oh, i see! I'd only ever heard my aussie friend use the word "gaffer" - I'm enlightened now! haha ;)
Joe stiffened a little at the time-jumping mutant comment - not because he was a time-jumping mutant. He just wasn't totally comfortable with being openly mutant yet. Openly bi was weird enough as it was; girls thinking he was gross for taking it up the ass, guys thinking he was gross for liking to lick vulvas. It was awkward, not awful, but just awkward to deal with that social bump in the road every time he got to that bridge with a friend. He didn't also want to add the paper thing too.
"Hah, no siree! I won't touch your stuff, ma'am," Joe made a gesture as if tipping the bill of a cowboy hat, noticing shortly after that she wasn't too happy about the stamp on her hand. And then he was presented with a tattoo of some creature.
"Holy - whoa. Is that, uh, a zombie teddy or something?" He squinted at it, smiling and rubbing his own arm in phantom pain. "It's kinda big! Wow, that must've hurt. Yikes - to the pain, I mean. It's super cute - I like its tie."