Have It Your Way

[Typhoid]

"I understand," she replied, nodding. She had to think back to their conversation at Hellfire before she could remember what he did. "How is the magazine?"

[Odin]

::That aspect of Odin's life was fortunately coming together. Eyes closed, he reached for his coffee cup; it was easier for him to keep them closed. Less pressure, and it kept the blurriness away; his eyesight was poor enough that open or closed made no different without his spectacles.:: "It's going well. Publication should happen this fall."

[Typhoid]

"I'll have to take a look at it." She took a drink before continuing. "I'll be in the city this fall."

[Odin]

::There were a dozen reasons for her to be, but even exhausted, Odin could make a fair guess as to the reason.:: When do classes start?"

[Typhoid]

Her brow furrowed briefly, then she rolled her eyes half to herself. Leaps in logic were apparently typical of Odin, but it still was rather creepy. "Next week."

[Odin]

::Not familiar with the class schedules of the dozens of academic institutions around them, that told Odin nothing about where. Preferring to ask clarification than to make a wrong assumption, he sipped his coffee before asking,:: "Where?"

[Typhoid]

"NYU,' she said, tempted to try verbal banter but then deciding not to. He looked the worse for wear as it was.

[Odin]

::Not surprising; she hadn't seemed the type for Columbia, and they looked down on schools like Xavier's for admission. Odin nodded, took another sip of his coffee, and set it down. Eyes still closed.:: "A good school. I hope you don't mind people using razor blades to slice out pages from library books."

[Typhoid]

Both eyebrows rose. "One, if anyone gets a razor blade anywhere near me for book cutting or otherwise, they are going to lose a hand, and two, why on earth would that be a problem in the first place?"

[Odin]

::It seemed like ages since Odin had graduated, although it hadn't been quite so long. But he knew academic competition, and at places like NYU, it took a twisted form. Eyes closed, he couldn't see her raised eyebrow. Even were they open, it would be blurred.:: "One, it wouldn't happen near you, and two, it's not enough to succeed on your own. You have to make sure everyone around you fails. NYU has a reputation more than most schools for that."

[Typhoid]

There had been a point in Typhoid's life where she would have taken that to mean it would be a good idea for her to lay low. At Xavier's, she'd done a lot of that. After Italy, though...now, she just no longer cared. "Buying my own books and going to another library covers that problem, and it's going to be obvious I'm a mutant, and for humans a rather scary one at that. People who try to "make me fail" are going to discover a whole new meaning to the term."

[Odin]

"It's nothing to do with being a mutant, and everything to do with hypercompetitive type-A personalities jammed into one place," ::Odin replied. Forensics there had been a nightmare. The coffee was doing nothing for him, and so he placed the cup down on the table and opened his eyes so he could see six inches in front of him. He picked up his chicken sandwich to take an unenthusiastic bite.::

[Typhoid]

She chuckled a little at that. "Then they're going to be very disappointed. I'm not particularly competitive, not like that." Musicians of any type tended to have egos, but she didn't have any intention of giving that any sort of weight while she was simply getting a degree. Good grades would suffice for now. She'd worry about ego when she was trying to get a job.

[Odin]

::Were Odin in any sort of reactive mood, he would give a bit of a smile and his words would have more enthusiasm. It was the only way to beat these people, by not playing the game.:: "That's the best strategy there is."

[Typhoid]

"Glad to have your approval," she said with a touch of humor before beginning to eat again.