ArchivedLogs:Danger Room Tour

Danger Room Tour
Dramatis Personae Vanessa, Martin
In Absentia	2014-01-06 Vanessa meets Martin, and he shows her the Holod--I mean, Danger room.
Location <XS> Danger Room - B2
Outside, it is a frigid, wintry night, the cold air sharp on the skin. Inside the basement levels of the mansion, however, the air is pleasant and temperature-controlled, and it can be easy to forget the cruel weather above and out of doors. In the hallway on the second basement level, Martin makes his way through said comfort, dressed in his X-Man uniform, right down to the gloves. It is a rare sight to see for most of the residents of the school, all things considered, but then students are not allowed on this floor unless they are escorted, and it isn't as if Mr. Morris wanders the upstairs halls in such a get-up. In any case, with the absence of a crisis at hand, his destination is far more likely to be the Danger Room than the hangar. A little late night Sunday practice, why not? His expression seems set to some particularly hard edges, which his icy blue eyes do not really help to soften. There's a soft and unfamiliar sound coming from the vicinity of the hangar, though. A female's tone of humming, something that's not easy to make out as words, as it sounds more like she's just humming chords softly to herself, but the metal surfaces of the lower hallway make it echo a little bit more than it would normally through the open door there. And then the source is clearly visible: Vanessa Rose is a fairly tall woman that holds herself with considerable presence, but moves quietly. Well, other than the sound of her mild humming, which ends as she steps out into the main corridor, head tilted up and aside: as if she were simply wandering through and taking a look. Her attire is casual and simple for the late night, civilian wear, nothing like what Mr. Morris has on. Just snug dark jeans, a comfortable collared pale shirt, her hair mostly back in a long braid, but the front of long bangs loose and fluffing against her cheeks and ears. Shadowy makeup has faded out a little from a long day, slightly smudged at her eyes. She startles at finding someone in the hall, dark eyes widening, clearly not having expected an encounter. "Oh! --Hello," Vanessa greets him. Martin slows his steps once he catches on to that humming, head cocked a little to the side and eyes just slightly narrowed as he tries to get a better ear for exactly what the sound might be. But then Vanessa steps out into the hallway from the hangar, and any suspicion he might have been carrying evaporates. He resumes his previous pace, which falls just under clipped, but instead of stopping at the Danger Room, he proceeds to the other teacher and X-Man. It would be rude, after all, to not hold some formal introductions. "Good evening, Ms. Rose," he says, offering a gloved hand for a shake once he's within range. "It's nice to meet you." "Excellent to meet you as well-- I'm sorry, I don't have all the names for everyone straightened out yet," Vanessa says, pausing, unable to identify him as easily as he did her, instantly accepting the handshake. She doesn't go with a firm grip, but more of a light weight in his hand, with an elusive smile that then warms into a more real, natural one on her lips. "I'm still jet-lagged, decided to take a deeper look for myself when I wouldn't disturb anyone," she explains apologetically, her eyes moving over his gloves and garb but it's simply interest, not judgement, reflected back. He waves his free hand at her apology; it's nothing, don't worry about it. "Martin Morris," he supplies with the gesture. As for his end of the shake, it is definitely firm, but not at all with the intent to hurt or even make the grip uncomfortable. A faint, amused smile curls at the corner of his mouth. "There's a lot to take in around here. Just wait until you try to start exploring the grounds as a whole. Wouldn't suggest it in this weather, though." Martin is no slouch in the uniform. It gives away the fact that he is well into the spectrum of physically fit, and most likely works to ensure that his form stays that way. With her look, however, he becomes just the slightest self-conscious. Though he is no stranger to uniforms, he's not particularly fond of the look of this one, truth be told. "It can be nice, when it's late at night. Quiet," he says. This follows the line of thought she introduced about not disturbing anyone at this time. "Do you prefer Martin, or Mr. Morris?" Vanessa questions lightly. "I'd prefer Vanessa," she clarifies simply. As if following his comment about exploring, glances around the hallway, "Yes, I think I'll keep my adventures down here where it's warm for the time being. I've been in sunshine up until my arrival here, I didn't realize how few _real_ winter clothes I had 'til now," she says, with a shiver and rub up both forearms with her hands. Her bare lower arms suggest, by the tan, that she's from a far warmer climate, and her mild Spanish accent meshes well with that. "But here I am chatting about /weather/-- while overlooking the elephant in the room," Vanessa says, and gestures directly to his uniform. "If this is 'Danger Room' attire, I'd really like to see, if it isn't going to disturb you." Her expression softens into a coaxing one with the way her head tilts and her hair brushes her neck, but she's probably not aware she's doing it. "Martin is fine," he says. "And as you will, Vanessa," is added. With her mention of being in sunshine, his expression turns to a mix of both mild amusement and sympathy, a kind of slight, wincing smile. It does, at least, manage to wear off most of the edges to his features, and make his icy gaze a little more friendly. "I would suggest you go out and get some clothes as soon as you can, then. Winter's far from over around here. Don't want to be miserable for the next couple of months." When she gestures to him, Martin looks down at himself quickly, then back up. "Hm. Well. This is X-Man attire, really. There isn't any 'Danger Room' attire. You can wear street clothes just fine." He turns and heads for the door of the room in question, stripping off the glove of his right hand so that he can free up his fingers. "Oh. You have a cell phone, something like that on you? Better leave it behind." "Yes, woe is me, a shopping trip," Vanessa says with an easy laugh as warm as her smile. Evidently she will not at all mind shopping. But the redirection to the X-Men attire gathers a lot more of her attention. "Well, I can imagine it's still best to wear things you don't mind getting ruined," Vanessa guesses. She drops a hand to a pocket to nod in response to the cell phone question. She just raises her dark eyebrows a little bit, but obeys the suggestion to remove it without questioning why. She's right behind him, possibly a bit creepy since she's so quiet: but fearless, evidently, to come along. "Heard shopping in New York City is a thing or something," he says, with a fake blandness to his voice, an underlying hint of humor there. It's not for him, but Martin isn't completely oblivious to what many women, and men, enjoy in the city. At the door to the Danger Room, he presses his glove-free fingertips to a panel so that it can read his prints, and adds the simple word, "Paladin." Once he's recognized, the door unlocks and opens, and he steps within. What is inside is probably a little anti-climactic. The large, circular room is empty, and the only thing of real note is the fact that the walls are covered in hexagonal panels. "Well. This is it," he says, matter-of-fact. Since the room isn't terribly interesting overall, it's probably no surprise that Vanessa's question is: "...Paladin?" but it just has a slightly amused look. "Suggests you're capable of great things," she comments thoughtfully, but then simply rests her hands clasped behind her, and looks about, as if waiting. Evidently, she has some notion that something more will happen within the room, but isn't sure where exactly to look. Martin skews a glance her way at the comment. "I heal people. When I touch them." This, too, is said in a rather matter-of-fact manner, before he's moving on. Speaking up, he says, "Danger Room, please load the last program I ran." Apparently, he feels the need to be polite with a computer. After a brief delay, the room around them morphs and is no more. They find themselves, instead, in some city park from Generic, USA, late on what starts to look and feel like a summer night. A small playground sits under the glow of a light post some distance from them, and maple and oak trees dot the grass and along the path here and there. Frozen in time, a few fireflies hang caught in the air. Martin rubs the side of his nose with his thumb and then tugs his glove back on, eyes on Vanessa to see how she reacts. "Mm. Suitable, then," Vanessa says, adopting his matter-of-fact style to give her opinion, but doesn't push on it whatsoever from there. Besides, well, there's a giant distraction in the room. Her reaction is to release a delighted laugh, and to squat and touch the grass immediately. She pans her hand over the grass, ruffling it. She doesn't seem to mind him seeing her grin at the illusion: she'll smile at him when she spots he's watching her just the same, open and relaxed. Her smile apparently proves to be infectious; despite himself, Martin's eyes first show it, and then the rest of his features follow suit, his own smile starting to show even as he looks away from her and out to the park. "Pulled this place out of the files," he says. "Not sure who came up with it, or if the computer just generates something like this itself when you ask it to. Anyway, I like to use real world settings for training. Not really likely to deal with guys jumping you in some spot like a gym or a dojo, you know?" "It's great. Makes me feel like I'm in Star Trek," Vanessa laughs. At first, Vanessa is surprised by his return of smile, but it doesn't fade her own enjoyment of the room. After all, it still has plenty of time to earn it's name. She gets to her feet, and crosses the grass back over a patch of the path towards the playground. "Yes, though I hope it's still easy to remember it's still just practice, not real," Vanessa agrees with his comments about real world settings. "Is it paused, or halted? It seems so real, except for that." She extends one hand out, palm flat, towards one of the swingsets, as though she were going to touch it from where she stands. "Yeah, guess it is kinda like that," Martin admits. He trails after her, mildly curious about where she's off to. Just like in the real world, things keep going as they go; there is no abrupt wall off in the distance. "There are safety settings, to prohibit injuries," he says, to the practice vs. real concern. After a couple of beats, he adds, "I usually run with them turned off, though." And, after another thought, he hastily adds, "Not when students are in here, I mean. When I'm here by myself." He sidesteps around a few fireflies. "Oh. Yeah. Haven't started it, yet. I figured you wouldn't appreciate having a bunch of guys jump out at you." "Well, I don't really do well against say, getting shot, but otherwise I'm fairly able to take care of myself," Vanessa says in an amused fashion to Martin, turning about on a heel and walking backwards. "I didn't know the students came here, but it must be one of the safer places to test out the more destructive abilities, and learn to contain them," Vanessa muses aloud. "That would have been amazing to have had," she says, more wistfully, a cloud passing into her eyes, only distantly watching Martin step around the fireflies. "The older kids, yeah. They can, with supervision." There is a quiet agreement with what she says, the Danger Room being a safer place to work out abilities, in his voice. He considers her for a long moment there, afterward, expression sliding to a neutral state. Then, he glances down to the grass, and up again but away from her, thoughtful. "Think this place would have done a lot of us a lot of good if it'd been a thing or we knew about it when we were kids, yeah." When he looks back to Vanessa, he says, "Guess that's why I think it's so important to make sure it keeps running now." The cloud passes quickly as she brushes some of her bangs back behind an ear, and the upbeat smile returns. She had led them roughly to the side of a swingset. "Well, I've probably intruded on your practice quite long enough," Vanessa observes, as if realizing she might be overstaying her welcome. "I really do appreciate getting a quick look in here." She returns back over to him, no longer leading around the small park. And then pauses, with a sudden frown, but seems to suppress whatever the thought was. "It's fine," he says. Martin may come across as a serious man, most of the time, but he at least doesn't seem terribly bothered. "There's a control room, too, so you know. I can show you how to make stuff work some other time. Or somebody else can." At the sudden frown, he turns his head slightly to the left, so that he looks at her from a different angle, a little sideways. "What?" "Sure, I'd like that," Vanessa answers, to the offer about making things work. "The computers here are a mighty temptation to get to work with." She forces a soft laugh out, and a gesture of hand to suggest it's nothing. "Ah-- it just struck me, that this is a place where one is /supposed/ to use mutant abilities, and I'm so used to acting 'normal' that I don't." She spreads both hands to indicate the whole of the Danger Room, or perhaps the mansion fully. "Just struck me as sad, to be 'trained' like that. I hadn't really thought about it." She's serene with her speech, but color rose in her cheeks. Martin takes his time to think about what she's said, his brows set low and in a line. Where she used both hands, he now uses one to gesture outwards to indicate not just the room, but Xavier's in general. "You still have to keep it under wraps outside of the school," he says, with a trace of melancholy to go with the words. "One day, though." He hitches a breath in his throat after that, not quite clearing it, and swaps off of the subject. "Hey, Danger Room, please switch off." He might have been around longer than her, but he's not exactly a pro at it like some of the veterans, either. The only way he knows how to get the door to show up is to turn the program off. If there's another way, well, he'll learn at some point. Obeying the (polite) command, the park and everything about it, from the grass to the playground to the frozen fireflies to the feeling of a summer night, fades away. They're left with the round room. "Have a good night, Vanessa," Martin bids her. "Hey. I didn't mean to bring you down. We'll work towards that 'One Day' ... one step at a time. That's why the 'X-Men', right? Keep the faith, Paladin." Vanessa says, trying to meet his pale eyes directly with her own dark brown ones. She adds a subtle smile, and a very slight ruffling sensation of breeze, the soft summer breeze the previous scene had lacked, touches at them lightly. "Night." Vanessa opts to reveal her ability more obviously, and with a slight movement of air, lifts one foot, then the other, and literally glides out of the room, hovering at about six inches off the floor.