Reading by the River ((open))

[Aqua]

"Only to demonstrate you're judging me by my appearance," Emily gave back. "Is this the effect you're aiming to achieve?" It occurred to her he could probably even know for sure she was a mutant - there had been visitors at Xavier's, there had been staff at the hospital in Washington, there had even been passers by near the Hellfire Club during her previous visit there. It was not impossible, after all.

[Odin]

"I don't judge on appearances," ::Odin replied. With hair colors frequently changing, her blue hair was evidence of nothing. And with his sensing capabilities, he never had to rely on sight.:: "There's too much history of that which leads to bigotry."

[Aqua]

"That's true," Emily agreed. "But then something made you think I was a mutant; I'm too curious not to ask what it was."

[Odin]

::She may have been curious, but she also hadn't technically asked. It afforded Odin freedom in his answer.:: "I know mutants."

[Aqua]

"Know mutants?" Emily asked. It was an interesting expression. Did he mean to say that mutants had a distinctive common feature about them that defined them? "Do you generalize them?"

[Odin]

"Generalize as in the racial studies x feature equals y race, no," ::Odin replied. Perish the thought. Mutants were a separate species, but they came from all background races, religions, ethnicities, and those were far more difficult to tell apart.:: "In that we all have a common feature, of course."

[Aqua]

"Okay, I admit I can't keep up with you there," Emily said, raising her hand for a second as if to ask him to slow down. "You said 'we'. Who we?"

[Odin]

"Mutants, of course," ::Odin replied with a small smile. He'd thought he'd mentioned it explicitely, but he was admittedly prone to getting ahead of himself.::

[Aqua]

"Ah," Emily said with a small nod and paused. The few pieces of the puzzle that the entire dialogue had been were beginning to click together. He was a mutant, and identified her as a mutant as well. The list of her conclusions came down to two. "So that means you either can tell who is a mutant and who isn't, or you've seen me at any all-mutant place." Such as the Hellfire Club, she added inwardly.

[Odin]

::Odin spent a fair amount of time at the Hellfire Club, but as far as he remembered, and his memory was quite clear on this and most other aspects of life, he'd never seen her before. Or sensed her X-factor. And there was no need to hide behind that, lest he sound like a stalker.:: "I've the ability to tell mutants apart from everyone else. It comes in handy for conversation."

[Aqua]

"You make it sound like you intentionally walk around and seek out mutants to strike conversations with them," Emily said. She knew she was deliberately oversimplifying it - in order to get a clearer picture of it, of course. "Is this what you were referring to as 'meeting new people'?"

[Odin]

::Odin couldn't help but quirk his eyebrow, not at the description, as that's essentially what he did on lazy days, but more at her delivery and tone, as though it were something to be avoided. Perhaps it was; mothers did warn their children about talking to strangers.

To her other question, he nodded. This was his hobby, that and reading, of course.:: "Essentially. We're new to one another, aren't we?"

[Aqua]

"Well, the factor of 'new' tends to wear off some minutes into a conversation," Emily said, "but yes, technically, we still are. So how does it look statistically?" she leaned onto the back of the bench, deciding the past few minutes had made her a bit tense and it seemed now quite safe to relax, at least in her posture. "How many new people do you manage to meet on an average good day?"

[Odin]

::Odin decided that he'd be able to like her despite the constant questions. They were intriguing, he'd give her credit for that, and this latest one gave him something to calculate for his own curiosity at a later time. For now, however, it was a simple answer.:: "One or two in this manner, now. Sometimes it's more, depending on circumstance."

[Aqua]

"That's a lot," Emily admitted, being sincerely impressed. "That's probably more than I meet in a month."