Mind Coming Over Here?

[Jason Campbell]

Jason never had a problem with going to Bellefonte. Sure, with the latest events, some might argue it was not the smartest of move. They had everything they needed back there. But Jason was always ‘risking’ his neck by caring for mutants. Most of his patients were. After all, let it out that there was a mutant doctor taking patients at the clinic and they’d all come running. Made sense. They could clearly expose what their abilities were and whatever side effect they had.

He didn’t think the risk was too high. Even if it was, now was more a time to gather and show there was nothing to it rather than hide each in their own little hole. There was also the fact Jason believed he had the kind of ability that would make him harmless and even more, useful. He risked nothing. Other than passing out.

Luckily for him, dealing with panic was not his job. Making sure they had everything needed for the flu vaccination, now that was more like it. Jason arrived with the vaccines and all that was required to give it to every student and staff member who’d want it. That was a lot of stock and that meant many boxes to move from the parking lot all the way to the nurses’ office. Too much for him to handle on his own. He could walk to the reception and ask for them to send help. But he found someone casually walking between the cars and decided he’d try his luck with that one first. “Excuse me,” he called out. “Yes, you,” he added once he got the person’s attention. He waved his hand towards him. In case the gesture was not clear enough, he also added. “Mind coming over here a minute?”

[Blair Collins]

Blair could have just ignored him. She had a pair of headphones on so that should be a clear don't-bother-me sign. But her damn superhuman hearing allowed her to hear past Adam Levine's voice in her ear.

She liked going for walks in the morning before most people were up. It was a warm day but her heat receptors told her it was about to heat up so she made her way back to the school. She was almost sweating in her big shirt.

"Mind coming over here a minute?"

Yes, she would very much mind. When the man called for her, he had risen his voice. This sounded like shouting right into her ear for Blair--she still needed to get used to it. She pulled her headphones down so he would not try to yell over Maroon 5 as well as the distance between them.

But she told him none of this. Instead, the girl walked towards him, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Something I can help you with, sir?" she asked politely.

[Jason Campbell]

When the girl came over, Jason realised he asked the wrong person. With her petite silhouette, how could she even help carry everything to the nurses’ office? Oh sure, in this school, one should never judge someone on appearance. She might be able to move things with her mind or be super strong despite her tiny size. Everything was possible. But Jason still believed he ended up with the wrong person to help him out. Well, she could still run to the reception, ask for some staff member to get over here and help him out. You didn’t need to be strong or anything for that, just to know where the reception was. And he assumed anyone in Bellefonte knew that much.

That he never saw her was not strange at all. Jason was not coming here enough to know every student. Besides, he was terrible at recognizing a face. He might as well have seen her in the past and not remember it. Unless it brought something major, it was more than possible. Even then... But now was not the time to think of it.

She was there and she was asking if she could help him with anything. Saying no and that she could leave would seem rude when he just called her out. He dug through his pockets for his identification. It was required to walk in the school now. At least now she would know it was alright for him to be there. “I have some boxes to bring to the nurses’ office. Some are quite delicate. Perhaps you could...” Carry them? Yeah, probably not. “...ask someone at the reception desk? Or stay here while I do that. If they can’t bring someone, at least have some sort of cart to carry them all. I’d rather not travel back and forth several times.” He looked at the boxes. You needed quite a few to carry everything. They were not heavy per se but they were big, too big to carry them all at once, even for him.

[Blair Collins]

His blue eyes were calculative. Blair frowned. What? She glanced at the identification and handed it back. She did not know much about American documents but this man seemed decent enough. She was sure Mr Campbell was no danger.

When he paused mid sentence, she knew he did not think she was up to carry the boxes. True enough, he asked her to run to reception to ask for help--or wait here. Instinctively she took this as a challenge. She could help it--a force of habit.

She looked at the boxes. Blair picked one up experimentally. "If they're all like this one, they don't seem to heavy," she said. "We could probably split them between us and only require one trip."

The wheels turned in the her head. She could stack them up in her arms. Even if they blocked her view, she did not need her sight to navigate anymore. She had been working on honing her other senses anyway. Why not take advantage of this opputunity?

The girl looked Mr Campbell in the eye. Dare he say she could not do it? She would probably back off if he did. She did not look for conflict. She just wanted to observe his reaction. She loved surprising people.

[Jason Campbell]

It was not all that easy to find people ready to help, let alone students. Some would, either because they were nice or felt forced to do so, but most would only say they’d get someone and be done with it. It was a problem when you wanted to be fast yet efficient with this. It was why Jason called out a student. Who was now staring back at him, judging him as much as he was judging her. This made him a little uneasy. He was never comfortable when someone analyzed him like that, he never felt like he was fitting. Even though, right now, she should be the one wondering whether or not she was useful.

He thought she’d be. By calling someone more apt to help. She could even push the cart if she wanted to. He simply didn’t think she’d be up for the whole carrying. Yet she proved him wrong by pointing out they didn’t look heavy. He almost stopped her from holding the box but she did so before he could prevent it. At least she was careful. “They are not heavy but they are delicate. Medical material. And they’re pretty big. It’s more a question of... visibility.” Why did he feel like he was the one passing a test here? She was younger, he was the adult, these were his boxes, yet he was the one having to prove his point.

She was waiting and Jason tried to recover his professionalism. “It’s fragile and you wouldn’t be able to see. I wouldn’t like to cause any accident, not when I have to bring them all the way to the infirmary,” he explained. Maybe he could look at her while they walked all the way to the reception, ask for some better means of transportation then and be done with it? But he’d be worried all along the way from the parking lot to the reception. He was not sure if it was worth it. And why was she looking at him so intensely?

[Blair Collins]

Medical. Blair bit her lip. Well, she should not argue further. She had probably already crossed a line by experimentally lifting one of the boxes--hopefully not breaking anything in the process. She did not like to back down but what else could she do? Though she was confident she could carry these boxes without another's help, insisting that she was able would be kind of rude and quite possibly irritate the man. She just got here--she did not want to make bad blood yet.

Then she noticed Dr Campbell fidget under her gaze. Damn, how long had she been staring? A wave of guilt washed over her--here was a stranger slaving away under the sun, asking for some help and she was being unfriendly. Puberty sucked. She hated making others people feel uncomfortable but there she was, almost picking a fight with a doctor. She hurriedly reminded herself that the only time one should look down on someone is when one is helping them up.

She knew he underestimated her but she also knew it was not without reason. The girl had long accepted the fact that she was small and her strengths did not lie in, well, physical strength. But she had been working on it--taking regular jogs. Still, she will not apologize--she was also stubborn that way.

"Okay then. I'll get a cart." She stepped into the school building without waiting for a reply. After explaining the situation to the lady at the reception desk, she practically rode the cart back to the doctor--a little wind was always welcome on the hot day. She stepped off the cart and tried to give a friendly smile. "So what is in those boxes anyway, Doc? Specifically, I mean."