she could. Swaying her hips was one thing, but... that was something else entirely. That was attention that Gina wasn't sure she wanted. Gina could feel her face radiating with heat, to the extent that if she'd been a computer, she probably would have overheated by now.

She began dancing, in the form that Granny had instructed her in, and attempted to "send them bouncing", looking like she was trying to refrain from bolting out of the Danger Room in a blind terror, all the while.

Her old voice cut across Ginas... attempts. Horrible faliures she called them, a bit more truthfully, in her mind. Horrible, horrible things that burned, just a little bit, her retinas. Like those cheeks. Who thought a Gargoyle could blush that pretty a shade of pink? It appeared to her that the young woman needed a bit more guidance. A firm hand to close around those... well actually not like that, you guttermind. She needed a firm hand to guide her into perceiving her body as something wonderful. Something beautiful. And here, Granny thought for herself, lay the transformative power of dance. You learned to feel your body. To learn its limits and little aches. You learned how it moved and stayed silent.

You learned confidence in your body. In your abilities with it. Self esteem and all the good things. That was why she loved dance even in her old age. Her aches were bigger, her movements a lot slower than what they had once been. Everything was different. Any yet the woman who danxed today was confident as her voice exploded through the room sharply calling the girl to order.

"No, no, no! Just like this."

And indeed fully without shame, Granny produced the most awe-inducing display. Should anyone ever repeat this performance outside the room, she would get anvilous. But here it was ok as she flounced her flowery skirt and laid hands on. Her hips. She did send them bouncing. Her hips were doing things she had not shown Gina yet. It looked very much... sexual. That was the only word for it and the old woman had absolutely no qualms. She also, it was quite obvious, had absolutely no shame whatsoever.