Matside Meetings (IC)

[Semi-Autogyro]

John felt her test his defenses but didn't feel her about to strike. Luckily, the greaves kept him grounded. No scent of her perfume, no weight indentations on the map, no sound of her breathing...and the last attack blindsided me. Complete stealth. John frowned and kept looking for a tell, when the other psion pointed out that she couldn't see the spectacle. Maybe she would do it, but Miss Etain once again proved her cleverness. Looks like I'll have to try a variant of my tele-kill field.

John concentrated, but no noticeable change occurred to the the gauntlet and greaves before he slammed down a fist into the mat. A ring of dust rose to the ceiling from the mats due to the impact as he scanned the room once again.

[Aoiroo]

Etain saw the dust almost immediately, and just like that deliberately avoided it while it settled. When it had done so completely she walked on the mat and mimiked the picture of the mat having dust settled onto it as she walked just like she mimiked the mat not having her indentions in it as always to make perfect concealment. It was a pretty good idea though, not something most people would think about really. The words lit up in front of John again,

Very clever, how about another try, then it will be my turn again.

[Semi-Autogyro]

Tch. The frustrated sound emerged from John's lips. Miss Etain was out there somewhere, using her magical abilities to conceal herself. His eyes flicked over to his duffel bag, where his smartphone lay. He had remembered Morgan mentioning that magic and technology not working well with each other. No way he could get over there with her intercepting him, plus he did not want to potentially ire the watching Miss Martel again. John once again went over the current situation in his mind, and he straightened a little as inspiration struck him. That is improbable. He thought to himself, before remembering a quote from a book that he had recently read. 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

John stood upright, and slapped himself upside the head with enough force for it to be audible outside the training room. His vision swam as he scanned the room once again. The room was still maddeningly empty save for Eve, and John mentally chastised himself. Focus. John narrowed his eyes, as the pain from the slap still remained fresh in his mind and body. There! A fuzzy outline came gradually to his attention.

"Found you, Miss Etain." he said with a hint of a smirk.

[Aoiroo]

Etain had been around, in fact she was just a few feet in front of him examining his new things that he was making. John made such interesting weaponry, and it was all far more advanced and sophisticated then those which she replicated herself. It was only when she looked up did she catch his eyes finally settling on her did she smile and drop the concealment completely clapping her hands,

"Very good, very good John. I do believe you are the first to every find me when I did not want to be found. Given, it is not much the fault of others that have tried. It is very hard to overcome one's senses, to disregard them completely, and usually the others are in very much pain by this point which makes it much harder, though that should not be a problem with today's exercises."

[Semi-Autogyro]

"Thank you for your praise, Miss Etain. It was actually the fact that you left no trace that clued me into the fact that you might be using my senses against me. So I decided to use pain to refocus my senses. I did not have any expectations that it would work. He shook the last vestiges of lingering pain from his head. "I do have a query however. Does technology interfere with your powers? I only mention this because the thought had occurred to me..." Johns' left arm scissored out, trying grab hold of Etains' right shoulder.

[Aoiroo]

Etain instinctively dodged the attempt fully aware that there was still the unknown weapon to account for.

"My illusions are purely shadows of sensation, as such things without sensation are immune to their effects. However, if I am aware and the use is in my range I can simply change how the technology broadcasts, so it is only practical as long as I am unaware or the person using technology is out of my range."

She smiled as she filled the room with her next power aimed at making John rather, sleepy,

"It is useful in this sense since I really do not like to hurt people, and my powers can not actually do so against anything affected by them."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John reacted unconsciously, moving away from Etain. He had felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue and tiredness sweep over him before the adrenaline in his system reminded him that this was once again another aspect of her abilities. He slowly circled the illusionist, changing his weapon yet again to a pair of worn looking boxing gloves. "Fascinating. So you have to be aware of your opponent to use the full measure of your abilities?" At this John tried to slip into her peripheral vision, like he had attempted once before.

[Aoiroo]

"No, just any of their technology."

She spun with him doing a quick sweep into his legs. This met resistance however even though the armor from before was down the person himself was quick enough to keep his balance as she met up with him and smiled,

"The full measure of my abilities cover a very, very broad spectrum and area. I severly doubt you will see them now if only because I do not want you in pain, even if it is only in your mind."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John bounced on his feet a bit, throwing small jabs and feints in Etains' direction. He was obviously trying a different strategy now, less defensive and more aggressive. "The sensation of pain means that you are alive. It is a welcome part of my existence, Miss Etain. I do not shy from it."

He delivered the last line along with a series of one-two punches aimed at taking her off guard, potentially leaving her open for the rising uppercut that followed.

[Aoiroo]

Etain followed the feint well and managed to dodge it with little trouble as a large wooden mallet appeared in one of her hands. She moved back before the upper cut came and pulled the mallet back for a wide side sweep,

"It is yes, but most people do regardless."

She swung the hammer hard into John's side, it felt just as solid as all her other attacks though it did not bring any pain it brought the sensation that something was hitting at a high speed and the body should move to match.

[Semi-Autogyro]

John braced with his feet as he felt the hammer slam into his ribcage, exhaling as it hit; the force of the blow nearly knocking him off of his feet and the air out of his lungs. "But you and I are different from most people, Miss Etain." He said through gritted teeth as his weapons disappeared, nothing else forming in their place. John put his index and middle finger together together on his off hand and lashed out with a snakelike strike at Etains' upper torso, aimed just below her collarbone. "Those differences make us who we are."

[April]

Eve wasn't as disappointed as she thought she would be, watching Etain in action by NOT being able to see her was just as revealing. The telepath's fingers reached up to brush the white rose that appeared tucked behind her ear and she smiled, the rose helped too. Still, Eve was delighted when Etain was visible once again, and the young Martel watched the other girl's movements carefully and above all listened to the confident voice of the illusionist.

My, but she is beautiful.

[Aoiroo]

Etain took the hit with a quick shake as the hammer disappeared from her hands but she moved still pacing back at a slightly lessened pace,

"Yes, yes we are, for many different reasons."

She didn't raise a hand but looked up as one of the detached portions of the mat started to snake up. The moved along with a great speed and attempted to wrap John up into it like a carpet.

[Semi-Autogyro]

John had felt his strike make good contact, but the hit must have been slightly off as she only seemed minorly inconvenienced by it. He then realized that his feet did not want to seem to move, and saw the mats start twisting up to bind his legs. There is no mat...this is yet another illusion, he reminded himself as he gained control of his faculties. He moved behind the illusionist, jabbing out with a stabbing maneuver aimed at her upper back.

[Aoiroo]

The next strike hit just as hard as the last one, but it had another effect. It stacked with the other caused her legs to shake and she crumpled to the ground. She wasn't in pain really, it was just very, very difficult to move she could still talk though,

"Good job, very good. You win the game John."

After about twenty seconds she was able to pull herself up from the ground and than dust herself off before looking over at Eve,

"Now then, would we like to play the next game then?"

[Semi-Autogyro]

John sat down on the mat next to his gym bag, extracting a bottle of water from it. Taking a swig from he re-capped it, and turned his attention back to the others in the room. "Thank you Miss Etain, but at the end there I was sacrificing defense for the hopes of a finishing blow." He took another long drink from the bottle before resting fully against the wall, enjoying the fact that he had won the little game and allowing the adrenaline in his body to ebb away.

[April]

At the conclusion of the bout Eve flipped up from her seated position at the edge of the mat with all the grace and skill her years of training and pure physical ability allowed her. When she was certain the fight was truly over, Eve quietly padded across the mat to an already rising Etain and kissed the slightly taller girl at the corner of her mouth.

"I was foolish to worry," the telepath said, reaching out to touch the side of Etain's face with one hand while the other made a gesture at her gym bag. A bottle rose from the bag and flew to Eve's outstretched hand, which she caught and then offered to the illusionist. -But I hope you do not hold that against me, the heart does what it will, after all.- she added mentally.

"What game did you next have in mind?"

[Aoiroo]

Etain smiled and returned with a kiss on the nose as she grabbed the bottle and took a sip. She glanced around the gym, she really couldn't use most of the equipment so she just thought of the space,

"How about a game of tag? It should not be too hard, the object is just to touch the person right. Though you have to touch them with your hand, also you cannot conceal yourself. Also, no flying or leaving the gym, it would be no fun if I cannot reach you when you are at the perfect level right here."

Handing back the water bottle she did another quick peck on Eve's lips before looking over at John,

"Does that sound adequite to you John?"

[Semi-Autogyro]

John dumped the rest of the of the bottle over his head, cooling his head off before he kipped up to his feet. "I would also put intangibility on the illegal maneuvers list. However, I do think I can make this game a bit more interesting."

John concentrated for about a half a minute, the azure blue of his powers coalescing into a device that just simply seemed to be a display with a prominent digital arrow.

"This is a modified gravitic mine. I have created it so that the field emitters will cover this entire room and can randomize the gravity within it's boundaries. Since this room is padded, and all equipment secured to the the wall or floor, it should be safe. The mine can duplicate heavy, light, normal, reverse and zero gravity which will change randomly for any amount of time I set it for. Does this sound like something you both would like to try?" John said holding out the mine for inspection.

[April]

"Hmm."

Eve's expression turned thoughtful as she turned in place, giving the gym a thorough examination. She completed her revolution and faced the device John had created and gave that a curious, though no less critical, examination. "Trevor and Corbin in one package. Handy," she thought, giving the boy a slight nod.

"So no flight, no hiding, no going intangible--can either of you do that?--and John here is going to give Newton a headache. Doesn't sound too bad, I'm game." The telepath tossed the water bottle back toward her gym bag, a faint aura enveloping it at the apex of its flight, and it slid right in.

[Aoiroo]

"Alright, then we are agreed. This is good, since you have been sitting out, Eve,"

Etain leaned in and kissed her on the nose,

"You are it."

She smiled as she promptly scooted backwards running in one direction and from that single spot ten more Etains ran all simaltaniously into different directions all over the mat.

[Semi-Autogyro]

"No Miss Martel, I do not posses the power of intangibility, though I only suggested that since it would make the game rather unfair like the other abilities that Miss Etain had mentioned."

John placed the mine securely in the center of the room and activated it, the readout flashing between multiple arrows. John backed away from the device, and was suddenly hurtling towards the ceiling where he landed on his feet.

"Now then, I believe that I am not 'it'." John weaved in and out amongst the Etain-projections.

[April]

Eve reoriented herself as the gravity shifted landing soundlessly on the gym ceiling. She took a moment to consider the objective, and simply watch eleven version of her girlfriend dart away from her. The telepath pondered that small tidbit as well as she weaved through the open support structure of the ceiling (now floor); the events of the summer had severely hampered Eve's attempt to connect with Etain during the break so despite the obvious mutual attractive Eve was a little uncertain.

The gymnast flipped, spun and dived through the ceiling framework, rolled to her feet then vaulted over one of the Etains and brushed a hand across her cheek as Eve landed in front of her. She was a little disappointed that this Etain turned out to be an illusion, but only just, the young Martel still had a grin on her face.

"Hey Etain," Eve called out in her French accented soprano, "Are you busy this weekend?"

[Aoiroo]

Etain and all the Etain clones were both surprised by the sudden shift into the steel jungle that was the upper gym framework, but they all managed to manuever themselves in different ways around the places they landed while putting on a pair of cotten gloves. The Etain Eve had caught off guard with the vault smiled and said,

"I am not, do you have anything you would like to do?"

Before popping out of existance completely.

[Semi-Autogyro]

John kept up his observation of the two, making sure that he didn't get trapped in a corner. The mine beeped 3 times, and the arrow stayed in place. He tried to be in amongst the Etains' as much as possible, hopefully using their numbers against the psion of the Martel family. In order to do this though, he vaulted over the ceiling framework like hurdles as he moved about the rooms' ceiling. Cocking his head at their dialogue, John said nothing as he focused instead on the game at hand.