#the first bit of Svetlana's backstory

[driving-hazard]

Svetlana's Brainbow

I've been stuck in my room for longer periods than this, but for some reason this time it's hard not to wanna get up and leave. If it isn't a sort of self-imposed reverse psychology, I reckon it's just nerves. If I'm going to finish the imaging process though, I'll have to stick around for another 49 hours, otherwise I'll interrupt the process and have to start all over. Spinning around in my chair, I try to feel the little creatures in my body as they do their work, little bacteriophage-sized gadgets lodged in the soma and latched to the dendrites of my brain cells and nervous system, constantly electrically poking and prodding them and watching the way their parts react, listening to the signals they hear from their friends upstream. If they do what they're supposed to, in roughly 2 days I'll have an exact copy, give or take a little graininess, of myself inside my computer.

What I'll do with it of course, is a bit of an open secret. Even though the practice of copying is relatively rare, owing to its seeming pointlessness; you could immerse yourself fully in a computer with VR after all, why go through the trouble? It's still met with uncomfortable pauses in conversation, as if you'd just told someone you had a hobby of breaking your own fingers. Of course, that doesn't matter to me. Despite our subcellular integration with computers and machines nowadays, some of us feel an indescribable, inexplicable urge to shed off the rest of it, to be something entirely of our own creation, rather than just partially. Something like that probably sounds utterly psychotic to anyone outside our circles, but no matter who I have to try and talk me out of it, at the end of the day my only second opinion is my own.

Scribbled on a text document in the pile of files littering my desktop is something that passes for a schedule, for both me and my copy. If we were doing anything even resembling science, we would have had a list of experiments, although if you asked me what we'd experiment on I'd come up with a blank, evidenced by the sparseness of the schedule. What it really is for is communication, a way to keep track of when to check up on each other, so that we can relay our experiences informally. That's what my curiosity really boils down to. I want to know what it's like *for me* to live in a computer permanently, what it's like to wake up the morning after being copied, the week after, the month. What the finality of it feels like. Only I can describe that to myself in terms I'd understand.

Why is there a schedule? The brain's compressed state structure might take up only a few petabytes of space, but the execution of a simulated brain takes up a gargantuan amount of processing power, and even worse, you've got to add the resources needed to simulate a body that stretches and squishes and dilates and perspirates and twitches and flexes in a million involuntary, unconscious ways, and an environment that not only will convince your senses of it's reality, but also not simply bore you death. No one like me can afford to have a server in some datacenter at our beck and call for such things, and so we turn to the one option we have, slowdown.

If you run a really big simulation extremely slowly, normally you're just trying to optimize for low resource usage. Slowing down a copy though, has two additional considerations: communication with the outside world, and more importantly to them, communication with each other. If you're stuck anywhere alone, even a spectacularly interesting place, you're going to go fucking insane, so copies need to be running at the same speed so that they can interact with each other. But that speed also cannot be slow enough that you can't communicate with them in a reasonable time frame, otherwise a problem could occur on either end and you'd have no way to notify each other to have it worked out. That trade-off led to the standard for slowdown: 1/30th real-time. Slow enough to be run, fast enough to communicate with.

My computer can easily handle the resources needed to run at this speed, and nothing my copy can get up to in there is going to scratch the space on my drive. Our only concern for now is keeping in touch.

I'm going to sleep for now. I reckon if i can nap my way through most of this, the process won't be too agonizing, even if I'll still be exhausted from sheer lack of activity. The little gadgets in my head sadly can't artificially jolt my muscles, but they can at least artificially put me to sleep while they're doing the imaging.

#the first bit of Svetlana's backstory #I'll start writing the rest of it tomorrow #I know my writing style is quite shit #but it's been a WHILE since i've written much of anything

[adeadlysong]

OOC: I’ve been playing around with the character of The Starling, as she has/they have? grown quite a bit from her initial introductions/mentions in various threads over time. I made a basic bio about her when I first started writing her but I probably will need to expand on this more as I figure out more about her. 

The reason I haven’t tried diving deep into her background is, frankly, because I had little idea of how her backstory would go, and I wanted to play with the fact that she’s an enigma to most if not all the other muses on this blog as well. She also hasn’t been in a lot of threads on this blog, which is another reason why I haven’t done a deep dive on her character as is. I hope this changes with having her involved in more future threads, but also the sake of 

So far, I’ve revealed the following over time:

Her full name: Svetlana Aldaine

The fact that she has experience using magic tattoos to give others powers (particularly two of my other muses on this blog, Rafaele and Lukas) and can also make “extensions” of herself through others.

That she’s probably at least over a century old and has little recollection of how she became the way she is

She can also instantly summon music to play out of nowhere.

She keeps a former baker as her most loyal servant since he cannot die until she does. 

But who is she, really? And how did she end up becoming a person working in the shadows to keep Melodia? And why the heck did she even feel the need to use other people (Rafaele, Lukas, etc.) as agents? That’s what I’ll be focusing on developing for the forseeable future on this blog, so expect to see her more active in threads as part of this. XD

#ooc #mun speaks #about the starling #about svetlana #headcanon #is this a post of me just consolidating all the info i made up over the years about starling to work with? kinda XD

[cactusfinch]

Alina's Press Tour Crew

All of Alina's companions for her pilgrimage across Ravka, in my fic to hold my name on your tongue.

0% of this is faceclaims/appearance stuff because I don't visualize lol. Feel free to hit me with ideas though! Without further ado,

(in no particular order)

Svetlana: (means shining light in Russian/Ravkan lol). Durast, but works with plants. Does not have an amplifier. She can make a lot of plants grow when attached to living amplifier, but can usually only work to ‘open their roots/leaves’ to vitamins, make single flowers bloom, and encourage first sprouting. Can do a lot with soil too, and most of her work involves surveying areas for minerals and helping extract it from the ground. Not shown, but Alina and her bond over surveying because #cartography.

Anton: Alkemi, amazing cook. Reserved disposition until some bonding happens. Alina does not think he is very involved in the war effort, but he actually is Aleksander’s top-poisoner. Invented mustard gas (‘sinking gas’ in this fic). He shared a workroom with Genya and is friendly with her- he is the one who invented the untraceable contact poison for the king. Can work with Mikka to purify water. Has a crush on Mikka.

Nadia: Squaller, obviously. Still v depressed about Marie at the beginning of the trek, and a bit guilty about leaving her brother behind at Little Palace alone. Her father is from Noyvi Zem and came to Ravka by way of slave trade (kidnapped by Southern Colonies/brought to Kerch/escaped before being sold, fled to Ravka). She thinks its pretty bullshit that Ravka doesn’t do more to help Noyvi Zem considering they’re the only country around that also is okay with Grisha. [cannot believe i am including slavery in her backstory but fr cannot believe that slavery and colonization exist for the one (1) black nation in this verse. LB's audacity, honestly]

Zoya: Squaller, obvs. Acts like the Darkling forced her on this mission, but it turns out she volunteered when he asked her for suggestions on which Squaller/Tidemaker pair to take. She always volunteers for Fold crossings, and she knows that she needs to make it up to the Darkling for her attack on Alina in the training yard (but it doesn’t mean she likes her). Thinks Mal is hot, but they have very different goals in life (Zoya on a farm lol). Some of her hatred of Shu stems from a short-time she spent in Shu custody (kidnapped on assignment) and the experiments she saw performed/were performed on her before she was rescued. She does not like it when Alina is the one to wake her up.

Mikka: Tidemaker. Not technically an OC (this is the Tidemaker who attacks Kaz in that alley lmao). Aleksander chose him because he yearns to travel, and the General worries he’ll run off and get kidnapped without some controlled trips with oversight. Very cheerful, a bit golden retriever like, and easy going. He’s the youngest when they set out, and milks being the baby. He has a crush on Svetlana at first, but this bi king is wooed by the endless supply of well-spiced meals Anton puts in front of him.

Lena: Inferni. She’s a bit more serious than the others (not Ivan level) and tries at first to be ‘group-mom’. It’s not her thing though, and she soon returns to being a more absentee-but-cool aunt. Her husband was kidnapped by Fjerdans when she was younger (30s-ish) and she came to the Little Palace because she no longer felt she could live a life of peace. Her husband wasn’t Grisha, but the Fjerdans thought he was (they mistook her summoning for his). That’s how you really know their trials are a sham.

Baghra: Shadow Summoner. She brought her cane with her and is not afraid to use it. She spends most of the travel time in her extremely hot carriage, and sometimes even sleeps there if she finds an inn too drafty. She teaches Alina more outside of Aleksander’s view; not only light-summoning, but also a lot about their history, as Grisha and as mother and son. Fond of Vitya. Probably hints that her father experimented on her to make her an amplifier the same way he did the stag and whip.

Ivan: Heartrender. He is pissed that his boss assigned him this beat, but appeased by the fact that he sent Fedyor along with him. Reluctantly impressed by Alina’s Summoning skills, and reluctantly charmed by a few of the non-Grisha they meet. He’s a better Healer than he thinks. His older brothers were First Army and were killed in the war. Still, when Ivan (the youngest) presented as a Grisha, his family rejected him. They are from a Northern region, with a heavy Fjerdan influence. They tried to burn him as a witch, but Kirigan saved his life when he was passing by on his way to the front. Biggest naysayer of Alina’s plans at the beginning, her biggest enforcer by the end lol.

Fedyor: Heartrender, He is just trying to get his husband to treat this trip as a honeymoon and failing. Happy, jokey, and optimistic. Fedyor is the biggest supporter of the press tour, as he thinks non-Grisha are people too. He is still in contact with his family (politically powerful—Dukedom) and has had a pretty charmed life for a Grisha. Still, he can sympathize with the horror’s other have faced, and knows that public policy and attitude towards Grisha need to change. Most political savvy of the crew.

Mal: Just here to have a good time and look good doing it (but really to protect Alina at all costs + get that stag).

Vitya (Victor): Healer. They picked him up in Balakirev and he comes along with them. Alina would feel more smug about getting a Healer after all if she didn’t feel guilty about dragging a child along with her cross country. He loves Baghra because she tells great stories, can make epic shadow puppet shows (but only if he keeps them secret), and slips him candy when the others aren’t looking (Baghra was a bad mom but she was pretty good at the grandmother thing). He idolizes Ivan (the only other person with any healing ability) and soaks up as much information about the Small Sciences that he can.

Katya: Inferni. Extremely rambunctious little girl who is not very in control of her powers. She sets their camp on fire multiple times, but she and her non-Grisha father, Dmitri, stick with them because Alina is not sure that Aleksander will honor her promise to allow them both to stay at the LP if she just sends them his way.

Some oprichniki that will remain nameless unless absolutely necessary.

In the interest of not ruining anyone's mental image of the characters, I've placed their ages (the ones I imagined) on a separate post which can be found here.

#story: to hold my name on your tongue #fandom: grishaverse #OCs galore #thmnoyt #story: thmnoyt

[the-i-in-lie]

(copy pasted from my reddit)

I always thought Mike would be better if his personalities were actually just characters he made up, and I wrote a backstory for this alternate Mike:

He always struggled to make friends, being generally introverted and socially awkward, with a somewhat strict family. When he was 12 he found his first friends, a group of delinquents a few years his senior. They accepted Mike but he had to do dangerous/illegal things with them, which freaked him out as a bit of a momma's boy. He did his hair in that emo style for his "bad boy" image. His friends all had nicknames for each other. Mike's was Mal.

One day they got caught vandalizing and stealing hundreds of dollars worth of stuff from a store, and they were sentenced to a few months in juvie each. Mal only "ran the place" because he was backed up by his "friends", more of a puppet ruler than anyone with actual power. Mike realized these kids didn't really like him while in juvie too.

He switched schools after finishing his sentence and vowed never to go back to deliquency or his Mal phase again. He was always a fairly fit kid, and learned to be nimble from his crime spree, so his parents put him in gymnastics.

Mike still felt like an impostor at times, doing all these epic tricks and such, when in he still felt like the wannabe edgelord he was in juvie. He idolized an Olympian named Svetlana and made this exaggerated version of her to help him gain confidence, and it worked surprisingly well.

The next character to come up was Vito, as Mike was always bad with talking to girls, and he had studied other method actors while perfecting Svetlana. Only this time Vito wasn't quite as good at his job as she was. Vito's relationships were shallow, but it was better than nothing, Mike reasoned.

Mike was 15 or so when he decided to make a character just to make himself or others laugh. Enter Chester and his darn whippersnappers. It was also a healthier way to get out his negative emotions than Vito's flirting or Mal's delinquency.

Finally, Manitoba Smith (best personality in my opinion). Mike had never been in major life or death situations before Total Drama, and so he watched a lot of survival shows before he joined. He figured "Why not make a character out of this?", and once the opportunity came on A Mine Is A Terrible Thing To Waste, Manitoba made his debut.

He could bond with Zoey over having lonely childhoods, or alternatively end up with Anne Maria. Maybe she has a nice side that ends up showing as she learns to love *all* of Mike, not just the Vito part.

Also, All Stars would make a lot more sense with this Mike in my opinion. I'm biased of course, but having Mike revert to Mal in the presence of all these classic TD competitors (especially Duncan) as he feels he doesn't stack up would be cool. Oh, and Mike telling Mal he's a part of him he doesn't need anymore and the "From now on, I'm all Mike all the time," would be less offensive and generally terrible.

What do you think?

#total drama #tdroti #tdas #total drama revenge of the island #total drama all stars #td mike #td chester #td svetlana #td manitoba #td vito #td mal #total drama mike #total drama vito #total drama chester #total drama svetlana #total drama manitoba #total drama mal

[james-stark-the-writer-wips]

A Year At The Opera - Excerpt

Chapter 11, Part 2: Svetlana

WC: 2900 words. It’s not perfect but it’s here. I hope you like it :)

*

Svetlana

Going back like four days, back to the first day of school, we’re going to catch up on what’s been happening with her. So, Waverly, Sean and the rest had called her for a thing at the park, right? Well, she went home after school, asked her mom if she could go. Anya said yes but only if Svetlana would help her unpack tomorrow and after that, Svetlana drove out to the park. And that’s where we pick up.

Embrace Park was mostly filled with kids at this point, it being the middle of the afternoon and all, but Svetlana found the group standing by the large tree towards the other end of the park.

“You came!” Waverly said, walking up to Svetlana.

“I said I would.” Svetlana said, lightly hugging her. 

“Come on, everyone's waiting.” Waverly grabbed Svetlana's hand dragging her along to the others.

“Hello there.” Sam said, expecting a ‘General Kenobi’ back. His face immediately fell when she didn’t reply back.

“Hey.” Svetlana said. “Alicia isn't here?”

“General Kenobi.” Waverly said to Sam, giving him a quick peck on the nose and making him turn his face to hide the fact that he was blushing.

“No, she and Leo couldn't make it.” Britney chimed in. “She's got a date with her girlfriend who lives over in the next town. Leo never comes out anywhere.”

“Cool.” Svetlana said. “So, like, what do you guys actually do around here?”

“Mostly we just hang out.” Sean said. “Talk about shit like what our days have been like, what's been going on at home or whatever shit we've got going. Think of this as casual group therapy.”

“Isn't group therapy already casual?” She retorted.

Sean chuckled. “Fair enough.”

“So… what do we do now?”

“I guess we talk. Let's get to know each other.” Sean said. 

“Sounds good to me.” Svetlana said. 

The group spent the next few hours talking and complaining about their life and whatever they had going on. They talked about a lot of things I'm not going to go over because they'd literally take hours so I'm just going to cover the highlights. 

First. Britney filled in Svetlana about what happened to Waverly. Turns out, about three years ago, she’d gone on a trip where she’d decided to go swimming in the ocean and almost drowned. Since then, she’d been careful around talk of death and scared to go swimming. It had forced the group to adapt to some colorful expressions to talk about death around Waverly.

After that, the rest of them continued to talk about the mundanities of day to day life. Sam talked about his mom being a bitch, Britney complained about the lack of good looking guys and everyone rolled their eyes, basically telling Svetlana they’d been hearing the same thing for a long while and Waverly complained about her dad not liking Sam. They walked around the park as they talked. And finally, as the sun began to descend, Sean talked about a problem with his mom’s finances.

“She’s just been secretive, you know?” Sean said, “Like she’s trying to keep it from me, like she thinks she can hide it from me.”

“She probably just doesn’t want you to worry.” Sam said.

“Yeah well, it’s not fucking working. I took a peek at the bills yesterday. We might get kicked out, man.”

“You really think they’d evict you?” Waverly asked.

“If we can’t pay the bills, I doubt they have any other choice.”

“What about your dad?” Svetlana asked.

Everyone in the group stared at her awkwardly. Waverly inhaled sharply.

“Well, he left when I was five… so, he’s really not gonna be much help.” Sean said almost cheerily.

Svetlana got quiet. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“It’s fine.” Sean said, “It was a long time ago and there was no way you could’ve known.”

“So,” Brtiney stepped in to change the mood. “You’ve heard about our depressing problems, it’s only fair we get to hear yours.”

“Oh I don’t really have problems.” Svetlana brushed it off.

“That literally can’t be true. Everyone has problems.” Sam said.

“No, I swear. Home life is actually pretty good. And so far, so is the rest of everything.”

“You like the town so far?” Sean asked.

“Yep.” Svetlana nodded.

“Okay, so, if you don’t have problems right now, give us your tortured backstory.” Britney placed a firm hand on Svetlana’s shoulder.

“There’s not much to tell.” Svetlana began.

“So, you were born in Russia?” Sam asked inquisitively.

“Not really. Because my grandfather had married an American woman, my parents had come to live with them during the tail end of my birth so I was technically a United States citizen before my parents because I was born here. But, after I was born, my parents left with my grandparents for a year or so before they came back to get me. I spent about six years with them before they also migrated here. But they still have family there so they visit often and I go with them.”

“Cool!” Britney said.

“Not as much as you think.” Svetlana continued. “After we moved here permanently, we lived with my grandparents for a while but they died so we had to move away when I was about ten or eleven. My grandma’s parents really didn’t like us because they’re raging bigtots who think every russian is a communist and didn’t want us staying at the house so we moved to Philly for a bit then my dad got a good job working as a manager and we stayed there for a while and then my dad got a better offer and now we’re here.”

“That’s rough.” Sean said. “But I’m glad it worked itself out.”

“Hey, Sammy, what’s the time?” Britney asked.

“Uh, 6:05.” Sam replied.

“Shit! I have to go or my mom is going to strangle me. Bye!”

“Bye!” Waverly said as Britney ran off into the distance towards her car. 

“We should get going too. It’s getting a bit late.” Sam said turning to Waverly.

“Yeah, we’ll see you both tomorrow then.” She gave Sean a cheeky smile, grabbed Sam’s hand and started to walk away.

“So…” Sean hooked his fingers in his pockets as he and Svetlana continued to walk.

“So…” She bit her lip.

Sean stopped and took in a sharp breath. “Hey, I know this is kinda forward but like, do you wanna go on a date with me?” Sean asked.

Svetlana didn’t know how to respond.

Sean must have noticed her distress because he immediately added, “You don’t have to answer immediately, obviously.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I know it’s weird considering we just met today but its just that…” He let out a sigh. “I’d like to take you out on a proper date and give this a shot before we have to file for bankruptcy.” He laughed to himself.

“Sure, why not?” Svetlana said. This could be fun. If nothing else, she could get a tour around town and the proposition of free food was always fun.

“Cool. How’s friday sound?” He smiled. “I could even give you a proper tour of the town, then.”

“It sounds awesome.” Svetlana said. “But I’m paying. For any services rendered.”

“Any services rendered? Whoo, there. That might cost you.” Sean said sarcastically. “But, jokes aside, if you want to, it’s your prerogative.”

“That’s a big word!” She joked. “What, did you pick up a dictionary today?”

“Ouch.” Sean said. “Word of the day app.”

Svetlana smiled, looking away.

“Here, give me your phone.” Sean said taking out his phone and handing it to Svetlana. She gave him hers. They quickly exchanged numbers and wishing her a quick goodbye, Sean walked away with a large smile stuck on his face.

Svetlana checked the time. It was already close to 6:30 and it was starting to get dark. Time to get home.

-

Svetlana reached home a little later. As the car pulled up to the driveway, the tires slowly dragging along the pathway, she spotted the silhouettes of her parents approaching the door from the living room window. Oh no, the curtains are pulled. The curtains were never pulled in the Petrova household. Not unless there was an emergency.

Fuck. She thought as she opened the car door and got out. Quickly locking it, Svetlana hurried to the door.

“Gde ty byla?” The door opened before Svetlana could get her hands on it and the large, imposing, absolute unit of a figure of Anatoly Petrova stood before her.

“It’s only seven, papa.” Svetlana protested.

“Seven in a new city, dochinka!” The slight russian accent in his voice was in a weird middle ground to Svetlana’s non-existent and Anya’s moderately-heavy russian accent. The accent had certainly faded over the years, and his five years of study here had helped as well but you could still here hints of it on occasion when he was angry or stressed. Perhaps it was an internal instinct to stick with what you knew.

“Can I come in? It’s freezing out here.” She rubbed her arms and Anatoly let out a protesting grumble but moved aside to let her in.

“Where were you?” Anatoly asked again.

“I made friends.” She replied, walking into the living room. “They invited me to hang with them at the park.” 

“You could’ve called, Sveta!”

She looked over her shoulder just enough to see Anatoly in her periphery as she removed her phone from her low cut jeans and threw it on the couch. “I lost track of time. It won’t happen again.” She stated calmly. Fortunately, Anatoly was prone to freaking out about little things so Svetlana wasn’t worried much.

Anatoly walked in front of her to talk to her but before he could get another word out, Anya’s voice came from behind Svetlana. “We’ve been worried sick!” Anya’s tone was sharp and accusatory.

Svetlana turned to face her. Anatoly rolled his eyes. Anya continued, “Especially after what happened at your father’s job today and right on the first day too. This isn’t a good sign, devushka.”

“Whoa whoa. Stop.” Svetlana’s expression grew serious. “What happened at papa’s job?”

“You didn’t hear?” Anya asked innocently.

“It’s a little accident, don’t worry about it.” Anatoly said. “These things happen.” Unfortunately, Anatoly was also prone to making small things of big issues.

“What happened?” Svetlana asked again.

“A little accident? People are dead, Anatoly.” Anya spat.

“Whoa!” Svetlana stopped Anya. “Can you both just tell me what happened?”

“It is a massive radioaktivnoye leak.” Anya said. “Your father’s been cleaning up the mess all day.”

Svetlana turned to Anatoly. “God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He reassured her. “I’ve just been trying to contain the situation all day. Thankfully the media haven’t caught wind of it yet.”

“But are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. The leak was taken care of quickly and the radiation was contained quickly. Somehow one of the tanks sprung a leak and flowed out but it didn’t do much damage to any important equipment. Ended up killing eight people though.”

Svetlana had to do a double take to even process how casually Anatoly said that.

“I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Have to get to work early tomorrow.” Anatoly said before turning to Svetlana and letting out a quick yawn. “And if you’re gonna be late, call before.”

“Yeah.” Svetlana nodded.

Anatoly climbed the stairs and made his way to his room.

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” Anya placed a warm hand on Svetlana’s back and guided her to the kitchen.

-

The next few days passed in relative silence. With the school closed for a while and not much to do, Svetlana spent the days helping Anya unpack and binging shows and movies and Youtube video essays about those shows and movies. But, time flew by and it was officially friday. The big date was here.

And, right on time, the bike arrived out Svetlana’s house.

“Mama, I’m leaving!” Svetlana shouted grabbed her jacket and reaching for the door. 

“Don’t be too late!” Anya shouted back.

“I’ll call if I’m gonna be late.” Svetlana said before exiting the house. 

Sean turned the key in the bike and shook his head to straighten his hair that had been tousled up by the wind.

Svetlana quickly jogged up to him.

“Ready?” He asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” She quickly answered.

She was certainly excited to be going on this little date but more than that she was really excited to be on that bike. It looked like a beauty, the sun glimmering off it’s glossy paint. The seat wasn’t too low which was comfortable for Svetlana’s tall 5’7 figure.

“Get on then.” Sean smirked.

“Where are we going?”

“I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” Sean said. “Grab on tight, we’re going fast.”

A smile crept on his face as Svetlana got on and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Here we go.” The bike sped off into the sunset.

-

As the sun flared behind them in the distance, Svetlana and Sean arrived at their destination about ten minutes later. 

“So,” Sean said, parking the bike. “Welcome to Chester’s: the supreme hangout spot for literally everyone and the best milkshakes in the state with pancakes to rival Rose’s, over in Tenebris.” His tone resembled an overenthusiastic advertisement.

“Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Svetana said quickly running a hand through her hair to straighten the rebellious blond strands that had flown everywhere as they flew through city traffic at high speed.

“Let’s head in then. You will never have milkshakes like this anywhere.” Sean said, stuffing the keys in his pocket.

“Thats’s going to be a hard challenge, I’ve had milkshakes at Vinny’s.” Vinny’s, as you probably know, is regarded to have some of the best milkshakes in the world.

“Well, I’m sure they can’t compare as far as taste.” Sean walked towards the door and opened it, letting Svetlana go in first.

“Ah, a gentleman, I see.” Svetlana joked.

“Perfect behavior.” Sean replied perfectly seriously, walking in with her.

“How delectable.” Svetlana muttered under her breath.

The sound of the bell above the door subsided as Sean turned to Svetlana. “So, where do you wanna sit?”

“Well, you’re the expert, where’s the best seats in the house?”

“That would be the far left booth but unfortunately, it seems to be taken.” Sean pointed at the booth.

Svetlana saw Mason sitting with Ingram, instantly identified with his fiery red hair, while the ‘Manic Pixies’ as Britney had called them, stood talking to the boys.

“So,” Sean continued, “Best seats in the house are probably going to be the second booth on the right.”

“Lead the way!” Svetlana said. 

But even as they walked, Svetlana couldn’t stop thinking about Ingram.

As they slid into the booth, she turned around for a quick glance at him. They were still talking to the girls.

“So, what do you want to eat?” Sean asked.

Svetlana smiled at her and whispered a quick thank you before turning back to Sean. “Well, what milkshake would you say is the best?” She looked over the menu.

“I’m biased but I’d personally take the strawberry. But, you know, chocolate chip is never a bad choice if that’s your thing.”

“Nope. Strawberry sounds good to me.”

“Great! Anything to eat?”

“I’m just gonna have some fries but you can get whatever you want. Or we could get a large fires and split it.”

“Shakes and fries? Sounds godawful.”

“FYI, It’s actually delicious. Chester always puts more salt on mine because he knows I love them and they go amazingly well with the fresh, fruity, sweet milkshakes.”

“Alright, if you say so. But I’m also getting a burger to go with those fries.”

“Cool.” He said. “Hey, Arlene!” He called out and the waitress from before quickly hurried over.

“Yep?” Arlene took out her notepad.

“Alright, so, two strawberry milkshakes, go heavy on the whipped cream, a little extra sweet. A side of large fries, half curly, half plain, extra salt and a burger for the lady right here.”

“Got it.” She quickly rattled off the order back to them to confirm it and then hurried off behind the counter. 

“And now we wait.” Sean muttered under his breath.

Svetlana’s eyes drifted off her menu to the Pixies who were starting to walk away.

“Hey,” She asked, “You mind if I go check up on him? I didn’t really get a chance to see how he is.” The words flowed out without a second thought.

“Uh, sure.” Sean said, visibly tensing up. “We have some time to kill before the food comes anyway.”

And Svetlana realized what she’d done.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m stupid. It’s rude.” She quickly said. Ugh, she couldn’t believe she’d been this stupid. God, she couldn’t even imagine how poor Sean felt. He must’ve felt she was ditching him.

“No, I swear, it’s fine. I have to call my mom anyway.” He said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He said but he was still tensed up.

“I’ll be right back.” She was already off the seat before beginning that sentence and making her way to Ingram Shaw.

*

#writeblr #writblr #creative writing #original writing #writing #wip #AYATO #A Year At The Opera #excerpt #excerpts from my writing #writeblr community

[for-peace-war]

Countess Svetlana Vladimirovna Zuyeva, 9th Generation Camarilla Lasombra and seneschal of Savannah, Georgia at the best of Prince Valerie Du Courdray.

Recently while doing a chronicle with @backtothestabbery, Svetlana was allowed to appear in a 1981 event series.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and added a bit more depth to her backstory, so that was great.  Anyway, this piece captures her looking over the city…

This is the first commission I’ve received from @elverabasilisk // *ElveraBasilisk at Artists n’ Clients and I have to say it was amazing.  Incredibly fast, polite, and helped out with suggestions that I loved.  I hope more people give her a chance because… that price and product are absurdly good. 

#vtm #vampire the masquerade #lasombra #svetlana zuyeva #camarilla #commission

[anatolysergievsky]

Okay so ever since I was little my mom always played chess in the car and I just grew up hearing it. So the most I know about the story line is what I picked up off listening to the music. What is the actual differences between the American and other production? Is the storyline any different?

Hi anon!! Thank you forthe question!

First of all, let me saythat the storyline is VERY different between the In-Concert version and theBroadway version! Also, there isn’t just one official American version—to myknowledge, there’s two. Not counting whatever little changes colleges/amateurcompanies might make, there’s the original Broadway storyline and then there’sthe similar but much worse American tour version.

Anyway, the storylines between the two are:

           Broadway:Anatoly, the Russian, is a disenchanted chess world champion who is tied to anextensive, controlling team. Among this team are Molokov and Nikolai, twosecret agents for the Soviet government. Freddie, the American, is hischallenger in the 1979 (don’t quote me on the year because I think Broadwaymight have changed it) world championship. His team is smaller than Anatoly’s—Ibelieve he only has one backup second and then Walter, his media agent who alsoworks for the government, and Florence, his ex and primary second (and manager?Every production has issues with blurring her job title). The plot begins tomove when, at the first game they play, Freddie threatens to throw thechampionship because he thinks Anatoly is cheating by receiving signals on howto play via the flavor of yogurt he’s brought by his team as a snack. This wasreally just a tactic he was using to demand more money for every match heplayed. This leads to Florence and Molokov agreeing to have a reconciliatorydinner in town with both the players so they can discuss how the match willproceed. Freddie doesn’t show. Because of this, Anatoly has the opportunity toflirt with Florence and they end up hitting it off even though, when Freddiefinally shows up, she won’t commit immediately to leaving with Anatoly orstaying with Freddie. Eventually, though, they end up making their relationshipofficial when Anatoly defects from the Soviet Union and nearly gets killed inthe process so that he can be with her. As a consequence, the match is put on aslight hold and is planned to reconvene in a few weeks. Act two begins aseveryone arrives in Budapest to complete the championship. Anatoly’s wife,Svetlana, also arrives, and that’s only the first thing that begins to put astrain on Anatoly. Anatoly also finds out that Molokov is threatening hisbrother back in Russia. As the final nail in the coffin, Molokov and Walterbegin to work together to essentially exchange Anatoly (from Walter) forprisoners in Russia (from Molokov). Among these prisoners is Florence’s father,or so Molokov says. All of this makes Anatoly lose matches distractedly untilhe’s tied with Freddie. Freddie has a breakdown on television where he opens upabout his childhood—his absent dad and his neglectful mom. In the end, Anatoly decidesto forfeit the championship because he was offered the deal of that in exchangefor Florence being reunited with her father. Freddie becomes the champion andit is revealed that Florence’s father likely isn’t alive.

           In-Concert:Here, Freddie is the incumbent champion and Anatoly is the up-and-comingchallenger to his title. The team structures remain largely the same with theexception of Walter and Nikolai. In this version, Walter runs Global Televisionand is a reporter while also working in the CIA. Nikolai doesn’t exist in thisversion but Viigand does and he is Anatoly’s second. So, really, the teamsaren’t that much the same but the dynamics remain, is what I mean. Freddiebadmouths Anatoly for months leading up to the championship and earns himself ahorrible reputation, leading most people to think he should just resign andalso leading the match to begin with a very sour sort of feeling (which, given,it was already going to because of Cold War tensions). This leads Molokov tobelieve Freddie has lost it and that the match will be an easy win for Anatolybut Anatoly doesn’t believe Freddie has actually lost his spark. Here, it alsobecomes clear that Anatoly and Molokov have quite a bit of tension and thatAnatoly resists Molokov’s thoughts and suggestions frequently. Cut to the firstgame and Freddie once again forfeits the match in order to demand more money,this time from Global Television and this time by flipping the board ontoAnatoly and saying he demands an apology from Anatoly. A meeting is once againarranged although Freddie doesn’t show up. Once again, Anatoly and Florenceunexpectedly find themselves attracted to each other and hit it off beforeFreddie arrives. This distraction causes Freddie to lose until he’s 1 win to 5losses to Anatoly. It’s at this point that he blames Florence for this, causinga fight between them that leads to her quitting. After this, Freddie surrendershis title without ever officially losing the 6th game. As the newworld champion, Anatoly’s next move is to defect from the Soviet Union (onescene that is much less dramatized than it is in the Broadway version). Thesecond act is when the true differences between the Broadway and In Concertversion come to light. Act two happens a year later when the next worldchampionship is beginning. This time the competitors are Anatoly and Viigand,his prior second. Anatoly is playing for London and Viigand, of course, for theSoviet Union. Freddie now works as a reporter for Global Television but hisreal purpose for attending this match is to get revenge on Anatoly. Quite a fewthings happen in act two but I’ll summarize them quickly. Anatoly is given aninterview with Freddie in which Freddie humiliates him on live television.Svetlana arrives and is told by Molokov that she is to put pressure on Anatolyto come home or Molokov will make sure that her and her children suffer. Walterand Molokov strike a deal for Anatoly in exchange for several Americanprisoners and Florence’s dad. Svetlana tells Anatoly to come home and thendrives home the point of his earlier reflection: that no matter how much hewins, he will always end up back where he started and just as unhappy as healways has been (he gives no definitive answer). Walter approaches Florencewith a deal that she can have her dad back if she convinces Anatoly to lose thematch and go home (no deal). Freddie approaches Anatoly and tries to convincehim to throw the match for Florence’s sake (no deal). Freddie approachesFlorence and says to come back to him because he loves her and Anatoly wouldnever sacrifice his career to help her (no deal). Freddie reflects privately onhis childhood and on who it has made him. All of this stress causes Anatoly tolose matches against Viigand until they are tied and are continuing to pull outdraws for three weeks. Svetlana and Florence meet each other and discuss theirrelationships with Anatoly and how neither of them ended up being what theythink he needs (I have opinions about this BUT). Freddie unexpectedly comes upto Anatoly in the park before the deciding match and gives Anatoly advice on aflawed tactic of Viigand’s that Anatoly could exploit to win the championship.Freddie tells him that since Anatoly has already let down all the people heloves, he should at least do justice to the game and to himself by winningsince he is, in essence, a much better player than Viigand. Although thespecifics of the ending and why it occurs are more complicated than Anatolysimply choosing to win, I have other posts talking about that so it’s enough tosay that he wins and agrees to go home in exchange for Florence’s father.Florence then finds out that she has lost Anatoly for nothing—her father isn’teven guaranteed to be alive.

So! Those are thesummaries of the different plotlines. It’s obvious that the two versions reallybranch away from each other when act two begins but it isn’t just in storylinethat the productions differ.

           Characterizationbetween the two is very unique as well. Where Broadway tries to make Freddiemore likeable and funny, In Concert goes for a slightly more serious take onhim. That’s not to say that Freddie isn’t supposed to be funny in In Concertbut it is kind of clear that Broadway had more joke lines with him (all of thejoint press conference, the conversation about all the ways they’re milking hisfame for money, arguably “No Contest” and even “Freddie Goes Metal”). Anatoly’scharacterization is also unique in each version. Notably, Broadway makes himmuch more romantic and sweet and sensitive. In Concert plays up his bittercharacteristics more, especially in “Where I Want To Be” and “Endgame.” One ofthe main differences in Broadway’s Florence is the extended depth she isgiven—more songs, more backstory, more explored character traits…

           And,necessarily, the soundtracks between the two productions are very different.Broadway cuts out a great deal of songs while adding others. It cuts: “PressConference,” “Commie Newspapers,” “Molokov and Anatoly,” and mixes around theordering of the songs. It adds: “Argument” (a repurposing of the song from the1984 concept album), “Hungarian Folk Song,” different versions of “You and I,” “FreddieGoes Metal,” “Let’s Work Together,” “Father’s Lullaby,” and “No Contest.” It alsoMAJORLY restructures “Endgame.”

           So theseare the basic differences but there’s always more to be said about how thesechanges, like the ones in characterization and tracklisting, influence theshow! Let me know if you have any more questions ilysm!

#as a note #i did this all from memory so there might be a few mistakes here and there #chess #anatoly #freddie #florence #walter #molokov #vigand #nikolai

[dearophelia]

some episodes in particular:

- “Watergate” (dear gOD watergate; “hope you’re not expecting any heroic measures” “I’ve read your file” we have known Svetlana for fifteen seconds and she has firmly seated herself as Snark Goddess; “holy frozen bad guys” (of course it’s Maybourne, and I have seen this episode like six times and can never remember why he’s there but of course he’s there); “so it keeps perfect time but occasionally catches on fire” and honestly the whole thing about the sub being swiss; Svetlana having Emotions and getting to show them, Sam’s hand on her shoulder like Science Friends Stick Together)

- “Failsafe” (jesus lord almighty what did we to do deserve this episode we are unworthy; “i’m confident” “me too” “as am i”; “I’ve seen this movie, it hits Paris”; Jack gearing up to say something Meaningful as they’re all about to die but actually saying that it’s a poorly-designed bomb and they should talk to someone about that; everyone just being accustomed to the fact that everything goes wrong but hoping it won’t anyway; “is there a four?“; Sam’s face when Jack tells her all the wires are yellow; “if I have to say ‘what’ one more time”; this episode is a masterclass in making the foregone conclusion of Saving The Day interesting, honestly; “Carter, I can see my house”; tbh I could write a novel about how great failsafe is)

- “Nightwalkers” (this episode is so stupid I love it I love it; Sam having to keep track of two aliens who are both So Obvious; Jonas and his eating habits like dude is Righteous about the cook screwing up his hamburger and #same; “do people think I’m weird” “let’s get some lunch”; Sam’s gloriously drawn out “ohhhhhhh I wouldn’t say that” at the Reveal, like even the zat sounds exasperated; speaking of Sam she spends like 98% of this episode in civvies and it is very *fans self* like THAT TRENCHCOAT MAN THAT TRENCHCOAT AND LEATHER GLOVES AS SHE’S PICKING A LOCK)

- “Point of No Return” (it’s Teal'c in a fedora, i don’t know what else you want me to say; and then, after like 40 minutes of straight comedy, we get hit with Marty’s homeworld being total rubble and EVERYTHING HURTS IN THE LAST TWO MINUTES THIS EPISODE IS SO RUDE)

- “Red Sky” (“we have never before been visited by elves”; Jack sassing the Asgard High Council; the whole bit with Sam trying to explain physics with fruit, and Daniel asks if she’s mixing apples and you know; I Am Freyr; Sam just casually asking to borrow a missile; actual stakes and actual failure for once in this franchise)

- “Summit” & “Last Stand” (okay LEGIT FAVORITE TWO-PARTER; “Daniel Jackson, you’re a very long way from home” like can we talk about her delivery and the utter, bone-deep primal dread; all of the system lords (including all the ladies we should’ve had more of but that’s another post); the introduction of Ba'al; fuck fuck Anubis oh fuck we’re doomed; there’s DVD commentary somewhere about how Anubis starches his robes and i can never unthink that; also Jacob being crotchety, more so than usual on account of Daniel not doing his damn job)

- “Descent” (also a largely stupid episode that I love to pieces; “next time when we crash our brand new mothership, let’s crash it somewhere tropical” “actually at this depth all water would be this cold” “shallower water then”; Dad Feelings (shoutout to my phone for the autocorrect on the caps there) with Jacob; Jonas and I think this is the one with the banana and the alien conspiracy? it’s been a while)

- “The Other Guys” (CINEMATIC FUCKING MASTERPIECE; literally all of this episode, all of it; Teal'c counting how many times they’ve saved the world (eight); “look everyone, he’s got COOMBS with him”; the epitome of the Jonas Being Happy At Firsts joke when he’s smiling at it being his first time captured; just all of this episode)

- “Space Race” (I LOVE STUPID RACING EPISODES OKAY love them; Sam showing up in motorcycle gear; Sam’s literal puppy dog eyes when it turns out she might get to fly a spaceship in a fucking space race; “how many times have i told you, don’t get caught by the bad guys” and more importantly his little we have been over this gesture)

- “Evolution 1 & 2” (two lines no waiting; how to do complex backstory in three easy minutes while not dropping the action; somehow this episode makes zombie guerilla soldiers not ridiculous; the Oh Fuck Oh Fuck of seeing the mass of kull warriors; the guy’s name is Thoth and ATapps goes on for like half a minute in the DVD commentary and can’t stop laughing at how funny Thoth is to say)

- “Window of Opportunity” (Daniel, just Daniel in all of this; “maybe he read your report” and that major look of disbelief, dude took a double dose of sass pills this morning; golf pants are hilarious; “lose it. go crazy, nuts, insane, bonzo, no longer in possession of one’s faculties, three fries short of a happy meal, WACKO”; the whole recurring joke of “bad example”; Teal'c with the thermometer; and then, like, suddenly shit gets very real with Malikai’s wife and Jack’s son)

outside of seasons 4-7 most of my influence is the god of “I did not sign up for - oh wait, shit, I did”, Cameron Mitchell

* “woah, woah dude, bullets bounce”

* the way he casually gives ~~legally-required~~ fine print to the prior about the thermonuclear bomb in front of him "sir are you aware that you are within ten kilometers of this device”

* “go for the stomach, that’s where dragons are weakest” please explain how you know the weak points of dragons, shaft

* begging Sam to come back with “what if I need you to fix it because I screwed it up”

* complaining that the prior doesn’t have a good pie crust recipe

* teasing a sleeping Daniel with what I think is a straightened out paper clip

* him and Sam in “Arthur’s Mantle” poking each other to see if the other’s really there

* actually, literally any and all Sam+Cam interactions ever; bffs forever, I love them; they are legit a thesis on how to drop a years-old friendship into the middle of an existing canon

* any time he gets into a sword fight, which is more often than you’d think for a sci-fi show

tl;dr everything I know about writing I learned from Stargate

#oph texts #I LOVE THIS GODDAMN SHOW #fun fact: ''the other guys'' is the episode liv stumbles on a few weeks after she and her mom get to the citadel post-mindoir #t:stargate #find this post again

[what-the-pyaar]

Ishqbaat | January 9, 2017

Promo- Awww did shivaay make annika coffee??? He looks so excited!!! Too bad its poisoned and now annika will probably never drink coffee again Show- Ok the actress that plays svetlana is just TOO much for me ya know YA FINALLY A SCENE WITH OM IN HIS STUDIO AGAIN! YA FINALLY A DAMN SCENE WITH OM! awww is annika gonna take care of her devar??? Idk if thats the name of the relation...jijaji maybe??? I think thats your sister's husband so that's not it...i think its devar...idk someone help me these relations are called different things in hindi and kashmiri so i always get confused WHEN IS SHIVAAY GONNA FIND OUT ANNIKA'S BACKSTORY?!?!?!?! i love annika when she's with omru, whenever she's with om she gets really philosophical and smart. And when she's with rudra she’s really cute and funny. AND I JUST LOVE ANNIKA now do y'all think tia would've done this?!?! BHABI!!!! THATS THE FIRST TIME HE'S CALLED HER BHABI!!! YAYAYAYA is she gonna ask about somya and rudra??? AWWW NO SHE'S ASKING WHAT BLUSH MEANS!!!! CUTIE PIE!!! She's so cute!!! "THOSE type of scenes, and I'm a modest girl" ANNIKA OMG Annika i can tell just by looking at your face you use blush so don't even ANNIKA. OH MY GOD. NO. god damn it annika SAIRABANO! ANNIKA PLEASE! Rudra just hates "lady baba" SO MUCH Oh my god rudra clearly you were not dreaming. I know you're not that dumb. Tia's a softy like i dont think she's really on board with killing that's probably why she's failed at it so many times...ya know except that time she killed her husband Yea out of all the kapoors tia clearly has the kindest nature The bottle is literally labeled "acid"... come on guys try to be a little discreet I dont think that much acid was necessary if just a little bit burned the floor so badly... I don't like svetlana's weird saris I just did the old lady forehead slap again She's so cute "why are you laughing at me????" Shut up shivaay Ok. So now they know not to drink the coffee Awww don't kill the plant That was such bad animation "mujhse door karna chaate hai" ANNIKA YOU LOVE HIM ITS CLEARLY TIA OR SVETLANA. actually it might be one of the servants so i get yalls confusion...not really annika knows it's tia I like the the obros are doing this together Wtf why didn't svetlana just hide under the bed??? We all know she's not actually gonna pull down the covers COME ON ANNIKA YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT Jan 10 Promo- COME ON ANNIKA Oh shit are they gonna frame that on janvi??? Damn svetlana is hardcore she keeps fucking risking her life

#ishqbaaz #ishqbaat #ishqbaaz thoughts

[emzywritesfic-blog]

We Start Them Young

(Originally posted May 6, 2013)

Fandom: Marvel

Words: 2,024

Characters: Natasha Romanoff, Ivan Petrovitch, minor original characters

Other Tags: Red Room, backstory, parallels

Not everything Natasha does, she does because she was told to.

“Let’s move, ladies!” the guard behind the long line of twenty or so preteen girls bellowed.  They marched along the cold floor a little faster, keeping their shoulders square, but their lower lips twitched in fear of the whip that the guard always carried by his side.  Sometimes Natalia felt that all they did was march, even though most of their day was filled with training.  The monotony of the marching just seemed to stick out in her mind.  Left, right, left, right, left, right.

There had used to be at least one hundred girls in her group, but only a few hours ago, guards had swept through their usual dormitory, orderly and silently, and plucked certain girls from their beds, forcing them into clothes.  These specific girls were then shuffled into a horse trailer, which was driven for so long that Natalia had actually fallen asleep, and then wound up in this unknown location with long, narrow halls and leaking pipes.

The guard that had been barking at them for the last five minutes cracked his whip hard against the floor, sending resonating vibrations through every surface in the hall.

“Eeep!”  Just behind Natalia there came a sharp squeak.  she turned around quickly.  Kira clutched her mouth with both hands and her eyes shone with tears.

The guard, who the girls had come to know as Eristov, sniffed at Kira and then trudged his combat boots towards the head of the line.  On the side where he wasn’t walking, Natalia reached back and enveloped Kira’s cold fingers in her palm and squeezed lightly.

Eristov was a large man who always smelled of liquor, with a prickly, unshaven face and deep set eyes.  “Listen well,” he growled at them, “this is where you will be staying for the remainder of your training.  Be sure to get a good night’s rest.”  Without batting an eyelid, he produced a clipboard from the inside of his thick coat.  “Lidiya and Anja, Room One.  Madina and Svetlana, Room Two.  Lara and Dima, Room Three.  Kira and Natalia, Room Four...”

He went on, but Natalia tugged on Kira’s hand and the two scrambled into their designated room.

Natalia didn’t exactly remember how, but she and Kira had bonded almost immediately after starting the program.  This friendship alienated her from the other girls, because Kira was the scrawny, crybaby runt of the group who always got picked on by her superiors, but Natalia didn’t care.  Kira looked up to her and was in desperate need of a friend.

The small blonde girl plopped herself onto one of the two beds and shook violently.  Natalia sat down on the same bed, folding Kira tightly into her side in an attempt to get her to calm down.

“I’m so scared, Natalia,” she whimpered.  “The other girls are so brave, but I am so very scared.”

Natalia petted her friend’s hair in silence.

“You are the bravest of all of them, Natalia,” Kira went on, half in awe and half in self-loathing.  “Are you not scared?”

If she were to tell the truth, Natalia would have said that she was growing just as scared as Kira.  She had been brought into the program by Ivan Petrovitch, her father’s colleague and closest friend, who was also involved with it.  He had told her that it was a type of boarding school.  Initially, Natalia was nervous, but she trusted Ivan, and she knew that as long as he was close, she would never be in danger.  But as time passed, the training grew more and more rigorous and Natalia saw less and less of Ivan.  She was lucky just to catch a glimpse of his shoulder as he was hurrying to who knows where once every few weeks.  And now, the girls had been moved to a strange, new place and she had no idea where Ivan was.  She was as scared as she had ever been, but she was not about to admit that to Kira.

She brushed a kiss against her friend’s cheek and hopped off the bed.

“You heard Eristov,” she reminded weakly, hustling into the nightgown that was left for her.  “We should get to sleep.”

After an hour or two, Natalia heard Kira’s soft, deep breathing from the bed across the room to indicate that she had fallen under.  She, however, was still awake.  She lay facing the wall, quiet and still, every so often a tear falling across the bridge of her nose and onto her pillow.  Even back in the regular dormitory, she never truly slept much - only about one to three hours a night.  She had made it more than once not even sleeping at all.  She never wanted to sleep, because every time she closed her eyes she was back in Sao Paulo.  She was the flames and heard the wails of the sirens and felt the cold water from the puddles lash against her legs as she was pushed and dragged away from the scene.

Natalia’s shoulders tightened as she heard a high-pitched, metallic moan and a dim light was cast upon the wall.  Kira was still sleeping.

Someone was in their room.

Natalia remained still as a corpse, clenching her jaw and perking her ears to the low heaving breaths that steadily grew closer.  She felt cold as all the blood drained from her face.

The throaty sighs could now be felt on the back of her neck.  Natalia could feel herself begin to physically shake.  She felt rough, calloused fingers gently touch her hair and then slowly graze her pale arm.

Then she felt those same fingers lift up the collar of her nightgown and something warm and slimy touched the base of her neck.  It was a tongue.

Natalia’s elbow jarred back in reply, bending the nose it came in contact with into a new shape.  She reached her hands up and grabbed the head of her attacker and willed all of her strength to push it away.  There was a sharp crack of bone and a scream of agony.

Adrenaline the only thing running through her veins, Natalia scrambled off of her bed and continued to deliver blows to the figure.  A punch to the shoulder.  A kick to the stomach.  Another punch to the jaw.  A knee to the crotch.  She even bit his wrist just because she could.  With each attack, the stranger screamed louder and Natalia found herself screaming as well, hot tears blurring her vision but still expertly delivering every blow

The intruder fell to the floor as the door was slammed wide open.  In the light, Natalia could see that the person who had placed their tongue on her neck was Eristov.  She turned around sharply, more tears spilling onto the floor.  There in the doorway stood an impressively tall man with a double-breasted coat and a scar, who was seething at what he was in front of him, and Ivan Petrovitch at his heels.  Natalia was completely frozen.  In her cold sweat, the only thing moving was her heart under her skin, pumping more than forty miles an hour.

The tall man’s stone mouth barely moved as he retched softly, “Get Eristov on his feet.  I’ll take the girl.”

They took her to a poorly lit room far away from the hallway where the bedrooms were.  The floor was concrete and the walls were solid steel.  All there was was a long table, a single chair, and a broken lamp that swung from the ceiling with a haunting creak.  Natalia was pushed down hard into the chair, which wheezed slightly under her pressure.  The man with the scar - Natalia noted that the others called him Toropov and that he was higher in rank than either of them - began to pace in front of her.  He was a silent stone of a man, but Natalia could hear the anger in his breathing.  Eristov stood at a close distance, watching Toropov with the eyes of a Rottweiler, not glancing towards the young girl at all.  During the exchange of rooms, he had developed a limp and gotten a cloth to hold to his bloody face.  The silhouette of Ivan could barely be made out as he stood against the far wall, not moving at all.  Natalia searched for his eyes in the shadows, but found nothing but darkness.

Toropov stopped pacing and carefully pressed his hands down onto the table that separated Natalia and him, and fiercely glared down into her eyes.

“So what happened?” he snarled, the gleam of his bared teeth giving Natalia an uncomfortable shiver.

“The little bitch tried to kill me, that’s what happened!” Eristov instantly retorted, hobbling over towards his boss’ side.  Toropov held out his strong hand as a signal for him to stay away, not even looking at him.  He spoke again.

“You have five seconds to tell me why you were deliberately attacking your superior before I ring your neck.”

Natalia swallowed, her mouth gone dry.  Her vision was swimming with anger.  Anger at Eristov for what he had tried to do.  Anger at Toropov for deliberately ignoring what Eristov was doing in her room in the first place.  She gripped the sides of the chair in her white fists.  She choked on each word as it fell from her mouth, glaring into Toropov’s steely eyes.

“He wanted me.”

Toropov was still for a moment, processing what he had just been told.  Then he quickly retracted his hands from where they rested on the table and began to pace again, tenser than before.

“Nothing you say is going to get you out of here,” he almost chuckled, and Natalia felt a strange cold running through her blood again.  “You think that by making up some bullshit lies that we’re somehow going to let you go.  What you don’t understand is this is your life now.  You can never escape.  Now why were you disobeying Eristov?”

“I was not disobeying; he wanted me,” Natalia pressed, louder and grittier than before.

Toropov snapped, turning around and slamming his fists down hard on the table, towering over her like an animal.

“STOP LYING TO ME!”

Natalia’s blood was pulsing at an alarming rate.  She shoved the table into Toropov’s stomach.  He let out a sharp cry as she bolted to the other side of the room.  In a flash, she reached under Ivan’s coat where she knew he kept his gun and, through her brimming tears, pulled the trigger, aimed squarely at Toropov’s chest.  He fell to the floor with a bang.

Eristov was at his side in an instant, weight resting on the leg that wasn’t limping.  He began shouting for help and checking for vital signs.  Natalia could hear a low wheeze as Toropov fought for his last moments.

Ivan came from behind her and ripped the gun out of her hands.  The young girl tried to look into his eyes, but his palm made sharp contact with the side of her face in one quick thwack!  She crumpled to her knees.  She clutched her cheek where the skin had been broken and choked on her own raggedy breath.  Tears stung in her eyes.  She screwed them shut in trying to relieve the sudden nausea.

The Ivan she knew was no longer alive.

She buried her face in her hands, trying to slow her heart rate.  Every place that the gun had touched her was engulfed in fire, yet she was shivering as if she was frostbitten.  She had handled weapons before in training, but never like this.  She had never actually shot someone.  It was always a sheet of paper or a doll stuffed with sand.  Never a real, living person.  She never had to see that blood spill onto the floor.  Never.

Faceless guards soon swarmed the room, tiptoeing around Toropov’s body.  Keeping an eye on Natalia, Petrovitch pulled two of the guards to the side.  He whispered, but she could read his lips perfectly.

“Take the girl.  I want her fully turned by sunrise; no excuses.”

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