Log: Sarah and Scott

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Sarah and Scott talk injuries and powers at the BBQ.


It wasn't that she didn't want to be part of the festivities but Sarah Vale found herself to be much more comfortable sitting on the outside.

Which was exactly what she was doing.

Seated on the lawn with her computer on her lap and a plate of food nearby, the young technopath watched the mass of mutants - some she knew, many she didn't - laughing and talking while enjoying the last day of freedom before school started. It was a colorful group, indeed, both literally and figuratively but one that she didn't quite feel like she belonged to yet.

"Mind if I join you?" came a semi-familiar voice from above, as a shadow fell across the girl and her laptop. When she looked up at him, Scott, who had a plate in one hand and a beer in the other, gave her a crooked smile. "We seem to be short on actual seats, and going back inside with my food seemed antisocial."

"Um," Sarah started, blinking once before looking back at the patch of grass next to her. "Sure. I mean, if you want to." Snagging her plate with one hand and keeping a hold of the computer with another, she inched slightly to the left, giving him a bit more room on the side closer to the crowd.

Scott settled beside her, wincing as he stretched out his knee. "Once upon a time I could sit crosslegged," he quipped, noticing her noticing. "That stopped after the second dislocated knee. The third just added insult to injury."

Her nose wrinkled slightly and she turned her gaze from his leg back to his face. "Ouch," the younger mutant offered in sympathy. "That totally sucks. My dad blew his knee out playing football in college and he still limps sometimes when the weather's bad but three dislocations? That's a lot of damage."

"Let's just say I'm careful to wear a knee brace when I'm doing anything active lately," Scott said, then chuckled. "And I've been discovering the joys of a morning swim instead of a morning run."

"Less stress put on the injury," she said with a nod of understanding. A quick glance back to the screen and Sarah saved the email she'd been working on before closing the lid down; her mother would probably kill her if word was sent home about poor manners with one of the teachers. "Guess it helps to be married to a doctor though, if you're hurting your knee so often."

"She has remarkable tolerance for my klutziness, yes," Scott said. "So how was your vacation? We meant to catch up after you came back, I recall - something about the Danger Room?"

Sarah shrugged a little and picked up her plate. "It was okay. Lots of time with my grandparents... who don't quite understand the whole being a tech-based mutant thing. I got yelled at lots to put my computer away and by the third day absolutely forbidden from taking it out. We made lots of cookies, instead. Typical vacation."

Food was pushed around, played with but not eaten as she tried to find the words to avoid the latter topic but ultimately failed. "Um. I don't know if I remember a lot about it other than my headache."

"Without getting into too much detail you probably don't really need or want to know, basically, there was a fair bit of damage done to the technology in the Danger Room." Scott regarded Sarah thoughtfully. "Has that ever happened before? Headaches, when technological things go boom around you?"

"Not that I can remember. Then again, no training facility run by advanced computers has ever gone 'boom' around me before so I guess there's a first for everything." The student tried to muster a small smile but talk of the room made her nervous in the same way flying did. Untrained powers with sensitive equipment? Too much room for more things to go boom and for people to get hurt.

"Why the worried look?" Scott asked, gently but firmly enough to make it clear that yes, he did want an answer.

Sarah took a deep breath causing the grin to fall completely away. "You're going to make me go in there, aren't you?"

Scott opened his mouth, then closed it again, watching her for a moment instead. "I'm not going to make you do anything," he said finally. "Especially not if you're this anxious about it. Funny thing, but stress doesn't actually help with powers-control..."

"All the more reason for me not to go in." The frown deepened before the technopath swallowed hard. "It's just, I'm not good yet. Not at all this mutant powers stuff and the room can break like it did before so I'd really really really like to not be the cause of that, especially if it could hurt me or the other kids."

"Sarah, the only reason we'd ever insist that you do something powers-related is if not doing it posed a risk to yourself or the people around you," Scott said. "I don't think this qualifies. But that said, being worried about interacting with advanced technology is something you do need to work on, I think."

"I'm trying," she insisted, clearly growing more frustrated not with him, but herself. "I'm trying really hard Mr. Summers, and Mr. Forge is teaching me a lot of stuff, but it's really hard not to think about what could happen if I did something wrong."

Scott gazed out at the scene before them for a moment, thinking. "Maybe the key is to start small... do you notice anything odd about my eye?" he asked.

"Um, no? Is there something wrong with it?" Sarah didn't want to stare, once more fearing being rude, but the older mutant was asking her a question.

"Take a closer look," Scott said, turning to face her properly. "At my eye. The one just north of the scars."

The technopath chewed on her bottom lip for a moment then put aside her plate to allow herself to turn towards him, giving her a better view. Studying his eye, Sarah blinked her surprise when she started to get feedback from it. "Oh! Wow."

"One of Forge's creations," Scott said. "Very straightforward, though - can you tell what it's meant to do, beside steal my excuse for wearing an eyepatch?" His mouth twitched in a smile. "No one appreciated the pirate look."

She didn't return the grin. Instead, the brunette leaned back a few inches to put more space between them. "You really don't want me trying to use my powers on it, Mr. Summers. What if I make you go blind or something?"

"There is absolutely no way you can make me go blind, Sarah," Scott said, trying to sound reassuring. "The eye doesn't allow me to see - I am blind on that side."

"You are? I mean... well, that's kind of stupid, sir. No offense but why would Mr. Forge make you an eye that can't see?" With all the technology and talent her mentor had, it didn't make any sense to the young student.

"Forge can work miracles - to a degree. It does do something, though."

"I'd certainly hope so," Sarah replied, her own eyes still a little wide with disbelief even as her young brain started to hatch ideas. Forge alone couldn't do it, but maybe, just maybe... "What does it do?"

"Get up, move away a little, and then walk back towards me on my blind side." He hoped she'd pick up the eye's reaction, that way.

Another sigh and the younger mutant got to her feet, careful not to step on either of their plates or her computer. "Okay, Mr. Summers." She moved about five feet away then turned and slowly started to walk back towards the teacher when something tickled her brain causing her to stop. "It sends you sonar pings?" Sarah asked, brow drawn in confusion.

Scott nodded. "One function, which it does quite well. I won't say it's always saved me from someone coming up on my blind side with bad intentions, but it's certainly helped in a number of cases. Having a limited field of vision in the kind of work we sometimes do can be a real handicap."

"I'm guessing you mean more than teaching," she replied once she was sitting again. True, she hadn't spent much time in the mansion but people talked - and more importantly, she listened. "Though, being able to sense spitballs coming at your head is good, too."

"Not really my point," Scott said with a smile, "but true. I'm more interested in how easily you pinned down what it was doing, once it did it."

Both shoulders rose and fell. "I guess once I knew something was supposed to happen, it made it easier to be aware when something did happen?" Sarah ventured. "I mean, a lot of time, there's just a lot of buzzing in my brain. Like whispers. I guess but when I know that I'm supposed to be looking - or listening - for something particular, I can pick it out." It was the only way she could think of to explain what went on in her head. "And when the Danger Room accident happened, it felt like one of the whispers decided to start playing a timpani drum in my skull."

"It seems to me," Scott said, "that you might want to focus on.. well, narrowing your focus, right now. I know it's hard, surrounded by as much relatively advanced technology as we have around here, but we could come up with something. If you can explore the limits and possibilities of your powers with a single piece of tech, without constant buzzing in your head coming from every direct, I think you might start to develop a better understanding of the mechanics of your power, if nothing else."

"I'm trying, Mr. Summers," Sarah replied, her body sagging in defeat. "But like you said there is a lot of technology around here and it's really loud."

"This is not precisely my field of expertise," Scott said, "but I have to wonder if the Box would help. It's a psi-shielded room, and your powers are a form of psi... except I suppose you'd be reacting to the technology of it, too." Scott frowned. "Have you figured out anything about your range?"

"I can't control anything without touching it. And the machines are louder when I'm touching them, too. But I can... sense them though without touching. Like I said, it's kind of just a buzzing that's there except the buzzing is louder here than at home." She picked up her plate and started picking at the food again. "It's not bad, really. Just when things go boom."

"Mmm. When we're not both eating, let's take a walk down to the end of the lake," Scott said, gazing thoughtfully across the grounds. "If you don't hear the buzz down there, it might be worth building a little practice shed, or something like that..."

Sarah nodded once and poked at the roasted pork on her plate again. "Okay..."

"Doesn't have to be tonight," Scott said. She was such a nervous little thing, really. "But it might be worth following up on. Training without distractions is always preferable."

"I said okay," she repeated, trying to keep the tension out of her voice. "I mean, thank you, Mr. Summers. I should go. I have some stuff I still need to get ready for classes tomorrow." And with that, the short brunette picked up her plate and computer.

Scott smiled a little. "Okay, Sarah. Have a good rest of the evening." He watched her go, contemplating. Kids could be so complicated sometimes.