Xaviers!

"That argument can be taken further to suggest if he didn't want us makin' tools, he wouldn't have given us the brain power to do it.

Like, ya know, tools like forks."

"A tortilla is an edible tool." Victor stepped forward, ready to place his order. "I think I'm just gonna go for the Big Box. What are you gettin'?"

"Chicken tacos yo! I didn't come all the way to Colchester to eat the same shit i'd eat at home." Emilie apparently considered Canada home, despite having lived there and at the Institute, and NYC... and some other random places.

"Yes, you did. That's why we're at a Taco Bell."

"Shhhhhhhhhhsttaaahhhppppp...." She said, pressing her finger to Victors lips, then going about the process of ordering her meal.

Once they went through that tedious bullshit, Emilie got her food and found a place to sit with Victor.

"We really should see about getting you bike certified." She stated. " No sense in you not being able to drive it too."

"Would the school do that? Or do you mean actually going and taking a test?" Victor took a bite out his burrito before he began to push a few french fries inside of it, creating a makeshift California burrito.

"Nah, we'll take you down into the city offices. After that
you got 2 years to get your full license, but I can do that easy peasy, teach you, and then you can get yours."

"Huh, yeah, I guess we could do that. Bein' able to drive a bike is a useful skill to have, never know when it might come up."

"You usually enjoy it."

"Have I ever had an Ural?"

"Just once. A modern model. When you were a professor at a normie uni."

Victor tried not to laugh. "We didn't go on quests to discover lost cities and reclaim forgotten treasures, did we?"

"No I worked at a bakery and you were a big old sad sack who lived with Melchior who got you a job in a US college town in southern Wisconsin. You liked it because it was a normie job where you could blend in and wasn't *too* far from home."

"Sometimes Trev would come around and take me to Chicago to break the monotony." She added.

"That's probably not a tale you want to visit."

"There's something to be said for a comfortable mediocrity. Though I can understand if that's not your thing. For you that must've been like eating mashed potatoes every meal for an eternity.

"Who's Melchior?" Victor asked between bites. "If that's not too far down paths I'm not supposed to trek."

Emilie had a strange reaction to that question, for Emilie anyways. Her blush was apparent even through all the make up.

"Where there isn't a Malina, there's a Melchior. They aren't really different beings since neither of them are fond of gender pronouns, but whatever gender they were born with determines what their mother names them. They usually go by the nickname 'Mal' or 'Mel' which are fairly gender neutral anyways, so none of them have ever legally changed their names."

"Oh. Well I guess that makes sense. One in ten chance and all. But hey, no Mel or Mal or Maul this time, so things'll be different.

"Wanna bite?" Victor offered some of his makeshift California concoction across the little table.

Emilie debated it internally before going for it.

Then immediately regretting it.

"Guuuuuuhhh... It's... so squishy..."

"Huh, somehow I thought you'd have tried this before. I guess that means there's still some surprises left in store for you."

Victor resumed his meal, already dipping into his dessert.

"Maybe there's some stuff I don't want to try." She laughed.

"And here I thought I was the straight-laced stick-in-the-mud." Victor munched on some fries before he spoke again.

"So, what're we gonna do the rest of the day? Wanna go to a museum or something?"

"That's what you get for judging by the cover.

Uhm... sure, I suppose. What didja have in mind?"

"I dunno, it just seemed like something to do. We've got all day, we can do anything.

"Also I wanna case the joint."

'Pretty sure any planes or tanks don't operate properly anymore, so getting them out might be difficult." She rationalized as if Vic was totally serious.

"Don't be silly. How would you fence a tank?"

"Listen, I'm not here to fence stuff, I just let you hide shit in my bag because you get all nervous when we get near security where as I can remain cool under pressure."

"But what would I need with a tank if I wasn't gonna sell it? I'd have to go down to the city offices and get another license."

"Don't tell me you don't wish our moped was a tank because I will know you are lying."

"Yeah just what I need, something that confirms I've got something to compensate for."

"Nonsense. The whole reason you keep me around is that i'm living proof you don't, silly-billy." Emilie replied with a wink.

"Well, that and you're the only real friend I've got. And I didn't even have to do any of the work for it. Go me."

"Trust me, you did some work.

You could have been a dick, but you're not. So yes, 'go you'. "

"Naw, I could've been a bigger dick. Trust me, I ain't as nice a Victor as some of the others you've met, I'm certain of that. But that's okay, I ain't fishin' for compliments. I just refuse to pretend I'm a saint is all."

Victor had already moved on to his taco and was trying not to make a mess of it.

"You're so cute when you think you know things." Emilie replied, smirking. "There's a lot of grey area in between saint and sinner kiddo. It's not one or the other."

"Oh I know that. No one thinks they're the villain, they all think they're a hero, just from a different point of view."

"So.. we gonna go steal some shit or what?"

Victor thought about it for longer than he probably should have and then shook his head. "Mmm, naw. Not yet."

"Still wanna eyeball it? Never hurts."

"You really think I've got somethin' planned, don't you?" Victor smirked. "I've already got two strikes over here, I'm a foreigner and a mutie. Third strike and I'm out. And I'm not goin' anywhere without you, remember?"

"Hey, you get thrown out I can come with you. Thanks to the HAIC I can go where I want."

"Well... where do you wanna go?"