So the Drama [IC]

[Electra]

"No, not like that. I mean, if we were normal people, going to normal school. Without the powers, or the weird pasts, or any of it," Erin persisted. "All the TV shows make it seem like it's such a complicated place, and like it's so hard, but I have to think it's got to be easier than what we've got, with trying to develop our powers and save the world and all on top of that. I only went to high school for half a year, but I don't remember it being that bad."

[alderwitch]

"I dunno. I always think we have it easier. I mean, when bad things happen, we have the kind of abilities that allow us to react. If we were normal folks and Mark's dad had, like, died of cancer instead of what all wacky hijinks happened, it would be a lot sadder. And way harder to do anything to fix that. Or if Daisy had been right and I'd been pregnant rather than Zoe coming back from a future where I die in a nuclear explosion." Alex said somberly, her brows knitting as her brain rapidly went down several different potentials and futures, "Also, we'd be such different people then, it's sort of hard to imagine, you know? My powers have shaped so much of who I am now that I have trouble extrapolating who and what I'd be without them."

[Electra]

Erin nodded thoughtfully. "I guess for people like you and Mike and Mark, it would be really weird. You'd have a whole entire different life. I don't even have to guess, I can just look at Erin Keeley's Facebook page. I just wonder what it would feel like to be that way, and have so little to worry about. Most people never knew when James tried to bring hell to earth, or when Rick rewrote all reality, or a half-dozen other things we've had to try and deal with. I wonder if they ever think about all they don't know."

[alderwitch]

"They don't by and large," Alex said with the faint smile of someone who knew this as fact rather than supposition. "They look at us and wonder what it would be like to fly, or leap over buildings. To be able to run as fast as a train or see what space looks like, just like we wonder about what it would be like to have their wonderful days. They don't come up with the bad, and neither do we. It's the whole grass is greener thing. You'd still have worries, they'd just be smaller in the grand scheme of things. They'd still be just as huge to you."

Alex paused for a moment, her rare hesitation unusual and then she offered very quietly, "But I can show you, if you want?"

It was a very rare offer for a psychic as rigidly ethical as Alex was, but in those few seconds, she'd weighed the moral grey area against the good it might do a friend and made her choice.

[Electra]

Erin thought about that for a minute. She knew Alex was very careful with her uses of psychic power, and gave the offer the careful consideration it deserved. Finally she asked "Do you mean like letting me see generally how a random assortment of high school kids feels about life, or actually seeing into the head of my double, so I know how I would feel if everything hadn't turned out so differently?"

[alderwitch]

"More the latter. How do I explain it..." Alex's brow furrowed as she tried to form the metaphysics into simpler terms, "I can provide you a... waking dream, basically. Overlay your thoughts and reactions with hers and build her world around you with a simple day in the life to react to, but like a dream, you'll have that emotional distance from it when you 'wake up'. Does that make sense? You'll experience things the way she would but it won't be an actual memory of hers that you're reliving."

Alex waved her hands a little, "You can think about it of course. If you really wanted to peek in her head, I'd let you but I think this way is less awkward."

[Electra]

There was quiet for a minute as Erin considered the idea, her fingers idly scratching under OIiver's chin. "I guess I probably shouldn't," she finally decided. "This is the life I've got, and at least I don't know any different. I was kinda grateful when Rick Lucas' reality warping didn't work on me the way it did on the others. I didn't want to have memories of another life or another way it could've been. Cause what if having them made it even harder to live with what I've got? I appreciate the offer, and it would be really interesting and satisfy my curiosity, but I think I'm better off staying totally in my own head." Even with the refusal, her voice was a bit wistful.

[alderwitch]

"Well, its not like I'm going to rescind the offer or anything," Alex said cheerfully, reaching out to pat her best friend's shoulder, "If that's the way you feel, you're making the right choice but if you ever feel you need a look around at what 'normal' really looks like from the inside, all you have to do is ask."

She flopped back down on the cushions with a happy sigh, "It's a good life, by and large, you just have look at the half full part and not think half empty, I think. Although, a lot of folks have trouble with that."

Alex's sigh was soft but heartfelt as she thought of all the counseling she'd been doing lately. "Especially right now."

[Electra]

Erin turned her head to look over at Alex, smiling ruefully. "Ain't no cure for the summertime blues?" she suggested. "I guess most people will be out of here really soon, going home or going on vacations, getting away for awhile. That should help. More elbow room and bathroom space for the ones who stay, anyway. Your family going to take a vacation this summer, now that you're off the government's leash?"

[alderwitch]

"I'm sending them to a deluxe whirlwind trip through Europe, the kind they've always talked about taking," Alex said with a smile, lacing her hands together across her stomach, "It'll be like a second honeymoon for them for two months. They're real excited and it'll be nice to give it to them. Mike's folks are going out to the farm for much of the summer, I think. We'll probably go and visit them, he really loves being out there. He's really good with animals and stuff. We'll both be here for the summer. I want to keep an eye on Zoe anyways. What about you? Any plans?"

[Electra]

"Not really," Erin replied. "I thought about taking the truck and going for a weekend somewhere, but I don't really know where I'd go. I'll probably take some summer classes and keep up my training, maybe spend a little more time relaxing, if I can convince Dr. Marquez I'm not crazy again." She smirked at that. "I'm applying for this babysitting gig, watching some superbaby whose parents live in town. Now that you've got actual staff and a huge corporation and all that to take care of your computer stuff, I need to pay for my cat food some other way," she reminded Alex teasingly. "The ad said they want someone with combat reflexes, so maybe it'll be right up my alley."

[alderwitch]

"Oh! We should go camping! We could get everyone to truck on out to the woods and make s'mores and do scary stories!" Alex suggested in the same tone she used to share most brilliant ideas. Of course, she was completely not thinking of what a bunch of hormone ridden teenagers would probably do out in the woods.

Alex chuckled and pointed out with amusement, "You could still be my personal assistant, but babysitting sounds like fun... why do they need someone with combat reflexes? Is it like The Pacifier? They're secret spies?"

[Electra]

"No clue," Erin admitted. "I've narrowed it down to two possibilities, either the kid is some kind of superpowered freakshow who could really hurt or escape from a normal babysitter, or it's a normal kid but in some kind of threatened position. Or some combination of both, I guess." She shrugged. "Hey, maybe it's actually a celebrity's kid, and they need a babysitter who's also a bodyguard. I think I could handle that. Mr. Archer's always talking about my protective instinct." Hanging one arm off the bed, she leaned over to look at Alex on the floor. "Or is that what you mean when you say personal assistant?" she joked.