WWW: Who Needs (Home)Work?

[Event !]

Classes are cancelled due to the snow, which means that everyone has been granted the opportunity to catch up on homework.

Or to play around with free wifi for those who lost power and/or coverage back at their dorms.

[Ash Browne]

Ash wasn't exactly the most friendly of people so it was unusual for her to be spotted anywhere near a social hangout like Atmosphere; however, the club was an enjoyed place. During the day hours that is. It was a place where she could just sit and read and no one would bother her unless they needed to know where the bathroom was or something.

The 'sparky' student had no classes that day and so Ash sat down on a free sofa and flicked open her book about a short man, more short men, a man with a stick and a winged lizard. She had dropped her satchel beside her seat; filled with books, pens, a few charged batteries in case she run low and other useful things. The student was perfectly content to simply sit there and read her book with no distractions.

Everyone was chattering about the freaky weather like morning birds and Ash wanted to relax so it was no wonder that the second she read through her first page, the lights flickered out with a sharp but quiet 'bang'. Everyone was silent. Ash simply glared at the lights as the others ran around trying to fix it. Nope, complete power outage. Reaching into her leather satchel, Ash pulled out a small light bulb and pulsed a small but steady stream of electricity through it; the light produced just strong enough to illuminate the ebony words on her page. Of course, this attracted the other people to her like moths to a flame.

"Can you charge this for me?" "Can you fix the power?" "Can you charge the generators?"

Ash only did things within reason. Yeah, she charged the little gadgets that ran out of power during the time the people stayed within the building. And yes, she charged them for it. A few moaned about her making people pay for her power but once they realised that these transfers were exhausting her as well, they shut up. Ash's body ran on electricity just as much as it did on food and sleep; sparing electricity made her tired. Which is why she brought the batteries.

With a slightly annoyed sigh, Ash curled back up on the sofa, held onto the glowing light bulb and started to read her book again; hoping for no further requests or interruptions...

[Cera Lamprey]

When Cera had looked out her window that morning she had seen mounds upon mounds of snow piled high. If this were Pittsburgh the snowplows would have already been hard at work, but Pilot Ridge didn't have access to the same amount of equipment, and there was still snow on some of the backroads when she left the house. 

She had been relieved to hear that classes were canceled, but that relief had been short lived as there had been a loud bang from somewhere behind her apartments, and then the power had gone out. It was too cold to be without heat, and so she had bundled up in as many layers as possible before heading out to find someplace less freezing. 

She decided to try Atmosphere; they ran off generators, so perhaps they had a little more luck keeping the power on. 

She had carefully and slowly driven her car to the club district, praying that she wouldn't end up skidding on ice. She'd had her tires switched to snow tires last month, but that wasn't a guarantee of safety. 

Fortunately, although there were a few more detours than she had planned for, she made it without incident. Even better, there was parking. 

She made her way down into the basement that housed the club, seeking out a vacant spot when

"Oh, no," She sighed. 


So much for Atmosphere keeping its power on. 

The sight of a flickering light drew her, and she made her way towards it, and the girl producing it. 

"Anyone sitting here?"

[Ash Browne]

Ash glanced up at the unfamiliar voice, blinking slightly at the bright hair before her. Wow, this girl must be really outgoing. Oh wait, she wanted to sit here. Ash had no problem with sitting near people, she wasn't a complete ass. Only half of one.

"Sure." She said, a thick Irish accent present even in the short word. Shuffling up, Ash temporarily cut the connection of electricity and shut her book as she made sure there was room for the strangers. Once she was satisfied there was enough room, Ash curled up on top of her legs, re-opened her book to the page she was reading and blinked the light black on; wincing as it glowed a bit brighter as it adjusted to the power.

Ash cast another brief glance at the girl. She had not seen her before and most people left her alone due to her 'piss off' aura. Did she want something? Or did she literally just want to sit down? Maybe Ash should start up a conversation. Or not. Urgh, interactions. 

"Why on earth did you come here in this shitty weather?" Ash asked, trying to keep her tone level instead of defensive. Pinky didn't arrive whilst the power was still on and wasn't here when Ash arrived which meant she must have come here afterwards.

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera rolled her eyes towards the ceiling and shrugged. "The power went out at my place. I thought there might be power here." 

She had evidently been wrong about that, but she hadn't known before leaving her apartment! It had seemed like a reasonable idea at the time. 

"I was hoping to find a place to not be a popsicle, buuuuut I guess I struck out," She wrinkled her nose at her misfortune before sitting down beside the other girl. "At least they aren't closed, that would be way worse. Driving all the way here in snow and ice and then having to go straight back home?" 

Maybe that would be worse. She had wasted her time either way, and home had food. Much of which was probably going bad now that the fridge wasn't on. 

She hoped that the electric company would be able to get the power working again soon, but who knew how many different parts of the grid had been knocked out?

[Ash Browne]

"At least they aren't closed, that would be way worse. Driving all the way here in snow and ice and then having to go straight back home?"

Ash shrugged. She had walked here since she didn't get physically tired easily. Electricity was similar to caffeine to her but better. No downsides, except for the fact that her body will just collapse if it runs too low. She found that out the hard way this morning. 

Her dorm's power had gone out, just like Atmosphere's, so Ash thought she could fix it. It worked but Ash collapsed almost instantly afterwards. Like giving blood, you take too much at one time and it can be dangerous. Thankfully, she woke up afterwards and simply decided to walk here. Worried room-mates can be very annoying.

No way was she saying that she could probably try and jump-start the generators. No more collapsing today thank you. Ash hated thinking of herself as someone who faints easily. She was an only child with an accident prone dad, a jagged scar along her forearm from a saw-blade accident and a tattoo. 'Wuss' doesn't fit in her dictionary. 

So, Ash simply kept the light bulb glowing as she responded to Cera. "Yeah, I guess that would be pretty damn bad. Snow causes a lot of trouble huh?"

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera wrapped both arms around herself and shivered. "Yeah, I guess. It's not so bad if you know you can find heat when you need it..." 

She had dressed in as many layers as possible and could still feel the chill biting through to her bones. She had lived in the North-Eastern United States her entire life, but even those more prepared for snow felt the effects of the cold. 

"Maybe if I get smaller I can find somewhere warm..." She mused aloud, unwrapping her scarf so that it wouldn't shrink when she did.  She would have less body mass to heat, which should help somewhat, too. 

"Will you hold this for me a sec?" She asked the other girl, holding out her scarf.

[Ash Browne]

Ash had slightly zoned out, not on purpose but sometimes her mind drifts to other places. Noise is replaced with a literal quiet static. Probably her stored electricity messing with her brain waves. At least it didn't affect her all the time. That would be horrible.

The teen jumped slightly as Cera held her scarf out to her, snapping away the static with a slight wince. Ugh, now it looked like Cera had scared her. Well, pinky did. Sort of. Shocked, not scared. Shocked seems to be a better word. Christ, as long as no one uses it as a pun.

Reaching out slowly, Ash took the scarf with clear hesitance. Why did Cera want her to hold the scarf? Why'd she even take the scarf off? It's pretty damn cold. Curious but withdrawn, Ash merely watched Cera with scepticism as she held onto the fabric.

[Cera Lamprey]

"Thank you," Cera murmured before concentrating and shrinking down, down, down until she was at the smallest size she could go. 4.5 inches (or almost 11.5 centimeters) was tiny, roughly the same size as her iPhone. 

She cupped her hands around her face and shouted up at Ash in a high-pitched squeak, "Thank you!"

Again. It was only polite, after all.  

Only, now her scarf seemed very far away. She grabbed the arm rest with both hands, trying to pull herself up. If she could get to her scarf, then she could curl up in it like a very long blanket. 

That sounded warmer than sitting her shivering in the heatless cold. 

But her arm muscles were too weak, and no matter how she tried she couldn't get over the arm rest. 

[Ash Browne]

Ash hadn't spoken at all whilst the girl decided to shrink and then proceeded to squeak at her. One might say she was struggling to comprehend the sudden loss of height. She shouldn't really be surprised, she ate electricity in a way, but at least that could make some sort of biological sense. Where the hell did all this girl's mass go?

The brunette stared as the stranger struggled to climb the armrest, still holding onto the scarf with an almost vacant expression. Her head jerked back slightly as her senses finally came back to her. Okay, all right. Another weirdo with another weird power. Just like most of this town. It's nothing to freak out about.

Ash glanced down at the scarf in her hand, this must be what she's after. Unless there's some perilous dust monster crawling across the sofa to get at her. The electrokinetic draped the scarf around the girl, curling it around like a nest. "Here shortie."

[Cera Lamprey]

As the scarf settled around her Cera sighed in satisfaction. This was much warmer and cozier than her normal size. 

"Thank you!" She shouted squeakily before she began to adjust her scarf around her body much like a blanket. She was pleased that this seat had been empty; it seemed like her neighbor was so helpful and nice, even if she wasn't saying all that much. 

However, perhaps she should have chosen somewhere other than a chair to occupy, because just as she was settling into her scarf, stretching her legs out comfortably, a shadow fell across her. She looked up just in time to see someone about to sit on her. 

"Hey!" She yelped, scrambling over her scarf and trying to pull it away with her as she ran to the edge of the chair and jumped off. The other person (tall, male, making eyes at the girl who had helped her) didn't seem to notice, and he sat on her scarf. She tugged angrily, but it wouldn't budge. 

"Give it back!" She shouted, but he was too busy leaning over towards the other girl. "Hey, you waitin' on anyone?" 

[Ash Browne]

Ash had gone back to reading her book as the short stack nuzzled down into the scarf to get comfortable. The lightbulb was still steadily glowing, the electrokinetic avoiding touching the area that slowly builds up heat due to the electric current. The glow produced was enough to light up the area around her as well as the curling pages of the adventure book.

She had become so absorbed in her reading that she didn't notice the stranger nor the girl's complaints until he had sat down and leaned over to... flirt with her. Most girls might've blushed and stammered, others would probably have politely asked him to move. Not Ash. Ash was gay, Irish and angry. A colourful combination that unleashes all sorts of hell when annoyed. And this poor soul had just earned himself a one way ticket.

The storm-grey gaze instantly hardened into hard stone as she stared daggers into the guy's arrogant face. A sudden increase in emotion caused a surge of electricity to pour through her fingers, causing the light bulb to go out with a slight 'pop'; a 'bang' might have complimented this situation more. With slow movements, Ash closed her book, leaned her head on her hand whilst her elbow leant against the armrest. A charming but deceitful smile passed over her face, causing it to light up with an unexpected glow, before instantly flickering out like a dying light.

"First of all, no. Second of all, ye've sat on this lassie's scarf." Ash paused and leaned down to pick up Cera, scooping her up in her palms like a kitten before straightening back up and resuming her death glare to the stranger. "Thirdly, I hate your face so piss off. An' the chance of you gettin' your tiny prick anywhere near me is less likely than oxygen on the moon because I'm gay. Now, begone." Ash waved at the stranger with the back of her hand, as if shooing him away.

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera grabbed hold of Ash's fingers and stuck her tongue out at the man trying to flirt with her savior. She was grateful that the other young woman had offered her help; being tiny might have helped keep her warmer, but it certainly didn't make it easy to communicate with normal-sized people, or to stick up for herself when they were rudely not paying attention to where they were sitting. 

The man gaped down at the tiny person in Ash's hand, then glared, "You're on of those mutant freaks," He spat, and he backed quickly away from the girls. 

"I'll grow tall and stomp on you if you don't leave!" Cera threatened, although this was an especially likely scenario; she could definitely grow tall, but not enough to step on someone the size of a normal human. 

[Ash Browne]

Ash raised an eyebrow at the shorty's rage and at the stranger's idiocy. C'mon, she was literally powering a light-bulb with nothing but her mind. And a steady stream of electricity that her body stores, generates and expels. 

"You are on another plane of genius if you didn't spot the glowing light source without a socket." Ash's hair began to lift ever so slightly as static began to arise. She just prayed that it didn't hurt the girl. If it made her hair rise, it would be hilarious though. 

Ash glanced down at the girl. Seriously, where did all her organs go? What happened to the excess mass? A very few things baffled the electrokinetic and complex powers that seemed nearly magical was one of them. Plus, the clinging thing she was doing was weird. Could this be counted as holding hands? Gross. Naga thought with a frown.

[Cera Lamprey]

Pilot Ridge was an especially bad place to refer to meta humans as mutants; Ash and Cera weren't the only meta students hanging out in Atmosphere, and the young man found himself suddenly flanked by two more people.

"I think it's time for you to leave," A tall young woman informed him. Her skin glinted like armor. Shadows whipped around the man on the other side of him.

He looked between them and then towards the two girls, one large and one small, both of them with hair standing on end.

And he decided to flee.

The self-appointed bouncers returned to their seats and their studies, leaving Cera and Ash alone once again.

"That was so rude!" Cera squeaked indignantly.