“So I’m a special occasion. Good to know,” Matt teased with a smirk. He knew that wasn’t likely to be the truth, but he was more interested in teasing her about it than actually hearing the reason why he’d convinced her to binge drink that night. He knew the reasons already, and he wasn’t looking to delve into them. Surface level was just fine.

It was likely good that she wasn’t intending to get drunk, though. They were just talking, and there was no reason why they always had to be drunk to do that. Already, she knew more about him than most people, so there was no reason to hide. No reason that he shouldn’t just tell her the truth about things.

He’d asked her what she did to feel… well, whole. She seemed like she had, for the most part, gotten a hang of it, and part of him wanted to see what was different about how they dealt with it. Most of the guys he had come out of service with had gotten into some pretty dark places, and they all crawled up out of their holes in different ways. Or some didn’t; that was the hardest to watch.

Despite her appearance of success, though, she seemed about as lost as him. He supposed he had to expect that in some ways; did anyone really have it together? There was a chance that she was pretending as much as he was. Still, she was trying - learning, as she put it. There was always more to learn, more to do. It was a constant journey, often without a real destination. Lots of people didn’t get that, just looking in from the outside. Maybe that was why he liked talking to her so much; there were too few people who really knew what he meant when he talked. Too few people simply looked at the surface level of things. What they both experienced came with the territory of trauma.

“Exercise,” he said with a slow nod as he thought about his own techniques. He, too, was still figuring things out. “Talking to people helps. I play music sometimes. That sorta sh** that takes your mind off it all. When I can’t sleep I grab my guitar.”

>>“So I’m a special occasion. Good to know,”

"Don't let it go to your head" Sveta smirked. He really was a special occasion. Not only because he was an adapted, which was rare like a white raven, and a lucky find too. Mostly because he was the kind of person Sveta could get along with without pretending to be someone she was not. Mostly.

>>“Exercise. Talking to people helps. I play music sometimes. That sorta sh** that takes your mind off it all. When I can’t sleep I grab my guitar.”

Sveta laughed a little. "Of course you do." he just had that broody musician look that teenage girls would faint over. Of course he played the guitar. But who was she to judge? Music was good for many things, and certainly healthier than alcohol. "I'd like to hear that sometime." She wondered what kind of music he played. "I don't even remember the last time I had a hobby..."

It was going to his head just a little bit. Matt couldn’t help but grin a little at her comment before looking down at the bar he was tidying absently. It had been a while since he’d hung out with anyone like that and felt like he could be honest with them. Even with his old army buddies, there was some sort of a divide, and most of them lived across the country anyway.

They were soon on the topic of hobbies, and Matt had a few to share. Years being on his own had taught him how to keep himself busy on dark nights when his thoughts wandered just a little too far. The healthiest of those, he shared with Svetlana.

Of course he did? “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, his eyebrows raising in question. Did he have some sort of look about him that would suggest that he was a musician? He had definitely been better before he’d injured his hands, but he still thought of himself that way. He did work in a bar that played live music, so it came with the territory a little bit.

Mostly, he played for himself. He’d even written a few songs in his time, though they were unlikely to ever reach the ears of anyone other than his unwitting neighbours. Svetlana, on the other hand, seemed to be more lacking on that front. “Do you have things you like doing? Maybe you could pick up martial arts. I hear you get to punch people quite a bit,” Matt suggested. That seemed to be in line with what she liked to do. Other than that, he didn’t know all that much about her interests.

Glancing up at the clock, he gave a shrug and rounded back to her earlier comment. “I mean, if you weren’t just saying that to play into my ego, then I’m off in a few. Got a few guitars in the sound box.” They were kept there just in case a performer needed a backup or a replacement. Sometimes when it was quiet, they would take them out and play them themselves. Plus, Matt wasn’t doing anything that night, and did have an itch to play. Play for someone who actually cared to hear it.

Sveta chuckled as the called her out on her comment. Of course he played music. It was the kinda thing a bartender with a sad past would do on his free time. Plus, he had a pleasant voice. That did not necessarily mean that he could carry a tune, but it did give him a musician-like appearance.

>>“Do you have things you like doing? Maybe you could pick up martial arts. I hear you get to punch people quite a bit,”

"Punching people is not a hobby, it's a job" Sveta deadpanned "But I do boxing sometimes."

It was part training and part workout. She learned a lot from it, but also didn't think of it as... a hobby. Like Matt's music was.

>>“I mean, if you weren’t just saying that to play into my ego, then I’m off in a few. Got a few guitars in the sound box.”

"I'll take you up on it" Sveta smiled. Now she was curious. "Did you learn it by yourself?"

“I thought your job was going through the news,” Matt said with a raised eyebrow. There were a few things that she said that suggested that maybe it wasn’t as kosher as she made it out to be. Still, he wasn’t about to press for details if she didn’t want to go into it. She had, after all, been subjected to many things over her time, and there was a possibility that it was just aftermath from that.

But unlike Svetlana, Matt actually did have a hobby. Music was something that cleared his head and made it so he was able to process some of his emotions. Maybe he did look like a typical musician, but that was fine with him. Perhaps it was better to look the part than not.

She wanted to hear him play, too. He nodded, trying to pretend that he wasn’t looking forward to playing for her. “My dad taught me, originally. I have a lot of siblings, so we couldn’t afford lessons, but he taught us all how to play. Used to be better, but my hands make it hard to do anything other than hammering out some chords,” he said with a shrug. Classical guitar playing had been something that would have been in reach in his youth, but now it was completely out of the question. There were chords now that he couldn’t even make his hands form, so he had to resort to using a capo some of the time.

Just in time for things to move into action, Matt’s replacement strolled into the bar. She was a short woman with spiky black hair and a style that could most easily be described as ‘hipster goth’. She stopped just short of the bar, glanced at the last guy still out cold on the ground, shook her head, and then kept going. “What, did you overpour again?” she asked as she stepped behind Matt to deposit her purse behind the counter.

“He was more of a lightweight than he looked,” Matt replied with a shrug. “Managed to start a fight.”

“Only when you work, Matty.”

“Good to see you too, Christina. I’ll be right back.” Matt smirked at the woman appreciatively, shaking his head as he stepped into the back room to grab both his belongings and a guitar. While he did so, Christina bent down to her purse and pulled out a stick of lipstick to fix her makeup.

“So,” she said, addressing Svetlana for the first time, “I don’t think I’ve seen Matt bring a girl around before.”

Punching people was good for stress relief. Sveta would not have been a vigilante for years if it wasn't. But it was not exactly a hobby, not in a way that made one feel relaxed and joyful.

>>“I thought your job was going through the news,”

"My current job." Sveta smirked a little sheepishly. None of it was Matt's business, but at least he took most things in stride. And with healthy suspicion.

>>"My dad taught me, originally. I have a lot of siblings, so we couldn’t afford lessons, but he taught us all how to play. Used to be better, but my hands make it hard to do anything other than hammering out some chords,”

Sveta glanced at Matt's hands. He mentioned before that they had been hurt, but she tended to forget, because if they caused him problems, he hid it really well. Playing music, though... that took a different kind of movement.

Their conversation was cut short by a woman arriving - Matt's shift was over. Sveta waited for him to go pick up his stuff, watching as the woman exchanged banter with him. For a loner, he seemed to be liked.

>>“So, I don’t think I’ve seen Matt bring a girl around before.”

Sveta blinked.

"He didn't bring me. I came in on my own." she clarified.

“Wow, that’s even more of a development,” Christina said, looking at Svetlana interestedly. Matt was already stepping out of the back with his jacket and a rather beaten up looking guitar as he shook his head at Christina.

“Leave her be, Chris,” he said with a sigh, as he passed behind her, stepping out from behind the bar. He held the guitar up in order to keep it from banging against the side of the bar.

Christina scoffed as she looked at him, crossing her arms as she took in the sight. “Excuse me, but two years of working with you, and I’ve never met anyone else who knows you, and now you’re playing guitar for a gorgeous girl who showed up of her own volition? I’m intrigued. Let me be intrigued.” The woman looked over at the two of them with a wide grin, clearly a bit of a sucker for drama.

Matt couldn’t help but look down a little sheepishly. He had done his best to keep his coworkers out of his personal life, but this was unexpected. He wasn’t used to having someone to speak to after his shift was done. “Chris, this is Svetlana. She’s a friend,” he said, hoping that it would clear up any weird air or ideas that the woman was getting. He knew that before the night was over, every other person that he worked with would have all the details that she knew. His next shift was going to be great.

“Uh huh,” she said, leaning forward a little. It was a little strange, actually. Christina would have usually been flirting rather than trying to get information. “He won’t play guitar for anyone else that asks, you know.”

“Maybe you haven’t asked nicely enough,” Matt said awkwardly, unsure of what else to say. He had sung the strap over his shoulder and had the guitar on the front of his chest.

Matt didn't really bring Svetalana to the bar. She came in to check on him; if he had asked her out, he would have definitely taken her somewhere else, like he had for getting drunk. The woman probably knew that too. But she clearly liked to banter.

>>"Wow, that’s even more of a development,”

>>“Leave her be, Chris,”

Matt returned with a banged-up guitar. It went well with the tortured musician image. Sveta chuckled at the look he gave his nosy coworker.

>>“Excuse me, but two years of working with you, and I’ve never met anyone else who knows you, and now you’re playing guitar for a gorgeous girl who showed up of her own volition? I’m intrigued. Let me be intrigued.”

Gorgeous. Sveta chuckled. She knew that this story was going to be blow out of proportion before they reached the end of the street. The woman seemed like someone who would genuinely root for Matt, and then go way overboard with her support.

>>“Chris, this is Svetlana. She’s a friend,”

Svetlana glanced at Matt. She was within her aura. She offered a hand over the counter. "Nice to meet you."

>>“Uh huh. He won’t play guitar for anyone else that asks, you know.”

>>“Maybe you haven’t asked nicely enough,”

"I didn't ask nicely" Sveta muttered with a smirk, and hopped of the bar stool to join Matt on the way out, waving goodbye to Chris. "So now I'm going to have to like your music even if you are tone deaf" she added with a chuckle "Where are we going?"

“And It’s lovely to meet you too,” Christina replied as she shook Svetlana’s hand and played up the scene. She was having far too much fun, in Matt’s opinion. There would definitely be a conversation about what was happening the next time they spoke, and he imagined that it would involve some interesting things from both sides. It wasn’t like Christina was a stranger to bringing people to the bar, but she was a little less afraid of doing so. To her, it wasn’t a big deal, so there would be no leverage there. He would have to think of something else.

"I didn't ask nicely"

“I like you!” Christina called after the two of them as they walked away. “If things don’t work out with mister broody, feel free to give me a call!”

“Sorry about that,” Matt said awkwardly as he stepped outside and held the door for Svetlana to follow him. He didn’t know what else to say on the topic, so he stopped there. She asked where they were going, and he realized that he hadn’t thought much about that. The guitar was the bar’s, not his, and while it wouldn’t matter all that much if he took it out for a bit, it wasn’t the nicest guitar. If he had been thinking, then he would have just gone back to his apartment where he had his own. That would have been smarter all around.

“I guess that’s up to you,” he said with a shrug once they were out standing on the pavement. People skirted around him to avoid the neck of the guitar, but Matt didn’t pay them much mind. “I can ditch this beat up guitar and we can go back to my place, or we could go to Central park, or something.” He ran his hand through his hair and have her a lopsided smile. “Honestly, I didn’t think through this very much.”

Chris seemed to be invested in Matt's... acquaintances. In a good way, maybe a little obnoxiously, but it spoke volumes that a coworker would care about that at all. Sveta decided she liked the woman, at least for now.

>>“I like you! If things don’t work out with mister broody, feel free to give me a call!”

>>“Sorry about that,”

"She likes you" Sveta chuckled. It was clear that was not any sort of attraction, but as much of a loner as Matt made himself out to be, he was clearly capable of making friends. "Dunno if that bodes well for me." she added with a smirk. Chris would keep an eye on her now.

Also, she had no idea where they were going.

>>“I guess that’s up to you. I can ditch this beat up guitar and we can go back to my place, or we could go to Central park, or something... Honestly, I didn’t think through this very much.”

Sveta laughed. She had been laughing more lately, which was unusual. But sometimes things just ended up being amusing.

"Isn't Central Park a little public for your secret musician skills?" she grinned at him. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel awkward while showing her his music. Also, she could not really take him to her Haven apartment. Not yet, anyway. She shook her head, as her mind wandered to a strange place. Definitely not that. "Well... your place it is, then." she concluded with a shrug. "It's not like I can't kick your ass if you try anything creepy."

“She has a funny way of showing it,” Matt said, glancing back in through the window at the coworker they’d left behind. In all honesty, he quite liked Chris, too. She reminded him quite a bit of one of his sisters; the one he’d kept in touch with the most. As much as the woman could be intrusive or obnoxious, she also made him grin more than most people, and their banter made work a little better. “But really, she’s harmless. Just… watch out - she’s charmed more people than most have in their time.”

Once they were standing outside, though, Matt realized that he hadn’t planned where to go. They could go somewhere outside, but that would, as Svetlana pointed out, be too public. And cold; the wind was bad. He had offered his apartment, but he wasn’t sure if she would want to go there. As much as she was gorgeous, he didn’t want to make things weird between the two of them in case she got the wrong idea about what he was offering. It was just music. That was all. For the time being.

“Alright, my place it is,” he said with a nod, “Just give me a sec.”

With that, he stepped back into the bar and, with some expert dodging tactics, managed to resort the guitar to its proper place without much intervention from Chris. He did, however, turn back at her with a look as she yelled, “use protection!” Hopefully Svetlana wouldn’t have been able to hear that through the closed door.

He came back outside, free of the instrument, and nodded his head toward the direction of his car. “Mind if I drive?” he asked. His car was parallel parked just a few spots down, a rather old blue ford truck. He walked around to the driver’s side and grabbed the handle, pausing as he waited to make sure that Svetlana was alright.

Chris was clearly a friend. Maybe not a close friend, or someone who knew everything, but she looked like the kind of person that would go out of their way to help if help was needed. Or if someone messed with Matt.

>>“She has a funny way of showing it. But really, she’s harmless. Just… watch out - she’s charmed more people than most have in their time.”

Sveta chuckled as she watched Matt go back inside to return the guitar he was not going to need after all. Chris yelled something, and from the look on his face Sveta could tell that it had to be something Matt was glad she didn't hear.

>>“Mind if I drive?”

"Sure." Sveta didn't drive. She could if she had to, but she never really needed it before, not in New York City. She got into the passenger seat of the truck and smirked at Matt. "So, country music, huh." It was such an easy target.

She would have been a lot more worried about going to some unknown location with a stranger before. But she also learned how to read people, and Matt seemed okay. Plus, she was not kidding; she was fairly sure she could take him. At least he was sure not to have any surprise mutant powers.

"So... how many siblings do you have again?"

Matt opened the door to his car and stepped up into the driver’s seat. He glanced up at Svetlana as he started the car and she guessed what kind of music he liked. “Think you’ve got me pegged already, huh?” he asked pointedly. From the truck, he figured that was an easy assumption. It looked like it belonged off roading somewhere. That was the time in his life that he had bought it at, though, and it had worked then. It still worked in New York, though it was often harder to get parking and it wasn’t as good on gas. He just couldn’t part with the thing. “Sometimes, maybe.”

Country music was one of a few genres that he listened to regularly. As he started the car, the radio picked up to the last station that he had tuned it to, and Johnny Cash played through the speakers as he turned to Svetlana with a raised eyebrow. “Sometimes this.”

He didn’t plan on trying anything creepy with her. That was for sure. Besides, he was pretty sure that when it came down to it, she would have the upper hand. When he was in the army it might’ve been a different story, but now he was years out from that and facing a woman who liked to keep in excellent shape. Really excellent.

As he was pulling out onto the road, she sent another question his way. That was usually a question that he avoided or half answered, but she already knew most of the nitty gritty details about his life, so what was one more? “Six now. My sister passed when I was little,” he told her. Again, not something that most people knew. She seemed to take things somewhat in stride, so he was alright telling her. Besides, that hurt was a lot less recent than some of the other ones.

“What about you? Any siblings?”

The country music thing was mostly a joke. One did not see many pickup trucks going around New York, not with people in them who lived in the city. Parking and traffic was bad enough with small cars. But Matt looked comfortable, and the truck did everything a vehicle needed to do. Sveta sat back and put the seat belt on.

>>“Think you’ve got me pegged already, huh?... Sometimes, maybe. Sometimes this.”

Sveta chuckled as the familiar music started from the radio. She was not surprised at all. She was not naive enough to think she had Matt all figured out. One could barely figure out herself and her best friends, let alone a guy she only met once. But she was starting to make some decent guesses, anyway.

Still, there was more to know, so she asked about siblings. That was a topic they did not cover before (or if they did, she didn't remember).

>>“Six now. My sister passed when I was little. What about you? Any siblings?”

Sveta nodded slowly. So he lost a sister, in addition to a wife. Sveta didn't know what it was like to grow up with that large a family, but she knew what she would have felt like if her sister died.

"One. Little sister." she smiled "I guess not so little anymore. I left her in Russia when I came here." she sighed. Leaving Bo with the Matchmaker turned out to be a bad idea on the long run. But at the time, she did what she thought was best. "Never had a big family to begin with, but after we ran away, she was the only one." she glanced at Matt "Always wondered what it was like to have more siblings."

“So she’s still there?” he clarified as they drove down the roads of New York. His apartment wasn’t that far and traffic wasn’t as bad as it could have been, so they weren’t looking at a drive that would be too bad.

He knew what it was like to be separated from family, though. Matt’s siblings had settled across the country and some of them had fallen somewhat out of touch with him. That was how it went, though. They had grown up and grown apart. As much as it wasn’t ideal, that was the realist version of things. He found it difficult to imagine having only grown up with one sibling and not being near them, though. He had his sister in town that he could call when he wasn’t doing well. That was enough for him, but he had other options, too. It sounded like it would be hard on Svetlana.

Especially since she was all that the poor girl had. She had run away from home and cut ties, meaning that her sister was what she had. All she had. That sounded tough.

“You know, hand-me-downs. Lots of fights,” he summarized as they drove closer. That was a pessimistic view of it, but he also didn’t have experience having just one sibling. That was what he’d grown up with. “It was good at times, though. And it’s a good conversation starter to say that I have as many siblings as I do.” His brother the politician was always good to bring up, too.

He pulled into a parking garage and drove into his designated spot. “This is it,” he said, shutting off the engine. Shorter drive than usual, which was probably a good thing. It meant that they didn't have to sit cooped up in his car for very long.