Aleksei stepped out of the bathroom and tossed the hand towel he had been using back onto the floor of the bathroom. He smiled to himself as he thought about what he had just pulled. The previous night he had not only talked himself into an empty room at the bed and breakfast (for the night), but he had also redirected the luggage to be delivered to the new room. It was because of this that he was standing in a nice neat change of clothes, a luxury tris would not have. Indeed, he had also found a laminated business card in his suitcase that would jimmy Tris' door easily. In other words, he would soon have his wallet back as well.

After a few more moments of making himself streetworthy, Aleksei walked down the hall to Tris' room. He paused outside the door for a moment to listen. Hearing nothing he shrugged inwardly and put the card up to the latch. A few moments and it was done. He turned the handle and swung the door open slowly. It obliged by staying silent. Walking slowly into the room Aleksei had trouble controlling a laugh as he saw the *viscious* Tris all curled up in her blankets. She seemed a far cry from the day before. Instead of mischief and anger, she seemed so calm. And it was exactly that which inspired Aleksei to do more than take his wallet back.

On Tris' nightstand lay Aleksei's wallet and Tris' handbag. Struggling to stay silent, Aleksei walked over and snatched both his wallet and Tris' handbag. On his way out of the room he paused long enough to pick up her pants and shirt that were lying on the floor, and leave her cell phone behind (which he turned up to its loudest ring setting).

Mission accomplished, Aleksei went back to his room without being spotted. He finally let out a laugh as he sent her a text which read "Your clothes have been found guilty and will be executed at dawn. Still accepting plea bargains at 452-562-4935"

Tris had felt maybe a tiny twinge of guilt for literally blowing up at Aleksei with the whole 'no luggage' debacle when it wasn't exactly his fault, other than in the broader sense of course, in that he was the reason she was here with no clothes in the first place.
.... But mustn't dwell right?
....Still the whole 'taking his wallet' thing, well that had been just hilarious, and much needed repayment for his whole earlier, stupid superior attitude in their little argument in Tris's humble opinion. She wondered if he'd noticed it missing yet? Tris chuckled as she pictured the possible expressions on Aleksei's face- fun times.

.....But, though she was loath to admit the fact, and though subtle and tactful weren't exactly her strong suits, Tris resolved to atleast try and go a little easier on the glass elemental next time she saw him.
They were supposed to be professionals right?
And as far as Tris was concerned they were 'even' now for whatever imaginary slights she'd felt he'd inflicted. And Aleksei would probably understand- his partner having red hair and a passion for blowing stuff up didn't exactly bode well for an even temper.
Tris sighed as her thoughts swirled heavily and chaotically in her mind- all this could wait till after her nap. True, Tris had slept on the plane (a lot), but she loved sleep, and always felt more relaxed after a long session of the stuff.

So after striping to her underwear, she curled up among the blankets and let sleep descend on her petite form. And for a little while, the volatile red head slept in delicious peace, and all was right in her world.

....................................

The bleary eyed and rumple headed Tris was yanked rudely back to consciousness by her stupid phone, but not all her mental faculties had returned in perfect working order so soon after her nap, so she was a little fuzzy and disorientated.
And Damnit! Cursing, she grabbed her phone and cut off the stupid cheery ring tone music that she'd thought was so cute a few days ago and a few decibals lower.
And when had the volume got turned up so loud anyway?

Blinking tiredly, she had to keep clearing her eyes to read the message.
....Suddenly a good deal more awake, she read it again.
"Son of a Bitch!."
She breathed as she shot up in the bed, hair sticking out at all angels.
Adrenalin clearing her head faster than coffee as she looked around, cataloging was should be here but wasn't.
Aleksei's wallet she'd 'won' as a prize.
.....Her whole damn handbag.
.....Her clothes!

And in the space of a few short minutes- calm and peaceful Tris turned from confused and disorientated back into damn pissed off!

She called the number swiftly, and when it picked up, practically growled into the phone.
"You bloody bastard!"
Her Australian accent coming through thick and fast now that she was angry.
"Give me my damn stuff back! NOW!"

No, Tris didn't get high marks in negotiation....

"Give me my damn stuff back! NOW!"

Aleksei smiled, not that Tris could see that. Instead she only received his voice, which came across the phone as chiding. "Now now miss Evans, that is no way to begin negotiations. After all, I do believe I am the one with... shall we say all the right cards?" Aleksei paused momentarily to let Tris suffer. He was enjoying himself, and saw no reason to speed the process along.

"Now, you might want to consider the position you are in." Aleksei continued, maintaining his chiding voice the whole time. "Firstly, I have all of your personal items. While I have not taken the liberty of going through them just yet, I cannot promise that my good graces will continue. Secondly, where are you going to go? I'm pretty sure you shouldn't go running about in just a towel." Aleksei drifted off while he remembered what she looked like in a towel. "Then again, you might be able to pull that one off... Still, I have your money and that leaves you rather stranded. In short my dear, you may want to be a bit more polite."

"You see, it really boils down to what you can do to convince me to give up my winning hand. An apology would not be a bad thing for starters. It might even make you feel better. After all, you are the one who started this now aren't you? If not I fear you might have to use those bathroom towels after all. Might get a bit chilly outside"

Nosy neighbors.

They get in your business. They stick their big snouts in other peoples' dirt, and root around. Like hogs, searching for truffles, nosy neighbors dig for precious information.

It's probably a bad habit, being so curious of others, eavesdropping, spying at every bend. Lenna thought herself above it. On an average day, her primary drive would be to 'keep to herself'. This wasn't an average day, though. This was the morning after her meal with Aleksei, post-pestering from birdbrained heroes, long since the conversation where it had become apparent to one brown-haired ex-assassin just how unlike tourists the two neighbors across the hall were. Lenna had her own problems. Big-beaked lifesavers, headaches that came and went. She was down on her chips, looking for help in all the wrong places... and as stated prior, 'other peoples' lives were so much more interesting' because they weren't her's. Other peoples' lives were an escape from troubles of her own... and so, Lenna justified. She'd stop. She'd look. She'd listen. And she'd learn what it was that drew Caleb Swartz's eyes so far from Columbia. Anything was better than reading the same boring book while she waited on Hero boy's callback, right?

As she dressed, Lenna couldn't help but overhear the far-too-loud tone of a ring muted through paper-thin walls. The tone stopped quickly. The resulting scuffle was inaudible. Lenna pulled a black sock on over her foot. A thin line of smugness cut its way across her face. Yet another act in the play of the drama that is Aleksei's relationship with the fiery roommate, Lenna noted with wry amusement. Another sock was tugged on. The brunette tied her shoes, and wrapped a blue scarf over the neck of her leather jacket. The turquoise skirt swished as she moved over to the suitcase by her bed. Lenna bowed to gather her things. Cellphone and wallet slipped into cerulean shoulderbag

Lenna took a step out the door, shutting it on her way out.

While, to her own ears atleast, Tris had sounded terrifying, threatening, and maybe just alittle sinister- Aleskei didn't cower in fear, back down, and give into her completely reasonable request as Tris had hoped. Instead the annoying glass elemental had the gall to chide her- talking down to Tris like she was 8 and sitting in the principals office.
The Bloody nerve of that man!

Tris gritted her teeth till it hurt to try and curb her rapidly igniting annoyance. Sometimes her temper got away with her, it was unfortunate she knew, but a fairly standard and unavoidable side affect of anger fueled powers.....Tris really should work on that some more, but not when she was in the middle of an argument- Tris couldn't stand to loss. The controlling gesture was holding for now, but getting weaker with every smug word of the Russian's responding triad.

"Now now miss Evans, that is no way to begin negotiations. After all, I do believe I am the one with... shall we say all the right cards?............. Now, you might want to consider the position you are in. Firstly, I have all of your personal items. While I have not taken the liberty of going through them just yet, I cannot promise that my good graces will continue. Secondly, where are you going to go? I'm pretty sure you shouldn't go running about in just a towel."

Despite their current difference in opinions, morality and ethical behavior, Tris and Aleksei appeared to hop onto the same wavelength for a micro second. Aleksei claiming Tris wouldn't go running about in a towel had Tris giving a most unladylike non verbal snort as she pictured that scenario- of course she would run around in a towel, it wasn't like she had to run far, just to the irritating Russians door.
After a slight pause, Aleksei appeared to concur with the likely probability of Tris's towel ensemble.

"Then again, you might be able to pull that one off... Still, I have your money and that leaves you rather stranded. In short my dear, you may want to be a bit more polite."

"I don't do 'polite' for people who don't deserve it."
Tris snapped back reflectively as her very competitive nature and hatred of losing reared its ugly head, she working had to keep her voice below screeching level- there might be some hiss in the tone though, but that was fine.
Tris also extending her hand in a graceful wave to relieve some of that excess emotional turmoil- the pillow that had been innocently lying on the bed suddenly exploded into a foam and material 3D jigsaw puzzle. Yeah she was going to have clean that up, and no way she was getting out of them charging it to her credit cards.....but she felt marginally better for a micro second, and it made Tris able to accept Aleksei's 'I'm an evil genius' speech with a marginally more focused mind than 10 seconds before.

"You see, it really boils down to what you can do to convince me to give up my winning hand. An apology would not be a bad thing for starters. It might even make you feel better. After all, you are the one who started this now aren't you? If not I fear you might have to use those bathroom towels after all. Might get a bit chilly outside"

A grim smile lit up Tris's features into sharp planes as she responded with her counter offer- they were playing games now, and she always played to win (.......except in very specific circumstances).
A deep, silent breath, a chuckle with not much humor in it, and a tone of offhand yet icy amusement completely borrowed from some of the older English style villains was Tris's reply;
"An interesting ploy you have constructed Aleksei dear- but do you mind if I poke holes? You must ask yourself- do you really hold the complete winning hand here? Because, if we are continuing with the card games analogy, I feel I must remind you that I always hold the aces and I'm not so fun to mess around. You are playing a dangerous game here Aleksei- and if we are not careful, someone is going to get hurt.....and that someone wont be me."
Tris did so love threats- she rarely followed up on them though, but Aleksei didn't know that.
"So how about you apologize to me and we can get on with some real business?"

Aleksei merely half-listened to Tris' reply. It had been exactly what he had been expecting. A bit of whining, followed by false threats and pretenses of not being in the inferior position. Indeed, he had even expected it to sound as sorry as it did. Tris was bargaining with nothing. She had nothing to fight back with, no possible way of turning the tables. Indeed, she didn't even know where Aleksei was. And it was right about now that Aleksei intended to force her to back down.

"Well then, my dear. If you wont listen to reason I suppose I will have to up the ante a bit. This luggage seems to be awfully important to you... Perhaps I will start going through it. Maybe I will find something interesting. And if not, I could still ditch some of the less useful items. I mean, if your premise is true you wont be hurt... right? Oh yes, now I am quite taken with the idea. Let us see what we can discover about your luggage here."

And with that Aleksei began digging through Tris' items, while putting Tris on speaker phone. "Let us see... pants, shirts and... oh my what nice boots these are. And then we have..." Alekseis voice trailed off but was soon replaced by laughter. Indeed, he laughed so loud that he was clearly audible through the walls. It hadn't been his plan to let Tris in on his location, but he hadn't expected this either. As he continued laughing he sat down the corset and massage lotion, but he picked up the handcuffs instead. "Well well Tris, you are the feisty one aren't you."

Not one minute after Lenna had stepped from her room, she heard it.

Laughter.... Lenna's head turned towards the direction of the source. Her eyebrow quirked. It sounded like someone was having a good time.

It sounded... like Aleksei. Why he was laughing, she had no clue. A sudden thought struck her, like the side of a shopping cart.

Note to self: These walls really are poor insulators for noise. Don't do anything loudly that you'd wish others wouldn't hear...

Lenna turned towards the end of the hall, where the stairs were. She'd get breakfast. Best leave it alone. That was right about the moment a certain redhead barreled her way out a door.

"Well then, my dear. If you wont listen to reason I suppose I will have to up the ante a bit. This luggage seems to be awfully important to you... Perhaps I will start going through it. Maybe I will find something interesting. And if not, I could still ditch some of the less useful items. I mean, if your premise is true you wont be hurt... right? Oh yes, now I am quite taken with the idea. Let us see what we can discover about your luggage here."


Tris quietly swore under her breath (abit more loudly than she intended) when, instead of backing down like a normal person, Aleksei well......didn't.
Damn him!
"Don't touch my stuff!!!"
Tris practically growled as the pressure of anger built up in her mind- Aleksei had definitely hit a nerve there, Tris hated it when people pawed through her things.
She was definitely angry it was true, but was there an undercurrent of nervousness there? Considering the items packed in Tris's suitcase- maybe.

And the tone and content of the Russian's response only proved he was more than willing to up the stakes. He evidently wasn't scared of her, he wasn't intimidated, in fact he seemed to like pressing her buttons- repeatedly, and as hard as he could.
What was wrong?
She used to be able to slip on 'scary as hell face' like a glove, but now....
Maybe it was the whole 'introduction in towel ensemble' thing- that could certainly sway a person to perceive you in a non threatening way.
Tris gripped the innocent cell phone in her hand tighter- threatening to break the poor thing as she pondered ways in which she could rectify that situation- maybe it was a lack of imagination, but many of her imaginary situation ended with blowing up stuff (a satisfying stand by).

Unfortunately the inevitable was already beginning, luggage raid and aggravating commentary begun.

"Let us see... pants, shirts and... oh my what nice boots these are. And then we have..."

There was a pregnant pause that was quickly replaced by laughter on the other end of the line- booming laughs that quickly became so loud Tris could not only hear him through the phone, but from down the hall too.
Tris turning almost as red as her hair for the moment at the thought of what the glass elemental had discovered....it wasn't hard to guess, and the force of her unrestrained emotion ending up escaping her grasp, an unconscious concussive blast that radiated from her position to crack glass covered portraits and fling the heavy bed afew feet- the explosion might have been accompanied with noise, but Tris wasn't paying attention.
Yep- this bed and breakfast would definitely be charged her credit card to redecorating this room.


"Well well Tris, you are the feisty one aren't you."
Aleksei's last alluding statement supported Tris's conclusion of what he'd found- that bloody bastard!
"I will get you for this- be warned you arrogant asshole. YOU WILL PAY."
She stated with a determined and grim smile- and hey, 10 points for alliteration.
And suddenly the violate red head could not stand the inactivity anymore, she wouldn't just stand here and let Aleksei push her into destroying a perfectly nice room....especially now she could hear where he was.

Tris, despite her underwear clad appearance, was not adverse in going out into the wide world (or hall in this case) and hunting down her own personal evil doer.

In typical Tris fashion, she barreled out of her door and into the corridor, racing down the hall on unsteady-ish feet, picking up speed as she sped towards the laughing and mocking room.
Unfortunately, due to her haste, she almost crashed into another poor women in the hall who was undoubtedly terribly surprised by Tris's unexpected and unconventional appearance.
Tris wouldn't spare much time on this mission of highest importance to slap Aleksei in the face (or something along those lines), but she did manage a quick, flying, breathy apology;
"So sorry, must dash- I have to kill someone."
And she was off again to arrived at a certain door that was her only barrier into the mocking laughter zone.
Ha- not much of one.

Tris had a satisfying mental picture of blowing the door to kingdom come, but tempered her action slightly as she was well aware of the money she would already have to fork out for this place.
Instead she used a more focused blast of her power to accompany her knocking- a little more subtle that way. Compressed air making her pounding knocks on the door louder and heavier than they would be in normal circumstances, yet unremarkable on a 'blowing the door away' front......well for now atleast.

"Come out, come out wherever you are."
Tris called out in a sing song voice that was too sickly sweet to the occupant of the room she knew was the laughing Aleksei.
She put her hand on the door handle in the intent of dissolving the damn thing so she could get into the room, but a quick jiggle proved the door was unlocking- bad form Aleksei....silly, rookie mistake.

She flung the door open (with her arm, not her powers), but still with a satisfying thump, and entered the room like a wrathful goddess.
There was Aleksei, not even bothering to hide from her wrath, her handcuffs in hand and a stupid smug smirk on his face.....
Something about the situation made something into Tris shift alittle- now instead of suffering the effects of blind rage, she was suddenly more inclined towards revenge.
"Aleksei- you sure like to push me, lets see if you like being pushed back.......I think you need to be taught a lesson"
And with those sickly sweet words and a deep and centering breath, Tris's hands once again rose, not to expand particals this time, but to immobilize them.
The being called Aleksei in particular was called on to freeze.
He kindly did so.

Tris strode over to his position, a small grin beginning to form on her features as she looked at her frozen prey and the personal items he had dared to touch.
Feeling better and better already, despite the fatigue emotion based powers brought on, after afew quick manipulations to her newest 'model,' Tris was feeling better still.

Standing before Aleksei she unfroze him, amusement saturating her words as she called;
"Why Aleksei, I didn't know you had such a fascination with handcuffs and corsets......and is that massage lotion too? What a brave man you are to show such interesting tastes so openly."
Who was the smug one now....
After setting Aleksei up wearing a corset, hands cuffed behind his back and copious amounts of massage lotion dripping down his body, who could blame her?

And there was Tris, barging into the room, having surprisingly paused to knock first. Still, she was wearing the most hilariously frustrated face. Aleksei's smug look showed off his attitude on the matter. He had definitely hit jackpot with this find. He crossed his arms as she took another step into the room, but maintained the smug look on his face. Then, just as he was ready to say something first something changed in her eyes. She went from angry and perhaps embarrassed to something else. Something not altogether comforting. Then she spoke.

"Aleksei- you sure like to push me, lets see if you like being pushed back.......I think you need to be taught a lesson"

"A lesson?" Aleksei laughed, "What lesson could you possibly"
Aleksei's sentence was cut short as Tris froze him in place. Unaware of her machinations, the next thing Aleksei knew he was sitting on the bed while Tris was speaking.

"Why Aleksei, I didn't know you had such a fascination with handcuffs and corsets......and is that massage lotion too? What a brave man you are to show such interesting tastes so openly."

After fully taking stock of his situation, Aleksei couldn't stop from turning beet red. Just barely managing to control himself, Aleksei's thoughts immediately went to the open door. He quickly sent an ash tray flying towards it using his powers, nudging it closed without breaking the tray. Turning his attention back to Tris (who was clearly enjoying herself) Aleksei composed himself before even attempting to speak.

"Well lovely, it looks like you had been waiting for this for a long time." He broke out into a grin. "You even went so far as to get everything ready for it? I'm impressed. In fact, the only difference between this and my dreams is who is wearing the corset. But hey, I wont complain. Now, if you wouldn't mind..." Aleksei reached as far as he could in the handcuffs and snagged the massage lotion. He reached like he was trying to hand it to her, but at the last second he squeezed the bottle sending a stream of it straight towards Tris.

"Oops!" he said, feigning accident but unable to keep from grinning about the direct hit. "So sorry."

>>"So sorry, must dash- I have to kill someone."

Lenna nearly fell over as the red-head rushed past her. In her bra and panties, no less. Someone was in a hurry. Potentially connected to Aleksei's laughing. Lenna held her chin, and considered. It made sense. He had seemed the type to either charm, or goad.

She turned to watch the redhead, rap rap rapping loudly at Aleksei's door. Now she knew what rooms they were in... and goodness, but that girl could knock. Hmm... that, accompanied by the loud laughter, and the sound of shattering from earlier gave Lenna a good feeling not all was right in the world.

Yes, the redhead was probably a mutant. It was that easy to figure out.

Or guess. Yes. Guess. Ah, well. Lenna had always enjoyed gambling. She'd put her money on it. The redhead was a mutant. Even it if wasn't a 'sure-thing'.

Speaking of redheads... Lenna watched as the door swung open, and the girl vanished within. Forgetting to close the door, even. Hmm... If Lenna took a few steps forward, and strained her ears, she could probably make out...

the words.

Pushing... pushing back... Silence. No witty retort from Aleksei? Or she hadn't heard it...

A moment later:

>>"Why Aleksei, I didn't know you had such a fascination with handcuffs and corsets......and is that massage lotion too? What a brave man you are to show such interesting tastes so openly."

Lenna staggered. With a clatter, the door swung shut.

The expression on the crimson Aleksei's face was just too priceless for words.
In Tris's humble opinion- Best.Prank.Ever.

So it should come as no surprise, that the flash flood of anger that seemed always on the brink of overtaking her emotions was rapidly receding as the laughter at her companions predicament spilled from Tris's lips.
Laughter- the doubling up, from the heart, tears in the eyes kind really was the best medicine it seemed, cause Tris really was feeling much better.

Once Tris's chuckles had settled down alittle, Aleksei, true to his seemingly unflappable personality had adjusted to his new situation- his words well, completed unflapped.
"Well lovely, it looks like you had been waiting for this for a long time. You even went so far as to get everything ready for it? I'm impressed. In fact, the only difference between this and my dreams is who is wearing the corset. But hey, I wont complain. Now, if you wouldn't mind..."

Tris was admiring Aleksei's moxie after his cool response, further labeling him a 'cheeky bugger' in her minds eye as he reached for the massage lotion.
.... Then in another unexpected turn of events, suddenly massage lotion was coming at Tris too fast for her to react.

And she was hit.
She'd been hit with massage lotion.
She'd been hit with massage lotion on her face!
The look of absolute shock and surprise and well, shock was looking to beat Aleksei's from afew minutes ago in the 'weirdest moment of my life' category, but probably only managed to win the 'I look like a confused fish' award.

Aleksei has shot massage lotion on her face- cheeky bugger didn't seem to cover it anymore.

There was a very pregnant silence as the clear lotion began to hear the call of gravity and drip down Tris's face and off her chin, while Tris sorted through her available emotional arsenal over what she should do next- while all this considering was going on, despite the drip-age, the volatile red head began to look more and more dangerous.


"Oops! So sorry."
Said the glass elemental with completely fake sincerity.

...Finally the red head spoke;
"You bloody Bastard!"
She admonished, while using her hands to wipe her face clear of the lotion though clear humor and a tiny amount of friendly affection were there in her tone.
"But just so you know, massage lotion target practice- lame attempt to get back the title of 'Best prank artist in the world" because its clearly mine."
Flicking her recently lotion-ed hands at him 'accidentally' in a completely non accidentally way while gesturing at Aleksei's recent outfit in a statement that non-verbally said it all.
"Still, not a bad effort all thing considered- so if you are good, and if I let you go, how bout we celebrate our awesome prankster selves by going for a stroll....around the Louvre."
Tris winked.

"But just so you know, massage lotion target practice- lame attempt to get back the title of 'Best prank artist in the world" because its clearly mine."

"Says the person that needed to use their powers to win. I do believe that is called cheating," Aleksei admonished while maintaining an amused look.

"Still, not a bad effort all thing considered- so if you are good, and if I let you go, how bout we celebrate our awesome prankster selves by going for a stroll....around the Louvre."

"The Louvre. Ahh of course. I do believe we should probably get to doing that. Preferably sooner rather than later. And I was having such fun too. Not everyday I get to try on a corset. A bit breezier than I imagined. Of course it is a bit constricting as well." Aleksei's tone maintained a carefree nonchalant inflection.

With a slight effort, Aleksei stood up awkwardly (mostly owing to the handcuffs). "Now then, perhaps you had best release me. And after the massage we can get going." He grinned in an odd manner that made it difficult to tell whether or not he was joking. "Of course, I should get a change of clothes as well."

All was not well in Paris. Strange things were afoot. Doors slamming, people shouting, men wearin corsets. Yes, Lenna pondered. This is far better than room-based moping operations... It was great, really. Far more entertaining... but... Now was probably a good time to clear out of the hall. One didn't want to get caught eavesdropping now. No. That wasn't part of the plan.

The plan. How strange. Apparently, suddenly she had one. It involved getting as far as possible from the pair she'd been spying on for the moment, and heading downstairs. After that, she would follow them as closely as she could manage. She'd be on their tails like stink on garbage, silent, potent, far-removed from the topics of polite conversation.

Lenna ducked down the staircase to enact phase 1 of the plan.

"Says the person that needed to use their powers to win. I do believe that is called cheating,"

It seemed Aleksei wanted to argue the awesomeness of her spectacular owning of him with semantics- namely her 'cheating' by use of her powers.
Tris only scoffed in reply;
"You call it cheating, I call it 'strategic advantage' and 'using all your assets to produce a desired outcome."
She snapped back with a sassy tone and a smug smile.

It also seemed Aleksei was amenable to Tris suggestion that they finally get off their collective butts and start the job they'd come here to do. Though Aleksei's thought patterns seemed to want to wander off on tangents of their own- but Tris couldn't really blame him.
Corsets were a fascinating subject after all.


"The Louvre. Ahh of course. I do believe we should probably get to doing that. Preferably sooner rather than later. And I was having such fun too. Not everyday I get to try on a corset. A bit breezier than I imagined. Of course it is a bit constricting as well. Now then, perhaps you had best release me. And after the massage we can get going. Of course, I should get a change of clothes as well."

Durring his speech Aleksei has awkwardly lumbered to his feet, the handcuffs serverly restricting his movement (which was their purpose after all).
And Tris, soft hearted thing she was deep down, relented and stepped forward to release him.
"I guess I'll release you for the greater good of the mission and all....but just to warn you, it'll take a whole lot more being nice then just asking to get a massage out of me, I think an appropriate prize might be, oh, I don't know- a priceless painting."

The jibing and the back and forth banter between the two mutants was way fun for Tris, but Aleksei's reminder of clothes set thing back into a kind of perspective. As, with this reminder Tris was looking down at her own rather skimpy outfit of today with the slight frown of one who had just remembered she'd been conducting a rather lengthy conversation in her underwear and nothing else.
She'd been having so much fun she'd kind of forgotten the whole 'clothes-less' thing that had started this mess.
Oh well, too late to start feeling weird-ed out now.
"Yeah....clothes."
She voiced, before her tone suggesting sarcasm laced humor.
"Putting on clothes sounds like a good idea. I'll get right on that.....that is if I can have my stuff back now?"

"You call it cheating, I call it 'strategic advantage' and 'using all your assets to produce a desired outcome."

"Ahh, and that is exactly the type of thing that a cheater would say. To better justify their cheating, of course. You cheating cheat cheater." Aleksei smiled to show that he was joking. But really, wasn't using her powers like that cheating? After all, he had clearly been winning beforehand without the use of his own powers. Not that he minded. Instead he merely filed the incident away under 'things I need to get Tris back for'.

"A priceless painting you say? I wonder where we could find one of those. Although if we do run across one, I will definitely hold you to that end of the bargain. One massage for one painting.


"Putting on clothes sounds like a good idea. I'll get right on that.....that is if I can have my stuff back now?"

Aleksei couldn't help but laugh at that bit. She had just uncuffed him and she still asked for her clothes back. She certainly did think in different ways. "As much as it pains me, I shall return the clothes to you. If you give me a moment, I might even return your corset. After all, it might be nice to see if you look better in it than me. I, for one, think you should wear it to the Louvre." He winked at her before proceeding to fiddle helplessly with the corset. After all, how often did he take off corsets?