Jean: Sooo, like, are you gonna stick a needle in me or something? Because, full disclosure, I faint rilly easily.

Chris: You toughened out the Combat Robo for two hours. You can handle this.

Jean: But, like, that’s the thing. I didn’t toughen it out! It was rilly scary and after the first five minutes I was crying!

Chris: So you spent those two hours running and crying?

Jean: YES! Feel bad yet??

Jean: Hey! Don’t smirk!

Jean: You’re the WORST!

Chris: You're not here for a flu shot. I just need a tiny prick — you’ll barely feel it.

Jean: Hmph!

Chris: Oh do stop sulking.

Jean: You’re not the boss of me!

Chris: Of course I am.

Jean: Are NOT!

Chris: The purpose, Jean, of you being here is so I can get to the bottom of your conundrum.

Chris: You seem to keep triggering your power accidentally which is forcing you to flee from my robot like some powerless damsel.

Jean: That robot is scary! It needs to be deactivated!

Chris: You need to wisen up and learn how to defend yourself.

Jean: I don’t do fighting, okay? I’m delicate. Some girls are born warriors and some are born to run a boutique. I am firmly in the boutique category.

Chris: You’re firmly in the why-did-I-waste-my-resources-on-this-one category. Hold still.

Jean: Ugh, it’s so cold down here. Is that why you always wear that awful hooded robe?

Chris: I wonder, is your inability to focus genetic or are you cultivating it deliberately?

Jean: Ouch! You said it wouldn’t hurt!

Chris: I haven’t done it yet. For goodness sake, hold still.

Jean: Ouch!

Chris: Jean...

Jean: Sorry...

Chris: There, done. Nothing to cry about.

Jean: Also, I focus just fine, by the way! Just… on the fun stuff. Not like, dodging killer robots.

Chris: Fascinating. Truly. Now I’m going to ask you some questions while the computer processes your sample. Can you explain what it feels like when your power activates?

Jean: Um. Tingly? Not like, good tingly. Stress-tingly. My body gets all warm, and then—boom, sparkle explosion.

Chris: “Sparkle explosion” is not very scientific.

Jean: It should be.

Chris: You’re describing spontaneous elemental displacement. Chaos-aligned. Your file says “lightningX43-Z1PP-019.” It’s not an experimental power, and yet yours is… more unstable. When you say “sparkle,” is it bright?

Jean: Uhhh, yeah? And it follows my mood, kind of? When I’m upset, it gets all erratic.

Jean: Oh! Do you think after it’s fixed I could use it to charge my phone! Now that’d be rilly freaking handy.

Chris: Focus.

Chris: So you’re linking emotional states to power flares. For it to be this drastic though, that’s a strange bug.

Jean: I’m not a bug, I’m sensitive! I feel things deeply. Like... the weight of expectation. I don’t handle stress well!

Chris: Ahuh. Tell me more about the last time it triggered.

Jean: Okay, uhhh, so I was at the smoothie stand with Hayley and she was talking about this boy and I was listening and then this girl walks out of the food court wearing my exact outfit—like, not similar, I mean the same top, same shoes, same everything. And she didn’t even look good in it! Like no contour, no accessorising! And I think I got so emotionally distressed that I started sparking up and that’s when your crazy robot attacked me!

Chris: I can tell you’re lying. And that’s not even a power I have. You’re just that bad at it.

Jean: ...

Chris: Anyway, I don’t care. The computer’s finished it’s scan. Your petulant whinging makes me want to perform a self-lobotomy right now with this pen.

Jean: That’s dramatic. Are you sure I’m the unstable one?

Chris: Yes.