June 16 - Moscow Nightlife

[Lora Zalesky]

Having spent some of the day resting from jettrainlag, Gideon and Lora had stuck around the house the whole afternoon, since none of the girls had any classes to go to today. After another dinner with the Zaleskys that evening, though, Lora made it clear to her parents that she was going out for a night on the town with Gideon. There were no arguments, even if there was a skeptical look or two shared.

So far, they had only hopped to a few regular (i.e. frquented by baseline human) bars, mostly because Lora had wanted Gideon to get a feel for what a broader section of the city was like at night. After a couple of hours and more than a couple of drinks between them, though, they both made their way back to Mutant Town. And the night was still young.

"So, now we go to the places that I really used to frequent."

[Gideon Rede]

"Oh?" Gideon asked walking next to Lora, "What kinds of places are those?"

[Lora Zalesky]

"The ones that cater more to us, of course. I will try to keep all of the catching with other people brief for tonight, though. I doubt hearing stories about so-and-so who is dating what's-her-face now would be very interesting for you."

[Gideon Rede]

"Probably not, but I can feign interest with the best of them," Gideon smiled. "

[Lora Zalesky]

She giggled a bit. "I do want you to meet Yulia, though. She has been my best friend here for years. She used to really keep up with Ryan's blog, though I do not know if he still updates it...hm. She will probably ask us both about him."

[Gideon Rede]

"I'll prepare an embarrassing story or two from when we were at the institute," Gideon smiled, "But outside of missions and our time at the institute she'll be on her own, eh."

[Lora Zalesky]

"Well, I doubt that Ryan would want you spilling too many of the beans, as the saying goes. Still, I guess no one ever went through high school without something embarrassing happening."

[Gideon Rede]

"Going to the institute it generally was either terrifying or embarrassing," Gideon said, "And usually it swung from one to the other pretty damn quickly."

[Lora Zalesky]

She just smirked. "I am glad I only got to know all of you in college. Ah, and here we are. Glamour." At least, that's apparently what the signage out from spelled in Cyrillic. It looked on the outside to be a well-taken-care-of concrete warehouse that had been repurposed for its current function as a nightclub. "Here we go. Just follow my lead."

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon looked up at the sign over the nightclub.

"Still don't have a hang of Cyrillic," Gideon mused, "Following your lead, Lora."

[Lora Zalesky]

They were quickly waved on through by the bouncer, who apparently had seen Lora go into the club a time or ten.

However drab the outside of the building had been, the inside more than made up for it. Vivid colors and rave lighting were everywhere, though there didn't seem to be many glowsticks swung around. The crowd was just as diverse as what one might see in Helix back in London, only there were more of them. But then, that was probably just because it was a larger building to begin with.

They had been inside less than half a minute before someone spotted Lora and headed over to talk; though, there was little more than introductions and 'How are you?'s traded, thanks to the volume of the music in the venue

[Gideon Rede]

"There are times when I'm glad I'm a telepath."

Gideon thought towards Lora as he looked around the club his eyes glowing rather brightly.

"It's not very often you see this many mutants crowded into a small space."

[Lora Zalesky]

"It is not often that you get to go to a place known for such legendary parties either. Ahh, the stories I could tell you about this place..."

Lora seemed to be about to continue, before a small group about hers and Gideon's ages came up. Cue more greetings, and a little catching up.

"And yes, I am glad that you are a telepath, too. For your sake."

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon rubbed an old scar on the back of his neck.

"Not really with this many people. I'll show you later what I mean."

"I'd like to hear those stories sometime," Gideon said before exchanging a few pleasantries.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Hmm, I am not sure about telling them to you. I do not want you to think of me too differently," she said with a little cackle.

[Gideon Rede]

"I doubt either of us is completely clean, dear," Gideon smiled, "But they are your stories to tell, eh?"

[Lora Zalesky]

"Some time when we can get some drinks, perhaps," she replied, grinning.

Just then, Lora and Gideon were waved at wildly by a girl with curly blonde about 10 yards away.

"Ah, there she is!" Lora grabbed Gideon's wrist and headed over to her, apparently excited.

The girls hugged and then started exchanging greetings very, very fast in Russian, though Gideon could probably catch the gist.

"Hmm, so, introductions. Gideon, this is my best friend, Yulia. Yulia, this is my boyfriend, Gideon."

"Hi!," she exclaimed over the music, extending her hand. She was a bit shorter than Lora, and lacked any outward signs of mutation. If Gideon were to shake her hand, however, he would get a sense that there was something a little different about her.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon shook Yulia's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Yulia," Gideon smiled. "You'll have to talk a bit slower if you want me to understand your Russian."

[Lora Zalesky]

<"He's learned Russian for you?! Oh, how sweet!">

<"Well, he can kind of cheat at it.">

[Gideon Rede]

<"It's hard work even for a..."> Gideon said pausing for a moment, <"Telepath. Unless you want to turn the person into a vegetable.">

[Lora Zalesky]

<"Maybe you won't have to worry about that so much with me."> A construct of distinctly psionic energy appeared in her hand, in the shape sort of like a falchion.

<"She can't do telepathy nearly as well as you, though.">

<"I'm working on it!,"> she replied defensively.

<"Relax, silly. So, how long have you been here?">

<"Not very. I was waiting for you, and my date. Oh, I just wanted to warn you...I saw Maxim in here a few minutes ago.">

That got an immediate, involuntary response out of Lora; she stiffened, and both fists clenched.

[Gideon Rede]

<"Maxim?"> Gideon asked apparently not in the loop.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Remember when I told you about the guy who made me afraid of the dark?"

[Gideon Rede]

"That was him?" Gideon asked.

[Lora Zalesky]

She nodded. And then groaned, crossing her arms.

<"He would have to be here on my first night out.">

"You should just try to ignore him!"

<"He doesn't let me just ignore him. You know that by now.">

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon looked at Lora with a predatory grin on his face.

"He'll stop by then?" Gideon asked.

[Lora Zalesky]

"He might...but I would not try anything too rash right now. He is one of Fedorov's men now, last I heard."

[Gideon Rede]

"Me do something rash? Never," Gideon said, "I'll try to keep myself from making him scared of kittens."

[Lora Zalesky]

A corner of her mouth tugged up in a smirk.

<"Don't tempt me.">

A moment later, someone familiar made his way through the crowd and slipped his arms around Yulia from behind. It was the driver from the side to the house.

<"Don't surprise me like that!,"> Yulia exclaimed, though she also started giggling.

<"Listen to you, you love it.">

<"Oh, hi Yuri! I didn't know that you were going to be her date.">

<"Tonight is our two week anniversary!">

<"Sounds like a reason to celebrate, then. Are you ready to dance?,"> she asked, turning to Gideon.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon nodded in Yuri's direction before looking at Lora.

<"I hope you're not trying to show me off,"> Gideon smiled. <"Because we both know I don't dance particularly well.">

[Lora Zalesky]

"But you know that I can make you look good. Besides, a rave is not like ballroom dancing." She smiled and took him by the hand, to the dance floor.

[Gideon Rede]

"You say that, but there's certainly a rhythm to it that I...am not very good at following," Gideon chuckled.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Just copy me. If it helps you, use your telepathy." Lora started moving as the next song started, getting into the groove of it with liquid ease.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon smiled and touched Lora's mind with his own and followed along with her in a sort of symbiosis of movement. For Lora's part she most likely could feel Gideon as much as she could feel him. It was very close to feeling like one person.

[Lora Zalesky]

Everything went well for the duration of the first few songs in the mix. The DJ did a good job making each track lead into the next, but after a while, there was a jarring pause between songs. The whole crowd was looking around awkwardly, wondering what the holdup was. After less than a minute, music started pumping through the room again, and everyone seemed pleased to have the beat restored.

Lora had been as confused as everyone else until almost the second the music started up again. Maxim was there in the club, all right; talking with the DJ at the booth. Once he made eye contact with Lora, he just gave her a sneering smile, before melting back into the crowd. There was definite possibility that he had had something to do with the current choice in music.

"Godammit."

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon disconnected from Lora's mind during the strange break between songs. He cocked an eyebrow as he listened to the new song.

"Directed at me, eh?" Gideon asked eyes aglow.

[Lora Zalesky]

"Just keep dancing with me. It will piss him off."

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon smiled at Lora.

"Good," Gideon said, "Does he really think a song is going to hurt my feelings?"

Gideon started dancing with Lora as he talked.

[Lora Zalesky]

"He is not the type to care about hurt feelings as much as knowing that he is getting under someone's skin.

...prick."

[Gideon Rede]

"Then don't let him, Ангел мой," Gideon said giving Lora a quick kiss, "We're here to have a good time, eh?"