overconfidently

( He has never seen anything like this before and he almost reaches out to touch her before he realizes that's very rude and so he drops his hand, staring in wonder and curiosity. )

How long can you stay like this?

(Yeah, so, about that? She doesn't care. The fun and equally horrifying thing about it is just that she loses a whole lot of feeling, and all her empathy. Touching her means touching a freezing, hard rock, but eh, since he wanted it, she'll offer her hand for him to take if he wants to.)

Long.

( Eyeing her hand there for a moment, he reaches out and takes hold of it and... cold. It's so cold. Without even thinking about it, he takes his own jacket off and drapes it around her shoulders, blue eyes gently concerned. )

You're so cold. Can you feel it?

(She'd be touched, and she'd try to get him to relax about it — tell him how it works, stop him from being the one out in the cold, but no, she just blinks a few times.)

I don't feel anything like this.

(No hunger, no fatigue, nothing. It doesn't last too long, the glistening surface returning to normal, back to blond before she has an exceptionally lengthy delay in realizing he is now the one who might freeze. With a sigh, she's going to try and return the jacket.)

So, really, who's gonna want to stab diamond?

( Taking his jacket back, he holds it there in front of him for a moment before he goes and shrugs it back on. Welp. So much for that? But at least it's good to know she doesn't feel the cold like that. )

Someone really stupid? ( A beat. ) Or was that a rhetorical question?

( Either way, he smiles a bit — looks her over again as arms fall down at his sides. )

It's pretty cool though. Can't say I've ever seen anything like that before.

I mean, a lot of people have tried to stab diamond, actually?

(Or punch it, or choke it, there's a huge list of things that can be done.)

Fair warning, it shuts off the little empathy and feel-y pieces, so if I'm a bitch to you, just put two and two together.

(To other people, that might just be because she feels like it, but Nate doesn't really deserve it, she finds. It just means she was like that for a good while, enough to make a dent.

The same hand that he had touched is offered again as she gestures with her head towards the streets.)

You staying or you coming?

( For a fleeting moment, Thren comes to mind when he sees Sophie’s hand offered, but. Rather than dwell on that, he takes her hand and comes up alongside her, silently agreeing to accompany her on this little walk. After all, he did say it was a prince’s duty to keep the princess safe. Or is that the knight’s duty? Both, he thinks.

He can’t help but look back to the school grounds as they walk, the place having more or less been abandoned the last time he briefly saw it before his coming here to Etraya. He wonders, if Xavier hadn’t been the head of it all, would he have ended up there at some point? Hard to know now what with his being here on Etraya and, even back on Earth, currently in Sinister’s lair or wherever the Hell he took him.

Here, though, he’d been invited to stay and there’s no Xavier. )

Do you live at the school? Back on Earth, I mean.

Nope. I studied there for a little while, though, with most of these clowns.

(She doesn't even know if the cemetery is still somewhere in there, but if it is, she hopes he doesn't stumble upon her grave or anything like that. Sounds like one more thing that would bother or confuse him, even though dying, coming back, time-travelling, multiverse bullshit, and miscellaneous are always kind of normal.

There is no rush in Sophie's steps, hands swaying just a tad as she looks around for something, anything to do.)

Curious about it?

( Keeping alongside her, he throws a glance back to the school again before he looks over to her. There’s a sort of stillness that comes with the night here and as far as he can tell and feel, there isn’t anything or anyone around they need to worry about. Almost a bit of a first for him, really. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s not keeping a telepathic eye open for things. Etraya is still unfamiliar to him and despite the somewhat familiar take on the school here, it’s very much not Earth they’re on. )

More like I didn’t think I’d ever be there myself, even here.

( Looking ahead, he hums. )

Where do you live then? If not at the school?

What do you mean?

(Sophie too is keeping a telepathic eye on things, so that's why there's zero worry for her. She just hears... Dreams, idle thoughts, nothing particularly thrilling or concerning. He keeps looking back at the school, though, and she isn't really... Getting it.

Nor is she prying there, for once.)

I live in Uptown Manhattan. The school doesn't even exist anymore.

( He’s about to answer, but then she goes and says what she does about the school not existing and he looks to her with raised brows. Not… something he expected to hear? Granted, he never attended or stayed at the school, but. He knew about it and the sort of symbol it meant. )

What happened to it?

(Maybe some shit isn't for Nate to know. She's trying to lie less, be better, and at the same time, finding that the more people know, the worse it gets. It's not a great time for her on the morality side of things.)

I wouldn't worry about it. It gets demolished, exploded, invaded, or rebuilt every other week. You know Xavier or something?

Barely.

( The face he pulls at Xavier's name mentioned... )

I caught him spying on me and pulled him off the psychic plane to tell him to get lost.

( That's... more or less how it all went down. )

... Good, actually. A lot of us are either very much either 'fuck you, Xavier', or 'it's complicated, but also, fuck you, Xavier'.

(So, he's in good hands. The thing that brings her attention out of the conversation is the bar she finds around the corner. Maybe they could get some fries, but honestly, the minute she puts her eyes on the arcade downstairs, she's definitely forgetting all about food.)

He's afraid of me but wants me to join his X-Men. I'm not here to be a weapon in anyone's fight.

( He keeps going with her, clearly annoyed, though not at her. Just at the thought of Xavier being a little geek with his spying and wanting more people for his team or school or whatever. Hard pass, thanks. )

Magneto was the leader of the X-Men where I'm from.

Sounds like him. He just showed up at our little mutant haven a bit after I ended up here, wanted our help, needed it, "help clean up my mess", you know the drill. David kicked him out.

(Sir, she can feel that, which is why she gives his hand a little squeeze.)

Magneto... Is another divisive figure, sure. How was that for you?

( Honestly, he appreciates the squeeze of reassurance there — keeps him grounded and doesn't let his emotions consume him. )

I didn't really know him. ( He glances to her for a moment. ) I rescued him though. He seemed to have some idea who I was. Kind of like here, I guess.

( Where others know [of] him and he hasn't a clue who they are. )

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that bothers you.

(He can use her as a grounding, she doesn't mind at all. In her situation, she's known as a collective, which is fine, it doesn't bother her, except, well.

She's not currently one. It's fine, they drilled so much on the lack of individuality and coherence that at least people know what to expect from her to some degree.)

( He shakes his head at that, keeping alongside her. )

That I didn't know him? No, not really. Would have maybe liked to get to know him. But if you mean about someone else knowing or even having an idea of who I am while I don't know them? It's definitely something I'm trying to get used to.

( Especially here. )

It was definitely more about the latter, though, I'll say it's a boat that you're not rowing by yourself. Scott, Laura, even me to a much, much less dramatic degree.

(Finally, the bar is in front of them, and first, she opens the door to take a look around. Seems pretty empty, as she expected.)

Want in?

( A blink of those blue eyes as they end up in front of a bar, he looks over to her. )

Do I need an invite?

Never, actually. Let's go in.

(There are... Bots, so it should be fine, even if it drives her a bit cuckoo (hah) that they got no brainwaves. Nothing to pick apart or snoop around here, it's just them, so she's not even going to bother with manners.

The first table she sees goes.)

Ugh, this place has too many of these dumb bots. My range is not even ridiculous or anything, and I'm starting to feel weirded out all the time.

( Following along, he also picks up on how there's nothing to hear or feel from the bots in this place and, as someone who's always capable of hearing and feeling things, it comes across as a little... cold, really. Unsettling, even. )

They work for Aurora and Echo, don't they?

( The bots, he means. )

Yup, if you wanna put it that way.

(If he wants to treat it as a conscious choice, to 'work for', rather than possessive. They are Auroura's and Echo's, from where she stands. One comes to offer them the menu, and she takes a look through it before patting herself for her wallet —, oh right, no money.

Whatever, she'll just order everything and stick the leftovers in the fridge for everyone else at home.

Never say she isn't considerate.)

I think we mutants can deal with this place, if we don't all bicker to death first. Are you worried?

( He looks over the menu and the options both fascinate and confuse him. Never in his life has he seen so many choices for food and drink— well. Back in the world he's currently in, there's that, but. Even there, he's still coming to learn what this and that are concerning food and drinks when he has a chance to try things.

Glancing over to her, he blinks. Curiously at first, then a little thoughtful. )

About all the mutants here?

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