I10 - Danger Room: Not good enough

[Trev Anderson]

"Simulation failed. You must compl--"

"--Computer, shut the fuck up, I know it was horseshit!" Trev yelled. "End program!"

The room faded to its blank state and Trev was left alone in the quiet mechanical hum of the room, red-faced, sweaty, and a prime example of why fat people shouldn't wear tight costumes.

"open mountain dojo program," he said after some furious pacing and a loud sigh.

The room vanished and Trev stood in he middle of a martial arts studio on some mountain somewhere, a cool breeze rushing through the windows, and the sound of a small stream gurgling nearby. It had been a long time since he'd done any karate--not since middle school really. His school had closed and he'd gotten more involved in school, and then moved all the way to New York to finish high school at Xavier's. Sure, he'd done numerous hours of self-defense practice, but it was different from what he used to do.

Trev let himself take a few deep breaths and tried to think back to all he'd learned...and had a hard time remembering anything but the most basic katas.

"Some brown belt you are, fatass," he muttered to himself, slowly taking a bow and working his way haltingly through a kata.

((wide open))

[Ross Jacobson]

Ross paused he saw that the room was in use. Shit. Shit. Why did they let me in here? Shit... "Oh... um... sorry," he said, seeing that Trev was working out and backpedaling quickly toward the door.

[Trev Anderson]

Trev dropped out of a stance and whipped around at he sound of a voice.

"h-hey," he called out, somewhat surprised by the company. "uh. Nah. It's fine dude...uh...who are you?"

[Ross Jacobson]

Shit, they don't even know who you are. How lame are you. "Oh, um... I'm Ross," he said. "I... uh... I don't want to bother you, I can come back later..."

[Trev Anderson]

"Trev," he said, extending a hand, "Trev Anderson. And you're not interrupting. I'm a fucking joke. Can't even remember katas I used to know like forwards and backwards. I think they gave me a uniform out of sheer desperation. There's no way in hell I'll make it onto X-teams this way..." he trailed off.

[Ross Jacobson]

"So you... um... knew them? I... well, if you ask them, they might have a telepath do... um... telepathy and help you remember it."

"I can practice with you, if you want. I'm not that good though, I think they just let me go out because they know nothing can hurt me anyway, so they don't have anything to lose."

[Trev Anderson]

"Yeah. Used to know karate. Was actually a brown belt once upon a time." he said

"Oh. X-Men? Yeah. I went to high school with a bunch of then. Even trsined with them. Just...kinda let myself go after senior year, and now...well here I am," he smirked. "And just remembering karate moves isn't going to impress anyone. Just..lthought it might be a reasonable starting point, you know?"

[Ross Jacobson]

"Yeah. They had me learn judo since... well, it's not like I can do much damage hitting things."

[Trev Anderson]

"Oh...so that's like...your thing? You just can't get hurt, but can't do anything else? That's still pretty damn useful in a fight," Trev reasoned.

"all I can do is scream. And also not worry about deafening myself, as my ears seem to be super resilient."

[Ross Jacobson]

"At least that's something," Ross said. "I just... take hits. It's kind of stupid."

[Melody Martens]

"How big of a hit can you take?" Trev asked, curious.

[Ross Jacobson]

He shrugged. "I had a bomb blow up under me once. Long story. Don't ask."

[Trev Anderson]

Trev's eyes widened, "Dude! Don't sell yourself short!. That--holy shit. That's amazing."

[Ross Jacobson]

"That just means I can sit there and watch and not have to worry about being collateral damage."

[Trev Anderson]

"Dude, you could save people's lives. That's huge. Way more useful than being able to yell really loud."

[Ross Jacobson]

"Well, when the bomb blows up, I'm the only one who's going to be saved, so... not really helping me save people."

[Trev Anderson]

"Ah. so...you dont' like absorb anything, you just...don't get hurt by it?"

[Ross Jacobson]

"No, I don't get injured by it. It still hurts like a bitch."

[Trev Anderson]

"Oh..." he said scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Well...uh. I guess that's less, um...practical. Still...maybe you just haven't found everything you can do?" he asked, stretching for SOMETHING positive.

[Ross Jacobson]

"Well, I stopped a bank robbery once," he muttered, kicking at one of his feet and looking away.

[Trev Anderson]

"See? Dude, that's awesome. You probably saved more than one person's life by doing that."

[Ross Jacobson]

"I tripped and the robber freaked out and shot me. Then everyone bum rushed him and tackled him until the cops got there when he ran out of bullets."

[Trev Anderson]

"...well that's still doing something!" Trev said trying to keep thins positive here.

[Ross Jacobson]

"Yeah, it sure is," Ross said, rolling his eyes. "It's falling and getting shot at."

[Trev Anderson]

"Most people who fall down and get shot probably don't live to tell the tale. Or they tell the tale from a wheelchair," Trev pointed out.