Who: Bianca and Ivan When: October 31st, approaching evening! Where: The Halloween party, but then the parking lot What: Ivan and Bianca retreat from the party, and discuss a little girl. Rating: G Status: Complete!
Bianca wasn't a person who reveled in Halloween, not really. Holidays (other than the Jewish ones she was required to observe and the major ones like Thanksgiving and Chanukah) weren't really a big deal to her, especially such a secular one like Halloween. In her mind, it just gave everyone an excuse to dress up in their underwear and parade around like sluts and get away with it.
However, she'd ventured into the foray of Halloween costumes and parties; she didn't want to go mingle with the freshmen at some lame campus party, but attempted a party thrown by a teacher. There would probably be (Bianca hoped, beyond all belief) at least some sense of professional decorum there. And there was, but even dressed as Jackie O (classy, not slutty), complete with newly dyed brown hair, she wasn't feeling much of a vibe from the party, and she decided to head out early to maybe give out some candy to some stragglers or maybe tackle the never-ending homework pile. She had just gotten up and slipped past everyone to the door when she found someone already there, and raised an eyebrow. Maybe it wasn't just her that felt like the party wasn't exactly what she had hoped.
Ivan came, surprise surprise, with all the crap he had to be doing, he just had to allow himself be sucked into a campus party. He wasn't going to stay too long, he had a daughter to pick up and take out for trick-or-treating. He thought he'd pay some kind of respect and attend at least long enough to sip down a plastic cup of Dr. Pepper, shake a few hands and head for the door. Ivan was at least dressed up for the occasion, partially. Olivia made it clear to him that he had to dress up with her and it would have been a sin of sins if he didn't comply to the wishes of his daughter. He was clad in a suit... and over his face would be the mask of the Phantom of the Opera as soon as he was able to get out there with his daughter. He was slightly embarrassed, but a little humility never hurt anyone, especially when they're carting around their daughter to take candy from neighbors.
Meeting a woman there, he tripped slightly, stopping himself to let her leave first, "Ah, m'sorry miss. Go ahead."
Bianca turned to look at him, keeping her eyebrow slightly raised at the costume - the fact that he'd replicated the host's costume, along with his slightly awkward behavior, made her slightly wary of him - and nodded. "Heading out early as well?" she asked, smiling in spite of herself; it was amusing that the two of them were trying to escape a party instead of in the think of it.
"Ah--Yes. Have to take my daughter out or she'll do unspeakable things to me with her mind," he said, feeling a little awkward. He didn't necessarily know that the host had the same costume, but he didn't quite care. He only dressed up for his daughter. He smiled nervously at her, "Ah the joys of single-parenthood." If she wasn't going to leave the building first, then he would. He was polite first. He stepped out the door, cape rolled up under an arm. He wasn't going to put the silly thing on until it was necessary, much like his mask.
Following curiously, Bianca had to laugh at the man's choice of words. "How old does your daughter happen to be?" she had to ask. The way he had phrased her behavior sounded kind of odd, but she had to admit there was something a little charming about the nervousness. Most of the time Bianca wouldn't have cared for the nervousness, but a man who was already devoted to a woman was a novelty to her, and so she followed with interest.
"She is seven," he said, "and speaks with wisdom beyond her years. I swear she's like... sixteen in her brain. She said... 'obnoxious' the other day. I didn't think she'd know what that word even was, let alone use it in a sentence." He always found it fascinating when Olivia talked to him. He found it even more fascinating when she spoke in Russian. It was his native language and he took it upon himself to teach her from birth, without her mother's consent. Her recitals were done with such profession that... it frightened him a little. "She's darling though, despite being less than ten years of age and already being a woman."
Bianca was pretty neutral on the issue of children, but hearing this man speak about his daughter was somewhat endearing. "I'm sorry," she said, finally, as she, too, stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind them, "but I don't think I've met you before," she interrupted. Obviously he had to be involved with McDermott since it was a McDermott party, but it was hard to judge exactly how involved he was because of the dark and the costume. "Do you go to McDermott?" He looked a little older than her, and she was older than most of the students, but who knew - grad school accepted pretty much anyone in terms of age, as long as they were good enough.
"Ah, somewhat. I teach Drawing and Painting and Foundation courses," he said, "I'm Ivan Kozlov. And may I ask the same of you?" Haha, he could speak funny too. When he felt like being a non-belligerent gentleman.
"My name is Bianca White," Bianca said slowly, regarding Ivan. So he was a teacher. That didn't surprise her, really, especially since he spoke of his daughter. What did surprise her was how easily she could speak to him. Normally she didn't really speak to strangers, unless it was to say something that wasn't necessarily nice. "It's nice to meet you," she finally said, more out of habit and manners than anything else.
"Likewise, Miss Bianca," he replied, taking reference to one of Olivia's favorite cartoon movies, "Are you a student here?" He looked at her. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between students and teachers, though at times it was very apparent and obvious.
Miss Bianca always made Bianca smile for some reason. It was kind of cutesy and reminded her of kindergarteners, but she'd grown up being Miss Katie to her sister for years, too. "I am," she said, nodding and pulling her coat (perfectly matched to her pink outfit, of course) a little tighter around her. "Graduate student, actually. Double majoring - creative writing and dance." That usually tended to impress people, which was why Bianca repeated it so often without feeling strange about it.
"Ah, interesting," Ivan said softly, "Olivia likes to sing, if that's in any way, shape or form related to dance." He chuckled softly. He wasn't an expert on dance or anything. He couldn't sing worth his own junk, so he relied on Olivia to hold the talent of voice in the family. He absently wondered if she got it from her mother. "She's going as Pocahontas for Halloween. The Disney Pocahontas. She likes to sing those nature-y Indian songs from that movie. All the time."
"You're thinking of the theatre majors," Bianca said dryly, shaking her head. "I just dance. Classical dance, not like, music theatre dancing." She made a sound of slight disgust and then managed to catch the last of Ivan's sentence. "That's original, I suppose," she finally commented. "Pocahontas is an interesting historical figure, but Disney kind of killed that. Not that she has to know that, I mean. I'm sure she looks darling."
We-ell, a tad uptight isn't she? Ivan didn't look at her as he slowly headed in the direction of his car. "Gee, didn't know there was a difference. Usually when I think of dance, I just think of people... well... dancing," he gave a shrug. He was more of an expert on... color... form... line... imagination... etcetera.
"Don't see much dancing then, do you?" Bianca asked him, evenly, as she too set out in the direction of her car. It was a slightly unfamiliar neighborhood, and even though, logically, she knew she shouldn't be afraid - Westmont was a small town - Bianca couldn't help but glance around her surroundings, just to be sure. "Maybe you should come out and see one of our performances. We have an event coming up in a few weeks," she commented.
Ivan absently wandered toward her car with her, not exactly veering off course for his own vehicle, but that dormant chivalry to see a lady to her transport reared its semi-ugly head. "No I don't. Too focused on keeping both my daughter and my students entertained. I have to say my students are much easier to please. I would say Olivia was like her mother but considering she's no longer with us, it's difficult on plenty of levels." Ivan wasn't sure how to feel about the mother of his child. He loved her, but she obviously didn't love him or the baby. At last not enough to stay with them. He couldn't bring himself to hate her, but he didn't want to forgive her for abandoning their little girl.
At his comment, Bianca frowned. She usually didn't care about other people's lives, but it struck a nerve with her when he mentioned that his daughter didn't have a mother. Children shouldn't have to grow up without parents, even if they passed away early. She wasn't sure what the case was, though. "What happened to her mom?" Bianca asked, before she could help herself.
"Oh, nothing that I'm aware of," he said with a little sigh in his voice. "She just up and left. Didn't leave a note. Or a text message. Or anything really. Just didn't like the idea of having a kid. It's a shame really. She would have been a great mom." It was a memory he didn't care too much for, waking up to an empty bed, startled by Olivia's crying coming from those baby walkie-talkie radio things that let them hear her in their bedroom should she ever be in some sort of distress. Everything she owned was gone, as if someone had ransacked the place. "Olivia doesn't ask about it so I assume she's doing fine. That doesn't mean she probably doesn't think about it though. I'd love to ask her about it but I don't know how she would react. She has her aunt to help with mothering but I know that that's not the way it should be."
"It's not," Bianca replied, fiercely, a little more than she'd intended to. "I mean... I don't understand how people can have kids and then treat them like that." Bianca, obviously, had some parent issues, and while her dad didn't exactly walk away from them, he gave them good enough reason to leave him, and she'd never forgiven him for that. "I'm sure it affects her more than you know," she finally told Ivan, sighing. "It's hard growing up without both your parents."
"Well, she left when she was still just a baby... So I don't know if she would remember that. Out of sight, out of mind, you know?" He looked towards her.
Bianca glanced back at him, startled to see how richly brown his eyes were. "But still," she persisted, averting her eyes a little too quickly, "it's not right to just leave a child." She shook her head slightly, and then said, softly, "She's lucky to have such a doting father like you." Because goodness knows there weren't enough of them in this world to go around.
"I know," Ivan sighed, "It took me quite a while to get over it. I wasn't upset for me, but for my daughter. What hurt the most was not knowing where she had gone so that I could send her a letter asking her why." He smiled lightly to her comment about his fathering, "Well thank you... I wanted her to have the perfect childhood when we found out her mother was pregnant. I took care of that embryo as if I were carrying it myself."
Okay, this was bordering on slightly eccentric. Bianca was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, so she nodded, taking a few steps back towards her car - they had kind of just stopped in the middle of the sidewalk after Bianca's car had been within a short walking distance. "Well, I actually better get going," she finally told Ivan, after a short pause. "I know you have a little girl waiting for you to get back to her," she added. "Thank you for walking me, by the way."
Ivan nodded, "Yes, she's probably wondering where I am. Olivia that is." He bowed slightly to her, as if he were to be tipping a top-hat, slowly taking steps back away from her towards his own car. "You're very welcome, Miss Bianca. You can always find me in the Visual Arts building should you ever need anything. It was a pleasure meeting you."