Blinking blearily, Andrea stared into her bowl... Without a doubt, this was the most tired she had been in weeks, possibly months, or, on top of all of it- ever. She could not only feel the bags under her eyes, but she would swear on her life that she could feel them getting bigger. Each. Passing. Second. The gorgon scowled into her soup, not liking how the creamy red of tomato bisque made her reflections skin look warped and splotchy... or was it really that splotchy? With an audible sigh, she decided that it didn't matter at the moment if her skin was extra spotted, or puffy, or falling off her bones for that matter. All she really cared about, or wanted, was to sleep- but only after her ever growling stomach was satisfied. A glance out the giant window beside her showed the twenty two year old that it was indeed still raining cats, dogs, and a number of other assorted animals. (excluding hippos and walruses) She would be stuck for quite a while, stranded in the tiny coffee shop she had taken refuge in, by the window, on a very uncomfortable stool... with soup she could not finish... and on top of it all, she was forced to share that space with a handful of other unlucky, grumpy rainy day customers who were caught in the sudden down pour.

She blinked again, slower this time, and dropped her eyes back to her soup. That blasted soup... It was good, mind you. Nearly the best tomato soup she had ever had, but it was not what her tummy yearned for- a fact that the organ refused to let her forget, what with its constant gurgling and upset nature. Her eyes slipped shut once more, remaining shut for a few seconds longer, and she yawned a great and terrible yawn. The two people closest to her, a couple still in their early teens, simply stared, before up and moving themselves away from her frightening set of choppers. Andrea shrugged, uncaring, and propped her head up with her hand- elbow digging numbly into the table. On the outside, she looked scrawny- hardly the woman she had been upon entering the US, and her skin was paler, yet darker in some areas around her lips and eyes. She would peg lack of sleep as the cause, without a moments hesitation.

If she could only get a few hours... maybe even half a day, all to herself to dream away while blissfully ignorant to the outside world, she would be a happy woman. But, as the rain thundering down on the glass beside her stated, she would be nowhere near an adequate bed any time soon. Gloved fingers toyed with her spoon absently, before she blinked again, and this time her eyes remained shut. It only took a few moments for her to drift off into the world in between sleep and awake, until her arm slipped out from under her and her face was sent crashing down into the table top unmercifully. Rather than move, and risk seeing the curious glances she knew were trained her way, Andrea opted to remain face planted onto the table, simply gritting her teeth under her mess of hair as she cursed the heavy rain, over and over and over again silently...

Juka felt the need to be around people and possibly get himself some good coffee while he was at it. While he no longer needed to drink much of anything (his bubble seemed to see to that) it didn't mean that he still didn't appreciate the occasional good cup of coffee. It was poring out rain currently, something that seemed to bother most people and there was a time when it would have bothered Juka as well, but that time was past. Until recently he hadn't enjoyed going outside, bubble out there for all to see. People stared at him and often those stares weren't exactly friendly, but he had grown as a person (or so he would tell someone if they bothered to ask) and could now deal with the stares. It was either stares or get soaked and in this case he preferred the stares. No one seemed to realize just how much time he had to spend on his hair and clothing every day, so traveling by bubble it was.

Having spotted the coffee shop that he had been craving all day, Juka descended from the sky and landed just in front of the door, de-bubbling underneath the overhang. With a grin and a wave to a stunned bystander who was presently gaping at him in open mouthed awe (and who wouldn't be in awe of such an amazingly fabulous display?) he sauntered through the door. First thing was first: The procuring of a delicious coffee. That in mind, he wandered up to the counter, ordered his coffee which arrived in short order, made sure to tip for the excellent service, then turned around to find himself a nice table to sit at.

Juka was planning to sit in a corner where he might be able to observe all of the comings and goings of the little shop, perhaps even being lucky enough for someone nice to approach him and sit with him for a time, but he couldn't help but notice a rather intriguing (and tired looking) figure with greenish blue skin. Lately, it seemed, Juka was meeting a lot of bizarre mutants and, with a shrug of his shoulders, figured he may as well add one more to the list. Even if the woman turned out to be dangerous, he could always just float away. After all, in his experience few mutants could fly and of those that could, few could float as fast as he could. He thought he might have seen the woman before, possibly around the Mansion, but he wasn't positive.

"Hello there," Juka said, cradling his warm coffee between his hands. "I coudln't help but notice you sitting here all alone and was wondering if you might enjoy a little company." He put on his best smile combined with inviting eyes.

Having managed to Fall into a semi sleep once again, Andrea was awoken by a soft hello, which gradually grew into a sentence, in the form of a greeting. It took her a few moment for her tired mind to piece together what had been said in her direction, before she lifted her head (which complained about being moved) and spotted the owner of the rather pleasant voice. He was-.... She was...?.... She blinked, fully expecting her mind to be playing tricks on her, before she settled on She and wiped her hands clean of the confusing matter until she was in a better mood. She was standing off to the side of her table, with a pleasant smile tugging her lips, to match the pleasant voice, and pleasant greeting. Andrea, though she couldn't fathom how, managed a small smile of her own and pushed herself out of her slump. It would do no god to slouch with company around. "I do not mind at all..." A slow wave of her hand gestured to the empty bar stool across from her, before she let it fall back to her bowl, and continued to fidget with her silverware.

Didn't mother ever tell you not to play with your food? Shut up, conscience. She was in no mood to have a mental finger waggled at her for stabbing at her soup. On the outside, she kept up her smile with what little reserves of energy she had left, and brought her shaded gaze back to her coffee guest. Or, more importantly, to the cup of coffee in her-... his?... argh.- hands. Why had she not thought of that before? Did not coffee make tiredness go away?... or, was it the other way around? She could feel the gears in her head grinding together, clanking loudly as they protested at being forced to turn, and she sighed. "Lovely weather we are having, is it not?" Her eyes turned back to the window as she propped her chin in her palm once more, watching as the few people who lingered outside scuttled about to and fro like little crabs on a beach- hurriedly searching for shelter from giant seagulls.

As Juka took the offered stool, he felt a little bad for the clourful mutant before him. She was clearly exhausted, a sensation that for himself was only a distant memory. As much as he had always appreciated his wonderful bubbles, he had never appreciated them quite so much as when he discovered he could stave off sleep, apparently indefinately, with them. Not that he really seemed to have a choice in the matter, it just sort of did it for him. Whenever he was tired if he bubbled, tiredness magically went away; same with hunger and thirst. Quite a miracle really and quite a malady for boredome.

Juka took a sip of his coffee, contemplating. The taste was just short of heavenly and in coffee that was about all one could ask for. "You know, I might be able to help you become less tired," he said, some hesitance in hiw voice. "When I bubble myself I become less tired. I'm pretty sure it would work on other people too." He didn't pause to consider that he never officially mentioned he was a mutant nor that she probably had no idea what bubbling even meant. And technically he wasn't even sure he could do what he offered to do but he was pretty sure and his intentions were in the right place, so that meant something right? "I promise it won't hurt." Actually, he didn't even know that much and he frowned suddenly in the realization that he had never tested his powers on any people other than himself. Oh well, first time for everything right? If she even agreed, that was.

"Oh I like this weather," Juka said, abrubtply changing the subject. "Well,. maybe I have an unfair advantage being that I can float around in a bubble all nice and warm and dry, but still." He didn't even bother to lower his voice, unconcerned if others heard him. He was a mutant and proud of it. Besides, its not like the blue skinned woman could hide the fact that she was a mutant and he was all ready openly talking to her. "The name's Juka Miami, by the way." He extended his hand for shaking.

The twenty two year old blinked sleepily at the person before her, too tired to even raise an eyebrow in question. Bubble?... What on earth was bubbling? and while on that matter, how was whatever it was, supposed to cure her of her tiredness? The last part of what was said, something about how it wouldn't hurt, would have normally set off her 'This can't be a good idea' bells... But, seeing as those had been deactivated a few days ago when their metaphorical battery drained to empty, she saw no reason to decline. She would have to be plumb crazy to refuse an offer for help- even if it was from a gender ambiguous stranger. Before she could even think to ask about this 'help' being offered, her companion continued talking. This time about the weather, with a name thrown in there at the end.

"I find that I also enjoy this type of weather every now and then. It tends to clear the streets and make things a bit more peaceful on walks home." generally avoiding people became a lot easier when no one was around. Her attention shifted back from the rain, to the curious person before her. She felt a little wary- somewhere deep inside, but at the same time her eyes were getting heavy again and she felt compelled to try out this mysterious experiment. "You know, I think I will take you up on your offer... Before I pass out in my soup." With a glance down at the maliciously plotting bowl of lukewarm liquid tomato, she pushed her bowl off to the side and let her arm drape through the now empty spot.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, Juka. I am Andrea." Blinking slowly, she felt a nagging at the back of her mind. Something telling her that she had seen this person before... somewhere, but just couldn't place it. "So... How does this... bubble, thing work?"

"You know, I think I will take you up on your offer... Before I pass out in my soup."

Juka could see that the poor woman was confused, but the important part was that the had just given him permission to try a grand experiment. A little voice at the back of his head told him that it wasn't exactly ethical to experiment on human beings (mutant or not) and that the poor girl seemed so exhausted that he wasn't even positive that she knew what she was agreeing too but he managed to wave the little voice away. You weren't supposed to listen to voices in your head anyway, right? Didn't that mean you were crazy or some such thing?

"We might want to do this outside," Juka cautioned, taking a sip of his coffee. Ah, how very satisfying. "My bubbles are a little obvious. People would probably stare, but its up to you." He shrugged, realizing that Andrea was probably used to people staring, given that she did, after all, have blue skin.

"As for how the bubble works, well, think of a soap bubble." Not that he really liked his bubble being called a soap bubble,but it was the description that everyone else seemed to use so it was functional and accurate enough. "Think of a giant soap bubble. That floats and is nice and dry and warm. The bubble can kind of," now this was where his knowledge of exactly what it did got a little foggy, "affect things inside it. Time type things, like sleep. Or not sleep." Or something like that.

She nodded slowly, and slipped from her bar stool onto weak, wobbly legs. Something about not sleeping always seemed to interfere with her motor functions.

>>"As for how the bubble works, well, think of a soap bubble."

A soap bubble? She thought back to the last time she had blown a bubble, waaay back as a child in her back yard one fine summers day. (or maybe she was just hallucinating at this point..) She recalled how bubbles looked kind of soft, yet fragile at the same time, and that there was always a sheen of rainbow if you looked at it in just the right light. very pretty really. He continued-

-"Think of a giant soap bubble. That floats and is nice and dry and warm. The bubble can kind of,"-"affect things inside it. Time type things, like sleep. Or not sleep."

She tilted her head, blinking slowly, and couldn't even hope to begin to understand what he was talking about at the moment. Instead of wasting time and energy trying to comprehend how that was possible, she nodded. "I see... so it will hopefully help me not be tired anymore?" Another blink followed, one that was more geared towards herself for her intelligent response. "Ugh... Don't make me talk, I am no good at it right now..." If she had heard correctly, the bubble would help. That was all that mattered if this crazy test was to be preformed.

Juka was excited. Depsite the potential slightly unscrupulous morals behind experimenting on a human with his powers, he was excited to have the opportunity to do so. Besides, its not like he could really do anything that bad with his bubble right? I mean, the most it had ever done to him was make him not tired and not hungry so even if it disobeyed him, surely it couldn't actually hurt anyone right? Or so he kept trying to tell himself anyway and he even managed to almost believe it.

"I see... so it will hopefully help me not be tired anymore? Ugh... Don't make me talk, I am no good at it right now..."

Juka nodded, almost skipping after her. "Trust me, it'll help." Hopefully. Juka guided Andrea to the rather conveniently located alley just behind the coffee shop. It wasn't exactly hidden from sight but no one really seemed to be paying attention to it, so it seemed to be as good a place as any. "Ok, just stand there and relax," he instructed her, trying his best to sound reassuring.

Juka gently took Andrea's hand, checked to make sure that she was definately ok with what he was about to do and then bubbled, making sure to stand close enough so that the bubble would encompass them both. He wasn't exactly sure what to do from there; in his limited previous experiments he had just sort of thought really hard about time going faster and it magically had. He figured there was probably more to it than that and living subjects were a little more complicated than melted pieces of metal, but at least it was somewhere to start.

So, that decided, Juka started thinking really strong thoughts about non tiredness and directed those thoughts in an entirely non-scientific way towards his subject Andrea. He wasn't sure if he had ever thought that hard in his life, certainly not during his years ago high school days and probably not since. It was almost physically exhausting all that thinking. And then he realized that something was, in fact happening, though he still wasn't entirely sure what. He felt it though, the changes flowing out from his bubble and into his blue skinned target and he grinned at her, hoping that it was all going well.

An alley. Wasn't this how most modern horror movies started? An unsuspecting victim being led to a dark, unnoticed location- before being attacked and having to run for her life. Andrea's legs quivered at the thought of having to run and she hoped lazily if this was the beginning of a horror movie there would be a moped with the key in the ignition located somewhere close by. Preferably behind her and within arms reach. She resisted the urge to check, and took Juka's hand. Then, so suddenly that it startled her, they were encompased by a large...bubble?

"Wow... you were not kidding about the bubble thing..."

She spent a few minutes glancing about, before she realized that her sleepiness and all ailments that had come with it were ebbing away. Like a tide. When they didn't return with a vengeance, she sent yet another startled look Juka's way and caught the grin he wore. "Oh my..." She paused, pursing her lips as she inspected herself. "I feel... fine?" Her voice lacked that tired, drained tone she had carried previously, she couldn't feel the bags under her eyes anymore, nor did her back or head her... and on top of it all- "Oh my gosh! I am not hungry anymore?!" Her hand gripped her stomach through her clothing, disbelievingly searching for that hunger she had grown so used to. "I can not believe it... I am Always hungry... I-" A sudden tingly feeling on her scalp caused her to pause mid sentence. How strange, she thought, It feels like there is something in my hair...

She opened her mouth and barely got out the words, "My scalp feels itchy", before her hair literally exploded to life. Andrea uttered what could only be described as a squawk and her hands flew to the mass of wriggling hair on top of her head. her braids twisted and wriggles, before the small rubber bands she used to secure the ends snapped and shot in different directions within the bubble. Fully startled, once again, Andrea stared at Juka, while her hair danced about wildly about her head. "...Is-... Is this normal?"

Juka concentrated really hard as the minutes began ticking by, trying to will Andrea into no longer being tired. He felt something happened but exactly what that something was he wasn't certain until she decided to speak.

"I feel... fine? Oh my gosh! I am not hungry anymore?!"

Absently he nodded. Apparently he had gone a little overboard and instead of merely making her non-tired he had taken away all of her daily needs. Well, maybe that was how it worked, maybe he couldn't' just choose one thing and get rid of it. After all, when it worked on him it just sort of magically made him no longer hungry or sleepy or thirsty. Yes, that must be it.

"My scalp feels itchy ...Is-... Is this normal?"

Abruptly Juka dropped his bubble, causing both of them to land back on solid ground. Her hair was moving. It was moving and wriggling. Hair was not supposed to wriggle. "Oh no." He gaped at her, mouth slightly open. "Um...does your hair normally wriggle?" He was pretty sure he couldn't make hair move around on its own. At least, his bubble had never shown any sort of inclination towards doing so before. The closest he ever came to that was causing his kitties to shed prematurely and grow a new coat of fur, but that was a far cry from wriggling fur. This wasn't his fault. ...was it?

"I'm sooooo sorry Andrea. My bubble couldn't do that, at least it's never done that before. It affects time not...animation. Its never made hair wriggle. Oh no, what have I done!" He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say didn't even know how this was his fault. Surely his powers weren't going haywire again were they?

His expression, and reaction for that matter, did not help "the situation at all. The bubble around them was gone in a second, and Andrea tumbled to the ground, effectively rolling back once her feet met pavement and her knees buckled under the sudden weight of her own body. She found herself planted on her bottom, staring up through a mess of black moving hair, at Juka. "Actually, My hair does... uh, wiggle, I guess you could say. It always has, ever since I was but a baby. So don't worry yourself too much Juka." She parted the black curtain with her hands, and wrinkled her nose, peeking out at him. Why did such things always seem to happen to her? "Do you think this will go away?" Oh, how she dearly hoped that was the case. She didn't want to have to go out and buy all new hair clips to tame the black beast.

After a moment, she got to her feet, brushed herself off and tucked her hair behind her head, bribing up the hood of her coat in hopes that it would tame the mass and hide it from view. She wasn't surprised to find that it did not, in fact, help but rather forced all of her hair forward and her vision was once again blocked by a curtain of wiggling black. "This is fixable, right?" A tinge of hope teetered and tottered at the edge of her words... Sure, she could live with the hair- or chop it all off if need be, but if there was even a slight chance that it was reversible she would gladly want to hear such news.

Juka felt even worse about the whole situationwhen Andrea tumbled to the ground after he un-bubbled. He had in his shock and horror, of course, forgotten to warn her before his bubble disappeared that they were floating a little off the ground and that she would return to the ground when the bubble was removed. He was prepared for it, having bubbled and de-bubbled countless hundreds of times, but she most certainly wasnt and why should she have been? It was another thing to add to his growing list of mistakes this day, just another thing to feel guilty about.

Andrea's mention that her hair did sometimes wriggle on its own made hime feel a little better; at least it hadn't been entirely his fault. "Maybe your mutation and mine jusst don't get along. Maybe your wriggling hair doesn't like my bubble?" An odd theory, granted, and maybe one that didn't make a lot of sense but then again they were talking about wriggling locks of black hair and giant floating soap bubbles so he wasn't certain that there really was a non-weird way to think about those things.

"I might be able to fix it," Juka said uncertainly. Reassure was definately not the way to frame what he said, considering he didn't even know what he had done let alone how he might be able to fix it. "But if its gone away on its own before won't it probably go away on its own again?" He hoped. Because he didn't want to have that on his conscience. "In the meantime I'm sure I can come up with something to hide it. Maybe a fancy shawl or something?"

Indeed, her hair did not seem to appreciate what the bubble had done to her... though, if it was to be a choice between endless hunger and tiredness, or wriggling, impossible hair? She already knew which one she would choose.

>>"I might be able to fix it,""But if its gone away on its own before won't it probably go away on its own again?"

Eheh... Andrea winced inwardly. If only it were that simple. She parted the curtain that was her hair again, and glanced at him. Thankfully, her glasses covered most of the worried look that had settled over her features. "No.... It doesn't go away." Her eyes shifted back out towards the entrance to the alley way. Perhaps this was not such a good idea, in retrospect... "It's always a little, um, alive-" She paused, wondering if that properly explained it, "Well, perhaps 'alive' isn't a good way to describe it. It always moves, just not this much." Stating the obvious, something she was growing gather good at.

>>"In the meantime I'm sure I can come up with something to hide it. Maybe a fancy shawl or something?"

The image of her tucking her hair into a shawl like an old woman made Andrea's frown split and crack into a grin. How funny she would look- though, it didn't seem to matter as she already looked rather funny with her mop of black tresses. "I have never worn a shawl before... I do not think I would even know where to get one." Another short pause followed her words, before she shrugged and added, "It does not matter though, it's not like this is going to make me stand out any more than I already did."

Juka decided that mutants were definately a little weird. Or a lot weird, depending and not just because some of them (or perhaps only one of them for all he knew) had wiggly hair. "Its really not so bad," he assured Andrea. "You just have to learn to embrace it. It makes you an individual, right?" And indivudal though Juka himself most definately was, he wasn't sure that he would want to have wiggly hair. Still, it was his job to cheer people up and be posative.

"I have never worn a shawl before... I do not think I would even know where to get one."

"Well you're in luck," Juka replied with a broad grin. "As you can plainly see," because of course everyone could plainly see, "I am an expert in all things fashion. You want a shawl? Well, my beautiful little lady, the least I can do is get you a shawl. And it won't be a dreary old lady shawl either, but something absolutely perfect for you're perfect blueish complexion." He didn't even need to pause to think about the oddities of what he was saying. Didn't have a normal white or black or somewhere in between complexion? Learn to embrace what you did have and if you had blue skin well, the only thing to do was celebrate it.

"Now, if you will follow me, darling, I am certain we can find something perfect for you." Juka extended an arm to Andrea, fully intending that she should follow him and not caring in the slightest that the pair of them were likely to attract attention. Attention, after all, just made things more interesting.

An individual... Andrea blinked. Individuals were often trend setters. Individuals set the path, rather than followed one... She didn't know if she wanted to be an individual. But, she also didn't want to hurt Juka's feelings, for it wasn't everyday a random stranger offered you help and stuck around after wards to make sure you felt alright. She smiled, and nodded. She might have lacked the self esteem, or even the confidence that all of the other Mutants she had met seemed to exude- but she could darn well fake it. Hopefully

She flushed dark brown at the 'beautiful little lady' comment, and fought back the urge to yank her hood back up in place. The one thing she couldn't get over was this unique fascination with people referring to her as 'cute' or 'pretty'. When she spied herself in mirrors or windows, she did not see a cute woman. She saw a large green blemish, too stubborn to fade away.... But, there was no reason anyone else needed to know that little fact...

Juka's arm extended, and she hesitated briefly- struggling to fight back another wave of brown before it could lay claim over her cheeks, before she looped her arm though his finally. Clearing her throat, she attempted to tuck some hair behind her ears, failed, and looked out towards the street again. "Lead the Way then, Juka, my fashion expert extraordinaire."