It was just another day in Central Park. It had been a pretty good day today too. Lizzy made a decent chunk of change for only playing an hour and a half this morning. She dropped her guitar off back at her house, picked up her journal and backpack, and took the subway down to Central Park. Here, Lizzy found a tree with a large trunk to sit against and write. Her writing was an attempt at song lyrics. She wasn’t too good at it, which is why she needed the practice, but with her musical gifts, Lizzy thought that some material should be her own.

It only took about ten minutes before Lizzy became frustrated with herself. The words she wrote just didn’t make any sense. There was a reason she preferred singing already famous songs. Instead of continuing to write, Lizzy began to people watch.

The area wasn’t that crowded, but from time to time joggers and walkers passed Lizzy on the path beside her. One person in particular stood out to her as she stared far down the path. A man with dark hair was walking his dog – looked like a golden retriever to Lizzy. The man and his dog came across a blonde woman sitting on a bench. He casually leaned against the bench, obviously flirting with the woman, when his dog spied a squirrel and runs to chase after it. The leash tripped the man, and he chased the golden retriever as the woman got up from the bench and left him alone. Lizzy giggled at the man’s futile flirting and how quickly the woman left him. Apparently, she wasn’t interested in the man at all. Either that or she wasn’t a fan of dogs.

She continued to watch down the path when Lizzy spied another man. He looked to be in his twenties from what she could tell in the distance, but what she really noticed was that he looked pretty attractive. Thinking quick on her feet, Lizzy decided she wanted to mess around with the cute stranger. What she had in mind caused her to gather up her things and hide behind the tree before the guy could see her.

Alex was taking a leisurely stroll through the central park, just waiting for time to pass. Just recently he had finished filling out the paper work required to purchase a pottery shop that he planned on starting his own pottery business within, and now all he had to do was wait for the big wigs to finish processing the paper work and call him on his new cell phone and let him know that he can send the check to the store's current owner. There was nothing to do in the meantime but take a walk or have some time to himself in his motel... and he chose to get some fresh air.

As he walked through the park, Alex noticed a squirrel darting from tree to tree, gathering nuts and taking them to a central tree for her babies to eat. The malachite manipulator kept his eyes on the squirrel, then watched with a smile as the squirrel's eyes went wide before it darted off, with a golden retriever chasing after it... with the dog's owner trying to reel in his dog via leash as he chased after the pooch. It was actually a rather funny sight since it reminded Alex of the Pixar movie Up, in which a golden retriever named Dug always kept on looking off to the side saying 'squirrel!' before returning to his current conversation.

One moment though the squirrel darted passed Alex and he had to jump to the side to avoid getting run over by the dog followed by his angry owner. "That's one way to get your daily exercise." Alex stated with a chuckle, in which the unhappy dog owner responded with a glare before he lost his grip on the leash and the dog took off after the squirrel... which climbed up a tree that was on the edge of the park. The owner quickly caught up to the dog when it stopped at the base of the tree to bark.

With a smile, Alex turned around, causing the wind to catch his hair so it softly blew through his curly brown hair and his flawless cyan eyes sparkled when the sunlight reflected off of them. For a second, but only a split second, there was a warm greenish glow in Alex's eyes, but it quickly faded as he shielded his eyes from the sun with a hand, and continued his walk. "I wish every day could be these nice." Alex mused as he walked passed another tree. What he didn't notice was that the tree's shadow wasn't shaped properly, as if there was something or someone hiding behind it.

As the dashing stranger walked past the tree Lizzy hid behind, he spoke for the first time. She took a deep breath and concentrated on his voice. Popping her head out ever so slightly from behind the tree, she repeated his words in his own voice, “I wish every day could be these nice.”

Lizzy quickly hid again behind the safety of her tree, but she began to giggle. The giggling would not cease either. This was not a typical thing for Lizzy to do, but she was so bored and this stranger was devilishly handsome. It seemed like a way to spice up her life.

She regained a little bit of composure and realized that she should probably move. Most likely he would investigate who mimicked him and head over in her direction. It wasn’t exactly a common thing to happen to oneself, so who wouldn’t check out the source of the noise?

Lizzy moved slightly to one side of her hiding spot and darted for the next tree. Hopefully he wouldn’t catch running away from him. To goad him on more, she spoke yet again in his voice, “Lovely day today, isn’t it?” Just in case he moved toward her new hiding spot, Lizzy moved to another tree.

Here, she was hit by another case of giggles. She just found it extremely funny that she was doing this to him. For a moment, Lizzy felt sorry for the cute guy, but then that moment passed.

As Alex walked passed a set of trees, he considered taking out his new cell phone in order to take a picture of this beautiful day. Sure it was hot out, but it was still beautiful. Now that he was wearing a light long sleeve shirt that was white instead of his normal black leather jacket, he could enjoy the day without his malachite melting on his arms... figurative speaking of course. Alex was reaching into his pants pocket when he heard something that sounded completely wrong... his own voice coming from a different location, saying exactly what he had just said. "What the?" Alex asked out loud as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and glanced around in the direction he thought he heard the sound of his own voice.

All he could see was a tree though. Curious, he walked over to the tree and looked around behind it, but found nothing. "That was odd..." Alex muttered. He was about to shrug it off when he heard his voice again, this time the voice was asking him if the day was lovely, and it was coming from a different tree. Alex whirled around to face the tree, and didn't see anyone else there. He walked over to the tree and looked around it, and still found no one, even when he looked up and shook a few of the branches... and all that came out of the tree was a nut that bobbed him on the forehead. "Ow." Alex commented, though it didn't hurt that much at all.

Glancing around, Alex stood there among the trees, thinking to himself as he rubbed his bearded chin with his right hand. "What in the world is going on? How could I be hearing my voice coming from a different direction? No way could it be a recording since the voice said something that I didn't say. Possibly a ventriloquist mimicking for fun, but no ventriloquist can duplicate someone's voice the first time they've heard it." Alex mused out loud before glancing at the other trees and a nearby bush, and shook his head. "Or I could be going nuts, which I hope isn't the case." Alex stated as he used his little finger to flick a bead of sweat away from his eyes. He glanced around again, and started to head towards a tree that he hadn't gone towards before hand, not realizing he had just walked right passed the person that was toying with him.

Lizzy peered around the tree just in time to see a nut fall from the tree and hit the attractive stranger right on his forehead. This did not help her giggle fit at all. She hid once again behind the tree and doubled over in laughter. From her safe spot, she called out to him again in his voice, “That looked like it hurt.”

Once again to evade him, Lizzy moved to another nearby tree. She only stayed there briefly as she taunted him in his own voice saying, “Catch me if you can!” She was having too much fun toying with his head and flitting through the trees. It had been a while since she had this much fun.

However, she wanted to give him a sporting chance. After a little while longer of running through the trees in search of new hiding spots, Lizzy pulled out her journal from her backpack. Her thought was that if she just casually sat against a tree writing and he just so happened to find her there, the cute stranger would never connect the two. When would it occur to you that a female can mimic your voice? If he happened to make the connection, well he was smarter than Lizzy gave him credit for, but if he didn’t, it would be perfect to toy around with him a little longer.

Lizzy found a new tree to lean against that was a little bit away from the last place she mimicked his voice. Sitting against the tree she began to scribble down more lyrics. Her mind wasn’t completely focused on her writing though; she was curious on where the stranger was and how confused he must be at the present time.

It wasn't long after the acorn knocked him on the forehead that Alex heard an onslaught of laughter that sounded like they were coming from a woman, which was followed by the sound of his own voice again, commenting on that the nut hitting him on the head looked like it hurt. "Not really, but playing a game of hide and go seek wasn't really on my list of things to do today. Where are you?" Alex asked out loud as he spun around on his heel, trying to catch sight of the person that was mimicking him. When he heard the voice taught him by challenging him to catch the mimicker, Alex's lips curled into a smirk as he caught a glimpse of very wavy blond hair. Bingo. He now had a possible lead on who was playing with his head.

As he walked towards the tree that he caught the sight of hair at, he started to wonder if the person was doing this to annoy him, or simply to have fun with him. Either way, Alex was sure that it was a complete stranger. He knew of only one person with long blond hair, but she had straight hair and she wouldn't play this time of game with him. This was someone else that Alex didn't know. As he stepped around a tree, he saw a woman with very wavy blond hair, scribbling a book. Her hair seemed similar to the hair he saw before, but that didn't mean that she was the one that playing with him. As Alex started to walk pass her, he could've sworn that there was a tiny smile on her face, and when he caught a tiny glimpse of what she was scribbling into her book, it looked like gibberish to him, as if she wasn't focusing on it.

Alex walked passed her and leaned against the same tree that she was up against, only on the opposite side. A female ventriloquist was actually more common then a male, so it was possible that she was mimicking him, but he wasn't sure. In order to find out, he tried to get her to respond to an odd question that wasn't really address to her. "Lets see... if I were a ventriloquist, where would I hide from someone I'm playing tricks on? Maybe under their nose or right behind them."

As Lizzy scribbled in her journal, the stranger walked past her. She did everything in her power not to look up at him. If she stared at him, she would end up giggling again and everything would be blown. She had to keep a cool demeanor. He didn’t linger walking past her too long, but she could feel the blush rushing to her face because she had a feeling he was looking at her for a little bit at least.

The cute boy walked past her, and Lizzy was pretty sure he was leaning against the same tree still so she continued to write away in her journal. She began to write, Dear journal, I cannot think of a single lyric, but I feel like I should be productive. So I will write my current thoughts here for now. It was at least something to keep up this writing façade.

The man spoke, and although it wasn’t directed at her, he spoke loud enough for Lizzy to hear though. She didn’t want to give anything away though, so she played along with his questioning. In her own voice, she casually said, “Is that what I’ve been hearing? I’ve been hearing some guy, I guess you, having a conversation with himself, but a ventriloquist might make more sense. Is it a friend of yours tricking you?”

As she responded to his spoken thought, she continued to write in her journal. Something told her if she made eye contact, he would know, and then her trick would be up. Either that, or her laugh would give herself away.

Alex didn't have to wait long for the woman to respond to him thinking out loud. She had a rather beautiful voice in his opinion, though what he said made him smile. She actually thought that he had been talking to himself like people with ADHD normally do... which would be a close description of Alex since he had aspergers syndrome, but he didn't talk to himself. When she asked if he had a friend that was tricking him, he chuckled slightly before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't have any friends that are ventriloquists. This is a stranger that is playing with my head." Alex replied before looking down at the ground and letting out a sad sigh. "Who am I kidding? I don't even know what a friend is these days..." Alex mumbled to himself quietly, and it was after he said it that he started to mentally pray that she didn't hear him say that.

Still leaning against the tree, Alex turned to his right so his right shoulder was against the tree, and he was now looking at the young woman that had responded to him. "Odd though, it's not that often that a person would try to mimic the voice of a complete stranger and make it a game. Some people might have a violent reaction to being toyed with. Luckily I find this funny as well."
Alex stated calmly before he shifted his stance so he wasn't leaning on the tree anymore. "Ah well, sorry for disturbing you. I'll leave you be." Alex stated before he started to walk off. If that voice that sounded like him again spoke up right then and there, then he knew that she was the one mimicking him.

((OOC: sorry for short post. brain dead at the moment.))

Lizzy wasn’t sure if he knew it was or if he truly thought someone else was this “ventriloquist”. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he shifted against the tree to an angle where he was staring at her. Lizzy felt a little awkward because she wasn’t the best at talking to guys, and this cute stranger intimidated her a little bit. Also, she was still afraid of giving away her secret so easily.

Instead of looking up at the stranger, she set her journal back in her backpack and stared at the surrounding park. From what she gathered from his statement, he found it funny about a complete stranger impersonating his voice. Still playing along with her charade, she told him, “From what I heard, this stranger must be one hell of an impersonator because I thought there was only one person yelling out in the park.”

The attractive stranger apologized for disturbing Lizzy, which she thought was really sweet. He began to walk away from, which prompted Lizzy to silently grab hold of her backpack in preparation for her next move. When he was a little bit away, she yelled to him in his voice, “Don’t worry! You didn’t disturb me!”

Lizzy ran away from the tree and the stranger. She knew that the stranger was aware of who the mimicker was by this point. There was no way he missed that, nor could he miss her running away from him as her blonde, wavy hair bounced in the air behind her. She stopped a little bit away from her starting point and looked back to see if he was chasing her.

When the woman that Alex was talking to didn't turn to look at him but instead started to place her little book into her pack and started to gaze at the park, Alex grew a little puzzled. Normally people would look at the person they were talking to, but in this case she wasn't looking at him, which was odd. Still though, her comment about the person mimicking Alex being a pro made Alex nod... though since he was starting to think that this woman was the ventriloquist that was toying with him, and she was praising herself. Since he couldn't prove it though, he just shrugged that thought off.

It was when he was several feet a way from her that he suddenly heard his own voice again, and this time it was answering him when he had apologized for disturbing her. "I knew it!" Alex exclaimed as he whirled around and saw that she was running at full tilt away from him, and he took off after her. He was a lot faster then he used to be, but he still wasn't getting any closer to her since she appeared to be just as fast as him. When she took cover behind a tree and glanced back though, Alex was just a close to her when he started chasing her, and now he was quickly catching up to her when she stopped in order to see if he was still chasing her, and he caught up to her as a result.

"Okay, one question before anything else, why did you decide to mimic me?' Alex asked her when he was right next to her. His breathing was fairly even he wasn't even tired from it.

Lizzy saw that he was indeed chasing her. She leaned against the tree to catch her breath and once again lost herself in a fit of giggles. The stranger caught up to her and stood next to her. He asked why she decided to mimic him. Lizzy looked up at him and she felt her cheeks going red. She quickly looked away from his face and stared at her feet. It was much safer not staring at this attractive man straight in the face when she was about to confess why she picked him.

Running her hand nervously through her hair and biting her lip, Lizzy confessed to him, “Please don’t hate me for this. I… I was bored and I couldn’t concentrate on my lyrics and then I saw you and I… I thought you were rather cute, so I thought that it might be a little fun to decide to mimic you and oh gosh I don’t know what the heck was running through my head.” She realized she was beginning to ramble so she abruptly ended her explanation.

Lizzy winced and dared to take a peek at his face. She wasn’t sure how he would react to her confession. However, she might have just ruined her chances because she felt extremely awkward having no prior boy experience. It went through her mind that maybe introducing herself might be a better way to start off this social interaction. Lizzy stuck a hand out and said, “I’m Elizabeth by the way, but most people call me Lizzy.” She prayed and hoped that he didn’t hate her for everything she put him through.

When Lizzy's cheeks went red after he had asked her why she was mimicking him, Alex cocked an eyebrow, puzzled. Was she embarrassed about it or something? He grew even more puzzled when she broke off eye contact and started to gaze at her own shoes, as if she was afraid of him now. There wasn't any reason to be afraid of him... unless a person knew what he could do with his mutation, but there wasn't any chance at all that she new about his ability to manipulate malachite.

When the first thing that came out of her mouth was just short of her begging him not to hate her, he shook his head and smiled warmly. "Don't worry, I don't hate you at all." Alex stated calmly when she paused for a second... and then she said that she thought he was rather cute. The moment she said that, Alex's started to blush... and blush... and blush! He had blushed so much that his cheeks were redder than a ripe tomato and and his lower lip started to tremble. "I.. uh... you... eh... um... cute?" Alex sputtered as he stumbled over his own words, clearly showing her that he didn't have any prior girl experience either. Everything else she said went in one ear and out the other.

The malachite manipulator just stood there blushing like an idiot until Lizzy held out her hand and introduced herself as Elizabeth, and stated that everyone normally called her Lizzy. Alex glanced down at her hand, gulped, and slowly raised his own trembling hand and shook hers. "I... uh... ga... I'm R-Rook." Alex stated as he continued to stumble over his words as he blushed even more, even though it looked like it wasn't humanly possible to blush that much.

Right now, Alex was wishing he didn't get out of his pottery shop today, and was thinking to himself that he would prefer to face an army on his own then be blushing right now.

She did it now. She completely blew it. She scared him into being a nervous guy. And before he was so calm even with everything she did to him! Poor guy. She made him blush like a tomato and stammer rather nervously. Maybe it would have been better if she never mentioned the part where she thought he was cute. Or maybe it would have been better if she just admired him from afar instead of deciding I’m gonna mimic this cute stranger.

Lizzy was so terrible with guys and maybe too blunt that flirting didn’t exactly work. It’s not really flirting if she just came out and mentioned that she found him attractive… or was it? There wasn’t a whole lot of experience in the flirting department either when it came to talking about Lizzy.

She barely made out that his name was Rook through his stammering. In a way, she thought it was kind of cute, but she began blushing a little more because she felt awkward and so sorry for him. “It’s nice to meet you, Rook,” she said to him while her eyes glanced around the park every few seconds.

“Maybe it would be better if I just go. I’m so sorry. I should not have been so blunt. I–I– just – I’m – oh gosh – I’m just really bad at flirting. I know. Let me just get out of your hair and we can forget about this incident.” Lizzy turned her back toward him as she cursed inwardly at herself. Why did she have to be so bad dealing with guys? Maybe it really would be better if she just left poor Rook here alone. She began to walk away without daring to take one last look. She had completely screwed things up, and although she secretly hoped that he might still want to chat with her, she knew she had just embarrassed herself beyond all reckoning.

As Alex stood there blushing, his mind was a little foggy from hearing her call him cute, he thought he saw a disappointed look in Lizzy's eyes. Was she disappointed with him or with herself for making him blush? Alex couldn't tell, and for all he knew he could be misunderstanding her face expression and she could be flirting with him even more. All he wanted to do right now though was to get away from her so he could stop blushing. He didn't even know her!

At first all he could make out was that she had managed to catch his nickname through his blurred speech, but he wasn't exactly sure. It was then that Lizzy stated that she'd better go, followed by an apology, and stated that she was really bad a flirting. That makes two of us... Alex thought, but he couldn't get himself to say anything other then "S-sure..." and he blushed even more as a result. He just stood there silently with red cheeks as she turned and left.

With a relieved sigh, Alex realized that he had been holding his breath and felt a bit light headed as a result. He slowly made his way over to a bench and took a seat... or more like his fell into the bench since his knees went weak on him. With a groan, Alex let his head hang till his chin was touching his chest and he shook his head. "She thinks she's bad at flirting... I think I might be worse. At least she can bring herself to talking when she's having trouble, where I get my tongue in front of my eye teeth and I can't see what I'm saying. Ugh. A woman doesn't even need to talk to me to make me blush. All it takes is a smile and I'm a basket case..." Alex mumbled to himself, and shook his head in annoyance. This was the second time someone had flirted with him, and the second time he botched it... though the first time the woman was simply having some fun while this girl was just being honest with him.