Issue 1 Downtime

Elise decided she should talk to someone. Frankie was getting more and more aggressive as of late and she had no idea how to control him. She could have gone to the other instructor, Ryan, but there was no way she was about to talk to a *guy* about these issues. That being said, she decided to go to Steph. Once she was outside the door, she gave a couple knocks. She was in a pretty good mood, smile on her face and generally feeling positive.

So just what is your plan? I'd love to spoil it.
Can you please just...can I have some alone time? Just for once?
You always have it.
No I don't. You're there.
Details.

Steph looked up from her laptop in her broom closet of an office and called out cheerfully, "Come on in!"

Elise pops open the door and heads inside. "Hey hey!" She says with a smile. "Are you busy?"

"Not at all, Elise, come on in. Is this a 'door open' or a 'door closed' kind of conversation?" she asked rising from her chair, squeezing tightly between the wall and her desk (little more than a foot's worth of gap between them) and somewhat awkwardly pulling out a chair for Elise.

"Sorry, the offices can be a bit claustrophobic."

"Oh uh...I don't think it's too much of a big deal for door closed." She plops down on the seat and shakes her head. "Nah it's totes alright. Reminds me of my old studio to be honest. I was going to see if I could get some help with the whole power thing."

"Well certainly," she smiled, sliding back to her chair and sitting down. "So...you...control things you draw, right? Sorry still trying to get everything organized for this school year."

"I...think so? I'm not quite sure how it all works completely, because the tattoos I have were not drawn by me. I'm wanting to try to understand things more. Things are getting...weird? Upsetting? I'm not sure."

"How so?"

"Okay so um...how do I say this." She thinks for a moment. "Okay so...I know I'm crazy, but I guess I want to learn how not to be crazy? I can't tune this voice out of my head." Pulling off her armband she motions to the tattoo of Frankie. "I can't tune him out and it's...it's getting bad."

You can shut up now.

"It...talks to you?" she asked puzzled.

Oh great, psychic stuff. You're awesome at this Steph

"Yeah see? Crazy, right? I don't really know who to talk to about this...it uh..." She begins to look a bit upset. "I can't do anything without hearing him. He says such mean things. He does things to screw me over on purpose."

And it's damn fun.

"I just want to be able to shut him out of my head. Do I need to take pills? Should I see a doctor?" It seems she doesn't think this is a psychic thing at all.

"Well...what kind of things is he doing to you?" she asked chewing her lip. She didn't especially like psychics herself...but sometimes having someone like the headmistress look around could really do some good...

"Some of the things he says just...they're really mean. Then there's the fact he tries to set things up to cause me to fail. Like scaring the crap out of people I meet. Causing accidents to happen that are my own fault. God I'm gonna have to take pills aren't I."

"Well. You're doing the right thing coming to talk to someone. Now we just need to figure out if this is just a part of your own mind fighting against you--something I'm somewhat familiar with as a shifter--or if its something more insidious. I...I'm not really sure I'm the best one equipped for this, but I'll do anything I can to help you, El."

Elise lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks. I owe you. I mean even if you can't help, it still...I dunno it feels nice to be able to get it out. I'm just...whatever it is gets me down. Who do you think will be able to help?"

"Well the headmistress really helped me grapple with my other half, but I know we have several other staff plus a gal I met in English 298. So depends on whether you want to wait to track down the headmistress or meet with someone a little closer to your age."

"I'm not really picky but...I mean do you really think this is a psychic thing? If it is, I know who I'd love to be able to help. My bestie Haley. I just don't know if she can or not."

"Having an untrained psychic really go digging in your mind isn't something I'd recommend," she said choosing her words carefully.

"And I'm not sure if it's a psychic thing per se...but having someone look around can really tell you what's going on--is it a manifestation of your powers like me and my feral side? A..." she faltered for a moment.

"Or just...something else, you know?"

"Aww but she's so cool. I'd totes trust her with my life. But yeah, I guess you're right." She shrugs. "Like I said, I'm not going to be picky. It's just...it really sucks. So for you it's a manifestation?"

"It's like I can have conversations with myself sometimes. Though...without words. It's about emotions and urges...but yes. I'm more or less two different people in one. You're talking to Stephanie, a former cheerleader who buries her nose in books and then there's her and she...well she's a wolf. A wild animal. Thinking of it that way I can sort of...compromise and let the best of both of us come out."

"Conversations with yourself...holy...wow. That's..." Elise looks a bit confused for a moment. "That's basically what happens." She shakes her head a bit and smiles. "You were a cheerleader?"

"It's hard to explain things about our minds to one another." she nodded. "But yes, I was a cheerleader back at home in Chicago. And the first time I changed I looked like a horror movie cliche, because I was wearing my cheerleading outfit," she smirked.

"Whoa so it was in front of a bunch of people?"

"My former best friend who my 'friends' and I were harassing for being back in town and daring to be a mutant at the behest of my boyfriend at the time."

She looked embarrassed. "I wasn't raised in a very tolerant house and the jerks I associated weren't either."

"Aww..." She looks sad for Stephanie. "But! You're here now and this place is freaking *rad*. So it can't be all so bad anymore, right?"

"Still. Embarrassing sometimes realizing how wrong you were about something, and unfortunate that such otherwise good people can be so intolerant. I haven't been back to Chicago since then."

"I can't say I blame you. But honestly, they sound like serious douches if they were so judging of someone that was their friend. I don't mean to talk bad about them, but you seem pretty stellar to me, so I don't see what their problem is, besides being afraid of something they don't understand." Elise gives her a reassuring smile. "They're just silly."

"I was rambling and had moved on to talking about my family that doesn't acknowledge my existence. My "friends" were awful people." she smiled ruefully.

"But you didn't come here to listen to my life story, I'm sorry."

"No it's cool! Not a big deal." Elise gives another reassuring smile. "So like...what brought you to being an instructor for us?"

"Wanted to give back to a school that did so much for me. And to be honest, I'd often thought of being a teacher anyway. This seemed to be a good way of doing the former and trying the latter on for size."

"Well for what it's worth, you're pretty awesome at it. The teachers back in New York were sooooo impersonal. It was a drag. It's nice to be able to sit and talk to you."

"That's really sweet of you. I'm trying to be a little less of a teacher and more of a mentor this year I guess. I...didn't do very good at the teacher thing last year," she chuckled.

"Well you seem to be doing a good job this year, I think." She gives a nod. "I mean, you're not like...telling me to get the hell out so that's totally a plus, right?" Elise jokes.

"If I ever swear at you, you'd do well to listen to whatever I'm telling you, because I really only swear when my other half is running the show." She sounded like she was joking, but there was a definite edge of seriousness in the way she explained it.

"Neat! I promise I'll listen." She nod-nods.

"I'm mostly kidding. It would take a lot for me to lose control," she reassures her.

"Enough about me. How is everything else going? Are you enjoying it here?"

"Oh em gee are you kidding me? I love it here. Everyone is so cool. It's still pretty hard to socialize without Frankie being an ass, but people are so much more chill here. Plus like...I mean superheroes and all that? It's awesome. I don't think I ever want to leave."

"Good!" she smiled. "And we'll get this Frankie figured out."

"Thanks for the help. Seriously, just the fact I can talk about it without feeling *that* bad is a relief." Elise gives a big, relieved smile.