Piotr cocks his head, studying the letters as they take shape.

"Strange," he says. "It is almost between -- may I?"

He wipes his hands on his jeans, slightly sheepishly, before he takes the pencil and pad; all the same there's enough charcoal left to leave a few faint smudges. He prints his name twice, more carefully and tidily than he signed the other picture: Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, Пётр Николаевич Распутин.