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Evelyn continued watching, making mental notes as they continued. So there was zero resistance leaving, but the table still created a little heat so it probably met resistance on contact? Theoretically the air molecules should also have some sort of change. She had no way of measuring that either. The problem with mutations was some of them just completely bypassed “science”. They made their own rules and you had to figure out the restraints as you went. Some things sounded magical but still had a logical element to them.

For instance, powers like telepathy and mind reading. While those powers seemed strange in concept, there were lots of theories that it simply involved the mind being more adapted to hearing and registering brain waves. Her own ability to share memories and echoes involved touch, so there was a more theoretical conduit sending signals from her thoughts to another person. She liked reading studies, even if they relied heavily on abstract thinking.

Best of all, William was not opposed to experimenting more. When she theorized about the ‘sink’ idea, he went with it. In fact, he almost seemed as excited as she was. ”I mean, the logical possibility is the Danger Room, but you need adults to be let in there. The program can probably measure things accurately if you get a chance to be let in. But the chemistry lab had a lot of equipment too. I was in there the other night and I remember seeing an ammeter,. The school has a really well stocked science department.” At least she was technically with an adult when she was in the chemistry lab. That had prevented her from really getting in trouble.

”Do you have time to go now? We can get some books than maybe try measuring your powers more! There aren’t any classes there this hour.” no one needed to ask how she knew. She had plenty of time to work out the school schedules so she had the run of the empty rooms.

Evelyn considered his theory. She really wished she had a chemistry book with her or even a phone. So many students could just google what they wanted while she had to rely on a library run to even things out. Then again, none of the other students had the echoes, so she had a leg up there.

"That makes a bit of sense. Eventually electricity wants to go somewhere, right? That's the whole point of power chords and circuits. To give it a path. You're not giving it a path, your just making it find it's own." She commented. It still sought out lines of least resistance, but it made a bit of a mess in the meantime.

William was focusing again, and Evelyn proactively moved the books off the table before anything happened to them. With the stack now sitting on the couch, she was free to watch. Slowly, the current went from arcs to a more solid stream, and it was colorful, pretty even. He was learning quickly, and she grinned with excitement. She hadn't smiled in a long time, and didn't realize anything could be this fun. Apparently, being near potentially dangerous powers was a thrill trip when you were seven.

"Does the electricity feel warm? I mean, that's one way to generate heat, right? You already create light, can you burn things? What else could it do? We should get more books! I mean, if you want to. What if we got thing to test the electricity on? Something has to be better than a table to use as a conductor! I just, this is really cool." There wasn't enough information in her head to answer all her questions. Why had she grabbed for criminology first! Science would have been sooo much more useful right now. Her eyes were wide as she tried to hash out all the incoming thoughts.

Evelyn watched with fascination as he went to experiment with his powers. This was so much more interesting than her books and she felt her echoes filing all the notes away for later. It was as much about helping him now as satisfying her own curiosity. The discharge of energy was beginning to increase. Her echoes flickered warnings, as if sensing the many ways this whole situation could go wrong. He couldn't be discharging that much electricity, right? If she got a little static in her hair or even got zapped, she was sure it would be fine. She didn't want to leave yet.

The electric arcs were colorful, and she had the strongest desire to paint them. Thanks to her mind, she could pull this scene up later and try to put it onto paper. It was powerful and mesmerizing at once. "That is probably one of the coolest things I've seen here," she remarked in awe.

Then things took a downhill slide. The arcs went wild, firing toward the floor and furniture, seeking some way to ground themselves. Evelyn rocked up onto her shoes, brain temporarily bombarding her with unneeded advice. Keep path of resistance away from heart, let electricity return to the ground, was there enough insulation in her shoes to protect her? The couch wouldn't be a good conduit anyway so she should be safe but she needed to be a little more cautious next time. He seemed anxious, and Evelyn held up her hands, trying to indicate some type of comfort to him. "It's fine, don't panic! I think it should stop." Then slowly, it did. She felt like her scalp was a little tingly in the wake of all the discharge.

"Okay, so I'm guessing you can create the electricity, but obviously, your body isn't so great at storing it," She straightened up a few of the books that were scattered during the chaos. The echoes were already crunching facts. "I'm thinking, well the echoes...Here, just give me your hand." It was easier to let the voices do the talking this time, than to try to talk over them. She waited until he gave in so he could understand what they were thinking.

[Energy gathering, slow discharge. Greater buildup equates to arches, total emptying of electricity. Solution, electric storage and/or device for redirection, control.]

She stopped them there, drumming her hand on the table next as she considered it.

"This school is full of all those x's and their crazy gear. Someone has to have the brains to store electricity some how. I mean, generators store electricity right? If there is a small version, then you wouldn't have to build a charge all the time. Would that stop you from going all tesla coil on us? As colorful as that was, they do seem to frown when you get too dangerous around kids in this place." Evelyn did not consider herself a child, so she was ignoring the fact they had just experimented together.

He was envious? That was a first. Evelyn was used to people telling her that the echoes were annoying, or the playbacks sucked, but never that they were envious. As he sat down, she looked at him more, noting the struggle with his powers.

"What have you learned about it so far? Other than it just being an electric thing. Most powers have some underlying science to it, and part of learning to control them is just working through that."

She crossed her legs so she was facing him on the couch, letting the echoes study his appearance for the moment. She talked while she let the echoes work. "For instance, my powers. When I sleep, I relive memories. I just get dropped into whatever day in my life my brain feels like and follow it through. But I've been reading about computers more, and some of how my brain works reminds me of those. Like, when you want more space on a computer, you can run a defragmentor, and the computer tries to rearrange information to make more room. At night, my brain has to make room for all the incoming memories and knowledge, so it sets me in a corner with one thought to hold onto, and works out the rest."

She watched his body language, the effort involved to do something. The echoes were poised, like a cat ready to pounce. [Concentration, effort. Light glow. Electricity based. Discharge. Electrical discharge. Corona discharge.]

She felt like her brain was opening and slamming different books she had read to find the right page. Her brow furrowed and she put a palm up and pressed the ridge on her nose as she focused. "You're...glowing. Maybe the issue is you're own expectations on how the power functions? Maybe it isn't that you just snap and electrocute things, but your body has it's own way of forming electricity? I don't think I read all the way through that book the other day. If we go back to the library, maybe I can find it." She shut her eyes, trying to think of a good analogy.

"Okay, say there is a sink. and your ability is to put water in the sink. Sometimes you have soooo much of it, you can splash, it spills over, water everywhere. But if you haven't filled up the sink with water, it's going to be like you can't do anything? The sink is dry?" This conversation felt heavy, but when she opened her eyes again, she was in a very good mood. She loved conversations like this. Trying to crunch through a problem, sifting through facts, make sense of things. This was fun to her.

The guy gave a joke about a princess. Evelyn blinked slowly, but did not laugh. Her brain saved her with a small memory of the Drisney character he was making a reference to, and she nodded slowly. "Ah, I don't think princesses would read the books I'm interested in. Those airheads spend too much time waiting for someone to go rescue them. I prefer to handle things on my own."

She walked over to one of the bookshelves and started pulling out her chosen volumes for the night. One of them happened to be a rather thick chemistry textbook, the other looked like some basic Biology foundations. They would be dry reading, but maybe that would help her sleep in the end.

"I don't read a lot of fiction, frankly. I don't forget things, so if I pick up a book and it sucks, then I am going to be stuck rereading that book for the rest of my life. Its bad enough living here with all these kids. In the future I will still be able to perfectly recite every word to children's theme songs. That is knowledge no one needs," she complained. She said the word kids like an insult, completely disregarding the fact she was seven herself. In her mind, she was not a kid. She had long surpassed that mental status. Fun was for toddlers.

"That being said, what you want will probably be this section here. School of magic where three friends have to fight evil wizards. Romance doesn't happen until book 4, bestseller list for several years running," She lifted the first Perry Hotter from the shelf and offered it to him. She paused when she was in reach. "Don't touch my skin. I have given one or two people an earful of echoes recently and I think the disclaimer makes this whole interaction less troublesome. You look like someone who doesn't need voices in his head too." She sighed.

Evelyn tried to imagine waking up next to a car and not knowing where she was. While she was mature for a seven year old, that idea still scared her a little. She was relieved she had time to process this at her own pace. She almost felt bad for him, but still struggled with those types of feelings.

”I knew I was a mutant but the skin contact thing is new,” she gestured toward his hand as a commentary to what happened. ”It’s like, letting someone tune into the same radio station. But with voices. Oh, and the playbacks. Those are basically any of my memories. If I focus, I can relive memories. It’s complicated. Like I said, there is a lot happening in my head.” she had to keep a detached view of it or she felt a little anxiety herself. It was like she was put in charge of a very powerful car and expected to drive it without damaging anything. She really could use a leg up or two.

Hisbinterest now was genuine, which put her in a good mood. Her face lit up more and her eyes had a softer blue color now. ”They’re always there. I learn to ignore them when they aren’t useful. It’s like having music playing in a room all the time and you only focus when your favorite song comes on. They get a little wordy. Sometimes they count things for no reason. For instance, there were 47 books on criminology in that section of the library. I didn’t ask to know that, but now I do.” some day, her powers would probably drive her crazy. She was resigned to this fact.

”They are wrong all the time. The echoes are just observations. They take note of what’s around me and focus on context to deduce meaning. Like, based on someone’s body language I can tell they are uncomfortable, but I may assume it’s because of something I said, or maybe they have a rock in their shoe. Maybe they just had a headache. I can look for other clues like if they seem to be favoring a leg, or have tension in their face, but nothing is a concrete truth. Just like any detective or psychology major I have to make the most logical conclusions with what I’ve been given.”

This was her world: fact, analysis. Deconstruct, rebuild. She took apart things around her and tried to make sense of it. It was a very mechanical action for someone so young.

Evelyn felt her stack lighten, and now she could actually see over the top. She looked up at the boy holding several books, and finally caved in. ”Thanks. I need to invest in an e-reader one day, that would make this much easier.” she sighed, starting toward a nearby den area. She hoped there wouldn’t be a ton of kids running around today to distract the echoes.

”I suppose you’re correct. Once I make my way through these I’ll have to get someone to take me to the public library for further research. But it’s best to start with foundation pieces and work up.” she commented. She let the echoes direct her into a room and slid the stack onto the table.

”I don’t think I looked into this line of study my last adulthood, so I felt it could be a good change. I focused on art history if I understand correctly? Frankly, I have been quite confused by my actions back then.”

Now that her hands were free she was able to really look at the teen. ”You’re new. They have you taking classes already?” she had a matter of fact way of talking. She never forgot faces, so she had easily taken interest when someone different appeared. Anything different in this building caught her eye. It broke the constant wave of repetition she was stuck in. Some days, she really hated her powers.