Nerd Training

[Tim Tawfeek]

This felt a little strange, like some sort of strange, parallel dimension or something. Tim was standing there, in a mall, with an extremely hot girl (who wasn't his girlfriend) and he was supposed to be... "You're sure about this?" he asked, looking over at her and raising his brows over his glasses. he moved to adjust them, then reached down to rub at his legs. Despite their now working status, they still ached from time to time: something that he was told would fade away. He was just thankful that he could do the walking thing now.

Onnie had contacted him about this though. Seemed like between Jack, Lux, and, well, Tim, just about everyone around Onnie knew nerd culture. Tim supposed that Lux would probably have been better, but maybe Onnie remembered Tim's little crash course during Black Friday or something.

"You do realize you could just, I don't know," he gestured as if trying to knock an answer out of the air, "flash boobs at Jack or something. Something tells me that would probably work," it certainly would for Tim. he looked around at the shop they stood in front of: the comic shop, only fairly overhauled, since, well, there were enough nerd types in Kalispell to make it look pretty damn impressive. It was either this or a FYE, and Tim was still debating redirecting Onnie to the tamer one. This felt like tossing the girl into the deep end and seeing if she could swim.

[Oneyka A. Duffuor]

"You're sure about this?"

The African student took a deep breath, allowing her eyes to slowly dance around the unknown territory in front of them. "I'm sure." She nodded, as she turned her head to look at Tim. "Or at least think I'm sure." Being the only one out of their little four-person powwow who had no idea about comic books and pop culture that dealt with science-fiction, it was a bit embarrassing.

Sure, she enjoyed all of the comic book movies and had watched them since she was younger but to think that there was still a world filled with more information and characters than the movies give you... She had to give into her curiosity. That and she wanted to have somewhat of a mutual understanding of why Jack enjoyed the culture so much. She just wanted to be able to also be the one he ran to, to talk about the "cool things".

Oneyka was sure that there was no better teacher than Tim and was mostly grateful that he agreed to help her out. She chuckled as she shook her head, "I don't want our relationship to be built solely on sexual gestures. Besides, I don't think I can handle another conversation among the four of us filled with information that I don't know about." She smiled sheepishly, "Feeling left out is not the greatest feeling, I'll tell you that much."

To think a comic book store would so... Oh dear God, what was she getting herself into? "Okay... I believe I'm ready."

[Tim Tawfeek]

Thinking she was sure was probably enough. Though Tim was tempted to warn Onnie again. he wasn't quite sure how many times he could point out that bringing a hot girl into a comic shop was sort of like bringing a particularly juicy lamb into a den of starving lions. Still, Onnie had Tim to protect her, and she was smart and savvy enough on her own.

That didn't explain why she was dating Jack but hey, everyone's got their own taste or whatever.

"Well, pretty sure that we could all talk about boobs too," Tim offered, gesturing in a sort of inclusive manner. "Seeing as Jack and I are fans and Lux has them, but I get your point," he took another deep breath and adjusted his glasses, looking to the shop. "Just be careful, and be ready for guys to stare at you and likely make references to comics and other nerdy stuff. You do not want to be anyone's Companion. You do not suck blood. You do not do witchcraft. You are not a shapeshifting..." he paused, looking to Onnie, "alien," he said a little belatedly, "here to mate with them. Just act like a normal human and if they get douchey, I'll smack em."

Tim nodded again, then headed into the shop, counting on Onnie to be right behind. The place did look friendly enough, and some of the regulars were in. This did mean guys who wore superhero t-shirts tucked into sweatpants and had a tendency to argue too loudly about stuff, but the shop was in a mall, which meant it was a little nicer. They had some more pop culture stuff on display and the clerk running it looked like he'd at least showered in the past few days.

Tim just stood in the door and breathed deep, as he always did whenever reaching his territory. Besides, his job was mostly to guide Onnie around, which meant she should be making the major decisions.

[Oneyka A. Duffuor]

"You, my friend - Are a complete guy." She eyed Tim with a chuckle as she shook her head, "Still doesn't make for a good conversation. Especially with my lack there of." While Oneyka wasn't afraid to admit it, she had small breasts compared to a lot of the girls here and even back home. She highly doubted that a conversation like that would be proper. Another reason why she was confused as to why Jack founnd her body attractive.

While Tim helped her with the do's and dont's of walking into a comic book store, Oneyka tried to make a mental note of every single one of them. She had no idea what it meant to be someone's "Companion" and why on Earth would anyone think she sucked blood? Or did witchcraft? None of that was realistic. She gave Tim another look when he mentioned being a shapeshifting alien. She kind of was... if you saw mutants as aliens, which wasn't too far from mutant discrimination which was also very much alive and well.

Onnie gave a nod, "Right. Well I suppose I appreciat you being some sort of mentor as well as comic book store bodyguard." She really had no issue with anyone staring at her or trying to strike up a conversation, it was what she was used to back home in Africa.

Onnie hurried her slender legs right behind Tim as they moved on to the new territory. She gave Tim a pat on the back as she continued and walked past him. "Come on Jedi Master." That had been a new term she learned and already put it in use. Onnie moved to the nearest collection of graphic novels... or comics, as they say. After picking one up, it showed a young woman in this spider-like costume. Her blonde hair looked vaguely familiar, "Who is this Spider-Gwen?" She glanced back, hoping Tim was near to answer her many questions. The young woman was now intrigued. 

[Tim Tawfeek]

Onnie's good humor about Tim's anatomy mention had him chuckling a well. "Been my experience that guys just sort of appreciate their general existence," Tim drawled. "And if I were you, I wouldn't worry about it anyway."

Tim added a shrug. He didn't quite want to flirt with Onnie or anything: again, he had Lux and was quite happy, thank you very much. At the same time, he defintiely could appreciate that Onnie had quite the appealing form, and had he been single...

well, it was Tim, so he probably would have ended up stalking her. The principle was the same. More or less. Close enough, at any rate.

There were the do's and don't's, and Tim wasn't quite sure that Onnie got it, but, well, she'd find out soon enough. He was just nodding along and ushering them into the store, ready for what they'd end up finding. Tim was slightly surprised that Onnie didn't seem phased in the slightest, instead heading toward another display.

"Uh, she's sort of a female Spider-man?" Tim offered, coming alongside Onnie to look. "Comics have all these universes and stuff, mostly so people can try out ideas. And in one of the universes, Gwen Stacy got bit by the radioactive spider instead of her boyfriend Peter," he pointed at it, "and that's the story that ended up as a result. It's a pretty cool one, though I haven't gotten quite as into it as some of the stuff."

Mostly because Tim was struggling to keep up with the books he'd been following, let alone adding another one into the mix.

[Oneyka A. Duffuor]

Giving a slight nod, Onnie shrugged, "Ah, I suppose you're right." Though, had any female been worried about what men were into, she supposed that was enough to drive them insane. Or at least into something as fake as Kylie Jenner or Kim Kardashian. Bless those poor souls.

If anything, Oneyka was very curious. It was as if she was entering a whole different realm of her own. She never read anything past regular books and even back home she had no time to do stuff that Jack, Tim and Lux were into. The only thing out of her regular and hectic routine that had any relation to any of this was when she watched movies. Movies were the only thing that allowed her to escape into that whole sci-fi/comic territory.

Which sounded sad now that she thought about it.

After hearing Tim explain the reasoning behind this one book of interests, those big brown eyes of hers lit up. "So you mean to tell me, that the blonde woman in the recent movies, Peter's love interest, isn't dead here?" She gestured towards the issue. "And that she also becomes a Spider-Being/Hero person?" Talk about woman empowerment and being a heroine instead of the damsel. "Are there any other female heroes I should know or read about?"

Oneyka quickly glanced around the store, "Are there baskets around - You know what, never mind that." She then quickly skimmed the same row that she grabbed the comic from and grabbed anything else that came after or before it. "I can manage, I must buy and read all of these."

[Tim Tawfeek]

Yeah, Tim knew he was more or less right. He also knew that Onnie happened to be almost obscenely hot. Several of the clients at the shop, especially regulars, where staring at her, nearly gaping. Tim could practically hear their whispering from here, knew what it would be. He also had already taken Lux here: she was sort of one of the crowd and not quiet as exotic looking as Onnie herself.

And a comic virgin who was actually interested? Pretty much The Dream. "Yeah, that's the idea," Tim said, nodding. "It's one of those alternate universe stories. They've been expanding and working on it for a while. There's a few others that have their own books now, but hers is probably one of the coolest. A lot of females read Fable, which is pretty good. There's some strong females in Walking Dead too, but you probably---"

He paused as he realized that she'd looked for a basket. They probably had something like that, though Tim had never used it himself. The whole mention of getting a lot had his eyes widening. "Whoa whoa, these things can rocket up in price incredibly fast,' Tim scooted forward. "There's variant covers to watch out for, which can definitely be expensive, even if they are pretty awesome. See?" Tim picked up two copies of Spider-Gwen. "Oh, and there's the crappy Mary Jane romance comic. I didn't know that was still a thing." Tim was already sorting through the covers, not really even thinking about it but sorting them and looking at prices.

[Oneyka A. Duffuor]

Onnie hadn't bothered to look up at anyone who might have been staring at her. It was a habit by now, not to look up to see who else was around. Just continue shopping and acting like it's just you and whoever else you were with. Back home, there was no real running away from paparazzi when it came to shopping with her mother and because of that, she she was now a pro at minding her own business in hopes that everyone did as well. But when she did, she was pretty sure she wished she hadn't. In hopes of blending in here in Montana, she just never did.

"Alternate universe..." She repeated as she nodded and looked at time with quite the interest. "Would you mind directing to the fables and OH! I've managed to watch The Walking Dead from time to time. Jack seems to have such an interests with terribly creepy dead things... and people, I always managed to watch episodes when we're not together." She sighed before nodding once more. "I must read those."

When Tim mentioned prices adding up because of certain 'covers', Oneyka just simply blinked. While she eyed both covers of the same issue, she wasn't entirely sure on why that matte- OH! He was worried about her spending limits! Oh dear, Tim was such a good friend and a sweetheart. "So I should get my money's worth by starting a variant cover collection? Is that what you're insisting?" Sounded like a good idea. Oneyka then grabbed the two comics that Tim had held and stopped to look towards him puzzled. "Who on Earth is Mary Jane? Oh right, she had been the red... um, woman - With the red hair?" If she remembered correctly, she had been that love interest of Peter Parker in the older movies. Had that been her? Surely Gwen Stacy had been a better fit for Peter, as if anyone could argue with that.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Right, like--" Tim began, all set to explain alternate universe theory, which really wasn't that hard to grasp, especially for someone as smart as Onnie. But Onnie was quickly proving to be as easy to distract as her boyfriend (and the reason they were together started to make a little more sense to Tim with that). There was mention of the creeping dead thing: "Oh yeah, Lux is totally the same---" Tim began, only to end up turning to grab a few of the comics as Onnie mentioned them.

"You know, we might want to--" he began, only to stop yet again as Onnie looked over covers. "well, if you wan---" and there was the talk about Mary Jane. Tim took a deep breath, actually looking down for a moment to gather his thoughts and wait. Then, as soon as he was certain Onnie was done, he looked up at her.

"Alternate universe means several realities where different stuff happens. So in one, Gwen gets bit instead of Peter. And there's probably one where I'm white and we're dating while Lux and Jack are a thing," Tim offered. He didn't wait before continuing: "Walking dead books are over there," point, "but you might wanna get trades, which are a bunch of smaller comics put into one book. If you really want to collect, then going for covers can be awesome, but it's not really worth money so much as being able to brag about it. And Mary Jane..." he leaned over and grabbed one of the Mary Jane books, pointing, "is the model redhead that Peter ends up marrying and divorcing because the devil."

he paused and looked skyward, mentally going through all the questions and doublechecking to make sure he'd answered them all.

[Oneyka A. Duffuor]

Onnie had been so excited she hadn't realized the numerous times she cut Tim off. She actually knew some sort of connection to this whole pop culture of comics and movies and that meant that she got a point. Isn't that what Americans did? They gave themselves an imaginary point for every time they felt accomplished or something? Yes, so now she had exactly one point.

And what a proud point it was.

She couldn't help but to laugh somewhat at Tim's example. At least it allowed her to get his point and was interesting, but image of them being in some sort of Alternate universe was funny, or maybe she only thought so. While nodding, she cleared her throat and headed over to where he pointed. She grabbed one and began skimming through it before looking back over to Tim who seemed to be showing off Mary Jane.

The young ebony woman chuckled, "Really? The devil?" Onnie didn't really like Mary Jane in the movies but was interested to know what happened in the comics. The recent Spider-Man movies just seemed so much more emotional, so much more "life like" when it came to relationships, hence why she took a liking to that Gwen Stacy. The blonde knew what it was like to be a young woman and make her own choices, and she loved that about her. The older movies just seemed very... unreal.

"Do they so happen to sell those video game systems here? Like those nintendo boxes you guys love to play so much?" Or what were they called? Playboxes? X-Stations?

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim nodded as Onnie repeated the bit about the devil. "Rule number one," he said, holding up a finger, "comics are weird. That even beats out the whole comics are sexist thing, especially lately," Tim looked around again, knowing where several "female friend" series happened to be. He'd read a few himself, even suggested some to Lux for the two of them to talk about. His attention snapped back to Onnie as she asked yet another question.

That had him wincing. Nintendo boxes? "Playstation," he said, ticking on one finger, "x-box, and nintendo. We're on Playstation 4," again with the fingers, "X-Box One, and Nintendo Wii-U," and then he lowered his hands, moving one up to adjust his glasses again. "But to stop being a dick and actually answer the question: no, there aren't any of those here. Those can be expensive to carry in shop anymore, but there's still a store for 'em across the mall," Tim jerked his head back and a thumb over his shoulder, offering another smile.

"Those cost a bit more than this though, and you could just as easily hook up to one of the system's at the school. There's usually someone in the lounge playing something or looking for someone to play," Tim shrugged. He'd been one of those people before himself, so he definitely knew it would work.