Tses watched the strangers first attempts to eat the hotdog. She almost felt a giggle unwillingly escape, but managed to resist the emotion, which was good because it would have have come out as a giggle short and completely ruined her tough kid image going right now. She finished her own hotdog rather quickly, and smirked as he kept cautiously eating his own. He was being so careful not to make a mess, and it looked a little silly.

"Yeah, you have to be careful with hot dog ones though. I usually make sure I get one that at least says it's beef. Otherwise, who knows what it's made out of." She shrugged, and broke open her chips, taking a sip of her soda before plopping one in her mouth. The salty taste flickered across her taste-buds, and the taste mixed with the sweeter soda. "Yeah, chili is pretty good. It's like, a sauce with beans and meat and other seasonings. It's thick though." She had to admit, she never had to describe food like this before, and it was particularly challenging.

"What type of food do you eat where you're from?" She raised an eyebrow at him as she put her wrapper from her hot dog in a nearby trash can.

Mariusz listened to what Tses was saying quietly without reply as he focused on finishing the hot dog without making a mess of his suit. The task would have been much easier if he had not had to worry about the mustard on the hot dog, something he should have considered before putting mustard on the hot dog in the first place. After what seemed like an eternity of nibbling carefully at the meal he finished it off and, even though it was poor manners, he licked his fingers because he had not thought to grab any napkins from the stand, registering that Tses was asking him a question about food in the Czech Republic.

"Ah, now that is a topic I can talk at great length about," he replied. "My mother was actually quite the chef. She and my father met at a diplomatic function of some sort that she happened to be catering," the feathered mutant continued, pausing for a moment to open the bag of chips and try one out. They were curiously salty, almost overly so to his way of thinking. He tried a sip of his drink and discovered that the Coca-cola was a good bit sweeter than what he was used to back home. No wonder America had an obesity problem.

"Of course, I am remembering that less is more. So, I shall say that our food quite a bit by the food of Germany and Poland, particularly in the region that I call home. We have sausage and kielbasa, sauerkraut and soups. We tend to eat quit a bit of pork, though of course that's not everything and several dishes call for mushrooms and we have many kinds of traditional pastries. Most of the soups have dumplings in them. I would, be quite willing to give a demonstration of traditional Czech food for you sometime, if you were wanting that," Mariusz concluded, deciding to finish the chips and soda anyway, even though they were not quite his thing. If nothing else he would burn off the calories, and then some, on the return flight to the Mansion. "So, where are we off to now?"

Tses was doing pretty good today. She even pretended to listen politely as the strange bird-person talked about their native food dishes, which, all things considering, was a really boring conversation. While he talked about pork and pastries and soups, she was smiling and nodding and inwardly thinking what have I got myself into. Then, when she was thinking she was finally done with this torture, he asked "where are we off to now"? She died a little on the inside. It felt like when Chrys cornered her in the mall and forced her to be a dress up doll. Now she had to be a tour guide. What had her life been reduced to.

"Where to? I have no idea. I didn't realize there was more to this trip than showing you the fattening street food that New York had. I can probably point out a touring agency or something if you really want to do the whole 'tourist' thing. Although, I've seen some of those tour guides, and they look like energetic marshmallows with giant hats and obnoxious personalities."[/color] She smirked slightly at the thought, and took a sip of her drink.

"I confess I am not really in the city today to necessarily be a tourist," Mariusz replied, crunching on the last of his chips before depositing the empty bag in a trash can and taking a sip of his drink. If Tses did not want to discuss his offer to show her some traditional Czech cooking then he would let the subject drop. "I have a bit of shopping to accomplish though, which is why I was down here around 5th Avenue in the first place. While money is an object for me, as it is for most everyone, it is somewhat less of an object than it might be fore others." He took a sip of his drink and turned his head in the direction of several of the shops they had come past on the way down to the food stand.

"I was also, as I mentioned, thinking of taking in a Broadway show this evening though I may have to save that for another time. I do not think I will be able to take my shopping with me to the theater and have no immediately available way of storing anything here in the city and it is a rather long flight back home," he continued, choosing to refrain from saying 'mansion' as he did not want to potentially cause offense by saying he lived in a very nice place. The fact that he did not own the mansion was, of course, beside the point.

"I certainly would not choose to dress this way for a day of sightseeing, but for a day of upscale shopping and a night out... well, I am afraid being impeccably dressed is almost a prerequisite for those kinds of activities when you look the way I do. People are much more apt to want a mutant to show, outwardly, that they belong in the areas of nicer and politer society," Mariusz began, winding up for a bit of a soliloquy having forgotten, for a moment Tses' previous lesson that 'less was more'. "But, such is my lot in life, I suppose. There are many worse things in this world than being a mutant, after all."

For a fleeting moment, Tses had to wonder at the strangeness of this whole situation. She was standing in the middle of New York city, with a feathered human in a suit, talking about shopping. It was a bit of a stretch, even for her. Said mutant was from another country, so she was introducing him to some new foods, which made it even that much more bizarre. She was starting to wonder at her sanity when she stepped back and looked at her life a little more closely. Things had certainly changed since her childhood days.

"Well, I don't know how much I can help you with the shopping thing. I don't think I've gone into a suit store before, or anyplace that would have anything that fancy. I tend to opt for a sort of punk style clothing myself, which probably isn't your cup of tea." She sipped her drink thoughtfully, and her face pulled to the side in a little frown.

"I hope your whole manners things works better fr you. I've never found people respected me more for being a mutant just for putting on a cute top and smiling pretty though." She muttered, and sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. She didn't seem to notice she had connected herself as a fellow mutant, but then again, she never seemed to care about those stereotypes anyway. If she was one, whatever. People could deal with it.

"Oh, now a woman's opinion is always a valuable thing when shopping," Mariusz answered in a serious tone. "After all, I would not really know the first thing about what colors I should get, given that I have so many of them myself. I also daresay I am a rather poor judge of colognes," he continued, fluffing the feathers on his wings a little bit as they continued walking down the street. "And that is why a woman's discernment in such matters is so very important."

"As for the manner," he continued, pausing to sip on his drink as well for a moment, "I find they have served me very well in the past. If you fail to give someone an opening to attack your person or character then most people, even if they hate you or what you are for their own selfish and shallow reasons, will leave you alone."

Mariusz did a bit of a double take when Tses connected herself with being a mutant. "Wait, did you just say you are a mutant like I am," he asked, stopping rather abruptly mid-stride and cocking his head to one side to look at the blonde woman a bit quizzically.

Colors... and colognes. Yeah, he definitely had the wrong girl to help him now. Tses sighed, and put her face in her hand. It was almost a face palm, but without the force. More of a face sigh. "I could try to help you, but honestly, I have no feminine skills in me. The most I can say about colors is don't put green with red unless you want to look like Christmas, and don't wear stripes with stripes. As far as colognes, I ... am not even sure I know what that is." She tilted her head to the side, and sipped her drink. The sound of slurping water around ice answered her action. She tried to imagine what it would be like trying to help this feathered creature pick out suits. Perhaps she should cut her losses now and just get out of here.

Then he seemed to take in her mutant comment, and it amused her enough to stay around. She almost laughed at his reaction, and she smirked over her cup. "Yeah, why's that such a surprise? Does my charming disposition not scream mutant?" She smirked, walking a half circle around him and then tossing her cup in a trash can. Then she shoved her hands back in her pockets. "The world is full of us. I think I run into more mutants than humans half the time" She shrugged. She always thought it was funny when people assumed she was human. If she were human, she would probably be very permanently jailed by now with no bail available. Being a mutant gave her the freedom to be a terror and get away with it.

"I suppose it is not that big of a surprise. Not all mutants are as outwardly different as I am," Mariusz allowed, regaining his composer and taking the last sip of his own drink before depositing the cup in the trash can where it joined Tses'. "Still, I would have imagined you would have mentioned that fact when we first, quite literally, bumped into one another." Considering his hands to be clean enough, he removed his gloves from the pocket of his jacket and pulled them back on. While he could do nothing to hide that he was a mutant the gloves at least might help give the appearance that the feathers were confined to his face and wings.

"As for cologne, it is really quite simple. Cologne is, essentially perfume for men. A woman's input is needed to know which scents work best of a man," he continued, shrugging his shoulders slightly. It made perfect sense in some ways, after all the whole point of cologne was to appeal to the opposite sex. Or the same sex, if that was your thing, which for Mariusz it most assuredly was not. "As the whole point of cologne is to appeal to the opposite gender surely you can see the import of a woman's opinion," he continued with a small smile.

"So, now that you have mentioned being a mutant will you tell me exactly what it is you can do," Mariusz asked, steering the conversation back towards mutants. "I am actually living in a place right now that is specifically for mutants. It is a school of sorts, and also a haven. I am sure there would be plenty of room for you there, if you were so inclined."

Tses shrugged her shoulders and kept walking with a fairly steady pace. "Well, it doesn't exactly come up in basic conversation. 'Hey, nice to meet you. Guess what, I'm a mutant too! Isn't that so cool!'" She did a mocking school girl voice then rolled her eyes. "Being a mutant is a double edged sword around here. I try to keep my head down and stay out of it for the most part."

She sighed as he talked about the Cologne and rubbed the back of her neck a little bit. "I guess I could try to help, but if you get dumped on your hot date because she thinks the smell isn't right, I'm not accountable."

They made it to another intersection, but this one still had cars traveling through it so the New York rhythm was slowed for a moment. There were few people around them, so at least their conversation wasn't being eavesdropped by everyone. "Eh, my powers aren't exactly the house friendly variety. I blow stuff up, basically. Kinda complicated. And I've heard of that mansion place before. Dropped a kid off there once, but it's not really the type of place for someone like me. I'm not well mannered enough." She laughed, and as if to prove it she was one of the first people to dart into the street before the light changed. She hoped onto the other side and the rest of the group was only a few seconds behind her. When he caught back up, she smirked; or rather, sneered. It was a mixture of the two.

"It's a pretty quaint little place, I'll give it that. But I've never been to a school, let alone lived in one, so it would drive me nuts." She put her hands behind her head, and glanced around for the store they were heading towards.

Mariusz nodded in response to what Tses was saying. "Yes, I can certainly see why you might hesitate to mention the fact that you are a mutant. The world is not always the most welcoming to those who are different, history certainly proves the truth of that statement. Still, I might have thought you would have at least mentioned it a bit sooner given that we both belong to the same group, in a manner of speaking. Still, it is hard to find fault with the display of caution as it has, no doubt, served you quite well in the past."

"As for the cologne, I never said anything at all about having a hot date did I," Mariusz asked in a bit of a playful tone. "That does not mean, of course, that it is imprudent to not be prepared for any eventuality. It is also wise be prepared for uninvited guests and surprise dinner functions. A side affect of growing up as I did," the Czech man admitted with a shrug while keeping up with the blonde woman.

He watched as she darted out into traffic a few seconds before the light changed. Tses might find such a thing interesting and invigorating, but Mariusz chose to wait for the light to completely change before heading across the street with the rest of the New Yorkers that were waiting at the street corner. "If your powers are potentially dangerous then you owe it to yourself and others to learn to harness them to the best of your abilities, for the protection of others as well as your own," the winged man said earnestly, convinced that the best place for Tses would be at the Mansion with others that were like her.

"The amount of formal education you have is irrelevant and the mansion is located on quite a large piece of property. It would be almost impossible to feel cooped up and stuck there, and even if you did there are plenty of avenues to take to get out for a bit," he continued, his wings fluttering just slightly, though he was careful to make sure he did not inadvertently knock anyone over.

"I am certain that you would find acceptance there. Surely you cannot enjoy always having to hide who and what you are, would you not prefer to be in a place where you can be yourself? I think you like to play at being the street smart, world wise, devil may care wonder woman... but there is more to you than that I think."

From the other side of the street, Tses watched her fellow mutant followed the crowd to the other side. He certainly had a level of caution, something she definitely lacked. But he made up for it with his talkative nature, and resumed his conversation as soon as he had caught up. She forced herself not to roll her eyes, and kept her manners fairly intact for the time being, and listened politely as he tried to convince her the merits of living at the mansion. He definitely tried painting a pretty picture: she could almost see the rolling grass lawn and the bright shimmering building in a fairytale like pallet of colors. But she also saw the giant gates, and the shadows tainting that vision.

"Doesn't matter how large the place is, a cage is still a cage." Tses muttered, and she sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. She sized him up once more, and her impression of him was of someone fairly naive, who believed too easily in promises of a better life and peaceful existence. Maybe it was just part of being a visible mutant. You had to hope, because otherwise you would be trapped by what your powers made you. "I just don't see how you can do it. Rules are like shackles; they just make you someone else's puppet. I make my own rules, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it. Being 'accepted' isn't such a big deal to me. I like being on my own."

She glanced around the city, and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. These streets were her drug; trickles of adrenaline that fueled a fire in her gut. Living in a giant house with a bunch of other mutants sounded like a nightmare. Her apartments was her sanctuary: her little piece of home. His last comment pricked at her a little bit: she could almost swear it was a dig at something, even masked in his mostly polite mannerisms. "More to me? Ha. There's more to everyone. Everyone has a hundred shades of black, white and gray. Just depends on what colors your able to see."[/color] She smirked, and her boots clicked on the sidewalk underfoot. Her feet were tingling a little bit with pain, and she was probably doing more walking than she should. But as annoying as her companion was, it was a little fun to see someone else's view of the world.

"Is a cage truly a cage if you can leave it any time you wish," Mariusz asked, arching an eyebrow at her. "After all a cage, by definition, is something that restricts freedom but if you always retain that ability to leave and go where you will when you will," he continued, following along with Tses and keeping an eye out for the right place. "And what causes you to say that 'rules are shackles'."

"Of course people are many shades of many colors, I myself am certainly more than one," he continued, coming to a stop before the doors that led into Giorgio Armani. "It is in discovering the colors of each of those individual mosaics is part of the fun of life," he continued, pulling open the door to the store so Tses could enter the store first. "I should be able find some of the things I am looking for in here."

Once they were inside the store they were quickly approached by a representative. "Is there something I can help..."

Mariusz raised a hand to cut the man off. "As you can see I am impeccably dressed. That means that I have money, despite the fact that I am a mutant. If you must know, I am the son of the Czech Ambassador. Surely, you are bright enough to figure out what that means," the winged and feathered man said a bit waspishly, waving a hand dismissively at the sales representative. "Now then, unless you would like to cause something of a scene I would suggest you scurry along to harass some other customer that you or your manager may find objectionable. We will browse and, should we require the assistance of the staff we will be sure to let you know." The man tried, and partially failed, to hide an expression of disgust and turned on his heel and left.

"Another little color of that personal mosaic is revealed," he asked, arching an eyebrow at Tses. "Now, I imagine what I am looking for is in that direction," he pointed to the left, "so, let us venture in this direction instead," he continued, leading her off to the right. "My presence makes them squirm a bit, and I find it somewhat offensive that they were so quick to want to find what I wanted and usher me out. So, shall we?" With that final remark he headed off in the opposite direction of the one that he had indicated, leading them away from the area of the store where the perfumes and colognes were quite deliberately.

Tses sighed, and put her hands behind her head once more as she considered his questions. While staying at someplace like the mansion was a choice, so technically she could leave whenever she wanted, in her mind, anytime she'd be there would just restrict her actions. "Rules are shackles because they restrict you. If I had to live by someone's rules, then I wouldn't be able to act like I normally do." It was hard to explain without outright saying she was a thief. Which she was, but she had learned it was a conversation best left for more similar company.

As they moved into the store, Tses glanced around at the rather classy clothing. It was definitely above her standards of dress, but it did seem to 'suit' talon. The smirked a little at the thought, and listened while he addressed the the employees. She had to admit, he wasn't a pushover at least, and that gave her a bit more respect for him. She smirked as he suggested dragging out the shopping trip to make the humans miserable. While she hated the idea of shopping, she would be willing to put up with it if it meant it would ruin someone else's day as well.

"See, you're not all manners and posh." She chuckled, and glanced back at the employees in the other room. She prowled down the line of perfumes and colognes, glancing at all the bottles and then letting out a small gasp at a few of the prices. "Holy... do people really pay this much for just something that smells nice?" She said, slightly astonished.

"See, you're not all manners and posh."

"Not always," the Czech mutant allowed with a slight shrug as they moved among the areas where clothing were, bypassing the shoes entirely. "The streets may be your environment, but this is mine and I will not tolerate being treated differently just because I look different. That is unacceptable. Now, if I were to be wandering around like a drunkard and making a scene then they would be quite right to hurry me away. Since, however, I am not I will browse at my leisure and my leisure might be just a bit longer now than it would have been otherwise," he finished, leaning over to look at a pair of suspenders.

"They do not seem to have these in my size," he said, laying them aside. "I need a new pair to replace the ones that were lost by British Airways. Most people do not realize that suspenders are a part of a tuxedo, at least in some cases. I need to be properly attired when called on to attend soiree's that my father occasionally hosts in his line of work." Having wandered most of the store he finally led Tses over in the direction of the colognes and perfumes.

"Holy... do people really pay this much for just something that smells nice?"

"Oh yes, and sometimes quite a bit more," Mariusz said a bit distractedly, looking through the shelves. "Of course, one of the nice things about being feathered is that a bottle of this will last me a year, or more. It permeates the feathers I spray it on and will last, in a lingering fashion, for three or four days. So, a bit pricey, but when looked at that way it is really only a few dollars a month. I do not bathe in cologne." He looked along the shelves and selected the sample bottle of Acqua Di Gio and spritzed a tiny amount onto one of his leather gloves then held out his hand for her. "What do you think of this one?"

Apparently, Tses knew little about men's clothing, because she had never seen a pair of suspenders, and certainly didn't know they were necessary for a tuxedo. At least she was familiar with that term though, which made her feel at least a little more cultured. Her momentarily victory vanished as he started talking about the British Airways and soiree's. She did a mental face palm and sighed. Oh well, she'd just work with what she knew.

"I don't think I've ever bought any form of perfume before. It was always so... feminine." She scoffed, and sniffled a couple of the bottles, making a face. She was a little fascinated by his explanation of the smells and feather saturation at first, but then she started to wonder if that had adverse side effects with body smells, and if he sweat since he was part bird, which was an entirely different mental side effect. She was relieved when the topic changed, and she sniffed the cologne he picked, shrugging.

"I guess it's ok. Not great, but not as bad as some of these other ones." She said, and glanced at the label of the bottle. As expected, it made no sense whatsoever to her.