Layla, Sarah & Doug | Thursday afternoon

[x-mandelbrot.livejournal.com]

Sarah finds Layla spread out in the tech section of the library and winds up offering up her services for Layla's grand scheme.

There was a technology section in the mansion library, which was surprising in and of itself. What was more surprising was that Layla was lying on the floor in that section with several books scattered around her, all of which were also laying open to various sections. Wrinkling her nose, she growled and flipped another page. Sure, she still had to "procure" Kyle's cell phone and obviously she could change his ringtone but that wasn't really the level of sabatoge she was looking for. She could change the sound on his alarm and program her own number into his phone with the Yoda song as the ringtone for her so even after he figured out and changed his normal ringtone she could still call to set it off. But there had to be a better way to sabotage his phone. If only the stupid books would actually tell her what it was!

Sarah was looking for a book for one of her classes when she happened to notice a bunch of books scattered around the floor. Pausing to investigate, she saw a young girl sprawled out on the floor looking through one of the books. Curious as to what was going on, she walked over to the girl, stopping a few feet away from her. "Hey there, whatcha' doin'?" The books all seemed to be about electronics, which matched the section she was in, so maybe Sarah could be of some help to her.

Layla looked up at the newcomer. She knew she'd seen her around and vaguely remembered her face from an icon somewhere on the journals but her head was pretty much swimming with tech speak that made no fucking sense to her. She collapsed, faceplanting into the book she currently had in front of her. "Trying to drive myself insane slowly, apparently," she grumbled, voice muffled from talking against the pages.

Blinking at the faceplanting, Sarah wondered what was wrong with the poor girl. "Oh, uh, that's not really a good idea, I don't think." She bent down a little, looking at what kind of books Layla was reading. "Reading up on electronic stuff? Maybe I can be of some help, or I can try anyway, I'm not always the best at it." Then she realized she'd never spoken to the girl in person before, though she looked familiar. "I'm Sarah, by the way."

Her head tilted back so she could quirk an eyebrow up. Layla folded her arms over the book and perched her chin on them. "You're the one who's got beef with the toaster right?" She gave Sarah a once over. She didn't look crazy. It had been Layla's initial impression that the chick had to be crazy if she was claiming the toaster was evil. Maybe she was just hiding the crazy but if you got her near a toaster she would freak out. But she at least looked normal. And she had really blue eyes. Layla blinked and diverted her gaze to glance down at the book because it was possible she was staring a little. "Unless you're really awesome at thinking up and pulling off tech sabotage you probably won't be much help, but thanks for offering."

Sarah gave her a half smile, shrugging her shoulders. "Yeah, that's me." She'd probably never live that down, but then again she did talk about it all the time herself which didn't exactly help with keeping it from coming up. Brushing back some of her hair behind her ear, she looked down at the same book that Layla was now focusing upon. "Well, I don't know about really awesome, but I can do some stuff with technology." She nodded, trying to appear confident, before adding. "If I can touch it, anyway, and talk to it right." Stupid toaster.

Layla's eyebrows went up in unisom. She unfolded her arms and pushed herself up until she could pull her knees under her to sit up and see Sarah better. "Talk to it? Like you're going to woo the phone into doing your will like an evil flying monkey?" The blonde was obviously intrigued by this prospect, and also really confused. "Do you often woo technology? Do you go for long walks around the lake with the laptop of your eye? Whisper sweet nothings about the size of it's ram and compliment it on vivid colors of its monitor? I can't say I understand the appeal, but I'll try to be accepting of your...love." Layla managed to keep a mostly straight face save for the twitch at the corner of her mouth as she fought down a grin.

"It's just how it works, I have to be touching or holding the thing I want to control." It was a limitation she wished she could get around, and maybe someday she could, but for now it was what it was. Sarah rolled her eyes at Layla's words, though there was a slight grin on her face as she waved at the other girl. "Sure, yeah, whatever. Machines might be my thing but they're not my thing." She wasn't really sure what her thing was, to be honest, but that was a wholly different matter. "Anyway, what is it you're trying to do?"

Under her breathe Layla muttered something about denial, then grinned brightly and moved on as if nothing was odd at all. "I'm trying to curse Senor Muppet, basically. In an ideal world the Weird Al song Yoda would come on every time he entered a room. That's probably not actually possible so I'm trying to figure out the best alternative. Obviously I can change his ringtone but he'll figure that out quickly and fix it. I can change his alarm tone but he'll figure that out and fix it quickly too. Which is why I'm also going to program my number with the Yoda song as his ringtone so he won't think about it and I can spring it on him at random without him expecting it....assuming I can somehow hide the file name well enough that he doesn't just delete it off his phone. But this all really lacks the level of 'Hey, I'm Yoda!' I'm going for here. So I'm trying to figure out some sort of other plan that can go off seemingly at random without needing someone to call him or set an alarm he can disable quickly."

Sarah frowned at the reference. "Senor Muppet?" She had no idea who that was, but before she could ask she was trying to follow Layla through the rest of her quick explanation, which was difficult enough as it was. When the other girl was done, she rubbed her chin a little and tried to think of something. "Well, depending on what kind of phone this person has, there's always the possibility of a Bluetooth connection. Like, if your phone has the same, you could communicate with it from a distance and potentially make it play this ringtone when you want, for instance." It wasn't anything she'd every tried before but Bluetooth could do some awesome things, if both devices allowed the other to access them, that was. "You'd need to have both phones set up for that, though, can't just do it one way, so unless you had this person's phone it wouldn't work."

"Yes, well, procuring is obviously an obstacle either way. So assuming I have the Muppet's phone it could hypothetically be made to break out in song whenever it recognized my phone?" While considering this, Layla began to smile. "So if I got close enough to him his phone would just break out in Yoda-ing?" Who knows how long she could make it go on, but if she managed to stay out of sight for long enough it could go on for days or even weeks without Kyle quite getting why his phone was doing it. Oh, she liked this. "Do you think you could actually pull it off? 'Cause I might fall madly in love with you if you did. There could be cookies involved even. Or, even better, there could be strudel!" she added excitedly. Layla really did have an unhealthy level of love for strudel.

"Mmmhmm, if it we can get both phones and if I didn't screw it up, yeah." She could easily get the phones to shake hands and establish a connection, and as long as those phones remained paired then Layla would be able to execute certain commands on Kyle's phone remotely. Sarah smiled a little at Layla, grinning awkwardly at the falling madly in love with her part, even if it was a joke she hadn't heard many people say anything like that to her before. "Cookies would be great, totally. Or strudel, maybe, can't remember the last time I had that."

"I have the most amazing German teacher in the world, hands down, and I've roped him into teaching me how to make German food for me pretty much showing up and doing what I'm supposed to anyway." She grinned at this, obviously proud at herself for that one. "Starting with strudel. So, there is totally actual, homemade strudel in it for you if you pull it off. Filling of your choice. Unless I actually do burn the kitchen down or something. Then instead of inedible strudel you get cookies, which I can definitely make." Layla shrugged. "Whatever, it's win/win, right? You get to be a badass with bragging points and tasty treats, I get to torment Yoda."

"Oh wow, that is pretty amazing indeed, that's great!" She smiled back at Layla, glad to hear she was fitting in so well so soon. "Alright then, I definitely accept. Cookies will work too, whatever you'd like to make." Win-win sounded great to Sarah, not to mention delicious. "Just one more thing, though... who is this Yoda, exactly?" She felt like she should know but she really didn't have a clue, whoops.

"Ooooooh..." It was like a light bulb going off over Layla's head. It made complete sense that Sarah had no idea who she was talking about but it just hadn't occurred to her that an explanation would probably be useful. "Muppet Yoda," she began, emphasizing the first word, "is Kyle. Because he is a total failure of a Yoda he got relegated to muppethood and replaced with tech." Layla stood up and fished her Xavier's issue phone out of her back pocket. It had a green cover that was remarkably similar to the shade of green Yoda was. "Meet Yodaphone, Kyle's replacement who bestows upon me wisdom and sage old man advice." She grinned and held it out to Sarah. "Do you need to woo Yodapohone so you can make it get along with Muppet's phone?"

"Muppet Yoda is Kyle?" Sarah couldn't help but giggle at that, and wondered if he'd be angry at her if she called him that too some time. The Star Wars reference was awesome, because she loved Star Wars as well. "Are you a fan, then? Of Star Wars, I mean." Taking the phone that Layla proffered, Sarah shook her head and looked down at the green covered cell. "Nah, cell phones aren't too, too bad for me. I mean, I will have to talk to it a bit." She squeezed it a little in her hand, concentrating a little. "Hello, phone." It never hurt to start establishing a connection with a new device, though once she spoke out loud she felt a little self conscious and turned her gaze back to Layla. "Er, sorry. I don't usually do it in front of people that often."

Layla was watching her but she was also keeping her distance. That had more to do with Layla being Layla than thinking Sarah was weird talking to Yodaphone. While Layla's eyes flicked down to her phone in the girl's hand once they mostly stayed on Sarah, particularly her eyes. "So I'm getting to see behind the curtain and no one else does?" Her smile was a little, amused quirk at the corner of her mouth and it matched her tone, which came off a little more flirtatious than Layla intended or realized. "If wooing my phone is too much like that dream where you realize you're standing naked in front of class I can go over there somewhere," she randomly pointed in a direction where there wasn't a wall close by. "Y'know, let you two have an intimate moment."

She shrugged, smiling a little at the other girl, glad that Layla wasn't backing away with her hands up or freaked out or anything. "Maybe a little, I guess." Sarah had practiced her abilities in front of her teachers many times and had used them at times in the field, but rarely did she use them casually like that in front of others. She blushed at the mention of being naked, shaking her head. "No no, you don't have to go, I mean, I'm not. Naked. Of course. And it's just, you know, getting to know your phone. Kinda." It was hard enough to explain when she wasn't flustered, so that convoluted explanation probably didn't do much for poor Layla.

That...was basically everything she already knew. Layla's eyes shifted from side to side, then she shrugged and dropped back down to the floor. "How 'bout you go on a first date with Yodaphone and I'll sit down here and pretend I'm not here and try to make sense of tech speak s'more?" She propped her back up against a bookcase and picked up a book at random. She wasn't going to read the book, of course, but her hair fell into her face enough that Sarah probably couldn't tell Layla's eyes were on her instead of the page. "It'll help reinforce your fully clothed status." Layla stopped and tilted her head. "Okay there is just no way to make that make sense like it did in my head so how 'bout you continue your date with Yodaphone and we'll just both agree you're not naked right now? Since, y'know, you're wearing clothes and all and this isn't a dream." But it totally just got as awkward as those dreams.

Layla raised the book and mostly hide behind it and the veil of her hair.

"Not naked, not dreaming, of course, right. And I can, it'll make things easier I think. Ok, that's not a bad idea, I guess." She looked back down at the phone, admiring the green case in which it sat and glad to be looking at something other than the other girl. "It shouldn't take too long, I don't think. Maybe you can come by later and pick it up, or I can drop it off or something?" She'd have to get it back to her somehow, after all. "It's a very nice case too, by the way, I like it."

"Thanks. Muppet Yoda told the Professor my condition for agreeing to come here was a phone with a Yoda green case. When I showed up," she gestured to the phone with a flourish, "that was waiting for me. My laptop is suspiciously similarly green, actually." Layla didn't sound too upset about it. Actually, she sounded sort of pleased with herself. "You can bring it back to me later. It's not like I really have anyone to call or whatever. I'm around." She shrugged. "Or I'm actually in my suite later at night, obviously, if you can't find me before that. It's big and empty and insanely boring there so I'm not really there usually."

That did sound pretty cool, actually, and she was glad to hear that someone else seemingly loved Star Wars as much as she did. "Ok, I'll come and find you in a bit then, I guess." Sarah moved the phone from one hand to the other. "It was like that when I came back too, in my suite." It got better once she got out and about and became more social, and it seemed like Layla was well underway in that regard which was good to hear. "Alright then, I'll see you in a little bit." She'd probably retreat to the quiet of her room now to get better acquainted with the phone, all the more easier to accomplish their little scheme.

"Alright." Layla waved at her over the book and seemed to bury herself back in the text. Only she may have been watching Sarah's retreat over the top edge of it. It wasn't until the pretty brunette was out of sight that Layla's head flopped forward and connected with the book. "You are so fucking lame, Miller," she muttered to herself. That was half of a wreck, but at least it was only half.

- - - - - - - - -

While Sarah is off on a first date with Layla's phone the newcomer comes face-to-face with a random smartass who is offering himself up to be very well-timed and handy. Or is that handsy?

Doug Ramsey had a light skip to his step as he walked the corridors of the mansion. There was mischief afoot, and that always put a smile on his face. Kyle would be in a Danger Room session for at least the next hour, so he had at least that long to find the new girl Layla and give her the contents of his pocket. She wasn't in her room, so Doug tried the kitchen, with no luck. The next place he checked was the library, and there she was, hunched over a few books at one of the long tables. "Hi," he said as he walked up.

Layla looked up at the greeting, didn't recognize the guy standing there with a cat-that-got-the-cream grin, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She wasn't really all that suspicious of him since they had security around here and a dude with a giant, telepathic brain. Now she was thinking of Professor Xavier as a disembodied floating that. That was sort of disturbing. While she stared at the man, though, his face clicked into place. Looking just as suspicious still, Layla pointed a finger at him and said, "Random Smartass Nerd."

"Guilty as charged, Wacky New Girl," Doug replied easily. "Nice to meet you. You settling in all right?" He could see the lingering suspicion in her body language, so he skipped the rest of the small talk and got more to the point. "So, still interested in getting Kyle's phone to play music when you're around?

She was all ready to defend herself against this accusation of wackiness when Random Smartass Nerd said just the right thing to pique her interest. Her eyes remained narrowed but an eyebrow darted upward. Layla's foot pushed the chair near Doug out and she gestured for him to sit. While stroking her chin in a manner she hoped qualified as scheming she said, "Step into my office." Layla stopped stroking her chin in favor of leaning in closer to him. "The plan was actually for the music to cue whenever he walked into a room, but that's not really feasible so there is a similar plan in motion to the one of which you speak, yes."

Doug took the chair and leaned forward conspiratorially. "Well, if that's the case, then it might help for you to have...this." He produced a phone from the inside pocket of the light windbreaker he was wearing and set it on the table.

Eyes widened, eyebrows beelined for her hair line and Layla's mouth made a comical little O. "Ooooh, is that what I think it is?" She kept her voice hushed and conspiratorial to match Doug's. Her hand hovered closer to the cell phone, fingers dancing a little in the air. They stopped just short of touching the phone and she quickly folded her hands in front of her. Playing up the cartoon scheming vibe, she leaned even closer to Doug, which mostly meant she was leaning down lower over the table. In a quick, efficient manner she asked, "What are your demands, sir?"

"Well, I suppose that all depends on what you think it is," Doug told Layla, raising an eyebrow and grinning. "I mean, if you think it's a cheese danish, then you're probably going to be disappointed. But if you think it's Kyle Gibney's phone, then..." He chuckled. "Demands You mistake me, madam. I'm just in it for the epic lulz."

Did he just say "lulz"? Layla barely managed to stay in character from that one. Nerd was definitely remaining in any future nicknaming or titling that Random Smartass nerd upgraded to. That was set in stone the moment he actually spoke the word lulz. "Not very ambitious," she observed, hand sliding across the tabletop. Once Layla's fingers wrapped around Kyle's cell phone she snapped her hand back and out of sight under the table with the cell phone. She resisted the urge to laugh maniacally. Mostly because her maniacal laugh probably needed some work, this was a library and the Pickpocket Nerd could be a professional. She couldn't have him recognizing her maniacal laugh for the amateur attempt that it was, could she? "But okay, 'epic lulz'" she even used finger quotes, "will be had. I think we can do business. And by 'business' I mean your thieving will be put to good use."

"High quality video of his reaction would be a definite bonus." Doug nodded. "So, shall I leave you to your nefarious planning?" He drew a hand out along a nonexistent mustache in fine Snidely Whiplash fashion.

She was going to need more partners-in-crime if she was going to get his reaction on video. It was possible Layla could hide somewhere that she could be out of sight but get video without him noticing her phone recording him. It would be better if she could enlist help so someone else got him on video. She was going to have to have a conversation with Artie, obviously. Maybe Sarah. More enlistees the better the odds, after all. "I am fairly certain that can be arranged." Especially if Sarah did her magic with the bluetooth so Layla could turn her bluetooth on to trigger it and off so she didn't set him off every time she was around.

Layla was wearing a slick little grin when she nodded at Doug. She was quite the caricature of a villain, really. "Planning shall be had, oddness shall occur and it shall be epic! And full of lulz," she said in a deep, contemplative voice.

A few moments passed, then Layla broke out into a bright, genuine grin. "Good work, comrade, I'm gonna get on that whole sabotage thing now. Or...I will when my other half is done dating my phone."

- - - - - - - - -

Sarah walks in on Layla looking quite undignified, finds out the blonde has everything they need for sabotage now and somehow things get more awkward from there.

Having communed with the Yodaphone enough to have a solid connection with it, Sarah headed back out to find its owner to return the green cell phone to her. It had been a productive session; her normal approach was to interact with the phone, turning it on and off with her powers, opening menus, testing texts and such. In order to do that, she'd taken the liberty of adding herself as a contact on Layla's phone, uploading a picture of herself for her profile as well, and sent some texts back and forth to her own phone with her powers.

Once she was confident she had a good handle on the phone, Sarah first headed to the library, which was the last place she'd seen Layla, but when she wasn't there she decided to check the other girl's room. Standing in front of her door, she reached out and knocked three times with her left hand, still holding the phone in her right.

Music could be heard from the other side of the door. Layla had come back to ditch her books and grab her board but then she'd realized she had left iTunes playing on her laptop. First she had gotten distracted by the song playing and then she had decided to try to find some of the books she had strewn around the common area. Somewhere in the process she had wound up dancing around and singing along. She was still searching for her books, it was just taking a lot longer than it needed to. Layla paused, book in hand, as the chorus of Bullet with Butterfly Wings came back around and sang along. She never heard the knock on the door.

Normally Sarah wouldn't open someone's door if they didn't answer when she knocked, but hearing music from inside the room meant either someone was inside and just didn't hear her or that they left their music on by accident. Either way Layla probably wouldn't be too mad if she just went on in, or so she figured. She was told to come and find her, so if she just hadn't heard her it'd be ok to come on in, and if she wasn't there then it wouldn't matter. So she turned the door and peeked inside. "Hey Layla, are you... there..."

Her eyes went a little wide at the sight before her. It wasn't horrible or anything - actually, Layla wasn't a bad singer at all, in fact - but it was one of those things that most people dreaded to be caught in the middle of, and that's exactly what Sarah had done. She didn't say anything else and froze in her place, trying to decide whether she should speak up to get the blonde's attention or just close the door and go away and pretend this never happened.

Layla spun, hair whipping back with the motion of her head moving to the beat, and she caught sight of Sarah in the doorway. Even though she knew Sarah would show up eventually it still caught her off guard. First Layla stumbled, then she ran into the coffee table, then she fell on her ass. "Ow..." And when she glanced up and saw Sarah watching that whole demonstration of grace Layla started to turn bright red.

Recovering her senses quickly, Layla scrambled over to her laptop on all fours and turned the music way down until she could barely hear it even from right next to it. And a hole was welcome to open up in the floor and swallow her whole any moment now. "Uh....hi?" She shot the brunette a sheepish grin, which paired nicely with the deep scarlet blush that went from her cheeks all the way down her throat.

If her eyes had been wide before, they were even wider now. Sarah still was unable to speak as poor Layla stumbled and fell, and then she didn't know what to say at all. Eventually she broke out of her daze after the other girl broke the silence. "Oh my gosh, are you ok?" She seemed to be, embarrassment aside, so she didn't rush in to help her up or anything. "I'm so sorry, I knocked, I just didn't know if you heard me and I was going to just go but then I thought I'd try the door and. I'm sorry." She felt horrible now for making Layla fall and be embarrassed, oh dear. "I, uh. I just wanted to bring back your phone." She paused before adding, "It went well, for what it's worth."

"Oh, good. And I'm fine." She climbed to her feet and rubbed at the hip she had landed on. Layla really needed to consider eating more so she could pad things like her hip so she'd have cushion when she fell on her ass. "It's cool, happens a lot." She actually looked down at her legs and gave them a good glare. "It's like when a puppy gets to that point where their legs are like three times the size of their body? Yep, that's me all the time."

Fishing something out of her pocket, Layla made her way over to Sarah. "But keep the phone, you two are going on a group date." With a grin Layla produced Kyle's cell phone.

Sarah frowned and bit her lip a little but just nodded her head. She followed Layla's gaze down to her legs and then quickly looked back up again. "Oh, ok, sorry." Not that it was anything she could have done about it really, but she still felt like she should apologize once more. She smiled once again as Kyle's phone was out in the open. "Oh, you got it, excellent!" With both of the phones in her hands she should be able to pull off their little plan, especially since she'd already built up a good rapport with one of the devices. "How did you get it?"

"A fantastic little birdy stole it like the slick, thieving bird he is and handed it over to me practically gift-wrapped. I need to get video of Kyle's reaction the first time his phone starts singing to him though." With the change of focus from Layla's little show of singing and graceless to their nefarious sabotage of Kyle's phone Layla's blushing was finally started to fade, though not nearly quickly enough. "Amazingly good timing, too. So, you think you can pull it off?" Layla went up onto her toes and peered down at the phones, neck craned as if she were looking over a fence. It only magnified the height difference between the girls. Sarah was downright pocket-sized. "The song's on my phone so you can transfer it over easy on bluetooth."

It was good that the blushing was starting to fade, it made Sarah feel a little more comfortable too. She'd noticed it but wasn't going to say anything to Layla about it for fear of making the other girl feel worse. "I think I can, yeah, I'll give it my best shot at least." Flipping open both phones, Sarah looked from one to the other, absentmindedly inviting herself in and sitting on Layla's bed while she concentrated. "Let's see, it's on your phone, ok... what's the file name, do you know?" It might speed things up if she knew that, and in the meantime she looked at Kyle's phone. "Hi, Kyle's phone." She whispered the last part quietly, even though her secret was already out with Layla.

"t's literally 'Yoda mp3' on there. I figure it should probably get renamed on his phone, though so he can't find and delete it that easily to escape the call of the Yoda." Layla's eyes darted around the room, from where Sarah sat on her bed to a wall, out to the common room, back to Sarah, back to her bed, back to a wall. Eventually she settled for staring at her shoes for a second and dropped back down to the floor, this time far more gracefully. Sarah hadn't said she wanted privacy or wandered off to have her phone group date so Layla decided to watch her. The blonde's expression was mostly one of curiosity but there was a touch of something else in her gaze she was deny like hell.

"Hmmm, maybe rename it to... default_ringtone.mp3 or something inconspicuous like maybe?" That way if he was able to do a search somehow he wouldn't find it, at least not right away. Sarah worked on Layla's phone, concentrating on locating the file and then renaming it by speaking the command out loud. "Ok, that's done. Now to synch them up." That was going to be the tricky part, the initial handshake and pairing of the devices. She had already familiarized herself with Layla's phone and not Kyle's, so if she initiated things and did most of the work through Layla's she figured it'd be ok. Taking a deep breath, Sarah nodded and held the hands up in either hand. "Ok, here goes."

"Hi Kyle's phone, I'm Layla's phone!" She moved the other girl's phone a little as it 'spoke,' manipulating it like a doll of some sort.

"Oh, hi Layla's phone, it's me, Kyle's phone!" Likewise she mimicked movement with the other cell phone, speaking in a lower, gruff voice, or Sarah's best attempt at the same at least.

"Nice to meet you! Let's shake hands!" Both phones were then moved closer together, as Sarah shook them up and down as if they actually were shaking hands, if the phones had actually had hands, that was.

The display with the phones was....cute. Layla pursed her lips while she tried not to giggle, but just because she didn't move her mouth didn't mean the sound didn't bubble up. It just got muted when it hit her lips. Her shoulders shook a little from the quiet laughter. She didn't say anything, though, because she wasn't sure how much Sarah needed to concentrate and she didn't want the phones to blow up or freak out or some shit like that. That would be bad and if she fried Kyle's phone this whole sabotage thing wouldn't be half as funny.

"Here, Kyle's phone, I've got something for you, I think you'll like it!" Sarah sent the .mp3 file over to Kyle's phone, smiling as it seemed to work. "Ok, I think it's copied over!" She looked up from the phones and noticed Layla's reaction. It was the brunette's turn to blush this time, her cheeks turning a mite pink. "It's sometimes easier if I... you know." Play with them as if they were dolls sounded too funny even in her own head so she didn't say that part aloud, but it was what it was. She really had to work on the not having to verbalize her powers thing, Sarah told herself. "But yeah, it's on there. Now to make it play when you want." That was going to be the trickier part, and she thought awhile about how to make it happen. Turning back to the phones, she started again.

"Hey Kyle's phone?" Shake shake shake.

Gruff voice. "Yeah, Layla's phone?"

"Would you be a sweetie and do me a favor, pleaaaaaase?" Extra girlie sounding voice while demanding a favor.

"Um, ok, what can I do for you, Layla's phone?" Gruff gruff.

"If ask you to play that .mp3 for me sometime, will you pleaaaaaaaase do it?" The phone didn't have eyelashes with which to bat and flutter, but Sarah subconsciously did so on its behalf.

"Sure, I can do that for you, I guess. Just say the word, babe, and I'll do it." Likewise Kyle's phone couldn't wink but its holder did.

"Heee, oh you. Thank you, Kyle's phone, you're a sweetie. Don't forget me!" She had to ensure the pairing would remain in place, so that when the devices were within range they'd be able to reestablish a connection and execute remote commands, which, to Sarah's mind, amounted to not forgetting each other.

"I won't, right back at you! Bye!" Gruff voice followed by a shake shake shake to wave good bye.

"Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye!" Followed by a shake shake shake good bye wave back from Layla's phone ended it.

Sarah held both phones still in her hand, then slowly looked back up at Layla. Her cheeks were definitely darker than before now, closer to red than their previous shade of pink. "I, uh. I think that should do it." She looked back down at the phones again, biting her lip a little. Hopefully Layla didn't think she'd completely lost her marbles or anything after that little performance, but it really did help her get things done properly, even if it left her completely embarrassed.

Okay, so maybe Layla had no idea how Sarah's techno-powers worked or whatever, but that was way more adorable than anything Layla's powers did. She wasn't laughing anymore, at least, just looking up at Sarah with really wide eyes and a bit of a smirky grin on her face. Instead of asking the question she really wanted to ask, Layla chose to ask a question that was actually important first. Without any sense of teasing in her voice, she asked, "So how will it work for me to make it happen? Will it be automatic once he," she winced, realizing she had just called Kyle's phone a he because of Sarah's little performance, "er, the phone senses and picks up my phone's bluetooth?"

Leaping at the chance to explain how it worked rather than how she had done it, Sarah nodded. "Uh-huh, I set it up so that when your phones are within range, they establish a connection over Bluetooth and once that's done - it'll take a handful of seconds or so - it'll tell Kyle's phone," She shook his phone in her hand out of force of habit, "to play that .mp3 file. Done and done." Lowering both phones in her hands onto the bed, she smiled at Layla. "So, yeah. Hope that wasn't too weird or anything." Her first interactions with the new girl hopefully didn't make a bad impression, because for some reason she felt like she didn't want to make one with Layla.

"Oh, trust me, when roadkill gets up and walks away when I'm having a bad day it raises the bar on 'weird to a whole new level, You're not even close enough to see that bar." She glanced at her phone hanging out with Kyle's on the bed and couldn't help but think that it was inappropriate for the two of them to be cuddling on the bed like that now. Grinning, Layla's eyes flashed up to meet Sarah's. "So, uh...when I said you were gonna have a group date with the phones? Didn't realize Yodaphone was going to totally whip out her girlie charms on Kyle's phone. I mean, hey, flirting with guys is totally the easy way to get what you want from them, but I just didn't think Yodaphone was that kinda girl." She was giggling now, one hand over her mouth since she wasn't having any luck not smiling. "Do you think I need to talk to them about the dangers of viruses from being intimate?"

Sarah blinked at that. "Wow, that does sound kinda weird. But cool too, I guess!" She didn't want to sound like she was dissing Layla's abilities or anything, hopefully she wouldn't take it that way. Returning the blonde's grin, Sarah couldn't help but giggle a little. "Well, I didn't plan it out that way, it just kinda, happened, you know? That's how those things go sometimes." She nodded, though it was more likely to happen to two people than to two electronic devices. "And it worked, which is the main thing!" Laughing along with Layla, she nodded. "Maybe we should sit them down for a serious talk. Though I don't know what the electronic version of the birds and the bees would be, hmm."

Despite how disputable the idea of her mutation being cool was Layla didn't say anything about it. Roadkill zombies really weren't always fun conversation, no matter how nonchalant Layla tended to be about it. The whole phone puppet show she'd just witnessed was a much better, far lighter topic to focus on. "I dunno, but I think a blue tooth connection is as close to sex as phones can get. I'm not sure they should be cuddling on the bed like that." She cast a glance in the direction of the phones, innocently laying next to one another on the bed. "I mean, they have this deep, meaningful connection and are sharing things like mp3's. It's concerning, y'know? Yodaphone is still so young and here she is, wrapping Kyle's phone's cord around her little figurative antenna and stuff. They grow up so quick!"

It really wasn't the easiest topic to discuss, really, especially compared to playing with cell phones as if they were puppets in order to facilitate the use of Sarah's powers. She thought about what Layla said and then looked to the phones, moving them apart so they were no longer touching. "You're right, it's too much, too soon. Here, we should maybe keep 'em separated." Scooping up the Yodaphone, Sarah reached out to hand it to Layla from where she was sitting. And then she realized she was all nestled into Layla's bed and that maybe she was intruding a little bit herself. Her cheeks got a little warm from embarrassment at the thought so she got to her feet, taking Kyle's phone in her other hand as she did so. "Um, so, hmm. Maybe I should take this one, give it back or something? Or post about finding it somewhere maybe?" That way it couldn't be traced back to Layla, hopefully.

The blushing was noticed quickly, but Layla had no idea why Sarah was blushing now. They weren't talking about how her mutation made her do a shadow puppet act or anything. And it wasn't like she'd just shifted and fallen off the bed onto her ass either. With Sarah standing, though, Layla felt awkward sitting on the floor so she stood up and took her phone from Sarah. Yodaphone got safely slid into the back pocket of her denim skirt. "Maybe you should hold off for like a day or something? Might be too obvious if you happen to find it really soon after it disappears. Or like before he knows it's gone and shit, you know? And thanks, by the way, for signing up for the partner-in-crime gig," she added with a smile that was a bit softer than the others she'd worn. "I probably never would've figured out how to pull it off without you and he'd just end up with a ringtone change or something lame like that."

She wasn't exactly sure either, but she felt a little awkward, settling in as if she owned the place or something. Not that she didn't like being around Layla, because she was pretty fun and seemed nice enough in the short time she'd spent with her, anyway. She smiled back at Layla, watching her pocket the phone, and did likewise with Kyle's. "That's a good idea, I'll just sit on it for awhile. I mean, not literally, but I'll bring it up in a day or two." Sarah nodded, putting her hands in her pockets. "It's no big deal, it was fun, actually." She smiled awkwardly at the blonde, shrugging her shoulders. "Anytime, you know where to find me." Pausing, she wasn't sure if the other girl did, actually. "Er. my room's further down the hall, in case you don't."

Layla turned, went over to her desk and randomly started to search through the notebooks and books there without a word. Until she came up with a piece of paper. She turned back to Sarah with the map Yvette had brought her, finger pointing to the little box that had an arrow pointing to it and Layla's handwriting labeling it where the other girls live. "I do, actually. And now you know where you can find me." She paused, eyes up at the ceiling as she thought about that for a second. "At night anyway. I'm easy to find at night." Why would Sarah be looking for her at night? Wow, that was stupid. Layla blushed a faint pink, ignored it and kept going. "Usually I'm outside," she clarified with a nod toward her skateboard that was lying on its side by the door. "Technically I came back for my board so I could ditch out but I got sorta...distracted. And then you found me." And she got way more distracted.

Sarah blinked at the map Layla produced, squinting slightly to make out what she'd written on it. "Oh, ok, that's good then. Maps are handy!" She didn't know what to say to the whole finding her part, so she just nodded at first. "I'll remember that if I need you at night, but night is for sleep. I mean, I sleep at night, so I'll be in bed. In my own room. If you need me, I guess." It only seemed fair to be just as available to the other girl, or at least it had made sense as she had been speaking. Leaping at the new topic, Sarah rubbed her neck, feeling a little flushed herself. "Oh, you skate?" She looked over at the skateboard and pretended she knew the first thing about it, which she didn't. "That's radical!"

First Layla was left blinking about that whole bed thing. Layla could find her in bed? Um...what? Somehow that just brought the flush to her skin back. It had been trying so hard to recede but now Sarah was talking about being found. At night. In bed. Asleep. But available. Um...yeah. So, moving on. Only moving on didn't go that much better. Layla's mouth fell into something of a frown and she was left blinking wide-eyed once more. "Did you just say 'radical'? Did I just wake up in the eighties?"

She had meant that Layla could find her in her own room if needed, not that she'd be in bed if needed, but it was all strung together and very confusing, much like her own thoughts at that moment. Moving on was definitely for the best, even if her lack of skateboard know how was glaringly obvious. "Yeah, no, I know, just kidding, you know. Radical, awesome, dude." Sarah was quickly realizing she had no idea what she was saying. She didn't know if there were any particular slang words or jargon used in skating these days, what those words might have been if so, or if there ever really were such things. Maybe they had all been in her head, or she had gotten them from bad movies or television shows. At any rate, it was evident that retreat was the only prudent option at that juncture. "Anyway, I should go, gotta few things to do. Like..." She held up Kyle's phone, a convenient excuse. "Gotta hide this, right? Yeah, I should go do that."

"Uh, yeah. Right. I guess you should hide that. You could probably just put it in your room since, hi, why would Kyle go in your room? You could always put it in your bed because he probably wouldn't look there even if he was in your room." Layla paused and gave Sarah an inquiring look. "Unless...he would be in your bed?" Why was she talking about beds? And why was she talking about Kyle being in Sarah's bed? It was all Sarah's fault. She mentioned beds first. Wow, this was totally moving to train wreck status, wasn't it? "But then you could always put it, like, under your mattress or something. You know, that's been a totally effective hiding place of porn for decades. If people don't find your porn there then they probably won't find his phone. Wait, I don't mean 'your porn' like you, personally, have porn under your mattress. I mean you could and that is so none of my business. But, seriously? Why would anyone hide porn under their mattress anyway? Isn't that why the internet was invented? And it's probably way easier to hide your porn on your computer. Unless you're not that smart. I had a foster brother...man was he bad at hiding that shit." And now she had gone from Kyle in Sarah's bed to Sarah's porn collection. Oh that was fucking brilliant! Layla resisted the urge to slap a hand over her own face and instead shoved her hands in her pockets. "So....you were gonna go hide that?"

Her eyes went wide at the suggestion of people being in her bed, let alone Kyle. Nothing against him but she certainly didn't think about him in that way at all. "What? No, he wouldn't be in my bed! No boys have ever been in my bed!" No one other than her for that matter, but it was boys being in there that Layla was talking about. Sarah's cheeks were about as red as they could be, or so she thought until Layla started talking about porn - pornography! - and hiding it under her mattress and oh my gosh. "I don't even know - I - " Her mouth hung agape but there were no more words, there was just burning, tingling cheeks and an inability to make eye contact with the blonde. "R-right, I need to hide. The phone, going to hide it. I'll... I'll see you later, Layla." She managed a smile but she still couldn't quite look her in the eye, and nearly bumped into her as she brushed past her on the way out the door. If there was ever any possibility of a person spontaneously combusting, Sarah was pretty sure she was the ideal candidate at that moment.

Wow. That had totally gone in the wrong direction, hadn't it? It wasn't until Sarah was making her retreat so that her or the phone could hide, or maybe both of them, that Layla clued into some odd phrasing. There had never been boys in her bed? Sarah had barely cleared the door when Layla turned around and asked the brunette's back. "Wait, so there's been girls in your bed?"

It really had, exponentially so. Looking over her shoulder, but still not meeting Layla's eyes, Sarah shook her head and managed a short reply. "No one's been in my bed, just me, that's all." She was glad she was mostly turned away because the blushing was still there. There was some mild concern that perhaps she'd burst a capillary or three, in fact. Exhaling deeply, she shook her head and leaned against Layla's doorframe. "I'm sorry. Just let me know when I should give it back, I guess. You can call me or text me, I had to put my info on your phone to test it out." She glanced up and risked eye contact for a second or two, then gave a small grin and hoped she at least looked a little better composed. "I'll see you around, Layla."

Actually, she kind of looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out until the Spring maybe. And she was red. Very red. The blushing was a little out of control, which was reassuring for Layla who hadn't been much better off that long ago. Still, she wasn't entirely sure why Sarah was so red or looked like she wanted to hide so badly. Maybe she was one of those people who got really embarrassed by the mention of porn. "Sure, I'll call you." Wait, she had to put her number in Layla's phone? Had? Like it was just that necessary? Layla raised an eyebrow with the thought but said nothing. "See ya. Have fun hiding. The phone, I mean." Or herself. In her bed. Alone. Wow, there was a mental image that wouldn't quit.