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Tweak says, "Keep your hands to yourself"

Piotr Nikolievitch Rasputin (iskupit) wrote in lost_world,
@ 2013-09-21 18:54:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, piotr rasputin, rayne kenyon

Better (open)
The island ended for Piotr with a shock. One that he woke up from in a cold sweat. The feeling of being not in control of himself was almost physically painful. He found himself checking his various parts to make sure that they were still there. It took Piotr a moment to get his bearings, to realize that he wasn't in an island setting at all anymore. There were things around him that were his. The bed wasn't, the dresser wasn't, but his guns were on top of that dresser, his shoes were laying by a chair.

As calmly as he could, he got out of the bed and had a look around. There was something like relief when he found his suitcases in a closet, and nothing else was missing.

He had a shower and dressed in one of his suits. It felt very good to be wearing his own clothes. The finely tailored items he'd picked out himself, paid for himself, and fit him better in both style and comfort than the jeans and shirt of the island had. Though, those clothes were there too, somehow. Piotr distinctly remembered not wearing them.

The hallway outside of his room was circular, and there were doors along the wall all the way around. He saw one that did not fit with the others. Approaching it, it opened, and he discovered an elevator. There were only two buttons, and Piotr poked them both. The top one did not light, which meant that was the floor he was on. The doors closed and took him to his new destination.

It was like a common room, Malden had had one. He saw several different areas, but the one that really caught his eye had food. There was a window, and an alien standing on the other side of it. Piotr couldn't even bring himself to care about that alien, or any of the others that were milling about. All he wanted was food. Real food. Not foraged food, not the pitiful bread, cheese, and soup he'd been barely able to afford. He wanted something that used to moo, and he wanted it almost still mooing. He wanted a giant chocolate shake, and fries. Greasy, delicious fried potato fries.

The alien was more than happy to get these things for him, asking Piotr if he'd prefer steak or a hamburger. Piotr said yes, and when his plate came, he had both. He also ordered a large Coke to go with all of it, and took his tray to one of the tables to sit at. When he was done eating, then he'd consider the alien he'd spoken to, and the fact that he wasn't seeing any of the other people from the group, just a lot of aliens.

When he was finished.

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chatelaine
2013-09-30 12:07 am UTC (link)

"Indeed?" she asked mildly, thinking on those words. For her part, she'd been very careful. The people from whom she'd drunk were yet alive, their minds gently wiped of any memory of what she'd done. She'd been careful and deliberate in every move she'd made, in her attempt to ensure that she made as few waves as possible. True, in the worlds where she'd been placed, she'd drawn power quickly -- but she kept a low profile. She had no desire to rule, and no ambition to relive her days as Chatelaine if doing such was not for the people of Kenyon.

The truth was that she always preferred the life of a scholar. Had she not been the daughter of Sirenna Kenyon, and had she been allowed to keep her mortal life, she would have chosen to be an acolyte in the temple of Amasa - for she had been her goddess, even as a human. Rayne stroked the base of her glass softly and watched the aliens from under the long sweep of lashes.

"I take it that our companions have not been as...subtle... as I, then..."

She didn't know many details of the lives around them, but she expected that Piotr did. She lifted her ice blue eyes and looked then at the young man across the table. If necessity had demanded by now, and she had taken his blood, perhaps she would know more now of his thoughts. As it stood, she didn't; and that link between those she drank deeply from was not worth the cost. No, she wouldn't accept that noble and tantalizing offer of his unless she had no other choice. He deserved to be as free of her as he could be.

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iskupit
2013-10-01 06:06 pm UTC (link)

"Considering that we have not been playing along with their games from the start, I think it is safe to say we may be in the proverbial dog house." Piotr shrugged. "You did not see the reaction of the alien who visited us at the meeting, but I think it is safe to say she was frustrated. Since then we have done many things on different planets which are not exactly playing along. I myself have blown up a convenience market and gotten into a fight at a high class party."

It wasn't that Piotr was particularly proud, but he wasn't ashamed either. These were things that had happened out of necessity. Or. The explosion had been. Perhaps the fight could have been avoided. Probably the fight could have been avoided.

"One of our party is potentially a werewolf, who may have not been one before or he may be new. We have two vampires, a man who is an alien himself, an ex angel, The Father of Lies, and a Russian who has not been properly socialized, and that is just the tip of an iceburg. If it were my experiment, I might be a little put out by now."

He smiled, not knowing for sure. Maybe it was all on purpose.

"Though we have learned to get along, have we not? So maybe it is all what they want."

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chatelaine
2013-10-01 11:52 pm UTC (link)

"It would seem that their demeanor stands as evidence to the contrary," she said. Her face had remained carefully neutral as Piotr explained the actions he himself had taken. There was concern behind the ice of her expression - for him, for all of them - but she wouldn't show it. He was intelligent enough to ken the danger. She'd watched him make strategic decisions, from the way he approached a situation to the position he took within a room. He lived his life in threads of strategy, always thinking steps ahead, always prepared for all that he could. Rayne respected him for that.

What he'd done must have been necessary. A wise tactician took no risks that did not carry a reward outweighing the costs. And yet, the toll had been enough that the aliens saw fit to bring them to the craft they'd ostensibly been using to transport the lot of them from one land to another. The vampire took one last sip from the cooling liquid, and set the glass down soundlessly.

"They are not yet at the point of starving us or restricting our movement to our designated chambers. From that which I've overheard, they've taken pains to provide us with those things that we consider our own. These are perhaps a sign that we are still... somewhat favored, or at the very least, that they hope to earn our cooperation."

Cooperation. It was unlikely. Possible. But unlikely. Rayne ran her thumb thoughtfully across her bottom lip, her eyes shifting slowly toward their captors across the room. She was not opposed to resistance, but only when it was wise.

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iskupit
2013-10-06 06:43 pm UTC (link)

"All of my things are here." Piotr confirmed. "Everything that I brought with me from England. All the items I acquired in the strange first planet. Even the clothing and books from the monochrome one. I am missing nothing."

And he truly wasn't. Even things that he'd not particularly thought of as his. The tape that he'd been wrapped with when he'd been bare knuckle boxing, there was a roll of that.

"Perhaps we can find a compromise with them. I am more inclined to be helpful now that I have had food, and I have seen that my belongings are here." There were items in particular that Piotr was thinking about. Things he would have been upset to discover missing forever. He didn't care if he was given them on every planet, as long as they remained on this ship. "I do not know, everything I have said is only my personal theory. It could just be that where they wish to take us now is further away than the others have been, or they wished for us to see the ship."

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chatelaine
2013-10-07 11:37 pm UTC (link)

She nodded thoughtfully, her hand drifting down into her lap and resting there. Yes, it made sense for the aliens to wish to show them all their ship. The power dynamic was painfully clear, in this regard. It was so confident as to be arrogant. Either the sway of these creatures was so vast that there truly was no way for any of them, either singly or combined, to change their circumstances, or alternately, they were short-sighted. Either way, it revealed something about the nature of their captors.

Rayne wasn't convinced that compromise was on the table. If there were to be more favorable conditions, it would only be because their captors didn't value what they might give. Theirs was the high hand, and in any negotiations, it was likely that they would win.

Still...

"I am interested in knowing what they want from us -- truly want. I recall your explanation of their directive -- simply, to thrive. And yet, that directive in no way illuminates their ultimate drive."

What she wouldn't give to enspell one of them, to learn their secrets.

She turned her thoughts briefly to other matters. "I am glad that you are feeling better."

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iskupit
2013-10-09 02:45 pm UTC (link)

"Maybe we can ask one of them." Piotr shrugged. There were, after all, aliens wandering all around with them. They might be willing to talk. Or maybe they were just roaming through like this was a zoo of some kind. He felt that was half truth, because some were standing in groups, but others seemed to be taking part in the food, and others were sitting in the more comfortable seats on the other side of the room.

He smiled at Rayne. "I am glad that you are doing well, too. And I am glad that we are able to have some time to sit and just chat. No world changing events seem to be taking place. We do not have to run for our lives or worry about where to live or how we will eat. We may be on a space ship, but it is a little calming, is it not?"

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chatelaine
2013-10-09 11:05 pm UTC (link)

A subtle shift in her posture gave away the movement of one ankle crossing the other. Rayne stared gravely into the pleasure of that man across from her and felt a more helpless rage than she'd ever experienced before. Her life was not her own. This was nothing new, but before it had only belonged to Kenyon.

Now, it belonged to a race of creatures she was certain had never been seen on Caelsete. Worse, there seemed no indication of how to return to her kingdom and her people, and no hope of learning how, either.

"Perhaps we should," she said quietly. She respected Piotr, and even thought fondly of the man, but in this, she could not agree. This was nothing like calming.

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iskupit
2013-10-10 03:10 pm UTC (link)

Piotr noted the discomfort in his friend and let the smile drop from his face. He was making light of their situation, mostly because it felt more like what he was used to, and because he didn't sense any immediate danger aboard this ship. There would be the unexpected presence of the creatures who had taken them from their homes, but outside of that, Piotr didn't think that they'd be roaming around and mingling if there was the sorts of surprises they'd all encountered on the planets. There had been no sign of their captors elsewhere, yet here they were everywhere.

"I am sorry, Rayne." He apologized. "I am not taking this particularly seriously. There is much to be wary of here, as there was before, I am sure. In my experience, those that employ or keep you for their own uses generally do not stick around if there is something that immediately threatens health and well being. The fact that we are even seeing those who are not in our group gives me the impression that here is the safest place we can be."

The mutant leaned forward. "Please, tell me what you are thinking."

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chatelaine
2013-10-12 12:09 am UTC (link)

The vampire was as still as the chair that held her. No breath, no pulse, no movement whatsoever broke the eternal peace of her form. A tiny current from the air circulation system caught in her hair and gently disturbed it. It had been a very long time since someone leaned forward and asked her what she was thinking, only to know. Often, the question was asked to determine a particular action to take -- an envoy to send, a border to protect... the demands of her had been myriad and vast. But no one ever asked her what she was thinking with the same expression Piotr was giving her.

"My people," she finally confessed, re-folding her hands in her lap. "By this time, war would have been mentioned. We had no overt enemies; I doubt my Commander will engage without any sort of proof of wrongdoing. But it would have been mentioned, all the same."

After taking a breath - one she needed only to simulate life - she continued, "I had not yet produced an heir. My older sister Syla has long ago abandoned the royal life. She lives with a tribe of warriors deep in the forest, and they have become her family. My younger brother Ronin was never fit for rule, and the line passes through the women in my family. That leaves Arya - and she is far too young. The Lord of Kenyon was to be my husband, but I had not yet chosen one. The title defaulted, then, to my Commander. He will be ruling in Arya's stead. He is a good man. But he is of a military mind."

Her fingers flexed slightly before settling again. She worried for her people. For Kenyon itself. A military ruler... at the head of Kenyon. Her faith in the man was great, but the precedent...

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iskupit
2013-10-12 04:25 pm UTC (link)

"Men of the military mind are not generally fit to rule." Piotr nodded. He knew that if he were sent to lead anybody into battle, he could do that. He could organize and give direction, he could set out tasks and complete them - and help others to complete them - and he could strategize down to the last possible twist. But rule? Piotr knew that he could not be the head of a government, he could not be a king or a president, it wasn't in him to make laws and enforce them. It was in him to kill and infiltrate.

"They will think that somebody took you, will they not? Which, obviously, someone has, but they - he, will think that it was somebody of your world." Piotr could understand why all of this would weigh on his friend's mind. There was not much that she could do to stop what could happen. The aliens had taken him from a school where he taught ethics, Russian, and physical education. They had taken Rayne from a place that actually needed her.

"I will not try to placate you with meaningless words, Rayne. I am not able, and even if I were, I respect you too much to attempt that sort of thing. I do honestly wish that I knew how to help you. If there was anything that could be done, I would do it."

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chatelaine
2013-10-14 09:51 pm UTC (link)

The man was in earnest. She didn't know everything about Piotr Rasputin, but she knew warriors. He was one. And warriors with that expression - the resolute jaw, the unwavering eyes - meant every syllable. Her mouth softened, and if there weren't quite a smile there, there was less tension in her from the change.

"I know," she said quietly.

Circumstance had thrown them together in the strangest way. She was forced to rely on him, required to place her very life in his hands without knowing much about him at all, but the gamble had more than paid off. She had not earned his loyalty; she'd proven nothing about her ability as one who deserved respect and solidarity. And yet, he'd given her all this, and more.

Was this what friendship was like? She simply didn't know. She'd seen friendship from the outside, and from that perspective, it seemed similar. She'd never lived it. And now, she found herself selfishly wishing that, were she ever to see Kenyon again, she hoped it was with Piotr Rasputin at her side. That thought did make her smile, though it was with a wistful sadness that gave no trace of what smiles were meant to convey.

"And I thank you."

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