Dmitri (dmitris) wrote in antecedents, @ 2009-11-03 03:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | dmitri karamazov, ivan karamazov, katerina verkhovtseva |
Dmitri Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov, & Katerina Verkhovtseva
SUMMARY Dmitri meets Ivan and Katerina in Moscow
To Ivan, Dmitri had mailed a letter of eight pages, front and back. In return, he received but a single sentence in perfect print. Katerina Ivanovna awaits your arrival in Moscow, it said, I was unable to change her mind. It completely lacked the feeling that Dmitri had poured into his own, but was instead very formal, very short. And one could think that between those lines was the suggestion that Ivan really wished to have nothing to do with the other in a brotherly fashion, except for the fact that Dmitri noticed he had done--or tried to do-- what he asked, so he must of felt more than nothing at all for him (which was all he asked). And Dmitri, upon opening it and reading the contents, just laughed. It was the sort of laugh that erupts when one doesn't know what else to do, but there was just a bit of amusement behind it, too. That may of been from the way Ivan wrote his response, or what it implied had taken place-- that Katerina had held her ground even against someone of Ivan's character. He had taken a chance, sending Ivan, for he had never met the man, only knew of him from what he'd read; Dmitri was never completely assured it would work, and so he couldn't exactly feel discouraged by the news. But he had also relied on him being the one, if anyone was to, succeed.
He understood then that he had to go to her, that if she was going to stand this firm in her resolution, he really had no choice. Which may of seemed like a strange way to think of things; he could of simply Not Gone, that was a choice. He wasn't someone who solved his problems by running away from them, though, and he didn't wish to hurt her like that either. This whole attempt, sending Ivan, had been to avoid just that. What other option was left?
Like Ivan, Dmitri arrived at Katerina's home in his nice outfit (there was only one with him-- there had been two, before he'd gotten into a brawl wearing the other a month prior, and had the right pocket of it torn out). He was obviously a man that looked more natural in an army uniform, as he used to wear, or the clothes of a casual civilian. After he'd knocked upon the door, he arranged his coat lapels, feeling just all out of sorts-- clothes aside, he'd gotten lost a couple of times trying to get here, being less familiar with the city, and also he was just entirely unsure of what he'd say to the woman who opened the door. Where he'd start. Where he'd go, from where he started. It was a whole jumble, in his mind.
But when the door opened, Dmitri looked up from his fidgeting, and frowned. "You are not Katya," he observed.
Ivan returned the frown with a sort of flat blankness, as that was the second time now it seemed to be his fault simply for not having been born another.
Dmitri glanced at the number on the home. "I must of made a mistake," he mumbled, for this was the most viable explanation, given that he was already a bit turned around, "I apologize--"
"You're Dmitri Fyodorovitch," Ivan claimed, reclaiming the older man's attention with it. Though neither had seen one another, something about his manner had already tipped Ivan off as being the one he had written to a week and a half prior. And though Dmitri had not responded to his letter to say that he would be coming, he believed what he'd told Katerina. Dmitri would come. Ivan had felt it was inevitable not because of what love they did or did not share, but because he struck him as someone who didn't even know what ground he stood on. Someone who, then, would be easy to direct in the midst of that.
"Ah--Yes!" Dmitri replied, the smile he put on showing no sign of a man who'd been initially quite reluctant to come here at all. "Then she knew to expect me? But I had sent her no word of my plans. Oh, but I suppose that's just like her."
"...Yes," Ivan continued, folding his arms where he stood in the doorway. So, this was his older brother. He had wide shoulders, and Ivan could tell from the way the material didn't hang right on his sleeves, powerful arms. However, there was a very slight sallowness in his face, and a darkness around his eyes, as comes with men who don't take proper care of their bodies, and will wear them down too fast. He was twenty-eight, if Ivan recalled the history correctly, but he looked to be in his early thirties. Regardless of that, he was still a handsome man in his own right. Ivan also noted that Katerina's observation hadn't been incorrect; they hardly looked alike at all.
Meanwhile, the only thing Dmitri had noticed about Ivan was the fact he looked like an individual who cleaned up well, which suggested to him that he was one of Katerina's friends, being an upper-class girl as she was. It hadn't even hit him that this might be the man he sent to her, given that Ivan had said nothing about remaining in Moscow himself.
"...Well...May I come in?" Dmitri asked after a semi-awkward pause, since Ivan was waiting for him to say something, and Dmitri was just waiting to be let in by this person he did not know.
Ivan held a hand out to gesture that he do just that, stepping out of the doorway to let him in. Dmitri immediately turned his back to him, looking for the coat rack. "Are you a friend of Katya's?" he asked in a sort of distracted way as he hung up his jacket, since his mind was still preoccupied with what it was he was going to say to her. And Ivan had just begun to open his mouth, when there came the sound of the woman in question, coming to join them.