Life Lessons (IC)

[Electra]

"He's a sadist," Erin said with a grimace. "He's a good trainer," she had to admit, "but the training sucks. Hope you don't mind dying in simulation a lot. He likes to figure out your weight class and make you fight just enough outside it that you get your ass kicked most of the time. Then when you get better, he ratchets it up again. I don't know what he'd do for speeders, but I hope you're not too fond of winning."

[Geez3r]

"Yeesh. Hope you're not banking on a career in sales." muttered Dynamo, now actually feeling a bit nervous about the tests. "And what do you mean by dying in simulation? Like dying for reals or pretend dying? Yeah, want some more details on the whole dying thing. And what do you mean by simulation? Like what kind of set up do y'all have up in here? I'd imagine pretty swanky."

[Electra]

Erin rolled her eyes. "They're not allowed to kill us for real, you know. What kind of a place do you think this is? Sometimes you just get stunned, otherwise the sim just goes dark and ends if you get killed. I heal up fast, so he feels free to let the simulations beat me within an inch of my life, but that's sort of different. We have a simulator that's like... well, it sounds stupid to say, but if you've ever seen Star Trek, it's like the holodeck they have. He builds scenarios and tosses things at you, and it seems real, but it's really fake. It can be tailored to anyone's powers, so we can all get trained."

[Geez3r]

"Yeah I was hoping about that, but ya never know. I seen the SyFy channel. Any time there's a secret facility that no one knows about, it's best to maintain a healthy level of skepticism." defended Dynamo. "And speaking of the SyFy junk, it seems like you guys really do have a nice set up. Mostly all I've been using is sort of the bare bones kinda arena. Saws coming outta the walls and junk like that. It's safe though." I hope. "So, if they got all those cool training programs, why are you out here by yourself?"

[Electra]

"Because I feel like it," Erin said, a trace defensively. "It's easier to work out when nobody else is around, easier to concentrate. This place is busier right after school and on weekday afternoons and stuff. But finals are on, and some of the students who go home for the summer are already gone. And you can't always practice in the Doom Room. Sometimes all the technology is just distracting."

[Geez3r]

"Nah. I meant why that got you out here doing all these control exercises or whatever you called it. I saw clips of you at the Invasion, you're like one of their top students here or something ain't ya? Like they trust you enough to go out on patrol with those other guys... uh what's the name again? New Freedom or something? Completely blanking right now. Or does this have something to do with that smashed dummy in the corner?"

[Electra]

"It's Young Freedom." Erin shrugged, deliberately trying to suppress the defensiveness under a feigned casualness. "Because I came here for basically the same reason you did, because I have to control my powers. Working with the team is another way to learn, but if I don't want to endanger my teammates and everyone around me, I have to train even harder on my own time. You'll probably put in a lot of solo hours too, if you really want to learn."

[Geez3r]

Oh she's good. She should consider a career in politics. She does remember I saw her flip out right? Like is her power super anger or something? muse Dynamo. Changing strategy he posed another question "Do your teammates put in all the hours you do, like in solo practice? Like shouldn't teams work together more often so they know how they can cover each other's backs better? Again, I'm still new at this, so I could be getting this all wrong; but it seems to me that one of your teammates could help ya with this."

[Electra]

She narrowed her eyes at him. "We do plenty of team training and small group training. I don't need someone holding my hand every second to get me to work on my powers. My teammates train on their own as well. Not much good to train as a group if one of us doesn't know how to use our own powers. I'm sure your team doesn't feel like they have to be with you for every training session, right? Otherwise, where are they today?"

[Geez3r]

Got pretty defensive about not having control didn't she? Feeling he was getting to the heart of the issue, Dynamo pressed his luck. "Well, I've got 4 other members on the Interceptors, each with full time jobs and secret ID's to hold down; you've got, I'm gonna guess like 200 students knocking about, and y'all got what? Math homework? Hell its finals time, you'd expect more people coming in to blow off some steam. And yet, you're by yourself. I'm just saying that's odd." Dynamo paused for a moment, steeling himself for the rather intrusive question he was about to ask. "Are they scared of you? Of what you can do?"

[Electra]

"God, you Interceptors are really cut from the same cloth, aren't you?" Erin stood up, irritation practically radiating from her. She was obviously pissed, but there was none of the restrained violence he'd seen from her before. "For one thing, you've doubled the population of this place, plus a bunch of students are already gone. The fact that nobody else is in the gym right now isn't some kind of condemnation of me as a person. Maybe it's the fact that you're scared of even being here, with people as powerful as you but with better training, and that's making you project onto other people?"

[Geez3r]

Good job hero, you hit a nerve. Now what?

Dynamo chose his next words carefully, trying to diffuse the situation. "Ok, look. I obviously pissed you off. Sorry. And I mean that. But I can't leave it at that. There's something there beyond me being a douche. There's something there causing you pain and I want to help. Just like I tried to that night. Now I obviously suck at it, but I can't ignore anyone hurting that much. Now at least let me try to help you dammit."

[Electra]

"Give me a break," she sneered. "You know nothing about me or my pain, and you wouldn't give a damn if you did. Why don't you go back to your buddies and jump around with buzzsaws or drink beer or whatever? I have people here who are my friends, and who actually like me, and don't want to just, I dunno, ogle at my life. If I need help, they're the ones I'll go to, not you. Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Descending smoothly from the bleachers, she went to her bag and began packing up her things.

[Geez3r]

"I know nothing because you won't let me in. I'm trying to be a friend, I'm trying to help you. Didn't you wonder why I chased after you? Why I sat on the road side and talked to you. Why I've spent all this time checking up on you. Why I even told you my real name? It's... because I... liked you. And I was trying to see if you liked me back. Guess I got my answer. Bye." When Eric looked up, Dynamo was gone and the door to the gym was slowly closing.

[Electra]

Erin watched him go, as best as her eye could follow, anyway. "I'd hate to see what you'd do if you didn't like me," she muttered. Since her concentration was shattered anyway, she continued packing up her things to leave. As she walked out, she looked around the gym a little uneasily. There had been people there when she'd arrived, but it was just a coincidence that it had emptied out, because she'd been working so long. Wasn't it?