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"Hey." Walter looked up from alternately inhaling his food and carcinogenic smoke and smiled at Nadia. "How was your weekend?"

"Good." Nadia thought back over it. Actually, it was pretty good. "I went on a date, actually. Though nearly getting locked in the basement for eternity? Not as much fun. How about you? Did Victor get back okay?"

Yeah, she might be over-doing the "hi, I'm over you," but she's trying, dammit.

Walter raised his eyebrows at the nearly getting locked in the basement for eternity part and did his best to conceal his relief at the idea of Nadia going on a date.

"Victor got back last night. Something... strange-bad happened in his universe. I am not sure how he is with that, but I am glad he is home." Home. Funny thing to call this place.

"Did you go out with Boone?" he asked as he pulled a bag out of his bookbag.

Nadia shook her head. "Blair, actually." She frowned. "Apparently he's dating, like, everybody, if the radio is to be believed. But we did set up a second date." She shrugged. "I'm glad Victor's back, too. I hope what happened in his universe wasn't too bad." And yeah, talking about him coming from another universe? Is something that will take getting used to.

"I think it is bad. It was bad enough that they wanted him to stay for his safety. There used to be thousands maybe even millions of mutants in his world and now there are fewer than two hundred."

Nadia's jaw dropped. "Oh my god." Her mouth worked silently for several moments. "I . . . oh my god. How . . . ?" She shook her head. She was probably better off not knowing. She shivered. "That's horrible."

Walter sighed and looked at his food. "He doesn't want to talk too much about it, which I understand. I'm just glad he's here and safe." He picked at his food and stabbed a piece of salad.

"Subject change, before we're both glum all day." He pushed the bag from All and Sundries across the table to her. "Valentine's confetti, to add to the glitter."

Nadia did her best to shake off the ooky feeling of learning of such a large death toll and looked at the glitter. "Excellent. Have we set a time for the . . . art project yet?"

"Tomorrow morning. First thing. For that festive holiday feeling." Yes, it was incongruous to talk about juvenile school pranks after just discussing what amounted to virtual genocide, but Walter had a lot of practice in making that sort of disconnect.

Nadia was just glad to be thinking of something else. "Sounds good. And our third party, he'll be there as well?"

"He will be there if I have to twist his guitar playing arm behind his back." Walter smiled and lit another cigarette.

"Did you have a good time with Blair? He seems like he would be a fun date."

Nadia nodded. "Yeah. He was very sweet. I just hope I won't have to kill him for dating a whole bunch of different girls." She shrugged. "But we've only had one date, and I don't know when he set up the date with Jaye, and I think I heard she has a boyfriend, so I don't think I'll have to,"

Walter looked up at Nadia's threat and grinned. "He had better hope you do not decide you have to kill him. I do not even need to offer to help because I know you can do it yourself."

Nadia raised her eyebrow. "What, you don't think I'll need protection?" she said, in a sickeningly sweet voice. Then she smiled. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could take him. He'd be too busy bouncing cutely to fight back." And she in no way got a touch schmoopy when she described Blair's bounce. Not even a little. That expression was due to the thought of hurting people.

Okay, I give in. Nadia's a schmoop.

"I do not think he is the fighting sort anyway," Walter said, remembering snowman weekend. "And he is very bouncy."

Schmoopy's good. Schmoopy's very good.

Unless it's being used to describe Walter and Victor on the radio. Then? Not so good.

Pip saw the smoking section already being formed and wandered over after grabbing a tray. "Hi kids," he said, lighting a cigarette. "What's up?"

"Hey Pip," Nadia smiled. "Did you get your PS2 down to the shop for Hal?"

"Not yet. I'm hoping that Hal will be a one-system kind of guy and he'll find the xBox more appealing. I'll take it down for a visit after classes, I guess."

Nadia grimaced. "At least you're not the one who promised to visit him everyday. It'd be one thing if it were likely that I'd never go to the shop, but I have classes there twice a week."