Nica and Marius - I'll Show You Mine...
May. 7th, 2024 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsIt's Nica's turn to be the instructor when she guides Marius with using her powers.
"Right then," Marius muttered as he withdrew the pen injector and pressed an alcohol wipe to the shallow puncture on his abdomen. After a few seconds of pressure he crumpled the swab and retrieved the applicator cap from between his teeth.
"Apologies," he continued, turning back to Nica, "Typically I prepare in advance of a session, but the first time taking a new mutation, particularly one involving energy projection, tends to be best done in the presence of the donor. They are occasionally a bit explosive."
"Well, we're in the best place if things do get explosive." Nice gestured to the Danger Room around them, currently in its "standby" mode as a big white room. She had a million questions about Marius' mutation, but she also knew the mechanics of it weren't something he liked to talk about - she'd gleaned that from various journal conversations and old mission reports. "So, how do you know when it's working?" she settled for. "Is it instantaneous, or do you have to wait to process the donation?"
Marius capped the pen and slid it into the off-hand thigh pouch he used for spent injectors. "I don't always feel it, but once a thing's been introduced to my system the effect is nearly instantaneous. I do lag in the area of physical mutations like, say, Warren's, however. Even with a healing factor to speed the process complex anatomical structures cannot be produced overnight. Shifters are a different matter, of course, but the most I ever managed there were a pair of stubs. Alas, I suppose the world shall be forever deprived of the sight of two high-flying scions of unearned largess." He flashed her a smile and zipped his jacket up to his neck. "If I may ask, how did your power first express itself? Sensory changes, or the time-honoured property damage?"
"A little of A and a little of B?" Nica chuckled a little. "Not so much property damage, though. I was at a rave, and someone spiked my drink. I started full-on glowing, all over. Luckily everyone just thought it was a light show or something. But I'd had weird flashes in my vision for a few weeks before. I didn't realise at the time, but thinking about it later, I was seeing things in ultra violet or infra-red."
The older man's not-inconsiderable eyebrows ratcheted up a few degrees. "A rave? I confess, I wouldn't have taken you for the sort."
Nica blushed and tugged at the sleeves of her uniform jacket. "I'm not. But it was in Germany and I was friends with some older kids on the base and they kept saying how boring I was, so I gave in and let them take me for my birthday. Not something I'll ever repeat, the rave or the caving to peer pressure. I was totally freaked out by the whole thing."
"Quite understandable. The pretty colours are meant to remain within the confines of one's own head. Although" and here Marius turned his eyes towards the steady fluorescence of the ceiling lights, "I believe I'm getting a taste of that myself. The lights up there . . ." His amber eyes flicked back down to Nica. "And yourself as well, come to that. You're radiant. Pun not intended in these circumstances."
She blew a raspberry at him in response to the pun. "You might want to try and focus on one field at a time - it gets a bit overwhelming otherwise. VI, can you project only ultra-violet, please?" Accordingly, the Danger Room went dark, except for the lights glowing the curious blue-violet of the requested wavelength. "Just concentrate on the UV. I'm not sure how much experience you have with energy-based absorption powers, but if you've used them before, I guess it's the same for all of them?"
"Yes and no. Working across a spectrum -- again, my apologies for the unavoidable pun -- is rather different than, say, pure probability or magnetic fields." Marius was beginning to understand what Nica meant by overwhelming; whilst the room was now bathed in a single energy signature, what he saw when he glanced at Nica was -- incongruous. It wasn't the same as how movies depicted "heat vision," but she was emitting some sort of aura that was more intense at her core. That would be infrared, he guessed, and trying to hold it and the ultraviolet in his attention at the same time was already beginning to create a headache.
"How did you learn to distinguish one from the other?" Marius asked, taking her advice and focusing his attention on the lights. "I imagine it was a bit before you had access to the Danger Room."
"A lot of trial and error," she replied, taking her own advice and channeling the UV so as to reduce the amount of input Marius was getting and her body taking on the same blue glow. "I told my Dad what was going on and he helped me a lot with meditation exercises and stuff. I only really channelled visible light at first - it wasn't until I came here that we found out I could do more." She chuckled. "The worst part was having to learn a bunch about the EM spectrum. There's a reason the only science I do is political science."
Marius grinned. "Ah, that's the way of it sometimes, isn't it? Some get enhanced strength, some flight . . . but you there, yes, you in the back, your power shall depend on an intimate knowledge of maths and science." The older man returned his gaze to Nica and began flicking his attention from her to his own hand and back again, variously trying to focus on the energy she was emitting and relaxing his eyes on the off chance this particular perception followed similar logic as that required to interpret a Magic Eye Picture. "What of projection? How did you learn to focus on a specific wavelength?"
"That wasn't until I was here. Rogue helped me out a bit, and Reed and Hank - they're giant science brains, so they were able to teach me about the different wavelengths and how to isolate them." She shrugged. "A lot of it was mindset, I guess? Once I understood what my power was, it made it easier to use it." To illustrate, she let herself drift upwards into the air. "Like, when I'm channelling a full wavelength like this, my body isn't actually there. So gravity doesn't impact me. Which means the only reason I stay on the ground is because that's what I'm used to doing. Once I realised that, things got a lot easier. Except for, you know, the existential crisis - 'am I still real when I'm made of light?', blah blah." She executed a small loop de loop and then 'sat' down in mid-air.
Marius nodded, noting that Nica was no longer syncing with the ultraviolet he could detect. Whatever wavelength she was now emitting was neither that nor infrared. With his vision focussed on the ultraviolet it was almost like looking at a hole in the air. "I've always found a change of shape and matter to be a bit tricky. I've no inherent instincts or reflexes for the powers I borrow, you see, and the body has a preference for the state which it is accustomed to. Often I need to force the point, then sort it out later. What frequency are you on at the moment?"
"X-rays. It tends to be my combat default - nothing can hit me and if I go full synching I'm invisible to most types of vision. I use it to take short cuts through walls as well. I prefer visible light for day-to-day - less chance of giving someone cancer that way."
"Quite reasonable. Heated though our battles may be, it seems a bit unfair that they require a subsequent trip to the oncologist." With a game smile, Marius stepped back a few paces and spread his arms wide. "Right, then. Hit me, if you would."
Nica blinked. "Are you sure? I mean, it should be okay, but still..."
Marius waved away her concern. "No worries. If it's mutant in origin I can absorb it, copying powers or not -- just not generate it myself. I merely thought to get a feel for the wavelength."
"Okay then..." Shifting to a "standing" position, Nica raised her hands. "Here it comes!"
The blast was, by its very nature, invisible, but to Nica's eyes, it hit Marius straight in the chest.
Marius put an instinctive hand on his chest: no damage to his uniform. He did, however, feel strangely energised, almost as if he'd just taken a brisk jog around the lake. The X-Man flexed his fingers thoughtfully.
"Right, I'll try projection. Ready?"
Nica grinned and squatted in mid-air, holding one hand in front of her like a catcher's mitt. "Let's have it ."
It was easy enough to return the energy. If one was capable of perceiving the energy in question one would be able to critique the inexactitude of the blast: wide, diffusing at the edges in a way that would have likely proven just as unhealthy for those standing beside the target as the target themself. That was beside the point, however. Now he had the taste of it.
"That's yours back," he muttered, flexing his fingers as if adjusting his grip on the intangible, "and now to try one of my own . . ."
Focussing on recapturing the same sensation, Marius reached past the reflective aspect of his own power and into the generative that was Monica's to fire again.
Baseball analogy continuing, Marius' first attempt had been a wild pitch. The second was right in the strike zone, focussed right at her hand as a tight, narrow beam. The only issue was that it wasn't pure x-rays; it was a combination of ultraviolet and residual visible light, a mishmash that Nica could separate into its individual strands. "Nice try," she said encouragingly. "A little muddled, though. It's hard to explain but you need to focus entirely on the type of energy you're projecting. Otherwise you throw out everything you have. Which isn't a bad thing necessarily, except if you're up against someone who gets powered up with what you're throwing at them."
"Very true." Marius flashed the young woman a grin. Until very recently, the only reason he'd borrowed mutations since leaving the team had been for survival. It had been a long time since he'd practised an unfamiliar power with the intent of putting it to use. It was . . . satisfying.
Marius swept the hair from his eyes and spread his arms, wide and inviting.
"Right, then. Show me how it's done."
"Right then," Marius muttered as he withdrew the pen injector and pressed an alcohol wipe to the shallow puncture on his abdomen. After a few seconds of pressure he crumpled the swab and retrieved the applicator cap from between his teeth.
"Apologies," he continued, turning back to Nica, "Typically I prepare in advance of a session, but the first time taking a new mutation, particularly one involving energy projection, tends to be best done in the presence of the donor. They are occasionally a bit explosive."
"Well, we're in the best place if things do get explosive." Nice gestured to the Danger Room around them, currently in its "standby" mode as a big white room. She had a million questions about Marius' mutation, but she also knew the mechanics of it weren't something he liked to talk about - she'd gleaned that from various journal conversations and old mission reports. "So, how do you know when it's working?" she settled for. "Is it instantaneous, or do you have to wait to process the donation?"
Marius capped the pen and slid it into the off-hand thigh pouch he used for spent injectors. "I don't always feel it, but once a thing's been introduced to my system the effect is nearly instantaneous. I do lag in the area of physical mutations like, say, Warren's, however. Even with a healing factor to speed the process complex anatomical structures cannot be produced overnight. Shifters are a different matter, of course, but the most I ever managed there were a pair of stubs. Alas, I suppose the world shall be forever deprived of the sight of two high-flying scions of unearned largess." He flashed her a smile and zipped his jacket up to his neck. "If I may ask, how did your power first express itself? Sensory changes, or the time-honoured property damage?"
"A little of A and a little of B?" Nica chuckled a little. "Not so much property damage, though. I was at a rave, and someone spiked my drink. I started full-on glowing, all over. Luckily everyone just thought it was a light show or something. But I'd had weird flashes in my vision for a few weeks before. I didn't realise at the time, but thinking about it later, I was seeing things in ultra violet or infra-red."
The older man's not-inconsiderable eyebrows ratcheted up a few degrees. "A rave? I confess, I wouldn't have taken you for the sort."
Nica blushed and tugged at the sleeves of her uniform jacket. "I'm not. But it was in Germany and I was friends with some older kids on the base and they kept saying how boring I was, so I gave in and let them take me for my birthday. Not something I'll ever repeat, the rave or the caving to peer pressure. I was totally freaked out by the whole thing."
"Quite understandable. The pretty colours are meant to remain within the confines of one's own head. Although" and here Marius turned his eyes towards the steady fluorescence of the ceiling lights, "I believe I'm getting a taste of that myself. The lights up there . . ." His amber eyes flicked back down to Nica. "And yourself as well, come to that. You're radiant. Pun not intended in these circumstances."
She blew a raspberry at him in response to the pun. "You might want to try and focus on one field at a time - it gets a bit overwhelming otherwise. VI, can you project only ultra-violet, please?" Accordingly, the Danger Room went dark, except for the lights glowing the curious blue-violet of the requested wavelength. "Just concentrate on the UV. I'm not sure how much experience you have with energy-based absorption powers, but if you've used them before, I guess it's the same for all of them?"
"Yes and no. Working across a spectrum -- again, my apologies for the unavoidable pun -- is rather different than, say, pure probability or magnetic fields." Marius was beginning to understand what Nica meant by overwhelming; whilst the room was now bathed in a single energy signature, what he saw when he glanced at Nica was -- incongruous. It wasn't the same as how movies depicted "heat vision," but she was emitting some sort of aura that was more intense at her core. That would be infrared, he guessed, and trying to hold it and the ultraviolet in his attention at the same time was already beginning to create a headache.
"How did you learn to distinguish one from the other?" Marius asked, taking her advice and focusing his attention on the lights. "I imagine it was a bit before you had access to the Danger Room."
"A lot of trial and error," she replied, taking her own advice and channeling the UV so as to reduce the amount of input Marius was getting and her body taking on the same blue glow. "I told my Dad what was going on and he helped me a lot with meditation exercises and stuff. I only really channelled visible light at first - it wasn't until I came here that we found out I could do more." She chuckled. "The worst part was having to learn a bunch about the EM spectrum. There's a reason the only science I do is political science."
Marius grinned. "Ah, that's the way of it sometimes, isn't it? Some get enhanced strength, some flight . . . but you there, yes, you in the back, your power shall depend on an intimate knowledge of maths and science." The older man returned his gaze to Nica and began flicking his attention from her to his own hand and back again, variously trying to focus on the energy she was emitting and relaxing his eyes on the off chance this particular perception followed similar logic as that required to interpret a Magic Eye Picture. "What of projection? How did you learn to focus on a specific wavelength?"
"That wasn't until I was here. Rogue helped me out a bit, and Reed and Hank - they're giant science brains, so they were able to teach me about the different wavelengths and how to isolate them." She shrugged. "A lot of it was mindset, I guess? Once I understood what my power was, it made it easier to use it." To illustrate, she let herself drift upwards into the air. "Like, when I'm channelling a full wavelength like this, my body isn't actually there. So gravity doesn't impact me. Which means the only reason I stay on the ground is because that's what I'm used to doing. Once I realised that, things got a lot easier. Except for, you know, the existential crisis - 'am I still real when I'm made of light?', blah blah." She executed a small loop de loop and then 'sat' down in mid-air.
Marius nodded, noting that Nica was no longer syncing with the ultraviolet he could detect. Whatever wavelength she was now emitting was neither that nor infrared. With his vision focussed on the ultraviolet it was almost like looking at a hole in the air. "I've always found a change of shape and matter to be a bit tricky. I've no inherent instincts or reflexes for the powers I borrow, you see, and the body has a preference for the state which it is accustomed to. Often I need to force the point, then sort it out later. What frequency are you on at the moment?"
"X-rays. It tends to be my combat default - nothing can hit me and if I go full synching I'm invisible to most types of vision. I use it to take short cuts through walls as well. I prefer visible light for day-to-day - less chance of giving someone cancer that way."
"Quite reasonable. Heated though our battles may be, it seems a bit unfair that they require a subsequent trip to the oncologist." With a game smile, Marius stepped back a few paces and spread his arms wide. "Right, then. Hit me, if you would."
Nica blinked. "Are you sure? I mean, it should be okay, but still..."
Marius waved away her concern. "No worries. If it's mutant in origin I can absorb it, copying powers or not -- just not generate it myself. I merely thought to get a feel for the wavelength."
"Okay then..." Shifting to a "standing" position, Nica raised her hands. "Here it comes!"
The blast was, by its very nature, invisible, but to Nica's eyes, it hit Marius straight in the chest.
Marius put an instinctive hand on his chest: no damage to his uniform. He did, however, feel strangely energised, almost as if he'd just taken a brisk jog around the lake. The X-Man flexed his fingers thoughtfully.
"Right, I'll try projection. Ready?"
Nica grinned and squatted in mid-air, holding one hand in front of her like a catcher's mitt. "Let's have it ."
It was easy enough to return the energy. If one was capable of perceiving the energy in question one would be able to critique the inexactitude of the blast: wide, diffusing at the edges in a way that would have likely proven just as unhealthy for those standing beside the target as the target themself. That was beside the point, however. Now he had the taste of it.
"That's yours back," he muttered, flexing his fingers as if adjusting his grip on the intangible, "and now to try one of my own . . ."
Focussing on recapturing the same sensation, Marius reached past the reflective aspect of his own power and into the generative that was Monica's to fire again.
Baseball analogy continuing, Marius' first attempt had been a wild pitch. The second was right in the strike zone, focussed right at her hand as a tight, narrow beam. The only issue was that it wasn't pure x-rays; it was a combination of ultraviolet and residual visible light, a mishmash that Nica could separate into its individual strands. "Nice try," she said encouragingly. "A little muddled, though. It's hard to explain but you need to focus entirely on the type of energy you're projecting. Otherwise you throw out everything you have. Which isn't a bad thing necessarily, except if you're up against someone who gets powered up with what you're throwing at them."
"Very true." Marius flashed the young woman a grin. Until very recently, the only reason he'd borrowed mutations since leaving the team had been for survival. It had been a long time since he'd practised an unfamiliar power with the intent of putting it to use. It was . . . satisfying.
Marius swept the hair from his eyes and spread his arms, wide and inviting.
"Right, then. Show me how it's done."
no subject
Date: 2024-05-10 04:29 am (UTC)I'm eager to see how y'all use this power feedback loop in the future.
Marius, you aren't supposed to say that part out loud.
For whatever reason, this dark philosophical quip matched with a loop de loop is delightful.