Issue 1 Downtime

It was after dinner and Miranda was still in the cafeteria. As people had vacated, she'd taken over the bulk of a table with scattered colored pencils. To most folks they were arranged haphazardly with like colors not even being grouped together, but she always manages to find the color she's looking for without even looking for it. The image taking shape in her sketchbook is of a dark, amorphous creature with glowing eyes being confronted by a red-hooded woman. The red-hooded woman is defending a blindfolded female archer from the creature. Most of Miranda's picked-over dinner sits nearby.

((Open))

"Hey, you're pretty good," Steve said as he came by her on his way out, having been using the semi-privacy of the mostly empty cafeteria to jot some story ideas down in his notebook.

"Thanks," she said, still working with a frantic intensity.

"Is that supposed to be a version of Red Riding Hood?" he asked, "...nah, that's too easy..."

"I honestly don't know," she said, picking up another color and adding orange cracks to the dark creature.

"Yeah," he chuckled lightly, "Some ideas are just like that."

"I don't think we've met, I'm Steve."

"Miranda," she said, glancing at Steve. "Nice to meet you." Needs more...

She started drawing flames from the hooded woman's hands towards the creature.

He visualized the possible narrative of the drawing, imagining the creature producing no sound and thus the blind archer was defenseless against it. Fortunately for the archer, a wandering sorceress stepped into the scene to fend it off before it could feed. Or possibly imprison the archer. These images leaked slightly from his mind.

As Steve analyzed the image, it became obvious that something was missing. He didn't know why he thought it, but there should be a third figure. There was even a space left for it in the image, a vague feminine empty space.

'Huh... wonder what going to go there...' he thought a little too loud.

"Sorry... telepath too huh?" he asked needlessly. He tapped the curiously empty place, "There."

"They say I'm a telepath." She looked right past his finger. "Nothing's supposed to go there," she stated with some conviction.

Steve suddenly felt like an idiot.

Dumbass, she has a blindfold on.... wait, how can she draw then...

He winced.

"God. I just can't keep my thoughts in today can I?"

"You're fascinated by what I'm doing. It's sort of flattering," she said, adding additional detail to the red-hooded woman, showing she was wearing a black dress.

"I guess I just like to see creativity at work," he shrugged.

"I'm not sure I would call this 'creativity'. It's not like I'm coming up with it out of my head."

"You... aren't?"

"No... unfortunately not," she said. "I don't know where this is coming from, but it's something I'm seeing... or something I have seen. I'm not sure which."

"O...kay. Sounds about right for telepathic weirdness."

"I'm getting used to it," she said. "My life's been plenty weird already." She made a final few touches to the red-hooded woman's dress and put down her pencil. She didn't pick up another one. "I think it's... over."

"Being here is weird enough by itself."

He gave the drawing another looking over.

There was still that empty space in the image. "Better than where I used to be."

"Me too, to be honest."

"I get the impression we're all in a better place now," she said, turning her face towards him.

"I mean, home wasn't bad but... never mind," he answered, becoming hesitant.

"I'm not here to play 'my past was worse than yours'," she said, smiling at him. "The fact that you had a hard time at all sucks."

"Yeah... And I'm not either. That just makes it worse."

She glanced over at the food line, "They haven't locked the ice cream freezer yet. You want some?"

"That sounds like an awesome idea," he smiled.

A quick raid later, she's sitting back at the table. "Haley introduced me to this stuff."

"To... ice cream?" he asked dubiously.

"Yeah. I don't remember having it before she gave me some."

"So..." he began, not sure how asking would come across... but as teenagers don't usually approach things with proper sensitivity... "You have amnesia?'

"I believe that's the term they used for it in the infirmary. All I know is I don't remember a lot of things. And I know stuff, but I don't know how or why."

"Suuuck," he responded.

"Well... at least you got to have your first ice cream all over again, right?" he asked, taking a bite.

"True. Still figuring out 'firsts'."

"Good you're here then. This place is good for figuring yourself out."