Issue 1 Downtime

Nate was in the carpark washing his car, a new model SRT Viper, off slowly and painstakingly. It was painted a very deep blue, almost a black really. He rinsed off the section he'd just been working on and stepped back to inspect it. He stepped forward quickly again and wiped at a spot before rinsing it again.

((Open Thread))

Trev whistled, "That is a thing of beauty, Mr. Davis."

"She is, isn't she? Decided that if I was going to give up a perfectly lovely apartment in New York to move to the UK, I was going to buy myself a lovely car to compensate. Not practical, but then who wants practical?" He grinned and moved to another section of the car.

"I'm not even a big car guy but I'll definitely agree with that," he said approaching his old teacher. "How's the UK treating you?"

"Not too badly. I was always fond of the idea of the place growing up, so getting to live here is nice. I wish it were under better circumstances..." He shrugged. "Water under the bridge. Ready to take on your first year at the university?"

”Second year for me..feel old yet?" he chuckled. "No, just did my first one at University of Illinois. It...wasn't the best experience in the world. Got jumped several times, had things trashed in my room, minimal effort by everyone involved to investigate or stop things...add that in with all the talk about the MRA? It was time to get the hell out of Dodge."

He sighed, "Spent the summer here actually. Been pretty cool so far. It helped knowing Steph who could show me around from her time last year, plus all that time she spent at Muir."

"Only old in spirit," Nate said. "At least you had someone to show you around. That usually helps with getting settled."

"Definitely," he agreed. "It sucks being so far from my grandma, but I keep telling her she just needs to come visit Europe like she's always wanted to."

"You living on campus or in Maldon?"

"Campus. Maldon's a bit pricey on college kid budget, plus then you're far off campus, relatively, when it comes to waking up on time for an 8 am class. Not to mention the nigh-inevitable trouble on campus...just makes sense to be here. Unless I can learn to fly or teleport.

"Campus seems to be the place to be, all things considered. Probably easier to be involved in the social scene too."

"Yeah. It's going to be an adjustment coming from an enormous Big Ten school to here. Guess I can't pass out in lecture anymore," he chuckled. "My Econ professor last year made Ben Stein sound riveting."

"That's what you get for taking an Econ class," Nate said with a chuckle.

"Had to for social studies teacher stuff. I hated it though," he laughed.

"I think even economists hate it. But they feel they have to inflict it on the rest of us."

"What jerks," he chuckled. "Yeah. Dude wrote our textbook so lectures were just basically an audiobook version of what you got in class. A shitty audiobook."

"Ugh. I had a couple of history professors who used their own books. Granted, they knew what they were talking about, but still..."

"It's worse with Econ, there's plenty of other stuff to talk about in a history class...but Econ? He even used the same examples in class as the book."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. Still taking the same path here?"

"For now, in the absence of anything else that really interests me...and pays a salary, I suppose I should add," he chuckled. "Might be trickier now that getting back into the U.S. with the MRA is going to be difficult at best. Not sure how getting certified to teach elsewhere works. Could try for it here in the UK I suppose. That or I just hope they need another teacher here at XI and I turn into a lifelong resident," he smirked.

"They usually need teachers or tutors for one thing or another. X-Corp might have some opportunities worth pursuing when you graduate."

"That's your schtick now, isn't it?" he asked, a bit curious. "Yeah. I figure if nothing else it's a decent degree I can use almost anywhere where there's writing or communication involved. Or I'll make an extremely well-read fry cook."

"Depending on what you do, it pays the bills very handsomely," Nate said, putting the finishing touch on his car's wash. "People assume because they don't have a business degree or aren't a superhero or a scientist that X-Corp wouldn't hire them, but we have agricultural advisers, logistics people, pilots, computer programmers, help desk folks, all sorts. And going to school here gives you a leg up, since we're well aware of the sort of training provided at this university."

"I'll definitely have to keep it in mind then...I'm sure there's no shortage of interesting stuff to do all over the world with a company as big as X-Corp. Are there summer internships and stuff?"

"Yep. One of the reasons I'm here. I'll also probably be giving a tour of the London office at some point this semester."

"Well definitely send out an email or put up a big flyer or something. I'd love to go. I don't get into London proper as much as I'd like to."

"Oh, I will, especially since I'll probably have to do several just to accommodate the University population. I can get the Institute's population in one go."

"Awesome," he smiled. "It's not for a good reason at all, but I am kind of happy that the high schoolers are here with us now. Feel like we can help them more if there's trouble and sort of be role models for them."

"Yeah. It sucks that they have to be here, but maybe some good will come out the bad circumstances that brought them here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. "Want to go for a ride? See the countryside?"

"I feel like I should shower and go put on fancier clothes to get in to such a beautiful machine, but if you'll let me in, I'd love to," he grinned.

"I'm wearing the stuff I washed the thing in," Nate said with a chuckle, unlocking the doors. "I think you'll be fine."

"If you say so," he grinned, carefully opening the door and sitting down slowly, gingerly closing the door. "Oh wow. It's as pretty inside as out," he said, buckling up.