Familiar Face

[Riven]

Had Tecna been easily riled, Riven would have expected a reaction including some sort of magical blast. That was precisely the way a witch of a more vengeful fairy would have reacted. Luckily Tecna wasn’t easily riled, a witch, or a vengeful fairy. The push was much more preferable, but a little rougher than he expected.

Stumbling back a few steps, he bumped into a woman behind him, almost sending her parcels falling to the ground. Turning swiftly, he reached out to catch one, only to catch something else instead. Although it wasn’t a detachable parcel, he was sure she’d paid money for it... and its matching pair.

Before he could even grin and try to win her over, he received smack upside the head by her heavy purse before she rushed off across the street. Still in shock, he turned back to Tecna with a dumbfounded expression.

“If that was my first lesson, I think I just failed.”

[Tecna]

A horrified laugh sounding from her throat at the mess she had inadvertently caused, Tecna clapped her hands over her mouth as her shoulders shook in helpless mirth. She really shouldn't be laughing; certainly, if some strange man had groped her on the street, she would have had the same reaction as that woman - and yet, the sight of Riven being swatted over the head with a purse that was practically large enough to fit one of those ancient, whole room sized computers in was just too much. Almost before she knew what she was doing, Tecna whipped her cell-phone out of her much more reasonably sized purse and promptly took a picture of Riven's dumbfounded expression. Smothering back another laugh, Tecna tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she said in her most serious voice, "For posterity, of course."

[Riven]

At the clicking noise of the camera, Riven’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Tecna. Although it had been amusing to see Tecna laugh, something that he couldn’t remember ever seeing her do, the fact that it was at his own expense killed any enjoyment.

“Oh, ha, ha. My pain is so amusing,” he deadpanned, wondering if he was quick enough to snatch the phone from her hand. “Now why don’t you hand me that phone like a good girl and we’ll forget this ever happened.”

[Tecna]

Arching a brow, Tecna countered as she began to tuck her phone back into the safety of her purse. "And on just what grounds should I relinquish my private property to you? I certainly didn't do anything wrong; after all, we are out in public and therefore, anything out here is fair game for me to photograph." Pausing, Tecna then said, her voice tinged with mild sarcasm, "Including you. But I suppose if you don't believe me, we could always make a little trip down to the courthouse and obtain a judge's point of view."

[Riven]

Riven just barely refrained from smacking himself in the forehead in frustration. He would much rather hit Tecna at this point, but he didn’t hit girls. Of course she would argue the law against him.

“You probably know more than the judges in this town,” he grumbled, his eyes fixed on the phone as it disappeared into the confines of her purse again. It was as good as lost now. One thing a man never did was rifle through a woman’s purse... unless he was a purse snatcher.

“Why do I get the feeling that’s going to reappear in the form of blackmail?”

[Tecna]

Expecting a snide remark, Tecna's eyes briefly widened in surprise at Riven's admission that she, in his own words, 'probably knew more than the judges in this town.' It sounded oddly like a compliment to her ears, even despite the fact that he had happened to grumble his way through it...

Realizing abruptly that she was practically gaping at him, Tecna decided that she was simply reading to much into his words and consequently, brushed it out of the foreground of her mind. Instead turning her attention to the way his eyes were still fixed on her bag, Tecna relented as she once again pulled her phone out from its hiding place. Handing it to him, she shrugged as she said, "If it means that much to you, just erase it."

It wasn't until he had taken the phone from her that she realized that operating it was quite the tricky and complex matter. When she had first purchased it, it had taken her nearly a day to figure out how to work it and that was saying something considering that she was known to have put together entire computers from scratch in less time than that.

[Riven]

Distracted by glaring at the purse as if he could will the phone too emerge, Riven completely missed the look of surprise on Tecna’s face. Too bad, as it would have given him a good idea of how to get to her. Complimenting her intelligence seemed like the obvious choice, but he hadn’t quite figured that one out yet.

Then it was his turn to look surprised when Tecna handed over the phone without a fight. With a smug look of satisfaction, he snatched the phone from her hand. Holding it out with one hand, he squinted at the screen. What the hell was this? He knew phones did pretty much everything nowadays, but this was ridiculous. Furrowing his brow in confusion, he turned the phone over in his hand and somehow managed to snap yet another picture of himself. This was not going well.

“You know what? Keep it. It’s just a stupid picture,” he said, holding the phone out. Tecna had probably figured the contraption out in two minutes, and he wasn’t going to admit that he didn’t even know where the off button was.

[Tecna]

Feeling guilty for some inexplicable reason, Tecna started to tuck the phone away once more before she paused. It was such a stupid, illogical thought but she couldn't help but feel that if she did indeed just take Riven's advice to 'forget about it,' this run-in with him would be over and he would continue on his way. She shouldn't have cared - actually, she should have been relieved to have the chance to escape his company, and yet, Tecna found herself reluctant to end things on such a sour note.

Whatever this encounter with Riven amounted to, probably nothing to him, Tecna was too practical to hide the fact from herself that talking with him had done the wonders to her mood that her time at her favorite cafe couldn't. Quite honestly, she couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so freely than she had done just a few minutes ago - and to be even more blunt with herself, she had enjoyed it. She may have been the 'studious' member of the Winx Club, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to have a good time occasionally too.

Pressing her lips together, Tecna again glanced down at the phone cradled in her hand. Then, forcing a smirk to the corners of her mouth, she said in a masked attempt at salvaging their conversation, "I might as well delete them - your face isn't worth the space it takes up on my memory card anyway."

[Riven]

Yet another unexpected comment. This conversation was one of the strangest he’d had in a long time, yet also strangely refreshing. No visions about world destruction and psycho wizards, no former leaders making him face things about himself he wasn’t ready to face, and questions about his recent whereabouts. He could take an insult just as well as the next guy as long as it was all part of the game.

“And I thought you were going to print them off and plaster them all over your walls. My world is shattered,” he said, his voice flat though the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “And here I was going to offer to pose for a good one if that was the case.”

[Tecna]

As Tecna deleted the pictures in question with a flew flicks of her nimble fingers, a noise something like a combination between a laugh and a snort of incredulity sounded from her throat. Tipping her head back to look up at Riven, she then said with just the right amount of haughtiness, "I'm far too practical to idolize anyone, Riven; and furthermore, I prefer the sparse, minimalist look. Thus, I am afraid to once again, as you yourself just said, shatter your world but plastering your face all over my walls would simply be counterintuitive."

Tucking her phone back into her purse, Tecna did little to conceal the smug smile that had begun to play at the corner of her lips. As strange as it sounded, she was beginning to see why Riven enjoyed playing that little game of his. Shocking people was a rather diverting pastime.

[Riven]

The worst part was that, if she was still rooming with Musa, she probably already had pictures of him on her walls, though not by her choice. Or perhaps the proper tense was “had”. He hadn’t even laid eyes on Musa for months. He’d taken her pictures down long ago, and although it was flattering to think she still carried a torch for him, deep down he hoped that she had moved on.

He could never be who she wanted him to be.

But back to the present. Who, besides Tecna, spoke like that? It would have been much easier to tell him to get over himself, or to spout the ever intelligent “whatever” in response, but not Tecna. No, to Tecna, putting his pictures up would disrupt her decorating scheme.

He let her hold that smug smile for a moment... mostly because she’d earned the right to.

“It’s going to take forever to pick up all the pieces at this rate,” he replied, refraining from wincing. Even he knew his response was far from witty. “Besides, putting my picture next to Timmy’s would be cruel punishment for the little nerd.”

[Tecna]

Riven's mention of Timmy immediately dampening her mood, Tecna's smile vanished for a brief moment before she attempted to mask her reaction with a scoff. "Perhaps it would be less cruel than you think. Although I highly doubt that it would interest you, I'll have you know that Timmy is the very picture of beauty as defined by the ancient mathematicians. His features are in perfect proportion to each other - we measured to the nearest thousandth millimeter. I do not suppose the same could be said about you."

Even as Tecna spoke though, she could hear just how hollow and stilted her words sounded - something that doubtlessly had to do with the sudden unwanted reminder that, for the time being, Timmy's current whereabouts were a complete mystery. And it was because of that staggering uncertainty that little room was left available for Tecna to discuss Timmy in blase terms without betraying some sign that something was wrong. He probably wouldn't give a damn about Timmy, but she did and because of that, the last thing she felt capable of doing at the moment was putting up with Riven's jesting remarks. Until she knew for certain that Timmy was okay, the topic of him was no laughing matter.

It was for that reason that, before Riven could respond, Tecna abruptly began fumbling with her laptop case as though there was just something she absolutely had to find in its depths. First mumbling something indiscernible, Tecna then said as she held out her hand, her voice lacking the sarcastic edge of her earlier remarks, "It was a pleasure to see you again, Riven, but I've kept you too long and I truly should be on my way back to Alfea."

[Riven]

She was completely correct: it didn’t interest him. In fact, it was the most insanely geeky thing he had ever heard in his life, and something he could have gone without knowing. He thought of saying something about how Timmy didn’t measure up in other ways, but even he wasn’t that crude.

But there was something else in the way she spoke. He didn’t get so good at convincing everyone that he didn’t give a damn about anything without being able to read others. Remembering what Chris had said about Timmy, it became clear that Tecna was worried. Just because Sky and Bloom had broken up, and Brandon was canine-ified didn’t mean that some of the other self proclaimed Winx Club didn’t still keep in contact with his pathetic squad. Timmy’s absence was just another thing that Sky didn’t give a damn about. They hadn’t worried about Brandon and hadn’t tried hard enough to find him, and now Timmy was possibly facing the same fate.

If the little nerd came back with pointy ears and a tail, Riven was going to knock Sky’s block off.

While this thought was still running in his head, Tecna was suddenly rummaging around in her bag and saying her farewells. Looking down at her outstretched hand for a moment, he contemplated his options. Obviously Timmy could be added to the list of topics to bring up if he wanted to get rid of her real fast.

Oddly enough, he didn’t want to do that. She was proving to be a decent distraction, and if she walked off, then he’d be right back to being bored and avoiding Red Fountain on his own.

“You could do that...” he said, slowly taking her hand. Giving it a squeeze, he suddenly pulled her a step toward him. Grinning down at her, his expression was lacking the suggestive spark it normally would have held. “Or we could go grab a drink. After that destructive crash earlier, you look like you could use one.”

[Tecna]

This time, Tecna didn't even bother attempting to hide her genuinely startled expression as her gaze flitted upward to meet his. Though she had been prepared for the idea of Riven catching on to her poorly concealed change of mood (it was a simple matter of logic, after all; she knew that she was a horrid actress and therefore, it only made sense that anyone would be able to see right through her ruse), the last thing she had expected was for him to behave in such a friendly manner. It was quite the curve ball and Tecna could not deny that she had been thrown; everything from his hand squeeze - something that had seemed almost reassuring in nature - to his smile that was an actual smile and not just his characteristic overconfident smirk, confused her as she could not, for the life of her, deduce whether he was being genuinely friendly or if he had some ulterior motive that evaded her understanding.

Ever the cautious one, Tecna wavered in indecision before she finally said with a slow, still slightly hesitant nod of her head, "Very well, I suppose that would be all right." Pausing for a moment, Tecna then added as she extricated her considerably smaller hand from his and took a step backward, her voice beginning to resume its faintly sarcastic edge, "But I see that you still failed to learn the lesson of personal space."

[Riven]

For a moment, it appeared like she was actually going to refuse him. It was obvious she didn’t believe that he was just being nice, and with good reason. He wasn’t someone that ever did anything just to be nice, and this time was no exception. He was bored and irritable, and Tecna was the first person he’d spoken to in days that didn’t piss him off.

Luckily, though, she didn’t refuse. Releasing her hand as she stepped back, he chuckled as she called him on being too close for comfort.

“You have to admit that I’m improving, though,” he replied. Throwing a sideways glance across the street, he rubbed the side of his head where the offended woman had hit him with brick she liked to call a purse. “This lesson was a lot less painful.”