Practice makes perfect

Posted on Sun Jan 28th, 2024 @ 11:51am by Cameron Hood & Aurora Summers

1,765 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 3: X-Tra Ecclesiam
Location: Danger Room
Timeline: After Cyclops Departure

OOC: We’ve got some time to work on this so we can have fun with it.


With Scott gone Aurora had stayed out of everyone’s way as best as she could, there were still classes she had to attend but the looks she got from some of the students had made it an uncomfortable experience. In-between classes she’d been out in the grounds, clearing her head and trying to gain some focus. Her next scheduled class was practice in the danger room, for this one it was just Cameron and herself to better ‘help her focus’ as Professor Xavier had put it when he’d first provided her with her timetable.

Taking a deep breath she tried to clear her head ready for practice, but she was anything but focused. Walking into the danger room she nodded to Cameron.

Cameron nodded back. He was sat upon the mats on the ground, stretching his hamstrings out. The Danger Room was set up as a simple gym. The floor was covered in the tatami mats for the combatives training. The walls were looking like basic brick walls covered in various banners for different styles of martial arts and combat systems. One wall was covered in various bladed weapons and sticks of all kinds. Cameron himself was wearing a traditional white judo gi. Under his coat was a tight, black t-shirt. The jacket held close by a black belt. His feet were bare.

Rising from the floor, Cameron stretched his back one more time before relaxing. "You okay Aurora?"

Aurora was going to say fine but thought it best to be honest. “In all honesty...no.” She walked over to the mat offering Cameron a melancholy smile. “I need to get my head back in the game Cameron. Can you help me, please?”

"I'm no telepath." Cameron offered the joke with a mild smile. "What tends to help me in that is running through drills. Tai Chi is great for that. But any fighting style has their drills or kata's. We could run through some of those. Maybe spar a little after we've done that."

Aurora nodded. “Okay that I can do. Scott wants me to be here where it’s safe, and I still want to be a part of the team. I’m not going to let being pregnant make me a weak link in a strong chain, so let’s get on with this.”

"Let's start with the warming up." Cameron decided, starting to just lightly jump in place. "You've done the routine before. Follow along. Don't talk. Don't use your telepathy."

“Understood” Aurora smiled and followed Cameron’s instructions, jumping lightly in place.

Cameron lead through roughly a dozen small warming exercises. For his part he had warmed up before Aurora had shown up. But it was good practice, and one can never warm up too much. It all concluded with them sitting on the ground, stretching out the hips and legs. With a final deep breath Cameron moved his legs under him so he sat kneeling. "Right. That's a good warming up. Why don't you kneel down for a beat."

Aurora nodded and knelt down as well. “That definitely helps to blow the cobwebs away!” She offered a smile. “As much as I don’t want to be burden to the team, I also don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines. I know as team leader the final decision is yours, and I will abide by whatever decisions you make. I’d just...” She paused. “I guess what I’m saying is, don’t leave me out of the action, please.”

Taking a spot opposite the younger woman, Cameron sighed as he considered his answer. "If this were the Army, you'd be restricted to light duty, away from any real danger. You probably wouldn't even be doing much physical training. I'm not going to keep you from the field, at least not for now. But that decision will be on a hair-trigger. As soon as I see any sign that the pregnancy is inhibiting you in any way, I'm pulling you off the field. And I mean in any way. Same goes if either Jade or the professor advice me to. "

Aurora nodded her understanding. “Understood. I have no wish to put anyone in danger looking out for me. I won’t be a weak point in a strong chain.” She offered a smile. “My abilities are proving to be more difficult to control right now, but that could be just the way I’m feeling right now.”

"You're not convincing me on keeping you on the team Aurora." Cameron said as he rose from the mat. "Being an X-Man is about learning to master your powers. That is a journey that does not always lead to a battlefield. There is no shame in sitting a mission out." Cameron gestured for her to stand.

Aurora nodded. "I promise you Cameron, if I feel that I will be a risk on a mission I will stay behind. I'm not going to put you in a position where you can't rely on me."

"It's not me I'm worried about. Now on your feet." Cameron settled his stance, one foot behind the other, his centre of balance lowered a little. "Take your stance. We're starting off with some strikes and blocks."

Standing up Aurora took her stance, just as she'd been trained to do so. If she had something to prove then now was the time to do it. she cleared her mind as best as she could focussing on Cameron. "I'm ready when you are."

They ran through the initial exercise slowly. It hadn't been the first time this particular exercise was done. He had run the entire team through it several dozen times. Three rounds of the same movements, at the same controlled speed. "Good. A little faster." Cameron said, finally speaking again after several minutes. The pace was definitely less sedate now, he noticed the little mistakes Aurora made here and there, minor moments really. That was what practice was for after all.

Aurora knew she'd made some mistakes, but she was quick to try and correct them as they picked up the pace. Her focus was changing to what she was doing now, instead of thinking about the fact that Scott was no longer there.

"You're getting better." Cameron concluded after a solid fifteen minutes. His skin shone from a light sheen of sweat, but his breathing was as calm as if he were having a lovely stroll in Hyde Park. "Have you been practicing your light touch telepathy?"

Aurora nodded. "When I get chance, it's not something I can really something I can use around the mansion except in the danger room during practice."

"Try and use it on me. We'll run a drill you haven't done before, but we'll do it slowly. If you can skim the moves you should be able to respond accordingly. If you dig too deep you'll get hit because you're not focusing." Cameron explained, wiping the sheen of sweat off his forehead.

Aurora nodded. "Okay lets give it a go." she brushed her hair back and wiped her face before getting herself physically and mentally prepared for what Cameron was going to do.

With purposeful thought Cameron started the exercise. Each move was premeditated, anyone with any experience would call it heavily telegraphed. But that was the point, to announce it so that it would be nice and loud for Aurora to pick up.

Aurora focussed on Cameron's surface thoughts, his instincts, matching his moves as he made them. She cursed as she slipped up a couple of times, before refocussing and clearing her mind. She needed full focus yet still needed to be aware of what was going on around her.

A final bop on the nose signaled the end of the exercise. It was just an actual nose boop, Cameron's finger came straight at Aurora and booped her on the nose as if she were a curious cat. "You're getting better." He said, inserting some notes of approval into his tone. "Take a moment to breath. I can imagine this kind of focus must be exhausting?"

Aurora nodded as she relaxed, massaging her temples. “It is, it takes a lot of energy focussing on what you’re doing whilst still being aware of what’s going on around me.” She offered a smile. “Plus my pregnancy isn’t helping much where energy is concerned either.”

Cameron grabbed two bottles of Gatorade out from his sportsbag. They were close to room temperature, but they would hydrate just as well. He offered one to Aurora. "Got to keep drinking. We've got a few more rounds to go. I want to see how you'll fare when I stop shouting my thoughts and go on instinct."

Aurora smiled as she took the offered drink. “Thank you.” She undid the lid and drank some. “That’s better. I’m aiming to learn to better you, you do know that right?” She grinned.

"Now don't take this the wrong way. But when it comes to a straight up, fair, fist fight, I don't think you'd ever beat me." Cameron said, his tone surprisingly serious. "I'm better at this than you, even without bringing the way I learn to fight into it. And besides, I'm bigger and stronger." He held his hands up to forestall any counter argument. "But if we'd get into a fair fight, a lot of things have gone wrong. You're a telepath, if I were to get close enough to hit you, you should've shut my brain off five minutes ago."

Aurora nodded. "Therein lies the problem" she paused. "It's simple to say, but not simple to do. One mistake and I could put someone in a permanent state of unconsciousness and that is what scares me. I'm still learning how to put my abilities into practice, shutting down a mind has to be done with care even if they are your enemies."

"That's part of the reason you're doing these drills. Training to read surface level thoughts under stress allows you to hone your powers. At least that's what the Professor told me when he gave me the lesson plan." Cameron explained, taking both bottles away. "We'll do another round. It'll be a bit faster, but nothing you shouldn't be able to keep up with."

Aurora nodded. "Let's do it! I need the practice." She stood ready, she was going to prove Xavier's faith in her wasn't wasted.

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