I13DT: A Hermit in the open

[Gideon Rede]

"You're right I'm not actually fighting you," Gideon said, "I could have shattered your arm when you tried to punch me because you telegraphed your attack. I could have evaded your second strike and then kneed you in the skull. I could have could have countered your bull rush by side stepping and tripping you. I could have avoided the confrontation entirely by driving a spike of psychic energy into your central nervous system."

"However, I didn't do any of those things because you're not my enemy and sending you to the infirmary or leaving you in a vegetative state simply because you're inexperienced and weaker than me disgusts me."

[Sidney Young]

"You're seriously overestimating your ability to send me to the infirmary."

[Gideon Rede]

"Depends on how strong your regeneration is," Gideon said, "Breaking the mind usually works well enough when physical damage doesn't."

[Sidney Young]

"Yeah don't fuck with my head. That really is cheating."

[Gideon Rede]

"There are rules?" Gideon asked.

[Sidney Young]

"Well duh. I didn't think we were having a desperate fight to the death."

[Gideon Rede]

"Then we weren't fighting," Gideon said, "Sports, training, tests, and sparring all have rules. Fights don't have rules."

[Sidney Young]

"So if you get in a fight you just straight mess with the other guys head? That's pretty fucked up." she says, sounding like 'fucked up' might be a compliment.

[Gideon Rede]

"Rules are universal, ethics are limitations I place upon myself," Gideon said, "However, the headmistress and the professors here in particular would frown on me giving lessons on ethics."

[Sidney Young]

"Oookay then, Mister Dark-and-Grumpy."

[Gideon Rede]

"They are rather particular about the young and malleable avoiding bad influences," Gideon said with a shrug. "Dark and grumpy, eh? Not entirely inaccurate and I'm sure you would get even more colorful adjectives if you talked to others."

[Sidney Young]

"Man you're so dark, if you put on eye-liner I think a death-metal band might spontaneously form around you. Ethics are a limitations I place upon myself." she tries to ape him by dropping her voice and puffing out her chest.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon chuckled softly.

"That's the reason I stay on campus," Gideon said, "To avoid creating more terrible new death metal bands. Not even sure if death metal counts as music..."

[Sidney Young]

"So, what, is this mutant community service for you here? House arrest or something?"

[Gideon Rede]

"House arrest," Gideon said, "Because they want preserve what little good music is left in this world."

[Sidney Young]

"Makes sense, I guess." she says, apparently she can figure out when somebody doesn't want to talk about something.

"So... you kill a guy or something?" Or maybe not.

[Gideon Rede]

"Or something," Gideon said, "I didn't keep an accurate account of the damage I did, but I'm sure somebody on the Internet did out of some morbid desire to document it."

[Sidney Young]

"Wow, that bad?"

[Gideon Rede]

"That bad," Gideon said.

[Sidney Young]

"Guess I can feel better about not hitting you, but that was still a lame fight." she points out.

[Gideon Rede]

"True, it wasn't much of a fight," Gideon said, "Though the exhilaration of violence was something that made me who I was..."

"Maybe in a few years you can try again, eh?"

[Sidney Young]

"Who the fuck enjoys the violence of it?"

[Gideon Rede]

"I did," Gideon said, "I wouldn't have been chosen if I had not enjoyed the rush of fighting or the thrill of breaking my opponent."

"I in many ways represented what normal humans fear most about mutants. Violent, sadistic, well trained, powerful, and with few qualms about ending human life."

[Sidney Young]

"Man, you really are a little loose in the head."

[Gideon Rede]

"Most people are," Gideon said, "Telepaths tend to be more than most. I certainly am though much better than I was."

[Sidney Young]

"Damn, I didn't land a single hit and you're a telepath? Fuck, now I do feel embarrassed."

[Gideon Rede]

"What's embarrassing about losing to a telepath?" Gideon asked smiling slightly.

[Sidney Young]

"Cause you have no physical advantage. Well beyond the whole having-a-dick thing anyway."

[Gideon Rede]

"I do have a physical advantage," Gideon said, "I just didn't need to use it because I trained twice as hard before I gained that advantage. Many Telepaths don't and can't fight their way out of a paper bag."

[Sidney Young]

"Ugh! Well I know what my goal for next year is then."

[Gideon Rede]

"And what would that be?" Gideon asked.

[Sidney Young]

"Get a punch in on the nutjob. Duh." she smirks.

[Gideon Rede]

"Well young grasshopper I never stopped training, so you'll need to work hard for that punch," Gideon smirked. "And a skilled teacher."

"Hopefully you're ready to make that kind of commitment. "

[Sidney Young]

"I'm not trying to beat you."

[Gideon Rede]

"Just hit me," Gideon said, "I'm not going to just let you hit me, eh."

[Sidney Young]

"You better not.. Else what's the point."

[Gideon Rede]

"Indeed," Gideon said, "You have to earn it and there is no participation trophy if you fail."

[Sidney Young]

"There is, but it's just me getting high in the maze."