Attempting to Fonz the Machine

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau glared at the vending machine as though it had personally done him wrong. He'd put his money into the machine, and he'd pushed the right buttons. He could see the delicious bag of tater skins just dangling there, barely held on by this little plastic loop. But it definitely wasn't coming off, no matter how much staring Beau did. He tried narrowing his eyes a bit, wishing for a few seconds that he had laser vision. It only lasted a few seconds, mostly as Beau figured that laser beam eyes would likely melt the food, which wouldn't work out well for him.

"So how do I get the doggone thing out?" he asked, moving about the machine. he wrapped his knuckles against the side of the machine, then leaned over. It seemed to have wiggled. Beau seemed to vaguely recall there being a character on a sitcom his parents liked that did it. He figured he might as well try again. He rapped his knuckles harder against the machine.

He swore it wiggled again.

"C'mon, almost there," he muttered. He tried moving around to the front of the machine, and, starting to feel a little silly now, rapped his knuckles against the front glass. The machine shook, the bag wobbled, but nothing fell.

Beau glared.

[Nora Graves]

Nora impatiently stood by the vending machine in the dorms, deciding to leave her room for the comfort of some junk food, her jeans making a jingling sound with the quarters she'd stuffed in one of her pockets, but of course someone else was there already and they were in a one on one cage match with the vending machine it seemed. She stood off to the side, leaning against the wall boredly, watching the guy with some amount of amusement as he yelled at the machine and shook it, the bag of chips still not falling.

It seemed like he decided to just sit back and glare at it, as if that would solve the problem. She crossed her arms and finally decided to speak up. "Are you under the impression that knocking on the glass is going to work? Because it's not."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau heard the voice and sighed. He actually hadn't realized that there was anyone else who was actually attempting to get something from the machine. His ability meant that he usually figured out that someone was sneaking up on him before they actually got there. They got within ten feet, and suddenly Beau felt some unique variation of weird.

So he was genuinely surprised to turn and see a girl there. She looked a little younger than him, and he guessed sort of cute, but not really in a way that made him want to switch to instant flirt mode. She kinda, well, to Beau she kinda looked like a drug addict of some kind and he was beginning to wonder if he'd gotten between someone and their munchies. He hadn't exactly met anyone who really did the stuff, but he figured television couldn't be too far off.

"Ain't worked so far," admitted Beau, looking back at the dangling bag of tater skins. "Don't suppose I could interest you in gettin' a package of tater skins? My bag seems to be clingin' on like a drowned housecat," he looked at the machine, chuckling. Then he realized that he was still standing in the way, technically speaking. a side step solved that, and he hoped his wave to the machine couldn't be mistaken for anything but what it was.

[Nora Graves]

Nora often avoided thinking about what others saw when they looked at her and she could definitely tell from the look on this guy's face that what he saw wasn't how Nora wanted to be seen, but then again, since when did she care? She wasn't exactly sure how she wanted to be seen anyway.

"Exactly," Nora declared, stepping forward to take a look at the situation. Ah yes, that happened a lot. The snack was just about to fall and the metal loop somehow held onto it by a thread. It was annoying, that was for sure and who wanted to put more money in it to get it? Nobody.

His accent was anything but cute, but it was slightly amusing and she smirked at him before moving to the side of the machine. "Knocking on the glass isn't going to make it fall. You have to do what the machine specifically prohibits you from doing, and that's shaking the damn thing." She grabbed the sides of the machine and shook. While it took her longer because of her size, she did manage to get the bag to shake and fall from the metal ring, mostly because she'd done this more than once. "But be warned that if a staff member sees you doing it, you better run."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau watched the girl move around, wondering if she was gonna do what he thought she was gonna do. The smirk practically gave her away before she even started moving. Beau was tempted to offer another, less physical solution to the problem, but by the time he even took a small step forward, the girl was at the machine. At this point, protesting would just be embarrassing, so Beau opted to just let her do whatever it was she planned.

Which was shaking the machine.

"That's what I was afraid of," drawled Beau. He ducked down, reaching into the machine and easily extracting the bag of 'skins. "But thanks for the shake. You'd think I'd know better by now; ain't the first time this machine's done that," he looked at the machine, wondering. You'd think that with enough technologically savvy people around Hammel, someone would have taken the time to actually repair the blasted thing. Beau'd probably try it himself if he understood the first thing about the machines.

"That was some practiced shakin' right there," noted Beau, nodding to the machine, "take it that this ain't the first time it's happened 'round you either, huh?" Beau stepped to the side, making sure to clear the way for the girl. After all, she hadn't gotten her snack yet. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he dug a dollar out of his pocket. "Here, ya saved me the cash, so you might as well use it." He extended it toward her, adding a nod and a reassuring smile.

[Nora Graves]

"And it won't be the last. This machine's a bigger delinquent than I am, always trying to steal your money," Nora replied. "And just like no one takes the time to try and help delinquents, nobody is going to bother fixing this machine, I can tell you that." Who at Hammel would waste their time? Ugh, she hated this place.

"Yeah, I've had to shake the damn thing a few times to get what I want. Someone should put a sign on it." She was digging several quarters out of her pocket and turning to the machine to put her money in it, the guy was trying to hand her a dollar bill. "Dude, I don't need your charity. I know it looks like I can't buy nice clothes, but I choose to dress like this. I can afford a damn candy bar." Maybe he didn't mean it like that, maybe he was being nice, but it didn't matter to Nora. It was about pushing people away so they didn't get to know her.

[Beau LaRoux]

"You'd think that somebody could jus' wave their hand an' fix it or somethin'," muttered Beau, an edge of frustration creeping into his voice. What use was having weird abilities if nobody could do anything helpful or useful with them? no, instead, everyone got the ability to shoot fire from their fingertips or fly around on feathered wings, because that was useful. God had some strange ideas when it came to making stuff some times.

Speaking of strange, the girl certainly seemed to qualify. Beau was momentarily caught off guard by the sudden vicious burst at him. Weird, but he could almost swear that he felt, well, like what she said had some sort of inherent truthness to it? Yeah, he was probably just picking up some strange vibe or something. But Beau recognized the "don't need no charity" stance all too well: his family had to take it from time to time.

"Ain't no charity," he said, keeping his expression serious for a few moments. "Was jus' offerin' ta buy you whatever in thanks for gettin' my snack. Figured ya saved me the money anyways, so it's pretty much yours," with that, Beau casually stuck the dollar bill into the machine, turning to Nora with a smile. he folded his arms over his chest, looking perhaps a little too proud for the gesture.

[Nora Graves]

"I'm sure there's a technopath somewhere that could do that, but who would unless they were fixing it for themselves so they could get a snack. Selfish bitches," Nora commented. She couldn't help it. That's how she viewed humanity. They lied and that made them selfish and then they couldn't even fix a stupid vending machine.

She automatically assumed the worst about everyone because it was easier that way than getting disappointed when they fucked up. Her power had been a blessing in that way.

What the guy did next annoyed her even more. He actually had the nerve to put his dollar in the machine for her. She eyed him suspiciously. "Fine, whatever, thanks," she muttered as she made her selection on the machine, trying to get a package of licorice from the machine. He wasn't like others in the way that he didn't really snap back at her. It was odd.

[Beau LaRoux]

"Can't be everybody lookin' out for themselves," said Beau, frowning at the thought. Well, he figured that if there wasn't a technopath willing to do it, he could probably fill in for them. He didn't exactly have a lot of training in the mechanical arts, at least, not for stuff like this, but if he got near enough to a skilled technopath, he could at least get a vending machine to run properly.

That was unlikely to ever actually happen though, so Beau just mentally remembered to be careful of this machine in the near future. The girl seemed to have better luck than Beau did, the licorice dropping right down without any problem. Beau looked over at the machine as it whirred, and his eyebrows raised a little at the choice. He'd opened the bag of chips and took a few out, munching in a sort of absent manner. he wouldn't talk again till he'd already swallowed.

"Licorice, huh? Can't recall anyone that weren't an old timer eatin' that stuff, guess somebody has to," he shrugged, tastes were tastes, after all. He then shifted so that the hand that had been eating chips held the back, enabling his clean one to be extended out. "Name's Beauregard, by the way, most folks jus' call me Beau though," and he smiled his friendliest smile too.

[Nora Graves]

The machine was nice enough to drop her snack without a problem. It seemed that more often than not it was malfunctioning or keeping your snack prisoner while you fed it more and more of your quarters. "Yeah, licorice," she said with a roll of her eyes, turning to him as she opened the package, not breaking eye contact. Did he really have nothing else to say so he had to insult her choice in vending machine snacks? "I have weird tastes, okay? Besides, you got a regular bag of chips. What does that say about you? Booooring." She smirked and looked out at his hand. "I don't really do that..." she said, taking a bite of a piece of licorice. Physical contact was a no in most cases.

She rose an eyebrow at his name. Then again, her parents had named her Eleanor which wasn't at all fitting. "Nora," she offered, mouth full of licorice.