multiversallogs | on the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves

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on the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves

Who: Chuck and Kate
What: a tea party!
Where: a tea house is appropriate for the tea party, don't you think?
When: Misdi afternoon
Notes: none
Warnings: none

The weekend had gotten busy as things do and the time for tea and a chat had been moved to what Charles knows better as Tuesday. Thankfully his schedule allows him certain freedoms on weekdays and he is at the tea house with plenty of time to spare before he meets Miss Bishop.

He orders a cup of earl grey and sits ear a window, opening a book and making notes in the margins as he waits.

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"I think I'll go with Charles," Kate answers with slight hesitation in her voice. He may consider himself old, but to her, he's the young one here. How old is this version of him? No more than thirty tops, right? To keep things straight in her head, Kate will keep the professor title to the older man she knows back home. The one with no hair.

Wait... how did he know that she couldn't decide on what to call him? Right. That. "Can I ask you a favor?"

So that would be a no on the tea, at least for now. The book is long forgotten and he folds his hands on the table. This business of talking to people who know an older version of himself is still taking some getting used to.

"Certainly. If it's something in my power I'll do what I can."

"It's about that." Kate leans forward and drops her voice down to a whisper that only the both of them can hear. "Can you not use it on me? It's kind of rude to mind whammy somebody without permission."

He already did it once, probably twice so far. Kate knows he probably can't help what's in his nature, but she wants some control over what gets out and what doesn't.

Charles has never had a problem with claiming his status as a mutant, but with some of the current anti-human feelings going around it didn't hurt to be careful. He leans forward as well, doing his best to not look conspicuous. "I apologize. I was trying not to when we first spoke because I know how intrusive it can be. I promise that unless you ask or the situation is dire, I won't use it."

"As long as we are on the subject, was there anything else you wanted to ask of me?"

This girl knows she has the privilege that not being a mutant affords her, but that doesn't mean she's not concerned about the current tension going around about those who are less than human. Kate's not about to out anybody regardless of whether they're comfortable with their status or not. Everybody has their secrets and for some, that's theirs.

"How old are you?" Come on. She really needs to know. If he read her mind, he would have known that was coming.

Charles isn't one who usually avoids the fact that he is a mutant, in fact, there have been a few conversations where he mentioned as much and probably should have been more careful. He appreciates Kate's sound thinking and will probably thank her for it later vocally rather than telepathically when it's not such a red flag.

He smiles, what a question. "I'm thirty years old, recently graduated from Oxford with a PhD in genetics." He takes a sip of his tea. "What were you expecting?"

"I don't know." No, she really doesn't. Kate sees he's not that much younger than the Charles back home, give or take thirty or so much years. Never getting used to these younger and older versions of everybody, by the way. It'll always be more annoying and confusing than it needs to be.

"I guess I was expecting if that tea offer was still on the table," she laughs, hanging her head but taking a moment to push back the dark hair that falls into her face.

He isn't going to ask how old Kate is in return. Even at a young age, that is still impolite and would only result in Charles looking much creepier than he intends.

"Of course it is," he says, pulling out his wallet. "What would you like? I think I've also decided to indulge in a pastry if you wish to join me."

If he did ask, she'd tell him, no problem. Kate'll be nineteen soon, three years past when she started this superheroing business on the regular. Time flies when you're saving the day and getting sucked into alternate dimensions.

"If they have chai, I'll take that. Surprise me with whatever you think is best." But let it at least have chocolate.

"I think I remember seeing chai on the menu. I'll be right back."

He returns with a cup and saucer carefully balanced in one hand with a bag containing two pastries slung around his wrist. It's pretty obvious that he's done this a time or two and sets down the drink first in front of Kate. Then he sits and withdraws the contents of the bag, setting each item on a napkin. A chocolate muffin for Kate and a blueberry scone for himself.

"Is it safe in assuming Miss Bishop has a bit of a sweet tooth?"

In the meantime, Kate finds a random magazine lying around to keep her busy as he goes off to put in their order. It's just a regular fashion mag, showing the latest and rather unique trends of Baedal. And here Kate though her world had weird outfits.

Marking an interesting page by tucking the corner in, Kate slides the text aside and grins up at Charles. Ooh, chocolate. Her favorite. "Well, living on fried Oreos for 5 days out of week will do that to you. Sure beats ramen and water."

He probably poked at her mind again, but she doesn't mind this time. Kate implied her permission purposely.

Charles doesn't quite manage to hide his shock at Kate's revelation of her diet. That just sounds... repetitive. And who thinks to fry an Oreo? He would offer to help her learn to cook, but he doesn't know either.

"I'm afraid I don't have any cooking expertise, but I do know of some nice restaurants if you'd like to do a sampling crawl sometime." Does that sort of thing even exist? It does now.

Repetitive because they were a bunch of teenagers with no parents and even less income. Their daily diets consisted of said Oreos, fast food, and dry cereal. Add that with the fact that none of them could cook... you end up with a college type diet.

"Maybe." In her head, she's calculating how much this crawl will cost her. The library pays, but she's just barely making it. Not that Kate is dying for money (this is Kate; she will never salivate over money like that) but she has bills and responsibilities. Well, soon anyway, once she leaves Tosh's place. "If Claire can come along."

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on the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves

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