Penthouse, money, and staff, oh my...[Alex]

[Svetlana Ustinov]

(this thread takes place in late spring, about two months before the present time)

~~~

If there was one thing about being banished to Los Angeles that was positive, it was the sun. Nearly every day was wonderfully bright and warm. Though cool days weren't unheard of, they were a far cry from the harsh winters she'd known in Saint Petersburg.

With a faint sigh, Lana glanced up into the few bleachers arranged near the practice tennis courts. Catching sight of Alex there made her expression brighten as a smile curled her lips. The flecks of gold in her chestnut irises flickered with energy until her coach's voice rang out. "Let's go, Ustinov...I'm not going to wait all damn day."

Gritting her teeth, the teen took a deep breath and turned back to the task at hand. Another long afternoon practice, grueling in the heat of the afternoon for most people. But not for someone like her, to whom the sun and the warmth was a necessity. Looking altogether too cool and collected, Lana stood at one end of the court and prepared to serve.

Bounce...

Bounce...

Toss...

THWACK.

She ignored the murmurs from the other girls and repeated the smooth, graceful motions.

Bounce...

Bounce...

Toss...

THWACK.

By the time the coach stopped her, she'd served almost fifteen times in a row, peppering the proper quadrant in a few different spots. When the coach simply waved her hand, Lana grinned triumphantly - silence meant approval, and it also meant that she was free to go for the day. Which was a good thing...because Alex was waiting for her.

Quickly putting her racket away alongside its spare twin, her racket bag went over her shoulder as she stepped outside the tall fence. Arms crossed over his chest, Alex's dark curls gleamed in the sunlight as he leaned against the wall.

"Alex...could you meet me out front in ten minutes? I need to go grab my things and freshen up. Then we can go and have dinner." she said softly, her accent rolling delicately through her words.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex had learned, now that he'd stayed after school a few times to wait for Lana to finish tennis practice, that you could only watch someone serve a tennis ball into an empty court so many times and really stay interested. The fact that the someone in question was a tall Russian blonde certainly improved that figure. But after his second time Alex had delicately asked if it would be all right to bring some reading material. Svetlana had laughed and said, "Of course, you silly boy" in that wonderful Baltic accent of hers.

Consequently, he'd spent the last two and a half hours with his attention alternating between the statuesque beauty running drills on the court and the collected essays on genetic sociology by Pascal Durant, looking up every now and then to shout encouragement. Now, this was extracurricular activity!

As Lana finished up, Alex snapped the plain blue hardcover shut and slid it back into the front pocket of his backpack. "Yeah, sure!" he said. "See you in a bit. You looked great out there. Lightspeed, even."

That was worth it just to see that smile again.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Yeah, sure!" he said. "See you in a bit. You looked great out there. Lightspeed, even."

Her cheeks warmed at his words even as she smiled, dipping her head after a lingering glance suddenly made it a bit hard to think. For several delightfully distracted and silent moments, they walked side by side to the doors of the athletics wing. Lana slipped inside while Alex continued on towards the front of the school building.

Slightly less than true to her word, it took her fifteen minutes to freshen up and change out of her practice outfit. Clad in a short denim skirt and a shell-pink tank-top, she leaned down to clasp the straps of her sandals around her ankles when she heard voices echoing from the entrance to the locker room.

"Did you see who was watching practice again?"

"Of course...can't miss the presence of a mutant. What I don't get is why she hangs out with him. Its not like she doesn't know what he is."

'You don't think she's one of -them- do you?"

"Nah, she can't be. They'd never let her play on the team if she was. And you know how strict the coach is."

Blinking, Lana froze and remained where she was until the voices faded away again. It took several tries to get the straps just so around her ankle with her fingers shaking. Incidents like these made her wish she were back home. Things like this never happened there. Her friends were safe, her home was safe, even her school was a tiny safe haven.

L.A. was nothing like home, and it was apparently best that Lana never forget that. She gathered her things and tried her best not to think about what she'd lose if they all found out just how different she really was.

She shook her head and tried to put the incident out of her mind as she slipped quietly out of the locker room. Nothing was going to ruin spending even more time with Alex, and the sight of him waiting there ade her stomach flutter a bit in response.

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting...are you ready to go?" Lana asked softly, absently brushing a stray curl from his cheek after setting her things down. As she spoke, a sleek silver BMW 7-Series with tinted windows slid smoothly through the parking lot towards them and eventually came to a stop at the curb just beyond them. Sergei emerged from the driver's seat as the lid of the trunk lifted.

Though if anything was going to capture Alex's attention, the safe bet would be the tall, imposing Russian man in an impeccably tailored grey suit.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex waited with his backpack slung over one shoulder, hands shoved into his jeans pockets. Lana had said it was just dinner at her place and there was no need to dress up, but he'd put on one of his nicer brown collared shirts over a plain white T-shirt and just left it unbuttoned to keep it casual. He smiled as he saw her walking his way, and he didn't pay any attention to the opulent luxury car gliding toward them. Probably just some rich bastard coming to pick up his pampered trust fund baby.

"Sure, which way to your... car..."

The car's driver, as polished and regimental as a Kalashnikov, approached and took Svetlana's racket bag with assiduous efficiency and turned expectantly toward Alex, who could only stare in open-mouthed shock.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Car? Oh, no...I'm afraid I do not have my license yet. Sergei should be...ahh. See? Wonderful timing."

Lana smiled softly and proffered her thanks in Russian as she turned back towards Alex. Her expression faltered for a brief moment before she managed to catch herself, and ignore the babbling of her inner voice.

She reached out and gently pushed his mouth closed, fingertips lingering there before being pulled reluctantly back. "Sergei, this is Alex. Alex, this is Sergei..."

With Alex's silence persisting, Sergei moved to open the door at her slight nod. "You can sit next to me if you like, or up front if you prefer. Its about ten minutes to my apartment." Lana said, her accent growing a bit more pronounced as she slid into the backseat of the car.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex didn't resist as Sergei took his backpack and loaded it into the trunk next to Lana's things. He looked over the whole scene again just to make sure his eyes weren't lying to him. This was not merely a nice car but a high-end luxury car, and not the kind that successful retirees leased with a fat nest egg so they could tour the country in relative comfort, but the kind that cost as much as a house and weighed almost as much, that were constructed as much for insulation as for transportation, that passed through the city streets sealed up like space capsules against a hostile atmosphere. It was an instrument of control, of segregation - even the price was a barrier to make sure the wrong people didn't get one. It wasn't just a symbol of wealth; it was a pocket of it that could carry and coddle you through the ugly outside world, windows darkened so you didn't even have to notice the unwashed masses as you passed them by. And Svetlana was sitting in it.

And staring at him from the backseat with a look of confusion rapidly approaching concern. "Uh, sure, I'll... I'll sit with you."

Alex reached to shut the door behind her - it closed with more of a breath than a bang - and made the ridiculously long journey around the trunk to the passenger-side door. Upon opening it and seeing the car's interior he couldn't shake the feeling that he was under-dressed, as if he'd wandered into an art gallery full of disapproving portraits. He stepped into a cabin that felt as spacious as a planet and sat down on a firm leather seat that somehow knew the precise curvature of his spine. But he might as well have been sitting on a cold bench made of steel wool and barbed wire.

He caught glimpse of Sergei's dark shades pointed his way in the rearview mirror and tried a wave that came off just as awkward and clumsy as he felt. And then Sergei rumbled, "Seatbelt, please."

"Oh - right. Sorry." Alex quickly pulled the shoulder belt home, and with scarcely a whisper from the engine, they were off.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

For several moments, she couldn't bring herself to look over at him. It was almost painful to have him so close and looking so lost all at the same time.

Apparently he hadn't put the rumors together with what she'd been saying.

Slender fingers flicked her Blackberry on, the light glittering off of its metallic mint green case. She scrolled through her schedule and her e-mail and then her schedule again before she'd worked up enough nerve to say something. "It was not my idea, just so you know. I wanted to have a license and drive myself, only my parents refused and... well, here I am. With Sergei." she said softly, meeting his gaze with eyes that had gone from gold-flecked chestnut to pale gold.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex had tried to stop noticing things about the car about the time he realized he had independent controls in the center console for the LCD screen built into the back of the seat in front of him. The BMW took away all the sensations he was used to from riding in a car, the noise, the bumps in the road, even the inertia in the corners. He was just sitting in a padded box.

He glanced over at the sound of Lana's voice and saw her eyes were like citrine jewels, which he learned was part of her mutation's stress response. He fumbled for something to say to reassure her. "Oh... yeah, well, I... don't have my license either. I usually either ride my bike or take the bus."

As opposed to riding in a climate-controlled luxury hotel room - yeah, way to diffuse the tension, genius.

Lana had told him of Sergei and Natasha before - he'd always assumed they were just the couple that was looking after her while she was living in the States. Lana had said their apartment was on the same floor as hers, which her family was paying for from St. Petersburg. He just had never imagined that Sergei could afford a car like this one, or that he'd deign to use it as a glorified taxi for a couple of teenagers. Alex shifted forward in his seat and spoke up - though he hardly needed to with the near-silent ride. "Anyway, thanks for picking us up, Sergei," he said in as natural a tone as he could manage.

"My pleasure," the man rumbled back. Alex was beginning to wonder if he ever spoke more than two words at a time.

Alex settled back in his seat and - to his surprise - actually began to kind of sort of think about relaxing. "Y'know, it's probably for the best," he said, matching Lana's softer tone. "I mean, with LA drivers and all. If you don't know the traffic patterns, half the time you're just stuck in one long parking lot."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"I do have to admit, these streets are very confusing...but still...I would have liked my own little car..." Lana said wistfully, sitting back in her seat and forcing herself to relax a bit. Her eyes were still jewel-bright however, as the effect took some time to reverse itself.

A few minutes later and the BMW had turned down one of LA's broad, palm tree lined streets, known for its expensive shops and tall, glittering hotels and office buildings. It soon slid smoothly out of traffic and into the large semi-circular drive of a tall, modern residential building. Smooth concrete and polished glass rose up to the sky in sections, punctuated by lushly planted balconies and common areas. Sergei brought the car to a stop in front of the large glass doors, the engine purring faintly.

"We are here...come...let's go inside." Lana began, reaching over to touch his hand as her door opened to Sergei with her messenger bag and Alex's backpack. She slipped out of the car and took her bag from Sergei, chatting for a moment in Russian rapid enough to make the man crack a smile.

[Alex Kaine]

The lobby was a cathedral of glass. Its facade was a curved wall of paned windows stories high, high enough that Alex's and Lana's footsteps echoed forever, and to either side of the polished granite floor were planters with whole palm trees bending toward the sunlight. As if one facade just wasn't enough, above them were several indoor balcony lounges, presumably for pretending you were outside without the trouble of actually being outside. The lobby desk sat underneath an alcove supported by marbled black pillars and illuminated by a chandelier that looked like someone's idea of a crystal rainstorm.

Lana talked freely as they entered - about school, about tennis practice, about getting tickets for the upcoming school play - Alex managed to nod and "Mm-hm" in all the right places, but he was so overwhelmed by his surroundings he scarcely registered what she was saying. As they passed near the front desk, the impeccably dressed woman behind it looked up with a brilliant smile and said, "Good afternoon, Miss Ustinov!"

Lana led them to a bank of elevators - three of them with silver doors, one of them with gold. They went to the gold elevator, which required a key card, and it opened as soon as it read hers. They stepped into a mirrored box with thick carpet underfoot.

Alex glanced uncertainly at infinite hims receding in every direction. And then he realized Lana had just asked him a question, which he'd missed entirely. "Oh - sorry. What were you saying?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Dobryj den, Jennifer! Are there any packages or any mail for me?" Lana called back as she waved to the woman.

Jennifer bent her head to glance at the discreet terminal before her. She shook her head as she replied, "I'm sorry, nothing...are you expecting something we should be looking for?"

"No, nothing, thank you...I was just curious." She tried to mask her disappointment by searching for her keycard in her bag. Even as she did, she kept walking with Alex and chatting to cover. Until she felt she could look up again with alarming anyone with the color of her eyes.

Once in the elevator, she leaned back against the mirrored wall and looked up at Alex. "I asked if you brought everything you need for homework. I thought I might be able to help...if you wanted. Not that you need it, of course." she said softly, her accent a bit more pronounced. The elevator soon slid to a gentle stop, and opened into a glass-domed, plant filled atrium. To the right, a single dark wood door with a gold-embossed 2 on it. To the left, a large set of double doors (http://www.sothebysrealty.com/en/PropertyDetails.aspx?R=4100019518&N=12+149+4294937595+18+24&curr=USD&Nrs=collection()/record[P_USDPrice+%3E%3d+5000000]&No=19&PSeq=16) of the same dark wood, only with gold-embossed engravings in a nature motif.

"This is where Sergei and Natasha live..." she said as she knocked on on the smaller door before opening it. "...Natasha? Ya doma! Aleks so mnoĭ...uzhin na kuhne?"

She paused, briefly listening before closing the door. "She says that dinner is warm in the oven whenever we're ready, and we're to let her know if we want anything else." Lana smiled and swiped her keycard on the side of the double doors before pushing the right side open.

Dropping her bag on the tufted bench in the warm foyer beyond the doors, she leaned down to take off her sandals. "Please, come in. Make yourself comfortable..."

~~~

(using google translate for the Russian, so please forgive any errors)

[Alex Kaine]

Alex stepped into a world that didn't make sense. Under his feet was a rug so soft he stumbled on it, thinking for a moment he must have stepped on a cat, and it was laid across a marble floor even finer than the granite in the lobby. The bench on which Svetlana had so carelessly tossed her messenger bag reminded him most of the thickly padded seats he'd seen behind the pulpit when he'd gone to church with Anna that time and which he had imagined got you a bolt of lightning if you sat in them without first becoming a priest. All around the ceiling, which was at least ten feet high just because it could be, was a dark mahogany crown molding whose only functional purpose could be to gather dust and cobwebs and so demonstrate by its pristine glow that someone had to be paid to clean it. Even the globes in the light fixtures were treated with a subtle golden tinge that gilded everything, just in case you hadn't quite gotten the point yet.

And this was the foyer. The foyer at Redencion House had a closet that collected old, muddy shoes. Alex looked with trepidation into the cavernous room beyond with the skylights and oversized furniture which probably had a fancy name in Latin.

"You... you live here?" he asked.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Her mouth hung open as Alex spun slowly in place, drinking in the details of the foyer. The tone of his voice struck a chord, stalling the words in her throat as her fingers nervously toyed with the end of her ponytail.

Lana did not like the way Alex sounded, nor did she like the cold lump of fear that settled into the pit of her stomach.

"I do. I..my...ahh....my fatherr chose eet. Said eet was for the whole family. Said I vouldn't be alone forr long...zat they vould soon follow. But that zas almost a yearr ago. For now, its just me and...and Lily. And she does not take up much space..." Lana managed past the lump that had risen to her throat and made her accent atrocious.

Thankfully, with a finely tuned sense of hearing and an equally fine sense of timing, Lily (http://cdn-www.dailypuppy.com/media/dogs/anonymous/22650/20090423276084_DSC03341.JPG_w450.jpg) slid around the corner, barking a greeting. Eventually she found some measure of traction and darted over to Lana's feet, wagging her tail so enthusiastically that her entire rear end shook and nearly knocked her off balance.

Scooping the puppy up in her arms, Lana sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. There was definitely something to be said for puppy therapy - what better way to be greeted at the door?

[Alex Kaine]

"Well, it's just really... I mean, I didn't picture it being so..."

Alex's fumbling attempts were mercifully cut short by a fluffy, white torpedo which Lana had just scooped up from the floor and which was now vigorously trying to clean her face with its small, pink tongue.

"Lily?" Alex said, and he carefully reached his hand toward the little dog. Lily twisted in Lana's arms to sniff the stranger, licked the back of his hand once, and then returned her attentions to more familiar territory. Alex suddenly felt a little third wheel.

"It's quite a place," he said at last. "It's just... you know, a lot bigger than I expected."

Liar. It's nothing at all like you expected.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"I know...it is rather large, I suppose. Smaller than our house in Saint Petersburg, though. But that's a family home that's been with us forr...ahh...several generations."

From back when we still bore a name that was synonymous with murder and revolution...but that's probably not a topic for today. Or ever. There could be several of them here in LA for all that I know.

She eventually smiled and sighed softly, with Lily wriggling in her arms. She set the puppy down and watched her wander over to sniff at Alex again as Lana walked down the hall towards the kitchen. "I'm going to get some soda...would you like something to drink, Alex?"

[Alex Kaine]

"Um... sure, whatever you have." Alex stepped carefully toward the (his best guess) living room, even more carefully when Lily started sniffing his shoes with an uncommon focus. What was the etiquette here - did he take his shoes off here, or were socks a faux pas? He decided to kick them off and set them under the chaise by Lana's sandals. Lily bounced along beside him as he entered the next room.

The whole apartment was open and full of light - picture windows ran the whole length of one wall, opening onto a spacious rooftop balcony that overlooked the San Fernando Valley. The furnishings were bright and brilliant - white, crimson, gold, with strategic accents of dark wood and tile. The walls were rich with artwork, most of it abstract shapes or color-shifted still lifes, but on the mantle over a huge hearth was a portrait of a smiling middle-aged couple with silvery-blond hair and, on the other side, a smaller portrait of a smiling blond boy a few years younger than Lana.

Alex turned around to look the way Lana had disappeared, and he saw two stone stairs leading up to a dining room with a table that could have sat all the residents of Redencion and then some, with high-backed chairs and more picture windows. He noticed that the two places across one of the corners were already set for service with crystal and bone china. Everywhere he looked, he saw reckless expense, the kind of lifestyle that took the production of entire civilizations to maintain, that stretched the range of human experience so far it might as well have been a different species -

There was sudden snap of electrical discharge around his ankles, and Lily yelped and skittered away, looking stung. "Aw, crap - sorry!" Alex whispered, but the little dog was already retreating for the kitchen.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

An indignant squeak passed her lips as Lily barreled into the kitchen and then right into her feet. The puppy whined until she put the glasses of orange soda down to pick her up, her furry head butting up under Lana's chin.

Murmuring softly in Russian, she cradled the pup and stroked her soft fur, watching as the strands clung to her fingers briefly. "Were you trying to make Alex trip like you do to me every morning, little one? Is that what happened? Or were you trying to play with his shoelaces? I've warned you about that..."

Lana kissed the top of the puppy's head and set her down, picking up the glasses and padding off in search of her guest, the pup at her heels. "I hope orange is...okay...oh, and I asked Natacha not to do that..." she wrinkled her nose at the sight of the formal place settings in the dining room.

"Unless you really want to, we are not eating there. The balcony is much more comfortable, and the dining room reminds me too much of the stuffy dinner parties my parents always had back home...are you alright?" She asked, handing him a glass and moving to open one of the sets of doors to the balcony. "You've been acting a little strange since Sergei picked us up..." she said in a rush, the words escaping before she could stop them.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex reached to take his glass of orange soda . Lily stayed behind her master and gave Alex a distrustful look.

"Well, um..." He idly drummed his fingers on the glass and watched the bubbles cascading to the surface. Was it his imagination, or was the glass even needlessly luxurious? It was heavier that he was used to and had an odd little twisting sculpt to it...

"I'm just a little overwhelmed. You know, when you said we were having dinner at your apartment, I was picturing... well... I wasn't picturing this."

He indicated the whole palatial premises with a sweep of his eyes.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Ohhh."

Lana blinked and sipped from her glass, wrinkling her nose as the carbonation tickled it. Glancing up, she tried to see what Alex was seeing...tried to understand what made him so uncomfortable.

"I suppose it seems a bit much, but you stop seeing 'it' when its all you have known your whole life. Besides...it is nothing but a pretty, gilded cage."

[Alex Kaine]

"Your... your whole life," Alex repeated, still looking over the place in a daze. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I can see that."

He took a sip of the soda. Funny, it was Orange Fanta - Anna stocked it every now and then, for parties and things like that. Jamie loved the stuff more than was healthy.

"I understand you miss your family, but I honestly have a hard time seeing this place as a cage. I mean, driving up here, I kinda thought Sergei was just your nice, rich neighbor but... that car is yours?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Maybe you don't see it as a cage, but it is to me. I haven't spoken to my mother in nearly a year, and my father has only taken my call once, and even then all he asked vas if I needed something and that I should just ask Sergei. The staff at the house in Saint Petersburg won't even let Piotr near the phone when I try calling, if they even pick up at all."

Lana's eyes had brightened from gold-flecked chestnut to pure gold, the light slowly flooding her entire eye from the iris outward. "I can't even fly home to see anyone...Sergei holds my passport and he's under orders not to give it to me. So you can assume and think vhatever you like, Aleksander. I thought you would understand how I felt, but because you see wealth and luxury you presume that feelings matter for nothing."

Lily yelped and backed away from Lana's legs as the warm glow slowly grew, emanating from her skin in visible waves that rippled with warmth. The pup whined and retreated behind Alex's legs, seemingly forgetting what had happened earlier.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex stood open-mouthed again. He'd only been trying to make sense of his padded surroundings - he'd never expected Lana to grow so defensive. But at least now he found himself in familiar territory: an argument.

"I never said that," he replied, justifiably (he thought) miffed. "Every mutant in this town knows what it's like to have problems with family. All I'm saying is, most of them have to get by with a lot less than this."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"But of course, my apologies, suffering is only the privilege of those with less wealth. Those born to money and luxury they do not and can not control are not permitted to feel or to hurt. We have money. That must make everything so much better. How stupid of me to misunderstand what you were saying." Lana snapped back, the heat in her voice echoing that which was radiating from her. Her accent was beyond her control and her powers were quickly approaching that point.

[Alex Kaine]

"It does make things better if you don't know where your next meal's coming from, or if you have to share a house with an abusive family member - hell, do you have any idea what Anna could do with the equivalent of one month's rent on this place?"

He paced - had to, or he was probably going to shock poor Lily again. "I'm not saying you don't feel pain, but you're seriously telling me you don't notice all this stuff anymore, all this wealth that's here for just one person, and you don't see a problem with that?"

In the kitchen, half a dozen appliances alarmed in complaint as their power was interrupted.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"No, I don't know what Anna could do with the money. I would more than happily give her that amount if you thought she'd accept it from me. But then again, you haven't even introduced me to anyone from the house yet, remember? We're always at the library, or in the park, or at the museum. Never the house." Lana replied, forcing her tone back down to a moderate level as she completely avoided the topic of an abusive family member. That was not something she was discussing today.

Or ever.

"How am I supposed to notice it when its the only kind of life I've ever known? But beyond that, why does it even matter? Why should the fact that my family has more money than is humanly necessary to live comfortably even matter? Why does it have any bearing at all on who I am? On who I choose to be?"

[Alex Kaine]

"Wait, hang on... you wanted to come see the house?"

Alex had stopped pacing, and Lana's more existential question was forgotten for the moment.

"Ever since you started school, you've been so worried about anyone finding out you're a mutant. I thought I'd have to persuade you to come."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Good god, Aleksanderr..." Lana sighed, exasperation heavy in her tone. Sometimes, Alex could be disturbingly obtuse about things...especially when it came to her.

"All you ever had to do was ask. I'm not afraid of being outed by simple association. We are seen together every day. I would have to lose all control and walk down the halls glowing for them to know. I could care less what the gossips say."

Arching a brow, she leaned back against the polished granite counter, raising her arms to cross over her chest.

[Alex Kaine]

Heat pounded behind Alex's face. He had to admit she had him there.

"Okay, you're right... I'm sorry, that was stupid of me." He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against the table, a mirror image of Lana's posture. "But you were so afraid when I spoke to you that first day. And I've seen you hurry through sunbeams or duck out of a room when your eyes start going gold. I played along, and I didn't ask questions, because usually mutants have a good reason to hide, but we don't all have the option. And now I see where you live and, well..."

He took a deep breath. He didn't want her to think this was all about money. "Your family already knows. You don't have any neighbors or landlords to make trouble. As far as hate crimes go, you're safer than Obama. So what are you afraid of? Is it really just tennis?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"It's not just tennis."

She conceded, the words coming out so soft that she wasn't entirely certain that they'd come out at all. Lana uttered a faint, pained sigh and closed her eyes tight. A moment later and the glow fell away from her skin in a shower of glitter that disappeared as it hit the floor. It left her hair and skin slightly dull looking as she shivered, hands rubbing her upper arms.

Eyes opened, blinking as she looked over at him briefly and then dropped her gaze to the floor. "My father is very strict...and...very...stern. He is not...he is not a very kind or gentle man. Except with Piotr. Piotr can light papa's face with a smile no matter what he does. He calls me his 'great disappointment'. He made certain before I left to remind me of it. And to tell me that I am not allowed to reveal myself as what I am. I am not to befriend any mutants and am not to become involved in anything he would disapprove of. Which is everything. I'm...I am not the daughter he would have chosen if he had a choice."

Meeting his eyes after several silent...moments or minutes, Lana wasn't sure...she shrugged. "Happier with that explanation?" the words came out slightly harsher than she'd intended, but she couldn't entirely help herself. It was a self-defense mechanism, and she'd revealed a great deal she hadn't intended to. She just couldn't stop the words once they started coming.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex let the silent seconds roll by. Up here, in this palace of glass and light, it really was silent - no buzzing from the lights, no gush of water through old pipes, no traffic, not even the sound of the wind that kited over the high-rises.

It wasn't long, but just long enough for her words to stop echoing and to settle into memory. And then Alex crossed toward her and gently ran his hand down the length of her arm. She didn't resist, so he pulled her closer into an embrace.

"I'm sorry," he said into her hair. "I know how it feels. I mean that. Andrea... she shared it with me."

That brought Lana's dark brown eyes up to his.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

See, now that was a brilliant plan, 'Lana...run off at the mouth and tell him too much. So typical...now look what you've done...he's all quiet. Probably trying to figure out a polite way to extract himself. Not that I can blame him...you did-

oh...

Her shivering stopped, an irridescent warmth trailing after his fingers as they traced the length of her arm. It was a peculiar, but welcome sensation that she nearly asked him to repeat until he pulled her in closer. She sighed faintly and settled against him, comfortable and warm and...safe, which was...nice.

Nice being relative to the way her usually sluggish heart skipped a beat in her chest, and brough a faint flush to her cheeks.

Her chestnut gaze met his and held it, letting the implication of what he'd just said sink in. If it meant...no, of course it meant what she thought it did. Uncertain if he'd wish to speak of it, she simply murmured 'I'm sorry as well' and rested her hands flat against his chest, one over his heart.

[Alex Kaine]

For a moment, Alex had found himself transported six years in the past to the back bedroom in a tiny house deep in the suburban outskirts of Los Angeles. Andrea had gone to bed early without touching her homework, without any dinner, huddled under her sheets in the April heat. She was hiding her tears, hiding the puckering bruises on her arms and shoulders so Alex wouldn't see them, wouldn't get angry, wouldn't get beaten, too.

"Alex... will you please tell Dad I'm sorry?"

"You're sorry? For what?"

"I... I don't know."

He took a deep, cleansing breath. He wasn't religious. But he had a deeply personal reason to believe in hell.

"You know what?" he said, opening his eyes again. "To hell with what your dad thinks. You're gonna love Anna. She's one of the most selfless people I've ever met. And Aimee, you've seen her, purple skin? And then Jim, well, he's a goofball, but talking to him's like taking a double espresso..."

He smiled, searching her face for one in return.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

She felt him take a deep breath before his eyes focused once more, her fingers still splayed out against his chest. Lana had no idea where he'd gone in that moment, but she wasn't going to ask...such things were better offered freely or not at all.

His candid descriptions and bright smile gently tugged one onto her own lips in response. "I'm excited to meet them. I do remember seeing you with Aimee in school...is she in...any of your classes? I think Jim might be...in one of mine. Your description of him...sounds just like...the..."

Her words trailed off as she blinked unfocused eyes at him as if she was having trouble seeing. Lana's fingers pressed a bit more snugly against his chest as she swayed, the color slowly fading from her skin and hair as if she were beginning to wilt. "Would you...help me out to the patio? I...expended alot more of my energy than...I thought I...did..."

[Alex Kaine]

At first Alex didn't notice he was supporting more of her weight, and then suddenly she wasn't leaning so much as nearly collapsing, and he realized how pale she had become, that the glow he was used to seeing in her skin was nearly gone.

"Oh! Oh, geeze, sorry..."

Alex held her under one elbow and around the waist, and when she still began to falter, he ducked so she could hook an arm around up over his shoulders. He carefully walked her around the end of the table and, at her direction, toward the windowed double doors that led out onto the rooftop patio, through a veranda under a shaded awning sheltering sculpted iron furniture, and into the direct sunlight. With great care, he eased her down onto a padded lounge in the sunlight sitting near a set of concrete steps that led down into a rooftop swimming pool. Lily, having trotted on behind them with mounting concern, jumped up at the edge of the lounge and poked at Lana experimentally with her nose.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked with urgency. "Do you need me to get you anything?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"No...its ok. I'll be fine in a few minutes." Lana said softly, gazing up at him before a wet nose poking at her foot stole her attention away. Lily barked at both of them before she made her way up to curl up in Lana's lap.

Shifting over on the generously sized lounge, she patted the seat beside her and smiled, her hair visibly brightening back to shimmering blonde. "You can sit with me or have the other lounge chair to yourself..." she added after a moment, her eyes telling him precisely which option he'd choose. Even Lily lifter her head and gazed at him expectantly.

Lana lost track of time as they sat together, his arm over her shoulder as she tucked herself into his side. The sky was beginning to darken with streaks of purple and orange as the sun set, which would have been wonderful to watch sitting right where she was. Only Sergei had other ideas.

She muttered under her breath in Russian as she heard the front door of the penthouse open and Sergei's booming voice announce his arrival with his express intent to serve dinner. "God forsaken eff-ess-bee and their need to shove a schedule at you..."

[Alex Kaine]

From how the evening had gone so far, Alex was half afraid dinner would be some outlandish five-course parade of folded things on tiny plates requiring half a dozen forks and a palette from Mars. It was a relief to find something as simple as a plate of beef and mushrooms in gravy served over pasta, with bowls of salad and warm, crusty bread on the side. Eventually their ostentatious surroundings and the tension from fifteen minutes ago all melted away, and they could just talk.

"So we get to the beach and we're laying out blankets and lawn chairs, you know, there's twelve of us, so it's a good-sized group. And then this really snotty little kid, maybe ten years old, comes up and starts yelling at Aimee, you know, stupid fifth-grade insults. We try to ignore him, but the parents are looking the other way, and he just gets worse and worse, Aimee's getting embarrassed, and even Anna's about to haul off on him. And then..."

Alex stabbed a few noodles on the end of his fork, laughing. "Then Jamie steps up to him. And she says, 'You're one to talk. You're so weird, all white and pink all over. How'd you get like that?' So the kid looks down at himself, and of course he's still normal, but then he looks up, and... I swear, I don't know how Jamie did this, but she turned everyone else on the beach a different color - red and lime green and orange and yellow... Nobody noticed but us and the kid. He takes one look around and start bawling. He runs to his mom, who's now aquamarine, and then he just keeps running. Anna tried to scold Jamie, but even she couldn't keep a straight face!"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Sergei or not, the time they spent simply being together seemed to have mended what the truth of her life almost put asunder. Wouldn't be the first time, Lana mused silently, that she'd lost a friend because of who or what she was. In Saint Petersburg, it happened most often because of her family name. That the Ustinovs were a branch of a far more famous and royal family was an open secret. The one everyone knew and never talked about.

But that was neither here not there.

She and Alex had settled into a comfortable dinner, ensconced under the arbor of the rooftop deck. Curling her legs beneath herself, she ate with good appetite as Natasha had prepared one of her favorites. Eyes brightening with interest, she leaned forward as he related the story. It was something she couldn't entirely relate to, as she'd been quite sheltered from such blatant hatred and misunderstanding.

But Jamie's solution...was ingenious.

Lana found it hard to swallow as laughter overtook her, making her shoulders shake. It took her several minutes to get a hold of herself, though she did manage a comment in the middle. "Chto eto skazochnoe! That is fabulous...and Jamie! So young...and with such amazing abilities. Just like my little brother. She and Piotr would likely get into heaps of trouble together if they ever meet."

She caught her breath finally and took a sip of her sparkling water, smiling at an old memory that wriggled its way across her mind. "I was eleven, and Piotr...was six. We were home alone with the nanny because mama and papa were still at work. Piotr had been seeing ghosts for several months at that point, and told me that he'd been learning to talk to them. One of them told him where the cook kept the sweets for my parent's dinner party that night...needless to day, we ate almost all of them and got into quite a bit of trouble over it."

[Alex Kaine]

"That's incredible," Alex said with a laugh. "Who knew ghosts had a sweet tooth?"

He took another bite heavy with gravy. "Seriously though, six? That's really amazing. I mean, even passive powers are rare that young. So have you always been a living solar cell?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Piotr was always special." Lana smiled, her features taking on a saddened cast for several moments. She dipped her head and concentrated on eating until she was certain her expression would be bright once more.

"As for me, no. I wasn't...that special. My mother knew early on that my powers, whatever they were would be like hers. Not getting enough sun when I was very little always made me sluggish and sick. And it would turn my hair and my skin brown, like I was wilting...you saw that earlier. When I was nine, we discovered I could see a much wider part of the light spectrum than normal humans. Trial and error showed us how much I could see. But it wasn't until I turned twelve that we discovered that any energy I could see could charge me and be expended as bolts."

Polishing off a considerable amount of food, she sat back with her water and tilted her head, gazing at him with a lopsided grin. "I'm basically a sentient plant. Even my blood is green...and its technically more sap than real blood."

[Alex Kaine]

"Seriously?"

Alex wasn't sure what the biological ramifications of something like that were. Did she have cell walls? Did her bones lose rigidity when she was dehydrated? And what did it mean in terms of reprodu--

He cleared his throat and glance down at the plate of stroganoff in front of her. "A carnivorous plant," he said with a grin. "Should I be worried?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Totally serious. I do have internal organs, they're just...different. My liver works like it should, for instance, so do my kidneys, they're just comprised of more plant-like cells."

Arching a brow as he took in the sight of her near empty dish, her grin grew to match his. Perhaps even going a bit wicked in the process.

"I don't know...how do you feel about venus flytraps?" she asked, gazing up at him through her lashes and failing miserably at keeping her grin in check.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex took a deep breath. "Let's see... lures its prey with brightly colored foliage and the promise of food..."

He rapped his fork against his plate meaningfully.

"I dunno, looks like you have me right where you want me."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

She set her glass down and folded her hands in her lap, eyes glittering softly through her long lashes. "Oh, I don't know about that...I had you where I wanted earlier. This isn't close enough..." Shifting, she glanced briefly over her shoulder towards the comfortable lounge chair they'd been curled up in before dinner.

Lana paused mentally, only afterwards considering how her words sounded, and wondering at how freely they'd come. Her cheeks warmed, a faint golden-green glow illuminating her features.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex's eyebrows started climbing - maybe a bit higher than he'd ever been aware they could go. This didn't sound at all like the retiring, terminally self-conscious girl he'd chased down in the hallway at school a couple months ago. He faltered for a clever reply, but it was hard to hear himself think over the pounding in his ears.

"Well... we could do something about that," he said, and he lifted himself out of his seat and offered a hand to Lana.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Not for the first time since she'd arrived in Los Angeles, Lana thanked her lucky stars that she'd met Alex on her first day at school.

Briefly averting her gaze, she took a deep breath and rose gracefully from her seat, sliding her hand into his. They walked side by side, quite close together. Almost as close as they had been earlier, standing together in the kitchen.

"Much better." she said softly, features still warm as they descended the few steps to the pool deck, towards the end of the patio where the view was the best.

[Alex Kaine]

"Yeah," Alex said, now feeling the slightest bit flustered, "yeah, it is."

It wasn't like the frantic, panicked journey down to the pool to get Lana into the sunlight - for one, instead of pallid, she was absolutely radiant, and her warmth pressed up against him was penetrating, enveloping. She was beautiful - how had he never noticed that before? Oh, no, he'd thought she was beautiful before, but he'd never noticed it like this. He'd never been this close to anyone before. And there, for a few breathless moments, the world faded away, and she was all that was left.

Until the world reasserted itself in the form of warm, fuzzy lump about shin height darting right in front of him. He stumbled to stop himself from kicking Lily into the pool, and the Samoyed puppy skittered out of the line of fire, but the tip of Alex's shoe had already planted itself on the corner of a tile, and he'd released Lana to try to brace himself as fell, except the only thing to fall on was the upward-rushing wall of sparkling blue water--

***

Money could not buy happiness. But it could buy a fifty-two-inch OLED HDTV fed by satellite with over a thousand channels into a custom media center with a 4-TB DVR, an eight-hundred-watt 7.1-channel digital receiver, and five high-fidelity tower speakers with a two-hundred-watt subwoofer. Granted, it took a lot of money, and so did having it delivered and installed in a high-rise apartment in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Los Angeles one floor below a penthouse owned by a wealthy Russian socialite. But once you had that, really, who needed happiness?

"Volquez is going to be looking for a sweet pitch to hit with the count in his favor, and here's the wind-up..." CRACK "It's a monster hit, lifted high into fair territory, and it's going, it's going, and that ball is gonna beee--"

The monstrous speakers gave an almighty thump, and the TV flashed a color OLEDs were never meant to know before the whole system went dark, followed by a string of desperate curses from the man on the couch. If money can't buy happiness, it should at least remember to spring for a surge protector.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Next time, Alexanderrr, just kick the puppy into the pool...she can swim just fine, trust me." Lana managed to say breathlessly, trying and failing at containing her laughter as he surface, spluttering.

The electricity arcing around him and streaking through the water faded as he glanced up at her, something about his look warming her clear through. She bit her lower lip and took a chance at sitting on the edge of the pool, long legs dangling in the water. A soft, pale green towel waited in her hands as she watched him eyes glittering brightly.

[Alex Kaine]

Minutes later, Alex was in the bathroom peeling off wet clothes that stuck to him like velcro. His brown shirt and T-shirt went over the edge of the bathtub with a wet smack, and he started on the waistline of his waterlogged jeans.

"It's actually not so bad," he yelled across the door. "I can just squeeze them out, run a hairdryer over them for a couple minutes, and they'll be fine."

Until now he hadn't considered that a bathroom could be a seat of luxury. But that's exactly what this was. It was larger than the bedroom he shared with Jim, for one thing, with a wall-to-wall mirror over the marble countertop with dual sinks, and the bathtub was a sea, with steps leading up to it like some kind of altar. It almost made the swimming pool redundant.

Alex pried down his jeans with a wet sort of sucking sound, and he grabbed the pant legs and twisted them as hard as he could over the bathtub, issuing a stream of chlorine-stinking water.

"Seriously, I'll be out in no time. Way before Sergei could get back here with a fresh change of clothes."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"You underestimate Sergei..." Lana said with amusement, leaning against the wall beside door of the bathroom. "...what would you prefer, though? I wouldn't want to send him for something you won't wear."

Armani would be nice...given how well tailored it is. Maybe Michael Kors? Oh who am I kidding...he'd look good in anything. She sighed softly and touched her warm cheeks with her fingertips, wondering at how sudden it seemed that her reaction to him had changed. Not that it was really that sudden...if she was going to be honest with herself, she'd had a crush on him since the afternoon he'd chased her down on the first day of school. It had just gone deeper than a crush without her realization.

Right. Clothes. He fell into the pool, Lana, get your mind on..err, off...back on topic, dammit. Her blush brightened and she thanked the gods that the door was still closed and that he'd be behind it for a while.

"Ohh...and he'll need to know which size to buy, too."

[Alex Kaine]

He had to sit down and stretch his socks inside-out to get them off. And then he was acutely aware that he was about to be completely naked with Lana just three inches of pinewood away. He turned and glanced at the pitiful pile of clothes with water pooling around them. Ten minutes with a hairdryer would probably make them wearable again, but could he stall Lana that long?

"You're not going to send him to some designer store, are you?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"I...was...going to suggest he go to Armani, but I'm guessing that its not really your style."

She replied, the smile curling her lips evident in her voice. She stretched where she stood and absently pulled the clasp out of her hair, letting it tumble loose around her shoulders and halfway down her back. Fingers toyed with the platinum locks as she tilted her head to look at the door.

"Seriously, Alexanderrr...it'll take too long to have your clothes washed and dried enough to wear. Just tell me what size, and I'll send Sergei to whichever store you'd prefer. Even if I think you'd look really, really good in Armani."

Oh hell that last part wasn't supposed to be out loud...

[Alex Kaine]

Armani? As in Armani suit?

"Does it really make a difference?" Alex asked before he could stop himself. "I mean... all I'd need is jeans and a T-shirt. That's, um. That's all we're talking about, right?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"No, it doesn't. And of course that's what we're talking about. I only suggested Armani because they make really...comfortable jeans. But like I also said, you tell me where to send him, and that's where he'll go."

Lana replied, leaning her head back against the wall and casting her eyes up towards the ceiling.

"Or, you can dig the hairdryer out from under the left-hand sink and stay in there for the next hour or two."

[Alex Kaine]

"I didn't even know they made jeans."

A part of him wanted to tell her to send Sergei to Goodwill - after all, that was where this pair had come from, fashionably pre-fatigued. But he hesitated, and he wasn't even sure why. Maybe he didn't want to sound like he was belittling an intended gift, or maybe, surrounded by all this luxury, he really was embarrassed.

"Look, I, uh... it doesn't matter. Jeans are jeans, right?"

Fearing he was about to get an extensive answer to a stupid question, he blurted out, "Okay, thirty-two by thirty-two for the pants and large for the shirt. Is that all you need?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"That's all...Sergei will be back in about fifteen minutes, so just sit tight. Did you find one of the robes in the linen closet?"

Lana asked, waving Sergei to the door as she picked up her Blackberry. He sighed with mock exasperation as he went, and she pressed call once she found the boutique in her contact list.

"Buona sera, Sonia. Sì, sì, sto bene .. e io adoro il vestito che hai ordinato per me, grazie. Ho un favore da chiedervi. Mando Sergei al negozio per prendere un paio di le cose. Avrò bisogno di un paio di jeans scuri, una delle magliette logo grigio, e un paio di calzini. Ohhh ... e una delle giacche nuova luce. destro, Sergei ha le dimensioni e si dispone la mia carta in file. Grazie ancora ... "

She laughed, pressing her fingers to her cheeks as she shook her head. "Il suo nome è Alex, e questo è tutto quello che stai ricevendo da me stasera. Buonanotte ..." Quickly ending the call, she grinned and then bit her bottom lip. She didn't want Alex to think he needed to change, because she adored him just the way he was. She just liked treating people to nice things whenever she could.

"Ok...that's settled. Dark wash jeans, grey tshirt, and a pair of socks. I might have also gotten you a jacket, but we'll see how it fits when it gets here." We'll see how good it looks, you* mean, when you pop the collar up and muss his hair just right...

[Alex Kaine]

Alex was used to bathrooms being noisy and full of echoes, but the whine of the hairdryer seemed to stop at the walls. Alex, clad awkwardly in a pale green robe that felt like a wearable cotton ball, waved the dryer back and forth over his boxers. It was tedious, but as long as he was going to be a captive audience, he figured he'd make use of the time.

"Okay, so," he said, "apparently it's a night for revelations, so let's just make it official. Q & A time. We'll take turns. If it's a question you don't want to answer, just say 'pass.' Sound good?"

He shut off the hairdryer, waited for her consent, and smoothed out a few wrinkles in his boxers. "Okay, first question. You've got this enormous mansion at the top of a tower and a butler who drives you anywhere you want. So what do you do in your free time? What do you do for fun?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Sounds perfect."

Lana smiled, curling her feet beneath herself as she perched on the padded bench opposite the door. Lily came trotting in, pawing and yipping at the bathroom door before eliciting a laugh as she tried and failed at jumping up onto the bench beside her. She picked the pup up and settled her into her lap.

"Free time? Fun? I don't know what you're talking about...I carry a perfect four-point-oh, thank you, and I play a hell of a game of tennis..." Lana laughed softly and leaned her head back against the wall. "Ok, ok...I'm kidding...I do have free time. I love shopping, as if that's a shock, and I listen to music...oh, and I've been looking into taking salsa dance lessons."

"Your turn..." she paused, staring at the door and pondering what to ask foor the next several moments. "...I'm curious...are you...seeing anyone right now?"

It was such an easier question to ask when there was a door in the way.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex suddenly found himself visualizing Lana in a vividly red dress, skirt whipping around her ankles as she spun circles around her partner, until he dipped her low, low, perilously low... Suddenly he started wondering who her partner was.

Lana's question startled him so much he had to remind himself she didn't have the ability to read minds. This was... forward.

"Uh... no, actually," he replied. "What about you? Anyone waiting for you back in St. Petersburg?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Her fingers didn't even bother rising to her cheeks, she could feel the warmth that had planted itself there and hadn't receded in the least. Maybe there's hope, she dared to think, blinking as her brain caught up to the fact that he'd continued.

"Me? No...no-one. Boys have always had a way of keeping their distance. Not...not sure why." Lana said quietly. She did have some suspicions, but nothing concrete or worth worrying about now. She wasn't in Saint Petersburg anymore. It didn't matter.

"Anyone catch your interest at school? There's lots of pretty girls around."

[Alex Kaine]

Alex laughed as he pulled his boxers back on. "There's lots of shallow, self-absorbed girls around, too. More interested in their place in a social hierarchy than meaningful human contact, especially with a mutant. Mundane in every sense in the word."

He paused, realizing he'd let his mouth run off without so much as a cursory inspection, and with Lana on the other side of the door, he had no idea how she'd taken it.

"There is this one girl," he said hesitantly, feeling his ears burning. "She's a good friend. I think maybe she could be more."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Zhat...sounds promissing..." Lana said, cursing how thick her accent sounded to her ears.

Gazing down at a sleeping Lily, she stroked the puppy's ears and wondered who he could possibly be talking about. Or, if it was even possible that he meant her...not for the first time that evening, she fervently wished she could read minds. Or at least, emotions.

That would make this so much...less? more?...something.

Lana glanced back up at the door, "You forrgot a question, Aleksanderrr..." she said softly, giving his name the proper Russian weight.

[Alex Kaine]

"Oh, right..." He hadn't been certain if the last two counted as part of the game. Alex leaned against a wall and tipped back his head in thought.

"What's the last book you read, by choice? Schoolwork doesn't count. Neither do, I dunno, tennis manuals."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"I have never in my life read a tennis manual." Lana giggled, toying with a lock of her hair as she considered the question. "Oh, I did read Queen of the Damned over spring break...I know the look you're probably giving me...I like Anne Rice."

She was saved from trying to come up with another question by Sergei's return. "Thank you, Sergei...I appreciate you going out to get this." Lana said, setting Lily down on the bench beside her and smoothing out her miniskirt as she shifted. Sergei handed the garment bag through the slightly opened door and then took his leave.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex took the garment bag with some apprehension - who put a T-shirt and jeans on a hanger? He unzipped the bag and had his answer once he saw the "EMPORIO ARMANI" tag under the collar of the T-shirt.

Crap, Jim was never going to let him live this down.

A few minutes later, Alex emerged from the bathroom, walking just a bit stiffly. It wasn't that anything was uncomfortable - really, there was no way you could mess up a T-shirt, and the jeans fit him like a glove. But that was the problem - jeans were supposed to fit you like jeans.

He stepped in front of Lana and eased his hands into his pockets. "Well, what do you think?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

She wasn't sure, at first, if he'd come out of the coccoon of the bathroom. There was something to be said, she knew, for the safety inherent in a closed and locked door.

Lana just knew he'd look good...no, not just good. He was perilously cute before, he'd likely be elevated rather close to hot if he came out in the Armani outfit. After the evening they'd shared and the things she'd come to realize, she was positive it wasn't just the outfit. He could come back out in his wet clothes and she wouldn't really care...he'd still make her heart skip a beat.

She'd absently glanced over her shoulder towards the clock on the hallway table as her mind wandered, when she heard the door open. Turning back quickly, she had to bite her bottom lip.

It wasn't just close to hot. He *was* hot. Why she hadn't seen it before was beyond her, and before she realized it, a whispered "Svyatoĭ ad..." had slipped past her lips.

Her cheeks brightened, and Lana hoped he hadn't heard it and wouldn't ask her to translate. Not that saying 'holy hell' was a bad thing...but the whispered rush it had emerged in would certainly offer additional meaning.

"You look good. Really, really good. Wish I could...replace your entire wardrobe with Armani...jeans.....ok, that last part really wasn't supposed to come out." She coughed delicately and found a fascinating spot on the floor to stare at, avoiding his gaze.

[Alex Kaine]

It was a good thing she was looking away - it meant she missed the look of uncertainty twisting up Alex's face. Sure, she'd just given him a gift, even if he was more than a little embarrassed by the expense. It was just that, well, she didn't seem to know why he was embarrassed, or why he would refuse an Armani makeover for any reason other than cost. And now it seemed the little matter of changing his clothes had changed the way she was looking at him.

"Sorry, I didn't know my wardrobe was that bad," he muttered.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

There were times when she could be particularly dense, but given that so much of her physiology was plant-based, it was understandable to a certain point. Understanding was very slowly beginning to dawn on her as her head snapped up, her gaze wounded as it met his.

"Really, Alex? You think so little of me? They're just clothes. The label, the cost, the store, none of it matters. The person wearing them is what matters. Why are you so bound and determined to think the worst of me just because I have money?"

Taking a step forward, she cupped his face in her hands and gave him a severe look, her words tumbling out quickly. On purpose, this time. "Aleksanderr, I like you for who and what you are. I like you alot. So much more than I should, but I can't help it. I also can't help who and what I am. This..." she cast her eyes upward, taking in the immediate area before gazing back at him. "...is part of me, it just is. You don't have to like it. Or me."

Dropping her hands to her sides, she stepped back and turned to walk down the hall towards the cozy library space. Slowly, just in case he had anything to say. When silence reigned, her shoulders slumped as she stopped and spoke. "Sergei will be back with your clothes in less than an hour. You can change and he can take you home or drop you off somewhere. Just let him know. I need to go and get my homework done."

[Alex Kaine]

Alex leaned against the door frame and watched as she disappeared down the hallway. What may have looked like passive indifference was anything but - his mind was spinning like a centrifuge, only the particles were arguments, and most of them were sinking listlessly to the bottom like so many impurities. It was much easier to decry the evils of wealth when you didn't have a face to attach to it.

He ventured into the library some moments later. Lana was seated with her feet tucked up underneath her and an open biology textbook on the table in front of her. Alex lightly cleared his throat.

"Okay, you had your speech... I'd like to have mine," he said softly. "It's not that you have money. It's what money does to people who have it. And to people who don't have it. It builds categories and expectations where there shouldn't be any. And that's hard to fight against. I mean, I've been fighting it all night. And I'd just gotten to the point where I could forget about it.

"But then, I walked out of the bathroom, and the only thing that had changed was the brand of clothes I was wearing. It wasn't even like I was wearing a fancy suit, it's just... jeans. But just for a moment you acted like I'd changed categories. I know you didn't mean to react the way you did, just like I didn't mean to snap at you. It was reflex. And I'm sorry.

"The fact is, all this money protects you from a lot of grief. But it also changes the way people relate to you. And eventually it changes the way you relate to other people, too. I don't want that to get in the way, because... because I do like you, Lana."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Silence lingered between them, punctuated by the breaths that she didn’t want to take. Lana simply didn’t know what to do – she was far further out of her usual element than she ever had been before. Boys back home in Saint Petersburg just weren’t this…complicated. Well, most of them weren’t at any rate. And certainly not the ones she’d ever dealt with.

But that was just it. She wasn’t home anymore, and wishing she could go back to Saint Petersburg and wanting everything to be just like it was in Saint Petersburg wasn’t going to happen. And Alex had a point. Several of them, in fact. Lana really had been sheltered from so much, both because of her money and her family’s status. Maybe she didn’t belong even trying to blend in…no, that was her own thought.

She was just tired of trying to be everything that everyone else wanted from her.

When she spoke, her voice emerged subdued and her gaze remained unfocused, aimed at some nebulous point across the room. “Armani was the first designer, back in the eighties, to hire an openly mutant model. Not only that, but she became the face of his brand for the next fifteen years, and one of his closest friends. That was my mother. To this day, he’s the only major designer who will hire mutants for work and openly chastise the rest of the fashion world for being backwards and passing them over. Not that this matters much, but as concerned as you are with mutant rights, I thought you might like to know that.”

Surprisingly steady fingers lifted a glass of water to her lips, which lingered before she set it down again and turned to look up at him. Arms wrapped around her knees as she shifted in her comfortable chair. “You did change categories, and it wasn’t just for a minute. It wasn’t the kind of category or social strata you think it was. You went from best friend to a whole lot more in a really short span of time. I didn’t know what to think. And I certainly didn’t know how to make sense of everything I was feeling. For whatever its worth, I’m sorry. I don’t know how else to be. I’ve tried really hard to understand and to fit in, but I’m just failing at every turn. I never wanted…this…to define me, but I know it does in some ways. I can’t help that. I’m trying to not let it get in the way, I swear I am.”

“But I can’t even think straight when you look at me. And nevermind what happens when you smile.”

She blinked and sighed as she rested her forehead on her knees. Her words didn’t even make sense to her ears, how could they possibly makes sense to his.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex could only stare and let the gravity of those last few sentences sink in. They'd left economics and sociology far behind, that was for sure. But when had he had a chance to get so far under her skin? And now she was hiding her face from him, and he didn't know what to do or think.

Get over there, he thought.

Okay, he thought back.

You haven't moved yet.

I'm working on it.

He crossed over the hardwood floor to the loveseat where she'd bundled herself up and very carefully lowered himself onto the cushion beside her. She didn't make a move, so he did. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her toward him.

"I don't want you to change who you are," he said. "You're... you're beautiful, and kind, intelligent, compassionate... that's the Lana I know. That's the Lana I care about."

He gently stroked her hair and leaned his face down toward hers. Before he knew it, their lips were perilously close.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

She hadn't realized that she was shivering until he sat beside her and stole an arm around her shoulders. His warmth eased her tension and elicited a faint sigh as he pulled her close. Fingers stole through her hair as she relaxed against him and stretched her legs out across his lap.

Lana found a tender, delicate smile had curled her lips even as she lifted a hand to rest it against his cheek. Light emanated faintly from her cheeks as she closed the perilous distance between their lips.

This time, there was no interruption. No opening door, no inconvenient, hurtling ball of fur.

To say it was electric would have been a bit of an understatement. While she was completely lost in the moment, there was just enough presence in her mind to realize that both of their powers were surging.

[Alex Kaine]

When they had first met, a spark of energy had passed from Lana to Alex. That had been when he'd known she was a mutant. He'd felt it a few times since then - a rich, smooth, warming sort of energy, like the sun on your face at the end of a clear spring day. Electricity wasn't like that - it was sharp, spiteful, irreverent, dispelling all its potential in one explosive burst like an arrow through flesh. It was why Alex was careful with his touch. Now it was sparking like loosened lightbulb, pulsing like his own pounding heartbeat. But Lana didn't seem to be complaining. And, for once, neither was he.