Bad Timing

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana was paid yet another visit from a fellow member of the organization she worked for, SIGURD. Here she thought she had been doing good and had not received any word about any failures or a pending punishment. Nothing at all, yet here was someone who she knew was from her organization. She had seen them before, knew of their power, and this was in fact one of the people she had been punished by. A guy with the ability to manipulate sound, able to almost counter her ability fully. She had only come to the parking lot to try out her skills with drawing cars, having not had the chance to actually draw them in a while since she had been pretty busy. No words were said, no needed to be said. Roxana had a pretty good feeling why the guy was here in the first place. Since she had not heard any word about getting in trouble she knew the guy was here of his own free choice. SIGUARD liked you to know that they held all the power, that you should fear them, so this was without a shadow of a doubt a person visit.

A personal visit that was to get Roxana back for still managing to do some damage to the guy before she was ultimately beaten by him and the guy that was with him. "You know you can't beat me by yourself right?" Roxana said in her usual simple tone, already forming crystal daggers between her fingers after dropping her sketch book down to the asphalt. They guy probably already knew that, but didn't want to believe that he could not beat up a teenager. Just as Roxana's crystal were done forming her screamed, loud. Using his power to change the pitch of his scream and hitting the frequencies that caused Roxana's crystals to crack. She still threw them at him, managing to land at least one hit before she had to cover her ears since her hit did not stop him from screaming. He did stop just as Roxana started to drop down to her knees. He saw sensed someone, someone that should not be a witness to this, but then again he did attack Roxana out in the open.

Muttering something to her before he turned to leave, purposely running into the person who had shown up and had the worst timing. Shoulder checking them and quickly going on his way to get in his car and drive away. Roxana starting to rise to her feet and wipes any blood that might have seeped out of her ears. "Are you okay?" Roxana asked as she approached who had interrupted everything, mostly just wanting to figure out how much they saw.

[Jaiden Bolton]

Jai strolled across the tarmac, gazing hungrily at the neatly parked cars. One thing was for sure, there was some serious money attending this school. For every battered little hand-me-down engine there was a sleek beautiful beast of a vehicle. They made his fingers itch. Fresh from a shopping trip in Kalispell, his backpack was laden with a new batch of snacks, some greens for Mia and clanging at the bottom were his less innocent cans of spray-paint. Feeling uncharacteristically masochistic he’d chosen to take the long route back to his dorm. The route that took him past the very thing he was forbidden from having, given his record and lack of international driving license.

He had his headphones on and was blasting classical music at a volume usually reserved for the hearing impaired. Jai wasn’t listening to it because he was cultured or had good taste. Honestly, if it were purely up to him he’d be listening to some fast, hard and inane dubstep. Jai found the classical stuff had a kind of calming effect on him and given the fact that he’d yet to go on his evening run and was already stuffing some of his new snacks down his throat, he needed it.

Between his lustful stares at the cars and his music, Jai was lost in his own little world. That was until a sharp, almost physically painful sound rudely interrupted his boy, Beethoven. Jai jumped and yanked off his head phones. What the hell was that? Some kind of feedback? Slowly, he put them back on to see if the sound would come again but, no…normal, boring, beautiful Beethoven. Before he could rewind the track something big and fast rammed into his shoulder sending him sprawling back against a car bonnet. Jai’s phone and his bag of blueberries flew from his hands and skittered across the tarmac. ‘Christ, watch it, mate!’ The man responsible paid no attention to Jai, yanked open the door to a white van and sped out of the car park, wheels screeching. Ugh, ugly car. The guy had bad taste to match his bad manners. Jai wasn't surprised. ‘Well, that wasn't suspicious. Like, at all.’

‘Are you, okay?’

Caught off guard for the second time in a minute, he seriously needed to start paying more attention to his surroundings. It was a girl, he didn't think he’d seen her around the school, she was pretty memorable. 'Yeah. I'm fine.’ He picked up his phone, checking the screen, it wouldn't be the first time he’d destroyed one, not even the first time this week. The screen was cracked, the glass now resembling a spider web. He was almost more upset about his spilt blueberries, buying the things fresh was damned expensive. Five second rule? Eh, maybe not when there’s company. He knelt down to regretfully pick up the now empty blueberry packet, ‘Only a few casualties.’ He straightened and adjusted his backpack more comfortably on his shoulder. ‘Your friend owes me a new screen. Did you just break up with him or something?’ He looked at the girl, really looked, committing her face to memory. She had interesting features, ones that would look good on canvass if he could capture them well enough. There was something on her cheek and jaw, like a smear of ink. ‘Oh hey, you’ve uh, got something right here.’ He motioned to his left ear. He squinted at it, he knew that particular shade. ‘Woah, is that blood?’

[Roxana Strix]

It was a younger boy that Roxana's fellow SIGUARD employee had run into, making the boy drop a few things with his whole running into him. Roxana understood why he had done it. The kid interrupted what he had planned to do, so he was taking out his anger on him. Unprofessional, but the whole meeting had been pretty much unprofessional and Roxana didn't care all that much. She did care about the condition of the guy that was run into since it was not really his fault that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Roxana would have even felt slightly bad if the boy had gotten badly hurt because of being around the parking lot when Roxana had to deal with the typical seeds of jealousy and hate. She asked if he was okay and could tell that she probably started him a little. Or at least he had not been paying attention so when she was suddenly closer to him and asking how he was doing she understood his slight off-guard nature.

Roxana knew him, not personally but she knew his name for sure, but she has to think on it more as to recall what his power was. He was not a targets but it still did help to know about the others that were around you. Especially since he was a transfer student recently, and Roxana having been keeping close tract of student transfer for a hidden assignment reason. This was Jaiden Bolton, she was pretty sure of it, just from having seen his image on the computer and now being able to match it to his face in person. He said he was fine but Roxana was looking him over just to be sure, knowing that it was not that hard to bump into someone and harm them in some way shape or form. Walk by stabbing or placing something on him that would go boom did cross Roxana's mind, but she didn't see anything that made her feel any worry. She could not help but to smile a little at Jaiden pointing out that he had a few casualties.

Rox assuming he was talking about his phone and his spilled blueberries. She was just about to offer to pay for the spilled fruit and his phone when Jaiden brought up that her friend owed him a new screen. Heh, friend. Roxana could not help to think to herself and she could not help but to look away for a moment with an amused look on her face about the whole 'breaking up' question. "I'll pay for a new screen and even a new phone if you need it. I'll also pay for your spilled blueberries." Roxana offered and she was just going to go with not touching on the whole question about breaking up. It worked with some people when you didn't bring something up and focused on a certain part of the topic, then they would forget or either drop the other part of their conversation. Roxana looked back at him, not really needing to memorize his face since she had already done that before she even met the boy.

She did find it interesting to see the look in his eyes and how he clearly was looking at her, but said nothing on it. He pointed that she had something near her left ear, Roxana moving her hand to feel that it was still some blood she missed. Oh joy. "Sorry about that, thanks for pointing it out, and yes its blood." Roxana said simply as she reached down to pick up her scarp book, ripping out a page and using the paper to better get at all the blood that had leaked a little out of her ears. They were still sensitive but no real damage. "I'm Roxana by the way. You are?" Roxana asked, introducing herself and while she already knew who he was, she had to keep up appearances of being just another student.

[Jaiden Bolton]

"I'll pay for a new screen and even a new phone if you need it. I'll also pay for your spilled blueberries."

Jai blinked in surprise, honestly not expecting the offer. After all it was the strange dude in a hurry who had barrelled into him, releasing his snacks back into the wild and giving his phone a trendy Spiderman screensaver. ‘Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ll just end up breaking a new phone again.’ He winked, ‘As for the berries well, it’s not like they grow on trees or anything.’ To prove his point he shoved a hand into his backpack, fished around and pulled out another package. He offered them to the girl before funnelling a few into his mouth. He may not have an idea of what blue looked like but when it was paired with berries it was damned delicious. They were as close to skittles as he could get since Jai and candy didn't mix well, unless he wanted to literally start bouncing off walls for a few hours.

"Sorry about that, thanks for pointing it out, and yes its blood."

‘You’re acting pretty nonchalant for someone bleeding from their damn ears.’ Jai didn't miss that she dodged his question which was a pretty big give-away that there was something going on between the girl and the rude dude. He mentally forced himself to rein in his rabid curiosity which took far more self-control than he thought he possessed. The small voice at the back of his mind, the one he usually ignored, told him to step carefully at this new school till he knew exactly who was at the top of the food chain and who was safe to offend. But taking things slow was something he’d never been very good at and so far he’d blundered through his first social interactions with all the tact and delicacy of a charging rhinoceros. ‘Are you always this calm and collected? Do you have the power of super self-composure or something?’

"I'm Roxana by the way. You are?"

‘Hungry and a bit bruised but you can call me Jai.’ He bit back on the natural urge to offer his palm for a handshake. Some mutants were a bit touchy about physical contact with stranger. You never knew who was clairvoyant or something equally awkward. Jai settled on offering her his best smile instead. Jai’s eyes lit up as he noticed her scrap book. Sketching wasn't really his thing, there was something about the delicate pencil strokes that felt too ordered and neat. The exhibitionist in him liked his art to be big and impossible to ignore. But that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate other people’s art. ‘Oh, you draw? Are you one of those people who refuse to show off their work?’ He gave her a slow sly smile. ‘If you let me have a look I’ll pretend I didn't notice the way you dodged my question.’

[Roxana Strix]

"If you are sure. I'm not saying I would buy you a phone each time your phone breaks. Just this once." Roxana pointed out, still speaking in calm and not really phased tone. Finding the wink to have been interesting but just made a mental note about it and did not say anything on it at the matter. Her mind was still processing the fact what had just happened and if she really would have been able to beat a guy who was her clear weakness. She had been on her knees by the time Jaiden had showed up and her ears were still sore from the encounter. No room for self-doubt. Roxana thought to herself, more of her telling herself what she was not allowed to have within her. "I supposed but its more so principle then how it is how easy it would be to obtain them. What would have happened if you didn't have a backup?" Roxana asked, half impressed that he did have a backup bag.

The guy must have really liked blueberries and he even offered some to Roxana, who just simply shook her head no. "No thank you." Roxana replied, not that she didn't like blue berries, she just didn't know this guy personally and he did just pull them out of his backpack. It was suspicious to her even if she was 99% that if she ate one of them no harm would come to her. Roxana managed to get all the blood, having to take a moment to fully catch what Jaiden had said to her. It seemed like her hearing was acting up a little bit, but she still caught it. "I'm nonchalant about many things. Plus it's just blood and it stopped so I have no need for concern." Roxana pointed out, not really seeing it as a big deal. She had dealt with much worse than this little ear bleeding. She did not feel the need to act like to far from her natural self since she had been at BA a month or two now and was pretty sure many knew her as well...calm among other things.

Jaiden was then asking question, causing Roxana to pause for a moment to look at the boy and could not help but to smile a little bit. "Yes I am. No it's not my power. My power is crystal manipulation." Roxana said as she held up her right hand and a crystal dagger started to form and rested in the palm of her hand. They were what she was really good at creating fast and it only took one hand to do it. When she asked for his name she got more then what she asked for, but it was not a bad thing. Just a little extra information as well as now knowing the boy liked to be called by a nickname; Jai. He didn't offer out his hand and was smiling, his eyes seeming to be full of life and Roxana had the urge to draw his eyes. Just his eyes. He was then asking about her drawing and if she was the type who refused to show her work. There was a sly smile there before Roxana could answer, with words of something akin to black mail. Let him see and he would forget that she dodge his question.

Ah, good he noticed. so he is not stupid. Roxana thought to herself, her small smile coming back again as she flipped through her book and held it out to show him one of the cars she had been drawing. It was very well detailed, but you could still tell it was a sketch with how many lines were through it. "There, you can see one." Roxana said keeping her small smile and her sketch book was pretty much the only thing that she didn't just show anyone because in a way it was sometimes like a diary, but through a picture so still coded just so Roxana or someone who could get into her head would be able to figure it out.

[Jaiden Bolton]

"I supposed but its more so principle then how it is how easy it would be to obtain them. What would have happened if you didn't have a backup?"

‘That’s my secret; I always have a backup. Honestly, if I didn’t I’d probably pass out in the next hour or so. You’d have to carry me to the nurse’s office, which wouldn’t be fun for either of us.’ Jai shrugged when she turned down his offer and took another mouthful munching happily. It didn’t even occur to him that most normal people would be a bit cagey about eating something offered by a stranger. As far as Jai was concerned free food was something that should never be turned down, especially when he’d missed his third lunch that day. His parents warning of never accepting sweets from a stranger had fallen on deaf ears when he was a little kid, it was a wonder he’d survived this long.

"I'm nonchalant about many things. Plus it's just blood and it stopped so I have no need for concern."


He couldn’t argue with that though he was pretty sure one of the last things you wanted to start leaking blood were your ears. Roxana clearly wasn’t very squeamish and it made him like her all the more for it. Then again, squeamishness when you were surrounded by kids who could grow back limbs, shape shift and do other weird and wonderful things, was not a great trait to have. ‘I just usually prefer mine inside my body if I can help it.’

"Yes I am. No it's not my power. My power is crystal manipulation."

Jai nearly choked on his blue berries as he stared wide eyed at the crystal daggers. He’d thought that few things could still surprise him when it came to the student population’s talents, he’d been very wrong. The crystals were beautiful and…deadly looking. ‘Now, that is a very cool power. I mean it’s a liiiiittle hippy-ish, but still very cool. All I can do is run really fast which is pretty lame in comparison. Unless I’m late for class.’ He gave a self-deprecating laugh, ‘Or if I need to run from the cops. And he was rambling. Yeah, he was definitely starting to feel those blue berries kicking in.

"There, you can see one."

His first instinct was to reach for the book and he started to do just that before he managed to turn the movement into a classic ‘run hand through hair’ gesture. He wasn’t sure how she’d take him grabbing her sketch book and he was fascinated by this strange crystal making artist with an ear bleeding problem. She was very low on his list of people he wanted to make an enemy of. After all those crystal daggers weren’t just pretty – they were deadly. He took a few long moments to study the sketch, really study it. They said you could tell a lot about someone’s personality from their art…or was it their handwriting? Whatever. Roxana definitely had an eye for fine detail, she hadn’t missed a thing. He felt that silent thrill he always got when he saw truly talented artistry.

Finally he looked up from the sketch. ‘I was expecting some kind of angsty doodle or my little pony fan art but that is….kind of amazing. Do you use any other mediums?’ He rocked back on his heels and crumpled up his now empty blueberry packaging, shoving it into his pocket. ‘Kind of wasted in that scrap book though. Ever thought of cutting up some stencils of your work and sharing those skills of yours with the world? Or, well, with Kalispell. It’s only vandalism when it looks bad.’

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana gave a small nod, understanding having a backup and could relate to it on some level. That level being more so when it came to her work, but if it was for food or say something related to art then she rarely had a backup. Even now she only had one pencil on her to draw in her sketch book. Art and other things that were not her job were not important, even if she really enjoyed art. She had been told over and over that it was not important and that was what she had come to believe on some level. She looked him over when he stated that she would have to end up carrying him to the nurse office. "I'm sure I could manage. You don't look that heavy and if I put you over my shoulders just the right way it would be easy enough to carry you." Roxana said in sort of a matter of fact tone of voice. She had carried heavier people on her shoulder before. Plus if she could not fully pick him up, she would be able to at least drag him to where he needed to go. She was still pretty confident however that she could in fact carry Jaiden.

Roxana didn't really have a squeamish bone in her body, none that she knew of anyways since she had seen plenty of gore. Hell, she had one of her bones sticking out of her skin at one time so she was pretty sure that she was not going to get all weird with some blood leaking out of her years. Blood that was not all wiped up and with time the small pain would go away and hearing would go back to normal. Roxana did chuckle a little when Jaiden pointed out that he would prefer for his blood to be inside his body if he could help it. "I can relate to that." Roxana said with a small nod, not liking bleeding after all but it was something she knew was going to happen so she didn't fret about it. Roxana didn't really think her power would cause any form of shock, but she was taking it as a complement. Well, all but the hippy-ish part, because she had no clue what he meant by that. Her English was pretty spot on and she didn't even have an accent and she was pretty sure she knew all the slang terms, but hippy-ish and her daggers were having a hard time clicking in her head.

"Being able to run fast has its benefits so long as your legs are not injured." Roxana said, feeling like it would be a good mutant power to have. For a body guard, not so much since that was more of a move fast while holding your ground sort of job. Being able to run fast did have its benefits since you could get from place to place faster but she felt like that would be a job best suited for a messenger in her field. She could feel and sort of tell that Jaiden had a lot of energy going on, wondering if he was just easily affected by sugar or if it was because he could run fast that he seemed to be on something of a permanent sugar rush. "Do you have a habit of running from the cops?" Roxana asked with a small smirk for a moment as her eyebrows rose as she looked at the boy, now desiring to take a closer look at his file. Jai made a smart move with playing off his hand reach with having his fingers growing through his hair instead.

If he had taken her book she would have more than likely made him end up with his face on the parking lot ground. If he had run, well she would try to use her crystal dagger to hit him in his leg, but she didn't know just how fast or how easily he could reach into his speed power. He was really looking at her work, Roxana getting a vibe that he too had at least some artistic level of skill in some way just by the way he was looking at what she had sketched out. His response did make her half chuckle again but she appreciated the comment. "I don't tend to show my angsty work to just anyone nor my pony pictures." Roxana have teased but there was some truth to it since she did have both those styles of drawing, just not in this sketch book. This was more of her outside one where she drawn actual things in front of her. "Any medium really. Even my crystals." Roxana answered, holding up the dagger and concentrating as the dagger would start to reshape and appear as a sphere.

His next words did surprise her little, but still had her smiling either way. She did love to tag things back at home before she had to focus on her job here at BA. "Are you asking me to join you and spray painting places around here? Pretty sure it vandalizing even if it’s good. It's all about if someone wants it there or not, but I'm not against...breaking some rules." Roxana said, choosing her words carefully, but she was a rebel and the need to break rules here and there surfaced at times like these.