Testing Powers

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro trusted her, and thus if she believed she could correct this without ending the simulation, he would not end it for her. Heeding her words, he centered his gravity.::

[Storm]

"Here it comes." She realized she couldn't bleed off the energy she'd put into this storm by staying at a distance, so she let it engulf them. Waves pitched high over the deck, and splashed down, swamping it. Storm herself was immune to the cold and shock of it, just as she was often immune to cold or high wind. She was soaked through and became almost instantly dry with the passing of each wave. Concentrating, she manipulated the winds to rise up into the heart of it. She hadn't forgotten Pietro's presence, but after long association, she knew he could also take care of himself...or modify the program so he wouldn't get wet, if need be.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro would need to take a hot shower when this was through, as the waves crashed over him and he was soaked. He had been through worse, and aside from spitting out a bit of water, he was fine. He maintained his balance, keeping upright from the onslaught.::

[Storm]

Up in the air, far into the storm, she could see into the heart of it. Concentrating, her eyes white, floating high above the ship, she slowly bled off the energy that had created it. The storm began to die down, achingly slow. When it was just thunderstorms, she began to descend back to the ship.

And that's when the lightning struck her.

It wasn't as if it were a particularly strong bolt of it, and it wasn't anything she hadn't ever created or conducted before. But it rocked her to be hit by it. Hard, harder then she'd been effected by it before. When she landed back on the ship, next to Pietro, she was off balance, her skin singed and smarting in a way it never had before, and she crackled with electricity. Lightning had always been her plaything, never her enemy. Until now, it seemed.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro immediately went to her side, pausing the simulation. He was concerned for her, as he had never seen lightning strike her before, and crouched beside her, he reached out to touch her singed clothing.:: "Ororo? Can you hear me?"

[Storm]

Her natural immunity to all things weather had staved off the effects most people would suffer from being struck by lightning, but only by a hairsbreadth. She wavered on her feet. "It didn't take out my hearing. Sights a different thought all together." She reached blindly for the rail of the ship.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro rose to his feet and stayed by her side, offering himself as a guide when he mentioned she was, hopefully only momentarily, blinded.:: "I am here."

[Storm]

She reached out one hand both to steady herself and to try to find where he was, because she heard his voice but couldn't see him. "I've never been struck by lightning before."

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Few people who didn't fight against her directly had been struck by lightning before; Pietro had to assume it was terrible, but thankfully she was uninjured. Nodding slightly, he moved closer to her and spoke again to give her a sense of location.:: "Does your heart feel off?"

[Storm]

"No," she said, her hand finding his shoulder. She was beginning to see vague shapes again, which was a good thing, but it was far from full sight. "That isn't what I meant. I'm a lightning conductor; I should channel it, not be the one affected by it." Surviving the lightning she generated was something she'd learned as a child, even before Xavier's. She had to, or else be hurt by her own abilities.

[Pietro Maximoff]

"I know what you meant." ::Pietro had known her for over a decade and he was familiar with her powers. He knew that she didn't get struck by the lightning she called down, but he also understood that the illness which she had survived had attacked that part of her which controlled her powers. Side effects were possible. He was more concerned about possible damage to her health, which is why he asked about her health.

With her hand on his shoulder, he stepped closer, providing that support, and putting his arm around her back to keep her steady.:: "Can you see anything yet?"

[Storm]

"Shapes." She was grateful for the steadying arm. "I think it will come back." She said "end simulation" aloud, and the room went back to it's normal, gridded emptiness.

[Pietro Maximoff]

"Good." ::Shapes were an improvement over nothing. Pietro would give her another few minutes for recovery before he would call for Hank to help her.:: "Do you want to go upstairs?"

[Storm]

"I've been walking around with a cane for months," she said, her mouth tightening. "Let's not scare everyone yet again by having them see me lightning-blind."

[Pietro Maximoff]

"You're with me," ::Pietro reminded her. Not only would he not let her be bothered by anyone, but nobody would have time to examine her. It was fifteen seconds between here and her bedroom.::