>>"Voda. I feel like zere is a water brand withs zat name, but... maybe not."

She chuckled "It sounds like vodka. But that's another kinda drink."

They kept trading words; it was not easy, but it was definitely fun. She had no idea how many of them she was going to remember. But it was a start. It meant they were actually making an effort.

>>"My brain is feeling a little full. Yours is a roast duck withs an orange vinegar sauce. Mine iz a peasant's meal, but it's nostalgic. It's beans and sausage... sometimes duck and carrots. Looks like maybe crouton too."

She inspected her own food; it looked very good. She inspected his, and dipped a spoon into it, stealing a taste. It was good. She took the piece of bread and bit into it, smiling.

"Dis is good food."

Jude was somewhere far away from the food though.

>>"Égoïste means selfish. I have been selfish about you, Svetty, and I'm afraid it cost me my family."

She looked at him, tilting her head. He looked almost vulnerable for a moment.

"What do you mean, selfish?"

"Of course it is good food. It's French." There was no small amount of pride in that statement.

"I mean zat I went out of my way to grow up. I left because I sought I could stop Sebastian better withs help. But also because I wanted to be a mutant." He moved the food around in his bowl. "And I wanted to be withs you. Zat couldn't happen if was still a kid."

Selfish, right?

>>"I mean zat I went out of my way to grow up. I left because I sought I could stop Sebastian better withs help. But also because I wanted to be a mutant. And I wanted to be withs you. Zat couldn't happen if was still a kid."

He was right about that. Even if she knew he was grown-up inside, she would have never considered... going out with a kid. That was just wrong on so many levels.

"Jude, what happened to Maya and Sebastian is not your fault" she said, trying to meet his eyes "We all knew you had to grow up... I mean, had to grow up again. Nobody would argue with dat."

She was definitely not. Arguing.

"Zey nevertold me not to grow up, but zey had strongly encouraged me to spend my life in chronological order and get all my experiences in current time. Like skipping grades would stunt my mental growths or somethsing." Of course, he had gotten his way with skipping grades. And now he was even more than just skipping grades. He was skipping years. The legal issues alone were a headache. Add on top of that a seemingly psychopathic unicorn adoptive father who was going to end the world and it was no wonder his brain felt full.

"Just if I hadn't... I would have missed out on zis stimulating conversation." He muddled out a smile for her. This was not proper romantic dinner time conversation so he decided to try not to feel guilty about it even if he considered the whole affair selfish. He might have made it through childhood a second time if he hadn't met Svetlana. He would have whined the whole time, but he probably could have done it.

"Sorry. Not ze best dinner conversation." Jude would have to return Svetty to Aurum's sometime soon. No point wasting their time on regrets.

"Do you have parents?" Stupid question. Everybody had parents. "I mean, what are zey like? Still in Russia?"

>>"Zey nevertold me not to grow up, but zey had strongly encouraged me to spend my life in chronological order and get all my experiences in current time. Like skipping grades would stunt my mental growths or somethsing."

That was something Sveta could not blame Maya and Sebastian for. They had a child to adopt, and they did their best to make him feel normal - because they had no way of making him grow up. He figured that out for himself. Still, if she had been raising someone like that, she would have said the same.

>>"Just if I hadn't... I would have missed out on zis stimulating conversation."

She smiled a bit too, happy that he finally looked up. There was nothing they could do about any of that now. Certainly neither of them wanted to go back to how things used to be.

>>"Sorry. Not ze best dinner conversation. Do you have parents? I mean, what are zey like? Still in Russia?"

Ouch. It was Sveta's turn to look away, and fold her hands neatly on the table. Well. She couldn't really blame Jude for changing the topic, he just happened to tack the wrong way.

"Um... I have my mother." she admitted after a pause. This was ridiculous, she was going to have babies with Jude, might as well tell him stuff about her past... some stuff. "She used to date guys when we were little... but none of them stuck around long. The last one... was quite nasty, so I took Bo, and ran away to Moskva. I haven't talked to my mother since then."

After pushing him out a window. But that was not really dinner conversation either.

Oh. Well that hadn't been the happy fuzzy up turn in the conversation he had hoped for. If she wanted to feel better about her parents, though, Jude had a whole other set to brag about still.

"I sink my bio-mom was a stalker if zat makes you feel any better. She wasn't from Saint Fargeau. Bio-dad was... or is, but he didn't want anysing to do withs her or me. She died when I was a baby so orphanage and adoption was the best I had hoped for as a kid before I saw ze future." How small minded he had been back then.

"What about Bo? You talk about her often. Is she still..." a safe topic to talk about? He didn't want to say that part out loud so he changed his angle of approach last minute. "in Russia? She still safe?" And did Svetty ever think about bringing her here? Not that either Svetlana or Jude were the best at supporting anyone else, but... if it was important to her Jude would try to help in any way she would let him.

>>"I sink my bio-mom was a stalker if zat makes you feel any better. She wasn't from Saint Fargeau. Bio-dad was... or is, but he didn't want anysing to do withs her or me. She died when I was a baby so orphanage and adoption was the best I had hoped for as a kid before I saw ze future."

Well, that was not entirely unexpected. Jude had been adopted by Maya and Sebastian; that meant a not-so-happy family background to begin with, Sveta just had not hear yet what it was. She wondered what it would have been like to grow up in an orphanage instead of with her mom and the various boyfriends. Or the matchmaker, eventually.
Jude changed the topic once again.

>>"What about Bo? You talk about her often. Is she still... in Russia? She still safe?"

Sveta nodded and smiled a bit. That was better.

"Yes, still there, still safe. After we ran away... well, we lived on the street for a while, and then dis rich woman picked us up, just for charity. Turned me into a proper lady." she chuckled "I was kind of a punk before." she tapped her eyebrow, grinning at him "Piercings and everything."

"Is Bo withs ze rich lady?" Hmm. Maybe the rich lady would front the money for a visit if Jude begged hard enough. A visit here or a visit there. This was worth looking into, though, how he would contact the rich lady without Svetty knowing was beyond his current capabilities. Even if he went psychic or stole her phone, he somehow doubted the woman in question was labeled "rich lady" in Svetty's phone.

Also... "Punk Svetlana? No way. I need picture proof." Hey, it was only fair since she had seen his low moments as a child. He needed blackmail for her too!

Somehow, his bowl was getting empty now that he had stopped simply moving the food around. "So zis rich lady, what's she like?" Anything like his personal savior, Ghost?

>>"Is Bo withs ze rich lady?"

Sveta nodded. Yes, Bo was still in Moskva with the matchmaker; she was too young to send after Sveta on her own, and she was safer there anyway. They talked on the phone every once in a while. Bo sounded happy, even though she missed her.

>>"Punk Svetlana? No way. I need picture proof."

Sveta grinned at him. "God I hope no one was taking pictures."

That would just be embarrassing.

>>"So zis rich lady, what's she like?"

She looked down at her plate.

"She is... very rich." she smiled a bit. Duh. "And very elegant. She knows all kinds of things, and she travels a lot. And knows a lot of people... we called her the Matchmaker. It was like her mutant name... but I am not sure she was a mutant. She picked us up, cleaned us up, and arranged for me to come here and get married to some rich American guy. Except, dat did not go well." she chuckled "But she was helping us a lot. And she is still looking after Bo."

"Wow you were lucky." From punk to marriage material? The Matchmaker had to have a way with people.

"Also, poor, poor rich guy." Jude grinned. Rich Guy: 0, Jude: 1 as far as he was concerned. They were eating richly enough now, even if this was a luxury he couldn't always provide for Svetlana.

"What happened withs him? Did you kill him and make it look like an accident?"

Svetty was not a killer or a punk as far as Jude was concerned.

>>"Wow you were lucky. Also, poor, poor rich guy."

Sveta chuckled at that. It was flattering that Jude would say that, even if that was clearly his purpose.

>>"What happened withs him? Did you kill him and make it look like an accident?"

She arched an eyebrow.

"That's not even funny, Jude." she said, wrinkling her nose, but she ended up smiling none the less.

"I didn't kill him... well, I almost killed him. Turned out he was a mutant, and not really rich at all. It was all a mix-up. And I couldn't really touch him, after I found out about my powers. And I couldn't even kiss him anyway. he had acid in his mouth."

That was usually a bad thing for kissing.

"So, we just... agreed it was not a good idea. Thats how I ended up in the Mansion. For a while."

It was a little funny. "No? Not even a little?" Psh. Not like she'd really killed anyone. Had she? Nah. She was just sensitive and kind. That was totally it.

Jude made a distinct "ooooh ouch" face when he heard about the acid. Also the not rich part. Jude would have dumped him too. "When did you find out about your powers?" Jude knew how he did both times. If he had to pick one, he was definitely liking this time around better.

It looked as if they were scraping down to the bottoms of their plates and bowls. The frenchman fished out his wallet and attempted to flag down their waiter. Not that sitting and talking in this environment wasn't nice but the were taking up a table in an already crowded room.

>>"When did you find out about your powers?"

She sighed, remembering the day she arrived, and all the stuff that happened after. It seemed like ages ago. Happened to someone else called Effie.

"After I came here. He took me to the Mansion... and I met this girl called Katrina, who makes illusions. I touched her, and... boom."

He could probably figure out the rest.

"It took me a lot of time to understand." she admitted with a small smile, and waited as he flagged down the waiter "What about you? Did you know what was going to happen? From seeing the future?..."

"I knew what happened last time." Paying with cash made things easy. Jude just slipped a little more than the total and said with the air of a rich man doing a poor man a favor that he needed no change. "And I did see options for how it could happen zis time. Two blondes diverged in a future vision... you know. Ze usual story." Not quite Robert Frost, but Jude was doing his best here.

"I only knew you, not zat othser woman. Sorry I sort of jumped you zat night." He had been a stupid kid with a stupid suit and a stupid hope that someday this lady would kiss him. Jude offered his arm to Svetlana after they'd both gotten up from their table.

"All I wanted was true love's kiss." He grinned. She was his prince who had awoken him from his mutant slumber.

>>"I knew what happened last time. And I did see options for how it could happen zis time. Two blondes diverged in a future vision... you know. Ze usual story."

Jude paid the waiter and they left the restaurant. Good food makes everything look brighter, Sveta noted as she walked, holding on to his arm. She thought about what he just said; she was still wraooing her head around the whole idea of seeing... versions of the future.

>>"I only knew you, not zat othser woman. Sorry I sort of jumped you zat night. All I wanted was true love's kiss."

She looked up at him, not really sure what she was supposed to say to that. True love? That was something big to say, right there. The fairy tale reference did not miss Sveta, but still...
She smiled a wicked little smile at Jude.

"So, you are saying de other blonde woman could have been your true love if you found her first?"

That was. Exactly the question men do not want to hear. Ever. Why? Because, gentlemen, there is no right answer...