ic Applied Physics (IC)

[Fox]

"Am taking better care of myself," Mara grumped good-naturedly as she followed Erik toward the...was that 'Rec Room' or 'Wreck Room'? "Am here, for one. Eating better. Sleeping...is harder. But improving; fewer headaches help - thanks to you, I think. Happier. Lower stress. You make me happy." And she meant it, though it was phrased more as an observation than a compliment.

"Training program...mmh. High-tech? Hoping it...'behaves' better than the Lab's. Almost killed me last time. Don't go in there anymore...probably fixed now, but not taking any chances."

[Gizmo]

Colour sprang up in Ellie's cheeks at Mara's offhand remark while several steps ahead her brother studiously failed to notice as he unlocked the doors to the training room. "I swear, the things you say sometimes, Marbar..." she murmured with a rueful smile through the blush, giving her girlfriend's hand a brief squeeze. "Entirely mutual, obviously, but still."

"I wouldn't worry about the Wreck Room going bad," Erik called back to them. "Vince keeps an eye on everything the whole time, and he's not about to randomly turn evil all of the sudden."

[Fox]

She gave Ellie's hand a quiet squeeze back, but wasn't entirely sure what else she was comfortable saying with her brother right there, now that she was thinking about it...so she let it stand at that, and said nothing.

"I wouldn't worry about the Wreck Room going bad," Erik called back to them. "Vince keeps an eye on everything the whole time, and he's not about to randomly turn evil all of the sudden."

Mara raised her eyebrows. "Mmh. Useful. And makes sense," she added, nodding. "Hard to alter an AI's morality like that, anyway. Harder than a person, maybe - fewer computer psychics, less research. Sort of an interesting problem; more an engineer than a programmer, but...."

Her brain caught up with her mouth and she blinked, shaking her head. "Sorry, no. Wouldn't actually do so, obviously. Not moral. But has applications elsewhere, and is complex enough to catch my attention sometimes. Didn't mean to imply I would intentionally rewrite a personality. Would have to be...twisted to try. Bad science."

[Gizmo]

Erik paused for a moment as he opened the door to the Wreck Room, turning to give Mara a bemused look before shaking his head with a small smile. "Kid, you scare me a little sometimes, and I mean that in a good way," he assured her as he stepped inside.

"Not because of the personality reprogramming," Ellie clarified sotto voce, knocking into the slight blonde's hip with her own. "He's terrified of words with more than two syllables."

[Fox]

"It's...automatic," Mara supplied, frowning a bit and speaking with a tone that said she wasn't entirely satisfied with the way her brain did things without her asking. "Usually try to censor it. But mind...." She paused for a moment before continuing, gesturing like she was a touch frustrated at trying to assemble the right words. "...seizes problems. Always. Enjoy engineering, but takes a large distraction or a lot of focus to not always be designing or improving or theorizing or...."

She shrugged, shaking her head; some hair fell down in front of her face and she had to pull it back again. "Probably makes me good at what I do. Annoying, though, sometimes, and probably gives people a bad impression - if I...narrate. I mean. Bad habit of designing things I would never build - bad science. Interesting in abstract, unethical in execution."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, for... Gonna kick his butt after this," Ellie groused in exasperation with a scathing look toward the door her brother had just disappeared through before pulling Mara over to the wall next to it before she could follow. "Marbar, you need to listen to me carefully right now, okay?" she addressed her girlfriend seriously, putting one hand on her shoulder blade and one on her cheek."The way your mind works is amazing. You don't just accept anything, you see angles no one else does and turn it around until you solve it. And when you find the answer, you only use it to make the world better."

[Fox]

Mara blinked, her mind taking a moment to reconcile what she'd said with the reaction she'd gotten. "Didn't mean - well, did, but - mmh." She frowned, closed her eyes for a moment, and tried again. "Very smart. Not a bad thing. Try to put it to good use - also not bad. Just sometimes wish I didn't...redesign every air conditioner I see. Or catch myself doing mental death ray schematics."

"But," she countered, "wasn't meaning to complain. And shouldn't complain. Have a good life. Great girlfriend. And - thank you. Acceptance and encouragement. It means a lot." The engineer emphasized that last bit by pulling Ellie closer for a kiss; just a short one, though, with Erik nearby.

[Gizmo]

Ellie's cheeks coloured noticeably, less from the brief kiss than her minor embarrassment. "Heh, guess I went a little overboard there," she admitted, chagrined. "In my defense, you can be pretty hard on yourself sometimes," the dark haired girl teased, pressing her forehead lightly against Mara's own. "Sounds like I'll just have to do a better job distracting you in the future..."

A loud, pointed cough came from inside the Wreck Room before Ellie had a chance to elaborate on how she proposed to do that. "Any time, ladies," Erik's wry voice carried into the hallway.

[Fox]

Mara glanced toward the Wreck Room with a slightly sour expression, but had to admit now probably wasn't really the time (or the most private of places) for anything. She sighed - quietly, but dramatically, her feigning somewhat marred by her blush - and slid her head to the side to give Ellie's ear a little nip in silent promise to hold her to that offer of distraction.

And with that she made her way into the Wreck Room itself, looking around with significantly more cheer (which, for Mara, meant a less dour expression) about this whole 'training' thing.

[Gizmo]

Doing her best to turn a sharp, involuntary intake of breath into a light cough, Ellie followed behind Mara into the Wreck room, carefully keeping her hands to herself and clasped behind her back. Evidently not fooled by her masterful exercise in subtlety, her brother shook his head theatrically. "Teenagers."

Opposite Erik, four human sized robots stood at attention. The gangly frames didn't look particularly sturdy, and in fact had bright yellow circles painted on them when weak points would reside in a real opponent. Their heads were simple boomerang shapes on neck stalks, gleaming faintly with imbedded sensors. "Alright, like I said, we're not going for anything too crazy today, but I want to get a feel for where you're really at in practice," the fencer explained with a nod to the quartet of drones.

[Fox]

"Drones," Mara rather redundantly observed. "Interesting. Good design. Simple. Not sure about the head; prefer more solid, reinforced structures."

Lights danced behind her eyes as she idly poked at the robots, but 'idly' was the operative word: after all the distractions getting to this point, she was apparently determined to try to stay focused. "Suit or no suit?" She asked, tilting her head. "Probably want padding or weapon, if expected to fight back. Would rather not punch metal. Metal would win."

[Gizmo]

Erik tossed Mara a pair of light, fingerless gloves with panning stitched in over the knuckles. "No suit. Don't worry, the drones are on the lowest level; they'll be pulling their punches." The athletic fencer moved to one wall of the Wreck Room, accessing a small control panel rather than bothering to climb the ladder up to the booth that overlooked the training facility. "Here's the idea: you manage to tag one of our shiny pals there, they're 'out'. But if they tag you three times, you're out. Got it?"

"I'll be right over here cheering you on," Ellie promised, planting one hand on her hip and raising the other in the air as loose spheres of blue light surrounded each of them. "Sis boom bah, and so on and so on."

[Fox]

'And so on' didn't quite register with Mara like it probably should have, given her lack of formal schooling, but she was encouraged none the less and made a mental note to re-consider that later. For now she pulled the gloves on and assumed a very rough approximation of a fighting stance: somewhat experienced but painfully untrained.

On the other hand, her reflexes and fast uptake were half-decent, if not quite up to super-heroic standards. With sharp eyes and a sharper mind she waited until the math seemed right and shot a fist out toward the nearest drone.

[Gizmo]

Regarding Mara's stance, Erik hesitated for a moment before pressing a button on the control panel and activating the quartet of robots. With a brief hum that slid rapidly upward in pitch, the metal drones shifted into surprisingly fluid movement, taking up fighting stances of their own and moving to circle the young inventor.

Mara's first attack came faster than the androids were apparently expecting, squarely tagging on in the chest. The moment it was hit, the robot sagged, shambling out of the way before powering back down. In response, the remaining three let loose with punch and kicks of their own, which the trainee managed to remain just ahead of for the time being.

[Fox]

mmh - went well enough - slower than expected - suspect he's taking it easy on me - probably a good thing

Mara ducked and weaved, for very loose definitions of 'ducked' and 'weaved'; she seemed to be relying a lot more on being able to anticipate attacks than she was on true combat reflexes. Every incoming blow wasn't so much avoided as calculated, the young woman's speedy mind actively figuring out where each attack was going to be and then...not being there. But even she could only pay so much attention to everything around herself for so long.

She struck again, turning to the side and lashing a hand out at a drone that'd gotten too close.

[Gizmo]

Mara's on-the-fly calculations seemed to be paying off as she remained one step ahead of the drones and tagged another across its chest plate. "Woo!" Ellie cheered, allowing herself a short hop of enthusiasm as the tagged robot removed itself from the diminishing melee. "She's kicking their shiny metal butts!"

"So far so good," her brother allowed with a nod and a small smile of approval. "But those things aren't just following a pattern, they're learning, too."

As if on cue, one of the androids drew Mara's attention with a feint while the other circled about and caught the engineer with a light blow across her shoulder blade. It wasn't enough to hurt, but she certainly knew she'd been hit.

[Fox]

stupid - stupid - stupid - cocky - have to be more careful Mara adjusted her footing, trying harder to pay attention to the enemies she couldn't keep in her field of vision. She was sweating, now, noticeably but not profusely. She certainly had a growing respect for people who went out on the street and fought crime without powers.

She let the drones take the initiative, this time, her actions becoming a bit more defensive as she waited for the perfect moment, striking out with a fist even as it was trying to move in to strike her. three

[Gizmo]

The blow was well placed, clipping one of the remaining drones across the shoulder without opening herself up to attack. The final robot took a careful step backward, the tilt of its boomerang shaped head suggesting it was sizing up the inventor.

Erik rubbed the stubble on his chin absently with one thumb, watching the fight intently. His eyebrows rose slightly every time he noted a strength or a mistake, taking careful stock on what needed the most work and what could be built upon. Unfortunately, it seemed the last android had been paying attention as well, as a sudden kick caught Mara across the shin. Ellie reflexively covered her mouth with one hand; the next contact would decide the winner.

[Fox]

Mara frowned, watching the robot as it backed away; she couldn't know what it was thinking without cheating, but she knew what she'd do in its place and her mind spun through chess-like attacks and counter-attacks, actions and responses given what the other drones had done so far and strategically optimal plans on both sides to survive and defeat one's opponent.

And then she paused, gears almost audibly clicking in her brain as her head tilted to the side. The object wasn't to survive an defeat her opponent: the object was to land a hit. Any hit. She rushed forward without warning, rapidly closing distance and sacrificing much hope of guarding herself from reprisal in a calculated strike with her left fist.

[Gizmo]

The reckless rush was a calculated gamble, but it paid off. The training drone obviously hadn't been anticipating the sudden change in tactics, and was caught squarely across the metallic curve it had instead of a chin, immediately shutting itself down in response.

"Ha ha!" Ellie cheered, pumping her fist in victory before running over to give her perspiring girlfriend a hug. Looking over Mara's shoulder, she stuck her tongue out at her brother. "In your face!"

Erik gave his younger sibling an amused look before nodding approving himself. "Alright, you gotta a little quick in you. That gives us a place to start."

[Fox]

Ellie's hug got a happy hug in return, Mara squeezing her girlfriend in a mixture of post-fight high and pride. Pride tinted with a pretty good idea of just how long she had to go, though. "Challenging," she observed - complimented? - when she finally let go of her medic and brushed some hair back behind an ear. "Not used to fighting...mmh. Naked? Without armor. Slower, shorter reach, can't fly. No shield - used to being able to put it between me and threats."

She mimed that, holding a hand out flat, fingers spread, like she was pressing it against an invisible wall. "Radar, too. Suit has short-range threat detection. Helps when flanked, but too used to having it there to warn me. Wasn't...phrase...'watching my back' as well as I should."

[Gizmo]

Erik made a sound of agreement that wasn't overly critical but didn't make any attempt to spare the young engineer's feelings. "Good. Recognizing where you need to improve is going to make this a whole lot easier." Tapping a few keys of the control panel that sent the drones marching back to their storage berths, he stepped over the the couple. "Probably don't have to tell you this, but if they'd been armed and not pulling their punches, two hits would have been two too many." For all his usual jocular humour, the swordsman's manner now was focused and sober.

[Fox]

Mara snorted, but nodded. "If they'd been armed and not pulling punches, would have made them fight each other, or shut them down. But, yes. Have been in real fights, know how they go when not being careful. Better to not get hit at all. Even built it into armor designs: avoidance, light weight, agile. Generally prefer not getting hurt over seeing how much hurt metal plates and force fields take. Too easy to go bad. Too many things metal and force fields don't stop. Too many things can't be dodged, too," she admitted, grimacing, "but no strategy's perfect."

[Gizmo]

Erik folded his arms across his chest but chuckled in spite of himself. "I meant if they were armed and real, chica," he clarified.

"Whatever, you were awesome," Ellie interjected flatly as she linked one arm with Mara's elbow and gave her brother a defiant look.

The elder sibling could only hold up his hands in mock defense. "It wasn't bad, anyway," he drawled with a wry smirk, intentionally baiting his sister now. More seriously, he added, "I just don't want to see either of you learn to dodge the way I did: trial and error."

[Fox]

Mara opened her mouth to object at "and real", but apparently decided the finer points of what counted as real wasn't terribly productive and shut it again. "Not sure about awesome. But was pretty good," she admitted, a little of that pride creeping back as she bumped Ellie's hip with her own. "Sort of did learn by trial and error. Started with...less impressive technology, unstable protection, no armor. No lasting injuries, but...mostly luck, I think. Pain's a good teacher. Motivating."