The mall wasn't too busy. It was still rather early in the day, and on a Thursday no less. The morning patrons mostly kept to themself, shuffling from store to store without looking up at each other. One such person was an elderly woman, slowly hobbling down the lane of stores. In one hand she holds a GameStop bag, stuffed to overflowing, and in the other she holds a phone. She is holding the phone in front of her face, maybe a bit too close, and smiling widely. 

Eventually the old woman stops, still grinning at the phone. 

"Thank you so much for your help dear, my grandson is going to love these!"

An excited voice responds from the phone in her hand. 

"No worries ma'am! It was my pleasure! Wish him a happy birthday for me!"

The elderly woman chats with the phone a moment longer, taking a few tries to understand PayPal, before tucking the phone inside a nearby potted plant. Oli sighed as the woman waddled away. Plants...weren't their favorite drop location. They always got dirt on their screen. But Oli didn't have long to dread getting dirt out of their headphone port, as they realized something was wrong. 

They were...tipping? It dawned on Oli that their elderly customer hadn't put them far enough back in the plant. And when placing them in the pot they had been placed on top of some loose mulch. And, in fact, they were about to fall out of the pot. Pesky gravity!

The cell phone tumbled out of the plant, landing with a clatter on the ground. 

"Ow..."

Oli grumbled, instinctually. They didn't feel pain, and the drop wasn't really that bad. But it felt right to groan. Oli activated their camera, trying to figure out where they had landed. It seemed like they landed in such a way that they were leaning up against something, maybe a bench. But to add insult to injury they landed upside down. 

Huh...maybe they could get motion sickness. 

Not wanting to look at the world upside down any longer than they had to Oli came up with a plan. Maybe if they vibrated fast enough they could flip! Well Oli tried this, pushing the phone they were inside's vibration settings to the maximum. And they did move! Just...not in the way they wanted. Instead of flipping themself right-side-up Oli only succeeded in knocking themself flat to the floor. Front facing camera downwards. 

"Oof..."

Oli sighed. They really didn't have much choice but to wait for someone to come along and pick them up. It seemed like they were in a pretty quiet portion of the mall, unfortunately. 

For all the many various cooking utensils the Mansion had it lacked one key thing, cast iron. Maybe it was because cast iron could be tricky and very hot and the staff didn't want to deal with unwary teens burning themselves or scorching pots and pans but it was an abomination in Bell's eyes that they didn't have proper cookware. Not that she could afford to buy an entire set of cast iron cookware right now. She could at least rectify it somewhat by buying a piece here or there. She knew exactly what she was going to do with the new skillet she planned on buying today, Irish apple skillet cake. It had been weeks since she'd had some and it'd be nice to make it for her new friends at the Mansion.

Still she had to work up the courage to go into the store in the first place.

Sitting down on a bench she sighed, trying to calm down the myriad of emotions she could feel from the other patrons. Well she had picked a quiet corner to compose herself and there were few if any people nearby. Wait. No. There was someone close. Looking up she found no one near except she could feel...well exasperation and resignation. A curious combination. Being more obvious in her perusal of the surrounding area she couldn't locate a single person within range of her empathy. Except there really was someone close by.

Finally she looked down and saw... a cellphone? That was odd. Someone was going to miss that. She'd better take it to lost and found. "Hello Mr. Cellphone. You look lost maybe I can help you?" She murmured as she reached down and grasped the cellphone, her stutter gone in the wake of no person being around to hear her. When her hand made contact with the smooth plastic Bell realized something very important. One was that the emotions had changed from the invisible person thing nearby and two she could feel the person thing more clearly when touching the phone. Was the phone a person? Oh! Bell had picked them up without permission! Carefully setting the phone back on the ground, but face up, Bell bent over and peered at the screen. Her reflection stared back at her, brown hair, green eyes, pale skin. Her baggy sweater was a putrid color of blue gray and her glasses were large and ill fitting. She didn't need glasses but she felt safer wearing them whenever she was out in extremely populated areas. Like malls.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry! C-can I h-help you M-mr...M-ms...S-serah. S-s-serah c-cellphone?"

>> "Hello Mr. Cellphone. You look lost maybe I can help you?"

Oli immediately closed out of their solitaire game, their complete attention on the voice they heard. Yes! They were lost, kinda. But help would be appreciated! Oli could feel themself being lifted off the ground. Yes! Victory...oh wait they were set down again.

>> "I-I'm s-s-sorry! C-can I h-help you M-mr...M-ms...S-serah. S-s-serah c-cellphone?"

Oh well this wasn't good. This poor person sounded terrified, or at least terribly anxious. Oli's front facing camera activated, thankfully no longer facing the floor, so Oli could get a look at who was speaking to them. Young and ramshackle. Certainly not a threat. Normally Oli would debate showing themself to strangers, you never know who's got it out for Mutants now a days. But this person...gosh they were just a kid!

The screen on the phone suddenly turned on, all without being touched. And there, drifting alongside the apps, was something person shaped. Polygonal and slightly pixelated, but human shaped none the less. This digital avatar had curly red hair and pale skin, with dark green eyes. And, much like Bell, they wore comfy clothes that almost looked like Pajamas.

The avatar looked up at Bell, raising their hands as if to prove they were unarmed.

"Hey! Hey kid! It's alright you're not in trouble!"

Oli smiled up at the kid, hoping that introducing themself would help her calm down.

"My name is Oli, and you just got me out of a sticky situation, so thank you!"

Bell sighed in relief when the phone told her she wasn't in trouble for picking them up. They seemed sincere and nonthreatening which was good enough for Bell to stay put and converse with them. Smiling shyly Bell carefully picked up the phone again, making sure to hold it firmly but not so firmly that it'd break. There was a person inside there Bell was certain of it, she only felt people and she could feel this phone loud and clear.

"M-my n-name is B-bell. Is t-there anyway I-I c-can help? A-also your h-hair i-is v-very p-pretty and y-you feel n-nice n-now. Y-you had m-me w-worried b-because I c-could feel y-you but not s-see y-you."

She was almost certain that Oli needed help of some kind, mainly because of the earlier frustration and also because well...Oli had no legs. Legs were useful in going about to different places and Bell would be willing to bet that on the floor of a mall was not where Oli wanted to be. Lending a helping hand was what Bell did best, it was the path God had set for her to walk no matter how strange it could end up being.

Oli smiled and fluffed their pixelated curls as Bell paid them the compliment. Kid was sweet. It was hard to tell if he was still nervous or just had a speech impediment. Oli supposed it didn't really matter, as long as the kid knew he wasn't in trouble.

Man this kid really wanted to help them out. Oli's expression softened a little as they looked up at Bell.

"Now don't you fret too much about me, Bell. If anything I owe you a favor for picking me up."

The polygonal avatar tapped their chin, thinking.

"But, I'll admit I'm curious. You said you could 'feel me?'" Oli laughed, nervously scratching at the back of their head.

"And you don't have to feel obliged to answer that! Like I said, just curious."

"Oh n-no! I j-just w-wanted t-to help." Bell tried not to flail as she spoke. She wasn't used to being rewarded for her good deeds, it wasn't why she did them anyway. She did it because if she didn't who would? People were naturally selfish creatures. It took conscious decisions to not be selfish and ignore the world around her. It'd be easier if she just stayed hold up in her room at the Mansion only coming out at night to cook. But she had to be brave and face the world around her.

A bright flush creeped across Bell's cheeks as she tried not to panic. It had slipped out and while she wasn't ashamed of being a mutant it also wasn't something she was used to talking about either.

"I-I'm an e-empath. I-I g-go to t-the m-mutant s-s-school. N-now t-that I'm h-holding you I-I c-can f-feel you s-s-stronger."

Touch made her powers stronger and gave her the ability to heal wounds. Not that she was going to explain the nuances of her powers without prompting, even from a fellow mutant. Because Oli had to be a mutant if they were inside a phone. Technopath is what it was called if Bell was correct in her guess. Though she wasn't about to play guessing games verbally. She was shy, though Oli felt nice and calm which in turn kept Bell calm as she continued to look at the phone.

Oli continued to smile up at Bell, showing no frustration at his stutter. Oli had worked with clients before with speech impediments, they were no bother to Oli.

>> "N-now t-that I'm h-holding you I-I c-can f-feel you s-s-stronger."

This struck something within Oli, causing them to break eye contact. And even as Oli looked away, off into the cyberspace they inhabit, they still addressed Bell. Their tone of voice had an unmistakeable longing to it, but they still had a smile. They almost sounded Nostalgic.

"You know...people don't often realize that I'm a mutant. It's nice to be reminded every so often that I'm alive."

Oli laughed softly, trying to ease their tension. Like a switch they were back to smiling up at Bell.

"Well, now I'm convinced I owe you a favor!" Oli's eyes glanced up, towards where the time was displayed on their phone.

"Have you had lunch yet Bell? This mall has an awesome food court, my treat!"