2013-01-13 Mississippi Mud

"Again," Cyclops says as rain pours down all around them. He stands, arms folded, in a muddy field whose terrain looks somewhere "southern." He's in full uniform and the water is dripping off the metal of his visor.

In front of the X-men field leader is a large wooden aparatus. In the middle is a simple rope that hangs down; the message is clear. Climb it.

With the water the rope is very slippery.

The mud was more an issue that the water, Victor grunting as he tugged himself up the rope- he was a sticky guy on a slippery rope. Sliding inches for every foot he managed, Victor hung about half way at this point- just tired as the rain slicked down over his green skin. He was happy to not have hair getting in the way of his eyes as he took a moment to catch his breath, "Oh.." he breathed out, "You hempen bastard." To the rope, brown eyes narrowing in specifically defined rage. "You might be wet now, but wait until you're in the shed. The highly. Flamable. Shed."

Jubilee has had more fun than this. For starters, she didn't know about the rain, so she's wearing ordinary cotton sweats: gray pants and cropped jacket with thick pink stripes down the arms and legs, along with a pink tanktop, all of which are soaking up water right now. And it involves /climbing/. Normally she'd be fine with that, but a slippery rope in the rain is majorly Not Fun. Majorly.

Still, she did come in here, so she's struggling with cold hands to keep her grip on the rope. It's literally an uphill battle, as she inchworms her way up with grips and flexes of her crossed feet. "Ya know, Mister Summers, this totally works better without the indoor shower! Just sayin'!"

"Why do you think I ordered it up, Jubilee? And out here, it's Cyclops." Rules. Always rules with this guy. He purses his lips as he watches, "You can do it Anole. The trick is to focus and be sure your grip is true before you move on to the next. Sliding you hand upwards works better than gripping it coming from the outside. Your hand will push away some of the water that's causing you to slip."

"My hands don't slide." Anole answered, as if telling himself this was a fact more than anything else, looking over to Jubilee he gave a grin. "Jubes, come on! You got this!" he shouted, even as muscles strained under green skin and he began to climb once more- his feet coming together in the student uniform. "Why can't I use my feet again, Cyclops?" Anole asked down- knowing the answer. It sort of defeat the purpose if he was just dancing up and down the rope with the help of his legs.

Sigh. "Cyclops..." Jubilee replies, grimacing. Cyke probably has rules for the rules that let you get more rules. She fervently hopes he never discovers the joys of paperwork!

"Mine do," she says to Anole, working her way higher. "Come on, Anole, just a few feet more!" Hey, if he encourages her, she might as well return the favor! And onward she inches... a little more... a little more... "I am /soooo/ looking forward to a /real/ shower after this."

Oh, paperwork is great. He makes the students do it during the day. "Because, Anole, you're to work your upper body." He looks over to Jubilee with a snort, "Focus, Jubilee. You can worry about showers later. We still have the 6 mile run ahead of us.."

"You're not going to call it a fun-run are you? Because I know I don't usually run for fun." Anole said as he continued that hand over hand up the rope. Again he got to the top, and back to the bottom he slid slowly. Catching his breath, coughing a bit in the rain as he shook his head, brought both hands up and bladed water from his face, hands coming to rest on his knees. He peeked up to see how Jubes was doing.

"Yes. Focus. On getting the first totally annoying, stupid rainy-day activity done so I can get the second totally annoying, stupid rainy-day activity done. Good idea. Never would've thought of /that/ myself," Jubilee mutters through gritted teeth. One more... and one more... and done! Sighing with relief, she slowly slides down the rope, kicking into a swing so she can drop clear of the worst of the mud. She spots Anole and grins. "Bummer. Now we have to start right away."

"Correction, Anole," Cyclops says with a smile. "You usually don't run for fun until you've done it for a few years. After that, you become addicted and need the endorphins." He smiles faintly, "We'll get you in proper shape, kid. That's for sure." When Anole slides down, Cyclops gives him an approving nod and waits for Jubilee to finish. When she slides down he chuckles and approaches her with a grin, "Well we don't have to start right away. We can rest for 30 seconds." Scott looks back over to Anole with an upwards nod, "How are you liking the school?"

"Yes!" Anole stated, when Jubilee made it, a shout of victory! A grin broadens Anole's lips while he looks towards Cyclops, hands now behind his head as the rain just drip-drops off his body. "Oh, so far so good." he offered, "I'm learning a lot and I'd say making new friends pretty quick."

Jubilee giggles. "Easy, hornhead," she teases good-naturedly. "It's just a rope-climb. The hard part comes next."

She glances at Scott, trying to wring out her jacket. "Could we, like, totally splurge and rest for a whole minute? Please?"

"Good," Cyclops responds. "The students have really seemed to take a liking to you, too. We're glad you came."

Cyclops lips twist in consideration, but he finally relents. "I suppose since it's the weekend, we will be able to rest for the full minute." A warning finger points in Jubilee's direction as his head tilts, "Don't think that allows you dog it on mile 6. Last one will be the same as the first." He checks at his wrist for the time.

"Are you sure you can keep up, though?" Anole wondered of both Cyclops and Jubes with the extra whole thirty seconds of rest time. Victor smiles to Cyclops. "I mean, I'm pretty fast." he grins wide.

"Dog what?" Jubilee ripostes, annoyed, hands on her hips. First she's unfocused, now she's a slacker? Her fingers flex, and she tries to ignore that squishing sound of water being squeezed out of her sweatpants. Yuck. "Ya know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were using reverse psychology on me."

She grins at Anole. "It's not about keeping up, it's about keeping on, totally. You run, I'll run. We'll both get there in the end."

Cyclops laughs as thunder claps above them. Rain continues to pour down, drenching everything. It will provide for a maximum cardiovascular and muscle building experience, he's sure. "I guess we'll find out, Anole. Never seen you run before." He looks to Jubilee flatly, "I guess it's good you know better."

Anole gave a nod. "Okay. Er.. Do you want me to stay with the two of you, or just run six miles and be done with it?" Victor wondered, with a little grin, looking then to Jubes. "Well, its nice to win a race." The greenskinned mutant shrugged. "Anyways, we'll all get there. Like you said." he liked that idea, clearly! "So." he clapped his hands together and looked off into the distance. "Shall we?"

Jubilee scoffs a sigh and ignores Scott. He's getting grumpy, and there's no talking to him when he's grumpy.

She looks up at Anole curiously. "So, how /do/ you run? You look like you could go for miles on those legs, Anole. I don't think keeping up's in the playbook for this little pink duck."

She follows his gaze, grimacing at the distance. "I guess we shall." She smiles tiredly and does a few high knee lifts and clasps, loosening up. "Ready as I'll ever be." Down comes her foot, and she stretches her shoulders, then a long, taut stretch overhead...

And her waterlogged sweatpants disagree with her readiness, sliding over her hips and landing with a wet *thwip* around her cross-trainers. Jubilee blushes. "Or not..."

Cyclops just shakes his head at Jubilee and turns to Anole, "Run at whatever pace is going to make you stronger. Staying back with us might not help you much. We're out here for improvement." He begins to jog slowly, but picking up the pace quickly.