>>“That’s…wow. That’s definitely not something you hear every day. So basically you got tricked—er, I guess that’s not a good word to use. Uh, I mean if this all happened a year ago, I guess I can see why you’re okay with everything now. That’s good,”

"It is." Sveta nodded with a smirk. She did not feel the need to go into details about the boys she'd met since then who made Fausto look the most normal non-relationship she'd ever had. It was all good now. Kinda, sorta.

>>“M—my turn? Er, how about another round? My treat. Uh so…what’re you drinking, by the way?”

Sveta chuckled as Lydia bailed from the question, then returned without drinks. All right, so she did not want to talk about her past. She could understand that.

"I just drink coke" she admitted "I left my ID at home." and even though she was used to getting drunk long before she was legal even in Russia, slowly she was starting to adapt to the American customs.

Once Lydia returned, Sveta smiled at her. "Sorry, I did not need to ask weird questions. Not everyone talks about themselves easy, I understand dat."

>> "I just drink coke. I left my ID at home.”

Sveta looked a little young to be drinking in bars legally, and she really didn’t look that much older than Lydia. Maybe she had a fake ID too? Or maybe bartenders and bouncers just let her slide because of those pretty blue eyes. But then again, looks could be deceiving.

>> "Sorry, I did not need to ask weird questions. Not everyone talks about themselves easy, I understand dat."

She breathed an audible sigh of relief. She hadn’t realized she had even been holding her breath. The skin-shifter was a bit embarrassed that she had been so obvious about her escape, about her intentions to avoid the personal questions, but at least Sveta understood her feelings. She shot the blonde a grateful smile before motioning that she’d be right back, and turning around and strolling to the bar table again to finally order the drinks. Dia tapped her fingers on the wood counter, after she told the bartender what the two girls wanted, while she waited for the beverages. An obnoxious group of already drunk men stumbled into the bar, prompting eyerolls from some of the more sober patrons.

Lydia grabbed the drinks as soon as they came out and started walking carefully, to ensure minimum spillage in her slightly-intoxicated state, back to her table in the back.

“Hey! Watch it!” One of the men who had just entered roared at another man who accidentally bumped into him while walking out. The sudden shout made the teenager jump and spill half of her drink. Luckily she managed to preserve most of Sveta’s coke. She decided to hurry back to the table, lest another raucous shout scare her again.

“Damn drunk guys…” Lydia muttered as she set down the glasses and sat down next to the Russian again.

>>“Damn drunk guys…”

"Yeah" Sveta smirked, taking the coke "Thank you."

The guys kept yelling in the background. Sveta didn't really care. Last time she was in a bar fight, she touched some random guy and the next thing she knew, random guy sent another random guy flying through a brick wall.
It was kind of awesome.
Of course, she was a bit drunk at the time.

"Good times" she muttered with a smirk, before she shook her head and returned to reality "You know, I think...."

She never got to tell Lydia what she was thinking; it was probably for the better too. The next thing she knew, the table between the two of them became a bit crowded: shattered glass, spilled drinks, and some random guy occupied it, the latter just landed with a crash, with the help of the guy he'd been arguing with.

Men...

>> "You know, I think...."

Craaash! Aw ****, there goes the rest of my drink, Lydia thought, now frowning. Well, this certainly was annoying. There was a random drunk guy sprawled across their table. He groaned as he slowly rolled off and onto the ground, glass particles falling off the back of his jacket. He'd definitely be feeling that in the morning. Immediately his friends got up from their seats and marched towards the man who had tossed the unlucky fellow, and his snickering companions.
Ah, she could see where this was going.

Lyd couldn't help but smirk as she watched the two packs of inebriated males start stamping their hooves. Fights were so fun to watch, especially when some of the combatants couldn't even walk straight. And it seemed she and Sveta had the front-row seats, as the action was happening some seven or eight feet away from them. As long as another man didn't land on their table. The one who had seemed pretty content with his position on the floor, apparently too stunned to get up.

She was fine with staying where she was and checking out the sudden entertainment, but she wasn't sure if Sveta was. "Hey, wanna get outta here?" The teenager asked, hoping that the answer was no.

Oh yes, that was definitely a bar fight in the making. Sveta frowned as the drinks got spilled everywhere, and she puled her chair back a little from the table. Why did men never consider that there were ladies in the room?... bar?... whatever?...

>>"Hey, wanna get outta here?"

"Well..." she wrinkled her nose, looking towards the exit. It was behing the group of men trying to aim their punches. It did not look all that safe with so many stray punches flying around.

"I tink we should stay. For now." she concluded, pulling her chair further back, and glancing at Lydia. She looked calm. Almost mischievous.

"I just hope dey don't want to fight us..."

Lydia let a bit more of her smirk peek out when Sveta agreed to stay in their current position, knocked out guy underneath their table and all. She didn’t really seem like she wanted to, and she gave a look of contempt at the mess around them. But even if they tried to exit, the main door was currently being blocked by a few of the brawl-ready guys. Oh well, it looked like they’d be there for a while, then. Oh if only she had some popcorn or snowcap chocolates…

>> "I just hope dey don't want to fight us...”

Oh but that would be the best! She thought, eyes darting from each combatant. Now they seemed to be breaking into smaller, individual altercations. That was when one brunette girl darted up from her seat and in between two guys. “All right stop it Jon,” she commanded the man at her right, “This whole thing is stu—!“ But the other man, already in motion when the woman came up to them, accidentally pushed her out of the way. “Hey that’s my girlfriend you bastard!” Jon said, aiming a punch at the other guy’s jaw.

Immediately Lydia jumped from her seat and ran to the fallen brunette, helping her up. “Hey jerks, how about not being a couple o’ dumb****s swinging at each other and helping this girl up instead?” Idiots.

>>“Hey jerks, how about not being a couple o’ dumb****s swinging at each other and helping this girl up instead?”

Oh, it was not good. Not good at all. People were fighting, and Sveta pulled her gloves up her arms, just to make sure no one could accidentally grab her arm and touch skin. Just in case any of them had some hidden mutant abilities...

... and then Lydia had to go and get involved.

The brunette skittered off into a corner, sniffling; the guys turned to look at the girl who yelled at them. They did not really care at this point who or what she was.

"**** off, b*tch" one of them growled, finding a common enemy "Ain't your *** business."

Yup, Sveta thought, standing behind Lydia, definitely not good.

The woman snatched her arm away as soon as she got up, and stalked off into some dark corner. Um…okay, rude mu—and that was when Lydia saw why the brunette had fled so suddenly. “Oh, ****.” The teenager swore, staring at her hands, which were changing from matte pink flesh to shiny champagne topaz. She had been caught unawares by her mutation again. She was shifting.

>> "**** off, b*tch. Ain't your *** business.”

One of the men growled at her, and the other nodded in agreement. It appeared Jonny wasn’t all that concerned for his girlfriend anymore, and was more interested in sharing a few blows. Well perhaps he would now, now that the two guys had noticed Dia’s hands too. “Yer a mutie?” The other man questioned with a look of snide derision on his face. Not mutant-kind’s biggest fan, it seemed.

“Yeah I am,” She simply said, and stood in her place. She held her tongue, even though she wanted to add more than a few choice words to her statement. Stupid bigot. Dia glanced back at Sveta, hoping she didn’t share the same feelings as some of the other patrons.

>> “Oh, ****.”
>>“Yer a mutie?”
>>“Yeah I am,”

Oh, ****.
Sveta momentarily wondered why all the people she ran into in pubs and parties tended to be mutants. Randomly. Was it just luck (bad luck?), or maybeit was part of her mutation? Drawing in mutants? She should experiment with that. It was not enough that her touch could accidentally kill a thousand people; now she had to worry about everyone she met too.

Stepping up near Lydia, she looked at the men.

"Leave us alone" she said, sounding a bit more confident than she was, watching thr girl's skin turn into something... else. It looked exactly like Nathan used to look. Metal shifter? Skin shifter?...

How many times had this happened to Lydia again? Where her body decided to turn her mutation on without consulting her first? Too many times to count. She really had to start going to the training facility at the Sanctuary or find someone who could help her learn to control her mutation. As much as she liked showing off her abilities every now and then, all the time was just annoying and excessive. Especially is those prejudiced against mutants were around. Lyd wasn’t the type to back down against people like that, but more often than not she ended up getting into some form of trouble in these types of situations.

But she couldn’t help it if they were jealous of her and tired of being ordinary.

>> “Leave us alone.”

She couldn’t help but smile a little when Sveta defiantly came to her aid. She looked a little confused, however, probably because she hadn’t expected the skin-shifter to be a mutant. Unfortunately, the other bar-goers were not as tolerant as the blonde. “Hey we don’t appreciate your kind around here.” A woman called out from the bar table. ”Yeah, why don’t you girlies get the **** out?” The man in front of them said.

Her brow furrowed in frustration. That was why Dia should’ve looked up mutant-friendly bars or something, fewer altercations. “Come on Sveta, let’s g—“ She pretended to turn, as if to leave, but quickly spun around and connected her fist to his face. Topaz was an incredibly durable, hard gemstone, and the momentum didn’t hurt the impact one bit. She smirked at her handy work as she grabbed her companion’s hand and made for the exit, around the stunned bigot and those by him. Hopefully Sveta would comply.

>>“Hey we don’t appreciate your kind around here. Yeah, why don’t you girlies get the **** out?”

Oh well. Surprise surprise, the majority of people still did not like mutants. Sveta rarely ever got into those situations; she could pass for human as long as another mutant did not touch her. That was better than most mutants had.
For example, Dia, who seemed to have turned her hands into some kind of a yellow stone...

>>“Come on Sveta, let’s g—“

... and then she had to go ahead and punch the guy.

Sveta winced at the impact; now they have definitely done it, attacked a human, and it was sure that the whole bar would be at them in a mimute. Lydia grabbed her hand - oh joy, direct contact, wonderful - and dragged her towards the exit.

"Just where do you think ya're goin' huh?" another guy grunted, grabbing Sveta's other arm and pulling her back; Sveta yelped, and her hand slipped form Lydia's grasp. "Let me go you son of a b*tch" she yelled in elegant Russian, struggling to free herself.

Sveta seemed to be following her at first, but suddenly something wrenched her out of Lydia’s grip. Oh ****, the teenager thought as she whipped around and saw what had pulled the blonde away. A man was holding onto her other arm. God damn it, right when I thought we were making a smooth getaway. It would’ve been so badass if they had left with that punch. Sveta said something to the man in Russian, something not too kind-sounding, and tried to pull her arm away.

>> "Just where do you think ya're goin' huh?”

“We’re going out like your buddy wants us to, so if you’d let go of my friend here I won’t have to give you a black eye too,” she replied with extra bite. She really shouldn’t have been provoking the man, but he was really pissing her off. He was gripping Sveta’s arm way too tightly. She glanced down at her fist, preparing to use it again, but something out-of-the-ordinary caught her attention. Quickly her eyes travelled all the way up her arm and down the rest of her body.

Lyd’s arms were already fully covered in champagne topaz, along with the skin going down to her knees. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes since she had first started changing, but she was already almost done? It always took her around ten to shift completely. That was…weird. But she’d think about that later. The issue at hand was more important.

“Mutie,” the man spat out, “you can leave. But we never said anything about your cute little friend here.” Ah, they only wanted her out because she was a mutant, but Sveta was fair game? “Seriously man, let go of her! She obviously doesn't want to stay in your company.”

>>“Mutie, you can leave. But we never said anything about your cute little friend here.”

Sveta stopped struggling for a moment just to sigh and roll her eyes. All right, so passing for human was not always such a great thing. The struggling resumed.

>>"Seriously man, let go of her! She obviously doesn't want to stay in your company.”

She stole a glance at Lydia. She seemed to be all right, despite the contact earlier; more parts of her were covered in the yellow stone, but she did not freak out, or collapse, or anything.

"Idiot" she sighed, turning back to the man "You tink I would hang out with a mutant if I was not one?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. Seriously?... Well, probably yes. She would hang out with muties even if she was not one. But right now that was not the point.

"I count to tree, and if you do not let me go, your brain will burn." she said, glaring at the guy trying her best to be very, very intimidating, like some dangerous mutant criminal. She hoped it would work.

>> "Idiot. You tink I would hang out with a mutant if I was not one?"

If Lydia wasn’t already looking at Sveta, she would’ve done a double take. She’s a mutant too? What the heck, how was that even possible? How was it that so many of the people the skin-shifter met in New York happened to be mutants? She understood that the Big Apple was a popular place for them, but seriously, she’d met more mutants than humans at this point. Not that she was complaining, of course, but it was just really strange and coincidental. The more mutants the merrier!

>> "I count to tree, and if you do not let me go, your brain will burn."

The girl smirked, watching for the man’s reaction. His face scrunched in confusion as he looked at the blonde, searching her face to see if she was bluffing. Dia could almost read his thoughts as his facial expressions changed. Sometimes the most normal looking ones were the most deadly. But at the same time…how many mutants could fry a person’s brains? Unless it was some weird mind power…mutants were so damn confusing!

Yes, yes we are. The other men began to fidget uneasily, half expecting the man’s brains to start oozing out of his ears. “‘Ey, maybe you should just let her go...” One of them piped up nervously. Eventually the man relented, not wanting to call Sveta’s bluff, in case it wasn’t one. “Fine you disgusting muties. Get out.”

“With pleasure,” Lydia retorted, and she again took her friend’s hand to guide her away.

Svet stood her ground, and held the man's gaze with determination; had he happened to call the bluff, she was ready to just kick him and run. Would have been less elegant, but still a fair plan B.
She could see the fear in his eyes mixed with confusion and suspicion. She tried her best to look like someone who could fry brains.
Technically, she could. She needed some help, but it was possible...

>>“Fine you disgusting muties. Get out.”

Sveta bit back a sigh as the man let go; the next moment, Lydia took her hand once again.

>>“With pleasure,”

They left the bar. Sveta di not run; she walked out like a queen, and then remembered to breathe when they turned the next corner.

"Dat was..." she panted, and started to chuckle at the same time, out of pure shock "... dat was crazy."