He's already promised to get in the way of anything me and Magneto do. He's not putting grudges from our world aside, so there's no reason I should. We want to help people here, but Bobby'll always be too blinded by the Professor to see that.

I want to remember who I am, and what I stand for. No matter how they've changed me here.

[The burgers come, and once again the tension is alleviated slightly. A chicken burger isn't the same, but he's still curious to see what she thinks. And there's the fries and ketchup, after all.]

Ketchup's the red bottle. Just pour some on the side and dip your fries in it.

[He doesn't know when he'll learn to take kindness from her. Their first relationship was one he was so used to - this is different, and unnerving.

So focus on the fries for now.]

Potatoes deep-fried in oil.

You'll be addicted to them in no time. [He finally breaks into another smile.] How about the Miami food?

Try the burger, then. Shouldn't be anything too sweet on there.

[He takes a big bite of his own burger, letting out a small sound of pleasure like he always does at that first taste. Honestly, why learn to cook when you can have something like this appear for you every day?]

[He grins, shaking his head quietly. Baby's first burger, even if it is chicken. The toppings, the bun, the sauce - it's still something to experience.

After a couple more bites of his burger, he settles into the fries, once again wondering what it must've been like to taste them for the first time.]

Now if you ever go to the States, you're good. Always got a safe order on almost any menu.

[He nods.] Even a lot of ethnic restaurants'll have one on the menu for people who're scared of stuff they've never tried before.

[As he did when he came with Bobby, he finds himself thinking about his dad's barbeques during the summers when he was holding onto a decent job. As much as he hates to admit it, that's where he first got his taste for burgers, especially the onions he has to have piled to the ceiling (god, his mom would complain about the smell on them afterward.)

He tries to smother it, but some of the emotion brought on by the memory shows through as irritation. He never thought about them when he had survival, school or mutant issues to distract him. His boredom is bringing on too much thinking.]

[That brings him out of it, and even though she couldn't possibly know, he still can't hold back a laugh.]

Kind of depends on the country. We've got a lot of 'em on Earth.

Oh shit, don't make me remember Geography. [He looks pained for a moment, before pulling out:] Two hundred?

[It's close enough.]

Yeah. You've got huge newer ones like the States and Canada, but places that were settled earlier have had more turf wars, so they've broken into smaller countries. It still changes all the time, though, 'cause humans have a hard enough time co-existing without us around.

How big's the planet, though? What's your population?

... no one counts? There's no census or anyth -

- oh, right, you guys barely even communicate with the outside world. Forget that.

[A flash of disgust as he remembers those humans being torn apart in such grotesque and imaginative ways. They were just humans, but - eurgh.]