Sooraya & April | Freefall

[xp_mayhem]

April gets demolished by Sooraya in flying tag during training, but seeing Dust in action opens up new possibilities for the two to work together in the future.


"Well, this is different." Sooraya put her hands by her side and craned her head, scanning the room from top to bottom. The walls were covered in various rods and blocks that created almost pock marked effect. From the ceiling many chains hung down, some plain, some supporting small platforms or having a handle attached to them. "I hope no one expects me to climb those walls," she called out a little louder.

"Not entirely without assistance." April's voice echoed as she jumped down from the wall, mustering up a small smile for Sooraya. "Plenty of tiny debris for you to play with, and plenty of space for me to swing around. Should make this interesting, yeah?"

"Looks like you're gonna get your chance to test if my sand form sticks to your webs." Sooraya checked if her bun was firmly in place and pulled her hijab over her hair, carefully tucking it in her shirt. It took a few more tugs to settle it completely. "Now Scott's note about playing tag makes a whole lot more sense."

"I don't think we can manage a fastball special, but I definitely think we can manage tag. And finding out how well webs and your form stick together." April looked around the room again, taking everything in. "You want to do some independent exploring for a few minutes, both of us get a feel for the place and start tag in 5?"

"It'd even things up a bit." Sooraya winked, then looked over the room once more, scanning for places she definitely wanted to explore beforehand. "Before we get started after exploring, let's do a quick test of your webbing and my sandform though? Unless you wanna end up picking bits of my form out of your webbing with a tweezer." She pulled one from her pocket and brandished it. "I brought one just to be sure."

"That certainly brings a new image to mind when we talk about clean rooms at work," she mused. "Alright, uh... how do you think this would go best? Sand form and I try to wrap you, or I web a spot and you go sand form? It hardens pretty fast, and I've never tried to wrap up such small particulates before." April shook her head. "On the bright side, Forge and I managed to formulate a quick dissolve for it before he had to leave, so... if it does catch you, at least you won't be stuck for a few hours?"

"Hmm, let's start with webbing a spot and I try using my sandform on it... like trying to cut it with a tendril?" Sooraya suggested after a moment of pondering. "And since you have the quick dissolve thing, maybe we can try experimenting with webbing up my sandform later." She threw a mischievous grin April's way: "Let's see... if you're the winner you get to try... see if you're fast enough. If I win... Well, we can figure that out later."

"If you win you've got dishes or heavy lifting labor for a while?" April suggested. "That sounds good, trying to cut it. It's pretty strong." She took aim at a small platform between two lower-hanging chains and guided her wrists along the length, creating a small banner. "It's similar in strength to silk - actual spider webbing, so you'll want to adjust accordingly."

"Looks good." Sooraya studied the banner for a moment. "This might actually be more tricky than a stationary, firm object to slash." She pointed out before dissolving into her sandform and quickly rose to a height equal with the banner. A slender tendril sneaked out, the sand particles moving as quickly as Sooraya could make them and lashed out.

The lower part of the banner lazily floated down and Sooraya hovered and observed the banner for a moment, before lashing out again. This time a part of the banner split, but it seemed to stick to the tendril. Shaking it didn't seem to dislodge it and Sooraya drifted down with the sticky stuff still attached.

April covered her mouth with her hand to smother her laugh. "Oh no, wait, I can..." she reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a small spray bottle, and spritzed it across the webbing. A few seconds later it started to dissolve, drifting to the floor as tiny bits of debris. "It's a little more obvious than natural dissolving, but it doesn't take hours. Good cuts though, that's.. wow."

Assuming her own shape again, Sooraya couldn't keep herself from grinning. "That must have looked pretty silly. But that stuff is strong. I've come across bits about how strong spider silk is, but while I could cut it easily, those are some of the sharpest edges I can form."

April nodded. "If I get a tight enough web on someone, it's hard for them to get the movement necessary to get even an excellent blade free. And it gives me something very sturdy to use as rope, platforms, whatever."

Sooraya eyed the webbing still hanging there speculatively. "That's definitely gonna add an interesting layer to this game of tag. Let's go do some exploring and we can get started?"

"That sounds great," April agreed. "Five minutes or ten, then meet back here?"

Sooraya scanned the room again and nodded. "Let's do five and then we can play." She grinned. "This should be fun."

A countdown appeared above their heads and April darted to the left, feet almost silent as she started to ascend the wall. It wasn't as fast as just running, but it was far more fun and gave her a better view of everything the room had in store for them. The crevices in the walls were great. Some small, perfect for hand or footholds, and some large enough for her to almost squeeze into. Trying to jump to the chains would be fun, but definitely loud.

Dissolving in her sand form once more, Sooraya quickly rose as well, heading in the opposite direction from her teammate. It wasn't one of the usual Danger Room environments she worked in, but there were plenty of corners where she could settle, hide in the shadows for a bit and maybe even launch a little bit of a sneak attack from. It was just too bad that the materials of the walls were too dark... her sandform would stick out... Her ability to move freely through the air though... that would be one big advantage.

Getting to stretch her abilities was helping her mood. April noted a few places where trying to connect webbing would be difficult without assistance, circling the perimeter more than getting into the middle of things. Once the timer started counting down the last minute, she started making her way back to the meeting point.

And the chains... they'd make a great distraction. Having explored the walls, Sooraya rose to the ceiling, several tendrils of sand reaching out as they tapped the chains to see how much noise they'd make. The timer started flashing red though, and she quickly changed course, descending to the meeting point as well and took her own shape. "So let's see... one tap from a sand tendril counts as tag, one touch from you or your webbing counts as well?"

"You or your tendrils, me or my tendrils, webs only count if they actively impede movement?" That seemed fair, and April would have to focus more on producing enough webbing to hold her in place or slow her down. The precision practice would probably be good for her. "That sounds plenty fair to me."

"Sounds perfect to me." Sooraya grinned mischievously. "Now we both have 30 seconds to pick a starting location before things start with a bell. Ready, get set..." The timer once more appeared, only this time set to half a minute. "...go!"

Sooraya immediately dissolved into her sandform again, spiraling up into the room. She already had a spot in mind and quickly vanished into a particularly craggy area of the wall. There was a little shelf there that ran quite a few feet along the wall and it was pretty shaded...

April scaled up the wall before pushing off the wall and launching herself at a chain. Web shot out from both hands, giving her momentum to swing forward and land on one of the connected areas with a clatter. She looked around for just a brief moment, taking a running jump off the short platform and shooting webs at a nearby jutting section of wall, landing and staying perched as the timer counted down.

Gniffling silently Dust observed her challenger as the timer hit countdown and her sand form turned more serpentine, slowly spreading along the shelf. Mayhem would probably be on the move soon and she wanted to be able to follow her easily. Or on second thought... while she had explored walls, little platforms and crevices.. she had paid very little attention to the ceiling itself... backup plan though

Sooraya was much harder to see in the dark and caverns, even with April's enhanced senses. She pulled out one of her ever-present earbuds, tucking it very carefully into an internal pocket of her jacket. It wouldn't do to have one of her upgrades go missing or get damaged, but she needed the extra bit of background noise that having both in would normally cancel out. The faint sound of movement hit her ears, but it was hard to triangulate the position from her vantage point. She moved cautiously, keeping to the shadows.

If she'd been in her human form, she'd have smirked. Smart girl, keeping to the shadows like that. This could easily turn into a waiting game if not careful. The sensation of a small object in the middle of her serpentine form would have made her smile even more, as a tendril of sand clutches it and launched it closely to where April was hiding. It might just startle her out of hiding.

April's foot scraped along the ledge as she reacted to the stone hitting her in the knee. Based on where it'd hit her... she took a deep breath and sprang from her spot, webs shooting out at a set of chains dangling from the ceiling. She was a sitting duck in the position - at least she'd be open to attack until she found another hiding spot - but it also encouraged Sooraya to move forward.

Step one: she was out of her hiding spot. Excellent. Step two: now to make sure she could come on up from below. Slowly the sand moved and trickled off the ledge. Still, with how broad she was spread out it was going pretty quickly. The sand particles flowed down the wall, till the point she was clearly below April and then she swooped up, a multitude of small tendrils forming.

April's neck prickled, but she didn't quite get both feet up before a small tendril of sand wrapped around one ankle. "Wh—" she startled, web flying out instinctively to slow her fall. "That's one!" She called it into the darkness as she landed with a thud on a platform.

An eerie, yet merry tinkling came from hanging chains as Sooraya shot up and spiraled through them, hiding in the shadows from the little platform. Slowly she gathered the larger mass over her sandform in one particular deep shadow, but she kept two thin tendrils playing through the chains on the other side of the space, creating a tinkling sound.

'Clever. Annoying, but effective,' April thought to herself. She crouched on the platform for a few seconds as she listened for any sort of pattern, then launched herself into a backflip that had her sailing through the air away from them. She wasn't entirely sure how far removed Sooraya could be from her sand tendrils, but distance seemed to be her best bet. A set of webs slowed her fall with just enough momentum to swing around the edge of a crag and out of sight, clinging silently to the rock as she maneuvered her way around and doubled back, hoping to get a shot at the sand playing with the chains.

Damn, it looked like Mayhem could blend into the shadows just as well as she could if she wanted to... game on. Sooraya stayed where she was though, carefully watching the area around her. Three more tiny tendrils snuck out, creating a similar sound effect in two other locations before moving the two earliest tendrils just a bit. Come little spider... come come. Come little spider... come to get the fly.

'There!' April sent a tendril out to the left, web flying to the right as she targeted the sand tendrils nearest the chains. The resulting effect was. "Huh." She tilted her head, then realized she'd made the noise out loud and given away her position. "Shoot."

Sooraya gave as many chains as she could a firm tap and amidst the discordant sound, she launched a thicker tendril from the darkness above, tapping April's on the top of her head. Materializing on the closest platform into her human shape for a few moments, her laughter echoed through the space.

April shook her head as the noise rang out, both hands shooting web towards the laughter. "That was rude," she called out as she moved to a better vantage point. "We'll have to team up and use it against the others at some point!"

"Just don't try this at home, kids!" With those words Sooraya focused and tipped backwards off the platform.

"Soo–!" April jumped from her corner, webs flying in front of her in an effort to catch or slow the other woman's fall.

After only one tiny moment of freefall Sooraya shifted into her sandform, soaring up in a large plume of sand. The webs were neatly avoided as she became even with April's platform and a fat tendril shot out, wrapping around April's ankle securely. Hesitating only for a second, Sooraya continued rising and pulled April with her.

"WH–WHOAAAA"

Flying behind a strong tendril of sand was pretty cool once she got used to it. "We're doing this again in group training!!" April called out with a laugh, slowly curling her body towards her feet in an effort to tag the sand keeping her moving.

Almost near the ceiling, Sooraya formed a little smirk with a slender tendril of sand before April's face, before simply letting go of her ankle, sending April in a neat little freefall. She rematerialized on one of the platforms and laughter once more rang through the large room.

It was instinctive to attempt to slow her fall, and April wasn't so different from others that way. But her instinct twisted, hands and legs in a freefall as tendrils formed automatically, slowing her fall and giving her the ability to glide much like a flying squirrel. "This is SO. AWESOME." Her exclamation was muffled by the wind she generated, but her shrieks of glee were universal.

The landing was a bit rough, but what were some easily healed bumps and bruises in the face of flying? She'd do it again. She definitely wanted to work with Sooraya on that being a legit move they could pull off in the field.

"Glad you are having a good time. Tired of being trounced yet?" Sooraya called down, still fighting to stop her laughter. "Or do you want a second chance?"

"No shame in being beaten by someone clever on the training field," April replied from her spot on the floor. "You're more versatile and sneaky with your sand than I thought. That's on me. Now I'm running through ways to use that against the rest of the team next time we're training together."

Sooraya dove off the platform, easily shifting to sand midair and returning to her human form when she was near the floor. "We should definitely do some experimenting. It's not very elegant, but the ankle thing can definitely be a way to get you across a field quickly. Or other team members." Another small grin stole across her face the images of some of her teammates dangling the way April had.

Her tiny smile became full blown laughter when she pictured Scott that way.

"Well now you've got to share what evoked that laugh with the rest of the class now," April teased. "I'm going to do some cooldown stretching if you want to join me. It'll help shake out some of the aches from hitting the floor with speed."

"Oh, I was just dreaming of giving our fearless leader some flying lessons himself, Dust-style." Sooraya explained, still grinning. "And I'll join you for those stretches... You know... I bet you could help with those flying lessons."

"I could... and Scott does love flying..." April grinned. "We'll have to practice more, but I'm in."

Sooraya held out her hand to shake on it: "It's a deal."