Stiff Upper Lip {Thornton}

[Max Rose]

Training sessions always got Max pumped, maybe too pumped. She had a tendency to dress like she was about to enter a kick-boxing ring, with the loose pants, tight sleeveless shirt, and hair pulled back. This time, she'd opted to put on a pair of fingerless gloves too: brilliant pink and black, a slight indication of that inner nerd of hers. She practically danced her way into her assigned training room.

To find a different power trainer standing there.

Max paused mid-step, mid-sentence, actually, because she'd been greeting her usual trainer with a quip and a grin. The grin slid, the quip went unfinished, mostly making Max look like an idiot. She stood stupidly for a few seconds, staring at the man. Then, she took a few steps back, checked that this was exactly the room she'd been told to go into, and stepped back to stare at him.

Eventually she raised a hand, pointing, "Who the hell are you?"

Probably not the best tone to take with someone who was supposed to be training you to use your powers currently. Max was already taking several determined steps closer, her hands balling into fists. They weren't supposed to change trainers. That wasn't allowed. Max wasn't allowing it, at any rate. She practically stormed up to the man, glaring up at him.

"You're not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be training," she said. Her eyes narrowed, and she tapped his chest a few times. Shame she couldn't pass along the anger, because she had a feeling that her "redhead temper" was about to flair. "You. Are. Not. My. Trainer."

A pause, and she glared at him, her hand still frozen on his chest, definitely not moving.

[John Thornton]

Why why why did the administrators hate him? It seemed to be the only reason why he was continuing to be matched with students who seemed determined to prove they had no respect for authority, or at least, their trainers.

"I believe I'm your power trainer for the day," Thornton said coldly, arms crossed and he scowled at the red haired girl. "You may call me Mr Thornton, Miss..." an eyebrow raise to await an answer, the furrows between his brows deepening. "And do not use that tone with me."

It got better. He watched her with mild apprehension and growing frustration as the fiery child stormed up to him, but then she poked him. That was really too far. Grasping her wrist, he moved her hand away from him as his own expression darkened. "It seems that for today, I am. And so you will talk to me with the respect due to a power trainer." He let go of her and looked down his rather long nose at her. "Do you understand? Now, I was not filled in on your situation so you will have to inform me."

This was going to be a long, long day.

[Max Rose]

"Or what?" it popped out of Max's mouth before she could think about it. "Not like I'm ever going to see you again or something."

Max glared up at the man, completely ignoring the obvious size difference, or the great chance that he had powers that would completely nullify anything that Max could come up with. They did have a tendency to pair some of the more wild students with exact opposite trainers. Dimly Max was aware of this. She was also aware that she could most likely get this guy to fight her, which would be fun.

"Besides, isn't respect supposed to be earned or something?" demanded Max. Arm jerked. Slight wince. That respect speech. And a smirking Max. "Shouldn't you be kicking my ass about now? You know, the whole proving that you're the super badass guy? That's a British accent, right? Do I need to make fun of tea or steal your Tardis?"

Maybe more poking? The more she spoke, the more Max realized that fighting someone new would be a blast, especially if they set him up to be her exact opposite.

God, this was why she loved Hammel.

[John Thornton]

"Or the next few hours will be very unpleasant," Thornton snapped, scowling and straightening his tie. Even looking at this girl made him feel unruffled. But, he did not yell. It seemed to be a common theme for American teenagers to be rude, poorly dressed and have no idea how to treat staff members?

Well, L.C had clashed with him at first and they had managed to figure it out, so he would try. And it was only for one day, after all. He would manage. He would keep calm, and carry on. Aggressive students were, apparently, his speciality.

He did not have time for this. "I don't hit students," the englishman said coldly, his temper rising. "And I have no idea what a tardis is, nor do I care. I am your power trainer, and yes, I'm english, but that really has nothing to do with me training you does it?"

Was she trying to provoke her? Because while Thornton would never hit a woman, or one of his students, she seemed to be trying very hard to make him angry. And it was indeed working. He was not in the best of moods lately, even for him, and was tired and really not ready to deal with some snarky americans attempts to antagonise him.

"You owe respect to your teachers," he warned her. "And you will keep a civil tongue in your head when you address me, miss. Now, you will need to inform me of your abilities if this is not supposed to be a complete waste of both of our time."

[Max Rose]

Unpleasant, like Max had experienced that. He was even straightening his tie, and he so had a "this is serious business" face on. It made Max giggle slightly. No hitting students, no idea what a Tardis was, definitely English.

"Oh, you're so fucking English you probably bleed tea and crap crumpets," said Max. Another little giggle. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, right? She could ruffle this guy's feathers for a few hours, get some more experience in, and maybe even get a little leeway for using her powers more often. Not that she could really help it, since like every other time she tried to touch someone her powers kicked in. Usually on purpose, but that was totally beside the point right now.

"Yes sir," she said, saluting stiffly. Her expression was stern, trying to match John's, but it barely lasted before more giggles came out. Still giggling, she held up her wrist, and flicked it a few times. Nothing major, just enough to start getting that little stinging sensation that happened. Then, she reached out and tapped John again.

Instant stinging sensation transfer, captain.

"I do that. Awesome, huh? I thought so."

[John Thornton]

"Language!" Thornton snapped, scowling even harder as his shoulders tensed. What was it with americans and having no respect for their teachers? He would have never been so disrespectful. "Detention. That is not how you talk to your trainer."

That had been the first detention he'd given, now he thought about it. Mostly, his students realised very quickly he had absolutely no tolerance for disrespect, and could be rather intimidating once he started having to shout. Or, as L.C had once said, roar. He roared, apparently.

It said something in what he expected from his students that it took him a good second to realise she was being facetious when Max saluted and called him sir. His jaw tightened at the laugher, but she seemed to at least be doing something towards training...

When she tapped him, John jolted as if he'd been mildly electrocuted and grabbed his wrist. "Sensation transfer?" he asked, sounding a little shaken as he rubbed the part that was still stinging slightly. It didn't hurt much at all, but... but that was pain. He'd felt pain.

Clearing his throat, he rubbed his hand over his eyes and took a breath. He worked with physical metas, not the telekinetic ones... And this... His comfort zone had been well and truly shattered.

[Max Rose]

"For just talking? That's so damn unfair," protested Max, clearly not getting it. She rolled her eyes and huffed, but didn't seem to care much beyond that. Mostly because her friends had a tendency toward winding up in detention too. Besides, there was no better place to pick fights in all of campus. Well, besides the training room. Man, was Max looking forward to that part.

Apparently Thornton wasn't, if his reaction to her little tap was any indication. Max still nodded and grinned, grinned wider than ever, grinned woflishly, actually.

"Yep, sensation transference at its finest, sir," the sir had a slightly familiar tone to it, for some reason, less like a designation of respect and more like a pet name. "I feel it, then pass it along. Or, you know, vice-a-versa. So what's your trick? Surviving with the stick shoved up your ass? Oh, wait, my bad. That's the British thing, right?"

Somewhere there had to be a mute button, really. Perhaps some more roaring would do it? Or more detention. Or something. Till then, Max was still going to push till she figured out where exactly the boundaries were.

[John Thornton]

"Don't swear," Thornton said automatically, instinctively reacting to a young person saying damn and ignoring the show of sulks. His sister had done the same thing every time he'd refused her money for a new dress, or for tickets to some hellish music performance. It was normal for teenage girls to act like that, when things didn't go their way.

All Thornton could do was quietly thank god he had some small insight.

The englishman started to ask about what exactly she needed to work on, when she made the stick comment. L.C had used to say that, only for some reason it had not been so very offensive. "Two weeks more of Detention," he snapped, his voice as dark as a thundercloud. "Miss Rose, do not push me any further."

With a clenched jaw he straighten his shirt cuffs and continued to stare down the loud mouthed teenager, though was careful to stand far enough back she could not use her power again. That, he did not know how to respond to.

[Max Rose]

Max's mouth opened, but the words died just after a few unintelligent syllables. The threat of extra detention loomed, and Max was beginning to understand that Thornton would rather have Max spend the remaining days to her eventual graduation sitting in detention thinking about how to behave. Though it had clearly taken a while for that to sink in, it had, and Max fell into a sulky silence.

"Yes sir," she mumbled. A slight shift of position as she looked down at the ground. This definitely was going to suck, since he was going to be a complete pain in the neck. Max's eyes trailed forward, till she noticed that he was standing at least some distance from her. Weird.

"Afraid I'm going to touch you?" she asked, looking up, not helping the smirk. "It's going to be kinda hard to train my ability otherwise. But you're the one in charge here, so whatever you want, sir."

Max even snapped something resembling a salute. So yes, she apparently didn't know when to stop; isn't that all kinds of special?

[John Thornton]

This was an unforseen problem, and one Thornton realised in retrospect that he really should have thought up a stratagy to deal with it. But if wishes were fishes there would be no room in the sea, as his mother used to say, and he needed to learn how to deal with this anyway.

"Miss Rose," he said flatly, the slight shock in his voice quickly smothered, "As I asked, more than once, it would be much more helpful for both of us if you tell me the excersises your usual trainer had you do. I usually train physical based abilities." That was dangerously close to admitting he was both anxious she did not touch him and determined to put his own personal misgivings behind him. Or at least hide them from a student.

The salute was obviously mcoking, and so the englishman glowered down his roman-esc nose at the bright haired student, and took a step forward. "For example, can you transfer sensations you are not feeling? Can you seperate your ability from your own nerve endings?"

[Max Rose]

What did they do with most of their training sessions? Besides, you know, loads and loads of touching.

"Uh, I think we're working on control, or something," said Max. Helpful, right? "You know, getting it more than all or nothing, fine-tuning things. I already know how far I can go and stuff like that. So, like, we experiment with transferring different sensations and stuff. I dunno. Don't you have notes or something?"

Max looked around for a few seconds, trying to see if John had a file or something. He kept talking, and most of what she got was "pip, pip, cheerio, I'm so British I should be in Hahrry Pahter!" Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered how she was supposed to be all, like, serious and stuff, but that had less trouble sticking than the gawking at his accent.

"You sound so barkin' British!" she said, sliding into it a bit herself. "That's all kinds of--wait, what did you ask me again? Sorry, I was all like, listening to you talk and stuff."

[John Thornton]

"If I had notes, I wouldn't need to ask you," Thornton pointed out tersely, thinking hard. None of what she was saying sounded pleasant, and absolutely none of it sounded like something he would want to submit to. In fact, there were many, many things he could think he would rather submit to, and even a psychiatrist's session with Dr Neville was on that list.

Her eyes were glazing over, and Thornton inhaled sharply through his nose and rubbed a hand over his brows. "Yes, I'm from Britain," he scowled. "How that affects your ears I am not sure I understand, nor do I really care. It seems to me what you need training in is common decency!"

It was honestly maddening. "Very well, perhaps we can work on the level of intensity you transfer. Amplification and diminishing. Does that sound appropriate or have you started tuning me out again and imagining the Queen?"

Heaven help her if she insulted the Queen. There were many things John could put up with, well, not many, but the point was the queen was not to be laughed at.

[Max Rose]

"You have a point there," admitted Max, shrugging. It seemed a little weird that notes hadn't been passed along, but then again, it was possible. Especially if Max's usual trainer was detained doing something else. Besides, she had to give the Brit some kind of leeway ,with how hard she was already riding him.

Surprisingly though, he was now starting to give it back, in his own, stuffy way. Max grinned at his retort, nodding. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Can't imagine why though," and a shrug. Like she didn't fully realize that most people found her absolutely obnoxious, especially people John's age, especially people John's age who believed in manners and common decency. Max found both to be highly overrated.

Because of that sniping, Max actually caught the rest of what Thornton said. Working on intensity. Yeah, she could get into that. Truthfully, she wasn't sure if she could send a greater feeling than she possessed or something. It wasn't exactly something she stood around and tried doing on the weekends. There were other experiments to make.

As for the last bit: "Nah, you're more the sheriff of Nottingham than the Queen. She's cool though," because even Max wouldn't make fun of the Queen of England. There were just some people you didn't make fun of.

"Got something in mind for this? Maybe I could just do like an ice bath or something, if you're gonna get all squiggly about pain."

[John Thornton]

There were some things no fully grown man will take lying down, and some outspoken teenage girl indicating you were at all squeamish about pain was one of them. Gritting his teeth, John scowled at the red head as his jaw set. It was petty, letting someone so young get to him (not under his skin, as nothing could get under John's skin, ever) but who could let some brat call you squiggly?

"If you ever plan on using this power offensively," the Englishman pointed out in his deep, somewhat rough voice, "I imagine you don't want to have to pull off a fingernail every time you use it." He was flying blind here. Of all the powers he might actually be useful with, this was not one of them. For gods sake he didn't even remember what cold felt like, would his nerves even register it?

Still, his thumb slid clumsily over his wrist. He had felt that.

"Try transferring the sensation from before, using the memory of it." Without hesitation Thornton held out his arm, palm upward. No teenager was going to get to him, and he would train this girl if it killed him. Or her. That was his job and Thornton always did his job and did it well. "Concentrate. Close your eyes, if that helps."

[Max Rose]

Some talk about using the power offensively, like Max didn't already know how that worked. Sometimes she could even be a conduit for people's sensations, translating it from one suffering person to someone else entirely; she just had to use herself in the middle. What Thornton suggested now got an eyebrow raise from the girl though. Use the memory of what happened?

"Uh, I don't think that's how my power works," she said. Not that she'd ever tried what he was suggesting though. Max was kind of a "live in the moment" girl, which meant much more transferring of the current sensations and much less of the "gee, I wonder if I could possibly transfer the sensations of something I felt a while ago" Thing.

"You're the boss though," she finally muttered. Max closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could still remember the sensation: it nearly rang upon her skin. But was she supposed to transfer something that wasn't active? wasn't it some kinda nerve connection? No, stop thinking about the possibilities and just go with the suggestion.

So Max took a deep breath, pulled the sensation from her memory, and tapped Thornton, trying to slide it over. She had no clue it if it worked; wasn't like the memory was going to slide from her mind anytime soon. So she creaked open an eye, staring at Thornton and trying to determine if he actually felt anything.