Coffee Randevu

[Tim Tawfeek]

Hmm, it almost seemed like Roxana was changing the subject there. Should Tim mention it? Poke and prod a bit? He didn't really want to rub Roxana more the wrong way: he already had this feeling like he'd messed up this whole meeting thing. He really did just want to figure out if she was one of Lux's friends and maybe hang out with her a little bit. Though it was becoming increasingly clear that the two of them weren't likely to decide to go out for coffee all that often.

"Nah," Tim waved a hand, "it's not like she's my property or anything. Pretty sure the folks around here would start a lynch mob if I made that suggestion," there, another joke that he was fairly certain Roxana wasn't going to get. He took another sip. "It's Jack that got all hot and bothered by you doing the touching thing."

Which was putting it lightly. Tim did feel at least somewhat loyal to Jack, at least loyal enough not to out him to the semi-creepy blonde woman who kept insisting that she was nothing but a "big sister." Yeah, more like Big Sister who was always watching you.

"That's cool, she needs more people like that," Tim offered. He tapped his cup again. He looked over at Roxana, considering, then looked back at his cup. Nah, he shouldn't pry. Though still... why was someone like her even friends with someone like Lux? How did that happen? That was an appropriate question to ask, right?

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana didn't say anything for a moment at Tim's next joke. She just sat there looking at the boy, blinking a few times as she processed his words a few times in her mind to make sure she had heard right. "Why do you make those kinds of jokes?" Roxana then asked. She got what he was talking about, or at least she was taking it in the most literal sense that she could take it. She assumed that he was joking since well who really just came out and said such a thing and didn't mean it as a joke. Perhaps he was dealing with something dark or insecurities that caused him to make jokes about things that he was worried about.

"He cares a lot about her. As a friend and also past that, but I'm sure you are already aware of that." Roxana said, still speaking in her simple tone of voice. She figured that it was pretty obvious that Jack felt something more than just friendship towards Lux and he likely always would. Yet, Rox was also aware that he was currently with someone and that he didn't really seem capable of actually cheating one someone and nor did Lux. So Tim had nothing to worry about and that was probably why he was so buddy-buddy with Jack. That and possibly because Jack and him were similar in that odd humor, that was what Rox was assuming for the time being on that matter.

Rox was slightly pleased that Tim seemed to accept the relationship that Rox had with Lux, and she figured he would get it at some point. There was nothing really complicated about it and she didn't fully understand what he was wanting her to say about the other girl. It really was because there was just something about Lux that had Rox still dealing with the girl that she would have otherwise not bothered with unless the girl reached out to her. "Go ahead and ask whatever it is that you want to ask. I'll answer it if I feel comfortable and I won't if I don't." Roxana spoke up, easily seeing that there was more that Tim wanted to ask.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim raised his brows at her question. "It's easier to make the jokes, to point it out in some way. And I'm not just making jokes about it: I am posting vids and doing stuff." He turned to look around for a moment, nodding and then looking back. "Besides, life's funny. The more we point it out, the better off we all are."

Which was part of the reason he still did the stupid vids alongside his more serious ones. he needed to keep himself sane, after all. Didn't hurt that he got viewers for his stunts that then looked at his other vids and stuff. He was pretty sure that Zoe got some extra donations from it, and that Kalispell got just a bit more attention. All of which worked to their advantage.

Interesting that Roxana was willing to remain that stoic about the Jack thing. Then again, she'd met Jack: you pretty well had to react like that if you weren't going to overreact to him. still, Tim couldn't help but be slightly impressed by how well the woman just handled the guy.

That impressing just increased as Roxana commented, which had Tim chuckling again. He reached up to adjust his glasses, wondering if he should just go through with it. She had said as much. Still, the survivalist part of him was dreading potential responses. "Was just wondering how you and Lux became friends," he said, shrugging slightly. Yeah, that was the nice, safe way to put it.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana didn't fully understand what he meant by the words that had left his mouth. How could pointing something out in the form of a joke make life funny? AS she understood it jokes were indeed to make fun of the dark thoughts or events in life to ease up the pain involved in it. Yet, jokes also could easily offend or make someone upset if a person was not careful. Thankfully for Tim's sake Roxana was not the type that was really affected in a negative or positive way by his jokes. She was only confused by them and why Tim felt the to joke about things when he was around her or anyone in general.

"So you want to be a comedian or is that your way of getting thoughts off your chest in a way of not making them offensive?" Roxana asked, still trying to understand. The confusion was still clear on her face as she looked at the boy. There was also a level of confusion on how he had ended up with Luxanna but Roxana didn't really understand relationships past the logical approach on the matter. Clearly there was something that Rox was missing that had drawn the two of them together, but it was not something that was of a big concern.

Lux was not a target and thus her level of care of who Lux was with was limited to if they were harmful to her. Tim was not really a threat to Lux and while she didn't really see him as ideal, she was not going to get in the way of their relationship. Roxana was slightly pleased that he went ahead and asked his question, not wanting to have to force the boy to speak. "It was back when I had recently transferred to the school. I ended up being her roommate for a short amount of time before I was moved around for some odd reason." Roxana explained but figured he probably wanted a bit more than that.

"She showed me around the school a little bit and was kind to me. In return I was kind to her and gave her a gift. That was pretty much it. For the short time we lived together she was just nice to me like she is with everyone. After that I supposed you could say she...we bonded on a certain level." Roxana went on to explain, glancing away from Tim for a moment while she thought of something before refocusing on him.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim chuckled. "No, I'm not looking to be a comedian. More of an activist, really. But we all gotta know what weapons to use, and humor works great. Used it a few times myself."

and he definitely intended to use it in the future. It was really tempting to point out that Roxana not quite getting the whole humor thing really just went to reinforcing the idea that she wasn't quite human or anything like that. Again, Tim held his tongue, especially as he had the more interesting question and response to listen to. He listened silently, watching Roxana intently as she explained.

Ex-Roommates, that made sense. Sometimes it felt like they switched roommates every other month or so, like someone just got bored and decided to throw them all into a pool. Plus, Tim figured that Roxana had probably been among the fairly large amount of students who'd all graduated together not that long ago. He'd had a few friends in that mix.

"Bonded sort of like sisters," Tim said, nodding. "Makes sense, given that you guys were living together and all. Sort of happens that way." He laughed a little as he finished, shaking his head and leaning back. "Between you and Jack... seems like Lux has a habit of picking up siblings. You gonna threaten me with a baseball bat too?" He looked at her, half-smiling, almost positive that she wasn't going to get the joke, especially as it wasn't a particularly good one this time around.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana didn’t say anything at first, even if there had been a small urge to bring up the fact that activist tended to have a habit of dying. Certain topics were what made the ‘job’ of being an activist risk or not; with the topic being related to mutants, it was risky. Many should have already known the damage speaking about something could do after that whole event with the girl by the name of the Zoe and almost killing another girl with her power. Still, it was something that Tim wanted to do and since he was not a target she was not going to tell him not to do it.

“Just be careful.” Roxana said as she glanced away for a moment. Normally she would not have even given him a warning but because he was Lux’s boyfriend and she cared about Lux it only seemed right to at least say that. She doubted that he would heed her warning; activist rarely did, but at least she could tell Lux that she had warned him. She didn’t think anything bad was going to happen to him yet, but it was possible thanks to SPECTRE. She didn’t say anything more on it and instead focused on just making it clear that her relationship with Lux was a simple one.

They were like…sisters or at least others could relate them to being something like sisters but Roxana was not fully sure of how Lux felt. By the younger girls behavior she did figure that there was a level of the girl looking up to her, but she didn’t know if Lux would always call on her if she needed help or look to her for advice. It happened a few times, but Rox still was not setting anything in stone just to be safe and keep that certain level of her guard up.

Tim was making a joke or at least she assumed that he was making a joke but at the same time she didn’t doubt that Jack possibly threatened him with a bat. “If I was going to threaten you I would probably say I would plunge a dagger through your chest and let you slowly bleed out if you ever hurt Luxanna. However, I see no need to threaten you since I doubt you would be capable of doing something to hurt her on a level that would make me react that way.” Roxana said, keeping her same tone the whole time.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim could hear the veiled threat there, which definitely put him more in mind of the person he'd thought he'd be talking to instead of the relatively pleasant, if stiff blonde lady that he'd been talking to for the past several minutes. He simply nodded along with it, taking another sip, wondering what precisely she could specifically be referring to with that particular comment.

It seemed as though his answer came in the next beat, as Roxana countered his weak joke about Jack with something that was definitely a threat. Tim very slowly lowered his glass back down to the tabletop. he very slowly turned to look at Roxana. He stared at her for several seconds, blinking behind his glasses. Yes, she'd definitely meant it, unless... was that her attempt at a joke? He really couldn't tell, and that unnerved him more than he cared to admit.

"See that," he pointed at her, "that is why people generally think that you're some kind of action movie villain or something," he reached up and adjusted his glasses, "and it doesn't help that I'm pretty sure that you could do that. Oh," he lowered his hand, "and that's about the eighth time that someone has threatened me not to hurt Lux. So I'm pretty sure there's a line for that."

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana said nothing more on the matter when Tim nodded his head, seeming to have gotten it or at least that he was going to take her warning to heart. She didn't know how long that would last since again what he did and seemed to enjoy was directly playing with fire to certain people. Roxana just hoped that she was not going to have to be the one that would have to burn him. She didn't really have any connection to Tim other than his girlfriend but still she really didn't have a problem with him.

While she did think that he got involved in matters that he should have stayed out of, it again was not her place to really do anything or care about such things. Roxana just looked back at him as he stared at her, figuring he was probably trying to figure out if she was kidding or not. Her facial expression didn't change, leaving it up to him to assume whatever he thought of her words. She was not joking but at the same time she was not directly threatening him. As she stated, she didn't think he would even be foolish enough to do something that would result in her having to actually threaten him or go right ahead and do what she said she would do.

He spoke up about why people thought she was some movie villain or something along those lines. Her expression still didn't change and she didn't say anything on the matter. People were still free to think as they wanted so long as they didn't try to put what they thought to the test or dig around too much about her. "Well, in a similar way to ice melting, if I don't make my crystals a certain way, they disintegrate into basically dirt. No evidence." Roxana pointed out, giving a small smile. It was her half attempt at a joke, but in all honestly the words she said were very true in terms of what he power actually did.

"That just means that you must make sure that you keep Lux happy." Rox responded simply to his words about how many people had threatened him. His choice when it came to wanting to go out with someone that had practically a small army that would murder you if you did anything that hurt her.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Well, at least you've put some thought into how you're going to murder me," Tim offered with some jocularity. He could tell that Roxana was at least trying, after all, and he had a pretty good idea that she was joking. That did seem to be how her sense of humor worked: a little black, a little stiff, but workable enough if you were paying attention and following around.

Tim took another sip of his drink nodding along with Roxana's assessment. "Yeah, so I've figured," he admitted. He set the cup down. "It's kind of weird though. I spent, like, damn, I don't know how long just sort of staring at her and so many other girls. They were hot," he looked at Roxana, smiling at the explanation. he let out a breath and then continued. "Then I actually met Lux and she's... she's something else. You know what I'm saying. I'm still not sure what I did to get her to actually agree to go out with me but..."

Tim shrugged. "Here we are. And I get this feeling that here we're going to be," he paused, chuckling and reaching to adjust his glasses again. "not like I'm gonna do better than her, right?"

[Roxana Strix]

"Of course." Roxana said, again joking and still kept that small smile on her face as she said it, for at least a small moment. Of course, she had not actually thought about killing Tim at all until this very moment. Only because he brought it up and now she was wondering how she would kill the boy if she actually needed to. She supposed that it all depended on why she was killing him, because that played a very important role in how she was going to take one’s life. It if was on order, it would be quick unless specified otherwise.

If it was by revenge, well Roxana had killed for that reason before and things were a lot messier in that situation. The punishment was also less then pleasant when it was someone that was not supposed to die at that moment. She didn't say anything as he started to speak of him and Lux, simply just giving a nod here and there to show that she was paying attention but she didn't really have words on the matter. She didn't understand relationships or that whole this person id the one, or anything like that. In the end of the day she believed that it was all a lie of sorts, that in the end 'loving' someone was not actually real.

It was just an illusion and all illusions came to an end at one point or another. There were exceptions here and there but Rox was not going to write Lux and Tim's relationship as one just yet. "So long as it is what you both desire, I see no harm in it." Roxana said, giving a small shrug. By it she meant the two of them doing the whole dating thing. To his next question Roxana looked away for a moment, thinking. "That would be a matter of opinion so I can't really say yes or no to that." Roxana said, just being honest on the matter. Perhaps things would go south for the two of them; Rox didn't want either of them to believe that they could not find a 'better' person.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim had to smile at the of course. At least Roxana could pick up on the humor, and at least he'd done a good enough job of reading her with that. The lightheartedness lasted until he ended up with his own musing. Though he knew he was at least getting something of an opinion from Roxana.

Though she didn't seem to be quite willing to give it. Tim had to laugh as she responded, laugh and shake his head. "Man, you do not reveal any of your cards, do you?" he asked, giving her a smile. He tapped his coffee mug, leaning forward to take a look at the contents. It did seem as though he was essentially out for now.

Tim looked back up, meeting Roxana's eyes. "Looks like I'm out," he said, tilting it to look at the contents, "should I go get more? Or are you already sick of my making accusations and asking your opinion about my relationship with your quasi-little sister?" he had to raise his brows and smirk slightly at that. Hey, he'd more or less gotten what he wanted, and he'd have something interesting to mention to Jack next time it came up.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana was a very guarded and secretive person, that was the way she had been raised and when she became a member of SIGUARD that just increased. People didn't need to know her life story, they didn't need to know her opinions on every matter, and they certainty didn't need to know her secretes. Those were things that were not really necessary for anyone to know, even those she was closest to. Knowing secretes just put someone in danger and had to mean that she was willing to risk being hurt in return. While some secretes might have been fine to share with people and some opinions, she didn't always give them unless pressed.

She just didn't see the point in them and she already knew that she could be pretty...blunt to say the least. She didn't feel the need to tell Tim her opinion on the matter of his and Lux's relationship when it was likely to lead to him not being happy. It was not of her concern of the state of their relationship so she didn't see the point in lying to make them feel better or being honest and possibly making them feel worse. There was a saying for that; if you could not say anything nice, don't say anything at all. That was something that was great to apply in certain situations and this was one of them.

"Not, unless I have to." Roxana responded and left it at that. There had to be a lot on the table before she was going to even show a single card. She didn't say anything at first when he spoke of being done with his drink and basically if he should stick around or leave. "That is your choice. If you wish to remain in my company and talk about things then you can, but I'm sure you are well aware by now that this sort of thing is not my strong point." Roxana pointed out. She was leaving it on him and was not going to be offended in any choice that he made. Rox was well aware of how she was and Tim had said enough on how he and others perceived her.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Oh look, a noncomittal answer. Tim should have expected as much. He shifted a bit, pulling out his phone to check a few things. He had the usual push messages, and it looked like some updates from Karsen and Erin on a few projects. Nothing that looked to demand too much attention: certainly nothing he had to focus on. Oh look, another ignored message from Jack. Tim nodded, then flicked about.

"Here," he said, pulling up some videos, "we're gonna need something to talk about, and you might as well watch. Though I'm betting you've seen it before," his own voice started coming out of the phone, talking about projects. Tim nodded and turned, wheeling his way back to the counter. It would take a bit while he placed his order, and it wasn't like he was really making Roxana watch the videos and all. He couldn't say why, exactly, he was showing her all this stuff. He supposed it was still the whole mentality of she's Lux's sister. Practice or something.

It also might be that he couldn't help but feel like there was something there making Roxana stiff, and that maybe someone should cut her some slack or something. Call it the activist in him, or maybe the nerd who'd spent so many years getting beat up for being a nerd or something. He just knew he was getting a refill on his drink, handing over a little more cash and essentially guaranteeing that he stuck around for a few more minutes.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana just watched Tim for a moment as he pulled out his pone, perhaps seeing what he could go do next. However; he ended up surprising her when he actually seemed like he was willing to stay a little longer and attempt a conversation. She didn't understand that at all. What else was there to talk about? Why did he want to keep trying to talk to her when she had already pointed out that socializing with her was not very easy? Not many people actually dealt with her; and while she was okay with that, it just confused her as to why someone like Tim would want to try and stick around any longer. He was then giving her a video to watch and wheeling off, leaving her still confused on what was going on.

Why did he want her to watch there? Did he really think she had watched all of them or had any actual interest in them? She had seen one or two of the videos he did before but didn't find any use for what he talked about or did for herself. She just generally skipped through most of his videos to get a guess what he was talking about and then went about other things she took care of. So now she was expected to actually watch the full thing and comment on it? Did he really think it was a good idea to seek her comment on such a thing?

So many questions, all of which Roxana was tempted to ask, but instead she just looked down at the video. She did glance in his direction to see what he was up to, then around the coffee shop, and then focused back on the video. They were not really her thing, but she figured she could understand on some levels why people would be interested in this sort of thing.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim finished handing over the cash and gathering up his refreshed cup. He had a feeling that Roxana was probably sitting there wondering what she was even doing with this. He almost felt sorry for her: it really was like dealing with someone who just did not "get" how people worked. Tim hesitated for a few moments by the counter, before wheeling himself back over.

"Sorry if that was kind of weird for you," he offered. Then he sat the cup down on the table, nudging it slightly with his fingers to make sure that it sat properly. "But I figured that if we were going to sit here a while longer we'd need something to talk about, and since we've already pretty well exhausted Lux, that left the other big thing in my life."

Tim gestured at the phone, figuring that the vids would be enough of an explanation. He wagered that Roxana wasn't at all interested in the "Stupid mutant stunts" part, but he was sort of hoping she'd be on board for the interviews. He knew she worked with Zoe on her project, so why not?