In which sympathy and reason are M.I.A.

[Dr. James Campbell]

James had done some preparation for this meeting. First thing to go had been his computer. It was sitting neatly in the corner of another office now, unplugged and just generally out of the way. His radio and desk phone were with it. His cell phone was in Chase's pocket. For this meeting, James was completely unplugged.

And considering what had happened at Sean's Talk, he greatly preferred it that way.

Honestly, James had no say in judicial dealings with the school. He could recommend someone get a detention (usually via Chase) but not much else. Still he had enough pull that he could get students into his office quickly. He wasn't sure if Mia and received the disciplinary ruling yet. He wasn't sure if the administration had actually ruled. Congratulations, kids, you managed to stump the administration of Hammel.

He sat at his desk and sighed. Yesterday, when he'd heard what has happened, he'd known instantly who had provided the pictures. Mia. His little spy. Had he encouraged it, the day she'd hidden inside a filing cabinet? She'd never even received detention for that. He'd laughed it off. She'd been invited to his house. Honestly, believed that if his daughter had ever done anything with a Hammel student, her picture would have been projected the day before as well.

(Was he slightly relieved that his daughter had never done anything with a Hammel student, and to his knowledge, was a virgin? Yes.)

When Mia entered the recruiting offices, he waved her into his office and shut the door behind her, then gestured to the chair across his desk from his own. He was silent the whole time, until he was sitting across from her again, just like they had so many times. James was furious, and he was disappointed.

And he honestly wasn't sure which one he was feeling more.

"Mia, can you tell me exactly what was going through your head when you pulled this stunt?" With a deep breath, his voice was controlled, and cold.

[Mia Keystone]

Of all the people they could have sent her to... The technopath would honestly have preferred Neville. Mostly because she didn't give a toss what the technopath thought. Not that she cared what Dr Campbell thought, either. It was just that he might not let her talk to Ginny....

Yeah. That was it.

The unplugged computer and phone didn't get more then a flick of her eyes; usually their absence in her mind would have thrown the whole room out of whack, but without her powers the entire room felt dead anyway. She felt kind of dead too; it was like someone had cut out a part of her brain. She didn't have the energy to be angry or worried.

Sinking into the chair, the disgraced technopath looked blankly at James, frowning slightly at his tone. "Honestly?" she asked, then shrugged, "I think it was; Zac had better have transfered the money, and I also felt a bit hungry." There was not the slightest flicker on her face to show she was joking; he had asked what she was thinking.

But that wasn't what he meant. Because he was a fleshie and they were never direct. "If you mean, why the hell did I do it," she added still looking at him rather blankly, "it was because he offered me a hundred grand." She shifted in her seat slightly, absently chewing on the silver coloured rings through her lip. "Am I getting expelled?"

[Dr. James Campbell]

Mia's joke didn't crack the recruiter's serious expression. James just nodded slightly and waited for her actual response. She knew what he had asked.

"No, I don't think you're getting expelled. But you're not getting the money either." He shook his head, "You of all people should know that I'm not included in disciplinary procedures." The recruiter had joked with her before about how he was worried students would eventually realize he wasn't authorized to issue detentions. His threats to do so always worked on other people, not Mia. For her, he'd threatened to get Chase to give her detention. "You'll be meeting the new Head of Hammel soon, I assume. She's starting work a week early to deal with this."

James tapped his fingers on the desk, a complex and repeating pattern that almost sounded like Morse Code, but would have translated to gibbrish. Finally, after a long moment of silence, he said, "I can't do it, Mia. I can't wrap my head around how embarrassing and potentially hurting so many people could possibly have a price tag." It was incomprehensible. "I don't understand how you could do something like this. Would you have included pictures of Ginny, if you had them?"

[Mia Keystone]

Well, that was a bitch and a half. The technopath scowled to herself, making a mental note to grab Zac by the collar and spell out why she had better get paid when they finish school or she'd kill him. Slowly. "Well, that sucks," she said honestly. If it had been someone else she might have ranted or raved, but there wasn't much point doing that with James.

Still, she got to be the first one to meet the new principle. That was good; Mia could get head start with research and... no. She'd need Kaylee for that. Chewed down nails bit into her palms as the technopath pressed her lips together tightly. Only a month, they had said.

They sat in less then comfortable silence for a few moments, Mia watching Dr Campbell expectantly and with more than a hint of impatience. "Can you yell at me already," she finally snapped, eyebrows lowered as she glared at her skinny knees.

But he didn't yell. Mia looked up sharply, shock written over her face. "Of course I wouldn't put Ginny up there!" she explained, sounding a tad wounded. "I like Ginny, and she gets all weird about sex," raising an eyebrow, she shook her head. "Oh come on, Doc. Ginny'd totally freak."

But that wasn't what was bothering him, she could tell. What exactly he couldn't get, she didn't get, but then she didn't really get why people had started crying like she'd showed a dead puppy either. "I was gonna get paid like, twice the yearly salary of most of the teachers here," she said slowly, scratching at her head absently. "Gonna need an apartment when I graduate, or whatever, and Jonah's not gonna be able to go back to his parents and," her face darkened slightly, and her eyes darted to the unplugged computer with obvious longing. "Look, you can't say that much money wouldn't be helpful. And they'll get over it. They're just pictures. Not like I pout them on the net or whatever."

[Dr. James Campbell]

Of course, James was not going to yell at the girl. It wasn't going to do them any good now, and he wasn't much of a yeller, anyway. However, he was Catholic, and had long since perfected the art of guilting children. (Now was not the time to be thinking about it, but James was very close to turning into his mother, at that point.)

Honestly, her reaction to the suggestion that she'd target Ginny was pretty much what he expected. The problem was that he really didn't believe a word of it. (Other than the possibility that Ginny was weird about sex. Not that he wanted to discuss that with Mia.) "She would freak. She absolutely would. So would I, and so did your classmates. Were you not expecting that?"

"So you get a job Mia, like everyone else. It wasn't just pictures. That's supposed to be private, and you put them up there for everyone to see. It's not just that though, you took the pictures in the first place. That is so incredibly invasive..." He honestly didn't understand her mindset with the prank. No amount of money was worth that. He'd gone to college on grants and scholarships, and he'd had some kind of job since he was sixteen, except for his first two years at Hammel, when he'd been confined to the campus after his escape attempts. He'd been poor, and he would never have done something like this, even if he were capable of it.

[Mia Keystone]

It was hard, trying to explain what she thought was so simple. "I would not do that to Ginny," Mia repeated, "because she is my friend and I wouldn't want her to be sad. The other people, I am not connected with, and so, I don't care." There, what about that was so damn difficult to understand? But, to be honest, the level of freak out had been beyond what she had calculated. "And I expected people to get pissed, but it's just sex. People have seen porn before. I don't get it."

She really didn't.

The technopath sighed and ran her hands through her hair, leaving it sticking up in dirty spikes. It was hard; everyone wanted her to explain but at the same time they'd cut out part of her brain. Severed all the wires and messed with her connections. "That was a job," she said finally, slapping her hands onto the desk. "I did it for money. Not to be mean, not to have a laugh, because I was paid. That's the kind of job I can do. It's what I am suited for. It's how I work!"

Even now, when, in normal situations the tiny technopath would be up and pacing the room, throwing her hands up like an orchestra conductor, Mia just stared up at the doctor. "It was simple logic," she tried again, wanting him to understand. "None of them liked me much anyway, so a little extra resentment was considered acceptable."

He wasn't getting it. Reeve had understood, but then, he had as much emotion in him as Kaylee. Maybe that was it. Everyone else was looking at this with their feelings. "Organics lack logic," she muttered mutinously, glowering at her knees.

[Dr. James Campbell]

Ultimately, like the bear complaining to the shark that its feet hurt--as strained as a metaphor as it was--they didn't understand each other because their viewpoints were too different.

James had spent a good part of his youth as an outcast. His OCD and general discomfort in his skin had formed a barrier between him and his peers. He'd had a few friends here and there, but it wasn't until he'd gone to Hammel and started learning how to control his power that he really felt capable of connecting with people. And yes, that was after he had been married. James was very happy he'd been able to change.

And really, that was the difference the recruiter just couldn't grasp: Mia didn't want to be connected to other people. James had been desperate for it at her age.

"It embarrassed them, and it embarrassed everyone who saw it. Mia, I'm embarrassed that it happened and I had nothing to do with it." James shook his head slightly and ran his hand through his hair. How could he make her understand? "It's not about logic. It's basic consideration. If you wouldn't do something to your friend; you shouldn't do it to someone else."

He took a deep, controlled breath, and chose his words carefully, because if she didn't understand that, he had more personal problems to bring up. "I don't know what your punishment is going to be, but I imagine you will not be leaving Hammel grounds for a while. When that's lifted, however, you will not be invited to my house, and I would prefer if you did not contact Ginny."

She said she wouldn't have put Ginny into the "presentation," but he hadn't missed her muttering. And he didn't need super-perception to know what she meant by "organics."

In his eyes, it was only logical not to trust her.

[Mia Keystone]

The connection thing was tricking to explain; a part of Mia knew that she should have more friend then just Jonah and Ginny (and Jordan but he was a minion/protegee) but they were people who had just found her interesting, and who had not bored her. It had been possible that other people would have been the same but they had never shown interest in her more... unique qualities, and in turn they all bored Mia stupid.

Why make connections with people that required you to reboot and remodel a part of yourself? It was not logical or rational.

"So... why are you embarrassed then?" Mia demanded, bracing her hands to lean forward and stare. Maybe she could get the answer out of his brain if she concentrated really hard and glared at his forehead. That was how Jonah did it, right? Or something. "Ok. I still dont get it. Why should I take them into consideration for this? I mean, the number of people involved was only a small percentage of the school population, and even a smaller percentage have been negatively effected. The amount of work it involved was minimal. I dont see why I should regret anything other than the fact that you guys suppressed my fucking powers!"

Wait, what?

In moments, Mia's eyes had widened and her hands had clenched. "What? No!" It burst out so quickly she clapped her hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle it. "I like Ginny," she went on, "I like Ginny. She gets me. That's happened to me twice in my life. Don't do that. And I like you! I don't like any teachers. I don't like most people," and it was quite hard not to call them fleshies or organics either, "And Ginny likes me. You can't tell me not to contact her."

To say her voice was tinted with desperation was being lenient.

[Dr. James Campbell]

Her outburst bothered him. Usually, he didn't try to restrict who Ginny was friends with; she'd more or less had the run of Hammel since she was twelve or so. But he didn't trust Mia, and knowing that she was capable of this was enough to not want her in his house. The recruiter didn't like being so suspicious of a student, but he didn't know for certain she wouldn't try to spy on him.

(James was aware that was a ridiculous notion, but his OCD was partnered with a little paranoia.)

"Mia, the fact that you 'still don't get it' is a problem." Maybe, somewhere in his voice, a perceptive person might notice that there was a twinge of regret. He didn't want to have to say this. "It's not taking them into consideration, it is consideration. Considering someone else's feelings more important than your personal gain." But as he spoke, his voice got harder. If he had to explain this to Mia, then he was making the right decision. Ultimately though, it was one thing she had said that really cemented it.

"If you don't understand why you should regret doing this, then you are not the kind of person I want around my family." James spoke quietly, giving up on trying to make her understand. "If you knew it would have hurt Ginny, you knew it could hurt people. And you did it anyway, for selfish reasons."

[Mia Keystone]

"You're wrong!"

The highly volatile technopath had risen to her feet, her hands clenched in fists beside her. "I thought, I thought you might help, but you're just like everyone else!" Mia's mouth was twisted, and you did not see Jame's heightened perception to tell why her eyes were overly bright. "I can't feel it! I never have!"

Shut up shut up shut up

But like an avalanche, the words rumbled out and gained momentem. "I don't understand why people feel things I don't, I dont get how someone can feel guilty about people who have nothing to do with me and dont like me anyway. And you," a childishly small finger pointed in accusation, "You think I'm some horrible, uncaring person, and I am uncaring, because I've never cared, I don't know how to care about anyone I'm not close to, and you're trying to take away one of the few things I do care about!"

Her arm dropped against her side, and Mia pushed back her chair. Her shoulders were shaking, sending tremors through her like rippling water. "You all think I'm evil, or crazy," she breathed. "All you organics, with your god damn feelings!"

One step back. Another. "If I try to live with you people, you think I'm short circuited. No feelings. No sympathy. Nothing. Better to reboot. Better to restart, to fit your program."

The door was yanked open with enough force to send it smashing into the wall. "No. You're all illogical and irrational and emotionally driven. Think I'm a bad influence? Better not to think like you. Better to be a machine."

It shut with a thud. Mia wasn't crying anymore. Machines didn't have tears.

[Dr. James Campbell]

James felt terrible, watching Mia explode like that, but he didn't know why she'd thought he would help. What she'd done was such an egregious breech of privacy... he didn't even want to think about it. He could justify it to himself that his decision was rational, that Mia was genuinely a potential danger to his family. She'd admitted she didn't care about people she wasn't close to, she didn't understand sympathy.

The door slammed, and James sat behind his desk, head in his hands. He could justify his actions. He would do it again. He was right.

But he still felt guilty. And no just because Ginny was going to be furious at him.

((There, finally wrapping that.))