Issue 1 Downtime

An old beat up car drove up to the grounds, parking in the front lot. A young, heavily tattooed man with short black hair got out of the front seat. He rolled his eyes as he got the luggage out of the trunk and then opened the door to the back seat.

"Lily, wake up," Liam says, "I'm not carrying your ass inside, manita."

After a few rough shakes from Liam, Lily woke up. The two exchanged a mostly one-sided conversation before Liam hugged her and drove off, leaving her at the edge of the quad with her luggage.

She stared off at the retreating car, a bit glassy eyed.

Theresa happened to be wandering the quad jamming to some music in her earbuds when she noticed the new arrival. She pulled the earbuds out and made her way over, calling out, "Need some help with your stuff?"

"Sure," Lily says in a distant voice before rubbing her eyes a bit.

"I mean, yes. That would be wonderful. Thank you," Lily says, remembering her manners.

"You're welcome," Theresa said, picking up some of the luggage. "I'm Theresa. Did you have a good trip here?"

"It was pretty good," Lily says, picking up some bags as well, "I slept most of the way."

There was a bit of a pause as Lily stared off into space for a moment.

"Lily," Lily says suddenly, "I'm Lily, by the way."

Okay, a little bit spacey this one...

"I usually sleep on long trips myself. How long a trip did you have?" She was gradually heading in the direction of the dorms, deciding it was probably better to get the luggage in and then help her find out what room she should be in.

"I dunno," Lily says, following after Theresa, "A few days? We started in California."

"That's a long one. I'd probably lose track of the days myself."

Lily nods, "Are you a student here?"

"Yeah. Moved in not too long ago. They haven't even started school yet."

Lily covered a yawn, "Mmmm."

"Sorry. I'm a little tired," Lily explains.

"Travelling takes a lot out of you sometimes," Theresa said by way of agreement.

"Probably," Lily says, "So, why did they ship you here?"

"I don't know that I was really 'shipped' here. I asked to come here, but I make clouds and occasionally they involve lightning and rain."

"That's pretty cool," Lily says.

"What about you?"

"People think I sleep too much," Lily says, "Apparently, that's enough to get shipped off to mutant boarding school these days."

"That's weird, I wouldn't think they'd send you here just for sleep problems."

Lily shrugs, "That's all I really know about it. I guess I'm just a mutant narcoleptic."

"Well, we're all here to get a handle on something, so that works," Theresa said with a laugh.

Lily just shrugs, "I guess. I don't know."

"I like sleeping. I don't see what the big deal is. If I sleep twenty hours a day, who cares?"

"It'd make it hard to get by in the world after school," Theresa pointed out.