Power Swap: Help!

[Adam Collier]

Adam was frantic, things where not right in the world. Not right at all. He had to figure out what was going on there were only a few people Adam thought could help him, and out of those Eli was his best choice. He had thought about going to James, but just as soon as Adam had that thought he dismissed it, going to James would not be a good thing.

An hour ago Adam hadn't thought anything was wrong, his day had been very normal, boring even. It wasn't until his skype date with his sister Evelyn that things started going wonky. Evelyn had been unable to see him even though he had been sitting right in front of the camera. She could see his living room just fine, she even pointed out how messy it had gotten (he hadn't had time to clean in a few weeks). He had done everything he could think of with computer but nothing worked he was invisible!

Adam had quickly gotten dressed and headed for the school. He wasn't sure if he was completely invisible or not. Hopefully wearing clothes would keep people from running into him, and people around here were used to seeing odd things. A set of clothes running around without a body wouldn't be too weird, or at least Adam hoped that was true.

Adam made it into the school in record time. He headed straight for the library hopefully Eli would be and able to help him. If not Adam had absolutely no idea what he was going to do.

Thankfully when Adam reached the library it was fairly empty and Eli was at the front desk. He walked up to the front desk resting his hands on top and balancing on the balls of his feet. He was nervous, scared even. He did not like not knowing what was going on.

"Eli! I am so glad I found you! I need your help. I have no idea what is going on with me!"

[Eli Morrison]

It had been a calm morning in Eli's world. He'd woken up at the same time as always, taken Zero out for a nice long walk through the leaves that were already starting to fall. Then he'd brought her home and headed to work. There was something nice about going into work really early, when the sky hadn't fully lit up yet and there was a harsh chill that made him wrap his coat tighter around himself.

(For once, he was actually wearing a sweater, one that Midori had picked out for him. It was nice and warm, and he'd been pleased to find out that it was just as comfy as any most of his sweatshirts.)

He'd headed straight to the front desk, where he'd left stacks of books last night. They were still there, waiting for him to return and devour them today. If it was a quiet morning--and he had no reason to expect that it wouldn't--he could probably knock out a couple thousand pages by lunchtime, and then start on some more classic literature.

And his plan went exactly as planned, for a while, at least. Just until Adam Collier showed up, agitated and, frankly, not making any sense. Slowly, he left a scrap of paper in his book to serve as a placeholder, and put down the heavy, leather-bound volume. Before he replied to the frantic pleas for help, he carefully looked over the older man, wondering what in the world he was talking about. "Good morning, Adam. I am not a licensed medical official, nor am I a psychic. I do not know what you need my help with, though I assure you I will do what I can, if possible."

[Adam Collier]

Adam sighed in relief, Eli could see him. That meant he wasn't completely invisible, but it still didn't explain why his sister had been unable to see him.

"I'm not looking for a professional, I'm looking for you. My sister she couldn't see me when I was sitting right in front of her! She could see my room and everything but it was I wasn't there. I think, that there might be something wrong with me!"

Adam had never once in his lie heard of this happening to a pheromone manipulator. There were some that their power was being invisible, but it was not his power. Adam hoped Eli had a clue any clue about what was going on. If he didn't Adam had no idea what he was going to do.

"Have you ever heard of a pheromone manipulator suddenly being invisible. For only for a short amount of time? I mean you see me now, but 20 minutes ago I wasn't able to be seen. that is not normal in my book, not even normal or Metas."

[Eli Morrison]

Eli never understood it when people said something like that. Why wouldn't he want a professional? He always wanted a professional when he needed help. Or Mii, because she was his best friend. The librarian was neither a professional nor Adam's best friend, so he didn't know what made him qualified to deal with any crisis of the older man.

Okay, temporary invisibility. That didn't happen on a regular basis. He thought for a moment, then turned slightly so he could start typing away on his computer. "Invisibility, even on a temporary basis, has never been a reported issue with pheromone manipulators. There have been no new students with invisibility-related powers, so I don't know how that could have happened." Eli didn't say "I don't know" often, so now he was invested in figuring it out. "You said your sister was able to see into the room. Did you bring the camera you were using with you? Perhaps there was an issue like that." Unlikely, true, but perhaps he had a technological manipulator as a student who was playing a practical joke?

[Adam Collier]

Adam began to pace a little as Eli thought about his problem and looked something up on the computer. If Eli couldn't help him he wasn't sure what he was going to do.

Adam's face fell as Eli said no new students with invisibility had started Hammel and that temporary invisibility had never been a reported issue with his power. There were a few other pheromone manipulators out there that Adam knew of. Maybe he should get in contact with them, see what they thought about what was happening with him.

Adam stopped pacing and leaned on Eli's desk when he asked him about the camera.

"No, I didn't bring it. I don't think the problem is with the camera. Evelyn could see everything, except for me. She could even see the chair I was sitting in, or see if I moved something around in the room." Adam had tested the camera already, it had been his first thought as well.

"I haven't ever heard of anything like this happening to anyone. Have there ever been reports of adult Meta's suddenly having a change in their power? I thought this kind of thing only happened during puberty."

[Eli Morrison]

Eli was able to ignore the pacing fairly easily. He'd always been able to tune out distractions, a skill that only been put to more use since Vincent Verax had decided to take him on as a special project.

(What kind of project, he had no idea, but he knew he was.)

Okay, so he had checked the camera. But that didn't necessarily mean that Eli's hypothesis--that a technological manipulator was messing around with him--wasn't true. There was a problem, however, in that the kind of control needed to do something that specific kind of troublemaking was outside of Adam's student's skillset.

When Adam leaned on his desk, Eli looked up. Suddenly, he knew what was off. He honestly hadn't noticed it right away, but now that the older man had leaned forward, it was obvious.

"I've never heard of anything like this happening, no. And at what point did you notice you didn't have your power anymore?" Because that was something Adam really should have brought up in the first place. (Was Anya around? Could her power completely remove the pheromone manipulator's smell?)