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 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 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?"