Issue 1 Downtime

Astrid brought the last of her boxes into her new dorm room. She smiled lightly as she looked around the room.

It reminded her of her first dorm room back in the seventies.

Wait. No. That didn't seem right. Was it? God, she needed a cigarette.

If only she had ever smoked.

The presence was... odd. He wasn't sure WHAT to make of it, just that it wasn't normal. It seemed familiar, and alien, and... well, he wasn't sure what to make of it, as he said.

So Cassiel found himself finally zeroing in on this presence in the dorms. And when he saw her carrying her boxes... He shrugged and levitated the rest, following her up. "I hope you don't mind, but it looked like you might like this to be over a bit more quickly, Ms...?"

Astrid looks surprised at first, but seems to recover quickly.

"Oh, my god, yes. Thank you. If I had known this place was so big I would've brought a lot less in the way of boxes," Astrid says, "I'm Astrid. Astrid Abramovic. Mr.....?"

"Asters," he said, offering her his hand. "I'm sorry... Have we met before? I'm just getting the oddest feeling that we have, but I can't remember it."

"Probably not," Astrid says, sounding a little unsure. She shakes his hand gently, smiling, "Don't worry though. I actually get that a lot."

"Well now you've piqued my curiosity more," he chuckled.

"It's...kind of weird," Astrid says, "I'm a telepath. About three years ago I kind of was in everyone's head. At the same time."

"That... I'd have my doubts, but you don't feel like you're exagerating," he said, frowning as he looked her over. "I've heard of people managing that on their own... but no more than twice." He sounded... rather awed, honestly, even though he winced.

"I don't know if 'managed' is the right word," Astrid says, her smile fading a bit,

His smile took on a bit of a sad turn. "I know what you mean. I don't think I've heard of it on that level, but..." he just nodded.

"I just try to look on the bright side," Astrid says, "I mean, I'm still alive. That counts for a lot."

"The fact that you're here, lucid, and conversational says a lot," he told her. "I've met people who had a much smaller reach and couldn't claim that after three years."

"Thanks," Astrid says, looking cheered up by that bit of encouragement.

"Sorry," he said, holding up his hand. "This will be known as the day my conversational skills died."

"I think you're doing just fine," Astrid says, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "So...what do you do here at the university? Are you a teacher?"

"I'm a consultant. Psychic studies. I can't really call myself a teacher without a teaching degree, but they don't exactly give those in psychic studies anyway," he answered easily enough.

"So, you're the person I talk to if I want to learn more about the whole...telepathy thing, right?" Astrid asks.

"One of them," he admits. "I suppose I have the most time of the telepathy instructors right now. Don't know if I should be admitting that..."

"Well, you probably can't do anymore damage then I did to myself," Astrid points out.

He chuckled. "Don't worry. I know how to be gentle."

To her credit, Astrid only blushes a little bit, "So, do I just...sign up for a session or a class or what?"

"Might be already decided for you. Did you get your ID card yet? If your ID number starts with a letter, you're going to have some kind of scheduled power consultation. Minors are the only ones who get it as a class, things take a bit of a more.. freeform structure when they know you have the basics down."

"Oh, right. That thing," Astrid says. She digs through her bag, fishing out her wallet and hands Mike her ID card.

He looked at it, then nodded. "You'll probably get an e-mail in the next day or two asking for which free periods you want to use for it." He chuckled. "Like I said... my schedule's pretty open."

"Good," Astrid says cheerfully, "I'm really looking forward to it."

He laughed. "I think you might be the first person, in the history of this school, who's looked forward to psychic training."

"Why? Is it hard?" Astrid asks.

He nodded. "Can be. I don't think I need to tell you that it isn't the most pleasant power to master, either."

Astrid shrugs, "Exercise is unpleasant. It's still important."

"I'm not scared of my powers, Professor," Astrid says, "They're a part of me. I mean, that'd be like being scared of your blood because you had a stroke. It's ridiculous."

"And you have no idea how refreshing that is. It's one thing to help someone cope with an ability they don't like. It's another thing to help someone who wants to learn."

"Well, I definitely want to learn," Astrid says, "I mean, that's a big part of why I came to the University. Learning, experimentation, that sort of thing."

"It's what college is all about, right?"

"Anyway, I should let you get unpacked."

"Yeah, I should get back to work," Astrid says, "Hopefully I'll see you later."