"The summers here are very nice. I can bask for hours when the sun is out." Could and regularly did. Central Park was one of his favorite places for sunbathing, but he often had to hunt for a more secluded area to relax in. Even when he was minding his own business it could be difficult to avoid being harassed by others in some way. Something about an enormous snake just made some people nervous. The yard and balcony at his new home were much quieter, but they were also more cramped. It was nice to have options, though.

He could still do without the winters in New York, but they were still much milder than back in Russia. He had debated moving to a warmer place, but the city he was in was so well known for mutant activity and pushing for acceptance that it was hard to want to leave. Maybe some day but for the time being he was content to stay where he was, at least during most of the year.

"I do not have steady job," he replied after a moment of hesitation. He still wasn't entirely whether or not he should be embarrassed about not working some kind of full time job, but it hadn't bothered him quite enough to go looking for one yet. Still, not everyone was accepting of the unemployed. "Is not so easy to find normal jobs looking like this." Or to find work spaces to accommodate his size. "Sometimes I can find work to model or in clubs to entertain. Enough to pay rent, but not for daily work."

She didn't like sunbathing herself but yeah, it was probably pretty necessary for someone like Aleksandr. At least there were plenty of parks in New York with plenty of room for someone as awesome as him. God, she could just imagine seeing him curled up and lounging in the sun, that would be so cool! Screw the bigots who didn't like that, she was all for people getting the most out of the park. "There any spots in the city you prefer for it? Any secret little places just for you?" Not that he was the type to hide it, but everyone liked privacy every now and then, right?

Wow, that sucked, hard. Were things still that bad for mutants, even here. Yeah, OK some places were just impractical for him but surely there were plenty of mutant friendly shops and companies with the accommodations for people. "That's just sucky, wasn't New York meant to be like, a bastion for mutants? The real world sucks sometimes." Why did reality have to be so, real. Everything was messy and difficult, nothing was black and white. Well, not many things. Apparently Russian snake men were.

"Oh my god! You've modeled? I have to see pictures some time." That sounded amazing, him modeling, showing off all his coils and stuff. She needed to know where to find them. For science of course.

Wait, had she finally found her, if I was straight, guy? The person she'd want to date if she weren't so attached to women. That was, new.

"Central Park is best place for sunbathing if you are knowing where to go," he replied, deciding that he would pay the Park another visit the next day. Thinking about it was just so enticing and he wanted to be sure he soaked up as much sun as he could before fall began to roll around and steal the warmth. "There is small yard and balcony at my home too, but they are not so good as the Park."

He simply shrugged at her condemnation of the world. He had found that even the most progressive places often still had underlying currents of discrimination, even if they were slowly dying out. "Maybe it is easier for others. Many people are not liking snakes so much, so is maybe just me." Not that he had looked all that extensively, or possibly in the right areas. Maybe somewhere like the zoo would be more open to hiring someone like him. He'd have to remember to check if he ever needed a steadier income.

Aleksandr smiled at her enthusiasm over his modeling. He hadn't done anything big, but he'd been pleased with the results that he'd seen and he'd truly been in his element with so much attention directed at him. He cold pose for hours without getting bored of it. "You can maybe find them online. Everything is online now." He couldn't quite remember what they photos had been for. A magazine or a news article maybe. But photos almost always ended up on the internet somehow and they could probably be found with a little digging.

"You have found places that are good to mutants?" he asked, more out of curiosity than any interest in seeking them out for himself. Finding jobs and housing was probably easier for her since she wasn't a visible mutant, but she also looked young which could present its own challenges.

"Are you needing a new drink?" he added, motioning to the bottle in her hand. A beer only lasted so long.

People didn't like snakes? What!? They were awesome. So smooth and slinky, such cute little faces. Oh god and the way they flicked their tongues out from time to time was just adorable. "Some people have no taste then, snakes are so cool. Who can't like their beautiful scales and the way the curl around your arm?" So yeah, she'd wanted a pet snake for just a little while, annoyingly her mum was terrified of them and grandmother believed they weren't fit pets for a 'lady'. Of course the old bat had tried to give her a stupid ugly dog, as if that was even in the same league.

"Oh I will, they'd must look amazing." He already looked like some other worldly model with his hued scales and odd looking hair, having his coils to work with and pose would look great. "Have you ever wanted to do more of that kind of stuff? I mean having pictures and that done?" Not that she'd stalk that career at all. In any way. Ever.

Had she? Well she'd not been here long so she'd not had a chance yet. "Not had much of a chance yet, although I've heard about the mansion of course. It seems, OK I guess. At least there's somewhere we can go for advice if nothing else." The Mansion had always been just stories to her, never really on her radar until moving here. Now she knew it was her sisters alum school, among other things. "I've might have been doing some research about some mutant friendly LBGT places in town, if that helps?" A girl had to know a few useful things after all. How else was she going to find lovely girls down with the whole mutant thing. And girl thing.

She could kill for another to be honest, "That sounds awesome but this ones on me, can't be owing you too many favours." Pulling out a couple of tens from pocket and offering them to the big man, she wasn't taking no for an answer. Seemed only fair to get him a drink after he'd gotten her one.

The girl had good taste. She'd made it clear early on into their meeting, but the continued emphasis on how much she admired his looks was appreciated. Aleksandr was a painfully vain individual so any bit of praise he got was noted and enjoyed. Not everyone had such good taste, but those that did were often very forthcoming about it and made up for any disdain that might come his way.

"Oh yes, I enjoy the modeling very much," he replied, nodding enthusiastically. Vanity like his craved and thrived on that kind of attention and the bonus of being paid for it was just icing on the cake. "If that is something I can turn into steady jobs I would be happy to work every day." He would have to start searching a wider variety of want ads.

"Ah, the Mansion. I was there for a small time," he commented, not entirely surprised that it was on her list. A lot of young mutants moved to New York because of the school. It had made quite a name for itself even internationally. "Is not so bad if you are not bothered by children, but there is almost always trouble there." Either between the kids or some feud the X's had kicked up. It was hardly ever boring, but it did make it difficult to relax for any length of time. He simply nodded in response to the LGBT comment. There were a few of those places he'd sniffed out, though most of them were notably clubs or bars which wouldn't help the younger crowd.

Taking money from the girl hadn't been his plan, but she did seem fairly insistent. He'd rather not start an argument with her over it when they were trying to lay low and not draw attention to the underage drinking. It was easier to just call it even and accept the bills she pressed into his hand.

Quickly he slipped away from her and back to the bar to flag down the tender. It wasn't hard to get the attention of servers with such an obvious mutation, but that didn't stop them from serving those that had gotten there before him. It was a few minutes before he managed to order and receive his drinks. He decided to get a beer for himself this time, too, since he'd already had a few harder drinks by the time the young woman had made herself known. Maintaining his faint buzz seemed like the better route to take.

"I am just remembering," he began as he returned to where he'd left the young woman and passed back the change from the money she'd given him as well as the fresh bottle, "I did not ask your name yet. I am Aleksandr."

Kids didn't bother her, horny teenage boys did. They were the worst. Like smelly, irritable rabbits, fixated on one thing and only one thing. Something she really didnt want to be involved in, with them at least. But what did he mean trouble? Had there been attacks at the school? "What do you mean by that? Has something bad happened up there before?" If Serena was thinking of getting her in there she had to know if it was safe. Going somewhere with a giant target painted on it was not a attractive prospect. She didn't need more reasons for people to have a go at her. Being both gay and a mutant was was enough for a large amount of bigots, adding more to the pile didn't seem wise.

Watching him move off towards the bar, it was a really interesting sight. Seeing him in all his snakiness was one thing, but actually glimpsing the way he moved, the graceful side to side swaying was awesome. A little mesmerising too, it wasn't hard to imagine why people often found snakes hypnotic. They just looked so, otherworldly, like they somehow weren't normal. Not that it was a bad thing. Not being normal was the best.

It took him a while to get served and she could only imagine it was some barman being a d--- because of what he looked like. People really were the worst sometimes. Open hatred could be dealt with, it was the quiet, creep kind she disliked more. At least someone proudly wearing their bigotry had some kind of bravery in their attitude. They didn't hide the fact they were a piece of s---. No it was the silent people, giving little excuses the 'I'm not racist but' people. They were so dishonest.

Well, he got back his drinks, eventually, and made his way back. Taking the offered drink and blushing a little in the complete lapse of manners, how could she forget to ask for a name! God her mum would kill her for being so rude. "Oh God, sorry! I'm Alice by the way." How could a well brought up English girl forget something so b----- simple! It was mortifying.

"There are always things happening at the Mansion," he began, picking the conversation back up as he took a sip from his bottle. The first sip was always the best. "Children with new powers are always being trouble so there is always messes to clean. But X-Men are living there also and they are not always so friendly with everyone," he continued. It seemed like most people would know those kind of things, but he could understand being out of the loop when she had come from outside the states. It had taken some time for him to catch up as well. "There is always seeming to be rebuilding somewhere. Angry mutants like to be blowing up the place." Not quite so often anymore, but even uncommon bombings were a problem.

He chuckled at her apology and gave a dismissive wave. She wasn't the only one at fault there. "Is my fault also. I am not always so good with manners. Is a very nice name, though. It rolls off the tongue in a good way." He emphasized by flicking his tongue playfully. He just hoped he didn't accidentally drag out the name's 's' sound as he worked his way through more alcohol. That was one stereotype he could live without perpetuating.

Mutants powers going a little haywire was a given, it was a school full of kids, half of them going through puberty and frankly, that was a volatile mix. Well, for some, hers didn't seem to have to ability to go haywire. The most it could do it maybe get a bigger map. So yeah, not exactly the dangerous kind. But bombings!? That couldn't be a thing that happened. Like, why would the school keep housing the X-Men if it put innocent kids at risk. That didn't seem, smart.

"Has that happened in the past? I know there are groups that hate the X's but they seriously bombed a school?" What kind of monster actually did that? And what kind of possible gain could you get from it, all it could ever accomplish is making you public enemy number one. Plus weren't the X-Men kind of terrifying in how powerful a bunch of them were. Didn't they kind of fight the government and win. And destroy a bunch of concentration camps. And destroy a load of the meta-bots going mental in the city. So yeah, not the kind of people she would mess with.

Grinning, it was always nice to have someone like you're name, "Thanks, bet you can guess my Mum's favourite book as a kid." Sure she hated the jokes, but knowing she was named after something so close to her mum's heart was kind of awesome. "Yours isn't too bad either, got a lot of history to it." Hard to not know about a name as famous as that.

"Is it a popular name back home?" The name had dropped off a little in the UK but there were still more than one in any school she'd been in.

"Is more in the past, yes. There are not seeming to be too many bad groups as there used to be, so there are not so many things being destroyed at the school now," he replied. The worst fights mostly seemed to have happened before he'd gotten to the school and had learned about second hand, but there were always smaller incidents and the possibility of future attacks. "X-Men are more organized than most, so I am thinking this is dissuading too many attacks from others that do not like them. Or maybe interest is shifting. Is hard to tell." If anything the X's seemed to have the upper hand through sheer endurance. Being as structured as they were made it easier to keep things running and their group active.

He chuckled at the book reference, not having caught it at first. He did have to say the mother had good taste, though. "Ah, I like this book also. Is not so easy to read without good English, but I am now understanding most of it." It certainly could be a confusing thing to read, but it was also very interesting. Aleksandr had enjoyed how imaginative the stories were.

The history of his name he knew a little better, but it was easy to know those kind of things when it was more personal. "Is a very popular name in Russia, yes," he replied with a nod. The spelling wasn't always the same, but that could be said of any common name. "Alexander The Great is probably the best known man, but there is a well known Russian writer with this name, also."

Ah, so it was more a thing in the past than a recent event, less worrying but still, not exactly the most hopeful news you want to hear about the school you're considering. With everything else high school entailed random villains stopping by for tea and some casual murder wasn't something she was super stoked about. Might even be worse than dealing with the boys.

"Yeah, it's a weird one alright but it's fun to read. Hard to find a world as imaginative as Wonderland and some of the characters are so cool." There was a good reason she used the name Cheshire online, the cat was such a weird and wonderful character that a young Alice (in both cases) was fascinated by him. Just the way he shifted in and out of being, left behind his smile as he wander and just generally messed around with perceptions was an interesting read. Plus he was a cat, so he awesome.

It was weird how common names could be world wide but it wasn't surprising it was popular in Russia. Didn't they have links with some of those countries in ancient history or something? In fact wasn't their language similar to Greek in some ways?

"Talk about coincidences, what kind of things did he write?" It'd be worth checking out of it sounded interesting. She might hate English in school but finding old books was fun and looking at the world through different peoples eyes could never be dull. Unless the writer sucked. Then it was boring and painful to read.  

The stories of Wonderland had become some of Aleksandr's favorites, though his reading collection was sorely lacking so perhaps that wasn't saying much. Reading was more of a cold weather activity for him, something to help keep himself occupied while he curled up under his heat lamps and tried to forget the chill that kept him indoors. If he read more throughout the year he might find it more pleasurable than tedious but as it was he was just too busy spending his time out in the world whenever the weather allowed. Alice, in all her confusion and frustration, was a sympathetic character.

The writer that shared his name, however, wasn't quite so interesting and his work certainly wasn't found in the serpent's personal collection. "Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, he was writer of many novels and short stories, lots of history. Very critical of Soviet Union and communism and was part of bringing the world's attention to Gulag. He won Nobel Prize for the writing. Not really in my interests, but still important." History was often sad and depressing. He'd rather stick to fantasy and other lighter subjects.

"I am having more interest in being a Great Aleksandr than one for writing. You are interested in being an Alice in a Wonderland?"

That was kind of amazing, she'd never even heard of this guy and he did something that important? Put a few things into perspective certainly, she was a lot more sheltered than she'd thought. "Wow, that's really impressive. Was this during the era of the Soviet Union?" That would be not just amazing, but damn brave too, that place didn't have a great reputation. And well, gulags were a thing.

"Pfft, I half believe I am in Wonderland after coming across here, nothing feels real yet, you know?" Not to weird since she'd only been around for a few days, maybe after getting settled New York would start feeling, normal. What ever that was in this city, that was hard to judge right now. "You on the other hand, already have the great part down, you'd take this city by storm if you were any better." Some people just had the luck when it came to what life gave them. Sure some mutations made it hard but to her, that just added extra flavour to your awesomeness.

It was an interesting line of thought though, what did she want to do here? How long was she going to stay, was she going to study here or back home? Maybe she should have considered this stuff before running away.

"Oh yes. He was put in prison and then deported for what he is writing," Aleksandr replied with a nod, tapping a sharp nail against his bottle as he thought. He hadn't done much in-depth reading about the author, but he'd skimmed enough information to know the highlights. Even just the gleaned information it was interesting. "He was sent to Germany and then America, but he became Soviet citizen again before he died in Russia." A difficult, dangerous life to be sure but those that go against the grain often were.

He could sympathize with the feeling of strangeness that came with moving to the States. It was quite an adjustment for him to make as well and it all sort of felt like a waking dream for a while before he'd started to really settle in. "Is maybe not as fun as the books, but this Wonderland is having its interesting moments. At least there is no Queen wanting to roll heads."

As for taking the city by storm, that wasn't such an unappealing idea. Maybe he should pursue the modelling thing in earnest and get his gorgeous self plastered all over New York. Being a politician wasn't the only way to hold power in a city. "This is true. Is hard to get much better than I am already," he replied shamelessly, soaking in all the flattery like a vain sponge. He made a mental note to give the girl credit if he did decide to make a career out of his looks and it panned out well.

"You are going to be storming the city also?" he asked. As much as he loved daydreaming about his greatness and being the center of attention it was only polite to continue splitting the focus of the conversation between them. No that he didn't enjoy speaking to get girl in the first place. "Now that you are finding your sister you are going to stay here with her or you are going back to your home?"

Wow, he'd not just suffered for his work, he'd stuck by it enough to be arrested, deported and stripped of citizenship, that was well incredible. Scary as hell but really cool too. Why hadn't she ever heard of him? "Seems stupid I've never even heard of what he did, especially how big the whole Soviet Russia, U.S. thing is in recent history." Yet rather than learn that she'd had to go over the causes of World War One, again.

Blinking at the question, she didn't have a proper answer. Not yet anyway. "I think I will, at least if Xaviers is decent. I don't really want to go back to the U.K. things aren't great there for me right now." A b----- understatement, the old bat was going to blow a fuse if she ever found Alice again. Losing one two potential marriages from her daughters were bad enough, now she'd lost the chance to get gain from her grand daughters as well. that would eat at her more than anything else. Well, it was just desserts for her, she didn't care about anything but her precious family name.

"I've got enough to stick around for at least, getting to know Serena will probably take time and," shrugging, it wasn't something she'd quite planned out after hastily leaving Britain. "If the school is good enough I might be able to get into uni from it so might be a decent idea to at least  stay a year or so." Even longer if she got into NYU. Then she could live here for a while, away from all the family drama.

Yeah, that seemed a half decent idea. At least for the short term.

"Xavier is good school and not so terrible place to live if you are not minding the noise," he said, not having meant to discredit the institution. He'd merely been making an observation, but he could see how that particular view could be off putting. "There is reason it is so well known. Is not just because it is for mutants, but because Mansion is good place for learning even with some construction." Schooling regular kids was challenging enough, but throw in super powers and the occasional remodel and it was pretty impressive that the place managed to continue running so smoothly for so long.

It was a shame that the young woman wasn't fond of the idea of returning home, but that was an unfortunate thread of similarity that ran through a lot of the mutant community. Aleksandr himself would feel rather awkward if he returned home. Not only was the weather detrimental to his health now, but he'd spent a lot of time gradually cutting ties with his friends and family. Trying to return after that seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Life in the US suited him well enough though, so he couldn't say he missed Russia too terribly.

"I am thinking you will do well here," he continued, swapping his bottle from one hand to another to alleviate the cold in his fingers. Having a plan certainly helped, even if it was just a bare bones kind of thing. Heading over the the Mansion would provide both schooling and shelter as well as community, so it seemed like a good first step. "You are seeming to be smart girl and you are already having family here for helping you. Maybe just with less fighting the bartenders."