Like You Might Make A Mistake (Tim)

[Luxanna Viera]

His compliment about her smile had her blushing again. It started from the dip of her neck and slowly rose to spread throughout her face, toning her pale skin tone into a dull, soft pink. Blushing for Luxanna happened on a daily basis, but she didn't think she'd ever get used to it. It wasn't uncomfortable per say, it just made her feel a little odd and tingly. By now she should have been used to it, but she wasn't sure she ever would, ''Thank you. So do you.'' He really did; It was one of those infectious smiles you just had to smile back at. It was neat.

Lifting her hand to brush away some loose strands of hair off of her face, Luxanna nodded slightly at his words, ''Wow, you must be so busy,'' she laughed, ''Does he build stuff because of his power or is he just interested in it, like yourself?'' She had always envied people who had the abilities to build or create things, whether it was elemental based or something like being technically inclined. ''Me? I don't do anything nearly as interesting,'' she pointed out at first, ''I read, I watch movies, do homework.. And apparently, as stated already; I'm lucky enough to have the new hobby of breaking computers,'' she said with a sheepish grin. ''Uhm, oh! I collect furbies.'' That was perfectly normal, right? Yeah, everyone collected something.

Luxanna had been collecting furbies since she was about seven and had gotten instantly hooked. She kept them all perfectly lined up on her shelves, and she had even brought them all with her to the academy. They were pretty nice company, which made her feel even more anti-social than what she already did. ''They have names too,'' she added with a grimace.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Yeah right, I look like a total dork when I smile. See?" said Tim, grinning and pointing at himself. He then realized almost immediately how dorky this was and averted his eyes for several long seconds. At least they had the whole walking thing going for them. Walking took some effort, what with the putting of one foot in front of the other and moving steadily forward. Sure, babies did it, but everyone knew that babies had all sorts of things going for them. Babies were sometimes more freaky than mutants, and that was saying something.

Tim definitely was not thinking about babies. Babes, yes, particularly the one walking next to him. He chuckled as she called him busy. yeah right; he just sounded busy, though he did have class and stuff, entering senior year and all. "I think he just likes to make stuff," he said, sort of dodging around the question. He wasn't sure how close he and Karl really were, and he didn't want to accidentally say something that he didn't really know about the guy. Thankfully, Lux was talking about herself, listing off a slew of normal things. Tim was just about to ask her what kind and stuff when she mentioned something well and truly awesome weird.

"Furbies?" he repeated, grinning wide. "Like, those little creatures that talk to you and stuff? Named and everything? Those things are so weird though! Man, you are just," perfect, "weird. But the cool kind," he said, remembering what she'd said earlier and smiling yet again. "So do they really talk to each other? Like, you set them in a circle and have them talk? That sounds both creepy and super awesome at the same time."

[Luxanna Viera]

''I think you have a nice smile,'' she said and shrugged, though her grin followed by a chuckle wasn't far away. It rarely was. ''And even if you were right, being dorky doesn't have to be a bad thing.'' She didn't really believe or agree with labels necessarily having to be a bad thing. It was whatever you made it out to be, and if someone used it in a negative sense against you, it simply gave you all the more reason to wear it with pride, right? She wouldn't know though. She didn't hang around enough people to get any labels of her own -- that she knew of --, so she didn't know how she'd react. Or what she'd think of it.

Well, even if it wasn't part of Tim's friend's power, it was still pretty cool. At least to her. She didn't have any particularly skills when it came to making anything. She was sure a three year old could draw better than she could, and she surely couldn't make things. But she could read, and she was really good with doing her homework, and that was enough. Oh, and she could grow gills. ''That's pretty cool too,'' she said, grinning. ''What sort of things do you guys make together?''

''Yep,'' she chuckled. She adored her little collection of freaky looking owls. Most people found it weird (The bad kind), or even creepy, so she was a little surprised, but also relieved at his reaction. ''They do, yes, but I haven't put them in a ring. They mostly reside on my shelves, but I always make sure to change their batteries, so it sounds like an entire zoo in there from time to time.'' It had freaked out her roomies too, though she didn't really blame them. She would have been pretty freaked out if she woke up and heard those kind of noises coming from another room. ''But now that you mention it, I should totally try that and see if it makes any difference.''

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim nodded, definitely agreeing that it was totally cool. Karl had an awesome power whereas Tim... Tim could talk to bats. Well, he did suppose it could be worse. Supposedly all Frank Cox could do was eat whatever, which sounded like the stupidest, most random power in existence. As to what he and Karl had made: "Uh, mostly a glider thing. Like I said, I can mimic bats and stuff, but I don't, like, have their wings or something, so we were thinking that if I had fake wings, I could you know fly. It... sorta worked," he went a little high pitched on that. What he said was one hundred percent accurate: it did sort of work. But, well, "I also crashed into a tree,' he admitted, figuring that maybe he'd get her to laugh or score some pity points. Since he didn't think he had a chance in hell of being smooth and he knew damn well he wasn't good looking, pity was as good a way of winning Lux over as ever. Tim definitely wasn't above using and abusing it.

Nor was he above debasing himself in talk of Ferbies. He did genuinely think that this was something awesome. Not so much that it was furbies precisely, but that Lux had something weird and unique about her. It just made her about a thousand times hotter, but Tim wasn't about to say that. "That would be weird to walk into, but I think we all walk into stuff. Like, I hand from ceilings when I sleep sometimes, 'cuz of the bat thing, and my roommates have walked in on me doing it. They had to hang this bar above my bed," he gestured, then lowered his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "But yeah, you should totally round them up. I saw a vid where they did that once, and, like, the furbies got all creepy and started chanting and stuff..." he paused, realizing that this sounded incredibly creepy: "but I'm sure yours are, like, awesome and stuff. They'd probably sing songs or giggle a lot or something like that. no chanting, definitely not, or happy chanting, yeah, they'd probably be all like 'we are so happy to be here'," and because saying this wasn't humiliating enough, he held up his hand and swayed back and forth in a little dance, thus proving once and for all that there was something seriously wrong with his brain.

[Luxanna Viera]

''Wow, really?'' She tried picturing it, but it somehow didn't exactly make a whole lot of sense. Mostly because she didn't know what a glider was supposed to look like. Well, she probably could look it up when she got back to her dorm, or something. ''A tree?'' she asked, her eyes widening slightly, but she didn't manage to keep the laughter away, which made her feel bad. ''That must have been painful,'' she said, nodding as if that was supposed to offer some sort of comfort. She might as well have grabbed a broom and awkwardly patted his back with it. She truly, really wasn't good at this kind of thing.

''Did you film it and put it on your blog too?''

''Yeah, I guess you're right,'' she chuckled, ''I mean, I'd probably stop and wonder if I was in their position too,'' she admitted. Then again, weird things happened here all the time it seemed. After all, it was a school filled with mutants with superpowers; It couldn't really get much weirder than that. ''Somehow, I wouldn't really be surprised if they ended up with a mind of their own and started terrorizing the school.'' That would have made one heck of a horror movie, she was sure. Maybe she needed to befriend someone with the ability manipulate them... That could prove to be quite the funny prank. Not that she'd actually go through with it, mind you, because it was mean, and Luxanna wasn't exactly the type to do mean things. ''I think the happy image you just painted are a lot creepier than the evil chanting,'' she laughed, shaking her head.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Really really," replied Tim, nodding, "but it wasn't too bad. I got caught in some branches and the thing took the brunt of it. I didn't, uh, upload it to my blog though. It," he let out a low breath and shoved his hands into his pockets, "it kinda ended up on YouTube... you remember how I said I had a vid with over five thousand hits?" he smiled and shrugged slowly. Well, it wasn't like she'd figure out. He clearly wasn't good at this whole lying to a girl to look impressive thing. he probably would've been if Lux hadn't been so damn cool. Like, Tim was pretty sure he was about five minutes away from falling in love with the girl already, and it had a lot more to do with how damn cool she was. That she was also incredibly beautiful was just icing, man.

The idea of furbies terrorizing the school made Tim bark out a laugh. It wasn't graceful or subtle, but it was by far the most honest one he'd managed so far. He laughed a little more, moving to cover his mouth. "Sorry, I'm just---did you hear about the stuffed animal apocalypse? Apparently a few years ago someone filled the school with like living plushies and stuff. Furbies would be so much worse."

He then paused, considering what Lux said, he had to nod a few times, "You're right. They'd be like the care bears from hell. Aaaand now I'm gonna have nightmares about that. I'll probably be naked and tied down while the furbies all chant in a circle around me though. Yep," Tim nodded a few times, bobbing his head. "Hopefully you won't show up and scream that you're the Mother of Furbies or something, because that would just be weird," not least of all because that would be dangerously close to being a sex dream, and the last thing Tim needed was a sex dream involving furbies and cult rituals. His love life was hard enough without adding the creepiest fetishes in existence.

[Luxanna Viera]

''Youtube?'' This actually surprised her. Not because of him, or the activity but because mutants were supposed to lay low and if he had used his power... Then again, maybe it wasn't even visible, since he didn't form wings or anything. Maybe he just looked normal -- well, before crashing into a tree anyways. ''Wow,'' she said, smiling, ''I mean, it must have hurt and all, but getting five thousand hits is still pretty impressive.'' Not that she had any idea of what was a lot when it came to youtube or anything, but it sounded like it was a lot, right? ''You should show me it sometime.''

It was to see him laugh; It suited him, and it also looked a lot better when it didn't look forced. It was nice and in turn it made her happy too. Lifting her hand to brush her hair away from her face and behind her ear, the brunette pursed her lips, ''I think that sounds pretty cool; Imagine how many views that would get! Could easily be blamed on some silly film project too.'' She was sure there was people around the school who liked making films and stuff, and the special effects wouldn't be needed if they had someone to actually manipulate the furbies. ''Best horror movie ever.''

The idea was oddly amusing, and a part of her actually wanted to get together a group to make it happen. She wouldn't, but it would have been amazingly cool.

Luxanna didn't know how to reply to his next line of words. The first part was okay, because that described a regular nightmare (Apart from the nude bondage), but the next? Well, needless to say the girl was left silenced as she turned her head to look at Tim again, grimacing slightly before the corner of her lips twitched up into a sheepish grin, ''You say that like it would be likely to happen.'' Of course, she was probably way off, but something with the way he had worded himself... Nah, she was totally off. ''I don't think dreaming about furbies should be considered a nightmare. Horses on the other hand...'' Ah yes, horses were demon spawns from the darkest abyss.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"YouTube," repeated Tim, nodding. He chuckled as she suggested showing it to her. He was half tempted to pull out his phone and drag up the video then and there. He had it bookmarked on his phone's web-browser since, well, this wasn't exactly the first time that it had come up in conversation. Might have been the first time someone had sounded genuinely impressed with it, making it sound more like an accomplishment than a colossal mess up.

Would've been cool to  catch the plushie apocalypse too. "Yeah, you'd think we could get some more of our mutant stuff out there. Nothing like, too weird or anything though. Then again, I guess they'd probably pull anything that was all 'we are mutants, check us out, yo," Tim shrugged. He wasn't one to see the point in hiding what they were from other people. Some of them literally couldn't for whatever reason, and because the rest of them weren't saying or doing anything about it, that wasn't going to change. Of course, Tim wasn't sure that anyone could really do enough to change it.

Plus, if he tried, he'd probably just make things all the more awkward. Like now, when there this sort of awkward silence and... wait, was she actually looking at him. Look at the ceiling, man, pretend like you didn't just make an incredibly lame Game of Thrones reference in front of a totally beautiful girl. Like it would happen... "Well, yeah, anything can happen in dreams and stuff. You could turn into some kind of fire-breathing t-rex with two machine guns in a dream or something," Oh God, that image should not be arousing him so much. He needed help. "But you know how it is: people you see and meet turn up in dreams all the time and---wait, did you say horses? Like the neighing thing that we've got a stable of?" He jerked a thumb in what he thought was the direction of the stables. He hadn't exactly spent a lot of time there himself, but he naturally knew where it was. Wasn't like you could really hide a stable on a campus after all. "Did a horse attack you as a young girl or something? You weren't molested by a creepy uncle while he was wearing a horse mask or something because that is just too weird and we are going to pretend I never, ever said that," Tim reached up to palm his face. This was why he needed to stop doing the talking thing. Girls did not go on dates with guys that talked like this. Period.

[Luxanna Viera]

''I kind of see why it's been kept secret; People tend to feel threatened when change happens, and suddenly having a small portion of the population turn into superhumans can be pretty scary,'' she said, ''I think I would have been scared to had I not grown up with the knowledge.'' She would have been scared to death, in fact. People generating flames out of thin air and being able to shapeshift into tigers wasn't exactly easy to take in.

This conversation was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. They had gone from talking about youtube videos to a herd of supernatural, evil furbies and now they were talking about nude dreams and fire-sprouting dinosaurs. Wonderful. ''You must have the oddest dreams,'' she said, chuckling. ''I never dream about anything like that.'' She rarely remembered her dreams as it was, so that might have been why too. She did dream about zombies frequently though, but that was probably because of the amount of movies she watched. ''My dreams mostly consist of zombies and the end of the world.'' There had never been a reason for why Luxanna was so scared of horses, and when she thought about it, she didn't really have a reason as it was. They just scared her. Simple like that. ''No, no, none of that,'' she said quickly, waving her arms so rapidly she ended up dropping her notebook. ''I don't know, they just freak me out. They look evil,'' she said silently as she bent down to pick up the notebook, ''And it's okay. Really, I think I might be getting used to all the odd stuff you say,'' she said, grinning.

In fact, it was barely even awkward anymore. It was kind of cute, a little confusing and odd, but still, not in the bad kind of way. He looked nervous, which might have been why she took what he said with a smile. Oh and being friends with Jack, you kind of had to get used to hearing that sort of things -- or worse.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim was tempted to talk about the whole issue, most particularly his own take on things. He'd been a little thrilled to discover he had mutant powers at first, then insanely jealous that he couldn't do something super cool like throw fireballs and the like. He supposed that it could have been much, much worse though, and once he settled into that, he came to understand that this whole thing was cool.

Much like this conversation, or at least Lux's reactions to it. Could Tim just say whatever the hell he wanted right now? He was tempted to try it, see what happened, but he didn't want her to think that he was a complete mess. Plus, he wanted to make sure that she took some things he said seriously, especially things that had to do with her. Though possibly less about her dreams of zombies and the like, which just had Tim chuckling, nearly about to admit that he sometimes had those too. His problem was staying up late watching internet vids; rotted his brain. But the whole horse thing came and Lux got so startled that she dropped her notebook.

Of course Tim dove for it when she did, only barely managing to swerve out of her way when he saw that she'd gotten close, attempting to look this was totally cool and he hadn't just been doing the stupid again. "Yeah, I can see what you mean. You can't trust them with their long faces and dead eyes and stuff," he half meant it too, since he certainly didn't have any issues with casting disparaging remarks against the equine race.

"Anyway, remind me not to offer to buy you a pony or something. I'll just stick with furbies and stuff, though I probably won't be able to find one you don't already have," he said, smiling wide again. "I'm betting that horseback riding excursions are totally out of the question too, which is probably for the best, since I'm not sure I can actually stay on a horse," he chuckled, remembering the whole glider thing. they rounded another corner, getting closer to the cafeteria. "So anything else that terrifies you? You know, just so I don't accidentally introduce you to my friend, Mr. Ed the talking zombie horse or something."

[Luxanna Viera]

Looking up, Luxanna chuckled at his attempt to help her out. It wasn't something she had expected, because it wasn't something she was used to. Gentlemen was a rare thing these days and the brunette felt it was better to believe they didn't exist all together than walking around, expecting guys to pick up whatever she lost. Thinking about it, that actually sounded rather silly either way, so she was glad she wasn't that kind of girl. ''Something like that, yes,'' the adaptor smiled, ''I don't know why, they just creep me out. Might be the size,'' she said and shrugged before sliding the book back against her chest.

Peeking upwards, Luxanna tilted her head to the side, ''Why would you buy me something in the first place?'' Call it naivety or maybe flat out ignorance; She didn't know, but she didn't understand why someone she barely knew even considered the thought of giving gifts, even if it was meant as a joke. Then again, she had never been one to pick up on that kind of stuff. And horseback riding? She was confused, though she figured it was simply part of his nature and shrugged it off. Standing up, the brunette ran a hand through her curls before sighing, ''Well, I'm afraid of water.'' Which was ironic with the whole growing gills part. But that was as much as she could say without turning the conversation gloomy.

''How about you, Tim? What do you fear?'' She was curious, but she didn't want to assume anything. Just because he was a little bit awkward and dorky, she didn't want to put him in with the stereotypes that usually followed people like the plague. Maybe he was fearless. Maybe he wasn't.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"They are big," agreed Tim, obviously not knowing what else to say. What else could he say? "But what about the little ones? You know, like ponies and those tiny horses and stuff?" okay, get off the horses thing Tim. And the horseback riding. And apparently the whole giving gifts thing too; seriously, did this girl not get any gifts from anyone? How the heck did that work? Even Tim got gifts; okay, they were mostly from his grandmother and other family members who were pretty much obligated to give him stuff, but still: gifts.

"You know, because we're friends and stuff," he said, shrugging, "I mean, if we are friends. Or something. I'm cool if we're not. Or if you wanted to be something else,' a beat, wherein he realized that he was all but asking her out. So not cool, Tim, say something else. "Like... companions or peers or pals...okay, that last is pretty much just friends, but I dunno, different somehow?" He shrugged, hoping that he didn't sound nearly as awkward as he so knew he did. Yeah, Tim, real smooth. It's amazing that she hasn't declared her undying love for you already.

Afraid of water! That was something! Something not involving his being a big, fat idiot! "Pfft, I'm afraid of lots of stuff. Global warming, our failing economy, killer whales, furbies, now, thanks for that, meeting new people, making an idiot of myself, talking to pretty girls, so obviously this conversation has just been one big ball of terror for me. It's amazing I haven't ran screaming like a five year old."

Yep, doing an awesome job at the wooing there, Tim.

[Luxanna Viera]

''Well, even small horses are big, and they look the same. Aren't spiders still creepy even if they're small?'' Not that she was particularly afraid of spiders, but that was the best comparison she could think of right off the bat. Well, at least it could be considered a first. She had never spent so much time talking about horses. Granted, she had mostly just insulted their size and their appearances.

Again, Luxanna was as naive as she was gullible. Whatever meaning there had been beneath the flow of words besides her thinking he was asking her if it was okay to call them friends, it had been completely and utterly lost on her. Just as most things usually were. Luxanna was the kind of girl who needed to be spoon fed, because her mind worked in the magical world of innocence; Frustrating for others? You bet. ''I suppose we could be considered friends,'' she nodded, ''I don't really know how much amount of talking makes people friends, but you're nice, so I wouldn't mind that.'' Smiling the girl chuckled at his attempts at making sense of his thoughts, whatever they were, ''I like you; You're cool.''

Interestingly enough, Tim's fears had more validation and cause than what hers would ever have. It was an interesting list, which somehow ended up being swayed around and again she was made the topic of the conversation. Funny how that worked out. However, she didn't take the compliment the way it was meant to (Come on, it's Lux. What did you expect?), but instead of doing what she had seen girls do in movies and take the 'I must not be pretty enough then'-route, Luxanna simply laughed and shrugged it off, ''Well, I'm glad you haven't. That would have been an odd thing to explain, and you're welcome. But really, furbies aren't scary, they are adorable. I'll show you sometime.''

[Tim Tawfeek]

So horses were scary irregardless of their size. Got it. moving on to... wait, did she just admit to liking him? She'd done that before, sure, at least, Tim thought she had. Didn't mean that he didn't have a marching band going off in his brain at hearing the words yet again. They played the magnificent song of the awesome beautiful girl actually liking him, also known as the song of his people, well, more like the mating call---no, normally the dorky dudes like him did not bond with pretty girls like this. But she came off kind of like a dork too, unless Tim was infecting Lux with his dorkiness, which he supposed might be an issue. But they were friends! He was cool!

"You are probably the first person to ever say that,' he said, grinning at her, "but you're awesome too. That's probably what's happening here. Your awesome is coming off on me and my dorkiness is rubbing off on me. Unfortunately for you, there is no longer any chance of escape. You'll just have to assimilate and get all the dork all over you," and since this was Tim, he proceeded to rub against Lux's arm for a few moments. Of course he realized the second he did it how incredibly dorky the action was, but he was committed to seeing it all the way through. Lux mentioned the furby thing, which in Tim's mind, only confirmed it.

"Right, see, the dork is spreading,' he said, nearly sighing as that meant he could scoot away from her without looking like a complete tool. "I'd love to see your collection of furbies too, though not like in that dream thing. Because that would be awkward. Because of the naked bondage and the--ooh, look, the cafeteria!" Tim darted forward, pushing open the door with his hand before moving to keep it open by leaning against it. he grinned at Lux and gestured for her to take the lead, entering the cafeteria before he could manage.

[Luxanna Viera]

''Really?'' She couldn't understand why, because he seemed like a really, really nice guy and people were attracted to nice, right? Or maybe her entire view of the world was completely wrong, which wouldn't be surprising, considered she mostly read about it rather than experiencing it. ''And it's no-'' she said, but stopped as he started rubbing her arm. Frowning, her eyes dropped to his hand, ''Well, that's new.'' Luckily it wasn't something that activated her power or anything. Instead, it was just odd. Really odd. But he was odd too, so... Okay, she didn't really know where she was going with this.

''I don't think it's a bad thing though,'' she pointed out. There was a lot of other things she could think of that would be worse to spread. Like mutant-pocs. Did that even exist? If so, how would it work? Her train of thoughts stopped as Tim started speaking again, though he didn't offer her much room to reply as he suddenly darted towards the cafeteria. He was truly odd and the brunette found herself enjoying it more and more. It was refreshing. It was actually really nice in a way. But so very confusing too; She could hardly keep up with him.

Walking into the cafeteria, Luxanna offered the boy a smile before gazing around. Luckily, the room wasn't too packed. Luxanna didn't enjoy larger crowds of people, especially when she didn't know half of them. It often left her feeling uncomfortable (more than usual. Yes, it's possible.) and awkward (Also, possible). Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention towards the drinking machines. Getting herself a bottle of orange something, Luxanna tapped her fingers against the plastic absentmindedly before turning around, assuming Tim had followed, ''Do you want to sit inside or outside?''