Papa and Vanya Who: Ivanya and Dmitry (NPC) Where: Theo's Room
There was so much that could go wrong with this. The network might not connect. Her tablet might lose battery power. The ship might capsize, with the rate her luck was going, and she might never hear from her father again. But ever since Theo gave her the contact information, all she could think of was getting her father on the phone.
She’d taken about an hour to make some modifications on her tablet and then was dialing into the web-call, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. She’d tried to put makeup on over the bruise on her jaw but she had to wonder if he’d even notice. Or if, when he answered, he’d just be in the middle of another eureka moment and it would be like she’d never left.
Dmitry had been waiting for the call, having been informed she was going to do so. He’d put things aside (mostly) while he did, having taken a second to do things like shower, make sure his hair was brushed, that he looked like he wasn’t being kept in a dungeon. It was difficult, though. His needs were often seen to by her over the years. She looked after him in those ways, and now no one really did that. Or, not like she did. He missed his daughter so much his heart hurt a little when the call came up. He opened up the call on the laptop he had, and fumbled and a half finished machine he’d been tinkering with to help with his creativity on the plague stuff crashed to the floor with an extended sound of it settling on the floor, bits and pieces scattering. He squinted one eye shut behind his thick framed glasses, then looked as the screen adjusted and showed him his beautiful daughter. “Ivanya!” he said, voice slightly horse, thick with emotion already. When he continued, it was in Russian. “How are you? It’s so good to see you, I miss you so much! Please, tell me what you are doing now, where you’ve been,” he said. He may never have been the most dependable person, or the most observant but it wasn’t because of lack of caring. She had always been his number one in life since the day she was born. His eyes were already welling and he laughed a little, reaching up to wipe at them, but still smiling so much to see her.
And it was just like home. The crashes, the mess in the background of the screen, and her father there, larger than life and just like she remembered. Maybe even cleaner than she remembered. Immediately, Ivanya was crying. It hurt her head and maybe this was the emotionally taxing bit that Bear had said to stay away from but she couldn’t help it. He was right there. She felt like she could reach out and grab him through the screen. When she spoke, it was in thick Russian, her voice breaking around the sniffles and gasps for air that came with her heavy sobbing. “Papa. I missed you so much. I wish you were here! I wish I could hug you.” Why are you not here?
Dmitry didn't mind that they were both crying. He missed her so. He knew why she was away, she was happy and safe elsewhere, but that didn't mean he didn't miss her every single day. “Sweetheart, you look beautiful,” he said, though something was tugging at his mind as he gazed at her. Was that a shadow on her face? Or a bruise. “Your hair is so much longer! I...” he broke off, needing to sniffle himself some and he wiped at his eyes more, looking at her. “I wish we were together too,” he told her honestly. “But it's dangerous here, I need to be sure you're safe,” he said. “Things here are...” he paused, then glanced away for a second before returning them to the screen. “Tense.” The guards around didn’t speak Russian so far as he knew, but still.
She felt like everything inside of her was just flooding out of her eyes and it was all she could do to try and keep breathing, to not pass out. She wasn’t going to squander this chance to talk with him. But then he called her beautiful and it pulled this strangled sound up from out of her chest as she brushed at her eyes, her cheeks, her face. She didn’t realize that the makeup had wiped off in her torrent of tears and was now stuck to her hands instead of covering her bruise.
She thought for a split second about not telling him how things were going here. But it was just some dumb passing thought that she threw away immediately after because she didn’t lie to her father. And he deserved to know the truth. But his words made her stop and sniffle, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand. “...Tense how? Are they hurting you? Are they treating you badly?” She would bring down hell upon anyone who had placed a hand on her father, and that fire shown in her eyes around the red puffiness.
Dmitry watched her break down and his heart broke. He had the irrational urge to tell them he was finished working until he got to see her – but he knew that was madness. He was trying to save the world. To stop this deadly plague in its tracks. He couldn't do that. But he wanted to. He saw that the shadow wasn't a shadow and alarm bells went off in his head immediately. He sat up straighter and leaned closer to the monitor. “No, 'Vanya, it's just so many are dying, and I still have so much to do. Everyone is counting on this,” he told her gently. “Please tell me why you are bruised,” he said, trying to be calm but he felt sick.
How could she have been such an ungrateful kid to leave her father in this...this situation without her? She should be there with him, assisting, making him sandwiches, double-checking his math. Everything she could do to help him but she’d gotten arrested and shipped here. The only good things about this boat were Dustin and Theo and she wouldn’t give them up for the world, but she so desperately wanted to be there with her father. “I should be there…” She said, sniffling, and wince when he asked her about her bruise.
She thought she’d covered that better but she had just cried a full river so that was probably it. “Things here are not as good as they said they would be. The boat...it’s almost like it’s cursed or something. So much has happened...You won’t like hearing it.”
Dmitry looked pained when she said she should be there. He wished she were. He did have assistants, but not like her. She understood him and how he worked better than anyone. She'd been doing it since she was old enough to take a screwdriver and dismantle a machine he'd spent two weeks building. She was his brilliant daughter and they worked best together. But having her anywhere near these diseases, around these people... He hated that sound in her voice. “Tell me,” he told her gently, in his Dad tone. The one that said that she was always going to be his baby girl and she could tell him anything.
She knew that tone. He didn’t use it often but when he did, she knew what it meant. That nothing she could say would change how much he loved her but that he still needed to know regardless. Sniffling again, she nodded. “Months ago, our ship came under attack. Pirates. They commandeered the boat and took hostages. We fought them off and won but it took a lot of time and caused damage on the boat. Casualties even. But I got to move from housekeeping to security then. Where I met Dustin. You’d like him. And Theo.”
She shook her head a little. ‘I’m getting off track. The pirates attacked and the ship banded together, but before then we believed that we were sort of immune to the disease. That it was happening elsewhere, not in any way connected to us. We were wrong. The plague makes people do horrible things. Like this,” She said, gesturing to her jaw. “We stopped in Stockholm to restock and check the boat but when we tried to leave, the government wouldn’t let us. It was chaos. People had been held hostage there for months, all desperately trying to claw their way onto the ship. I was...I was taken by a small group that wanted on the boat. They thought I was a good ransom. But Dustin is a Marine, so they learned how wrong they were. And Theo...he got me this connection. I’ve been trying to talk to you for years, Papa. And only Theo could make it happen. His father is the Vice President.”
Dmitry noted the names, assuming she'd fill in more blanks as she went. But he was also too busy at the moment wrapping his head around pirates. And the fact that no one had fucking told him a word about it. He was continually told that she was safe and happy. Sometimes he'd get locations that she was, he'd been shown pictures... “My little girl...” he said, having to take a long moment. He needed to go hug her. Tell her it was all going to be okay. Not that his strong daughter needed that very often, but he felt like she needed it right now. “Do you need to come here?” he asked. “I will refuse to work, I will do whatever I need to, if you aren't safe out there then...” he didn't know what. He couldn't function? Fundamentally he understood that nowhere was actually safe. But he'd thought she was safer than it turned out she actually was.
She had to fight back another sob. Going to see him, being with her father, was all she’d wanted for the full five years she’d been on this ship. Even now, it was such a tempting offer that she wanted to tell him yes, to do that, to refuse work until she got there and could help him and hold him. But she couldn’t leave the ship. She wouldn’t leave Theo and Dustin. She had to be here, fighting the same fight just...on this boat.
“I love you, Papa,” She said, giving him a sad smile through her sniffles. “But I don’t know that there is a safe place anymore. And I want to be there with you. I want to hug you. But I have my boys here and I can’t leave them. They need me too. The ship needs me. I’m helping. I...just wish you were here.”
He nodded in understanding, even if he wanted her there with him. But she did have her own life, she'd always been a very independent girl, something that he'd always admired about her. So if she had her own things to do, then she needed to tend to that. “I love you too, 'Vanya,” he said. “And understand. We each have our own missions. Be where you are needed. But we will be in contact more. I'm not going to continue anything until I'm guaranteed contact with you whenever I want. Every day.” That was non-negotiable. And when he would skip days she would know it was because he'd forgotten to sleep and his definity of a day was different than others. “Your boys? Theo and Dustin,” he said, remembering that part. And one's father was the VP, who he had met.
She didn’t think she had any more tears left in her but when he promised her they wouldn’t be apart anymore, she couldn’t stop the tears. They fell down her cheeks again in big drops, catching in the corner of her smile.”Every day,” She promised. It was this big weight off of her, a weight she been trying to hide since she got sent to this ship. “Please know I tried so hard to get to you.” She wanted to talk about lighter things, about her loves, but she needed him to know that first.
“It's going to be okay, 'Vanya,” Dmitry promised her. He smiled back at her, they were both still crying. But he felt good talking to her. “And I don't doubt it. I'm sorry we didn't speak sooner, I had really believed you were safe and happy. They kept telling me you were happy,” he said, also feeling terrible it had been so long.
“I knew it. I knew they were keeping me from you. Bastards,” She murmured, wiping at her eyes again. “I would never go this long without talking to you. Who do you think you raised?” She joked, and realized instantly that it was a real joke. It made her laugh a little, something she’d been missing, something she was glad she had gotten back so quickly. “They were right about one thing. I am happy, but it’s a new development. Happy because of Dustin and Theo.”
He smiled back at her and shared in the laugh. “I must have lost my mind,” he told her. “But no more. We will keep in contact,” he said firmly. He wiped at his eyes again, briefly taking off his glasses to get them with a tissue, then he put them back on to focus on her again. “I'm glad to hear that,” he told her warmly. “Tell me about these two.” It was interesting to hear of his daughter speaking about people in that vein. She'd always been a free spirit, the type who didn't necessarily get attached.
Finally feeling like she could breathe, Ivanya took a long, shaking breath in and exhaled slowly before she started again. “They are so special. You would approve, I think. Dustin is so strong, and not just because of his past. His character is strong. He is the head of security on the ship and I...love him,” She said, feeling her grin start because she knew what he would think. That she’d never actively admitted to loving anywhere in her life. “And Theo. I love him too. He is a force of nature. Always striving to do good, with more heart than anyone I know. And the three of us are happy.”
Dmitry's eyes got wide when she said she loved someone. He smiled a second later, sitting up straighter. “You do? 'Vanya, I think you swore to me at thirteen that you were never going to do that,” he said, laughing with joy. And if she was right about this guy he did sound like someone he would approve of. Someone would need to be special to capture her heart. He laughed a little then looked away for a second, then back. “Trust my daughter, the professed independent woman, to have found not one but two loves,” he said. “I wouldn't expect anything less.” He smiled at her proudly. Certainly it was unconventional, but her smile said so much. And all he'd ever wanted for her was to be happy. “They treat you well?” he asked. “I don’t have to find a way to creatively disintegrate them from space just in case? I will anyway, but…”
Those eyes. She’d missed them so much. “I think it was twelve, but still.” She laughed again, wiping at her eyes once more, and shaking her head. “I never thought I would. It was never a plan for me. But sometimes I guess eureka moments come outside of the plans we have.” She tucked her hair back behind her ear and grinned at him. “Please don’t. Even if things change and I cry to you about more normal things to cry about, the world would be worse off without the two of them.” She took another breath and leaned forward. “Show me what you are working on. What fell on the floor earlier?”
Dmitry laughed. “They do,” he agreed. “I'm glad that you've found happiness and love, sweetheart,” he told her. “Warms my heart. And I suppose. But I might work on it when I have to get out of my head,” he said. “The space kill beam.” Then he picked up the remains of what he'd dropped and held it to the camera. “It's supposed to be a deep sea probe,” he said. “It's just a tinker project. You know I need something to take me out of my head so I can have a breakthrough and they assured me that I wasn't going to get any more appliances because I keep fixing them.” Meaning he kept taking them apart and trying to improve them with varying degrees of success.
“We could probably use a space kill beam anyway, so best for you to get started on it.” She said, sounding more official than before, as if they were just looking down a list of their brainstormed projects. As he explained the machine in his hands, her eyes lit up. “You know who happens to live on a vast amount of deep ocean…” She hinted, lifting an eyebrow at him. “I could run tests for you.”
Dmitry lit up along with her. “You could!” he said, a screw dropping out of the thing. “...once I get it back in working order... or perhaps I'll send it to you and you can finish it. I'm a little stuck on the pressure allowances anyway, you'd be able to crack it better,” he said. “It'll be nice to have a project together.” Even if they worked on it in different parts of the world.
“Fix it up and send it to me. I’ll check the pressure allowances and we’ll do some diagnostics over here on the ship. I might need your help getting some specific equipment but I think we should be able to manage that.” Between his sway and Theo’s, she was now sure that they could get anything they needed.
And then he mentioned their project, together, and she couldn’t help but smile again. It filled her with his unbelievable warmth, covering up the chill she’d let settle inside her for too long. “One of many,” She promised.