Laurie & Garrison log: Training

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Laurie and Garrison train.



Laurie's back slammed into the ground as Garrison tossed her easily and she stayed there prone for a moment, trying to get air back into her lungs. As she'd gotten more used to training, these sessions had increasingly gotten harder and it was a rare one when she didn't end up with some form of bruising.

She liked to console herself with the image of one day before able to toss Garrison about as easily as he currently did her.

"What am I not getting?" she asked, wrinkling her nose as some of her frustration leaked through in her tone.

"You're rushing your attack, and you keep trying to use speed and strength against someone you can't possibility over match with them." Garrison shook his head and rubbed tiredly at his eyes. "This is the twentieth time we've done this, eh? Do you enjoy getting drilled into the mat over and over without listening to what I'm saying?"

"Yes, there's nothing I like better then bruises. I like to show them to my friends and we make bets on what interesting colours they'll turn before they heal." Laurie replied, getting to her feet and rolling her shoulders as she fell back into a ready stance. "What would you suggest, if not what I'm doing? I mean, it's not like I haven't tried other things, you just keep blocking them. Have you any idea how annoying that is?"

"Yes, and you know what is more annoying? It's when you tell someone what they're doing wrong and they keep doing it." Kane cracked his knuckles and stepped forward, towering over her. "Balance. Precision. Attention to detail. You cannot just keep hammering at me hoping to land a blow. What if I was a member of the Brotherhood, and your mighty stink power doesn't work against me. You'd be trying to throw a roundhouse punch at someone who can rip your arms off."

Kane paused, and turned, walking over to the box and pulling on a pair of fist and foot pads. "Balance. Precision. Attention to detail. You can only beat me by looking for my mistakes, and capitalizing on them without making mistakes of your own."

"My mighty stink power?" Laurie said, fists clenching slightly as she watched him. She had an evil urge to show him just what her 'mighty stink power' could do. And well, why shouldn't she? It wasn't like there were many ways to stop her from using it, so it wasn't completely unrealistic.

"We're going to do this the hard way. I'm going to attack, you're going to block, and when you see openings, you are going to strike. When you make a strike which isn't based on an opening, or is sloppy and mistimed, I am going to put you back on your ass." Kane said. "I hope you're ready."

Kane started slowly, all very standard attacks that Laurie had seen many times before during their training. Slowly he began to increase the tempo, and press Laurie harder and harder to block the attacks, using the forms he'd taught her.

Laurie continued to block, moving around the floor as Garrison launched attacks. He didn't seem to be tiring, and she increased her powers output, looking for an opening. Finally, she noticed an opening and launched a kick at his heel, only to have her other leg sweapt out from under her.

"God fucking dammit!" she yelled, and then blushed a deep red, as much at the language she'd used as the fact she'd lost her temper.

"You kicked at my heel. You kicked at my heel?" Kane stood over her. "You should be pissed off, because that was one of the flat out stupidest attacks I've seen you do."

He was actually angry, something that Laurie hadn't seen yet. He reached down and pulled her to her feet easily. "Laurie, this is not a game! Do you understand that? If I'm trying to hurt you, and you kick me in the fucking heel, two seconds after you land that blow, you're going to be looking for your teeth in the dirt after they bash your face in!"

"I..." Laurie began, stepping back from him, the flush in her cheeks deepening as embarrassment reared its ugly head. "I just, your leg was wide open. I thought if I could unbalance you...I know it's not a game, I've never treated this like it was a game. I'm sorry."

"Why don't you think? I am at least four inches taller than you. You can't push my heel with your legs far enough to unbalance my stride. Jesus, Laurie--" Kane stopped and looked at her for a second. "You're using your powers on me, aren't you?"

Laurie went pale, looking at him in shock. How had he? "Yes." she answered, not wanting to lie directly.

Kane's mouth compressed into a thin line behind his beard. He pulled off his fist pads and tossed them at her. "Get out. Get out and don't come back."

"What? But." Laurie began, shaking her head in denial. "It wasn't even working though, I mean, you didn't even slow down. I thought you wanted me to look for openings."

"You stupid-- my first trainer was Eugene Judd, who spent an entire year beating the shit out of me in every way you can possibly imagine, even though I could have crushed him if I landed a blow. Bruises for weeks, so bad that I could barely walk. Guess what you learn from that? That your fucking powers aren't something that you can rely on to fucking half-ass your training!" Garrison's face had gone red. "You went after an opening with the most marginal attack because, what, you were waiting for me to be ready to fall on my ass from your powers to complete it? Did I offer to train you in your damn powers?"

"No," Laurie replied, refusing to allow herself to cringe, despite wanting to badly. She didn't want to tell him he'd pissed her off and she'd wanted to show him a lesson. But..."I was angry, I used it because I was angry at you. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? That will be a comfort for when the half of my training you paid attention to gets you killed. Hey, she's dead, but she was sorry about treating this like it's all a damn game!" He pointed towards the main mansion area. "You have friends in the medlab right over there, put there by a bunch of lunatics bent on hurting them. They are alive because they took this seriously, and their training here and with the other X-Men got them out by the skin of their teeth. I am not important in this. Your feelings about me are not important. What is important is that you are not wasting my time teaching you just enough that you get over confident and get yourself fucking killed!"

"Don't you dare use them against me, Garrison." Laurie fired back, her head coming back up and her arms releasing from the protective hug she'd been holding them in. "Yes, I was stupid, no this wasn't a game to me but whatever you want to believe, but don't you dare, ever, use my friends against me. Because I swear to whatever will listen, whatever it takes, I'll make you eat the words."

"You can shut it, right now." Kane said, cutting her right off. "That is a fucking object lesson, you airhead. They get it, you don't. None of the others have even considered trying to cheat in their training with their powers. No secret artificial combat arm from Forge. No subtle concussive use from Julio. Even Kyle focuses on what he needs to learn, as opposed to trading on his healing factor to keep going. But no, don't dare use your friends to point out that they did things the right way. You want to just cheat your way through."

"Why shouldn't we use every advantage we have? That's not cheating, that's using everything I have to make the odds better for me." Laurie noted, glaring at him resentfully. "And I'm not an airhead."

Kane actually gaped at her, not believing what he was hearing. "You asked me to give you advanced training in hand to hand combat, and you're asking me why using your powers instead of practicing what you asked me to teach you is cheating?" He shook his head. "No, no more. I don't trust you. You'd be better off spending all your time in the Danger Room on your powers. At least then you'd know that without them you're useless in a fight and act accordingly to save your skin."

"You're saying you won't train me anymore, then." Laurie said, feeling suddenly sick. "So I've failed."

"Failed? You can't fail at something that you never bothered to actually try at."

"You don't know." Laurie snapped, refusing to acknowledge the sting of tears that made her eyes itch. "Goodnight, Mr Kane."

She turned and stalked away, angrily brushing away moisture from her face. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.