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WHO: Archangel and Moonstar
WHERE: Big courtyard
WHEN: Friday morning (backdated a few hours...)
WARNINGS: I don't think there needs to be any
SUMMARY: Dani has powers again. What are they?
FORMAT: Paragraph to start

Dani had been up a few hours already, taking refuge in the quiet of her first morning in the City. Back in the City apparently. Careful not to disturb anyone else sleeping, Dani took in the look and feel of the mansion, where a number of other X-mutants had found themselves a place to live. Other worlds she's dealt with before. She could even handle and had friends who were from alternate dimensions. But to have so many different people from so many different times be in one place at once was overwhelming and made Dani think there was a deeper purpose for having everyone meet at this point. Maybe there wasn't. But this place was pushing for something and Dani couldn't tell if it was good or bad. She sighed, trying not to get mired in her thoughts. She'd take a walk and then meet with Warren at the courtyard.

Dani was troubled by the news of the Goblin Queen's presence but since no one thought they should do anything before there was real trouble, she needed to keep her old routines of constant training and practice. She was used to pushing herself physically, especially after the changes from M-Day but to know she had some type of power back...she'd feel a lot better knowing she could get on the field if she had to. She broke into a jog, taking an easy mile to the courtyard where she'd meet Warren. Already she'd started planning. His style was pretty varied in range but the biggest problem would be keeping him on the ground for hand to hand. The rest...well she'd start with what she had in the beginning.

"Good morning Warren," Dani called, ready in case he'd start the day with a bang.

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Warren kept his gaze on her easily, not put off enough at all to have to look away. "I'm more of a punch first, cry later kind of guy," he joked.

Not that he would be too worked up about this later. Hell, he had the same nightmares about this shit every night as it was, so he could most definitely deal with it just fine.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Sorry to try and pry," Dani answered easily. "While I was in school I thought I could be a therapist before becoming a teacher. My powers can bring up some pretty intense reactions."

Dani grinned in relief and in reply to the joke. "That'll just get you into a different type of trouble," she answered.

Gesturing toward her arm, she shrugged. "Just a cut. I don't think I'll need stitches. But I am going to try to not get on your bad side. Like...ever."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Warren chuckled a little bit before finally forcing himself to power down and shift back. It was a bit of a strain from the stress, but he managed okay after a minute or so.

"Anyways, you did just fine. Did you at least figure out all you needed to, you think?"

Dani loosened her muscles, not realizing how tense she had been about this spar. She hadn't known what to expect as her power. But it was a relief to know that it wasn't something new and completely different.

"I think so. I'm pretty sure I've got everything back. Even the arrows," Dani said thoughtfully. "I'll have to figure out the rest in real battle."

"X-Men have training everyday, too," Warren explained as he pulled himself to his feet finally. "Scott's been pushing everyone to work as extensively as possible, so even if you don't get a real fight soon, you'll still have plenty of opportunity to work on them."

Dani also rose, taking a second to feel a stretch in her legs as she thought about what Warren said. She wondered how different it would be here compared to what she did home. Well, back home she wouldn't have had her powers. A big change already.

"That's a good idea. I'm going with Cable for his trip this week but I'm sure I'd love the practice. It's for all X-Men? No other Imports?"

Edited 2010-01-31 09:31 (UTC)

"Just the team, yeah," Warren nodded at her and folded his arms over his chest. "We do have other imports teaching and boarding there, but the team is still just us."

Dani smiled fondly. "It's still a family. A large and completely dysfunctional family."

Edited 2010-02-01 14:24 (UTC)

"Definitely still a family even if we are missing some faces," Warren agreed with a grin. "People come and go here a lot though. Who's here today may not be who's left two months from now, but someone entirely different. Me and Sam have been here the longest and since then I swear I've just about seen everyone at least once."

"That must be hard," Dani said, "dealing with people who keep going back and forth that way."

Dani winced, "Or come back again and don't remember being here in the first place. Does the teamwork change with the Import turnover?"

"Sometimes, it really is," Warren admitted, recalling specifically when he'd been dating Psylocke and she'd been ported out, and then Dazzler getting ported out later. Then there was Cameron Hodge who'd been here, and that was even worse than losing people at all. "In a way you start to get used to it if you're stuck here long enough, but it's definitely still hard."

Hell, Warren had been ported out once before himself, and he remembered distinctly how messed up it'd been to be home for four years, but only missing in this timeline for less than two days. It was a head trip.

"You better believe the team dynamic changes though. We once went from 3 members to 10 to 20 and then back down to 8 and up to 18 again. We're constantly changing it up which is why the daily training is so important."

"Do you feel like there's a reason that people keep coming here?" Dani asked. The conversation she had with a guy over the Network when she had arrived had been bothering her. What would you do with a machine that was just malfunctioning? Just transporting people without rhyme or reason? Philosophically, it was just another way life could suddenly change for you. But a part of Dani couldn't help but question and fight back. Just like on M-Day. And there hadn't been any easy answers then either.

She lightened at Warren's description of team changes. Well, it was like that back at home too sometimes.

"Daily training won't be a problem. I'm glad we're keeping that for the team. Any big surprises I should look out for?"

"No one knows why, how, when, or who," Warren told her with a sigh. It'd been a question people had been asking for as long as he remembered being in this dimension, and they were still no where closer to getting any answers. It was just one of those things that were beyond his logic and understand. Some people were even brought here for a few days before vanishing again forever, while some others had been brought in and out four or five times now. It was insane.

"As for training, it's pretty much the same as back home. Working on powers, hand-to-hand, team strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. It's pretty well balanced, Cyke makes sure of it."

Dani echoed his sigh. "Somehow, I knew that was going to be your answer."

For all intents and purposes, Dani knew it could have been worse. And she wouldn't have had powers probably anywhere else. Well, with the exception of Asgard. It was just...strange. Strange and disconcerting. Dani couldn't feel anything different about the planet, it just wasn't hers.

"I didn't get a chance to ask him, but is Jean...Phoenix?"

Jean was just a whole other complication! Thankfully, not a bad complication, so Warren shook his head. "Not that I know of. She's actually from a completely different universe than ours, so I'm not sure the Phoenix even exists there, to be completely honest with you. Or maybe it's something different entirely?"

That was also a possibility, yes? Warren thought so. "As someone who's quite familiar with our world's Phoenix - seeing how Jean's my best friend - I can honestly say that this Jean seems a lot more collected. Calmer. She's similar in a lot of ways, but still a different person. It's really weird."

But as nice as that Jean was, Warren missed his Jean like he'd miss a limb.

Dani nodded. Jean wasn't someone she was as concerned about as the Goblin Queen but it never hurt to be careful. The Phoenix had a complicated history. She paused at Warren's reference of a Jean from a different universe. And tried not to get to fixated on that detail. It was the usually in this City.

"That's quite an understatement," Dani replied. "But since you're used to this universe weird, this Jean has to be extra weird."

There had been weirder things to happen, to be honest. Being turned into a woman for three days came to Warren's mind.

"It's only weird because..." Warren trailed off and tried to figure out how to explain it properly. "Imagine Xi'an was ported here, only this Xi'an lived her life as an X-Man and relatively low key...and had no idea who you were. It's not that Jean herself is weird, but when your best friend has no clue who you are...?"

Well, Warren was sure Dani caught his drift.

Dani couldn't even imagine what it would've been like if Shan hadn't been a part of the New Mutants she'd grown up with under Professor Xavier. When she thought Shan was dead had been hard enough, but what Warren was describing was...yeah, weird.

"I see what you mean," she sighed. "I miss her already."

"She could come back, too," Warren pointed out. It'd only been a few months since she'd left. "It definitely wouldn't be the first time, right?"

Dani sent Warren a grateful grin. "I guess she could. And I guess it wouldn't."

"Exactly," he sent the smile right back. "So just keep your chin up about it. It gets easier."

"Those'll be some famous last words Warren," Dani quipped. "But I'll take it."

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