Angel and Jean || Danger Room Shenanigans
Aug. 26th, 2017 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsA routine Danger Room run gets a bit hairy when Jean is forced to confront her worst fears. Angel solves everything with cookies, though.
"Someone's been playing too many video games," Angel whispered to Jean as they hid around a corner, waiting for the monster... beast... thing... they were supposed to be escaping from to pass. Evade and escape, that was the name of the game today. No powers.
"Scott," Angel decided. "I bet it was Scott."
Jean's eyebrows rose curiously, before her jaw set, and she nodded in acceptance.
"I'm going to kill him."
"I'll help." Angel peeked around the corner again. "Okay, I think we're good. Let's move." She started slowly around the corner, looking up as a light flickered overhead. "SomeoneprobablyScott has WAY too much time on their hands."
Making a face at the light, Jean followed behind Angel. On the plus side (or minus side, depending on perspective), she couldn't sense the monsters because they weren't real, meaning she wouldn't have been able to use her telepathy anyway.
"Gotta admire the realism," she said quietly. Her attention lingered on some of the rooms just a little too long. She tried to push down a unconscious anxiety.
"But agreed. He probably--" A sound made her stop in her tracks, and she held up her hand.
"Wait. I think it's doubling back."
Of course, it wasn't a real monster and couldn't actually hurt them. Still, Angel's heart sped up a bit, and she whipped around, finding an open door. "In here!" She hissed, grabbing Jean and running for the door. There was a dead, half-decayed body instead. "Gross."
Jean crouched by the door to the room they'd slipped into, continuing to listen for footsteps. Her attention turned briefly to the body Angel was talking about. On the plus side, it didn't actually smell.
"Reminds me of medical school," she said, making a face. "Except without the droves of maniacs roaming the halls."
After a moment, she paused.
"Actually, it was kind of like that too."
Jokes. Jokes were better than fear. Why would she be afraid? It wasn't real. It was a pretend video game training scenario.
"I was under the impression there are droves of maniacs roaming every hall," Angel whispered, feigning confusion. "Is that not how the real world works?"
She tilted her head, listening to try and tell what direction the... thing was going. After a moment she went to the window to try and figure out what floor they were on. The goal was the exit. "Looks like we're two floors up." They had started on a random floor, so seeing where they were now was a little reassuring.
"And the goal is to get out with this thing?" Jean said, holding a video camera.
"Should I be recording?"
"I'm not sure," Angel said, frowning. "Is there anything already on it?"
Jean squinted, then peered down to review the camcorder tape. The world seemed to stop, except for them, as the scenes from before they got there replayed: tales of horror and death.
She paused, "Yep," she said, expression turning a little too grim for the circumstances.
Angel frowned, looking around. It felt like the entire world had frozen. She went back to the window and saw an owl paused in mid-flight. "I think you just paused the game," she said as she returned to Jean. "Ten-ten to whoever designed this for details."
Jean glanced around, her eyebrows raised, slightly slack-jawed. "Huh," she said, blinking, with an astonished smile.
"That is pretty cool," she said. She smirked slightly.
"Would it be cheating if we used it before a chase scene?"
"It's always worth trying!" Angel said, beaming. "Let's get going, I want to get out of this horror show ASAP."
"No objections here," Jean muttered. The tape ended, and they took off down the hallway.
Angel kept her ears peeled as they walked along, head snapping left and right. She froze when she saw a shadow at an approaching corner. "Crap.... run!" she hissed.
Jean barely had time to blink, but she took the cue and sprinted off, forced to duck into the opposite hallway, away from Angel. But the shadow seemed to have noticed her, and ran after her. She tried to run as fast as she could (that was the goal anyway: evade, don't fight), but another figure jumped out from a darkened corridor and shoved her into a cell, locking it behind her.
"I got the pretty! Pretty pretty!" the orderly raved.
Angel whipped around at that. "Crap," she hissed, hurrying in the direction she heard the yelling coming from. She didn't hesitate before shooting a fireball at the orderly.
The orderly let out a yelp as his clothes caught fire and he quickly tried to put himself out.
"Primary objective failed," he said repeatedly. The scenario seemed to freeze, like before.
Yet, there came a banging noise, steady and rhythmic, on the door, coupled with screaming. Suddenly, the door was ripped off its hinges and slammed against the opposite wall.
Jean staggered out of the room, her attention distant.
"Computer. End...scenario," she said, standing there for a moment. The world started to fade around them, and she ambled toward the exit.
"Whoa." Angel looked around as the shiny metal of the Danger Room walls came back into view, and the video game world faded away. "Hey, Jean, wait up!" She said quickly, jogging after the other redhead. "You alright?"
Jean's breathing was rapid. She tried to calm herself down by slowing her breaths as she slowed her pace slightly to allow for Angel to catch up.
"Yeah," she said, absently brushing her hair behind her ears as she headed for the elevator.
"Sorry I just--I need some air."
"Yeah, yeah, of course, nothing to apologize for," Angel said quickly. She had been a bit surprised by Jean's reaction, but ending that hell-ish scenario wasn't the worst thing to ever happen. "You get air. I'll get comfort food."
Nodding a little, Jean stepped on the elevator. She kept her eyes closed while they ascended up to the first floor and she beelined for the outside porch behind the kitchen. She sat on the porch swing, keeping her eye on the wind that blew through the trees as she waited for her heart to stop pounding and her skin to stop crawling.
It was around then that the embarrassment started to creep in, and she covered her eyes with her hand, letting out a sigh.
Angel came out a few minutes later with two glasses of milk and some cookies balanced on a tray. When in doubt, milk and cookies were the way to go. She sat beside Jean, not interested in pushing the matter, and handed her a glass.
Jean glanced over at Angel, taking the glass of milk, and a cookie, or two. She looked back out at the trees, silent for a few moments before speaking delicately.
She figured she owed her an explanation.
"When my powers first manifested, my parents didn't know what to do. They didn't know I was telepath. So they sent me to a...large number of psychiatrists. I was medicated. And--it got so bad that..they were going to commit me to a mental institution. Permanently. And--actually, they did. For a day or two, during a really bad episode, right after I felt my friend die." She glanced down.
"But then came Charles. And--we figured out what was wrong with me." She shook her head.
"I have this fear sometimes of being locked up like that again. When we did the scenario I thought I could face my fears. I'm an X-Man, after all...But...obviously I didn't."
She kept her eye on the cookie she had taken a bite of.
"So...yeah."
Yikes. Angel chewed her own cookie thoughtfully, staring out at the yard. "I'm afraid of monkeys," she said after a moment. "No special reason or anything, monkeys are just creepy. And some fears are meant to be faced. I still skip the monkey exhibit whenever I go to the zoo."
The confession give Jean pause, and she glanced over to Angel curiously. A faint, confused smile flickered across her lips before she glanced away.
"I'm sorry---that was, inappropriate. Monkeys can be very....dangerous. Diseases and all," she allowed.
"Nah, it's totally ridiculous," Angel said easily, taking a sip of milk. "But it's my fear, and I'm not going to apologize to someone if I ditch them at the zoo. And lemme tell you, if monkeys ever take over the world, and the X-Men have to fight them, I am out. Peace, goodbye, Angel has left the building. Crazy mutant terrorists or crazy humans who want to hurt terrorists? I'll fight them all day long. I'm not here for monkeys though."
Jean finally leaned back in her chair. "So is it...all primates? Apes as well? Or just monkeys?"
Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, overriding her regular impulses.
"Let's put it this way - if that had been a Planet of the Apes simulation, I wouldn't have even bothered trying."
Jean slowly nodded. "I can see how that would be alarming," she said. She took a sip of her milk.
"I'm just glad my...what happened, happened in the Danger Room and not out in the field," she said. She didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her.
"Always better to have it happen in training," Angel agreed. "And hey... maybe you can work on it. I mean, maybe don't go back into the particular simulation just yet, but get someone to set up a different one for you. Exposure therapy is supposed to be good, right?"
"Hopefully," Jean said with a light, well...hopeful, smile. She took a bite of her cookie.
"Thanks for the talk, by the way. And the cookies and milk," she added, holding one up to demonstrate.
"Did you make them?"
Angel grinned. "No reason for you to feel bad about yourself. And nah, they're Chips Ahoy."
Jean blinked, then let out a laugh. "Wow, either they've really upped their game or...I need to eat more," she said. Damn vending machine food life.
"The soft chewy kind are the best," Angel said seriously. "Never go for their crunchy kind."
"I dunno," Jean allowed. "I've always loved dunking them in milk and letting them get just soggy enough to not break off into the milk."
"Hmmmm." Angel tilted her head, considering this. "Fair point. I cede to that."
"Other than that, the chewy ones are the best. Especially the ones fresh out of the oven," Jean said, finishing off her cookie now that she had a renewed craving for it.
"Someone's been playing too many video games," Angel whispered to Jean as they hid around a corner, waiting for the monster... beast... thing... they were supposed to be escaping from to pass. Evade and escape, that was the name of the game today. No powers.
"Scott," Angel decided. "I bet it was Scott."
Jean's eyebrows rose curiously, before her jaw set, and she nodded in acceptance.
"I'm going to kill him."
"I'll help." Angel peeked around the corner again. "Okay, I think we're good. Let's move." She started slowly around the corner, looking up as a light flickered overhead. "SomeoneprobablyScott has WAY too much time on their hands."
Making a face at the light, Jean followed behind Angel. On the plus side (or minus side, depending on perspective), she couldn't sense the monsters because they weren't real, meaning she wouldn't have been able to use her telepathy anyway.
"Gotta admire the realism," she said quietly. Her attention lingered on some of the rooms just a little too long. She tried to push down a unconscious anxiety.
"But agreed. He probably--" A sound made her stop in her tracks, and she held up her hand.
"Wait. I think it's doubling back."
Of course, it wasn't a real monster and couldn't actually hurt them. Still, Angel's heart sped up a bit, and she whipped around, finding an open door. "In here!" She hissed, grabbing Jean and running for the door. There was a dead, half-decayed body instead. "Gross."
Jean crouched by the door to the room they'd slipped into, continuing to listen for footsteps. Her attention turned briefly to the body Angel was talking about. On the plus side, it didn't actually smell.
"Reminds me of medical school," she said, making a face. "Except without the droves of maniacs roaming the halls."
After a moment, she paused.
"Actually, it was kind of like that too."
Jokes. Jokes were better than fear. Why would she be afraid? It wasn't real. It was a pretend video game training scenario.
"I was under the impression there are droves of maniacs roaming every hall," Angel whispered, feigning confusion. "Is that not how the real world works?"
She tilted her head, listening to try and tell what direction the... thing was going. After a moment she went to the window to try and figure out what floor they were on. The goal was the exit. "Looks like we're two floors up." They had started on a random floor, so seeing where they were now was a little reassuring.
"And the goal is to get out with this thing?" Jean said, holding a video camera.
"Should I be recording?"
"I'm not sure," Angel said, frowning. "Is there anything already on it?"
Jean squinted, then peered down to review the camcorder tape. The world seemed to stop, except for them, as the scenes from before they got there replayed: tales of horror and death.
She paused, "Yep," she said, expression turning a little too grim for the circumstances.
Angel frowned, looking around. It felt like the entire world had frozen. She went back to the window and saw an owl paused in mid-flight. "I think you just paused the game," she said as she returned to Jean. "Ten-ten to whoever designed this for details."
Jean glanced around, her eyebrows raised, slightly slack-jawed. "Huh," she said, blinking, with an astonished smile.
"That is pretty cool," she said. She smirked slightly.
"Would it be cheating if we used it before a chase scene?"
"It's always worth trying!" Angel said, beaming. "Let's get going, I want to get out of this horror show ASAP."
"No objections here," Jean muttered. The tape ended, and they took off down the hallway.
Angel kept her ears peeled as they walked along, head snapping left and right. She froze when she saw a shadow at an approaching corner. "Crap.... run!" she hissed.
Jean barely had time to blink, but she took the cue and sprinted off, forced to duck into the opposite hallway, away from Angel. But the shadow seemed to have noticed her, and ran after her. She tried to run as fast as she could (that was the goal anyway: evade, don't fight), but another figure jumped out from a darkened corridor and shoved her into a cell, locking it behind her.
"I got the pretty! Pretty pretty!" the orderly raved.
Angel whipped around at that. "Crap," she hissed, hurrying in the direction she heard the yelling coming from. She didn't hesitate before shooting a fireball at the orderly.
The orderly let out a yelp as his clothes caught fire and he quickly tried to put himself out.
"Primary objective failed," he said repeatedly. The scenario seemed to freeze, like before.
Yet, there came a banging noise, steady and rhythmic, on the door, coupled with screaming. Suddenly, the door was ripped off its hinges and slammed against the opposite wall.
Jean staggered out of the room, her attention distant.
"Computer. End...scenario," she said, standing there for a moment. The world started to fade around them, and she ambled toward the exit.
"Whoa." Angel looked around as the shiny metal of the Danger Room walls came back into view, and the video game world faded away. "Hey, Jean, wait up!" She said quickly, jogging after the other redhead. "You alright?"
Jean's breathing was rapid. She tried to calm herself down by slowing her breaths as she slowed her pace slightly to allow for Angel to catch up.
"Yeah," she said, absently brushing her hair behind her ears as she headed for the elevator.
"Sorry I just--I need some air."
"Yeah, yeah, of course, nothing to apologize for," Angel said quickly. She had been a bit surprised by Jean's reaction, but ending that hell-ish scenario wasn't the worst thing to ever happen. "You get air. I'll get comfort food."
Nodding a little, Jean stepped on the elevator. She kept her eyes closed while they ascended up to the first floor and she beelined for the outside porch behind the kitchen. She sat on the porch swing, keeping her eye on the wind that blew through the trees as she waited for her heart to stop pounding and her skin to stop crawling.
It was around then that the embarrassment started to creep in, and she covered her eyes with her hand, letting out a sigh.
Angel came out a few minutes later with two glasses of milk and some cookies balanced on a tray. When in doubt, milk and cookies were the way to go. She sat beside Jean, not interested in pushing the matter, and handed her a glass.
Jean glanced over at Angel, taking the glass of milk, and a cookie, or two. She looked back out at the trees, silent for a few moments before speaking delicately.
She figured she owed her an explanation.
"When my powers first manifested, my parents didn't know what to do. They didn't know I was telepath. So they sent me to a...large number of psychiatrists. I was medicated. And--it got so bad that..they were going to commit me to a mental institution. Permanently. And--actually, they did. For a day or two, during a really bad episode, right after I felt my friend die." She glanced down.
"But then came Charles. And--we figured out what was wrong with me." She shook her head.
"I have this fear sometimes of being locked up like that again. When we did the scenario I thought I could face my fears. I'm an X-Man, after all...But...obviously I didn't."
She kept her eye on the cookie she had taken a bite of.
"So...yeah."
Yikes. Angel chewed her own cookie thoughtfully, staring out at the yard. "I'm afraid of monkeys," she said after a moment. "No special reason or anything, monkeys are just creepy. And some fears are meant to be faced. I still skip the monkey exhibit whenever I go to the zoo."
The confession give Jean pause, and she glanced over to Angel curiously. A faint, confused smile flickered across her lips before she glanced away.
"I'm sorry---that was, inappropriate. Monkeys can be very....dangerous. Diseases and all," she allowed.
"Nah, it's totally ridiculous," Angel said easily, taking a sip of milk. "But it's my fear, and I'm not going to apologize to someone if I ditch them at the zoo. And lemme tell you, if monkeys ever take over the world, and the X-Men have to fight them, I am out. Peace, goodbye, Angel has left the building. Crazy mutant terrorists or crazy humans who want to hurt terrorists? I'll fight them all day long. I'm not here for monkeys though."
Jean finally leaned back in her chair. "So is it...all primates? Apes as well? Or just monkeys?"
Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, overriding her regular impulses.
"Let's put it this way - if that had been a Planet of the Apes simulation, I wouldn't have even bothered trying."
Jean slowly nodded. "I can see how that would be alarming," she said. She took a sip of her milk.
"I'm just glad my...what happened, happened in the Danger Room and not out in the field," she said. She didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her.
"Always better to have it happen in training," Angel agreed. "And hey... maybe you can work on it. I mean, maybe don't go back into the particular simulation just yet, but get someone to set up a different one for you. Exposure therapy is supposed to be good, right?"
"Hopefully," Jean said with a light, well...hopeful, smile. She took a bite of her cookie.
"Thanks for the talk, by the way. And the cookies and milk," she added, holding one up to demonstrate.
"Did you make them?"
Angel grinned. "No reason for you to feel bad about yourself. And nah, they're Chips Ahoy."
Jean blinked, then let out a laugh. "Wow, either they've really upped their game or...I need to eat more," she said. Damn vending machine food life.
"The soft chewy kind are the best," Angel said seriously. "Never go for their crunchy kind."
"I dunno," Jean allowed. "I've always loved dunking them in milk and letting them get just soggy enough to not break off into the milk."
"Hmmmm." Angel tilted her head, considering this. "Fair point. I cede to that."
"Other than that, the chewy ones are the best. Especially the ones fresh out of the oven," Jean said, finishing off her cookie now that she had a renewed craving for it.
