IC 2 - Wednesday

Constance Hall

At the ringing of the bell in the clocktower, the hallway is full of noise and students as they move between classes. Even on the third floor of the building, it bustles with activity. Bright colored hair and outfits, flit from one room to another or into staircases.

Rebecca walks down the hall, a ping from her phone just alerts her that someone or something wants her attention or wants to make her aware of something.

---

Student Union

Even at 2 pm, the Student Union, Phantom Union as it's called, is full to bursting. It's essentially in 3 sections. One wall has a small, mall like food court. Subway, Pizza Hut, Tropical Smoothy and two other locations are there. On the other wall is your classic cafeteria. A couple of short order cooks work an assembly line of various rough categories of foods.

In the center are hundreds of tables of various shapes and sizes and decades. Some of the nicer ones are towards the Food Court side.

Rebecca, as always, is dressed smart for her classes. Not overdressed, but she does always want to make a professional impression, so she's wearing casual but nice slacks, along with a light blouse and a simple blazer jacket, all kept in browns and beiges. Her roommate does occasionally make fun of her for dressing more like a professor than a student, but she feels confident in her clothes, so she has never had the impulse to change them. She has her purse casually slung over one shoulder and when she hears the vibration of her phone in it, she reaches inside and takes it out. While she's not one to spend all day texting, she does consciously keep an eye on any messages or calls she receives. Since she's putting herself out there as a contact person for potentially vulnerable students, she wants to be there if she's actually needed. She checks what her phone was trying to alert her about.

---

Cole finds himself a table near the edge of the seating area, closer to the exit than either the food court or the cafeteria. Since he doesn't have much money, spending most of what he earns on parts for his inventions, he only ever buys his lunches on the cafeteria side, as it is much cheaper than the branded places on the other side. He has something that vaguely resembles a lasagna in front of him as he sits down and picks up his fork with a wistful glance towards the food court, and especially the Starbucks proudly standing by the edge. He'd love to get a nice latte there, but it's out of his budget, leaving him stuck with a cheap coffee with cream from the self-serving machines on the opposite side of the room. As he looks that way, he notices a beautiful blonde girl, probably also in her first year, like him, but dressed much better than he could afford, in shorts that show off the entirety of her legs and an expensive-looking, sleeveless top. He watches her for a brief moment, but as he starts eating his lunch, he then turns his attention towards the book he brought with himself. It's a guide on microexpressions and how to interpret them. It's a pretty interesting read, not just for it's intended purpose - figuring out how to build these glasses John asked for - but also just for Cole to maybe get a bit better at figuring out what people he's talking to are thinking.

Elise doesn't usually like to eat on campus, but she heard about a new place that opened up on the food court and it sounded interesting enough to try it, a vegan restaurant supposedly serving healthier dishes than everywhere else on the campus. She walks into Phantom Union, pushing her way through the crowd. Another reason she doesn't usually come here. So many people, stuffed close together. Thanks to her looks, she does usually get afforded more courtesy than most and so she doesn't actually bump into too many people but it's still very uncomfortable. She strolls towards the newly opened place and heads inside. Despite it being new, it's not as busy as the other places, probably because it's both more expensive than the others and also vegan. The first is not a problem for Elise, and she doesn't mind the latter either. She finds a mixed salad with fried tofu strips and a fruity vinaigrette, which she orders along with some fancy lemonade they're selling for about twice the price of a Sprite. Elise doubts this place will stick around long.
With her food and drink in hand, she moves to find herself a - hopefully empty - table to eat at.

Constance Hall

Just as Rebecca lifts her phone to start reading the text, she gets bumped into. Two phones hit the floor, almost identical. A man says "Sorry." and bends down to grab them. he's familiar. Rebecca saw him about two days ago working at the Coffee Shop and last week, during the meeting.

He stands up with the phones and offers one back before putting the other in his pocket. He's dressed pretty similarly to her, actually. A nice light, brown blazer and khakis with a light v-neck sweater underneath. He pushes his black glasses up his nose as he finally looks at her. "Again, sorry... Oh, Rebecca right? I'm Brian, I was at the meeting last week?"

---

Student UnionThe seating area is almost as packed as the Phantom Union itself is. The whole place is more full than usual, even if niether person notices it. There are no empty tables available. However there is a table with only person at it. He's wearing a polo and jeans and some beat up tennis shoes.

The tables are pretty big and there's space between the two for them to eat lunch together, alone. As she makes her way over to the table, angling herself to sit opposite to him and just to the side, so if either looks straight ahead, they won't be looking "at" each other. As she sits she notices he's reading a book on micro expressions called "Read People Like a Book" with a picture of a classic greek bust that's been quartered on the front.

He looks over the book at her, while she sits. A strange expression passing over his face, before he hides it again and eats a bite of his food. She quickly notices that his eyes are nice, even if the expression on them isn't fully present.

Seeing Elise sit at the table, Cole has to wonder if he accidently made some expression at her to invite her over, and flips through the book briefly to see if he can find anything on that.

The commotion in the Union grows a bit louder, making it harder to hear if the two were talking. But they are not.

Rebecca takes the phone from the nervous boy but doesn't put it into her pocket right away. "Brian, of course," she says with a smile. "I don't think we really talked, but I definitely remember your face." With an amicable chuckle, she adds, "Though, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have remembered your name. I'm not great with names and there were so many people. So I'm impressed you remember mine. Rebecca is right." She nods down the hallway she was heading down just now. "I'm planning to grab a bite to eat," she says in a friendly tone. The phone is still in her hand as she still needs to check that message that got her to pull it out in the first place. "Do you want to join me?"

---

Elise watches the boy for a moment as she eats, not hiding her mild interest in him. He's not particularly handsome or otherwise eye-catching, and judging by the food on his plate, he doesn't have much taste either. The only interesting thing about him is this book he's reading. And, probably more importantly, the fact that he's the other person at her table. She takes a few forkfuls of her salad, eating it in delicate, careful bites while he tries to ignore her presence, focusing only on his book and lunch. "What am I thinking right now?"

Cole is startled out of his focus when the beautiful blonde girl suddenly speaks to him. "What?" he asks. The girl points her fork at his book and he quickly checks the front cover again. "Oh," he says. Trying to spin it into a joke when he would much rather just disappear into the ground, he replies, "Well, uhm, if I knew what you're thinking, I wouldn't need this book, right?"

Elise raises her eyebrow at the strange boy. Taking a quick sip from her drink, she replies, "You're not going to learn how to read people from a book. The only thing that can teach you that is practice. You need to spend time among people, talking to them and learning from experience."

Cole is visibly uncomfortable. Sure, the girl is really attractive and she's paying attention to him, which should be pretty exciting, but he has no idea what to say without embarrassing himself, and she seems so confident and self-assured. He just clears his throat. "I, uhm, I think I prefer to stick to my book," he says, hoping that will be the end of the conversation.

Constance Hall
Brian smiles at her and says "Ha. That's alright, I'm not really that memorable. Lunch... that sounds good. I was actually thinking the same thing. Where were you thinking? Phantom Union? Or were you going off site?" Brian turns and slowly starts walking towards the stairs down. No matter where they go, they'll have to head down and outside anyway.

The Phantom U campus is big and busy. Easily a dozen buildings, major and minor, dot the campus and surround the quad that the two walk through now. The campus feels old, but clean and looked after. Brown bricks and ivy mark the walls of buildings, and art installations and music punctuate the area. The campus feels alive.

On the way, he makes small talk with Rebecca. He opens doors for her, and walks in the grass when other people are coming their way and need to go single file for the sidewalk. "How long have you been doing that group, there? I think it's a great idea."

---

Student Union

There are more people in the Union now and there appears to be a group gathering outside the cafeteria, lining the walls and filling the halls. More chatter flows from them and into the eating area.

One of the walls of the eating area is a window, with glass doors. Looking out and leading out onto a patio area which then transitions into the quad.

Elise chuckles to herself a little and says "Ok then... let's see what you've learned then?What am I thinking?"

Cole hesitates then puts the book down. He knows from what he's experienced in the past, that sometimes people just want to talk to you when you're out and about. And hiding behind a book or music rarely works. So he tries, as much as he dislikes it, to engage.

"You're wondering what the commotion is out there?" then he uses one of his saved lines for a situation like this. "And also what this very interesting guy is doing eating by himself and reading a book." The first line is an earnest attempt to gauge her thoughts. The second is knowingly sarcastic and self-deprecating, but he hopes it's in a good way, not a pathetic way.

"Phantom Union," Rebecca says. "I usually just eat on campus. But if you were thinking somewhere else, I'd be happy to come along. As long as we get back in time for the next set of classes." She looks at Brian with a bright smile and nods her thanks when he opens the door for her, then she goes through.
As they're walking, she still has the phone in hand, absentmindedly playing with it but not yet looking at it. "I started it last semester when I had the idea," she replies about the group. "I've always struggled with my powers and I realized there must be others like me and that perhaps I could help them. I did not realize there would be so many," she says with a light chuckle. "How did you find it? I think it was your first time there this week, right? How did you like it? Did you meet any nice people?"

---

Elise frowns when Cole doesn't seem interested in continuing the conversation. She's not used to being ignored or rejected, even for something as simply as cafeteria smalltalk. She wonders briefly whether this boy might be gay, but then decides that he just seems really socially awkward. However, as she's still trying to figure out whether she should continue to try and engage him or just ignore him, her attention is suddenly drawn to some commotion happening outside the glass doors.
She's not sure whether it means anything, but it takes her attention off the boy at her table and instead of further wasting thoughts on him, she watches through the glass doors to find out what's going on out there.

Brian says "Yeah. That was my first meeting. I met a couple of people there. Could be some friends but if not, it's always nice to look around campus and recognize someone, you know? Not feel alone."

They wind through the thickening and more raucous crowd. "I just heard through the grapevine about the meeting and thought I'd show up. Some else I know has been going off and on for a while. His name is Paul, he's a quiet guy so maybe you don't know him. We're not really friends but we know each other. " He looks around taking in everyone. There's a sign over the door to the auditorium, where everyone seems to be trying to get into "It always gets so busy with these debates. Should have thought of that... Were you following this one? The debate is on whether or not The Dream Team should be held liable for all of that collateral damage in the industrial park last week. Do you keep up with super hero news?" They've finally made it to the food court. His body language says I'm following you wherever you want to eat

---

Cole folds the book closed. It takes him a second, but he can see something about what he said has put Elise off. Before he can figure out how to recover, he peers up and over Elise's shoulder to look out into the Union. "These debates can always get so rowdy. You never know who or what will show up or how they end. Remember that brawl last year... some people are too Civic minded, if you ask me. "

Cole pulls out a note book and pen. He kind of mumbles and stammers "I'm going to go take a look at this if you want to come..."

"I know what you mean," Rebecca replies. "When I first developed my powers, I was terrified and I felt like I'd forever be an outcast. Seeing other people like me, knowing that we're all still just normal people with normal lives and that our abilities don't have to define us, it helped me. I'm glad it's doing the same for you and others."

"Paul," she then says. "The name does sound familiar but I don't have a face in mind right now. Introduce us again next meeting. You're coming back, right? It sounds like you enjoyed it."
When he mentions the debate and its topic, Rebecca frowns. "Of course they should be held responsible. If they aren't, they have no incentive to be careful and avoid collateral damage." She nods at his question. "Not because I'm really interested in heroes, but because their actions represent people like us. If they mess up, we're all suffering." It's clear she has no high opinion of superheroes.

---

"You think it might lead to a brawl?" The idea clearly catches Elise' attention and she doubles her focus on the commotion outside. When Cole rises to his feet, she decides to as well. If there is a chance of this turning aggressive, she wants to be right there in the front row to see it. "We should probably take a look."
Unlike Cole, she has no regrets about leaving her half-finished food behind. It's not like she can't afford to get more if she wants. She elegantly weaves her way through the crowd in the lunch hall, almost unnaturally smoothly, while he struggles to keep up, not wanting to lose sight of the girl, even if their interaction so far hasn't been the most smooth or comfortable.

"I don't know... I mean they stepped in and tried to help. I think that counts for something. But judging from all of this..." Brian waves a hand to indicate everything going on around them. "Maybe not enough. I know the 'Hero License' was unpopular when it first came out, but I suppose that's the whole point. To stop stuff like all of that collateral damage."

There's a smell of ozone in the air and a pop.

"I think we should probably keep moving." Between the throng of people moving towards the auditorium, Brian can see the entrance to the Food Court up ahead. He catches Elise leaving the food court as he speaks to Rebecca.

---

There are seemingly hundreds of people in the Union, now. People of all cliques and types seem to be focusing their energies and intentions towards what's happening in the auditorium. There's a palpable energy between two sides of students; those for the Dream Team and those against.

Sounds of speakers and feedback can be heard from inside the auditorium. There is what sounds like lots of yelling and commotion from inside and the moderator is coming in over the sound system, urging calm and peace.

"I appreciate that they're trying to help," Rebecca says. "I do think they have good intentions, and that counts for something. But it doesn't make their actions right." She shrugs. "Well, that's a debate for them to have. I'm glad to do my little part to help. And I don't need to fight supervillains to do it." With a smile at Brian, she adds, "At least I hope I'm helping."

"Hey, I know these two," Elise says as she weaves between two people and is suddenly right next to Rebecca and Brian. "From the meeting. Elise, remember?" She barely acknowledges Brian with more than a look, not giving indication to anyone that they spent more time together after the general group meeting. Someone else is following her, a young man who stops near her but doesn't speak up, looking awkward and unsure if this is where he should be or not. "What's going on?" Elise asks. "And what's this smell?"

"A debate about the Dream Team," Rebecca explains. "And that smells like ozone. Like a thunderstorm." She looks around, then shrugs. "Brian and I were just going to grab a bite to eat. Would you like to join us?" She looks at Brian. "Or do you mind?"

Brian waves at the other two. "Yeah. You all are more than welcome to come with." He sniffs the air. "Yeah. Definetly ozone or something. It could be somone using their powers. With this sort of crowd, it could get... wild here."

Almost on cue, there’s cries of Stop! and Cool it! and other yelps of surprise and fear coming from inside the auditorium. The crowd surges out from inside the auditorium and the smell of ozone turns to one of smoke.

Panic seems to begin to take the crowd, as some orderly take towards the exits. Some unhurriedly, and seemingly unaware of what’s going on, continue about their days and go to the cafeteria.

Around the group of four, it’s still packed and no one is panicking yet, however that may change soon

Those shouts, the smoke - immediately, Rebecca knows that something is wrong. She glances around. This could turn bad pretty quickly, if there's a panic. People could get hurt. She hesitates. What if whoever is at the center of this does have powers? What if they're a danger to themselves and others? Maybe they don't have control. She turns to Brian and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Get Elise out of the crowd," she says. "Somewhere to safety." With that, she tries to push through the crowd, further towards the source of the ozone and smoke to see what's going on.

"Me?" Elise asks, disbelief in her tone at being the one designated to be rescued. "I'm safe even if this whole place turns into a stampede. And besides, I'm way too curious." She winks at Brian. "You stay safe, though," she tells him before following Rebecca, moving through the crowd with impossibly fluid movements.

Cole, who had been with Elise but hasn't said a single word since getting here, now turns to Brian. "Uh," he says uncertainly. "What do we do now?"