Issue 1 Downtime

While everyone files out of the classroom Ashlie stops (barely managing to not be entirely in the way) and stares off into the distance as she checks up on the crystal node growing under the construction site.

Nash was still copying stuff off the blackboard as the rest of the class files out. After finishing that and getting up to leave himself, he spots Ashlie staring out the window.

“Looking at something in particular?” he asks, as he walks over to look out the window himself.

"Oh! No, only checking my email."

Oh right, she can talk to computers with her mind.

“Kind be hard to see through all that fog I guess.” As he looks outside.

“So you couldn't wait to respond to that Nigerian prince that needs your help to transfer money?” Nash grins.

"Why would I help someone transfer money? That sounds like it'd be illegal." she misses the joke entirely.

I thought someone who talked to computers would be all over internet humor.

“It was a joke... about an old e-mail scam.”

"Oh!" she chuckles. "Of course."

"I'm not good with jokes, but I'm working on it!" she smiles.

“A sense of humor is a good sense to work on.” he smiles back.

"Thanks! Sometimes it makes me feel a little stupid. I haven't been around people much."

“Yeah, I heard you had been a little sheltered before you came here, so don't feel to bad about it. I also heard you like lasers... or at least that you know good places to put them.” he grinned.

"Oh? Who told you that?" she asks, sounding more curious than suspicious really.

“Professor Weaver, in a ways I guess. I was talking to her about the lighthouse they are rebuilding. I said if I was doing it I'd want to put in a giant laser in the lantern room. She then asked if I'd been talking to you.”

"Well it only makes sense. She said they're rebuilding it to protect the school and it already has a light-emitter at the top."

“Exactly. It is a 'light' house, and a laser is light. Makes perfect sense.”

"Do not suggest that to Miss Valentine." she advises.

“The real witch girl? I didn't plan to.”

"Real?"

"Real as in she can actually do magic and stuff. As apposed to Raven, the fake wannabe witch girl. "

"What makes Raven fake? She has a hat and everything."

“What does wearing a hat have to do with it. It is just a piece of cloth. Wearing a witch hat no more makes someone a witch then wearing a cowboy hat makes someone a cowboy. The hat doesn't automatically teach you how to ride horses, throw lassos, or wrangle cattle. You have to be trained in all that.”

"Of course not, but it seems like an identifier. A badge? Why would she and Tommy wear them otherwise? If anything Miss Valentine should be wearing one too."

“Tommy doesn't know magic and knows he doesn't know it. His mutant power sort of resembles magic, turning lead into gold, but besides that he probably just wears the hat because he likes it. Raven on the other hand wants to be a witch and thinks she knows magic, but the only thing she can do that actually works is connected to her mutant powers as well. She may dress and try to act like a stereotypical witch, but she has never been trained in magic and doesn't know any of it.”

I'd be scared if she actually knew magic with as little common sense as she has

"If I assume magic is real and I can't disprove it then I shouldn't deny her claim."

“So you don't really believe in magic?”

"I think it must involve some mechanism that hasn't been properly explained."

“So you are looking for a scientific explanation for it then? Just because you don't understand how it works doesn't mean you have to believe in everyone that says they can do magic.”

"No, but I should respect their wishes."

“Yeah, I guess.”

But, believing Raven can't do magic isn't exactly disrespecting her.

"For what it's worth, I believe Miss Valentine agrees with you." she smiles.

“So... new topic, what else do you like besides lasers?”

"Oh, I spend a lot of time online, I guess. Just... looking at data streams. They're pretty."

“You can see data streams with your power? That must be interesting.”

"Kinda, I don't see them visually. They're just there."

“So, do you read the data in the streams or just look at all the ones and zeros... or what ever it is you are interpreting them as.”

"I just sense them. Like you see light and hear sounds. I don't think there's a proper word for it."

“I'll leave it at that then. So, with all that time looking at data streams do you get out much?”

"Oh, yes! I don't have to be inside to see them." she smiles, misunderstanding the question.

“Um, that's not what I meant. I meant have you ever been away from the campus, like maybe down to Maldon, or I guess even walking around the further reaches of the estate. Also, at least how I was thinking of it, you'd be in those places to do something other than surfing the internet in your head.”

"Oh. No... I don't really go out much in that sense..." she says, almost sounding a little nervous.

“You should try to get out more. You do have a physically noticeable mutation, but it shouldn't be too hard to hide. Then again, if your just going to be uncomfortable the whole time then there is really no point.”