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[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

Out by the lake, there is a large rock. Perched on top of the rock, staring out over the water, is one blond girl in a jeans coat, with a serious addiction to bangles.

Oddly, all those bits of bright silver fail to make her look perky today.

Somewhere close by, under the snow, there's a circle of charred earth. There she was pulled free from what should have been her end. (Not really an end, more of an endless wandering, but she wouldn't have been able to think.)







(Bear. Yulia. Her dogs. Yulia. Bear. Yulia. Bear Her dogs. Her dogs. Bear. Gesar.)



Perhaps it would have been easier. The not thinking. Perhaps.

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[not_his_pa]

William's been working in the stables and notices her after putting some of the horses into the paddock.

He tries to not make too much noise when he approaches her, "Tiger Cub?"

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

She half turns, suddenly - she wasn't paying attention, not really, she didn't hear him coming.

A mere sliver of a second later a slightly inhuman wildness fades out of her eyes. Or rather, disappears behind the human mask.

"William."

[not_his_pa]

That look in her eyes is scary, it makes him think of strange things from his dreams and does his best to not look worried. He could do with more sleep but he's not sick anymore,

"Hello. I was just workin' in the stables and saw you. I can leave if I'm botherin' you."

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

She can taste it - the worry, the fear, a sharp note in the back of her throat.

"Not a bother, William. Never in life."

[not_his_pa]

"Sure that ain't true, but thank you. How have you been?"

He knows he causes trouble, everyone does and she's got her own things to worry on that he doesn't know about.

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"I am living. It is..."

She shrugs. Glancing back over the lake, she wonders if Gesar has assigned anyone to take care of her dogs. If he's warned them about how protective they are. That they don't mean harm, not really. Wonders if they're hungry. Wonders if they miss her too.

[not_his_pa]

He's not sure what to do with that kind of quiet. His brother has some of it on the nights when things get bad and it seems like he's not quite there. That's when William tries to make things better as much as he can,

"Try not to get what's goin' around. It makes you think you're someone else."

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"Someone else? Could be interesting, for a time." Who would she be? Human? Dark? Olya, she's sure, wouldn't approve.

Maybe Olya could tell Bear she's alright. To not do anything stupid. Not rash. And maybe go feed her dogs.

[not_his_pa]

"Yeah, but I forgot who I was. My dreams are still kind of mixed up from it since that other stuff came in. The other boy fights monsters."

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"Monsters?" He gets a spark of curiosity for that, more than before. "What sorts of monsters? Did you get to fight any while him?"

[not_his_pa]

"No, but they're still sort of in my memory. Its hard to explain, he used a sword and went into a Labyrinth and he was a hero. I met some folks who know him too, which made it strange."

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"Ah, but meeting new people is always good." Well. Always interesting, anyway. Sometimes it ends in a fight.

Which... is not bad exactly.

[not_his_pa]

"It is, just would have liked knowin' who I was durin' it."

[i_candozat]

"You look sad," comes the boyish Russian voice from beside her, a few feet away. "Why?"

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

She stares out over the lake, made moody by the overcast skies.

"Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal
the way you dream, the things you feel.
Deep in your spirit let them rise
akin to stars in crystal skies."

He cannot know. He is not Other. Even with everything else taken away, she will still live as Other.

For how long... who knows?

[i_candozat]

"Why not?"

He takes the poem to mean she can't tell him; that much is easy. Pavel watches her, not a study, but not impassive.

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"You ask so many questions, Pavel." She replies, her voice quiet, lilting. "Such a bright boy, mmm?"

[i_candozat]

"It is what I am good at," he says, coming closer hesitantly. "I ran my race."

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"Oh? Did you put those other boys in their place?" She asks, curious despite her mood. He certainly showed a good turn for speed in that impromptu training session.

[i_candozat]

"I won," he says simply. "Does that count?"

If only he knew it had been Katya.

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"Most definitely." She assures him, with a ghost of a smile. "They certainly won't forget it soon."

[i_candozat]

"They should not. It was good to remind them that Russians are going to be the best in these things, naturally."

He smiles for her lightly. She'll get the joke.

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"It is your mamma's borscht, but don't tell them that. Otherwise they might actually become good at things." She scolds, dipping her head.

[i_candozat]

"Yes, ma'am," he responds in the programmed tone. "I miss them sometimes."

[katyafeline.livejournal.com]

"As do we all." This is, actually, a complete lie. She doesn't remember her parents. She knows she had some, the usual sort who took her to the zoo and, while they could, made sure she had something like a proper education for a young lady. But they are long ago ashes and dust. She doesn't even know, or particularly care to find out, where they were buried. Or if they were buried - with the fighting that went on in Moscow, it's entirely possible they weren't.