Car Trouble [open]

[Taf Williams]

Taf drummed on a beat on the steering wheel as Rammstein thundered along in her car.

Ich will dass ihr mir vertraut
Ich will dass ihr mir glaubt
Ich will eure blicke spüren
Jeden herzschlag kontrollieren

A drizzle danced onto the windshield of her junker, and she scowled. A pale finger testily moved to switch on the wipers but instead froze and shortly retreated. She was only a couple of miles short of the college anyway.

Ich will eure Stimmen hören
Ich will die Ruhe stören
Ich will dass ihr mich gut seht
Ich will dass ihr mich versteht

She eased her car on slowly, carefully driving on the left side of the road. Driving like this felt eery... Well, it quite simply felt like driving on the wrong damn side of the road. It was like always writing with one hand and then suddenly switching to another. Or maybe even borrowing someone's glasses for a sprint. Hell, it reminded Taf of her first German class way back when, and it was fucking odd.

Ich will eure Phantasie
Ich will eure Energie
Ich will eure Hände sehen
Ich will in Beifall untergehen

The old beat-up orange clanker let off the distinctive smell of burnt rubber.

Taf grimaced and glanced at the hood.

Seht ihr mich?
Versteht ihr mich?

A trail of smoke plumed up from the front like the feather on a pompous Edwardian plumassier.

"Fuck!"

She pulled over and clammered out of her car, stomping up toward the front and popping its hood. Flames greedily slurped up the new oxygen before the drizzle beat them back and kissed the smolders into singes. The belt of the engine was crispy and black, still smoking like angry little coals.

"You stupid car," she scolded, lifting the hood of her black sweatshirt back over her mop of copper hair. The moist air began curling the little strands. "God." Taf knew which colors looked good on a ginger and which ones clashed. Her black hoodie did a marvelous job at making her like like a sallow-faced ghost from Christmas past, here to haunt and terrorize. Or perhaps she just looked like a sad, sopping American with a really shitty car.

Frowning, Taf snatched for her phone, sticking her pale fingers down into the loose pockets of her holey jeans and feeling about.

They grasped at nothing.

"Fuck," she muttered again.

Her wee cellular was relaxing in a sack of rice back at the dorm and drying out its tiny mechanical body. Apparently, it didn't appreciate when she accidentally turned into a puddle while holding it yesterday. Who woulda thunk?

"Well, shit." Leaving the vomit-orange front popped open as it was, she leaned against the wet driver's door and crossed her chilly arms. She raised a thumb to her mouth and clicked her teeth against its nail.

This was just her luck, wasn't it?

A muffled "Feuer frei!" banged along from its CD from the otherwise silent smoking vehicle.

[Evan Summers]

Can't be bothered with the template right now, i'm in bit of a rush.

On his way to class.

For today at least, his superhero antics could be forgotten. He wasn't the flame of justice today, nor master of the flames, nor even 'Evan Almighty' which was a new one he'd come up with. He was just Evan. Simplistic, overexcitable Evan Summers. And he was on his way to class.

Evan was only just old enough to learn to drive at all, but when you were in London, it was pretty darned difficult to get around my car anyway, so in his infinite wisdom, he had decided his money would be better spent elsewhere than Driving instruction. due to this, he was forced to take public transport around the city. This wasn't too bad. After all, nearly everyone in London used the public transport systems. It was the best way to get about, and not too expensive either. Evan had a pass that he paid monthly to keep valid, which allowed him to use the buses and the tube whenever he pleased. It was good really, because he tended to use them almost constantly. He wasn't the type for sitting at home on his lonesome. So today, he was going to class (just to reiterate).

However, he quickly saw something that he had not expected to see. A broken down car. Wow. that was unfortunate. It wasn't moving, and was parked up on the side of the road. The person inside wasn't fully visible, but from the open hood of the car, and the faint smoke spiralling out of it, he could tell that the car was broken down. He looked up at the faintly drizzling sky, then down to his watch. Heh. He had time to do a good deed, even if he wasn't on superhero duty.

Walking up to the car, he tapped on the window, waiting for it to roll down so he could talk to the woman sitting inside.

"Um, Hiya. You look.. stuck? Need to make a call or anything?"

[/b] he asked, shrugging. He wondered why she wouldn't already have made a call to the AA or some other insurance people, but heh, what did he know. Maybe she was one of these people that didn't own a phone. They were pretty rare these days though, so he doubted. Either way, you could hardly fault evan - after all, he was only trying to be helpful.
[/blockquote][/sup]

[Taf Williams]

Taf waited a few minutes, the drizzle tingling weirdly on her skin. Her face absorbed the moisture. Then, shooting irritated glances at the utter lack of useful passerby, she got back in her car and waited, tapping her fingers angrily against the wheel. What a pain in the ass.

At least it wasn't a downpour, right? Showers made her uneasy... Drains. She watched the sky water. It's a shame it wasn't raining. At least, not heavy. A drop could fall from the sky, slam into the ground, and then be absorbed by the dirt and devoured by plants... Could that happen to her? Would she be so fragile as to be devoured by a fucking light-sucking herb?

Fuck that. She wasn't going down no goddamn drain and wasn't getting eaten by a freaking green thing.

Taf stretched out the index and middle finger of her right hand, bored, relaxing her hold for a moment. They became transparent. She knew their location and position, even if she couldn't technically feel them. She let the clear water stretch up and then concentrated. Hard. A moment later, she flexed them, flesh again. It was difficult to be hard.

Rammstein pounded along.

At a knack-knack from her window, she rolled it down.

The annoying drizzle entered, dusting her pasty fingers with its spit. Her skin soaked it up, but her hoodie wasn't so lucky.

"Um, Hiya. You look.. stuck? Need to make a call or anything?"

"Fuck yes. My goddamn car," said the American, "crapped out on me in the side of the road in fucking London on the one day my shitty cell phone got left in my room."

Got left in her room. Right. It wasn't her fault.

Her brown eyes deftly scanned over her savior. It was a white kid with fluffy brown locks. He was a wee sprite of a thing. A bit scrawny. Young. Probably the type thugs liked whacking on occasion--then again, he seemed way too confident. Good home life, confident, spoiled. Useful. Middle-class?

"Jesus! You got a phone?"

[Evan Summers]

Oh wow! it was one of these crazy americans who used the word 'goddamn' and 'Cell Phone', and stuff like that. Crazy people. Anyway, that wasn't going to stop him helping out. Good deeds, right? Usually, he wouldn't have handed his phone over to a random stranger, but he was pretty sure that this was no scam. After all, the hood of the car was open, so they wouldn't get too far, and besides, his phone was pretty much a piece of shite. They wouldn't get much for it, even if it were some sort of heist.

"Umm, That 'stinks'!"

[/b] he grinned. Stinks. Americans said that, right? He wouldn't want to say something she didn't understand or some such thing. Like Cunt, or 'Bawbag' if you wanted to go up north a little.

"Ehm, sure - here you go,"[/b] he said, hopping a little and then reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. it was a couple of years old, and definitely not one of these mega-flash iphone/youphone/he-or-she-phones version five billion or something ridiculous like that.

He waited while she made the call. usually, he would have started up a conversation of some sort. Of course, in this situation it would be pretty stupid. After all, she was gonna be talking on the phone any moment, no doubt. She wouldn't want him just speaking over her. There was something about her that seemed almost sort of icy about her, even though americans in his experience were usually jolly. Like santa. Was that racist? He wasn't sure. He decided not to say it out loud, just in case.

Evan hoped she wasn't too long on the phone. Hopefully she wouldn't like, call up her girlfriends and have a long conversation about guys or something. the AA would be a better option. Especially since Evan was hardly too keen on staying out in the rain for to long.

Evan didn't like rain. This was partly because it was wet. and partly because it was wet. In other words, he didn't like water.

Tapping his foot on the tarmac, he waited for the call to go ahead so he could get on with his life - good deed complete.
[/blockquote][/sup]

[Taf Williams]

The corner of Taf's mouth quirked. He said stinks like a pretty little princess or at least some proper rich boy. British people--no, pardon, Bri'ish people couldn't pronounce a damn thing with the right amount of clamor. Way too prissy.

She accepted the cell without a word of thanks and dialed up a tow.

The phone was old. Cheap. Lower middle class, then?

As she chatted along, settling this and that, giving her location, mentioning that the belt in her engine appeared to have spontaneously combusted, she watched the sprout.

He was young. Looked twitchy. Nervous a tad. More of it was from the situation than from his personality, she supposed. Then, as the drizzle continued on, getting a bit heavier, the lad's discomfort grew. A tap of his foot. A shift of his position. A downward gaze... No, not a downward gaze. It was more like he was pulling his head and limbs into himself, subconsciously trying to curl into a ball. Apparently, someone didn't like getting wet. She couldn't see, but she supposed his feet probably angled in the direction he'd been heading.

His attention wasn't locked on her either. So he wasn't looking for her flattery? Didn't want payment? Holy fuck... Had Taf actually managed to find a genuinely good citizen?

She finished yammering into the phone, snapping it shut.

Her brown eyes finagled toward Good Boy for a moment. Her right hand slid around the passenger seat's floor and pulled out an umbrella.

"Yo, kid. Thanks for the phone," said Taf, holding it out a bit and then withdrawing it. Thanks? She smirked. "I'll give it back to you, but first you gotta pronounce stinks right. Stiiiiinks," she continued, drawing it out, her expression suddenly serious. "With a grunt, deep and low in your throat. 'That stinks.' Don't be doin' no prissy pretty boy stuff, now. 'That stinks.' You gotta do it right, now, ya see?

"Speak it clearly, affirmatively, no wussing out. You got me?"

Taf's fingers played with the cell twisting it around and holding it back by her head. What good American chum couldn't explain decent accented shit to a Brit? Perhaps he'd learn to say it right without sounding like a wee twat. She pulled the device closer to her body, well out of Good Boy's easy reach. Her right hand fiddled with the umbrella's clasp, snapping it free as she teased Good Boy.

Like hell she was ever going to forgo such a wonderful opportunity as this. Good Boy looked like a nice guy. Fun to mess with.

[Evan Summers]

He felt a little intimidated. Usually, Evan wasn't the sort to feel this way, but today he just felt - eh - different, that was a way to put it. He waited a little longer for her to finished up on the phone. Yep. She was calling someone to come fix up the car. That was good. He told himself he didn't have to wait about for the repair people to arrive. Right. He'd done a good deed right, so he could hurry along to class. He did like class, and he didn't want to end up getting there late. That would be horrendous.

She was about to hand it back, when to his dismay, she withdrew. Whatwhat? This was a curious circumstance. It seemed that she wished him to say 'stinks' in a proper american accent.

Pssh.

The british basically invented america anyway. Evan sighed, guessing that she was probably joking.

"Well, alright - if you're gonna' be difficult. Um... Stinks?"

[/b] he said, unsure a little. He tried to make it a little nasal, and put his strongest southern american accent on. Not that it came out particularly well anyway.

"That enough for my phone back?"[/b] he asked, grinning. He'd decided by now that he actually quite liked this woman. Sure, he had class in a while, but he had like fifteen minutes to spare anyway, so it wasn't really much trouble. He'd be just fine, if he stayed to chat for a while.

"Does your car often do this?"[/b] he asked, pulling a sympathetic face. He looked up at the sky, feeling the tiny droplets of moisture on his face. Blekgh. Looking back, he pulled up his hood. It was getting heavier, so he was going to have to give in and look like some sort of juvenile delinquent with a 'hoodie'. Goddamn gun culture, eh? He decided to try again, more sure of himself this time.

"Stinks!" he grinned. "Alright alright, but if you're making me say this, then you'd better say something english.. Like uh, pronounce can't correctly?"[/b] he said, laughing. Oh, cultural differences. How crazy these situations were that he so oft found himself a part of. He wondered how long the repair people would be, checking his watch quickly. Still had ten minutes.
[/blockquote][/sup]

[Taf Williams]

Hm. So he was the rare type to like her pushy personality?

Good boy tried his best. Kind of cute. Tik-tok, a glance at the clock... He had plans.

"I ain't pronouncin' yer kind of can't--the way you people say it, it sounds like a freakish mixture between count and cunt, which wee lads like you should only be thinking about in your lonely little beds late at night," said Taf, unclipping her car key from its ring and sticking it in the ignition. She shoved the ring of keys (minus one) into her pocket.

"Yeah, this fucking junker is always doing something," muttered Taf as she snatched her umbrella and opened the door. "The goddamn windshield wipers only have two settings--off and another setting in which they slam back and forth like a fucking bull at a shitty rodeo."

She stepped out and kicked it shut behind her, one slightly muddy boot on its vomit-orange paint.

"Ugh, I hate this shitty rain," she muttered, scowling, loud enough for Good Boy to hear. Bullshit. She loved the rain. He didn't.

Taf's pale, zombie-like fingers from beneath her black hoodie reached out, groping the handle and stretching out the shit-brown umbrella to its full shielding capacity and placing it over her and this kid's already-hooded heads.

"So where ya headed? I'll walk you there--it's the least I could do." Yeah, right. Like she gave a rat's ass.

She stuck a thumb over her shoulder.

"The towers can contact me later, and it's not like anything worth something could be stolen from that piece of crap," she continued, deftly slamming the slightly smoking hood shut.

[Evan Summers]

Evan laughed. Imagine that, an american saying that his way of speaking was funny. Ah well, some people were just crazy he supposed.

"Hoi!"

[/b] he exclaimed, protesting to her comment. "Not as lonely as you think!"[/b] he said, winking. It was pretty lonely though, to be honest he was just bluffing. Smiling at this, he laughed then at her description of her car as a 'junker'. He shook his head, smiling.

"Heh. I can't even drive, so i don't really know anything about cars, but i can safely confirm that that is something of a 'junker' as you put it,"[/b] he said with a grin.

She hated the rain to? Wow, fate, right? Heh, he didn't actually think that, but it was a funny notion to entertain. He hated the rain. He hated it a lot. She was right though. He was better off starting his way over the university.

"Uh, yeah. Uni."[/b] he said, pointing in the direction he had been walking before he'd decided to stop and help the young woman with her car. He quickly spun around and waited for her to get out of the car to join him. He was a bit confused at her leaving her car there. If he was lucky enough to own a car, he knew that he certainly wouldn't simply leave it lying about like that, especially with the hood open. Even if it was a pile of poop.

As they walked, he was silent for a little, before he thought of what to say.

"So.. uh, where were you headed when the car broke down, anyhow?"[/b] he asked, genuinely interested. Not many people drove around london, most people used Public transport and such. She must have been going somewhere definite. He wondered where it was, what sort of life she lived to be so pushy. He hadn't been angry in some time.. he wondered if it was anything to do with his power. Perhaps being a part of something like this was what was making him better. It was hard to say. Either way, life was strange now.
[/blockquote][/sup]
>.< sorry for the wait, i was really busy, and honestly didn't realise you'd posted.

[Taf Williams]

Anyone who said his bed wasn't that lonely like that to a completely stranger was definitely lying. Especially as a male to a female, so decided Taf.

Then again, she just couldn't imagine this cute little goody kid getting laid, but whatever.

Uni. Yuu-nee. Uni. Fucking uni (British for college, short for university). Did he just say uni?

She joined the kid, her shit-brown umbrella opened overhead, deflecting the annoying drizzle. Uni. Uni. Was he her age? No way. No way. Her fingers tightened on the umbrella's handle. No way. Her brown eyes danced upon him. He looked maybe high school age. Maybe.

The cold air nipped at her fingers, the drizzle kissed her feet.

Their shoes tapped along as she tried to compute this information. A baby-face. She was here to make miserable a baby-faced college kid.

"Eh, north London." Not a lie. "I was just tryin' to get the hang of drivin' around here on the wrong fuckin' side of the road. The wrong fuckin' side," she lamented, sadly shaking her head. "The Americans have it right. You drive on the right side of the road. Right is Right, and, goddammit, that's all you've really gotta know."

Uni. Uni. He was her age?

He went to her school. Shit--good shit, not bad shit, of course.

"So what year are you in? What's yer major?"

Freshman. Freshman. He had to be a freshman. If he were senior, she was just gonna shoot herself and be over it. He couldn't be older than her, right?

How weird.

But her mental age was probably much higher. Yeah, that was what mattered.

[Evan Summers]

He shook his head sadly. Right was right? No, fff, no it wasn't!

"Psh, if it was right, it would be called left,"

[/b] he said, grinning. They invented americans anyway, so he won out, right? He laughed lightly, and then went quiet again. Wow. She was quite, uh, different wasn't she? Ah well. It was nice to have a little company.

"So, uh, yeah. I'm right,"[/b] he said, nodding definitively. She then asked what year he was in of college. She looked a lot older than him. He admitted he had something of a babyface, and so he didn't object too much. People often mistook him for a youngster, perhaps a year or two younger than he actually was.

"Uh, yep. I'm in the first year of college. I don't think i'll be there for long though..."[/b] he said. His course was only a short one, and he wasn't particularly good at it, even if he did try quite hard.

The walk continued onwards, before he realised that she too must be a college or university student. He turned to her as they continued to walk and said, "What about you? Are you doing something at the uni'?"[/b] he said, genuinely interested. Perhaps a course in extreme sarcasm or cynicism might suit this particular individual. He smiled lightly at his joke, hidden in his mind, and continued on waiting for an answer.

The drizzle didn't stop, and his fringe had started to get a little damp. He was a little worried this might mess up his hair and stuff, even with the hood up and everything. he didn't like all this stuff about people with hoods being knife-carriers and all that. He might be carrying the deadly ability to control flames, but he certainly wasn't carrying a knife. Psh, bloody peasants, he thought to himself, shaking his head a little. Herp Derp.
[/blockquote][/sup]

[Taf Williams]

Oh! So he could joke... poorly.

At the very least, he was a freshie. Taf was older.

"Not long? Why the hell not? It's the duty of every freshie to come up to their first courses and seriously kick some ass before calling it quits. Seriously, take your assignments and shove a steel-toed boot up their butts.

"Mm... I'm a fucking student from over the fucking pond." No shit. Perhaps she should get a navy red-and-white striped tee with stars and strut around in it just for the hell of it.

And she had no interest in adopting a British accent.

Taf wasn't much into talking about herself, though. It was... meh. She already knew every god-damned thing about herself, didn't she?

Was that road developing puddles, the concrete and pavement catching the trailing drops in its little divots? Poor lad was probably uncomfortable. Was he hydrophobic? She glanced at him. Hood up, unhappy twitches from the moisture to more excited ones at the red-haired punk. Did he like her?

Taf shifted the shit-colored umbrella closer to his side. She couldn't help but notice that the tiny droplets on her hand kept mysteriously vanishing into her flesh, and it was starting to weird her out... but experiments could take place later. Yeah. Right now, she thought as her brown gaze looped back to the boy, she had other plans, and the fire for them was scarcely kindled.

"So! By the way, my name's Taf--undeclared major, sophomore at the uni, but I like science. I'm staying at the dorms on campus." Her spare hand brushed her copper bangs back behind one pale ear.

"What the hell are you called, my baby-faced associate?"

[Evan Summers]

He nodded. "Yep, not long. I'm not dropping out or anything, at least, i don't think i will. It's just not really a long course, it's pretty basic stuff,"

[/b] he said, trying to defend what little honour he had ever possessed around this self-important yankee.

The pond. Strange way to describe one of the largest bodies of water in the world. He'd never really understood that phrase. Still, it was generally accepted, and so he let it go.

"So, are you one of these crazy americans who thinks that the united kingdom is made up of London and Scotland?"[/b] he asked, smiling wryly.

She introduced herself, and he fumbled for a second. To be honest, she wasn't someone he really wanted to be friends with, but on the other hand he didn't really want to offend her either, so he smiled and nodded.

"Science is good,"[/b] he said, nodding. He didn't really like science.

"Oh. I'm Evan. Summers. Evan Summers. i'm doing business at the moment.. I doubt it'll get me a job or anything though, i'm a bit useless. Still, i've got some plans, i guess.. won't go into them,"[/b] he said elusively. He did of course mean his power, and superherodom and all that, but he wasn't going to share that with a complete stranger, especially when he wasn't sure he could trust her at all, let alone with a secret like his power.

"We're almost there, so i'll be out of your hair soon,"[/b] he said, smiling. He felt a little like he was bothering her. Not that he really cared. After all, she had been the one who'd offered to walk him over. He didn't know why he said they were almost there. She went to the Uni, chances where she knew where it was. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to go to any lectures. That would just be crazy.
[/blockquote][/sup]

[Taf Williams]

"The UK is, uh"--shit, geography--"England and Ireland?"

The poor kiddo was anxious to go. How funny. Totally crowding in on his kindness like this and making him ridiculously uncomfortable--an awkward mixture between polite and impatient--was rather entertaining. A grin split her mouth wide.

But, fuck. It wasn't like she hadn't been grinning a lot before, right?

It would be a shame to separate so soon, but she could always find him again. Always.

She never forgot a face. Ever.

But she couldn't play today. Nah, she'd have to be patient and deal with it another time. Another time... definitely. But, for now, she had to kick a retarded car's ass. Good god! First, the windshield wipers bitch, and now the belt instantaneously combusted...

"So this yer building?" she asked as they approached part of the college--no, university. Apparently, there was a difference between the two in Bri'ishland, but she still hadn't figured it out.

"Mistah Summers, it was nice walkin' with ya." The umbrella handle felt cold in her hand. She faced him, smiling. Smiling? "Yeah, so you be careful with all yer mysterious unidentified plans and all that, huh? I'll be seein' you 'round."

And, fuck yes, she would.

The smile stayed on Taf's mouth as the drizzle became a fine rain, dancing on the concrete like foreshadowing of what was to come.

[Evan Summers]

Evan shook his head, a sad smile on his face as he chuckled softly. England and Ireland? Well, one of those was right. And she missed three parts out. So really she only scored 'Negative two' on that question, which was quite poor to be honest.

"Um, nope. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,"

[/b] he said, winking. "Ireland is a separate country,"[/b] he informed her, smiling. It was good to know something that someone else didn't, it made him feel a bit better about himself. Not that a big headed kid like himself really needed to feel any better about himself than he already did, am i right?

Aha! Well, this was his building then, it seemed. He smiled, thanking her quickly for walking him back. He didn't really need it, but maybe it would make her wait for the car tow-people a little shorter and more interesting. it had certainly excited his walk a little bit. Admittedly, he probably was going to have quite a boring day, so this was a nice little piece of excitement for him.

"Well Taf, it was lovely to meet you. Maybe i'll see you around here sometime, right?"[/b] he said, grinning. He stood up straight and saluted, giving a wide, joking grin as he did so. Rightyho. He had better be off to class then. He gave one last smile, and walked off into the main entrance of the building.

Up the stairs, through the door, into the class. Heh. The rest of his day would probably not reach the height of the excitement that he'd just had, so he resigned himself to whatever the world had in store for him. Maybe for once, he'd have a day where his power didn't come into it. That would be nice. Very nice.
[/blockquote][/sup]

[Taf Williams]

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland? What the hell was this "Northern" Ireland crap? You were either in Ireland or you weren't. Was it like how the states had Virgina and West Virginia and no East, North, or South Virgina? What a pain in the--

And Wales, Scotland--Who even cared about those places?

"Yeah, I'll be seein' you 'round, kid," she said, mimicking his salute in a sardonic manner.

As he entered the building, Taf turned around, thumbing the handle of her shit-colored umbrella as she pulled it closer to her head. Her feet pattered on through the puddles, although the falling sky water masked their splashes.

She steadily walked on, contemplating. She held out a pale hand, let it form a most puddle on the surface of her skin and pulled it back under her portable shelter.

She relaxed, and the puddle vanished, soaked into her skin.

Taf grinned.

Fuck yes, she would see that goody Summers kid again--and, goddamn, she was really looking forward to it.

A guy who would even help a strange foreigner in a broken-down car, even in the rain, which he detested? A boy who would go through such annoying trouble, even with her intentionally rude and bratty behavior? A boy who would trust her to take him to his class, and who coincidentally had that class on her campus? A boy who was innocent, naive--and, judging by the one class who would soon no longer be in, none too bright?

Fuck, yes.

He was just the kind of plaything she'd missed out on since coming here. Just the thing.

The thought alone strummed excitement in her heart.

She trampled on, letting the water splash around her muddy shoes and jeans, drenching her socks--the water, of course, vanished quickly after. She stopped for a moment, brown eyes glancing down as thoughts struck her at various levels.

Soaking up the rain meant she was gaining mass, right? Was this going to make her fat?



[/thread]