Endless possibilities. That was definitely one way to view New York. Lee had done more, gotten more, while she was in the city than she had ever thought even possible for her before she had arrived here. Most of it had been good, Lee thought as she took a sip of coffee. They may not have ended well, but still good while they lasted.

”So what else do you think you'd want to try?” Lee asked before taking another sip of coffee. ”You don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course, but maybe I could help.”

What she'd want to try? Oh goodness, that was a loaded question. What all she did she want to try? There was so much things in this new world she found herself. She contemplated the question, biting her lip, "Um... I'm not sure. I mean, travel is a really great thing I want to do. California, Canada, Great Br-- er, the U.K. France, basically Europe. China. Hong Kong. All the places. And... Food places. I want to eat at all the places. I'm not even sure, there is so much." She sighed, thinking for another moment as she sighed, "Maybe we can go to restaurants together? It is weird going by myself..." She chuckled a little bit. 

Lee sipped her coffee as she listened to Gwendolyn talk about the various places she would like to visit. ”Travel can be nice,” Lee said with a slight nod. ”I seem to have bad luck with it, but there are a lot of beautiful places out there.”

And food, she wanted to try different foods. That kind of made sense when Lee thought about it, there likely hadn't been anywhere close to the diversity of food choices 150 years ago compared to what New York offered now. ”That would be nice, actually. I've never really had many friends here in the city, and to be honest I'm really not sure who might still be around. I know a great little Chinese place, and a Thai restaurant, if they're still open, that you've got to try.”

She nodded, “Right?” She smiled and finished her coffee, “I just wish it was not so darn expensive.” It wouldn’t cost nearly as much as in her time – or the time – but still was pretty expensive. 

She smiled. Did she just make a new friend? Yay!!! It would be so much better to go to places to eat with someone than by herself. It also helped that she was making friends in this whole new world – it made her even more excited to be in this. She clapped her hands together, “Oh my! I have been wanting to try both of those! I have only heard good things about both. Plus, this thing called… Sushi. Fish that aren’t cooked?”

The cost of travelling. Though she hasn't really had to worry about the price tag so much because how things had managed to work out, Lee knew that the cost could at times be prohibitive. ”I'm sure it won't be easy to save up to travel because of how expensive New York is, but I'm sure it's possible,” Lee said.

Gwendolyn seemed quite excited about the first couple fits suggestions that Lee made. But it wasn't all that surprising, those were good foods. ”Sushi? Hmm,” Lee said, tapping a finger on the side of her coffee cup. ”That we'll have to do a bit of searching for. Generally, you don't want to eat sushi that isn't made well, and I can't remember anywhere that we ever went back to a second time.”

She nodded, “Right? Maybe one day I will acquire one of those fancy jobs.” She sighed wishfully, thinking about the potential jobs that offer travel. She was content with her position in the Syndicate, but it would be nice to do more traveling – that she didn’t have to pay for.

She leaned forward, taking Lee’s advice very seriously, “That bad, huh?” That was a bit of a bummer, “Well, now one of my top goals has to be to find a good sushi place. At least we might be able to scratch some of the worse ones off from your experience?”

Her eyes widened for a moment, “I also hear Indian is quite popular now. Is this true?”

”One can only hope, but it's probably best to save anyway,”

Then Gwendolyn asked if the sushi places were that bad, and Lee shrugged.”Well, is either that, or we don't particularly like sushi so it never impressed us.” Did Lee realize that she was talking about her and Tarin collectively? No, she did not.

”I think almost all foods are fairly popular. But I think we'll have to save that one for when Kevin's with his dad. I don't think he'd be a fan of the spices.”

“So we've got Chinese, Thai, sushi, and Indian,” Lee summed up as she thought. ”We'll have to add pizza in there, and Italian, Kevin loves pasta. And definitely hunt for the best coffee. My favourite place must have changed their supplier in the last four years because it doesn't taste the same any more.”

Gwen smiled as she listened to Lee talk. She seemed so knowledgeable about the modern world! Granted, nearly everyone seemed so knowledgeable about the modern world… Also, everyone else lived in the modern world…. She sighed a little as she leaned back in her chair. “That is reasonable,” she concurred.

She grinned, “Well… That is good. I understand – a child most likely wouldn’t enjoy something spicy. I’m not even sure if I will, to be frank with you.” She thought of herself as an adventurous person, but this new time had been trying. She grinned and nodded. Italian was something she had definitely had in the past – not pizza, though. “That sounds like a wonderful plan!” 

She nodded her agreement, “Of course. I have not found a place that really matches what it was like in my time. I doubt I will, but I have not even come close to something that is really good.” 

Gwendolyn wasn't sure if she would even like Indian food. Lee couldn't help but laugh slightly. ”Isn't that why we're trying different foods?” Lee asked.

Doing her coffee, Lee nodded as Gwendolyn continued, saying that she had not found anything that even came close to the food from her home. From her time.

”Now that, I can't help you with,” Lee said, with another small laugh. ”I can't even make food taste like my mum made with her standing right there helping me. I'm a horrible cook.”

Gwendolyn nearly had a light bulb moment but she blushed a little and nodded, “Good point, good point.” She couldn’t help but concur with that. 

She grinned and nodded along with her, a small laughter coming out of her as well. “Do not worry. I think that is a curse we all have – I could never beat my mother’s ability to cook. Or my grandmother’s. Really, anyone in my family was tremendously better than I was.” She shook her head a little bit, thinking about her family. They were some interesting folks, that was for sure. 

“I’m sure you’re not bad at cooking, though. It always seem worse to our own tastes than to others.” 

It seemed that Gwendolyn had far more faith in Lee's ability to cook than she did herself. Probably because she had never seen Lee anywhere near a kitchen. ”No, I'm honestly terrible,” Lee responded, not upset in the least, the sound of laughter still in her voice. She knew it was true, there was no denying it. ”At one point, I swear I could burn water. When we actually cooked, all my…”

Lee paused, a small town crossing her face. She wasn't used to talking about her time with train like this. In fact, she never really talked about Tarin much anymore unless it was about him as Kevin's father. And, despite the fact that the divorce had been final for a couple years, Lee had almost called him her husband.

”My ex-husband rarely let me do more than drain the pasta,” Lee corrected herself, the laughter out of her voice suddenly. ”I was that bad, it risked ruining the meal if I did more.”

Gwen smiled and chuckled quietly as Lee explained how bad she was at cooking. She had said we before, but Gwen had presumed she meant her son – why, Gwen wasn’t entirely sure. But that is just what her mind went through. It quickly became clear that she was not meaning her son – she was meaning her ex-husband, apparently. 

The frown nearly broke Gwen’s heart. She gave her a sympathetic smile and reached over to pet her hand comfortingly. “Well, at least he cared about you eating some good, hearty meals and not burnt water.” She gave her another encouraging smile. Divorces were hard. Granted, the only ones she ever witnessed in her time was when cheating occurred.  “We can discuss something else, if you would like.” She offered it quickly, hoping to either change the conversation or at least let Lee know she was there for her. 

Lee looked down at Gwendolyn's hand, a little shocked, when she felt the contact. It's not that she had been avoiding contact with people, it was just that she really hadn't been close enough to anyone other than Kevin and Rachel in recent years to have casual contact like this. It was a tad surprising. Looking back up at Gwendolyn, Lee saw the smile on the other woman's face and attempted to return one of her own. Likely not too successfully.

Taking a deep breath, Lee closed her eyes for a moment before looking back at Gwendolyn. ”He did. I mean, we had take out more often than not, good home cooked meals were normally for special occasions.” More specifically, home cooked Mexican did had been for special occasions. After a brief pause, Lee continued, in a soft voice. ”But he did. He did care.”

But then Gwendolyn said that they could talk about something else, if she'd prefer, and Lee's smile grew gratefully. ”Thanks,” Lee said. And she did mean it. But at the same time, she also knew what lay ahead for her. ”But I'm going to have to get used to dealing with it more with coming back to the city. Didn't have to much for the last four years since we had been in different countries.”

Gwen didn’t keep her hand patting Lee’s long – she wouldn’t have either way, but the reaction from Lee showed the woman wasn’t prepared for it. The smile was sincere but… Easily forced. 

She nodded as she listened, “Take out or home cooked meals – both fill the stomach.” She gave her a soft smile as she said he cared. It was always sad to see people like this.

She nodded again, “He lives in the city, I’m presuming then?” She had no idea except that Lee was from Canada. Granted, she knew she had a kid and was a divorced – presumably single mom. It had to be hard, especially coming to a brand new country after a four year? Departure. In an attempt to change the subject from her husband, Gwen thought the next logical jump could be the time frame. “So, you were last here four years ago?”  

Gwendolyn removed her hand fairly quickly, and Lee was both relieved and slightly saddened by that. Saddened because such a simple gesture was once again so shocking to get that Lee had missed feeling most of the comfort it was supposed to give.

Lee nodded to Gwendolyn's question that Tarin was in the city, and again when she asked for clarification that she had last been in New York for years earlier. ”And that's where the problem came from,” Lee said after a couple moments.”Mutants in New York seem to be magnets for trouble, more so than anywhere else I've seen, and I just kept getting more scared and paranoid. Kevin was just so young, he couldn't run or protect himself. But he wouldn't leave the city. He would wait forever for me, but he wouldn't leave the city.”