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xp_logs2010-10-12 03:13 pm
x-colossus.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2010-10-12 03:13 pm
Vanessa & Piotr | Training Methods
At the mansion trying to find Lex, Vanessa runs into Piotr instead following a DR run and talk turns to the value of training vs. real-life experience.
The mansion felt smaller than it once had. Perhaps it was simply because she was so much more familiar with it now than she had been before. Everything shrank when you got to know it, sort of like how your dad went from behind an indestructible giant to just a guy over the course of your life. It was easier to scour the mansion for an individual than it had once been. Maybe that was her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe it had only felt like it took ages to find people. Right now Vanessa was trying to hunt down her boyfriend, though these days he was her boyfriend in little more than name alone. She probably should have seen that coming when she got X-Factor off the ground, but she honestly hadn't anticipated it. Then again, she hadn't anticipated him disappearing to deal with burning out his powers either.
The metamorph was down in the sub-basement, lingering in the halls and trying to figure out if she could see who was in the Danger Room. Lex shouldn't be in there, but that didn't mean he wasn't dumb enough to be. He was a guy, ergo he did dumb stuff. Just as she was heading down the hall away from the Danger Room to go find Jean so she could see if Lex was in there she heard the door open. Pausing, she pivoted on her heel to see who it was. Vanessa sort of hoped that for once she wouldn't have to comb the entire property. Lex spent too much time in the woods for that to be efficient.
Piotr rubbed his back where the tank shell had bounced off as he stepped out of the Danger Room sliding from his metallic form to a more fleshy form. His training outfit sagged slightly at the size change but he was used to it. As Piotr walked forward towards the locker room he found himself looking at a woman he didn't recognise. Piotr was still getting to know all the adults from around the school, most of whom he hadn't met before. “Hi, I'm Piotr I don't think we've met before” said the the Russian.
Ah, a Russian. Vanessa's accent was a little rusty there and she only really knew how to swear in the language or order drinks. Or threaten to cut a guy's balls off. That one had been learned because Aleister had claimed it wasn't nice to actually do it without warning the person clearly in their own language. "Hey, I'm Nessa. Is Lexington in there by chance?" She nodded toward the Danger Room door the tall Russian had just come out of. Even if there was no boyfriend to be found yet she could sharpen her accent by listening to the guy talk. Of course, then she'd have to figure out where in Russia he was from so she didn't pull out a Moscow when she needed an Omsk.
Piotr listened to the woman perplexed. “Lexington ..? Lexington … oh, Hamster, nope he isn't on for training,” the Russian said finally working out who she was talking about. Piotr hadn't really seen him since he had been shown around the school by Jean & didn't really know anything about the man except he was an X-man trainee. “Is it anything I can help you with?” asked the large man starting to move from the door way of the Danger room towards the changing room in order to change back into his civilian clothing.
"Nope. Just the latest chapter in the attempt to locate the terminally misplaced boyfriend." That was what happened when you got a job that kept you busy and moved an hour away from your sweetie, though. Vanessa accepted the issue as a logical consequence of their lives, but she didn't have to like it. And every time she was anywhere near Salem she tried to come find him, but he was usually unfindable for the most part. She also wasn't near Salem much. "Wait, you guys call him Hamster? You're potentially in a life or death situation and you call out for Hamster to cover you?" Vanessa shook her head. That sounded so stupid. "If I had to yell for a hamster or die in the field I think I would have ended up shot a long time ago."
““Ahh I remember those missions,” Piotr said smiling at the metamorph in response to her comment about terminally missing boyfriends. "It's only his trainee name." None of them were flattering or things that really felt right being shouted out across a battlefield but that was part of the point. “I'm not sure how they came up with it but yeah that’s his trainee name. Its kinda typical for a trainee name. And its not like they are often in life or death situations. Most of the training is done in the danger room.”
"He doesn't do just training. I might not want to join the leather brigade but I'm not that stupid. I know some of the stuff you all get up to. And sometimes I've been involved in it. The difference is you lot are only out to restrain and subdue the people trying to kill you." Her tone made it obvious that she didn't really think that was necessarily the best strategy. "But then you also spend a lot of time training in a simulated environment. Not really the same as the real thing anyway."
“No, it's not the same thing as the real world. I'ts a controlled environment for training sessions. That way they are more prepared for when they are put out into a situation where people are trying to kill you,” Piotr replied feeling like he had to defend the idea of simulated training due to his time at the West Coast Annex.
"A simulation is never really going to prepare you for someone really trying to kill you. In there you know you're protected. You know there's a failsafe and that you won't really be harmed. Computers aren't random enough to account for all the possible variables. People program them and out in the real world there's always something popping up that you wouldn't ever have thought of your opponent doing." There was an insistence in Vanessa's voice. It came from having had to learn as she went. Sure, the guys had taught her to fight and shoot and evade. But nothing really prepared you for having someone's blood sprayed across your face when they went down two feet in front of you. Nothing prepared you for the adrenaline rush, the fear, the need to survive. "Nothing can ever imitate the real thing well enough for your mind to be tricked so thoroughly that it responds in training the way it responds in the real situation. Because in the end you always know it's just a training exercise. Maybe you guys should have real life impromptu training sessions, without the trainee knowing it's just a drill. Now that might actually be useful."
“Are you trying to tell me that training isn't useful?” Piotr asked matching to tone of the woman's voice. “I fully admit that there are random variables that can't be taken into account in the danger room but there are also a lot of useful benefits. Such as the ability to control abilities while maneuvering around obstacles, tactics and stratagems, as well as the advantage of team work. If we had put our trainees into a real world situation before they were trained in simulator like the Danger Room half of them wouldn't come back and the other half would be traumatized from the experience. Now that might be alright for you but I would prefer to bring back my whole team and be able to send them out again.”
Vanessa shook her head. The guy was an X-Man, but she wasn't sure he was exactly battle groomed or even battle ready. At least not for the sorts of battles she'd been in. "I'm saying relying on that simulator is an excellent way to shoot yourselves in the foot. Everyone might come back, so far, but I've seen the sort of shape they come back in. An old acquaintance of mine was a frequent visitor to the medlab until he retired from the team. My boyfriend's powers have been shot since the last mission he went out on. You think it's good for learning to control abilities? You think it helps you all come back? Jesus. Soldiers the world over never have high tech simulators and come out of battles better off than you lot do half the time. A chick got nuked once. She came back, but she was also radioactive. People here can grow limbs back. That's the only reason they come out alive around here. Next time you're out there bringing your team back consider if any of them would be coming back alive if they didn't have the added bonus of being a mutant."
“Yes and think of whether or not they'd be in the situation if they didn't have the added bonus of being a mutant,” Piotr countered. “Soldiers all over the world don't have high tech simulators but they spend years doing training in controlled enviroments before they are thrown onto the battlefield. The battles we fight have a high risk but are you saying that these kids would be better off if we just threw them out into the field and said 'deal'?”
"Clarification, soldiers are only guaranteed the approximately six to nine weeks of training they get in basic before being thrown into battle. In this country you sign up for no more than five - or maybe it's six - years at a time. There's no time to train them for years before they are sent into battle. Countries with compulsory service don't usually require more than two years of military service. Again, no time to train them for years." She wondered if he knew much about being a soldier. Did he have any idea how the military worked at all? "Personally, I think if you're going to train children to fight your battles then you ought to do it in as effective a manner as possible. Solely relying on simulations isn't the most effective manner possible. It's limited. It's flawed. And if you haven't wound up paying the price for that yet then you will eventually. Because technology will never mirror the real thing and you can't know the measure of a man in battle without putting him in one. If he lives then you can work on went wrong, but not until then. Not really."
“Basic Combat training in the United States is ten weeks not 6-9 weeks and then you do advanced training unless there extenuating circumstances. Some groups such as special forces and and snipers spend far more time training then others. Yes years may have been an over statement but your 6-9 was an understatement,” Piotr said his voice rising before he caught himself and took a deep breath.
"Actually, it's not an understatement. The various branches of the military, excluding the marines, extended the length of their basic training programs within the past couple years. Anyone who went through it prior did about six weeks if they enlisted in the navy and eight to nine weeks in the army. Marines are in basic for twelve weeks, longer than any of the others. And in a climate where there's a war going but not enough people enlisting a lot of folks aren't getting some of that advanced training you think they get. Infantry guys, the ones dying on the front lines, only get another few weeks of training. So maybe I under-represented, but not by even half as much as you exaggerated. There is a big difference between four months and years." She shook her head. "You ever run into my boyfriend you go ask him, he was military until they found out what he was."
Piotr shook his head. He had promised himself that he wouldn't get into any fights coming back to the east. “Your right of course, I don't know enough about military to argue on those points,” he finally said to her. “As for weather or not we put too much emphasis on training I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that. Though your idea of surprise drill is an interesting idea that we might have to put into practice.”
She gave a small shrug. "You can have that idea for free, moj milij." She gave him a small salute. "I should get off to find that disappearing boyfriend of mine, though."
The mansion felt smaller than it once had. Perhaps it was simply because she was so much more familiar with it now than she had been before. Everything shrank when you got to know it, sort of like how your dad went from behind an indestructible giant to just a guy over the course of your life. It was easier to scour the mansion for an individual than it had once been. Maybe that was her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe it had only felt like it took ages to find people. Right now Vanessa was trying to hunt down her boyfriend, though these days he was her boyfriend in little more than name alone. She probably should have seen that coming when she got X-Factor off the ground, but she honestly hadn't anticipated it. Then again, she hadn't anticipated him disappearing to deal with burning out his powers either.
The metamorph was down in the sub-basement, lingering in the halls and trying to figure out if she could see who was in the Danger Room. Lex shouldn't be in there, but that didn't mean he wasn't dumb enough to be. He was a guy, ergo he did dumb stuff. Just as she was heading down the hall away from the Danger Room to go find Jean so she could see if Lex was in there she heard the door open. Pausing, she pivoted on her heel to see who it was. Vanessa sort of hoped that for once she wouldn't have to comb the entire property. Lex spent too much time in the woods for that to be efficient.
Piotr rubbed his back where the tank shell had bounced off as he stepped out of the Danger Room sliding from his metallic form to a more fleshy form. His training outfit sagged slightly at the size change but he was used to it. As Piotr walked forward towards the locker room he found himself looking at a woman he didn't recognise. Piotr was still getting to know all the adults from around the school, most of whom he hadn't met before. “Hi, I'm Piotr I don't think we've met before” said the the Russian.
Ah, a Russian. Vanessa's accent was a little rusty there and she only really knew how to swear in the language or order drinks. Or threaten to cut a guy's balls off. That one had been learned because Aleister had claimed it wasn't nice to actually do it without warning the person clearly in their own language. "Hey, I'm Nessa. Is Lexington in there by chance?" She nodded toward the Danger Room door the tall Russian had just come out of. Even if there was no boyfriend to be found yet she could sharpen her accent by listening to the guy talk. Of course, then she'd have to figure out where in Russia he was from so she didn't pull out a Moscow when she needed an Omsk.
Piotr listened to the woman perplexed. “Lexington ..? Lexington … oh, Hamster, nope he isn't on for training,” the Russian said finally working out who she was talking about. Piotr hadn't really seen him since he had been shown around the school by Jean & didn't really know anything about the man except he was an X-man trainee. “Is it anything I can help you with?” asked the large man starting to move from the door way of the Danger room towards the changing room in order to change back into his civilian clothing.
"Nope. Just the latest chapter in the attempt to locate the terminally misplaced boyfriend." That was what happened when you got a job that kept you busy and moved an hour away from your sweetie, though. Vanessa accepted the issue as a logical consequence of their lives, but she didn't have to like it. And every time she was anywhere near Salem she tried to come find him, but he was usually unfindable for the most part. She also wasn't near Salem much. "Wait, you guys call him Hamster? You're potentially in a life or death situation and you call out for Hamster to cover you?" Vanessa shook her head. That sounded so stupid. "If I had to yell for a hamster or die in the field I think I would have ended up shot a long time ago."
““Ahh I remember those missions,” Piotr said smiling at the metamorph in response to her comment about terminally missing boyfriends. "It's only his trainee name." None of them were flattering or things that really felt right being shouted out across a battlefield but that was part of the point. “I'm not sure how they came up with it but yeah that’s his trainee name. Its kinda typical for a trainee name. And its not like they are often in life or death situations. Most of the training is done in the danger room.”
"He doesn't do just training. I might not want to join the leather brigade but I'm not that stupid. I know some of the stuff you all get up to. And sometimes I've been involved in it. The difference is you lot are only out to restrain and subdue the people trying to kill you." Her tone made it obvious that she didn't really think that was necessarily the best strategy. "But then you also spend a lot of time training in a simulated environment. Not really the same as the real thing anyway."
“No, it's not the same thing as the real world. I'ts a controlled environment for training sessions. That way they are more prepared for when they are put out into a situation where people are trying to kill you,” Piotr replied feeling like he had to defend the idea of simulated training due to his time at the West Coast Annex.
"A simulation is never really going to prepare you for someone really trying to kill you. In there you know you're protected. You know there's a failsafe and that you won't really be harmed. Computers aren't random enough to account for all the possible variables. People program them and out in the real world there's always something popping up that you wouldn't ever have thought of your opponent doing." There was an insistence in Vanessa's voice. It came from having had to learn as she went. Sure, the guys had taught her to fight and shoot and evade. But nothing really prepared you for having someone's blood sprayed across your face when they went down two feet in front of you. Nothing prepared you for the adrenaline rush, the fear, the need to survive. "Nothing can ever imitate the real thing well enough for your mind to be tricked so thoroughly that it responds in training the way it responds in the real situation. Because in the end you always know it's just a training exercise. Maybe you guys should have real life impromptu training sessions, without the trainee knowing it's just a drill. Now that might actually be useful."
“Are you trying to tell me that training isn't useful?” Piotr asked matching to tone of the woman's voice. “I fully admit that there are random variables that can't be taken into account in the danger room but there are also a lot of useful benefits. Such as the ability to control abilities while maneuvering around obstacles, tactics and stratagems, as well as the advantage of team work. If we had put our trainees into a real world situation before they were trained in simulator like the Danger Room half of them wouldn't come back and the other half would be traumatized from the experience. Now that might be alright for you but I would prefer to bring back my whole team and be able to send them out again.”
Vanessa shook her head. The guy was an X-Man, but she wasn't sure he was exactly battle groomed or even battle ready. At least not for the sorts of battles she'd been in. "I'm saying relying on that simulator is an excellent way to shoot yourselves in the foot. Everyone might come back, so far, but I've seen the sort of shape they come back in. An old acquaintance of mine was a frequent visitor to the medlab until he retired from the team. My boyfriend's powers have been shot since the last mission he went out on. You think it's good for learning to control abilities? You think it helps you all come back? Jesus. Soldiers the world over never have high tech simulators and come out of battles better off than you lot do half the time. A chick got nuked once. She came back, but she was also radioactive. People here can grow limbs back. That's the only reason they come out alive around here. Next time you're out there bringing your team back consider if any of them would be coming back alive if they didn't have the added bonus of being a mutant."
“Yes and think of whether or not they'd be in the situation if they didn't have the added bonus of being a mutant,” Piotr countered. “Soldiers all over the world don't have high tech simulators but they spend years doing training in controlled enviroments before they are thrown onto the battlefield. The battles we fight have a high risk but are you saying that these kids would be better off if we just threw them out into the field and said 'deal'?”
"Clarification, soldiers are only guaranteed the approximately six to nine weeks of training they get in basic before being thrown into battle. In this country you sign up for no more than five - or maybe it's six - years at a time. There's no time to train them for years before they are sent into battle. Countries with compulsory service don't usually require more than two years of military service. Again, no time to train them for years." She wondered if he knew much about being a soldier. Did he have any idea how the military worked at all? "Personally, I think if you're going to train children to fight your battles then you ought to do it in as effective a manner as possible. Solely relying on simulations isn't the most effective manner possible. It's limited. It's flawed. And if you haven't wound up paying the price for that yet then you will eventually. Because technology will never mirror the real thing and you can't know the measure of a man in battle without putting him in one. If he lives then you can work on went wrong, but not until then. Not really."
“Basic Combat training in the United States is ten weeks not 6-9 weeks and then you do advanced training unless there extenuating circumstances. Some groups such as special forces and and snipers spend far more time training then others. Yes years may have been an over statement but your 6-9 was an understatement,” Piotr said his voice rising before he caught himself and took a deep breath.
"Actually, it's not an understatement. The various branches of the military, excluding the marines, extended the length of their basic training programs within the past couple years. Anyone who went through it prior did about six weeks if they enlisted in the navy and eight to nine weeks in the army. Marines are in basic for twelve weeks, longer than any of the others. And in a climate where there's a war going but not enough people enlisting a lot of folks aren't getting some of that advanced training you think they get. Infantry guys, the ones dying on the front lines, only get another few weeks of training. So maybe I under-represented, but not by even half as much as you exaggerated. There is a big difference between four months and years." She shook her head. "You ever run into my boyfriend you go ask him, he was military until they found out what he was."
Piotr shook his head. He had promised himself that he wouldn't get into any fights coming back to the east. “Your right of course, I don't know enough about military to argue on those points,” he finally said to her. “As for weather or not we put too much emphasis on training I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that. Though your idea of surprise drill is an interesting idea that we might have to put into practice.”
She gave a small shrug. "You can have that idea for free, moj milij." She gave him a small salute. "I should get off to find that disappearing boyfriend of mine, though."