Gotta Upgrade

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim looked down at the list, tapping it a few times and mumbling under his breath. He looked up, adjusting his glasses as he peered at the various mall stores. He'd actually have preferred to hit up one of the side stores or what have you, see if they might have the stuff, but most of his connections had actually suggested a store in the mall, of all things. Plus, the list in Tim's hand didn't just include computer components. That's what happened when you worked with one of those tech-wizard things. Instead of just shopping for increased hardware, Tim also got to shop for a metal colander and some soldering materials.

Well, he wasn't going to get it just by standing around here. Tim licked his lips and then stepped forward, heading toward the food appliance store. He focused mostly on the list, silently repeating a few of the items on it, including the colander, a grater, some kind of eye-dropper thing, and... salt? Yeah, he just stopped questioning this stuff. Tim was so focused on his list that he didn't see the display set up just outside the kitchen thing. He did feel it when he walked into it though.

Tim let out an "oof" and flailed out with his arms. This meant that the list went flying. Tim swiped at it, but the breeze from his swipe just meant that the list went flying further away. "Seriously?" Tim cried out, waving his hands. "This cartoon stuff? Ugh," he still adjusted his glasses and took off after the sheet though, knowing that he'd need it if he was going to have any hope of possibly getting the various items on the list.

[Erin Hackett]

Erin was at the mall, a place that she didn't really like to go since it meant there could be a lot of people depending on the time of day and the day of the week. Still, she had to actually go there herself since she still had to wait until all of her technology got hooked up to the internet at her apartment in town as well as in her room. She also needed to get a few convertors since all of her stuff had been set up and made in Japan after all. The power supply in the outlets as well as a few minor things did not work well when transitioning from Japan to America. She would have ordered all of her stuff off the computer like she normally did, but again she didn't have internet at the moment until she got everything she needed to make her stuff work over here without any problems.

"Alright, where is this place?" Erin said out loud but in a low mumble as she looked over the map of the store. She had to think of this like a video game map and she figured keeping that mindset would help her get to the places she needed to go in no time. Alright, mission object is to go to that store and that store. No time limit. Quest is complete when all necessary items are purchased. Roxana thought to herself and gave a nod as she went to head off to where she thought she needed to go. Only jumping when she heard the sound of things falling, and just super thankful that it had not been a large enough scare to cause her to use her power. Her light brown eyes went to the source of the commotion and saw a boy who to be having some difficulty. Heading in her direction and clearly going after something, that Erin soon assumed was that floating piece of paper coming in close.

Reaching out she managed to snag the paper out of the air and grab a hold of it before it would get to far away. While it would have been funny to watch the boy chance a paper around that the wind was teasingly keeping just out of his reach, she was not that mean. "Here. This is what you were after right?" Erin asked as she held the paper out, basically extended her arm out all the way to keep the boy at her comfort zone of an arm’s length away.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim pulled to a stop just short of the girl, blinking through his glasses as he looked at her. A few seconds ticked by while Tim clearly tried to process both what he saw and what the girl said. Then he let out a "uh, yeah, thanks," before taking the list, smoothing it down for a moment. He gave it another look before glancing over at the store. Another beat passed before Tim looked back at the girl.

"Uh, thanks again?" he tried, figuring that he might as well. Tim adjusted his glasses. The girl looked vaguely cute, not that Tim was really interested but more of noting it, and she looked vaguely familiar too. Then again, Tim was in a few clubs that seemed to attract a lot more girls then he would've figured. Or he could've just seen her around: they were in Kalispell, after all. "Was worried I'd have to chase it all over the mall, and I'd probably end up losing my glasses halfway through the chase or something," Tim paused for another beat before adding: "and I'm, uh, Tim, by the way," and he awkwardly extended a hand, figuring that he should.

[Erin Hackett]

Erin's eyes drifted over the guy as he stopped, and adjusted his glasses as if they were too loose and about to fall off. Just the vibe he gave off was 'smart kid' or at least he looked like one, but it could have very well been just the whole wearing glasses. She was a little surprised to actually see someone wearing glasses, since with contacts and all she figured everyone would be wearing them, then again maybe the area she grew up in was just high in technology so everyone there who had bad vision wore contacts and thus you didn't even know they had bad eyes sight. She gave a small nod when he took the list and told her thanks. "No problem." Erin said simply and in an 'it was not a big deal tone. Even if I was half tempted to let the paper just fly around and laugh my rear off watching you run around and try and catch it. Erin thought to herself and then also thought she might have been being a little mean, but it was in her head and so long as he was not a mind reader then it was no big deal.'

Erin had not actually seen him around, but then again she was still new and she had not been paying that much attention to the people around her. She thought too much in general and that caused her to forget the original source of what she was thinking about from time to time. Tim was not bad to look at, a dude she would not mind taking out to be her wingman to get some ladies. He certainly had a look about him that could lure in certain kinds of females after all. "That would have been very comical. Or one of those frustrating games that have you running after something that just moves a little too fast for you to catch." Erin responded back to his concern with a small chuckle as slid her hands into her pockets. Assassins Creed 4 came into her mind at the whole trying to catch those stupid music sheets that flew around in the game.

His name was Tim, right they were supposed to introduce themselves since that was the polite thing to do. Well, really you could do something nice for someone and then be on your way, but then Erin thought that this guy might be able to help her. Wait Tim, that name was familiar in terms of the names that were on the paper she was given with her roommates on it. "Hackett, I mean Erin." Erin said with a shake of her head for a moment, still not really getting used to saying her first name first when introducing herself. "I know we just met and all, but do you think you could help me?" Erin asked, probably speaking a little too fast as she casually took a step away from Tim to build up her confidence. It was hard asking for someone for help, even more so someone you just saved from having to chase a paper around even when you half wanted to watch them do just that.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Yeah, sure, hilarious," managed Tim, smiling weakly. He had to admit that it probably would've, from the outside. Seemed that pretty much every other thing that happened to him would have been hilarious from the outside. Which was why he didn't want to think about it overmuch. Best to just try and push through and come along to the whole introduction thing.

"Hack it?" repeated Tim. "As in--" but before he could finish, she'd already blurted out a request for help. Tim stood there for a second or so, gaping, before going "Uhhhh, I guess? I'm kinda looking to shop for stuff, hence, you know," he pointed, "the list. You did kinda just save me running around and looking like an idiot and all though. So, like, if you needed some help with something, I'm down.

"I'm pretty good at computers and junk, obviously, that's what I'm here for," he paused, then looked behind him, "even though this is not a computer store. I know that. I just---uhhh, the people who upgrade my computers use weird parts," Tim shrugged then looked back to Hackett, laughing nervously as he did. Yeah, that was his usual around girls. Though he'd have thought it would've gotten slightly better now that he had a girlfriend.

Sadly, that's not how it worked.

[Erin Hackett]

His words didn't have any power behind them and even his smile was weak on the whole matter of how funny it would have been to see him running around after a piece of paper. Erin just figured he could not see the full humor behind it since well it would have been him that was at the butt end of the joke. Erin nodded when he said her name pretty much how it was pronounced, even if he said it as two separate and actual words. It was not how her name was spelled, but at least he was saying it right. She didn't really think he call her by her last name, but she was used to being called by her last name so didn't mind at all. She noted that he was going to say something else but she ended up cutting him off, which in turn made her feel just a little bad.

Yes, save the guys paper but don't even let him talk. Nice Erin, you are the best at being nice. Erin thought to herself in full sarcasm mode as she watched and waited for his response. Sure it was very out of the blue, but she felt like he could help her and he was there and it would have taken way to much courage to go off and ask someone else so he was pretty much stuck with her unless he said no. It was not a yes, but it was a I guess that turned into a 'I'm down' so that meant that she was going to be getting some help. "Thanks D, zero, zero, D." Erin responded back, unable to help her occasional L33t speak, it was a habit by this point in her life. She started to smile a little more when he informed her that he was pretty good at computers and junk, and that was why he was here. This was perfect; she really could use his help.

He did point out something that was very obvious and Erin just simply nodded, feeling less nervous at seeing that he was just a nervous as well. Nervous or maybe uncomfortable with talking to her for some odd reason. She was not using her power by accident was she? If she was then maybe he was being weird because her eyes were dilated. No, her eyes didn't hurt. She was not using her power so it had to be something else. "I uh actually need some help getting some new computer parts to upgrade my computer. So if you know where a store I could get parts from that would be great...normal parts." Erin said as her eyes glanced at the list, not really able to make out what might have been on there but the whole 'weird parts' did make her wonder what kind of guy he had fixing her computer.

"I could upgrade your computer for you...if you wanted." Erin offered then after a moment, taking another step back casually and looking around to play off her whole stepping back.

[Tim Tawfeek]

D zero zero? It took Tim a few seconds to process. He couldn't recall if he'd ever heard anyone speak L33t aloud, and he hadn't been quite as intensely in that particular community as most. He knew enough to know what Hackett had been saying though, so he nodded along with that. Strange, but she was also giving off the whole technopath, computer freak vibe thing.

Then again, Tim gave off the exact same vibe and he talked to bats.

The girl wanted help upgrading, which struck Tim as being pretty darn ironic, though the convenient kind as opposed to the kind that Alanis Morisette would write a song about. "Yeah, sure, there's some more traditional stuff on this list too,' he said, nodding and tapping the list. He had already gotten a few of those particular items, since he usually avoided the mall for those parts if he could, but, well, you know, the mall often had better selections.

Tim started to move when Hackett continued, drawing him to a stop. He blinked, then reached up to adjust his glasses. "Well, uh, like, I sort of already have a guy doing it. No offense or anything. He's, uh, one of those really talented people from the local skill. Has a real knack for this stuff," Tim nodded, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "computer shop's this way," he could always get the colanders later.

[Erin Hackett]

Speaking L33t out loud was less fun then it was typing it since typing it only took a second while saying it...with how fast Erin tended to say it probably ended up being the same amount of time if only longer by a few seconds. Erin knew not everyone knew how to speak L33t or understood it, some didn't even know what it was. She was just assuming he would know because of how he talked about getting upgraded parts of his computer. Plus she was getting that whole computer kid vibe or at least tech savvy from the other boy. Either way she would have spoken L33t because again it was something that was simply a habit. It had to be luck that Erin had been the one to catch his list. They were both here for pretty much the same reason and she had a feeling that he at least knew how to get around a mall better than she did.

"Oh good. I would feel a little bit bad about asking you to take me all the way to the computer store when you were like planning on getting a toaster or something." Erin teased; making her own little joke because of time had stated that he was getting unique parts in order to upgrade his computer. Still, she did need his help with all of this since she really did more of the whole ordering offline for pretty much everything she needed. Thus leading to her being terribly out of practice with navigating around a store or pretty much anywhere without the use of GPS or a campus to aid her. Time started to move then, and Erin went to go follow him, keeping some distance between them but stick a lot closer to him then she would any other person. She didn't want to end up losing him and he pretty much became of something of like an extra life in a video game that she wanted to hold onto.

Tim stopped however when Erin started to talk, making Erin stop and watch the boy blink at her while he fixed his glasses. He really should invest in some contacts. Glasses get in the way, and reflecting. Oh, he is talking. Pay attention. Erin thought to herself and caught back onto the conversation at the part of no offense and talk about how this guy had apparent skill and real talent when it came to that sort of thing. "No probs there." Erin said with a small shrug, figuring she would be nice to offer but if he really had this guy to do it then no trouble on her part. He pointed then his thumb where they needed to go and she gave a nod, moving to follow him. Feeling like she should at least talk to him so they were not just walking around in silence. "So umm...you from around here?" Erin asked and immediately felt so lame for asking such a generic question.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim chuckled at the joke, which was more or less awful, and shook his head. "Yeah, I've learned to avoid toasters. The people around here have a tendency to modify them into death weapons or something," he shuddered. it was true though: he'd narrowly dodged a toaster or two that looked about ready to attack. Battlebots took on a whole new meaning when you had technopaths running around and doing stuff.

They'd started moving though, Tim's feet carrying him on the familiar route to the computer store. Just happened to be a sixth sense of most nerds, though it helped that Tim had visited this particular store a time or two. Wasn't quite as interesting as some of the ones downtown, and Tim was personally hoping for a technopath graduate to come back and make something truly awesome, but it definitely worked.

Erin seemed cool enough with their direction and Tim's soft rebuttal. "I'm always up to some kinda project though so--Oh, me? Uh, I'm originally from Cali. But I've been here for, like, forever now. Well, a few years, anyway. Long enough. Like it matters: I exist more on the web than in any real place," Tim nodded, then licked his lips for a moment.

"What about you? I'm gonna guess... Alaska. Mostly because I'm hoping to find one. I swear they all go to Japan or Russia or something..."

[Erin Hackett]

It was not the best of jokes out there, but people who worked with tech should have known where it came from and what she was getting at. If not, oh well she was not overly concerned about it and Tim did chuckle so he must have got it. Erin chuckled at hearing the people here also had a habit of making toaster into something involving with death. So it was not just something the tech related power kids did at her school back and Japan. It made her smile to rally understand that fact they were all not that different from one another. "What is with people always trying to put a death spin on technology based things? Don't they already know that if we are not careful technology will rise up to get rid of us?" Erin asked with a small snicker, but she was a big believer in the whole synthetics would enslave humans the day they were built and giving their own free living and thinking AI.

Erin honestly had no clue where she was going, sticking relatively close to Tim as her eyes looked around. Counting how many people were around, where the closest exit was, and making sure to give people plenty of space so she would not run into them. Not that she needed to really worry about the whole running into them thing, since she was not using her power at the moment. She really was bad at this whole 'being in public' but she knew sooner or later she would have to get used to it. Pffft, not really. All the technology and the ability to pretty much get everything you need over the internet and have it mailed to you, I really never have to leave my house. Erin thought to herself and other then making sure to move around and at least run in place for a little, she really didn't do much physically activity or go outside.

Tim said he was up for any kind of project and Erin kept that in the back of her mind, always happy to take on some extra nerd help for any of her big projects. She listened as Tim informed her that he was from Cali and that he had been here forever. Great, a man on the inside that knows a thing or two about this place. He could be very useful and he is smart so I don't have to worry about being an air head around him or anything. Erin smiled at hearing that he mostly existed on the web; if he had been female he probably could have ended up her soul mate just saying those words. "Oh five, zero, zero, Apostrophe, slash. I'm one of the ones from Japan. Transferred over here because of my dad’s job." Erin said, feeling a little bad that she was not from the place he was hoping.

"But I have a friend over the web from there. Could introduce you to her if you want. I say she is a seven." Erin said with a nod as she thought about the girl's overall looks and personality in there would make her probably an 8. “Unless you are not unm…into chicks.” Erin added after a moment, figuring she just make sure but she was pretty sure this guy was a lady lover.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"I dunno, if my power actually let me make a toaster a death machine, I'd probably mod one," said Tim, offering up a slight shrug. He already tinkered around with things and supported a few people who were into that sort of thing. Wasn't much of a stretch for him to actually start doing it himself.

They made their way through easily enough, Tim knowing where to go. He noticed the girl following pretty close, and it actually made him feel a little more confident. His strides got that much more sure, a bounce nearly entering his step then. Easy enough to prattle off all that information even.

Though a lot of that came to a screeching halt as Erin responded to his own question. Took his brain a bit to translate the words into the right stuff again, and then he nearly screeched to a halt when Erin said where she was actually from. He stared, openly stared for a few seconds. She mentioned a girl, then gave said girl a number, which was all kinds of surprising, mostly because Tim couldn't recall hearing a girl actually do that for another girl.

Well, that made one things really clear.

"Uh, what? Oh, yeah, totally into chicks. Love 'em. Say so on my blog, like, too often. Well, I did, before that blog got taken down and I shifted to another. it's weird and junk. But, uh, I'm more of a one chick dude right now. Scored like a real life princess and all," Tim nodded, then let out another heavy breath before turning. He pointed and turned, taking them that much closer to the right shop. "Are you seriously from Japan? You don't, like, look very Japanese. Unless you're hiding it really well." Shapeshifter? Face-stealer? Something even creepier?

[Erin Hackett]

Erin could at least eliminate Tim’s power being anything technology related after hearing that he would have to mod the toaster. Erin would prefer to just mod a computer or a game conceal over a toaster but she figured after taking a toaster apart she would be able to figure out how to mod it. “You mind if I ask what your power is?” Erin asked, speaking a little lower since they were out in public among people who were probably not all mutants like them. Even if someone did overhear them it would be easy enough to act like they were talking about some kind of nerd thing about having super powers. There had to be a comic book shop around here somewhere as well so again more ways to play things off when talking about powers. Erin did look around the mall a little bit, mapping the place out in her mind so she could figure the place out.

It helped that she could just follow Tim and not have to worry about fully paying attention to where she was going. Other than making sure that she didn’t run into Tim in case he suddenly stopped or got distracted with anything. Tim seemed to even be walking a little different for a moment so Erin had to change up how she was walking. Only to have to slow down again and fully pay attention to what Tim was doing. Did I say something super weird? Probably should stop speaking L33t and keep to typing it. Erin thought to herself, knowing she really did need to work on the whole ‘not speaking L33t out loud’ thing but habits. Erin smiled to hear that he was totally into chic, because that meant she had someone to talk about to them. If he was up for that sort of thing, since not everyone was so cool about sexualities in terms of talking about them or even if someone was a homo.

Erin did note that he brought up having a blog, she most certainly was going to have to check that out, but she had to apparently wait first because he switched over from one before. Meaning I have to find his other one too. Erin made a mental note to herself and smiled a little to hear that Tim had found the princess he had been seeking. “Lucky guy to have found your princess already.” Erin said with the smile remaining on her face, already trying to figure out the kind of girl Tim ended up with. Erin chuckled just a little as she messed with the end of her shirt at the question. “I was born in the USA but moved over to Japan when I was really little because of my dad’s job. I’m only good at literally hiding myself, others, and items.” Erin admitted as she played with the end of her shirt some more. Nope she was not Japanese at all but she grew up there and had citizenship over there as well.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"You seriously don't know?" said Tim, raising a brow. He'd figured that every tech savvy student in the school would've seen his by now infamous video. Clearly he needed to do more of them. Then again, that was precisely why he was here in the first place: he needed to get stuff together to record more. Which meant showing even more people.

So he clearly didn't mind sharing now: "I talk to bats and can copy them," he said, adding a shrug. "Just bats though: nothing else. Not even, like, birds or mice or something." Which in Tim's opinion was just wholly unfair. Most animal mimics or communicators could handle a lot more than one animal. He supposed it was the whole depth versus breadth thing, but even then, wasn't like he could do a whole lot with bats.

Not that he used his power a whole lot anyway.

Didn't need it for the rest of what they talked about, at any rate. Erin explained her Japanese-but-not situation, which had Tim nodding. He got that. "Like all those embassy or military kids," he said, nodding. 'That's cool. Hey, means you've got, like, loads more cultural experience than the rest of us. Store's right up there," he nodded and pointed before heading straight for it. They'd be at the shop soon enough, with Tim taking a deep breath and inhaling the smell of technology. Ah, how very bracing.

[Erin Hackett]

“Nope, still really new here. I have not even moved fully into the dorms yet, but I’ll check it out.” Erin said with a nod, already knowing what she was going to do as soon as she got all of her networks and systems set up. She would check out this guy’s videos and most certainly keep track of it. She always had a great deal of respect for those who could manage to stand in front of a camera and speak to others, unless he was doing an animation type thing. Erin did that. She made animations of herself or either wore a mask and played with her voice so no one would know it was her when she did make the rare video blogs. Her ‘Let’s Plays’ were easy enough since she didn’t really show herself and didn’t like to do the whole playing a scary game and letting people see you freak out thing. Her power could not handle her playing a scary game, even if video games scares didn’t really scare her. They were all jump scares.

Erin’s eyes widened a little to hear what Tim’s power was. He could copy and talk to bats? That was actually pretty cool, until he started to point out how he could only do just bats and made it sound like he was not all that thrilled with his limited based power. “Well…at least you can talk to an animal and copying it actually sounds pretty cool. So could you like close your eyes right now, use you power, and not run into anything?” Erin asked, because now she was tempted to ask him to do just that. Sure they were in public but all she would have to do was use her power so no one would see or hear what Tim was doing. It was the perfect idea and she was already smiling that she had just thought it up and figured just how well it would work. They could be an unstoppable thief teams. Robbing places at night, hidden from camera and what not, and not even needing to work that hard to find what they were looking for.

There was other thing that would go into it all, but for a quick thought it was interesting and she certainly saw them as some OP power team set. “Kind of, but more of a, my dad’s job got sent overseas type deal.” Erin added to Tim’s words, but the boy was basically on the right track and the major difference was that Erin went to school with mainly Japanese kids instead of going to school at the embassy. Erin almost jumped up with joy when Tim pointed out the shop; her inner nerd was having a field day as her eyes looked over practically everything from a distance. She already started to move faster, practically dashing the rest of the way into he store where she felt safe, at home, and surrounded by that wonderful tec smell. “Ah, I could live in here and be happy.” Erin said as she took a moment to take it all in before going on the search for things she needed, but still pretty much stuck in close proximity of Tim.

“Anything I can help you look for…or…uh…you know.” Erin said, suddenly getting nervous after having leaned in closer to whisper to Tim and then quickly put some distance between them. Trying to play it off like she spotted something she needed…wait, she did need this.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Eh, it takes a while, but you'll be fine. If you're super eager to get friends, just find Frank Cox or one of those other popular people. They're always looking to latch onto other people," Tim chuckled, remembering having seen Frank in action (kind of hard to miss her). He'd definitely recommend people run into her as opposed to, say, her darker half, Jack McCarthy, who Tim was... adjusting to.

Tim chuckled as Eren mentioned the whole bit about his power. He nodded, which made him need to reach up and adjust his glasses. "Yeah, that's one of the few things that I can actually manage to do. Echolocation's probably the part I have the best control over, to be honest," Tim added another shrug. He still didn't think his power was nearly as cool as so many of the others he'd heard or seen before.

At least they were at the store, which should shelve any comments about powers for the time being, if only because they couldn't risk having norms overhear their conversations or what have you. Be super awkward if they ended up, like, exposing themselves or the school by accident.

"Y'know, a few months ago, I'd totally agree. Need, like, a nacho bar or something,' admitted Tim, nodding. That was before he'd ended up getting some real friends and, well, a girlfriend. He looked around for a moment, letting out a breath.

"Just need to find a few things. But didn't you need stuff too?" he looked over at Eren, raising a brow. "I mostly just need a webcam and some memory boards and stuff." Which shouldn't take them too long to find, at least, that was Tim's hope. He'd probably end up getting distracted though, given, well, everything.