DT1: "The time has come' The Walrus said

[Emilie]

Between the cafeteria and where they were now Emilie had used a clean napkin she brought with her to remove all of the dark lipstick off her lips, leaving her lips looking red with irritation. Swapping out the soiled napkin in her hip bag for a tube of lip balm, she began to apply it as she walked. She wasn't being lead directly to the dorms, but she had no way of knowing that.

Finishing her application of lip balm with a loud *pop* of her lips, she looked at Victor as they walked and smiled, but didn't say anything.

[Victor Freud]

Victor had a bit of time before class, and really if he had to he could always arrive late. It was early enough in the year that he wouldn't miss much anyway. He walked with his hands in his pockets, dress shirt tucked in perfectly.

"So... I think it's only fair that I've got a lot of questions. And if what you said is true, you've probably had to answer 'em all a bunch of times before. So I guess I should ask first; what can you tell me, and what can't you tell me?"

[Emilie]

"The only things I cannot tell you, are the things I do not know. Which is a lot more than you'd think."

Emilie looked about to make sure no one was following them, or listening to them. There wasn't anyone she could see about, but you never knew around here if some invisible dude was hiding in the bushes or something. She maintained a brisk walk now to get them as far from any sort of crowd that might form as was physically possible on a school campus.

[Victor Freud]

The easiest way to avoid people was to go somewhere without a wifi signal. Once they got a certain distance from the school the student population was pretty sparse, probably because most were either heading to class or sleeping in.

"Fair, but vague." Vic replied. "So, why do you keep going from me to me? Why don't you just stay in one place?"

[Emilie]

Emilie didn't answer immediately. Normally, one might choose to hide in the woods when they wanted to have a private conversation, but Emilie knew better. Too many days spent with other Victors at the Institute had taught her that 'the woods' was a prime spot for ferals to be hiding, and they had much better ears than any of the other students.

Emilie stopped in front of a tree that was obviously planted for shade, a very large willow planted next to a small pond to provide it with the water source such trees needed. The branches provided them some level of visual concealment.

Without warning him, Emilie reached out and grabbed Victor by the wrist, and pulled him to the ground with her as she took a sitting position. An odd sensation crept over his skin as she did so, and after a moment or two, Victor would feel that sensation spread away from his skin. As it did, he'd noticed a growing orb around him of visual disturbance, like he was looking through some kind of round, foggy window.

"There, now noone can hear you putting me in the hot seat. Don't move too far, or you'll go out of my range and the field will drop." She let go of his wrist as she explained to him what she'd just done.

"To answer your question, I don't know. It's not a conscious choice to move."

[Victor Freud]

Victor wasn't expecting to be pulled down, and he certainly didn't expect the strange sensation that washed over him. It wasn't until Emilie told him not to move that he even realized that he was holding his breath. He let out a deep sigh, breathing heavily as he caught his breath.

"What... what is this?"

[Emilie]

"You get smaller... I make force-fields. Telekinetic ones to be precise.

And before you follow up with 'are you reading my mind right now' -- No, I'm not because I couldn't even if I wanted to. I can plant thoughts into your head, but only as impressions... things I've seen, things I've heard, dreams I once had or am having.... I can't even do that unless you invite me in. Vampire rules." She smirked.

[Victor Freud]

"So, we're not going to accidentally phase through time and space, right?"

[Emilie]

"Well... You won't."

[Victor Freud]

"Well that's the important part at least." Victor gave a little smile at his own joke.

"Funny, I had a hard time sleeping last night because I had so many questions to ask. And now that I can, I'm finding it hard to think of any of 'em."

[Emilie]

Emilie shrugged. "Most of your questions I usually can't answer anyways, even when you can think of them. You usually ask me things like how I can do this, or how many others there have been, or when I am going to leave."

[Victor Freud]

"Yeah, those would be the big ones. And I guess you know me so well there's not really anything you need to ask me, is there?"

[Emilie]

" I don't know how or why it happens, though I have many theories on it, that might be a discussion for another day if you're really that curious.

I don't know how many other Freuds there have been, but there's been at least this many." As she spoke, she shrugged off her jacket to show off all the bric-a-brac on her belt. Victor would have to seriously take a look to identify most of it but at first glance it didn't seem to be copies of anything that already belonged to him, though he did spy a few older looking items that might be of interest to him.

Emilie's voice took on a quieter, reflective tone. "And I don't know when I'll leave. One day I will be here, and the next moment I won't anymore." A jaunty little smirk forced it's way up. " Like the rapture in those terrible end of days films, only instead of the damned staying behind and the saved being whisked away by God, I'm the only one who disappears into the ether. Maybe I'm the only one worth saving and you're all a bunch of terrible heathens." She joked.

" I've been staying longer though." She added cheerfully. " Time before last, I stayed thirteen years in one spot, a new record. So whatever it is I am supposed to be doing with my time, I'm getting much better at it.

Or maybe a lot worse I haven't figured that out yet, heh."

When Victor brought up whether or not she had anything to ask, she shrugged."There is always something new to learn about a Freud. All Freuds are unique in their own special ways, just like all people.

But the basics mostly remain the same so there's nothing off the top of my head.

You are usually born in the spring. You often have at least one sibling, Veronica, which you refer to as Ronnie. She picks on you, but it's because she loves you and she doesn't know how to express it that well. I suppose that must be what siblings do. I've never had one. You were raised on a farm.

You are always Canadian, and you almost always return to Canada after school except in the cases where you had a very specific reason not to return. Loved ones, or job opportunities you just couldn't pass up. You have almost always attended the Institute except in the cases that it did not exist... Though this is new..." She commented , looking about her environment a bit. " I am probably going to prefer this. The Institute never works out well."

"Freuds in this timeline tend to have an obsession with antiquities. I have come to suspect it has something to do with your jumping position in time and space. It seems as if your soul feels like it doesn't fit here. Like you're a puzzle piece mashed into the wrong space." Emilie moved away from her deep thoughts on Victor's psychological well being, it wouldn't do to dump so much self reflection on him at once. Especially not after they just met.

"Modern Freuds tend to have the same small circle of friends, though I haven't seen any of them here yet. Just McManus. In my experience the two of you aren't usually very chummy, just acquaintances. I'm surprised I haven't seen Lebowski yet. In these school situations, there's practically guaranteed to be a Lebowski trailing behind you somewhere bitching about your fellow students immaturity.

Anyways, am I more or less on the mark?"

[Victor Freud]

"That's... actually kinda scary.I mean some of that you coulda just learned from Facebook or something but, yeah, that's kinda spot on. I haven't talked to Mal in awhile, she graduated from the Institute a year before me. I think she's busy with work."

Victor puzzled over it all for a moment. "Wait, I'm jumping around in time and space? I thought you were."

[Emilie]

"You are static. I was more referring to the fact that Freuds are not just a 'now' entity, but an entity that exists in other timelines as well. Others don't, perhaps because their existence can only be brought to fruition through whatever events lead to that timeline. In those older timelines you take easier to your surroundings. In this one you're always a little... nervous.

Maybe it's because people know what you are now, and then don't then.

I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about all this complex malarkey. It might give you an aneurysm." She chuckled.

[Victor Freud]

"Aww shucks. I was hoping to hear about wacky past and future adventures. I always wanted to be a cowboy, even if I'm built better for being the weasley henchman to a crime boss.

"But I guess I'll, we'll just have to make some timey adventures ourselves. I can put on some goggles and glue some gears to stuff, that's how steampunk works right?"

[Emilie]

"You can hear all about it when we have the time. There's been no cowboys to date though. And there are no 'future' adventures really, dependent on your concept of future."

"Been there done that, took the spoils." As she spoke, she snapped something off her belt, and tossed it to Victor.

What he'd catch (or let fall at his feet, whichever he chose) was half a set of aviator goggles with the lens popped out of it. They were badly damaged.

"That adventure did not end well for those involved."

[Victor Freud]

Victor jumped slightly as he caught the object, turning it over in his hands before holding it up to his eyes to try them on. "Wow, these don't look like they came from a landing you walk away from." He said jokingly, though his smile slowly faded as possibilities occurred to him.

"Have you ever seen -" He thought of a better way of phrasing the question. "Have I ever died?"

[Emilie]

Emilie didn't answer immediately, turning her gaze away from Victor and sitting in silence. Obviously he hadn't died, he was still standing there alive and well in front of her. But she knew what it was she was being asked, it just wasn't a subject she tended to speak on with Freuds. Especially not this soon. She pulled up her jacket to drape across her torso like a blanket as she leant into the willow.

"If you go out of my range, the field will drop." She responded, paraphrasing a comment she had made earlier with a much darker connotation than previously. She gave him no more, but Victor was a clever enough young man to read between the lines.

[Victor Freud]

Victor sat down beside her, quiet for a moment.

"Sorry. For putting you through that. I guess I'll know better this time."

[Emilie]

"Never apologize for the failure of others." Emilie replied, wearing that same sad smile she was wearing when he found her.

"Besides, you can't graft yourself to my hip to make sure you stay out of danger. At least, not here you can't. The dorms are gender segregated." She added, sounding amused.

[Victor Freud]

"Hey, you're the one who turned down a secret attic apartment."

[Emilie]

"Only because when they found out what you were hiding you'd be expelled. And then what would you do? Go back home to Ronnie so she can make fun of you that your solution to your shyness around women was going full V.C. Andrews?"

[Victor Freud]

"Who's Vee Cee Andrews?" Victor asked, missing the point.

[Emilie]

"Not someone you want to be compared to." Emilie sighed.

"Look, the point is this. Right now, you have what you little friend Malina would likely refer to as 'plausible deniability'. Should something go amiss, the less involved you get with my secrecy the better outcome the situation has for you. "

It was then that Emilie paralleled the confused face Victor had just made himself.

' "I just thought she was a nutjob, I didn't realize she'd blow up half the school, honest ma'am!' " She mimicked. The tone was spot on, even if it was in a much higher register than his own voice.

[Victor Freud]

"Eh, I'm going to be getting in trouble anyway." Victor said with a wistful smirk. "So if you need something, don't hesitate to ask. Your ol' sugar daddy Slick Vic will take care of you.

"Speaking of which, we should probably get you moved in. Not that you don't travel light."

[Emilie]

Emilie scoffed at that, in her first display of derision to Victor.

"Please, I always pay my own way. Even if that means climbing a pole or letting you sell dirty pictures of me to others. I'm not gonna recommend that as a first option." She laughed.

"Alright, let's go meet this 'Molly'."

[Victor Freud]

"I'm sure you'll get along great." Victor tried his best to reassure Emilie as he got to his feet. "And if not... there's always the stables again."

[Emilie]

"I've slept worse places." She replied, getting up with him and dropped her field so they could move onto the dorms together.