>>"Zat doesn't seem so bad. Nothsing really bad happened when I touched you. Try being invisible to the girl you love... and then invisible to everyone else."

Try killing a few hundred people with a light touch.
Nope. No sulking.

>>"I sink I'm stuck. Maybe I should just let her go. So what did you sink? How was my super romantic technique?"

"Well" Sveta considered it for a moment, with a very serious expression "Make sure you have the right girl, first." she said finally, with a grin "And you might want to practice the dip. You know, so you don't dtop her."

Of course, if it was the right girl she wouldn't be twisting and screaming. Hopefully.

"But it's not hopeless at all."

"Hey! You screamed! I wasn't expecting a woman who was screaming."

Still, she'd said he still had a shot, even if it was a faint hope. Though, if she had said he was hopeless then he could have asked for lessons or something... nah. That kind of crap only happened in movies.

"Besides, it's not like I can go around dipping strange women for practice." They might, after all, scream at him.

It was fun, to talk like this adult to adult. No hair ruffling, no comparing him to her little sibling.

>>"Hey! You screamed! I wasn't expecting a woman who was screaming."

"Of course I screamed, what did you expect?" she arched an eyebrow "A stranger grabs me in the park, I'm gonna scream and you are lucky, it could have been much worse."

She was just not in the right angle to kick him in the balls. Good for him.

>>"Besides, it's not like I can go around dipping strange women for practice."

"You could just... lose the dip and tell her what you feel." she suggested after thinking about it for a bit "The dip has a low chance of being awesome, and a lot of chance not to be right. In general."

Hmm. Loose the dip. Now he was actually getting relationship advice from the girl he wanted to use the relationship advice on. "Ditch ze dip. Right." Did she have any more hints?

"If you were to confess your love, how would you say it?" Now that was an absolutely juicy question. He sat up and dusted little grass flakes from his jacket. "I mean, if you were talking to a man you loved, really loved and not just a stranger."

Was that too obvious? Too forward? He had a hard time caring, he wanted to hear her say it... even if it was just for practice.

>>"If you were to confess your love, how would you say it? I mean, if you were talking to a man you loved, really loved and not just a stranger."

Sveta chuckled. Now there was a question. And she had no clue. she was starting to realize she was not in the position to be giving advice to anyone. All her relationships were disasters, she had evil exes on two continents, and the only real boyfriend she had since she foud out about her powers disappeared just like that. So. Nope, she had no clue.

"I love you" she grinned "That's how I would say it. I'm from Russia."

That was good enough.

"You know what, you could say it in French. Women love that."

June nodded once seriously and looked at the grass in front of him. He could keep pretending like this, he might get a date out of her or a kiss, but would it be real? He had to tell her now before the moment was gone!

Then he looked up and searched Svetlana's eyes. He wished that he was closer, that she would let him hold her as he said it, but he was a stranger. It was now or never.

"Je t'aime."

He put every moment he cherished into the phrase. Every smile. Every laugh. Every moment where they had touched and he had felt electricity running through his skin when she'd only felt familial obligation. He wanted her to see it in his face, to know him without him having to spell it out. He wanted her to take the heart he was offering...

He coughed and plucked a blade of grass from in front of him to disrupt the mood. He was a stranger. But he didn't have to be. If she got to know him as a grown up, maybe she really would tell him that one day for real.

"Zat is how ze French say it. Je t'aime. And withs flowers and wine and good food."

>>"Je t'aime."

Sveta's heart skipped a beat.
Wow.
The French really know something.

There is a commonly known rule that says when women meet a guy, it only takes 60 seconds for them to decide if he has any chance at all. The rest is just a game. Well, Sveta was past the first 60 seconds (32 of wich had been spent on screaming).
Hm.

>>"Zat is how ze French say it. Je t'aime. And withs flowers and wine and good food."

Whoever the girl was, he deserved better.

"Sounds good" she chuckled finally "Wine definitely helps. Do you dance too?"

"I don't know." He chuckled. When he was grown up before he had given all his effort toward advancing his career. He had dated, he had danced, but none of that was really his focus.

"I mean, I have before but I don't know how well. I'm not sure if anyone has told you zis, but dancing is like a man's worst fear."

He grinned at her. "And yet, we do it anyway." He grabbed the shirt over his heart in mock sorrow. "You ladies just don't understand the power you have over us guys."

>>"I don't know. I mean, I have before but I don't know how well. I'm not sure if anyone has told you zis, but dancing is like a man's worst fear. And yet, we do it anyway. You ladies just don't understand the power you have over us guys."

"See that's where you are wrong" Sveta shook her head with a wicked grin "We know our power exactly."

She certainly did. She had mutant powers, after all, and she was very much aware of them. She was also a professional (and, apparently, eternal) bride, so she pretty much knew how to handle men. In general.
This one was cute.

"It's not really about how well you dance. Making the effort matters." she added, looking down at the blue roses as she mused "Anyway. Um. What do you do? When you are not looking for... her?"

He blinked. Really, he'd been joking around, but she was admitting actual wicked intentions. "Ahhh!" He gestured with his hand to articulate his absolute a-ha moment. "Nobody haz admitted it to me before, but I knew it!" Women were evil down to core. He really had no choice at all but to love the evil out of this one. "I sink women-kind owes me."

What did women everywhere owe him? No idea, but this was how he remembered playing the game. It was all about leverage.

"I work at a Fortune Teller's shop. I'm not ze fortune teller." Not usually anyway. "I just help keep stuff stocked and clean." Kind of lame, actually. But he wasn't about to tell her that he was one of the people working to change a future that may or may not already be in motion.

"What do you do?"

>> "Ahhh! Nobody haz admitted it to me before, but I knew it! I sink women-kind owes me."

Sveta laughed. Oh well. Womenkind will make it up to him sooner or later, she was pretty sure of that. He was a nice guy, someone will probably realize that. In the future.

>>"I work at a Fortune Teller's shop. I'm not ze fortune teller. I just help keep stuff stocked and clean. What do you do?"

"Um... right now, nothing." she admitted "I teach Russian, occasionally. And I used to live at a clinic and help out there. As a receptionist. Not a doctor." she chuckled "People mostly babysit me to keep me away from evil mutants."

Briefly, he wondered if learning Russian would explode his brain. There was quite a bit rattling around in there as it was already. None of it very useful.

"It must suck to be treated like a kid all the time." Bitter? No, no. He wasn't bitter at all.

"You don't actually need a babysitter, do you?" He grinned a bit lopsidedly. He knew she didn't. "I mean you don't walk up to bad guys and ask them to take you home, do you?"

>>"It must suck to be treated like a kid all the time. You don't actually need a babysitter, do you? I mean you don't walk up to bad guys and ask them to take you home, do you?"

Sveta laughed again.

"No, I don't. And now I am better at defending myself too. Still... sometimes it is good to have people keeping an eye on me. You can never know. It's a strange country." she smirked.

It really was. Complete with mutants and romantic Frenchmen.

"So, did you just come to New York, or are you a native?"

The accent did not mean anything. Not in this city.

"I've been here maybe... a year and a half?" He shrugged. "They tell me zat my mother was an English woman and my fazer was french, but I never met any of zem. I'm one of zose people who don't really belong anywhere."

Hmm. If she asked his name, he figured he could always go with his middle name. That also wasn't a lie. Which reminded him... "You've been talking to a stranger for a while now. A stranger who made you scream." He raised his eyebrows. "I sink you might need a chaperone."

It didn't occur to him to ask her name. He already knew it.

>>"I've been here maybe... a year and a half? They tell me zat my mother was an English woman and my fazer was french, but I never met any of zem. I'm one of zose people who don't really belong anywhere."

Aww, poor, handsome lost puppy.

"It is the same for me" she nodded with a small smile "Came here two years ago. Never found my place though, not really.
Work in progress.

>>"You've been talking to a stranger for a while now. A stranger who made you scream. I sink you might need a chaperone."

Sveta laughed. He seemed to make her laugh a lot.

"And you have been talking to a stranger with dangerous mutant powers" she grinned "We are even. But maybe we should do something about it." extending a gloved hand, she looked at him "My name is Svetlana. Nice to meet you."