Angelo/Lorna, Scott/Lorna

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Lorna and Angelo are on comms duty. Lorna has a question for Angelo. Strictly hypothetical.



Lorna slipped her headset off and turned up the speaker volume as she stood to get more coffee. "So, is it riveting so far? All the excitement and glory that you expected? Will it make the girls swoon when you tell the story over beers?" She glanced over at her comm partner for this shift and grinned. "Coffee?"

Angelo chuckled, taking off his own headset. "Sounds like an offer I can't refuse. An' I'm not gonna complain if it's not all action."

"Cream or sugar?" She poured him a mug of the coffee--a step up from the usual sludge because Mailani had sent her a shipment of Kona and Lorna was loath to subject her tastebuds to the regular crap they kept brewing down here--and handed it over. "I guess it's not that different for you if there was action. Just the addition of a uniform, right?"

"Pretty much. If you're talkin' about the Elpis fieldwork, anyway. I mean, there's the meetin's an' the UN conferences an' all the diplomatic stuff... an' then I go out in the field with Nathan an' we get to chase kidnapped kids on horseback."

"It goes without saying that Nathan should not be your role model on how to be a responsible team member," Lorna said dryly and settled back into her chair. "Of course, you wouldn't have picked the codename Sancho if you didn't know that he was crazy anyway."

"Oh, I've always known that", he answered cheerfully, just this side of laughing. "An' yet I follow him every time."

She grinned, "You're a little crazy yourself. But the good kind, not the kind that makes me wish I was allowed to kick people off the team for irritating me." Not that she was thinking of anyone in particular, no, not at all.

He looked at her sideways, over his coffee cup. "Havin' problems with somebody?"

"No moreso than usual. Logan's an idiot, the sky is blue, you know." She gave him a speculative look. "Kids don't have a self-defense teacher anymore, which is possibly a step up over all but not good for their ability to learn how to defend themselves without their powers."

"...is that so." He returned her speculative look with both speculative and intrigued. "Would this be you scopin' me out for a place on the staff?"

Lorna shrugged, "I don't make hiring decisions. Well, unless they're related to the kitchen because the Professor likes getting three meals a day that aren't burnt, raw or poisoned. However, I have been known to make pointed suggestions backed up by bribery if necessary." She sipped her coffee, watching him
over the rim. "If you were offered the position, would you take it?"

He considered that, buying time with another drink of his own coffee. "Well, I do like the kids. An' teachin' would be another way t'keep myself sharp, an' self-defence wouldn't take that much prep time away from everythin' else I do... yeah. I probably would."

"Good." Lorna smiled, "Not that I have anything to say about it, like I said. I'm just talking out loud, you know?" She picked her headset up, twirling it in her fingers casually. "It'd be important that you didn't overwork yourself. Contrary to our fearless leaders' examples, you actually become less effective if you do that."

"Self-defence teachin' wouldn't be like work", he assured her. "Gym time an' sparrin' is how I relax. When I'm not out with Amanda or Sarah."

"Heh, come say that once you've wrangled ten teenagers for an hour straight." She snickered but decided that teaching was one of those things you had to experience to really understand how much work it was, even the fun classes.

"Still", he said with a smile. "An hour, once or twice a week, right? I think I can handle that."

Lorna raised an eyebrow at him. "I think you can too, actually. That's why I said something in the first place." She slipped her headset back on, adjusting the mic. "Well that and com duty gets seriously boring after a while."

He laughed, reaching for his own headset. "This is very true. So you'll talk to somebody about me teachin'?"

"Well, let's just say I'm seriously considering it." She grinned and reached out to start a search through the newsfeeds.


---------

Strangely enough, Lorna has a hypothetical suggestion for Scott as well. Two suggestions really.



He needed to finish this tonight, Scott thought, staring up at the innards of the engine. Who knew when the Blackbird would be needed again, at this rate, and he couldn't justify his upgrades having her out of operation for any more than a few hours at a time. Shaking his head slightly, he climbed down to the floor and headed for his tool bench. Too ambitious... you need to break this job down into manageable parts and do it piece by piece, really...

"Does she have a bellyache?" Lorna asked, hanging over the railing, one ankle hooked behind the opposite knee. She'd been looking around for Scott for a little bit but that didn't mean that she had to actually get to point right away or anything.

Scott looked up at her inquisitively, then shrugged. "No, not really. Just tweaking the engines a little... I got a few new replacement parts in that are supposed to do the job better. Call it keeping her in shape," he said with a smile - for the plane, not Lorna.

"Right, of course. Just her regular physical." Lorna grinned down at him and jogged down the stairs, He needed to finish this tonight, Scott thought, staring up at the innards of the engine. Who knew when the Blackbird would be needed again, at this rate, and he couldn't justify his upgrades having her out of operation for any more than a few hours at a time. Shaking his head slightly, he climbed down to the floor and headed for his tool bench. Too ambitious... you need to break this job down into manageable parts and do it piece by piece, really...

"Does she have a bellyache?" Lorna asked, hanging over the railing, one ankle hooked behind the opposite knee. She'd been looking around for Scott for a little bit but that didn't mean that she had to actually get to point right away or anything.

Scott looked up at her inquisitively, then shrugged. "No, not really. Just tweaking the engines a little... I got a few new replacement parts in that are supposed to do the job better. Call it keeping her in shape," he said with a smile - for the plane, not Lorna.

"Right, of course. Just her regular physical." Lorna grinned down at him and jogged down the stairs, "Does she get a lollipop afterward for being a good girl?"

Scott tilted his head at the plane, then smiled, at Lorna this time. "She says you're snide, but she likes that."

"She's just saying that because she knows I'm tougher than her and she wants to stay on my good side." Lorna returned with all appearances of cheer. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something. I had an idea."

"I'm all ears. I like ideas," Scott said and went over to his tools, looking around for what he needed. "Saves me from having to come up with them myself."

"We need a new self-defense teacher. I mean, obviously. Actually, we'd probably benefit from a couple but one step at a time here." Lorna continued her slow amble over to where he was working. "Someone level-headed, a good scrapper, patient, likeable..."

"Angelo?" Scott said innocently, very carefully not looking at her.

"Aha, so the description rang a bell. Good. Yes, in point of fact, Angelo. He's busy but who isn't and self-defense isn't a preparation intensive class." She folded her arms and waited until he looked up at her. "And if you asked him, he'd say yes."

Scott gave her a thoughtful look. "I'll ask," he finally said, "and really, I think it's a brilliant idea, but I'm a bit worried about his workload. Between his college classes and Elpis and now training for the team... we don't actually want him to turn into a mini-Nathan, do we?"

"He's too sane and sensible to be a mini-Nathan. Mini-Ororo, maybe but not a mini-Nathan. And honestly, I imagine he'll think about that too. That's why I think we need more than one teacher. In fact, most of the classes should have a team teacher, particularly powers and self-defense. If you miss an art class because your teacher is in Ghana, it's not a big deal. Miss a powers class and you're a day behind on not being an accident waiting to happen, that's why we teach the way we do, right? Self-defense should be the same way. "

"I'll talk to him. I do think he'd be good at it, but I don't want him agreeing out of a sense of duty when adding one more thing to his schedule is going to make it blow up," Scott said. Ah-hah. There was the tool he needed. He picked it up and headed back towards the plane, letting Lorna follow if she chose. "As for someone else... any ideas?" He had thought of taking it himself, but the uncomfortable truth was that he wasn't up for it. Physically. That was bothersome.

Lorna coughed. This part was a little trickier. "Um...me?"

Scott paused, looking back at her. "Really?"

She made herself not scuff the floor like a child being dressed down by a teacher, "Yeah, if, uh, I ask Dani to take the beginning cooking class, I have plenty of time. And...I'm not really a fighter but I'm a pretty good teacher anyway. For basics anyway."

Scott looked amused. "Lorna, you'd do a good job at it, I don't have any doubts about that. I'm just surprised that you want the job."

"Last year at this time, I couldn't defend myself at all. Powers-wise, I had nothing. Self-defense...I would have been killed. And that's if I was in control of my own mind. I think this is an important class. It matters to me that it's taught well." Her arms tightened around her waist but her voice remained calm.

Scott's look turned quizzical. "Do you actually think you have to convince me? I'm just surprised, Lorna, not opposed." He clambered back up to get a good look at the engine, but paused, peering down at her. "Consider yourself officially invited to be one of the new self-defense teachers."

Lorna just nodded. "I'll talk to Dani. By the way, there's something loose that way." She waved a hand at the jet, lacking the vocabulary to be more specific. "I have to run. Midterms."

Scott waved with a free hand. "I'll make the changes to your teaching contact. Stop by the office tomorrow to sign stuff."

Her acknowledgement was absentminded as she ran off again, already focused on something else.