xp_logs | Nathan and Haroun, Tuesday morning

Haroun and Nathan try an obstacle-course style training exercise outside. Loser buys the winner and female companion of choice dinner. They both get creative. Nate explores the concept of 'appropriate force'. Then he sets Haroun on fire! (Yes, really.)

"So are we going with an altitude restriction?" Nathan asked, amused, as he and Haroun reached the very end of the walking trail. They were on the far side of the lake, about as far from the mansion as it was possible to get and still be on the grounds. "Just to make things interesting..."

Haroun wrapped the veil over his mouth and grinned. "Sure. Two hundred feet enough for you?" he said as he idly stretched in preparation. "Remember, I have no more durability than a normal person."

"Duly noted," Nathan said dryly. "And while we're on the subject, anything I shouldn't throw at you?"

Haroun shrugged. "I'll have to deal with all kinds of crazy stuff Out There. I'm a little skittish about fire, for obvious reasons. So if you make sure to include some, I'd appreciate it." he said.

Nathan raised an eyebrow for a moment. "Huh. Not sure how I'd manage that... but we'll see." He grinned. "So what's the forfeit if I do manage to keep you from getting back to the house?"

Haroun stopped to think for a second. "Dinner. You and the Doctor. Anywhere in NY. My treat."

"And what do you want, if you win?"

Haroun stopped to think about it some more. "Dinner, for me and a guest, at this really sweet little Moroccan place I found in the City." he said with a grin. "Think I'll see if I can take one of the Mansion beauties with me."

Nathan forbore to ask which one. "Sounds fair," he said, taking a few deep breath and then pushing out his TK 'sonar' field as far as it would go. "Anytime you're ready."

Haroun lifted off, and completed the mental transformation from Haroun to Jetstream. He headed towards the house on an upwards angle, flying fairly slowly to give him more time to react to anything Nathan could conjure up to get in his way.

Remembering that session with Paul in the Danger Room, Nathan peppered Haroun's upward path with shields. Half a dozen of them, roughly circular, about the size of the kitchen table.

Jetstream, not being able to see the aforementioned shields, ran into them with a whoof of breath. He hovered for a second, thinking, and then changed his course so as best to try to avoid any additional roadblocks in his flight-path. He was almost flying straight up at this point, looking to get up and over the obstacles.

Nathan dropped the individual shields and, on a whim, imagined a sphere around Haroun. He created a 'pull' in part of the area the hypothetical sphere created, a 'push' in the rest.

Jetstream blinked as he felt the pull, and decided to Step On The Gas - maybe smash his way through whatever obstacle was in his path. He picked a flight-path well away from the pull and cutting across the lines of push.

Well, crap. Nathan gritted his teeth, and with relative gentleness - using only a fraction of the force he would have used to take out a helicopter or a jet - smacked Haroun downwards. At the same time he leapt, landing on the upper branches of the tree beside him and balancing himself there with his telekinesis, ready to catch Haroun if he had to.

Jetstream registered the downward force, and twisted his body so that the main vector of his force was up - but at an angle, to minimize direct stress on his body for being caught between Nathan's telekinesis and his own power. The choice of new vector also had the benefit of taking him in the direction he wanted to go. He stepped on the gas again, pushing his power as hard as he dared to. He had more power available to him, he KNEW it, but to tap it would be to risk all.

Nathan leapt to the next tree, then the next, figuring he had a few seconds to decide what to do before Haroun got too far ahead. And he was heading right out over the lake, too... sneaky. Also very handy. Nathan reached, straining, and in another few seconds there was a wall of water in Haroun's path.

At the speed he was moving at, he could handle water. He flipped himself around, feet-first, and plunged through the wall of water. The impact hurt, yes, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. And it had the added benefit of his power boiling the water off, forcing it into nice, hot, obscuring _steam_. Under the very temporary cover of the cloud, Haroun flipped back over and headed straight out over the lake, aiming for the far side and the designated "Finish Line".

Nathan frowned. Water cannon time... no. Too much force. Jumping to the next tree, he kept his eyes on Haroun... and the landscape changed again, took on that shimmering glow as he concentrated. Nathan stopped, staring, his mind sliding down further until he saw what almost seemed like a latticework of energy in the air.

He focused on part of the lattice, twenty feet ahead of Haroun, and pulled until it tore.

Jetstream didn't have time to avoid the shimmering in the air - althogh he sure gave it the old College Try. His right foot brushed up against the shimmer, and instantly caught fire. Screaming, he dove _straight_ down, aiming for the nice cool puts-out-fires water.

Nathan swore and grabbed him telekinetically, pulling the water up to him. By the time he got there, levitating himself through the air in a reasonable approximation of flight, the fire was out. "You okay?" he asked sharply.

Jetstream nodded. "Yeah, I'll be OK. Insulated layer took care of it before it could reach flesh." He was still a little wild-eyed behind his flight goggles, but coherent enough. "I asked you to include fire." he said shakily. "I need to conquer this. I'll be OK. You up for continuing from here, or should we assume I'm dead and you win?"

Nathan looked at the shimmering spot, which was gradually fading. "I'm up for it if you are," he said, releasing his grip on Haroun. "But I don't think I'll be doing that again."

"No, you should." said Haroun. "At least, when you're training with me. I can't let fire shock me out of everything like this."

Nathan looked back at him, sharply. Judging his seriousness. "If that's what you want," he said, levitating himself back a few feet and letting his perceptions slide downwards again until he had the lattice again. "Although I reserve the right to dunk you in the lake afterwards if this blows up in our faces."

"If it blows up in our faces, you can dunk my ashes in the lake." Haroun said, and then rocketed at full speed for the far shore.

Don't be afraid of this, Nathan told himself. You can always put him out if he catches fire... Concentrating, he tore at the lattice of energy again, in parallel lines this time, letting the shimmer race Haroun across the lake, pushing it to overtake him.

Jetstream spared only one look backwards, and turned up the speed - aiming himself slightly downwards so he'd have a shorter distance to go if he did catch fire. Besides, the far shore was coming up quite quickly, and he still had room to maneuver. Not MUCH room, but some.

He was going to get there if something wasn't done, Nathan knew, and pulled, almost in a corkscrew form, as he tore at the lattice in front of Haroun this time. It started some sort of chain reaction, the shimmer on that side flashing outward to link up with the rest...

Jetstream jerked himself skyward as he saw the telltale signs of a lattice-tear, and closed his eyes and prayed to Allah as the flash of fire overtook him. At the speeds he was moving (he hoped) he'd only be in the flash for a second or two. If Allah was kind.

Nathan, concentrating, sheathed Haroun in a bubble of clear air as he sliced upwards through the fire. #I think you broke the ceiling,# he sent, floating where he was and experimentally trying to rearrange the lattice back into what it should be.

Jetstream looked around, and then nodded. "I did." he said out loud, and then floated himself to a gentle landing on the lakeshore. "I'll have to concede this one to you. I panicked out at the middle of the lake, and then broke the ceiling rule right here."

Nathan floated towards the shore, his eyes flickering back and forth as the lattice seemed to heal itself and the shimmer faded. "I still think I took things a little too far," he said. "I'm not even sure how I did that."

"Then perhaps we can both cash in?" he said. "I'll pay for your dinner, you pay for mine?"

"Sounds fair," Nathan said with a slight smile, floating down to join him on solid ground. He looked back over his shoulder at the air over the lake, shaking his head. "Still lethal force, or at least potentially," he muttered. "I'm trying to think of how else I could have stopped you. Other than the snatch-and-grab."

"Less lethal than it could have been." Haroun pointed out, undoing the veil and raising up his flight goggles to rest on his forehead. "Funnels. Have you thought about funnels? Wide telekinetic lip to catch a flier, then you funnel them into a tight teek-tube that you can do pretty much whatever with."

"It could work," Nathan said, visualizing it. "I'm not sure how much more efficient it would be than just grabbing you. You in particular - I'd get the jet-backwash either way. And that feels downright odd." He shook his head almost quizzically.

"Less direct contact - if, say, somebody manages to come up with a direct-contact teek scrambler." he pointed out. "Hey, let's continue this inside. I'm hot, I've been set on fire, and I could really use a bottle or three of water."

"You sure your foot's okay?" Nathan said as they turned to head for the house. "And fuck, wouldn't that just be beautiful. As if there aren't enough psi-inhibiting people and devices out there already." He grimaced, remembering the scrambler at Columbia.

Haroun wiggled his toes inside of his boot. "Feels fine from here. I'll check it more thoroughly once we get inside."

"To think, I passed up the opportunity to fish you out of the lake," Nathan said dryly.

"There will always be a next time." Haroun said with a grin.