Issue 1 Downtime

Mary Ann stopped short in the middle of the hallway, fumbling in a patterned messenger back as she looked for something.

((Open))

Nash was walking a bit behind her. His mind was on one of his projects he was working on and not paying attention to where he was going. This means he didn't notice Mary stopping ahead of him. He of course walked right into her, since he was walking slowly it shouldn't have been enough to knock her down, and he himself remained on his feet.

Mary Ann stumbled and while it wasn't sufficient to make it her fall, given her current activity, it was enough to make her bag slip off her shoulder. It hit the ground with the solid thud that only a book bag can manage. She bent down, trying to pick up the few odds and ends that had fallen out of the bag when it hit the floor.

It took Nash a second or two to snap out of it and figure out what had just happened.

“Um, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going.”

She looked up. "Oh, not your fault. I didn't look where I was stopping." She smiled, "Mary Ann."

“Nash”

Seeing that she had picked up the things she had dropped he offered his hand to help pull her up.

"Nice to meet you, Nash. Institute or University?"

“Institute. I'm guessing you are XI as well."

"Yeah. I'm an MRA refugee from upstate New York. You?"

“This will be my second year at XI, but I guess I'm kind of a MRA refuge too, from Pennsylvania.”

"First year here. Going well so far though."

“Well that's good. So was there a reason you suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall?”

"Oh, yeah!" She started rifling through her bag again. "Trying to make sure I have what I need for my next class. I couldn't remember if I put it in my bag this morning or not."

“Yeah, guess you need to figure that out. Is your next class in like minutes?”

"Well, no. I've got lunch next. But I need to know if I need to go back to my room."

“Well that makes it less of a rush. So, do you have it?”

"Yeah, yeah, it's here," she said, closing the flap of her bag and looking back up. "Guess that means I get to enjoy lunch."

“I'd like to enjoy lunch now but I've still got a another class first. Talk to you later.”

"Ah, okay. Well, good luck!"

“Not sure what I need the luck for but thanks.” He started to walk of then stopped and turned back to her. “Good luck to you too, I don't know, maybe they'll have food you really like or something.”