Eye of The Storm

[Aurora Holiday]

Aurora walked back into the school, her classes were all over for the day but thankfully Guy had accepted to give Aurora an extra training session. She had been asking him ever since that whole school announcement thing. She had signed up to tryout as a security guard. She was only a junior at the academy and so when she found out that she had met the age requirement, she instantly signed up. Over the past week or two, she had been through a lot, pushed herself last her limits and people had began to lose a threat to her school, her 'family'. Aurora refused to sit on the sidelines, so she begged Guy to train her so she would be able to become a part of the security team.

She walked down the fairly empty hallway, her feet hardly making a sound against the tiled floor. She pushed the door open into the training room they always trained in. He was already there, he always seemed to beat her there, it was as if he lived in the very room. She chuckled at the thought and walked over in front of him, "So mister trainer guy, (yes she poked fun at his name) what do I need to do, to become a part of the security team?"

[Guy LeGrange]

Aurora was not the only one of Guy's students that wanted to try out for the security squad. In point of fact, quite a few of Guy's students wanted to. Aurora, was, however, one of the handful that Guy had personally recommended for the squad, suggesting that the combination of powers, talent, and drive would make her an excellent addition to said squad. She might be on the younger side of the age restriction, but there were only so many students that could actually help, and few had the right combination of training, drive, and attitude that Aurora possessed.

Still, he could've done without the poke at his name. He sighed at that, rolling his eyes to look at the ceiling. "You have got to be the hundredth student I've had that thinks that is funny. It wasn't funny the first time, and, surprise, it's not funny the hundredth time," he said before lowering his gaze to meet Aurora's. "Let's start with something very basic and simple: why do you want to be part of the security team? You're young, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you haven't exactly gotten to know many students yet, have you? I will appreciate it if you say you want to save my tiny little ass, but I assure you: I have big, bad friends that are willing to do that for me."

Okay, so he wasn't going to let her know that he'd personally recommended her, or that he'd recently been promoted to head trainer, so his going yeah pick that one meant a lot. That simply wasn't how Guy worked.

[Aurora Holiday]

Aurora chuckled and shrugged, "Hey, it was worth a shot." She thought thought about his question carefully. Why did she want to be a part of the security team? She didn't really have many friends that she really cared about, then again, she ares about everyone that was different like her. She couldn't quite explain it but she felt like in some way, she was connected to all them. Maybe her not knowing anyone was exactly why she wanted to join the security team. She sat there in silence, gathering up the reasons as to why she would want to join.

She walked up in front of him and sat down, "Actually, there is no one reason." She though about it for a second then nodded, "I want to be a part of the Security team because of the obvious reasons, like; I want to help, my powers are very concealable, but, most importantly, maybe I just want to fit in somewhere, ya know?" She let out a soft sigh. He probably didn't understand the whole, 'not fitting in' thing, it seemed like more and more people did actually understand it. She thought about saying other reasons why, but held them back until Guy asked for more reasons. She chewed on her bottom lip a bit, "And a few other things, some a bit more personal than others but if you would like to know, just ask I guess." She shrugged again, she didn't really want to share everything with Guy, but she trusted him enough to the point that she would if he asked her to.

Aurora sat there quietly starring art he ground, she was deeply immersed in her thoughts. She thought about what it meant to be a Security guard, more specifically what it meant to her. Aurora disliked the sessions when she wasn't actually training with her powers, she understood that they had them for a reason but that didn't keep her from disliking them greatly. She absentmindedly let out a sigh, for some reason she felt like this was going to be one of those sessions she didn't like. However, this session was also about something she cared greatly about so she forced herself to focus and do her best to not let her mind wander around.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy waited patiently while Aurora worked through her reasons. They didn't have a reason to rush. Well, they did if Aurora wanted to have as much time for actual training as possible. In truth, he felt a little better knowing that she actually took some time out to stop and think instead of just throwing out an answer. He was a little more surprised when she walked up and sat near him. He looked down at her, eyebrows raised, wondering for a moment about the change in personal space. She seemed serious and thoughtful though, so he had to give her credit for that.

The obvious reasons came first, and Guy mostly sat there, arms crossed, waiting for her to get to the real parts. When she mentioned wanting to belong, she got to the point, or at least, Guy felt like she did. They often thought that Guy wouldn't understand that. As if the dwarf with strange mutant powers didn't understand the desperate desire to belong somewhere. That, that felt real to Guy, as did those personal reasons that Aurora sort of tucked on the end there, likely hoping that he'd just skip over them. Part of Guy was tempted to dig in there, poke around and see what precisely she had in mind when she said that. She did offer. However, Guy could already see the impatience gathering on her, though she did seem to at least be thinking seriously about what all this meant.

"You're going to have to prove that you have a powerful offensive ability that you can control well," said Guy, looking about the room. He'd prepped it again, though this time with targets as opposed to piles of things. He could've set up a course, but he had a feeling that they needed to hone in on accuracy first. Enough basics, and Aurora could pass a course regardless. "You're also going to have to prove that you're willing to work with a team, possibly follow orders and such. You have a fairly decent chance though," Guy tapped his finger to his chin, considering. "What do you think you most need to work on? Of all that crap I just mentioned, that is. I'm not going to help you tone your gluts or whatever."

[Aurora Holiday]

Aurora didn't really mind if Guy asked about the more personal stuff, but she couldn't help but feel relieved when he moved on. She said a quiet thanks, one to thank him for not asking but also quiet enough that most wouldn't hear, and she'd be able to move on. She looked about the room as her trainer did, she followed his gaze to some targets on the wall, nodding as she looked. Would I have to kill someone? she wondered to herself as she looked at her hands. She wouldn't mind if she had too, that wasn't a problem. She didn't think that air could really kill a person. She decided to not ask about it, Probably not the bet thing to ask right before the try outs.

Aurora tapped her chin, "Of the ones you mentioned..." she mumbled to herself. "Uhm, well maybe orders. Also I have never really used it in a directed force so to speak, er, I guess I have never shot it at someone would make more sense." She was being honest, She had never shot air at someone, all she had used her powers for were to blow things around and a small (pretty small) whirlwind here and there. She didn't doubt she would be able to do it, but she thought he should at least know he had never done it before. That seemed like a helpful thing to know, right? Right. Ten the order thing, she felt like she would do alright with that, but the reason she mentioned it was because he didn't know if he would be able to if she felt a strong dissagreement. Maybe she would just be able to do it, and at least try persuading herself that she wasn't really into it. She wasn't sure, a lot of things could force her to go against an order. She pushed that thought aside and moved back to actually getting to a point when she could use her powers.

"Oh, and I can make small whirlwinds things, although you can't see those unless there's dust or dirt, stuff like that around." that was just one unfortunate thing about her powers, it wasn't easy to physically see them. She knew she was using them, with her hands getting all tingly, her getting exhausted, and the slight headache. That was it though, there wasn't much else that could help one see them unless of course there was a lot of dirt and it dust around; basically anything that was light enough to be picked up by the wind (depending in how fast the wind was the heavier someone could be). She shrugged, "That's just my thoughts though, what do you think would be beneficial to improve on?" she asked curiously and seriously. She values her trainers views aswell, plus it was always nice to have a second opinion.

[Guy LeGrange]

Not using her ability in direct force would definitely have to be worked on. Not that hearing this made Guy particularly happy. He sighed, rubbing at his face. That was something he eventually covered with quite a few students: aiming their powers at a living, breathing human. Usually he had to volunteer for that himself, and that usually meant wearing protective gear, none of which he had on hand. It was, however, not far away. So that meant that Guy had to decide whether to admit that and become Aurora's mobile target, or hedge around it and suggest that she worked on something else.

Aurora had continued past that point, discussing her ability to create smaller tornadoes. That tidbit actually interested Guy, and he looked up at her. She'd asked him what he thought she should improve upon, which struck Guy as cheating, as he asked first. Still, she'd given him something he felt he could follow up on: "Did you say that you can create small tornadoes? Are those limited to dust or could you, say, lift a person? Not even necessarily a normal sized person. Could you lift me with one, for example?"

It wasn't just because there was some fun to be had in riding a miniature tornado. "Because you're going to have to use your abilities on people if you do join the squad. Well," Guy hesitated, bobbing his head a little, "in the worst case scenario you would. So it would be best if you had enough control to incapacitate without killing. In fact, with your ability, you might even be able to do that without actually hurting someone, though that would take quite a bit of control."

Guy paused for a moment, raising a brow as he looked up at Aurora. "Do you feel you have that much control, Aurora? Because you have demonstrated quite a bit of power for your age," which, again, was part of the reason why Guy had recommended her for the squad...

[Aurora Holiday]

She frowned slightly as her trainer sighed, "I uh-- well-- it's not--" She paused to form the words she was looking for, "It's not that I wouldn't use them, I just haven't had the need to." She made a plan to work on 'shooting' her powers at stuff, maybe she could set up some cans or something, then 'shoot' them off using her powers. She mentally smiled, she was proud of that plan, after all, it wasn't that bad of an idea. She had seen people do that kind of stuff in movie for people that used guns, she figured it was the same concept.

Aurora nodded, "Yeah, I did. And the dust is just so you can see it, as for picking people up, probably." She shrugged, "Once again, never really tried to or had the need to. I just assume the bigger the tornado the more energy it would take. As for how heavy, since I haven't used it for that stuff, I'm going to go off of what I've seen on TV and say that the faster the speed, the heavier the stuff I could pick up would be." one of the big problems with Aurora still being younger was that he hadn't had a ton of time or opportunities to experiment with her powers.

She nodded when he told her she would have to use her powers on people, "Yeah, I figured as much. Like I said before though, it isn't that I'm not willing to, it's just that I haven't had the need to yet." She paused to let her trainer finish, then he mentioned how it would be better if she didn't kill them. "Soo, about the whole killing thing, I had actually given that some thought and well, I uh, I'm not exactly sure I could kill someone, air isn't exactly super deadly." She hoped that Guy understood that it wasn't that she wouldn't if she absolutely had to, she didn't think someone would die if she just hit then with a shot of air.

Aurora chewed on the inside of her lip when he asked if she had that much control. She looked at her trainer and gave a slight nod, "I understand that I can get temperamental at times (understatement of the year?), but a lot has happened recently and if I focus enough, I feel that I have that kind of control." Aurora stated with confidence. She had an exceptionally important person to protect now, not only that but now she could possibly also have an entire school relying on her to keep them safe. Aurora surprisingly did well under pressure, it was as much of a shock to her as it was to most people when they realized this.

She shook her head relieving her thoughts and focused on getting some training it before the session ended, "So, now back to the training part. Would you like me to show you this whirlwind?" Depending on Guys answer, she would back up and make a small tornado, about 5 feet high and 3 feet at the top in diameter.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy nodded; he could understand that. How often did you really need to fight off another human being? Unless you engaged in that line of work for a living, you didn't really need to fight anyone. People went their whole lives without confronting someone about something, so why would it be any different for mutants? True, the wind was blowing in a different direction now, but that was now, in the present.

She could probably pick people up; that was good to know. Guy was actually pleased to hear that Aurora had a good idea of the range and extent of her abilities. He expected no less of her, really. That dedication was sure to carry through into that section of her training as well. Willing to as well. Though there was that hesitation, which made Guy pause for a moment, raising a brow. He waited patiently while she explained. It didn't sound so much as though Aurora didn't have the will, or so it sounded, but she wasn't sure she had the way.

"Air is actually the deadliest of elements to control," said Guy, speaking levelly, seriously. "Everyone seems to think fire, and a pyrokinetic can do a lot of damage. So can water and earth, given their chance. But everyone needs air to breath, Aurora. That's where you have an advantage that most don't. Not that I'm encouraging you to go around choking people," he chuckled, remembering how he'd effectively had to assign that task to a student before. He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, pausing again to lick his lips. "I don't intend to train you to kill people though; that's not something I want you to do and not something you should be thinking about doing unless you absolutely have to. It's more a matter of understanding that you're capable of it. the threat of death can do a good deal, and knowing that you can inflict it can give you more power still."

Temperamental, a lot, and didn't that sound loaded? For a few moments, Guy thought about asking, but he figured it probably had something to do with a love life. He tried to stay out of that if he could, though some students made it quite impossible. He didn't doubt her ability to act under pressure though; he could see that in her already.

"Yes I---" Guy began, stopping as he felt the wind shifting, noting the gathering debris moving into a funnel. "I'd prefer if you waited till I gave you the okay," he said wryly, arching a brow. "Remember that part about following orders?" Didn't make him less impressed with her control, though he imagined the strain must be rough. He studied her, needing to know, to see for himself.

[Aurora Holiday]

Aurora stood still and listened intently to her trainer, she was about to protest immediately when he said that air was actually the deadliest of the element but she held it back and let him continue. She nodded when he said that most people thought that a pyrokinetic was the most lethal, it did made perfect sense as to why people would think that. Thank goodness she ended up holding her tongue because he soon explained to her why air was the most deadly. She nodded once more, she had never thought about air that way. She found herself nodding yet again when he spoke about how just the threat of death had a lot of strength in its own ways. It certainly would make her more confident going into a fight, if needed she could take their air away. Of course she would have to practice it but if she did her best, she was sure she would be able to learn how to take the air away from someone.

Aurora was glad Guy didn't ask about anything that went into a more personal detail, she wasn't one who loved to talk about that stuff. She would talk about it if she was asked or prodded about it, but it wasn't like her to just start talking nonstop about it. This was training, not some personal chat club. She made sure that she didn't mix the two, in a sense that when she was training, she had to momentarily leave her more personal life behind. If that made any sense, it confused Aurora if she thought about it too much, so she didn't.

She looked down a bit embarrassed, sure he had said yes to seeing her make the tornado but he hadn't actually told her to. She let out a sort of chuckle, "Heh, yeah, my bad. I guess I just got a but excited, or something like that." She stopped the wind as he spoke and then waited for him to actually tell her to make a tornado. Finally. she thought to herself excitedly, he had finally given her the physical order to make a tornado. She began to picture tornadoes and such in her mind, moving all her focus to the making of the funnel. She had increased her endurance when using her powers through training so hopefully she would be able to keep it going for a bit.

She felt her heart beating quicker, swear had formed on her brow. She did a victory dance when the tornado was complete, it wasn't super strong at the moment and she hadn't had to struggle too much, if any at all. The making if it had been easy, it was the part of keeping it going and making it quicker that proved a challange. Her hands were tingling and she could feel the presence of the headache coming on; or maybe that was just her imagining it because she knew it would be coming soon. She kept her hands steady, aimed at the swirling air before her. This was the next difficult thing when pushing her powers, it took a lot of focus to keep it up and spinning quick. She flicked her eyes to Guy's direction then back to the tornado, "What next?" she said, her voice faltering slightly when she took her focus off of the mass before her. She took a mental note, Multitaksing. Bad.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy waved off Aurora's apology. "You don't have to worry about getting overly excited, at least not here. But you're going to want to portray yourself professionally and with decorum." Though Guy had to struggle to say that with a straight face. He was hardly professional with his students. Well, perhaps a little, but likely not to the extent that he was indicating now. Still, that was the difference between a general training session and a tryout for more serious security position.

For now, Guy stepped back and watched as Aurora worked. It was impressive, her control and power. Guy could tell that this girl spent time working on her ability, and that time showed itself. He admired her ability to handle the strain as well. He could see her muscles working and her body pushing through it. Again, he was reminded of all the reasons why hers had been among the first names to pop into his head when the Headmaster had made his suggestion for students to step up.

"Good," he said, though not very enthusiastically. He nodded at the whirling mass of air. "Can you move it? Could you, for exaaaaample," he dragged it out while he looked for something, eventually locating a target a little distance away. He pointed to it and finished: "Move it over there and see what you can do to that target. If you can, that is," and yes, there was  hint of challenge to his tone as he said that. This was the point, after all.

[Aurora Holiday]

Aurora smirked, Act like a professional... that's calling the kettle black. she thought to herself laughing a bit. She chose not to say that aloud, she knew Guy could be professional, she had seen it at the assembly thing. She composed herself, Focus. Act like a professional. Remember. Her thoughts began to drift off to other random things, some not really important like what she would wear to the tryouts. She shook her head a bit, freeing her from these thoughts to focus on the task at hand; Making a tornado.

She kept her focus on the swirling mass before her, but she managed to also listen to Guy, or at least what he was saying. Even though she hadn't used her powers like, at all, the way Guy said it was good frustrated her. Then he asked her; no challenged her to move it? If I can?! She did her best to keep her cool, but it was proving difficult. She took him up at that challange, she pictured scenes of tornadoes and such moving through the lands. She pushed it forward, slowly though. She tried to move it quickly at first, but that nearly made the tornado dissapate. She had to settle for the slow and steady route, a route that she did not enjoy. The tornado was now nearly on top of the target, but the target didn't even move. She knew she had to make the tornado faster, then she'd be able to pick up the target, but her body was already being pushed a lot. She tried to increase the speed enough, the target began to wobble but she knew she wouldn't be able to make it much faster, if any faster at all.

She could feel her whole upper body had that tingly feeling now, she wanted to make the mass big enough an fast enough to rip the target from its place, oh she wanted it so badly. She decided to not push herself that hard, she couldn't afford to pass out now, not with tryouts being so near. She relaxed her arms as they dropped to her sides, she had barely noticed her heart pounding and her shortness of breath. She tried to move her arms or something but they felt too heavy to move so she just left them there as she turned to Guy. "That's the best I've got right now, at least without passing out. I can't afford that with tryouts being soon." She hoped he would understand, she figured he would but there was always that random chance that they wouldn't, you just never knew. She wiped her forehead with her shoulder as she put her hands on her hips, they didn't stay there long before dropping to her side again. She was tried but this is also when she, for some random reason, did her best. She looked at him, finally smoothing out her breathing to a more steady pace, awaiting further instruction.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy watched, noting not only the tornado and what it managed but how its creator reacted. He saw the strain on Aurora's arms and face, her body showing all the problems of dealing with her problem all too well. Still, she did as asked, even if the target didn't do much more than wobble under the pressure. Guy waited patiently, half expecting her to suddenly pick up the pressure, if only out of frustration. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows in surprise when instead he heard those hands drop, and he looked to the girl. Her explanation made sense though, and the trainer nodded his acceptance of that.

"Perfectly understandable. This is just a training session after all," he said. There was a slight edge to his voice, and he focused his attention on the target. He didn't turn to look at Aurora as he said the next few words. "The people that you'll fight, assuming you actually get that far, they won't be expecting this. They'll expect you to do something, and they'll be trained, likely highly trained. Trained enough that they'll be firing at you while you attempt to throw wind at them. But they aren't used to this," he pointed at the target, "to people being able to throw wind at them. That's your strength in these circumstances. You'll have to be clever."

He lowered his hand, tapping it against his arm for a few moments. "What would you say is easier for you to do for an extended period of time? Control something like that?" he nodded again at the target before looking over at Aurora. "Or shooting several short bursts. If you were in a fight, a live or die situation, what would you do? Do you know?" again, Guy put some challenge into the words, making it clear that if she didn't, she should, and that could very well be what they needed to work on next.