"You can see it?"

  Mari didn't know if she should feel naked or proud. The fact that your Introspection was something only you could see was a given. She seemed to settle on an emotional state somewhere near conspiratorial.

  "How? No one can see Introspection!"

  "I'm as shocked as you!" His features were slowly coming into focus, but Mari's brain was failing to process any of it, just as it refused to process the oddity of his presence in the first place. "Sometimes when I bump into people, our arts resonate in funny ways."

  "Oh, you're a protege?"

  "Yeah..." he said, confused, raising a brow to her and then over her shoulder into the darkness. "You know my art doesn't make people oblivious to the world around them. Or lack thereof." He gestured with exasperation, then tilted his head with a newly-concerned look. "Have you been stuck out here so long you forgot about reality? Do you even know your name?"

  His silvery blue eyes were taking a puppydog gleam as he waited earnestly for her response.

  "No, my name's Mari. And yours is... Alibi, right? I mean I kinda assumed that's a nickname but—"

  "WHOA whoa whoa," he sputtered, backing away several steps "I'm sorry but if you've got a brain scanning think I think you ought to let people know. Isn't that the law?"

  "I don't have a brain scann—"

  "—it's not 'cause I'm ashamed of my thoughts. I mean I am. Everybody is sometimes. Sometimes I—"

  Mari couldn't find purchase in the conversation anymore. "Seriously, what are you on about?"

  "—decidedly non-linear according to the professor, and she warned me about anything too wild or paradoxical so—"

  "Chill out!" she blurted "I don't even get this. I'm sorry if I... misremembered your name?"

  "—and I'm just not trained for... wait did you say 'remember'?"

  "Yeah, we met like two days ago. Flap invited a bunch of people to the ice carving." Mari couldn't follow the lack of recognition. "We didn't get to talk really, but your hairstyle is pretty recognizable."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Alibi turned pale. "Did you yank me back in time?"

  (I so wish I could've freaked Alibi out this much, but somehow he always seemed to have the drop on me.)

  Mari couldn't follow the threads. "What did you say?"

  "Do. you. fuck. with. time? Because that's above my pay grade, and I don't think I should really stick my nose in this."

  "No, not that. Nevermind."

  Being able to stand in the void of nonexistence and avoid a non-existential crisis was convenient, but whatever threads were keeping Mari calm couldn't handle this new confusion. Here was a person, floating outside of reality, who she had apparently freaked out twice in twenty seconds. If she was going to get back home, she was starting out on the wrong foot.

  "We're starting out on the wrong foot." She slowly began to close the gap between them that formed when he had backed away. "No, I don't have time powers. Or mind powers. Not that have revealed themselves to me, anyway. This is my aspect." She gestured to the intangible tree, still merrily glowing over, upon, and across them. "I'm a Lyricist of the Greater Outdoors. The academy thinks I might be the only one."

  Whatever concerns he'd had seem suppressed by a new curiosity. "A solo artist?"

  "As far as we know. Yeah. I was so excited to come here..."

  "Here??"

  "...you know what I mean. School. I was excited to meet my aspect mates. I couldn't wait to hear about my muse!"

  "Naturally."

  "And then there's nothing. I know soloists are practically the majority these days, but not only do I not have a cohort, my muse is A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. What the freak is that? Their works are so amazing that they crystallized within me as magical powers AND YET no one has heard of them."

  This was the second time in a very short span she felt her emotions getting raw. Her eyes hung with the weight of pre-tears. This time, with another person around, she wanted to avoid them and swallowed a painful gulp.

  That response probably was a little too ingrained, but she filed it away to deal with much later, and continued, "you're not about to make me feel bad about how you had it worse? Just rip off the bandage if so. I don't need the embarrassment delayed for how small my potatoes are."

  Alibi looked at his feet.

  "I mean I'm a solo artist too, but I do know my muse."

  "Did your advisor tell you after you were admitted?"

  "Wellllll that's where our misunderstanding is originating." He stopped for a quick mull and cliched chin scratch. Sometimes it really did help with thinking, he thought. "I haven't gone yet. My first year doesn't start for another 2 months. We couldn't possibly have met yet."