Her doomed engagement to Iron Mouth was not a hard story to tell. In fact, it was the least depressing part of her story; kind of funny, when she thought about it. But it was a story that explained a lot, and one she could easily offer to Matt to make the atmosphere a little less suicidal. The fries helped too. And the vodka. The vodka especially helped.

>>“So you’re an unmarried mail order bride, then?”

Sveta laughed a little. It sounded funny, when he said it like that (also, she was getting drunk). He looked amused. "Yeah, I guess I am. A mail order single?..."

>>“So what happened next? You just stuck around here and taught Russian? Fired guns when you felt like it?”

She snorted at the idea. It sounded like a parody of the Wild West somehow.

"I went to school with him." she chuckled, eating more fries "The mutant school downtown? I lived there for a while. But I'm... not a very social person, so it didn't last long."

Imagining Svetlana in a scene rather like an old western film was actually a little funny. Matt was feeling a little lighter since sharing (imagine that), and he actually cracked a smile at it. Blonde hair, killer smile, walking around town with a gun in hand. It was a little absurd, but he was trying to piece together her life while drunk and missing details. There were only so many places his mind could go to.

Instead, she had attended the mutant school downtown. Matt had heard a little about it, though he had never been interested enough to look into it. It didn't really apply to him, and so he hadn't been too into the gossip. For some reason, though, he found it hard to imagine someone like Svetlana at a school for mutants. Or a boarding school of any kind, really. He supposed it was like she said - she just wasn't really a social person. It was a little more than that, though. The way she hadn't opened up to him, or maybe the fact that she was still wearing gloves suggested that she might be a little closed off to other people.

Matt was still a little amazed that he had managed to get her talking that much. Or that she had gotten him talking that much.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, it clicked that he was making a complete fool of himself, but he didn't really do much about that fact. He would regret pretty much all of his decisions in the morning, but that wasn't all that important for the time being. For now, he was just focused on what was happening in the moment. And the bottle of vodka in front of him. That was very welcome.

"I get it. I was better at group living when I was back in the military, but I guess I was a different person back then," he told her. Lots of life had happened in that time and it had changed him. The idea of living in some sort of community at that point just sounded draining. He popped fries in his mouth as he thought, his eyes still focused on Svetlana. "Alright, so it's my turn, right? Never have I ever broken off an engagement." Cheap shot again, but he was a little more drunk than she was. She needed to catch up.

Not being social was not exactly a solid excuse for not living at the city's safest place for mutant runaways. Sveta felt like she was on dangerous grounds now about talking about her past and her powers; as much as she thought Matt was a decent guy, she was not about to tell him all about her abilities just yet. And she did leave the gloves on, mostly out of habit. Good thing he was getting drunk; at least he did not bother with the logical details of her story.

>>"I get it. I was better at group living when I was back in the military, but I guess I was a different person back then,"

I bet we got bombed more often than you did. Sveta smirked. The Mansion was a safe haven, but also often a target.

>>"Alright, so it's my turn, right? Never have I ever broken off an engagement."

"Come on, dat's not fair!" Sveta frowned, drinking another shot. She was fairly sure there had to be a rule against claiming something that she had just disclosed. "And it's your turn. Tell me something embarrassing." she paused. The vodka was definitely kicking in, but she felt he owed her after the whole mail order bride thing. "About yourself."

Matt grinned at her from across the table, his arms crossed over his chest. She knew that it wasn't a fair question, but she drank anyway. Those were the rules, weren't they? A question for a drink, if it was the truth. If they had been smart about it, then they might've set up some safety rules to stop that from happening, but they hadn't, so Matt was able to exploit that fact.

"And it's your turn. Tell me something embarrassing... About yourself."

Matt took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, considering her across the table. The vodka had made him loose-lipped, and he had already dug himself into a pretty deep hole. Plus, he did owe her for that last thing, and she had already told him more about herself than he had to her.

"Alright, something embarrassing," he said, pondering it. The thing that came first to his mind was something that had cut him to his core back when it had initially happened. "I had a military career, once upon a time. It was actually looking really good until I was 'honourably discharged'. Buddy of mine stepped on a land mine and caused a few fatalities. I was lucky enough to just get a blow of shrapnel."

Was it embarrassing? Only in the sense that it still kept him up at night sometimes, so there was that. Probably not the direction she had wanted to take it in, but that's where he had gone. He poured himself another shot and took it quickly before continuing. "Anyway, it f***ed up my hands, so now I tend bars." With that, he leaned forward on the table and rested his elbow on it, running his hand over the back of his neck. "I guess that's the embarrassing side of it. I had potential, once upon a time."

For a moment, she was not sure whether he was going to play along with the storytelling or not. But ultimately, wasn't that why they came here? He needed to talk, even if he did not want to. And of course that did not mean that he needed to talk about the worst of it. Sveta obviously didn't.

>>"I had a military career, once upon a time. It was actually looking really good until I was 'honourably discharged'. Buddy of mine stepped on a land mine and caused a few fatalities. I was lucky enough to just get a blow of shrapnel."

She had been wondering what happened to the military thing. It was a huge part of American culture, which is why it had been a safe bet; but stories differed wildly from person to person. And he did not strike her as a soldier. Not anymore. The story explained that. Sveta, expecting something funnier than a deadly landmine, stared at Matt.

>>"Anyway, it f***ed up my hands, so now I tend bars. I guess that's the embarrassing side of it. I had potential, once upon a time."

"You..." Sveta noted, tilting her head slowly "Really suck at this game. Drink."

That story was certainly not going to lighten the mood.

"I once had sex with my boyfriend in the woods, and we got attacked by a moose." she deadpanned through a growing haze of vodka. "See? Embarrassing."

"Yeah, sorry," Matt said in agreement. He did suck at that game. It was a given, really, considering his current dower mood. He was like a vine at that point, swinging dangerously between calmness and calamity. One moment he felt just fine laughing at her comments, and then next, the haze would lift and he would go back to being a brooding mess. What could he do about it? Another drink seemed like a good temporary fix. Maybe not the smartest, but it was doing the job. He refilled his glass and took another shot.

Just to show him where he had gone wrong, Svetlana shared a story of her own. That was an actual embarrassing story, for sure. "A moose? Like, an actual moose?" That seemed a little... well, insane. Especially in a place like New York when moose weren't exactly all that common. Nor was it often heard of for them to attack people. Matt shook his head, trying to imagine it. What was worse was that she had placed herself in a compromising position in the woods with another person. Not exactly what you wanted to happen when you got caught with your pants down. "Damn. It actually attacked you? With its antlers?"

Matt sighed and leaned forward a bit, having mentally committed to giving her a better story to work with. Something that was actually embarrassing and wouldn't make him simply sit and brood again. "Alright... something that can top a moose interrupting you getting busy... oh, here we go." He said as he racked his brain silently, trying to keep it out of the dark places. After a minute or so, he had stumbled on something good.

"My wife and I dated first in high school, and the first time we ever had sex, we were at her house, and her parents walked in on us. First time I'd met them, too, and I had my pants down at my ankles," he said. The slightest hint of smile crept along the corners of his mouth as he recounted the event. "I'm still shocked they let me marry her at all."

The moose story was a sure thing. It was pretty funny in retrospect. Also, innocent in a way that it did not really drag up any issues. For now. Matt looked appropriately impressed.

>>"A moose? Like, an actual moose?... Damn. It actually attacked you? With its antlers?"

"Well, it was just kinda curious at first" Sveta snickered "But I guess then it got spooked. It was more hooves than antlers, though."

And the rest was history.

>>"Alright... something that can top a moose interrupting you getting busy... oh, here we go."

Svta took a drink and some fries. She wondered if he really had a story to top the moose attack.

>>"My wife and I dated first in high school, and the first time we ever had sex, we were at her house, and her parents walked in on us. First time I'd met them, too, and I had my pants down at my ankles... I'm still shocked they let me marry her at all."

Sveta chuckled at the story. It was not special, as far as teen antics went, but it was pretty funny nonetheless.

"That'll teach you to lock the door" she grinned at him "But hormones are powerful, I guess..."

A moose attack was not something that people often complained about. Bears? Sure. Coyotes? Definitely. Moose, though? That was far more unusual, to say the least. Matt went as far as to laugh at the statement, shaking his head as he imagined a moose coming after Svetlana and whoever her boyfriend had been. Or still was. That much wasn’t clear.

Matt had divulged a story that was actually fairly embarrassing. He seemed to have far less arsenal to pick from than she did, and he didn’t have anything that could top a moose attack, but the story had been embarrassing when it had happened. When he looked back on it then, though, it was more nostalgic than anything. They had thought that they were so mature back then; so ready to take on anything. They had both become different people in the time that they’d spent apart from one another, so it was interesting to remember that time.

Needless to say, Matt and Sophie had learned their lesson when her parents walked in on them. After that, they were much more careful about finding out exactly when her parents were getting home, and even after that, the sound of the garage door opening still scared him just a little.

“Especially at that age,” he said, agreeing with her statement about hormones. “I can’t imagine what that would have been like at a mutant school.” It had been bad enough in the high school that he’d gone to, and adding in mutant abilities sounded like the worst possible idea. Someone like Svetlana probably had a pretty good time there, though, he figured.

He was feeling better. Since getting several things off of his chest, he was feeling quite a bit lighter. It probably had quite a bit to do with the vodka, too, but that wasn’t everything. A significant portion was due to Svetlana. That made him all the more curious about her, though. Despite having opened up a bit, she was still a bit of a mystery. “So when are you going explain why you wear the gloves? No obsessive neat freak orders a hotdog. Or walks into a bar, really.”

The look on Matt's face was beginning to soften. Remembering something other than death about his wife seemed to lighten his mood (or it might have been the vodka, honestly). Sveta relaxed too, enjoying the fries and the alcohol buzz. It was just one of those freak encounters with a random person that just seemed to work out somehow.
Or maybe they were both drunk now. Who knew.

>>“Especially at that age. I can’t imagine what that would have been like at a mutant school.”

"Chaotic." Sveta summarized. She had not spent much time at Xavier's, and she had been older than many of the kids. Still, it was a mess. Mostly in a good way, but still a mess. No doubt there had been some awkward walk-ins around there too.

>>“So when are you going explain why you wear the gloves? No obsessive neat freak orders a hotdog. Or walks into a bar, really.”

Sveta sighed, and looked down at her gloves. He was drunk, but still observant. Of course she had the right to just say 'none of your business', but somehow, she didn't.

"It's for protection. De... coffee buzz I told you about, it is stronger with touch. If I touch someone skin to skin, it is like giving them an adrenaline shot." not the truth, but close enough. Not that he could care, but since SUPER, Sveta was done telling random people that she could boost mutant powers. "Not everyone likes that." she added with a smirk.

Matt had no doubt that living at a mutant boarding school would have plenty of woes. Chaotic was the word that Svetlana used, and he snorted, but he couldn’t help but think that that word wouldn’t even do it justice. Boarding schools in general just seemed like a bad idea to Matt. Things had been dramatic enough when he’d lived in dorm rooms during army training, and then at a moving base camp when he was deployed. Being fifteen, with mutant powers and girls living down the hallway? He just didn’t want to picture it.

He had changed the topic to the gloves that she wore constantly. He might’ve been drunk, but the question had been bugging him ever since she’d given him that non-answer back at his bar. It simply couldn’t be the case, and since they seemed to be sharing all the deepest, darkest parts of themselves, he figured that he had a pretty good shot of getting the truth out of her at that point.

The question was really just if he would remember it in the morning.

There had been a little bit of a question in his mind as to whether it had to do with her mutation, and, in fact, it did. She wore the gloves because skin to skin contact amplified her abilities. Matt, lacking a general filter, said, “I’m surprised people aren’t into that.” He popped a fry into his mouth as he shrugged. Really, she was gorgeous and gave people a shot of adrenaline with each touch. He wouldn’t be able to feel it, but as far as he knew, that would go over pretty well in some of the circles he’d seen. At least some of the guys that walked into the bar on an average night. She had a boyfriend, though, so someone must’ve been into it.

He inspected his shot glass for a brief second, and then all at once, he remembered that it was his turn. It had been for some time. “Oh. Never have I ever kissed a stranger.”

The whole adrenaline shot thing was close enough to the truth to explain the gloves, and the problems she referred to about her powers. It was an easy lie. Not that she owed Matt the truth in any shape or form, really. But it was better than saying something completely outrageous, and regretting it later.

>>“I’m surprised people aren’t into that.”

"Some of them are" Sveta smirked, stressing the word to make it clear those were usually not the people she wanted to associate with. Oh, some people were into her powers a lot. Just not in a sexy way.

Matt was looking better, and also more drunk now.

>>“Oh. Never have I ever kissed a stranger.”

"Pffft" Sveta chuckled, and drank her shot. Kissing strangers, indeed. Only when she needed to, really, but it had definitely happened. More than once.

"Never have I ever played a drinking game with a stranger before."

Given some of the people that Matt had met, he couldn't seem to imagine a world where no one would be at least a little bit turned on by the idea of a girl with caffeine powers. She did reply that some people did like the idea, though he got the impression from her that those weren't really the people that she wanted joining her for a night. And hey, he hadn't lived with a mutation like that, so he had no room to comment. He'd figured that life would have been easy for someone like that, but it obviously wasn't the case. He figured he should remember that the next time he made a snap judgement about a person.

If he remembered it, anyway.

With all the vodka, Matt was feeling quite a bit more calm. There was even a chance that the broodiness was behind him for the time being. His mind had wandered far from the places he'd been edging toward for most of the evening, so he wasn't focused so much on the past or his mistakes. So, he'd picked the game back up.

"Really? For some reason I didn't think I'd get you there," Matt said honestly, snorting lightly as she took a shot. Maybe it was just around him, but Svetlana didn't really seem like the type to go around kissing strangers. Perhaps it had something to do with her mutation? Or maybe he was just really killing her vibe. Neither was completely off the table. Hell, he was killing his own vibe that evening.

"Never have I ever played a drinking game with a stranger before."

Matt raised his hands in defeat. "Never with a stranger," he said in agreement. They were both virgins when it came to binge drinking with strangers. He'd played plenty of drinking games in his time, especially in high school or with his army buddies, but never with someone he just met. The idea even seemed a little out there to him when he was doing it. "Never have I ever gotten a piercing."

She drank, because kissing, in her case, was also a weapon, and sometimes the only way out of a bad situation. Sometimes it worked out for the better; occasionally, for the worst. But it did deserve taking the shot anyway, and Matt looked a little surprised.

>>"Really? For some reason I didn't think I'd get you there,"

"Depends on how you define stranger" Sveta grinned, and left it at that. Did one night stands count? Did you have to know the person's name? Did you have to know the person's angsty history with the dead wife?...

Drinking games. The drunk part was definitely kicking in.

>>"Never with a stranger,"

Neither of them drank. Sveta ate some more fries. "There's a first time for everything" she chuckled. Were they still strangers?... Who the hell knew at this point?

>>"Never have I ever gotten a piercing."

Sveta refilled and drank.

"Russian punk, baby" she grinned, putting the glass down. "At least, before they made me... marketable..." she snorted. The Matchmaker really did have her work cut out for her.

"Never have I ever lost a fist fight."

There were strangers everywhere. A few hours ago, the two of them had been strangers. But now? Now she knew more than most of the people that entered Matt’s life, past or present. He would have a hard time calling her a stranger now; though he didn’t even know her last name. There were things that bonded people, and he would define that night as one of them. He would never forget the woman who explained what he was and then drank with him in some random bar when he didn’t want to be alone, no matter how drunk he got.

“Alright, definition of a stranger,” he began, chewing on a fry as he considered it. She hadn’t asked for a definition, but he was going to give her one anyway. “Someone who you’ve met that day, but you don’t know anything about them, and you definitely don’t know their life story.” That was how he was thinking of it, anyway. He wasn’t a stranger to one-night stands, but usually he would spend a little time talking to the person first.

She was his first time playing a drinking game with a stranger, and he was grateful to her for it. If he had gone home alone, the night likely would have taken a very different turn, but with someone to drink with and keep him oriented, he was doing alright. When the morning came, he could be hungover and bitter, but for that night, he was doing just fine. “To first times,” he said, holding up a fry to her. He would have held up a glass, but his head was swimming enough. He would save shots for the game.

His next question did get her to drink, which he was pretty much expecting. Russian punk kid that underwent a makeover in order to be appealing to skeevy Americans and their moms. There might’ve, again, been a market for the unusual, but the company probably preferred the classic look. “So before you were a blonde bombshell, you were just some kid with a bunch of holes in her face. Who would’ve thought.”

"Never have I ever lost a fist fight."

Matt raised his eyebrows at her but refilled his glass and drank. He’d lost some fights in his time, but he’d also been in a fair few fist fights. It was inevitable, both when people got angry around the army base, and when he’d been in his downward spiral after Sophie’s death. “Alright, fine, but how many fist fights have you been in, anyway? It’s hard to lose one when you’ve been in, like, two.” He narrowed his eyes at her as he continued, “or does it have something to do with your powers?”

>>“Alright, definition of a stranger. Someone who you’ve met that day, but you don’t know anything about them, and you definitely don’t know their life story.”

Sveta gave Matt a long look, mulling over his proposed definition. Sure, they already knew a lot of each other's life story, but she still did not know his last name. Or whether any of what he admitted had been actually true. But they agreed there was a first time for everything. "I stand by the drink" she concluded. She had definitely kissed a stranger before. And never played a drinking game with one.

And also used to have piercings.

>>“So before you were a blonde bombshell, you were just some kid with a bunch of holes in her face. Who would’ve thought.”

"A bombshell with holes... strag...stag... stra-tegically placed holes in her face" Sveta corrected him with a serious face. It was a sure sign of her getting drunk that she was losing grip on her English. To correct the fail, she asked another question, and won.

>>“Alright, fine, but how many fist fights have you been in, anyway? It’s hard to lose one when you’ve been in, like, two. or does it have something to do with your powers?”

"More dan two." she smirked "And yes, powers. Kind of. When you are human... caffeine, people tend to want you as a walking... power boost. I have been kidnapped..." she quietly counted for a moment "... at least three times. Once by the government. So. Drink to that."