[Texts]

[psinothing]

[There's a lot going on Jeff could talk about. Things he wants to talk about, like, "why are we keeping a dangerous murderer in the school instead of sending him to a high-security federal prison?" or maybe something more personal like, "what does it mean to be an adult now?" But he doesn't have any business questioning the security team's decisions, especially after some of the other people who have been allowed to roam free in the school, and the second one is probably not what an adult would ask anyway.

So what other current events could make for good conversation to keep his mind off those things...?]

So I guess it's Valentine's Day in a few days. I hope those weird flying robots don't show up again this year. But they have every other year. Just be careful if you don't want to end up in an embarrassing situation!

A lot of people get pretty bitter around this time of year, I've noticed. It's not so bad not to have a Valentine, right? It's a nice day targeted at making money off couples, sure, but there's no reason not to go have fun with single friends or just eat chocolates or watch sappy movies instead, right?

People really undervalue friendships at times like these, but those are important. Maybe even more important than romance. Just a thing to think about, I guess.

Comments

[thewunderkind]

[Lash burst into Jeff's door, nearly knocking the thing over.]

Hey! Rise and shine!

[It's 5PM]

[psinothing]

[JUMPY JEFF NEARLY FALLS OUT OF HIS CHAIR.]

Rise and...? What time zone is your watch set to?!

[thewunderkind]

Oh you're up! I dunno I can never tell when how you sometimes work at night.

Anyway, I have something for you...

[She runs back to the door, and pulls in a large present box that looks absolutely heavy, because its got a wheels on the bottom. Once she is into the room, she moves it on the floor and groans as she slowly moves it off of the platform.]

*Gasp* Okay phew. [She wipes some of the sweat away.] Geeze why is it so heavy. Anyway...

TADA!

[psinothing]

[Well, he can't really argue with that. Especially since he has slept some crazy hours in the past.]

That's huge! I'm almost afraid to open it.

[thewunderkind]

You should be.

[thewunderkind]

But seriously I promise it's nothing that can kill you. Unless you don't use it right, tee hee hee!

[psinothing]

[SLOWLY OPENING. THIS IS DRAMATIC AND SUSPENSEFUL.]

[thewunderkind]

[AND IT's...

A GIANT BLACK CRYSTAL.

What.]

[psinothing]

[What.]

Expensive jewels just for me?

Stopping there for Jeff's reaction at broken lamps.

[thewunderkind]

Yes now we are married.

[Punch]

No, it's a modified version of the Black Crystals I used to build for Black Hole back in the day. Only this one doesn't completely destroy the area around it turning it into a barren desert wasteland like the others did.

[Lash what.]

Okay lemme explain it. I made this one run on solar power and air around it, pretty much. If you can put it on a balcony, even better! If you dump snow on it, it will take in the energy from that snow. It just turns stuff into pure energy which you can then use to do whatever you like.

[She takes one of the things he's got laying around that has a plug...like this lamp, and yanks it out of the electrical outlet, placing it close to the crystal]

Now watch.

[It takes a few seconds, but once she turns the lamp on, slowly but surely, the lamp turns on, even if the plug is just...barely close to the crystal.]

Or even better!

[SMASH! There goes the lamp. Lash you just broke his lamp.]

[psinothing]

[Ow. Just going to rub his poor arm while watching this demonstration with wide-eyed wonder. And dodge bits of broken lightbulb.]

I can see converting solar energy, but to get it from snow? That's just crazy enough to be something you've developed. It's brilliant! It's...

[Hey, wait a minute.]

It broke my lamp...

[thewunderkind]

Well not quite. I did that on purpose.

[She squishes the rest of it with her foot.]

Just wait.

[And then about twenty or so seconds afterwards, the pieces start to reform themselves, slowly but surely as dark electrical energy tentacles reverse the process and reform things together until...

Perfect Lamp. Heck, if it had a dent before, the dent is gone.]

Huh? Huh? Isn't it just the best?!

[psinothing]

That's actually kind of creepy.

Does it work on organics too?!

[thewunderkind]

Yeah a bit. Not as much as it could be, but that's because I'm not siphoning the energy out of living things like it did before.

Imagine something like this but...twenty...no fifty times as huge as this. Von Bolt made me build these to rejuvenate the troops after a battle. It made us near invincible!

...Until they were destroyed, of course.

Anyway, the material needed is super-duper rare! I've been trying to track some down since I've been in this school, and, well, I finally found a source somewhere that's very limited. I've been working on prototypes since a few months, but nothing concrete and I guess I sorta care about things now, so no using the energy all around like before. Only solar and water power now! ...uh speaking of which, don't drop it into a lake unless you want to drain everything.

Also don't worry, it won't harm you either. See?

[She touches it and behold absolutely nothing happens.]

This is...basically one of my greatest inventions ever!

[And she's giving the first one to you. As a friend. Awww.]

[psinothing]

[HE IS JUST SPARKLING. Now that it's safe to touch he is going to touch it alllllll over. Sexily.]

Man... This is so cool. You're gonna have to show me how you made it, when you make another one! It's definitely going to come in handy. Thanks so much!

...Jeez. What can I ever get you to even come close to this?

[thewunderkind]

Nothing because I'm just that good.

[psinothing]

Well fine.

[thewunderkind]

But seriously, Happy Birthday!

[Pause]

I also made you a cake!

[But you know. Lash. Baking. Cakes.]

I'll be right back!

[YOUR DOOM IS COMING.]

[psinothing]

But my birthday was--

[Oh she's gone.]

...Yeeesterday.

[thewunderkind]

[She comes back ten minutes later, with a large white box.]

Now, I know your birthday was yesterday but I was busy getting the last component for the Black Crystal, so I couldn't be there...did you get the phone call I left you?

[She left you a phone call.]

Anyway, here!

[She pushes the box into his hands. When (if) he does open it, the cake appears to be very crudely made,with the frosting not at all even. In fact it was be hard to call it uneven. On the top, she managed to write Happy Birth before she ran out of space so it looked something like this:
Happy
Birth
Day
Jeff!

Oh also there was like maybe 20 sparklers on top. You know those things you light up on a cake that look like fireworks going off.]

[psinothing]

Oh. I, uh. I was on the phone all day yesterday because Tony and Maxwell kept calling.

[TRUE STORY. Okay, he is going to open this box.]

This is the ugliest cake I've ever seen.

[thewunderkind]

Aww come on! It's not that bad!

[She may have worked on that frosting for a while, as terrible as it is. For all the teasing she does, Lash is weirdly sensitive when SHE gets insulted.]

[psinothing]

Maaaybe it's not. But it all depends on how it tastes! Uh...

[He digs through a pile of junk on the edge of his bed, because he knows he had a fork somewhere in there. Yes, success! A quick wipe on his shirt is enough of a wash as far as he's concerned.]

Okay. Let's do this.

[OM...]

Just pretend its his favorite type of cake because I have no idea.

[thewunderkind]

[Well there's no eggshells and it isn't burned. It tastes as good as a cake should be, it's just...well it looks like a cake disaster. But taste wise? Not bad.]

How is it?

MAGIC CAKE? Wait, no.

[psinothing]

It's good! I didn't know you could cook at all. [Here, Lash, he is holding a forkful out for you too.]