om_main | Brian and Alice, backdated

Alice needs a new pair of speakers; Brian needs a new TV. After lunch at the Hellfire Club, they both get a lot more than that out of the day.

Alice had been about to walk out of the store, after her purchase, when she noticed a familiar figure in an aisle not far. It wasn't difficult to notice Brian Braddock; he tended to stand out in all occasions. She had nothing pressing to attend to, so she headed over, perched on top of her favorite sandals, wearing some dark gray shorts and a black tank top. She'd had a blast making him blush under his mask at the end of year party, and he hadn't seemed to dislike it either. She was hoping this would be just as fun, if not more.

"Brian, fancy meeting you here," she greeted him with a wide, bright smile.

He gave her a polite smile back, shuffling through admittedly dim memories of the masquerade to try and recall her name. "Alice. Lovely to see you again," he offered as he managed to place her.

Alice bit down on a smile at his hesitation. "I'll be nursing a bruised ego now." But she was just teasing, and went on. "What are you up to?"

His blush was minimal, thankfully. It was still present, however. "I am purchasing a new television," Brian explained, gesturing slightly awkwardly. "Now that I've space without a roommate, I have decided I would like something a bit better."

"I like your definition of a bit better," Alice noted with admiration, given the quality of the range of TVs around them. "You made your choice yet?"

He shook his head 'no.' "I've only just arrived. You are welcome, if you've the desire, to provide me company as I continue to search." Not that Brian was Mr. Social - he most certainly was not - but it was only polite to at least offer.

Amused, Alice rested her free hand on her hip. "I can do you one better and provide advice. How outrageously expensive are we thinking, here?"

Brian shrugged slightly. Honestly, he'd not thought up a budget. This was hardly so significant a purchase as to require one.

Well, that meant 'very', of course, which had Alice's lips quirk into a smile as she looked at the range of TVs, and finally settled on a model. It wasn't even the most expensive one, although it was certainly expensive, but it was the best quality. "If you just want the TV. But they have some offers that include a home theater system."

It was entirely possible that she had once had a summer job working in a store just like this one.

If he was surprised by the authoritative way she was able to speak to such things, he managed not to show it. Years of practice remaining straight-faced had their use. "What would the benefits be in purchasing one of those instead?" He wondered. "I am only one man; I am hardly putting on movie nights in my bedroom."

"If you're only one man who doesn't care about your movie experience, there isn't any point," Alice bluntly confirmed, still smiling slightly. It was unexpected, talking about this stuff again. "But when money's no object, why would you skimp out on sound quality?"

Brian's expression was turning slightly amused. "Do you work here?"

Alice shrugged, determined to forge on with amusement, and not embarrassment. "Some place like it, in another life. And I haven't even really gotten started on my sales pitch."

"Ah. Well, then, I suppose I am at your disposal, since you are an expert."

Alice smirked. "Tell me more about what you want."

* * *

Entertainment system selected, and delivery to an alternate location arranged (he would personally ensure the transport from that location to the school, so as to avoid accidental affiliation), Brian followed Alice out of the store. "May I buy you lunch?"

"Do any girls ever turn down that offer?" Alice asked curiously, a slight, warm tease followed by a warm smile. "I'd love that, yes."

He flushed lightly, but did still manage a polite smile. "Excellent. Do you have any dining preferences?"

"Wherever you like is fine by me," Alice assured him easily, sliding her sunglasses back down on her nose when they hit the sunlit street. She had no idea what Brian Braddock's standards were, and had no intention of making him revise them and dragging him to a place less classy than he would normally attend.

Brian thought for a moment. "Are you hungry this instant, or could you stand a ride into the city?"

Alice's smile bloomed again. "Let's take a ride."

He led her over towards his Aston Martin, and on arrival reached to carefully open the door for her. He offered her his arm to enable her climb into the vehicle. Brian might not be able to speak to women but at all, but proper actions he knew.

Alice couldn't help another bright smile, briefly biting down on it as she took his arm, and her seat in the car, setting her own purchase and her purse down on the floor beside her feet. She pushed a hand through her hair as he walked around the car to get it, taking a moment to acknowledge that she was in Brian Braddock's probably indecently expensive car, about to be taken out to lunch in New York. Life as a mutant was good, now that she wasn't aimlessly floating around.

"So where are we going?" she asked curiously as he started the car.

He started the car and, after pulling them on to the road, explained, "The Club has recently hired a new French chef who is supposed to be quite good. If that is alright with you, of course."

"The Club?" Alice echoed.

"The Hellfire Club," he clarified, taking them on to the main roadway. "It is a social club. One of its branches is here, in New York."

"So you're taking me to one of those exclusive, elite clubs you can't get into unless you're somebody, or somebody's family?" she checked, very much amused - and approving. She'd never thought she'd set foot in one of those, but she suddenly wished she was wearing something a little more classy. That tank top of hers really wasn't.

Brian flushed lightly - he rarely thought of it in such terms. "I suppose. If that is acceptable."

"Absolutely," Alice confirmed with a smirk - especially when she noticed that blush. And shamelessly watched him. "As long as they don't take offense with me. I always wondered what those were like."

He suspected that, if the Club hadn't ever asked Shinobi to leave (no matter what the other lad was doing), that they would not ask Alice to. "I do not believe they will. I have no early idea why they would."

Alice gestured at her top. "I don't exactly scream New York débutante."

Brian glanced over her way. She was not wrong. Though her attire was not completely accidental, it was not polished in any way. Still, for lunch, and if he were there, he very much doubted anyone would say anything. "Neither do I."

Alice burst out into laughter at that, free and absolutely not self-conscious. "You'd look amazing in a couture gown, Brian."

"Be certain to think that near my sister," he instructed. "She will undoubtedly find the idea extremely humorous."

"I would," Alice confirmed, "but either she's avoiding me, or the fates don't want us crossing paths." She still hadn't ever exchanged two words with her.

"That is a pity. Of the two of us, she is far more enjoyable."

"I don't know, you look pretty damn enjoyable to me," Alice told him with a smirk, watching him over the top of her sunglasses before pushing them back up her nose.

Brian could not help it, he flushed. No matter how much more "practice" was getting with being spoken to in such a way, it still always surprised him when it came from someone new - or relatively new. "I...that is...that is very kind of you to say."

"I don't know about kind," Alice admitted, but it certainly was true, and worth it to see the color rise in his cheeks. She looked back at the scenery. "But seriously. I'd've thought we body snatchers would stick together." It was pretty obvious that Betsy Braddock was the other one in school hitching a ride in a body that wasn't hers; Alice didn't need to talk to her to know that.

He was not entirely sure Elizabeth would appreciate the characterization - body snatchers. "Oh?"

"Yep," Alice confirmed, but shrugged. "Oh well." She really wasn't that bothered at all. She didn't need a Betsy Braddock in her life.

"I am certain you will have the opportunity to meet her, in any event. She will be remaining at the school this year, after all." As another teaching assistant, no less. Besides, Xavier's did not have so many pupils that one could avoid meeting the others entirely by accident forever.

"Yeaaah, I'm not big on talking to people who don't wanna talk to me," Alice replied distractedly. Maybe some day she'd confront the girl, but what would be the point? She already knew everything she wanted to know about her thanks to Tessa's helpful memory upload. She smiled, looking back at Brian driving beside her. "Besides, you might think she's the better twin, but I like this one just fine."

He blushed again. "Th-thank you. However, it is I who has the better company in this car."

"Let's say it's a mutually beneficial situation and leave it at that?" Alice suggested, still smirking. That was not an argument either of them could win, although she did love to see the pink rise on his cheeks.

Brian nodded, still looking a bit embarrassed. "Right, then."

"It's a little insane that a guy like you doesn't know how to take a compliment, you know," Alice said, with absolutely no malice (pun not intended). She was serious, for once, and dropping the tease.

Slightly ashamed at the failing, however unimportant he knew it to be, he admitted, "I do not suppose you will meet any that would posit I am adept at human relations."

"I don't really care about people's, um, posits about you." No, Alice didn't know how to use that word, and grimaced at her probably grammatical fuck-up there. "I'd rather learn about you from you."

"I fear I am rather uninteresting," Brian confessed, glancing over at her and then merging into the lane beside them. "I suspect we would be much better served to hear about you."

"Ah, but then I'd be pretty bored, I already know a bunch of things about me," Alice pointed out with a smile, very aware that he could say the same thing back at her, so she soldiered on. "And see, you're not hopeless at all forms of human relations. You're awesome at polite evasions."

He evaded that observation, as well. "Well...what do you wish to know about me?"

The new evasion made her smile, but then she grew serious and thoughtful for a few seconds. "Hmm. What do you do for fun that doesn't involve a physics lab?"

The answer, truthfully, was 'very little.' Brian suspected that would not be considered an answer, though. "I do engage in some athletics. I read. Watch television, as you may have guessed."

"May have," Alice echoed with a smirk. "What kind of athletics?"

"Football, equestrian events, cricket, golf," he listed off. "Do you participate in any sports?"

"Football as in soccer, right?" she asked to make sure, because maybe he was using American vocabulary, who knew. "I used to be in the team, at my former high school." Felt like it had been in another life, but she'd liked it.

"European football, yes," Brian said, to clarify. "So you played as well, then? What position?"

"Forward," she answered with a smile, "mostly second striker, but you know. That changed sometimes. What about you?" Who'd have thought soccer would be something she had in common with Brian Braddock.

"Keeper." His size and bulk had made it a natural fit. Brian caught her smile, and a slight one curled his own lips in response.

Alice laughed because yeah, that should've been obvious. "No kidding. But no rugby? You're not living the stereotype to the fullest, BB."

"And which stereotype might that be?"

"Cricket, golf, riding, football..." She was careful to use the English word for it. "You're ticking off all the stereotypical English sports."

"Ah, well, I did warn you I was uninteresting," Brian reminded her, smiling a bit.

"Are you kidding me?" Alice chuckled, straightening up slightly in her seat to look at him as she went on. "Now you have a kickass TV we can watch soccer on. And probably argue about it." Because that was the best way to watch soccer.

He chuckled. "But of course. I'm unaware of any other way to watch the sport. Though I will endeavor to be a gentleman about it."

"Gentleman. That's not how you watch soccer," Alice pointed out, laughter threaded into her voice. "Do you like beer?" Soccer was definitely watched with beer. And no gentlemanliness. Because, cursing. It happened. A lot.

Brian nodded a little. "I do, yes. Why?"

"Because watching soccer involves beer, arguments, and a whole lot of cursing," Alice replied with a winning smile.

"Ah." He couldn't help smiling at that. "Is that how you watch football?"

"Even you've gotta cuss the referee, right?" Alice checked.

"I confess, I try and suppress such behavior around a lady," Brian told her. "But it has been known to happen. On occasion."

"Ah, we're all good," Alice assured him with a smirk. "I'm really not a lady."

"I...I would never suggest that," he assured her quickly. "You've been quite lovely. Excellent company, and more help than I might have hoped for."

Brian glanced over and then merged them another lane over as they drew nearer to their exit.

"Not being a lady's not anything to be ashamed of, in my world," Alice told him easily, twirling a lock of hair around her index finger.

He was not sure how he managed to always find such strong-willed women. "I was not suggesting it is. But, rather, it would be exceptionally rude for me to ever form such opinions."

Alice looked at him curiously. "Same difference?" It sounded like it to her.

"I suppose it is something of a fine distinction," he conceded. Brian hardly felt it was worth arguing about, after all. There was no need for Alice to adhere to his particular chivalry.

"Well, how about this," Alice offered, her tone reflecting the amusement playing in her eyes. "I'll call you a gentleman if you < i>don't call me a lady."

Brian felt slightly chagrined. "I would never endeavor to call you something which makes you uncomfortable," he assured her. "And I am not so particular as to require that you should call me anything specific."

He turned off the highway, taking them down an off-ramp and into the congested traffic nightmare that was New York City. The club was not overly far, by Brian's reckoning, but driving in such conditions still made him more assertive - perhaps even aggressive - than was truly necessary.

"Lighten up, Brian, it was a joke," Alice replied easily, now paying more attention to his driving - she hadn't expected that level of forcefulness, although perhaps she should have, and it made her reassess her opinion of the guy.

"Oh." He pinked. "Right."

"Right," Alice echoed, stifling a laugh that had nothing to do with mockery. Brian was much too endearing for that.

Still a touch embarrassed, he steered turned them around the block. And there it was, the Hellfire Club, in all of its glory, such that it was. Brian pulled them up to the curb and then stopped the car, coming around to help his guest out of the vehicle.

Alice was already out of the car, however, not out of any desire to make a point or vex him, but really just because it didn't occur to her to wait before getting out of the car. Besides, her gaze was on the impressive building, and she naturally hooked her hand in Brian's elbow so that he could lead her while she kept staring. "Wow."

He handed the car key to the valet, and led her inside. "Welcome to the Hellfire Club, Miss Fitzgerald."

"Thank you, Mr Braddock," Alice replied in a whisper, looking around with ongoing admiration. Inside, the place just kept getting... grander and grander. There really was no better word for it.

Despite her protests that she was not a lady, she was certainly acting the part. For the moment, at the very least. "There is no need for thanks."

Brian steered them around a corner, down a large and well-lit corridor, and finally into a large restaurant.

Alice's eyebrows raised as she took in the restaurant... and what the waitresses were wearing. "Well, there's definitely a need for some oh-my-god-what-the-fuck-barbecue," she replied with incredulous amusement, keeping her voice low so the cursing wouldn't attract attention.

He blinked in slight confusion at the observation. "Excuse me?"

"The waitresses," Alice answered, still looking at one of them. "I suddenly feel like I'm wearing way too much fabric." And she was in shorts and a tank top.

"Oh." Brian supposed it was rather odd that he'd grown accustomed to seeing the modified 'period' dress that was rife at the Club. He felt bad for having failed to warn her. "If you are uncomfortable, we can certainly leave."

"Are you kidding?" Alice looked away from the waitress, and at him. "This is fantastic!"

He had never seen that sort of enthusiastic response, but Brian supposed he would take it as a good thing. He nodded at one of the women bustling about, and she came over to show them to their table. At the table, he pulled out Alice's chair for her, and gestured for her to take a seat.

This was something else, seriously. Alice briefly sucked her lips in to hold back a smile when she took her seat. "You realize this is like a brand new world for me?" she asked Brian, once the waitress had walked out of earshot.

"How do you mean?" He asked.

"You're the one who knows exactly how exclusive this club is," Alice pointed out.

"Exclusive, perhaps," he agreed. "But hardly such a vast departure from other establishments as to constitute an entirely new world."

"The place looks like the words 'lap of luxury' were invented to describe it," Alice stated, "and seriously, what the waitresses are wearing, I don't even have the words," she finished, laughing. "It's completely different."

"Well...I am glad you like it." She did like it, right? Brian hoped he was not reading that wrong. Their waitress returned, handing them a perfunctory menu and a drink list. They were, of course, hardly necessary. The kitchen would make whatever was desired, on the list or no.

"What do you recommend?" Alice asked curiously - and hopefully. The menu mostly looked like a French exam to her, and the three words and a half she knew of French were not helping her at all.

Brian glanced at the menu. "Well, for your first course, I quite like the scallops. The cold-smoked cod, as well. For your second, I've found the mussels quite good. For the third, the filet of turbotin with risotto is one of my favorites. I like the poached egg with prosciutto for the fourth. Or the boudin blanc. For the fifth, the duck and the venison are both quite enjoyable.

"Frankly, I've yet to have food here I did not enjoy."

"I don't even know how I'm supposed to eat five courses," Alice told him honestly. "Are they really small portions or something?" She felt like such a noob, it was crazy, but there was no way she was turning this down.

Brian smiled slightly. "I promise I shall not allow you to explode."

Alice laughed. "Well, now you said that I'm even less reassured," she teased, but clearly didn't mean it. "What about drinks? Will they serve us alcohol?"

"Certainly," he promised.

Awesome. "Wine?" she guessed. "Which you're totally picking, because I'm your average American teenager and I don't have a clue." That was an understatement.

Brian looked at the wine list thoughtfully. "Well, what sorts of wine do you usually prefer?"

"White, I guess?" Alice offered uncertainly. She really didn't know wine well. At all. If it was there, she drank it, that was pretty much it.

He gave a waitress a meaningful glance, and in a moment she was at their table. "Hello," Brian greeted. "We wish to begin with two Perriers and two glasses of the 2008 Domaine de la Romanée Conti Montrachet."

Alice placed her food order - with more help from Brian - and the waitress was off to fetch their drinks. "I'm pretty sure helping you pick a TV isn't worth that awesome a payback, but I'll take it."

"It is only lunch," he assured her. "Think nothing of it."

Lunch in an exclusive super rich people's club where she was pretty sure the help was telepathic. "I'm gonna think plenty of it," Alice assured him with a smile.

He flushed lightly.

Brian had never been made so acutely aware of his, or his family's, wealth before he had come to Xavier's. None had yet mentioned resentment over it, though Scott Summers certainly made his opinions known, but it was uncomfortable nonetheless.

Alice frowned slightly at the combination of his silence, and the flush. "What?"

"Nothing," he quickly assured her. Thankfully, before he was forced to make any excuses, their drinks arrived, and he raised his glass towards hers.

"Cheers," she told him with a smile, and tipped her glass against his.

Brian smiled back. Once their glasses had clinked together, he brought his glass to his mouth. It was a good chardonnay, which of course was why he had selected it.

Alice smiled again after tasting the wine. It was, obviously, really fucking good. But back to things they had in common... "So! Football. Which team do you support?"

* * *

"Oh, my god, that fondant was seriously not of this world," Alice stated after swallowing the last bite of her chocolate dessert. Jenna's tastebuds had a serious love affair with chocolate, and that had been the best she had ever had. She had been hard-pressed not to make porn noises in the middle of the Hellfire Club.

Brian smiled happily, and took another sip of his wine - he'd moderated his intake, in deference to the drive home - but he was still more comfortable than he'd been at the start of their meal. "So you enjoyed it, then?"

If he had to ask, maybe Alice should've made a porn noise or two. "So. Much," she confirmed with a genuine smile.

"Good, good. You've a lovely smile."

That certainly ensured the smile's immediate return. "Why, Mr Braddock, thank you."

Brian flushed again, but unlike before his smile did not dim in the slightest. "You are quite welcome, Miss Fitzgerald."

Alice took a moment to enjoy his response, flush included, before her smile turned milder, if no less genuine. "Seriously, though. Thank you so much for lunch. It was incredible."

"Truly, there is no need for thanks. Your company was thanks quite enough," he assured her.

"I hope that's true," Alice stated with a widening grin. "It would mean my company's worth a lot."

Brian nodded. "It is certainly true. It is hardly every day that I am fortunate enough to share a meal with someone enjoyable. I very much appreciated it."

Oh, christ. Alice really hoped it was true, as she felt her cheeks heat up, because if he was just being nice... "Well, congratulations. I can't remember the last time somebody made me blush." Flush, sure. Blush? Not so much.

He smiled. "Well, then I shall consider myself among the privileged few. I am honored."

Alice ignored the ongoing heat in her cheeks, and gave him a look, although she was clearly trying not to smile. "Shut up." Because he was clearly not helping.

Brian's eyebrows rose. "You'd rather that we sit here in silence, then?"

"That's it, I am so praying for Man U to lose all their games," Alice deadpanned.

"You hardly need to punish the club on behalf of being cross with me," he pointed out. Not that he particularly believed in the efficacy of prayer, but nevertheless, he would play along. "It might be easier to simply correct my poor behavior."

"Yeah?" Alice pursed her lips doubtfully, helped in her act by the fact that the heat in her cheeks seemed to have finally subsided. Never mind that her silver eyes were still twinkling - she blamed their color on contacts, when asked by flatscans. "How are you planning to do that?"

"Well, I am not," he confessed. "After all, I see nothing wrong with my behavior at this precise moment."

"That's it," Alice laughed. "Man U is so going down."

Brian chuckled. "Now now, there is hardly any need for rash decisions. I am certain there are other, less drastic, measures you might choose to employ." He finished off his glass of wine, and then reached for his water.

Alice, for her part, was still nursing her glass of wine from her latest top-up. Jenna's body still didn't handle alcohol all that well, and she didn't want to get drunk in the Hellfire Club over lunch. "I don't know, I'm pretty bad at self-restraint."

"Oh, I don't know," he said, sounding somewhat skeptical. "What makes you say that?"

"Past experience, in general?" Alice offered with a smirk. "The fact that if I could just slip out of my shoes, I might've answered that question by playing footsie with you?" She loved these sandals, but it was impossible to get out of them without pulling the zipper down.

Brian blushed. "You're teasing me," he pointed out. He took a long swallow of water to hide his embarrassment.

"You were making me blush," Alice pointed out, lips stretching into a smile. "You earned it."

"I was simply being truthful."

"So was I," Alice replied pointedly.

His color grew deeper, and it was only his lunch wine that kept him from becoming completely disabled by his own ineptitude. "W-...really?"

Alice just smiled, then shifted down to be able to pull down the zipper on her right shoe. Then she sat up and picked up her wine glass, taking a sip as her foot found Brian's calf.

Brian's eyes went a bit wide, as he looked over at her. A beautiful woman, well able to handle herself in a conversation, and well enough mannered, who was surreptitiously touching him beneath the table. It...he almost had trouble believing this was real life. He took another large sip of water.

"I...that's...you are..."

"I'm somebody that'll stop the second you tell me to," Alice let him know, since words seemed to have deserted him. But in the meantime, her bare foot was absolutely sliding up his calf.

His tongue was loose enough to ask, "Why would I do that?"

Alice had to admit it to herself; she'd half expected him to stop her. He was so out of her league it was not even funny. So his words surprised another genuine smile out of her, and she shifted a little in her seat, so her foot could reach the start of his thigh, sliding over his knee. "I don't know... Because that table is way too large and you'd like me to be able to reach more?" She couldn't believe she was playing footsie with Brian fucking Braddock in the middle of an exclusive rich people's club, after the best meal she'd ever had. This day was so surreal.

Though she may have been undetectable in her actions, Brian's changing color could not have gone unnoticed. The club, however, was a discrete sort of place, and the waitstaff were obligingly selectively blind. "That is..well....I...goodness."

Her foot found the inside of his other thigh as she finished her glass of wine, and she slid it back down to his calf, giving it a few caresses before pulling it back, smiling as she watched him all the while. "You were saying?"

"You are an even more fascinating lunch partner than I had ever imagined?"

Alice chuckled happily. "And you feel even better toned than I had imagined." Yes, she was absolutely implying that she'd been thinking about how muscular he was. Just look at him; how could anyone not.

That got her an embarrassed smile. "That is very kind of you to say." Brian doubted she'd thought on his physique with any seriousness, given how engaging a conversationalist she had been, but he appreciated the compliment.

"Sure," Alice acknowledged easily, although kind wasn't the word that jumped to mind. True, sure. Horny? Why not. Desperate? No, not quite. She'd been having too much good sex with various people to get there. Still, she smiled at him engagingly as she shifted to zip her shoe back up. "So, wanna get out of here? And somewhere more private, I mean." Any minute now, he was going to wake up and realize that Alice was so not his type of girl, but she was going to make the most of it until that happened.

Was she....suggesting what she seemed to be? He hoped he didn't seem too eager as he agreed, "Er, certainly! If you would like." Brian caught their waitress's eye, and she nodded at him. That taken care of, he stood and offered her a hand up from her seat.

The land of the obscenely rich was definitely one that Alice kept marveling at, and she was biting down on another happy chuckle as she took Brian's hand and stood. Of course he wouldn't need to actually pay. "Is there somewhere close by?" she asked as she slipped her hand in the crook of his elbow again, because she'd be surprised if this place didn't have private... parlors, or whatever they would call them. But for all she knew Brian had a place in New York, or a favorite hotel, or whatever.

He blinked in slight surprise. First Lydia, then Lil, now Alice...were all women on this side of the pond quite so forward? "I...the Plaza is not far from here."

Alice smiled at him brightly as they were heading out of the room. "Perfect." It certainly sounded like the kind of hotel she would never dream to set foot in - just like Brian was the kind of man she would never dream to have. As she said - perfect.

* * *

Alice stretched happily under the luxurious cotton sheets, looking very much like she had gotten the cake and eaten it. She was after all in a suite in the Plaza in New York, in bed with a very naked Brian Braddock who, it turned out, did not fumble in bed the way he stammered in conversation. That had been a very pleasant surprise. She was still tingling all over from that pleasant surprise, actually.

"I did not think my little trip to town would end this way," Alice stated, and sounded utterly delighted about it.

"Neither did I," Brian confessed. In fact, he was rather astounded even now at the turn his afternoon had taken. It was certainly not a bad turn, mind, but it was still far afield from what he had thought he would do that day.

He stretched and folded his arms behind his head, lounging against the headboard, the top sheet clinging to his waist keeping him from being utterly nude. "It was, however, far more enjoyable," if, admittedly, less productive, "than what I had envisioned for my day."

'What did you have planned?" Alice asked curiously, switching to her side to prop her head on her hand, and be able to just bask in the wonderful sight of Brian Braddock's chest. Hey, it was a very, very awesome chest.

"I've an ongoing experiment that I am currently working on," he explained. "So I was originally intending on spending today in the lab. However, given the circumstances, I suppose I shall be spending my evening there instead."

"What's the experiment?" she asked curiously. Not that she would understand it, most likely, but she liked to hear him speak. She liked the accent - and the absence of stammering, right then. Still, if he went full physicist on her, it wouldn't be very fun. "If you can dumb it down for me."

Brian was silent a moment as he thought through each component of his work. It was necessary in order to determine how best to explain the process in layman's terms which, frankly, was a skill he had never devoted much effort to developing. It would be rude to deny her, however.

"I've done a bit of work premised on the multiple worlds theories," he finally began. "After a number of other projects, I arrived at...well, a theory, I suppose. Provided the work is correct, and I do not doubt it is, my current research should allow us to break the barrier between realities. Send objects between them."

"...wow," Alice stated, after a few seconds, actually distracted from checking him out. "That sounds like complete science fiction." Said the body snatcher to the superman. "You really think you can pull that off?"

With sufficient industry, "Yes."

"That is fucking insane," Alice stated with an awed smile, sitting up because the prospect was way too exciting to remain lying down. "How would you even do that? How do you know these other worlds even exist? I mean, if you can explain in ways I could understand." She was so looking into this next time she had Tessa's brain to herself.

Brian was not quite able to hide his surprise at her enthusiasm. "I...I do not know that I can adequately explain it without reliance on established theories within the field. I could...suggest some reading, perhaps, if you've the interest."

"Definitely," Alice agreed immediately, stretching out to grab her purse from the bedside table, and her phone inside it. She pulled up her notes-taking app, then typed down the list of works Brian gave her. "Thank you."

He was not sure what was more odd. That his day had gone in this fashion in general, or that he had just assigned homework while in bed with a woman. Even more surprisingly, that she seemed interested in doing said work. "You're welcome. You, er...you are actually going to read on the topic, then?"

"Probably gonna ask Tessa for a little time in her body, I don't know if I could understand it all with this brain," Alice admitted with a purse of her lips, looking uncharacteristically not self-confident for a moment, and turning away to put her phone back in her purse and hide that flash of self-doubt while she was at it.

Brian did not subscribe to the belief that all people were capable of all things. Some individuals were simply more adept at certain tasks, more intelligent or the like. However, neither did he believe that an individual's perception of their talents always clearly reflected what they were. "Well, you ought to try it first."

"Do you know what Tessa's mind is like?" Alice asked doubtfully. "I mean, it'd be like choosing to drive to California in an old beat-up car with a slow engine when you can drive there in... well, yours."

"Ah, but unlike an automobile, the mind grows more agile with use," he pointed out.

Alice laughed. "Yeah, well it's never growing that agile," she stated with a raised eyebrow. Nobody's mind could naturally grow as agile as Tessa's.

Brian gave her a speculative sort of look. "Your mind is so agile it shed its corporeal form. Who knows what else it might learn to do? Though," he continued, "admittedly, Tessa's mind is quite formidable."

Alice frowned briefly, thoughtfully at his first words, before dismissing them. She'd never thought about what had happened to her that way - and with good reason, she had realized all over again. It had been her mutation, and a curse more than a blessing. "That we can definitely agree on," she replied to his last words, with a small smile.

She lay on her back, pillowing a hand under her head and frowning thoughtfully again. What if the whole psionic entity thing was a sign of the potential power of her mind? What if she had been underestimating herself? She would have to ask Tessa her opinion. She felt least vulnerable around Tessa, because she knew her best, and liked her anyway.

He glanced over at her, and caught sight of her frown. Brian quickly rifled through what had occurred - he did not believe he had said anything objectionable. But then, he supposed he did not know Alice particularly well (and what did that say about what had recently transpired?), and perhaps she was sensitive. "I-I'm sorry? Did I offend you?"

"What?" Alice's frown cleared, and she looked up at him, then shook her head slightly, with a small smile. "No, sorry." She rolled back on her side, reached out to find some skin (and, rawr, muscle) to slide her hand on. "I was just lost in my thoughts."

Brian's skin prickled into gooseflesh beneath her hand, and his muscles tensed in anticipation. "If I may ask, and do stop me if you would prefer I not, thinking about what?"

Alice made a very brief thoughtful face as she hesitated whether to tell him or not, then inwardly shrugged, her hand still traveling across his skin, taut stomach muscles, back up towards his pecs. God, but he was ripped. "About what you said. About my mind. I'd never thought about it that way."

"Ah. I see." Her touch was warm, and his muscles rippled under her roaming hand. It was an altogether pleasant sensation.

"Do you?" she asked, curiously, before she could help herself. But then she immediately decided that it really didn't matter that much, not in the face of Brian Braddock, naked, in bed. "So," she smiled, sitting up again to shift closer to him. "Does your mutation affect your refractory time?"

He had been about to answer when she'd asked her second question. Brian blushed lightly in light of the question, but supposed he ought not be all too scandalized, given their respective....positions. "Er, y-yes."

Alice's smile turned into a smirk, as she let her hand trail south. "Awesome."