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The obstacle course on the rear grounds of the Xavier Institute is, at this point in time, a very basic sort of thing. It's clearly drawn some inspiration from military training camps. There's a log wall, a line of monkey bars, a trench full of mud with barbed wire strung over top of it. A row of tires meant for agility training. A row of rope ladders strung upwards for balance, another of dangling ropes for climbing.
Basically, every large and intimidating piece of equipment intended to improve strength and condition for people who might expect to need both.
Scott Summers has been running this course since he was a teenager. And now, as a graduate and an instructor (not to mention a field leader), it's his job to run other people through the course. Wearing a tank top and a pair of jogging shorts, he's standing watch over the current victim, arms crossed over his chest.
"Come on, just a little bit further on that wall!"
*
Lorna was breathing hard as she came around what served as the track. Green hair was pulled back into a high pony tail and sweat trickled down her neck. She wore a pair of grey sweatpants and a tank. Scott might've been an instructor, however he was the same age as Wanda, and Pietro, making it difficult for the young mutant to take anything he said too seriously.
Perhaps that's why she was always getting extra work to do.
A huff of breath escaped her as she bent double, pushing her hair back with a scowl in Scott's direction, and promptly sat on the cool grass.
*
Julie is, duly, pushing her way through the course with some determination in a Dodgers sweatshirt and a pair of sweats. She doesn't seem to have any particular advantages, save that she's pretty strong for a girl with all the physical work she does, generally in garages. She does, however, have impeccable balance. One could even say gyroscopic. Her voice is all of Brooklyn Italians when she says, "You could end up on some monkey bars, while being all mutated, I guess," she comments, while walking across a balance beam, which is one part that seems pretty effortless for her.
*
Sophie is wearing a dark blue racing-style one-piece swimsuit, with a pair of grey cotton gym shorts over it for better modesty. She's doing all right for herself on the course, though she does have definite strengths and weaknesses. Any obstacles involving precision footwork, or that one can be propelled through or over by leg power, or where poise and balance are required, these she excels at. Taking ballet lessons, and being serious about them, since you were three tends to do that for you. The parts of the course relying on upper body strength, on the other hand, she is less adept at, but only relatively. Building arm and shoulder strength is something she's been concentrating on in her workouts for the past year or so, and compared to her past performances on the course, it's starting to show.
*
About three seconds after Lorna takes a seat on the grass, a scarlet blast blows a hole in it right next to her. "Less sitting, more working, Polaris!" Scott barks at the girl. She may not take him seriously, but Scott takes everything seriously. But hey, at least he takes her choice in code names seriously as well.
"If you get stuck somewhere in the city," he continues to Julie as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened, "Being able to pull yourself up a fire escape could be the difference between life and death. Or at least the difference between getting back here safe and spending a week in a holding cell while they try to make something stick and the papers label us a menace again."
He half-turns to get a look at Sophie's progress, nodding approvingly. "Good work, Mistral, keep it up!"
*
Lorna jumped with a yelp as he shot a blast her way. She scrabbled to her feet, breathing hard as she jogged back to the course. His words gained a roll of her eyes, and she made her way toward the monkey bars, whether she was cheating by use of her powers was hard to say, but she seemed to handle them easier than running. "Some of us can fly, you know. "
Her words weren't quite softly enough to not carry.
*
Julie calls out, "Yah, that's how I get into some girlfriends' apartment late!" At least urban landscapes aren't that unfamiliar. Still, a jump up to the monkey bars may be fairly easy, but traversing has her rubbing her shoulders at the end from the unfamiliar effort. She drops and catches up to Sophie, says, with a little smile "So, what's a mistral?"
*
And with /impeccable/ timing right after Scott praised her, Sophie misses her grip while halfway across a section that might be described as 'horizontal ladder over a mud pit', and with a cry of "Merde!", her toned little dancer's butt lands unceremoniously in the muck.
*
"And what if there's a bomb in the room?" Scott fires another blast just past Lorna - it's nowhere near hitting her, but it's definitely keeping the pressure on. "One with a metal switch? Is your flying tight enough that you know manipulating the magnetic fields around you won't end up flipping the switch? Or do you think maybe not using your powers right then might be smarter?"
Scott can be an ass, but he usually has a reason for it. Even if it's only the slimmest chance. "Diz, Mistral's down one arm. You two pair up, work each other through the end of the course like she's injured."
*
The bars were cleared with ease, just in time for Scott's eyebeam to startle her again. She jumped clear of the last railing, turning with a huff to scowl in his direction again. She stuck her tongue out before continuing onwards to the tires. Rubber. Lovely.
She was already sucking wind, having ran another lap previously. While she'd done conditioning before, Scott certainly was more driving. Almost on par with her father…
*
Sophie extricates herself from the mud quickly enough, scowling in anger at herself before she takes a moment to close her eyes, take a breath, and recenter. When she opens her eyes again, the outward signs of her anger, at least, are gone, replaced by renewed determination. And then comes Scott's directive to play injured from this point out. "Oui," she acknowledges, nodding without looking his way, before using her legs to leap back up to the bars she fell from, reaching up to grip tight to one rung with her right hand, while letting her left arm hang loosely by her side. "It is the northwest wind, that brings the springtime with it," she answers Julie as she hangs there. "So, how shall we do this?"
*
Julie says, "just salutes, at Scott's order, roughly-Marine-like, and heads up to meet Mistral, eyeing the rest of the bars, thinking a few moments, then she jumps up to struggle up on top of the monkey bars, then she crouches. "OK, guess you'll have to trust me, I'm gonna have to try passing you one bar to the other till we get you there," she says, crouching down to reach both hands down to grasp Mistral's wrist between the bars. "When you're ready, let go and we'll swing you to the next bar, better grab on good when we get there.""
*
"You keep doing that, Polaris," Scott deadpans as Lorna sticks her tongue out, "And one day you're going to get hit while you're doing it and bite your tongue right off." He shifts his stance, just enough to be able to keep an eye on both Lorna and the other pair at the same time.
"We had a kid who did that. Lucky for him he had a lizard thing going on, so it grew back."
He nods slowly at Julie's solution to the problem. "Remember, when we're in the field, no one gets left behind," he calls to the pair. "When you're fighting, you're not just fighting to keep yourself safe, you're fighting to keep your team safe."
*
Lorna continued through the tires, she paused breathing hard as she caught her breath. Then glanced back at Julie and Mistral only for a minute, before she started forward toward the barbed wired. This time she moved without prompting and dove down. Above her the wires rattled as she twisted the points away whenever she bumped up wrong and would've caught herself.
It wasn't long before she was out and went flat against the grass with a groan.
*
Julie doesn't have a clever quip here, since it seems a bit of a strain and a heave, as she places her feet to swing Mistral to the next bar, before a "You got it?" Then she crabs forward to repeat the process for the next bar. Fortunately she can use her legs for this, too, and it's almost like she walks around on jungle gyms all day or something.
*
Nodding to Julie, Sophie replies, "On three. One, two, three!" She doesn't count down particularly slowly, treating the situation like the battle circumstance it might be and not wanting to slow progress more than necessary. Releasing her grip on the mark, she lets Julie move her to the next rung, where she grasps on tightly. "Got it," she says, to let the other girl know that it's safe for her to let go and regrip from the other side of the bar she's now hanging from.
*
Scott keeps an eye on Julie and Sophie, but he's moving over to get a look at Lorna as well. On the up side, he's not blasting at her again, so that's progress. "You took two seconds off your time," he notes, lifting a stop-watch to prove the point. "Making progress."
For Scott, that counts as a compliment.
*
A muffled groan followed as Scott came over and Lorna looked up from her position on the ground. She remained sprawled on the grass for a minute, maybe two, before she finally dragged herself up right. A glance spared toward the other two girls as she pushed her hair back to fix her ponytail.
"So I'm done now, right?" She asked, rubbing the mud off the front of her tank top. A disgusted look pulling at her expression.
*
Julie in fact, keeps repeating the process, "OK, I think I found our pivot here, I think I can give us a little boost while we're at it." There's a funny 'vrr' sound somewhere, as a little something's added to the swing as the two work their way along the rest of the bars. "Too bad one of those healer types wasn't here to play Parris Island with us," she winks, in a momentary breather. "Ok, one more, then I think youse can drop."
*
And after that one last rung-to-rung transfer, Sophie nods while looking up at Julie. "Let me get a little swing into it, and…" She lets go, her dance-honed balance and agility helping her to stick the landing. "Merci," she says, glancing up and back at her course-running partner with at least a bit of a smile.
*
"Close." Scott smirks just a little bit as he looks down at Lorna, then nods toward the other pair. "Remember? No one gets left behind. Which means you're done when they're done. Which means you should probably back up and go see how you can help get an injured teammate through the course."
*
Another groan followed and Lorna glanced backwards at the two other girls. "You mean I've gotta go back through the barbed wire?" She whined, looking back at the metal. It seemed to mock her by being there.
Still, Lorna sighed, pulled herself straight without waiting for a response, went backwards through the course.
This time, there was a visible ballooning from the metal around her. The wires above shoved away from her as she dragged herself back under.
*
Julie winks, to Sophie, dropping next to her, looking a bit red-faced at the effort a moment. "Well, there's some swinging of a different kind," she winks, and introduces herself. "Dizzy Bottero, sorry about the imaginary occasion, guess we gotta figure out this wall, next…" Considers, "I guess let's get you halfway up the rope, then I can see if I can haul you up."
*
Sophie laughs musically in response to Julie's comment, with a playful smile and a nod. Then it's back to business. "That sounds like it could work," she says to the other girl's suggestion.
*
Currently, there's a group of students going through a military-grade obstacle course of log walls, monkey bars, balance beams, tires, ropes, and even a barbed wire pit. And they're being overseen by one young man wearing a visor of some sort, watching it all through ruby quartz lenses.
"Keep the powers tight, Polaris," Scott calls toward Lorna as she lifts the barbed wire. "Don't get sloppy, or else Diz is going to be pulling two of you through the course."
*
So, technically, Maximus isn't supposed to come to the school. But, also technically, Crystal specifically said /inside/ the school, so he's been using that loophole to occasionally drop by to see her, since she keeps shacking up with Magneto. He's done so again, but found that the rear grounds are not populated with his cousin, droning on about being nice, but by a group of students running through a course. He's dressed in black boots, metallic pants, black shirt, and an overcoat that is black with white along the trim. Mutant school means he can wear just what he likes! He folds his hands behind him, black curls blowing in the breeze as he comes drifting towards where Scott is observing.
*
Lorna has partially disconnected.
*
Lorna came out from under the barb wire pitt covered in mud down her front. Green hair pulled back in a ponytail that looked frizzed and carried just as much dirt as her sweats did. She tossed Scott a tired look, clearly, the older mutant had finally broken down her attitude enough that she wasn't verbalizing what she felt.
Or maybe she was just too tired to fight him on how she hadn't particularly meant to push the barbed wire all over.
Then she was off, moving to run back through the tires toward the other girls. She hadn't noticed Maximus' presence, not yet at least. Too occupied on going back through the course.
*
Julie is just bending over to make a step, "I guess step up from here and grab onto the rope. I got another idea." When Sophie does this, presumably, she goes for a feet-on shoulders boost, then says, "Ah, hang on a minute," and she heaves herself up the rope. Once on top she reaches toward where Sophie is, can't get there, says, "OK, here's where I try that thing. You might have to turn around with the rope a couple times if you can do the footwork." This time she's got a tricky little look of concentration on her face as she holds out a hand… That vrrr' sound starts up again, louder this time as the rope decides to begin turning and twisting, the way its winding goes, eventually to the point it starts curling up around itself, with a sound of straining hemp, thus… lifting Sophie closer to the top…. She reaches again for her hand…
*
Sophie can handle the footwork, that's not a problem for her, but she does look at Julie a bit questioningly. "I thought that we were supposed to do this without powers…?" Of course, for all she knows, that's applied more stringently to some students than to others — her own powers, for instance, offering multiple ways to ignore or negate pretty much all the obstacles, which would seem to defeat the point of the entire exercise.
*
Scott may be watching the students on the course, but he's also keeping his eyes open for other things around him. Like the arrival of unfamiliar faces. Granted, as faculty and someone who's been here for a decent portion of his life, he gets read in on enough of the important things to place Maximus when he sees him. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a finger at the side of his visor.
"This is a private session, sir," he calls toward the man. "And a private campus, for that matter."
*
"Are you aiming a weapon at me?" Maximus clucks his tongue and just keeps moving towards him. "I know that one." He points to the most obvious green-haired one. "I came to see my cousin…I have relatives here." He smiles so pleasantly at first, and then he just makes it slightly too broad and it looks more on the psychotic end. "I will not meddle with your trial here. What happens to the losers? Lashes?"
*
Lorna made it through the tires, panting for breath she scrambled to get to the bottom of the rope climb on the opposite side from Sophie and Julie. She swallowed hard, looking upwards at the two girls. "Hey, I'm at the bottom. What do you want me to do?" She called, her arms at her sides. A glance was spared toward Scott, seeing as he hadn't chided any of them for a bit.
Then her gaze landed on Maximus and green eyes widened, her mouth parting in surprise. Her throat itched and she coughed, breaking off anything she was going to say.
*
Julie hrms, "Missed that part, I guess!" Or, she wasn't given those instructions herself that way, and seems to re-examine the problem. Decides, reaching to grab for Sophie's wrist, "Either way, let's get you up here before you really do break something. See if you can walk yourself up the rest of the way while I haul you up…" Then she hears Lorna, "Think we could use an extra pair of hands up here, Mistral can only use the one arm!"
*
Sophie will do what she can to help get herself safely to the top. Anything involving using her legs to lever herself will work especially well, of course. "That would be appreciated, yes," she calls down to Lorna, referring to what Julie said.
*
"You could say something like that," Scott answers Maximus' question about if he's aiming a weapon at him with a grimace. "I know who you're here to see. She's busy at the moment. As is Polaris." He crosses one arm over his chest, turning back toward the group to keep an eye on their teamwork, though one hand still lingers at the side of his visor.
"There's no loser here," he adds to the last. "This is a teamwork exercise. No one gets left behind."
*
Maximus frowns. "I am not going to interrupt the lesson." Maximus grits out. "If I wanted to cause trouble I could have started a food fight in the student cafeteria." He grins crookedly. "So, do they ever have the lesson on when you have to leave someone behind for the good of the many? I suppose that's for the /leaders/ to have to deal with though, hmmm? Extra training on sacrifice. I would be happy to help with that. As King, I have often had to make those hard choices." Just…babbles along with Scott as if the two of them should be friends.
*
Given that there were no explosive eye-beams from Cyclops, Lorna turns her attention back to the two above her. With an exhausted, mad, scramble up the side, Lorna made it to the top. Breathing hard, covered in mud and looking between Sophie and Julie Lorna nodded. "Right, okay. Hands, I've got 'em. How are we getting her down? One of us should be able to help lower her with that one arm she can use. We could always try using the rope from the other side to lower her down? Or no, that could go badly. Uhm.." She scratched the mud off her cheek, side eyeing the two men not far off and back.
No powers was so frustrating.
"I don't really have other ideas. I mean, neither of us are strong enough to piggyback her down, right?"
*
Maximus does clap some encouragement to the girls when he sees them hit the rise.
*
Julie nods, there. "Let's get her up top, first, I guess once we get her up top, help hoist her up and make sure she don't go over. Rope can't hurt, I bet, though." She commences hauling Sophie up rather as before, but hanging onto her forearm. Between the three, one hopes they can get Sophie up onto the wall.
*
With the help of the other two girls, Sophie is able to make it to the top without too much more difficulty. Sitting on the crossbeam to rest for a moment, she suggests, "If you can help me get onto the rope with it wrapped around so that I can brake with my legs and feet, I think I can more or less rappel down. I will need to go slowly, using just one hand, but I believe it will work."
*
"We don't really need help learning those lessons." Which is to say, Scott's the one who usually has to make those decisions, and he's the one who lives with them. Which is why he pushes the students as hard as he does. There are some things he never wants to have to do.
"Let's keep moving!" he calls toward the girls as Sophie takes a break. "Pursuers aren't going to stop for you to think out the best plan. Work with what you've got and make it work."
*
The green haired mutant once more shot Scott a mutinous glower from her position up top once Sophie was firmly up top. "We'd use our powers then," She muttered, too softly to carry far.
She reached down grabb the rope and making to pass it off to the other girl. "Okay, if you think you can get down repelling cool. Julie, you watch her up here? And I can get down and make sure if she falls to at least break her fall. I mean, hopefully." She muttered, and with an exhausted shrug grabbed the other rope opposite of the two other girls.
She used it to slow herself down as well, and was once more on the ground.
"Ready!"
*
Julie nods, hauling up one of the far ropes over to Sophie, "OK, you ought to be able to walk down this way a bit sideways and when you go left you'll get lower. Guess we try and catch you if something goes wrong," she says, there's a bit of added hustle as she takes a rope down, herself, at Scott's spurring on.
*
It takes some maneuvering, between Julie steadying her from the top and Lorna moving the rope from below to help Sophie get it into the position around herself she needs, but once that's done, the slender blonde starts to make reasonably quick progress downward, considering that she's only using one hand. With the rope positioned as it is, her legs, her bottom, and her back are doing most of the work of supporting her weight, and her hand is mainly serving to ensure that she remains upright and that the rope does not unwind from her body.
*
Scott stifles a sigh at the look from Lorna, finger twitching near the trigger at his visor. He may have good motivations, but he's not a saint. He's also not a complete dick, so he doesn't fire just yet. It's a warning, though. "Almost through, team," he calls over. "Just make it through the pit and you're home clear."
*
Lorna waited carefully until Sophie was clearly not going to fall before moving forward. She glanced back at Julie and made a face at the barbed wire. "It's not fair. I'm exhausted. I swear if he yells at me about using my powers.." She shook her head, glaring at the metal. It wiggled under her gaze, but that was about it.
"Okay, Sophie you go between me and Julie. There's no easy way around it. At least this really doesn't require both arms.."
*
Julie nods, crouching, then. The mud, she really wasn't looking forward to, but she elects to go under the barbed wire on her back, the better to keep an eye on that barbed wire. She shimmies along that way, grabbing any safe-enough barb-free sections of the wires as she goes, familiar motions to the girl mechanic. "Supposed to be good for your skin, and all, they're saying," she quips. If that pulls some other wires higher for the others, so much the better.
*
Maximus unfolds his hands and crosses them over his chest, head cocked as he watches the trio try to complete the mission together, all for one…one for all. He's quiet for a fairly long amount of time and then he whispers, "Is it real mud, or is it sanitized mud?"
*
Nodding to Lorna, Sophie says, "Oui, I think I can get myself through this without too much trouble. But I could not have gotten this far without both of you, Merci." The blonde's smile is warm and genuine, as she looks between both of her teammates before getting herself into position — a bit awkwardly, but not with much actual difficulty, to move through under the wires. Here, she can rely on her legs for the most part to push her way through, taking a cue from Julie's technique, since an all-fours crawl as she's done before isn't an option this time.
*
Scott's eyes aren't visible, but the perplexed furrow of his brow and twist of his lips as he looks away from the students to eye Maximus at his question is sufficiently expressive. "It's…real mud," he answers, pinching at the bridge of his nose for just a moment before he looks back to the girls. "Almost through, team!" he calls over in encouragement. "Few more feet and you're in the clear!"
*
Lorna made it through the barbed wire again, for the third time, slick with mud and dirt. Her powers not particularly helpful this time, exhausted as she was. She stumbled back, turning around to offer a hand to Sophie. Mud splattered over her features as she bent, "Alright, pass me your hand and I'll pull you through the rest of the way. It's wet enough you should slide." She offered.
*
Julie is laughing a bit about the general situation, tries for some kind of chant from her uncle Angelo's Marine days.. "In the mud… Something or other! Every day!" She clamber-rolls out of the mudpit finally, offering a hand to "Cheese, Louise, wonder if anyone got laundry powers, now." Muddy sweats being kind of heavy, she makes sure everything's still more or less in place. "Rah, rah, team." She smirks.
*
"Ugh, they will be riddled with fungi." Maximus mutters, and continues watching the ladies work together, hearing them cheer and call to each other. It makes him miss being with his people!
*
After being pulled through the last few feet and helped to her feet by her teammates, the mud-smeared and splattered Sophie will gratefully hug both of the other girls, if they permit it. "Merci," she says again, glad to be done with the simulated 'injury' and able to use both arms again.
*
"That's what the showers are for," Scott shrugs to Maximus, though once the team is through the course, a rare smile crosses his features as he starts toward the girls. "Nicely done, ladies," he dips his chin in acknowledgement, arms still crossed loosely over his chest. "Could've taken some more time off of it, but everyone made it through, and you all worked together well. That's it for today, I think. You've earned the rest of the afternoon."
*
Lorna hugged Sophie without blinking an eye, they were all covered with mud, what was more? The other girl's cheerful demeanor was infectious and she found herself smiling despite of herself. "I dunno who has laundry powers, I mean, if we were covered in iron heavy mud, I could do something.. but.." She shrugged and batted off some chunks from her shirt.
Then she was coming over to Scott and Maximus, rubbing her neck that ached and protested from her constant scrabbling back and forth awkwardly under the wires. She was sore all over.
"Oh goody, I get the rest of the day off from conditioning to study German instead." She muttered dryly, glancing to Maximus with a furrow of her brow.
"Hi, Maximus."
*
Once Scott has given his appraisal of their performance, Sophie nods, a bit afraid to say anything for fear it will come out wrong, given the mix of gladness to have gotten through the course and embarrassment at her earlier mistake she's feeling. Once she's turned and headed back toward the mansion, she says, to no one in particular, "I am going to take a very long, and very hot, shower…"
*
Julie gives Maximus a bit of a once, then twice-over as they come across the line. Glances back a minute as she seems to know Maximus. Seems to assume that counts for something, then claps a hand on Sophie's shoulder a little, "Sounds pretty good, guess we won't be far behind." Scott gets another little salute, and for now she just keeps the muddier side of her clothing turned away from the men.
*
Maximus golf claps again for the ladies as they come by to report to their instructor, and the 'he that won't go away'. "Nicely done, ladies. All of you survived." And to Lorna who greets him more specifically, he smiles a little broader, "I have never seen you acting so boldly, and comfortably. It was good to see…"
*
"Yeah, my authority doesn't extend to your dad," Scott shrugs ruefully to Lorna, shaking his head. Not that he wouldn't like to be able to give him orders, but he's more practical than that. "Nice job, Diz," he nods to the other woman. "How's the engine work coming?"
*
Lorna scratched more mud off her cheek, offering a tired wave toward Sophie. "Yeah that sounds good." She called, and glanced back toward Julie, Maximus and Scott in turn.
"Uhm.. thanks? I guess.." She blinked at the compliment, "Uh, I take it you're looking for Miss Crystal?" She glanced toward Scott, as if in question or looking for his input on the fact the former King was hanging out on the grounds alone.
"And honestly, I don't think anyone has authority over my father. Well, maybe Miss Crystal." A pause, and then Lorna shrugged. "It's not like he's even technically a teacher here."
*
"Yessss, I was. But, it seems she is too busy to see her beloved cousin. Truly, it was very interesting watching everything." Maximus stares at Lorna for a moment, then looks to Scott. "Shoot me or stop threatening to. THe ladies should develop a team-building exercise for /us/…we could use it, friend."
*
Julie rather discreetly wrings out the back of her sweatshirt behind her back, brushing off a sleeve as she tries to figure out what the particular tension there may be. Glances to Lorna for cues, says, "Oh, hey, I noticed your hair was green, that's pretty neat."
*
"I already told him she's not around," Scott grimaces faintly in response to Lorna's unasked question. "And the professor generally discourages attacking visitors who aren't posing a clear and present danger," he adds to Maximus. "Still determining if that's the case, but you'll know if I decide that shooting you is the answer."
*
Lorna pursed her lips together, "Can't say I've seen her since breakfast." She offered, and shrugged again, glancing toward Julie and grinning.
"It's naturally green. I used to dye it. But my sister made a charm for me so I can switch between it when I want to. It makes life so much easier to be able to do that. Also no more dye."
Another glance was spared for Scott, and the Inhuman, before she continued to pick off mud from her sweats. She flicked off a nasty looking chunk with grass attached, toward the men's feet. "Pretty sure if he wanted to try to kill us, Scott, he would've already. Just saying."
*
Maximus chuckles. "Well, yes, but I can see that my presence is too much to handle. I know I am so attractive and intimidating…I will go back to the limo and be on my way, I suppose." He wets his lips and seems fairly well amused. "I like the idea of drills like this. I should do it with my subjects."
*
Julie ahs, and nods to Lorna, then pipes up to Scott. "Ain't bad, " she brings up the engine work again. "Bit of varnish in the float bowls, think I got the jets set up right so she'll run like she should a while, I figure." She looks toward Lorna, "He's teaching subjects?" she says, lowly.
*
"The way I understand it, you're a little bit short of subjects right now." It's not a challenge, really. Just a statement. Scott looks to the obstacle course, playing back the exercise in his mind. "And we do it to keep our people safe. The world's a dangerous place for mutants. Some day things will be better, but right now we all have to be prepared to live to that day. Which includes," he looks to Lorna, "Being guarded against potential threats."
*
"I do not teach subjects. I have subjects. I am certain there are still plenty that would be glad for a return of the king." Maximus seems oddly not offended by Scott, /this time/, though he's jsut as likely to be suddenly offended at any moment by something else less touchy. "The inhumans are also concerned about threats, but we have taken a different approach, by forming our own safe haven. Of course, mutant-kind may be too numerous and too random to support such a thing. You'd pull children from their families, and brothers from sisters, and so on. Obviously, you have to be more…integrated." He carries on in a logical manner, gesturing this way and that with one hand.
*
Lorna leaned toward Julie, "He was King of this secret place, not mutants but similar in being powered an' stuff. But he's not King anymore." She didn't add on that she had been involved in that particular debacle. Her gaze swung between them and she pursed her lips.
"Right, well. I'm going to get cleaned up." She nodded toward Scott, and Maximus and waved to Julie as she departed.
*
Julie 's eyebrow raises a bit there, …further weirdness, apparently. Dizzy just nods, sort of taking all that in, as though some new insight might be there. Eyes a muddy sleeve, then, considering one of those showers, herself, perhaps.
*
Scott lets out a long breath as Lorna heads out to get her shower, rubbing a hand over the top of his head. "We do what we can," he replies simply to Maximus. "Good work, Diz. You should probably go and get cleaned up, they'll have dinner ready in no time. Mister Maximus, can I show you the way out?" He almost manages to make it sound polite, even.