steelartisan: (...eh?)
[personal profile] steelartisan
Piotr and Kate will be heading back to their world, soon. Back to the Mansion, and back to the war.

Even if that's not technically what it is, any more. It always is, one way or another.

At any rate, Piotr doesn't know when he'll be back, once they do. Time passes differently; last time he was gone for two and a half days, a month went by at Milliways.

So he's outside, enjoying the winter while he can. It might be spring by the time he sees this lake again. And Piotr, Siberian farmboy that he is, has always appreciated a good snowfall. He's been out here for some time, while evening darkened around him, strolling slowly with his hands in his pockets and a sketchbook in its case slung over his back, just in case.

At least until a gout of white flame catches his attention abruptly.

(It's far enough away that he restrains the automatic impulse to go metal, which is his usual reaction to being startled. But only barely.)

Date: 2008-02-10 01:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
My sister was a sorceress.

Maya started to pay attention to the way people phrased things, after she lost Marcus. Piotr Nikolaievitch said 'my sister was a sorceress.' That's a whole lot more final than what some people might say: 'my sister used to be a sorceress.'

"There are none of those in my world, either," she says. No 'magicians,' and no battalions of sorceresses all lined up in a row, though she doesn't say it. "Only the Sorceress Corps. And the Nistaani sorcerer."

(He is a high-priest, technically, Kar Dathra the Eternal, but after what Maya saw at Kar Dathra's Gate -- he will be listed, if with an iron jaw, when she discusses these matters. Always.)

Date: 2008-02-10 02:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
"All women," Maya confirms, and she doesn't say 'besides the Nistaani high priest' because she's fairly certain she doesn't have to. 'Sorcerer' is an unmistakably male title.

Date: 2008-02-10 02:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
He reminds her of her Guardsman, when he's quiet; it's something about the big bulk of a man standing in front of her, about the wordless communication and the innate comfort with silence.

Maya has never been one to needlessly fill silence just for the sake of hearing her own voice, or anyone else's. Especially not with Kyuzo as a constant companion.

It's the work of a moment to hoist herself up high enough to sit on the boulder she's been leaning against. The stars aren't especially bright tonight, but there's enough light to watch the way that it plays across the water.

Date: 2008-02-10 02:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
"It used to be a proud nation," she says.

Or maybe it was just that she used to be proud of it.

"The United Republics of the Red Star. Times are harder now." Everything's harder; the government is struggling to hold itself together, much less also the few states that still belong to the Commonwealth-that-was-once-a-Republic. "Most civilians are struggling." They're losing hope. The cities are gray, she doesn't say, but she's thinking it.

"I don't see much of the Commonwealth, besides the capital city and wherever I'm stationed. There are still some beautiful places left, though." Ones that she was more inclined to seek out when she had Marcus seeking with her.

"What about your Russia?" she asks, glancing at Piotr.

Date: 2008-02-15 03:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
Maya shoots the man's form a swift, startled look.

"The same happened in my world. The republics broke away from the URRS, crying for independence. Your Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik -- did it try to stop them?"

Piotr's Siberia sounds beautiful, and ordinarily, Maya would be happy to learn of it. But this conversation takes parallels and turns that she does not expect, continually, and she has to ask about them.

Date: 2008-02-18 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
Maya listens, and for a long moment, she says nothing. Her eyes may be on Piotr, but her mind is on his words.

From the great Soviet Union to Russia and all the little nations in only a few years.

The lake is quiet under a sheet of ice.

"It all sounds very familiar," she says, finally. "Familiar enough to be exactly the same. Trouble, unrest, instability; different ideas, problems that the government had covered up, a fast crumbling -- that's how it happened. Except that in my world, there was war. The URRS tried to force the republics to submit to it, and the Commonwealth of Red States is still trying."

The key word here -- and her delivery more than suggests it -- is 'tried' and 'trying.'

Date: 2008-02-18 05:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joiningyousoon.livejournal.com
Maya accepts the words for what they are -- real sympathy, kindness -- with a quiet smile, and a nod. "I am, too."

Enough of war and of sadness. It has to be faced when she returns home. It doesn't have to be faced right now.

"Would you mind telling me about your farm, Piotr Nikolaievitch?" Maya says with a wider smile, drawing her legs up. "I grew up in the capital city; I don't know anything about country life."

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