As an added bonus to being a mutant, there were no odd glances when she lurked around the mansion, checking things out. And the mansion had a really nice library. It was another one of the perks.

It was a little out of the way for her to hit the mansion library after school, but she'd blackmailed/asked Aurum to pick her up, and things had worked out. She had to work on a project, anyways. Why not slink around the stacks here at the mansion's library, rather than at NYC's?

She'd made good headway on the project. She'd made it to the library. Now, all that she needed to do was figure out a topic and an experiment and a thesis, and build everything up! Real simple, right?

Amelia turned a page in a massive text book, and rested her chin on her hand with a sigh.

"Come on, hit me." She muttered, desperately hoping inspiration would strike.

Gina wasn't in the library to study. God forbid she actually study in a place meant for studying. No, she actually studied in atypical locations, and generally came to the library to relax. She was in-need of some new reading material, anyways.

She never came with a plan. Usually, she just came and waited for something to jump out of her. It often led to a bizarre assortment of reading choices, but it was better than plotting out what you needed, taking your books, and leaving. Particularly when you had a three-story library at your disposal.

Today, she was perusing the poetry books, and had already accquired a couple of small ones, when a murmur of noise hit her ear.

>> "Come on, hit me."

Noise really traveled in the library, particularly when it was this empty. It was the please of a desperate student, and thus, Gina answered. She trotted closer to the desks, where she presumed the other girl to be studying. When she reached the desks, and spied a girl, Gina leaned against the podium that supported the collosal dictionary, and spoke.

"With what?" Gina replied jokingly. She was just behind the studying-girl, still towards the stacks of books, so Gina didn't get a very good look at her. And, the brunette would have to turn around to see her.

Gina hugged the poetry books to her chest, smiling wryly.

You know that thing people do? Where sudden voices from behind or nearby startle you, and you jump? Yeah. That was lame. Lame enough to be canon.

Amelia jumped. Slightly. Wasn't even cool.

Her eyes veered from their text book's course, over towards the source of the noise. They settled on a familiar face. But the name, as it was with faces you've seen only once, didn't hit her right off. She spent a second stalling with other wordage as she waited for it to come to her.

"Inspirations. Muse. An idea."

Ah. There it was.

"Gina, right?" She lifted her chin from her palm, and straightened up to stand at full height. It wasn't many people Ami matched in height. Neither girl loomed above the other. It wasn't terrible.

She smiled back.

Gina didn't have a thing for faces unless she knew that she would see someone again. And, last time that she'd seen this girl, she hadn't put forth much effort to remember her. An inkling of familiarity nagged the gargoyle girl, and she knew she hadn't seen this girl here at Xavier's... But she recognized her somehow.

Gina inclined her head. As annoying as it was, nothing came to her.

>> "Inspirations. Muse. An idea."

Gina was fresh out of those. She did, however, have some poetry. She was about to ask what class that this was for when the brunette recognized her.

>> "Gina, right?"

So they did know each other. Gina squinted, tilted her head, and tried to remember.

She got nothing. Crud.

"Yeah," Gina confirmed, puffing her cheeks out contemplatively. She wasn't going to remember how they knew one another. She might as well fess up now, "Help me out here... I know I know you, but I don't remember how."

The cheek-puffing was cute. Cute enough she did not take offense at someone not remembering her. Amelia smiled.

"My name's Amelia. Or Ami. We met over Jude. He... copied your power. Then we had ice cream?" He'd groped her? There had been a robber involved? It had all been kind of crazy and wild.

She liked the horns.

>> “My name’s Amelia. Or Ami. We met over Jude. He… copied your power. Then we had ice cream?”

Gina started out bobbing her head, smiling apologetically as Ami spoke. And, as she continued, her smile began to falter. No wonder she had forgotten Ami! That day had been so embarrassing. All at once, it dawned on the gargoyle girl, and she very clearly remembered who Ami was. Of course.

“Oh yeah,” Gina breathed, snapping her fingers, “I remember now.” How could she have forgotten that?! After all that drama over that Jude kid turning into her. Yeesh, “Good to see you again! How’ve you been?”

Gina began sauntering over, for now that she and Ami had established that they’d met once before, that was license enough to chat.

"Good, you?"

Yeah, that day had been a bit awkward, hadn't it? What with Jude being a total lech, and copying powers left and right. And trying to be a hero. Weren't there cops for that? It was no wonder Gina couldn't quite remember. A lesser person would have done everything in their power to forget.

She seemed nice, though. Amelia did not hold any of that day against Gina. In fact, if the girl was willing to help her brainstorm, they could even be friends.

How had she been? Let's see, there was school stuff, then getting shot, then giant uncooked turkies, more school stuff... eh...

"It's been a bit hectic, but hey, can't complain," Gina said simply, shrugging a shoulder. She pulled out the chair opposite of Ami, sat in it casually, and surveyed the work that was spread out on the desk from afar.

"So, whatcha working on?"

Gina asked out of polite curiosity. After all, if Ami was stumped, maybe Gina could help. Maybe. Or, maybe she'd sidetrack her irrevocably.

There was not a lot of work to survey so far. Just blank pages, maybe a crumpled idea here or there, and a whole lot of nothing.

"School project," Amelia sighed, resting her head in her hands. A strand of hair fell over her eyes and she blew it up out of her face. "I need ideas, though. I'm tapped out."

It was weird. Usually, ideas flowed boundless from her head. Maybe she'd just been distracted lately?

Gina scooted her chair forward, and propped her head up on one arm, which was propped up on the desk, as if listening quite intently, inclining her head.

>> "School project... I need ideas, though. I'm tapped out."

"What subject?" Gina pressed on, "Did the teacher give you any prompt whatsoever?"

Necessary inquiries to make, if Gina intended on being any help at all...

"Science," Amelia replied sullenly. "Usually, I love the stuff. Don't know why I'm having trouble right now. We're supposed to devise a project for our fair... no prompt. I get to pick any area for my project."

Maybe that's why it was hard? Because it was so vague? Such a wide variety of choices...

"I need to narrow things down." She noted decidedly.

>> "Science... Usually, I love the stuff. Don't know why I'm having trouble right now. We're supposed to devise a project for our fair... no prompt. I get to pick any area for my project."

Gina sagged at the word "science". Why did it have to be science? She wasn't any good at science, therefore essentially useless to assist Ami in the department of brainstorming.

"Ugh, Science," was all that Gina said, rubbing her forehead.

>> "I need to narrow things down."

So she already had ideas? Gina perked up a little at this. Gina was good at decision-making, just... not science...

"What'cha got so far?"

"Goose eggs." Amelia muttered. Nothing. Naught. Nada. "What I really need is someone to bounce ideas off of. Or give me them."

She looked to Gina.

"Oooooooor we could just hop on the internet on one of the library computers, and browse for inspiration." Internets usually had that. Or lolcats. And procrastination aids. And RP sites.

Gina hummed in faint contemplation as Ami spoke of what she had and what she needed. That was all that Gina had, too. Goose eggs. She didn't have ideas to give her, and was good for having ideas bounced off of her... but if Ami didn't have ideas to bounce off of her, then they were both in trouble.

Then, Ami proposed the internet, and Gina perked up faintly.

"Now that sounds like a plan," Gina agreed, sitting up. Her mind immediately went to Mythbusters, which was nerdy but true... they did science-y things, and yet it was still really cool. Ami and Gina didn't have the resources they did, but it'd be a good starting block, "There has to be something on the internet."

Gina was already getting to her feet to migrate to a computer.

Off to the computer bank, they went. Amelia plopped down behind one in a chair. Fingers scrabbling, she drew up a few different tabs full of ideas. One was Wikipedia. She clicked 'random article'. It gave her a famous golfer... random was hit again. A random prefecture in Japan caused her to migrate to another tab.

"Hmm."

This one was Discover Channel. Was it Shark Week yet? Or had that come and gone?

"Mythbusters is always good for ideas." Amelia pondered. The mouse moved back and forth as she thought about it. Then, she clicked the icon and went to the show's page. She went to Myth Results.

"Okay. What do you think?" She looked to Gina. Her cursor hovered over an article. "Is it possible to trick a bloodhound's sense of smell?"

Eh. That one was kind of boring. But dogs were cool. There were other options. Stuff about bees and flying laptops, or mice and elephants. Speeding moose? Meese? Meeses? That reminded her... Her eyes lit up with the faintest flicker of inspiration. "Oh." She said.