Issue 1 Downtime

Gideon was sitting at a table away from the relatively few students who ate late dinners. He'd tried to schedule his meals during times that the cafeteria wasn't filled with people. His plate was actually fairly sparse. All the excitement and tension on campus had subdued his appetite.

Elena had had another unexpected nap that had claimed most of her evening and pushed her past her dinner time. Maybe if I could sleep properly at night, I wouldn't have this problem. At least she hadn't had a nightmare during this nap. She shuffled through the line, collecting food and looking around for someone to sit with.

Gideon looked up at Elena as she stood looking for a spot to sit. People thinking about nightmares or feeling fear seemed to gather his focus just as it had since his mutation first presented itself. He didn't recognize the girl, but that wasn't an uncommon event. There were just too many new students to keep track of.

He realized he'd been looking at Elena a bit too long and tried to cover it by drinking his tea.

Elena caught Gideon looking at her and wandered in his direction, "Is this seat taken?" She gestured to the seat opposite him.

Gideon looked at Elena and cocked an eyebrow.

"It's free," Gideon said, "New to the school?"

"Not really, but I had my head in my studies last year and that kept me out of sight," she said, taking the seat.

"Ah, at this school keeping out of sight is not always a bad thing," Gideon said, "Well, I'm Gideon."

"Elena. Nice to meet you."

Gideon stifled a chuckle at what Elena said.

"I'm still getting used to that reaction," Gideon said before taking a sip of his tea.

"Why is that?"

"To put it simply my reputation is not what it used to be," Gideon said before trying to change subjects, "What brings you here this late at night?"

"Accidentally ended up taking a nap," she said sheepishly. "And then overslept. I usually try to eat earlier."

"From personal experience taking a nap is still better than not sleeping at all," Gideon said, "Unless it affects your performance in class I doubt anybody at the school would notice. Strange sleeping schedules are hardly the worst thing a student here can get involved in."

"So far I've avoided falling asleep in class, thankfully."

"Have you been having problems sleeping?" Gideon asked.

"I'm surprised more people around here don't have trouble sleeping. Just a stupid nightmare. It will go away eventually."

"Try being a telepath," Gideon said, "It can lead to some sleepless nights. Sometimes it can lead to sleepless nights for everybody in the dorms. It must not be such a stupid nightmare if it's keeping you up at night, eh?"

"Depends on your definition of stupid I suppose," Elena allowed.

"Why do you think it's stupid?" Gideon asked.

She thought for a moment, "Because, it resembles something I went through on a mission and at the time I blew it off and did my job. So I don't understand why it's bothering me now."

Elena Rousseau wrote:She thought for a moment, "Because, it resembles something I went through on a mission and at the time I blew it off and did my job. So I don't understand why it's bothering me now."

"Sometimes those kinds of things stick with you," Gideon said, "Easy to blow it off when the adrenaline is pumping and there's something on the line. After it's all over is when the skeletons start coming out of the closet in my experience."

"Just a new experience for me," she said with a frown, picking at her food.

"I think it'd be abnormal if you were used to risking life and limb to save the world," Gideon said, "Took me some time to deal with it in a...productive way."

"I guess I'll just have to give it more time then."

"If it bothers you for much longer I'd talk to the counselor," Gideon said, "Better not to let it fester. Otherwise it could start affecting you on missions or back here at school."

"Unless the mission involves tentacled monstrosities that should not be, then I think I'll be fine there. School is another matter though."

"You'd be surprised," Gideon smiled. "School can be...difficult when you're on one of the X-Teams. You spend so much time training for the next mission, which ends up meaning either schoolwork doesn't get done, you become a hermit or you never sleep. Not a problem if you're the resident android, but I don't either of us are one of them."

"That's probably a good thing. I don't think I could handle that."

"Being an android?" Gideon asked. "I think it'd be simpler."

"If that's all I'd ever been then I guess so, but to go to that, knowing what experiences I would miss? I don't think it would be worth it, even if I could shut off nightmares."

"Maybe having had an android roommate has colored my perceptions a bit. Never really asked Madrox what things he cannot experience," Gideon said, "He's about as close to a living thing as any android I've ever encountered. Feelings, thoughts, and most of the same senses to my knowledge. He makes it seem like it would hardly be a sacrifice at all."

"I worked with Madrox on this last mission. He seems like a good person," she said.

"Better than most organics," Gideon said, "He had to be to put up with me during high school and even now I suppose."