skyjci

[skyjci]

personnages​ // MARYA :

9 February 1811, Thursday

Vzdvizhenka Street, Moscow

Dear Sonya,

I was very glad to recieve your letter yesterday, for I was despairing at the misunderstandings between us. I must beg your forgiveness and understanding for your reception here. My father’s health has been declining - he has a great mind and the current state of the world (that is, especially in terms of politics,) is sometimes too much for him to bear. He must be excused. Please do not think that he is ill-disposed towards you, for he is kind and generous and will love the one who makes his son happy. I, too, wish only for my brother’s happiness and so I cannot help but love you for his sake, whatever my father’s feelings are.

You have been very generous with me, and I must thank you whole-heartedly for it. I am unused to recieving visitors and made a poor hostess, but truly I was glad to meet you.

Please understand that the household is only surpised and will grow to love you. We all grieved the loss of our dear Liza – who was so kind – and though it has been five years since her death, hearing that Prince Andrei planned to marry again took everyone by surprise. He was greatly affected by her death, for he loved her dearly. But the happiness you have brought him is something to be grateful for.

I do not wish to take up too much of your time by starting another sheet, so let me end here. I would very much like to meet with you again; if that is welcome, please choose a time that is most amenable to you.

May God keep you under His protection.

Marya.

                                                                                       Monday, the 13th of  February, 1811

Dear Princess Marya,

          I have thought and shall continue to think of you and the prince with nothing but the utmost gratitude and fondness. It was not my intention to make you feel as though you had been an inadequate host - but rather to assure you of the opposite. Very kindly you had received me at a time when it did not seem convenient for your household to do so, when the prince was ailing - therefore any blame must be placed upon the inopportunity of the visit and any awkwardness but that which is normal between people who are meeting for the first time. In fact, I must commend you - that you have kept your house running tirelessly in a time of quandary.

Still, I hope you’ll forgive my eagerness to meet you, even at an untimely moment. In his absence, I find that I am still learning much about Prince Andrei - that I am glad to do so. To his father I knew I must address the proper respects and honors, and to you, his beloved sister, I wished to give my admiration, esteem and affection. You should think me strange, perhaps, to have been relieved for such a delay of the usual proceedings of a marriage for this length of time, and because he is abroad for his health - but I find myself thankful for the opportunity I have now to see and to try to understand his life, and attempt to make my entrance to it as agreeable and with as much grace as can be made occur, with as little disturbing and displacement as possible to you.

I held and continue to hold no illusions that I could be considered a perfect candidate to be his wife - I am young, and I recognize, have much to learn. Even so, I must express my gratitude for your assurance - I take it as a kindness. I believe in the intention of kindness and love in your hearts as I believe in Prince Andrei’s, and I implore you to believe the same of mine. I know with time we will be more practiced to accommodate each other.

As you know, I and my uncle and his daughter are staying with Marya Dimitrievna. She has kindly offered to lend her parlor, if this is an agreeable setting to you. I do not know Moscow very well yet and cannot, therefore, arrange a more amusing meeting - but shall strive to be better company than I had been, and perhaps we might speak a little more over tea in the coming week? 

                                                                                    With warm regards,

                                                                                                                     Sonya

[skyjci]

@personnages​ // carefully sealed envelope, neatly written address        

                                                                                Wednesday the 6th of February, 1811

Dear Princess,

          I must ask your forgiveness for the presumption that this missive will find you with any inclination to receive it, but I deeply regret that we parted that day with so few words between us when I had many more in my heart. I now endeavor to convey to you properly my sincerest sentiments which I could not have expressed clearly then - that I am glad to have made your acquaintance, and offer you my whole-hearted wishes for your good health and that of the prince. 

I also thank you for your graciousness at having received me. I understand that no matter what my relation is to your brother, it is not by your choice that you have now taken a stranger into your house and are expected to accept her into your family - and that my presence so suddenly in your drawing room must have been a surprise, and perhaps an uncomfortable one. I also understand that it has not been so long since you have lost a dear friend and sister in the late Princess Elizaveta Karlovna and that my relation to you now must then be a somewhat painful reminder.

Please be assured that I have no expectations for your affection and mean you nothing but good will regardless of it. We do not yet know each other very well, in spite of all that we have been told - and I understand perfectly your reservations, and my feeings do not find any offense in them. However - I am an orphan, as you undoubtedly know - and although I am fortunate enough to receive the guardianship of my aunt and uncle and the esteem of my cousins, I look forward to a family of my own fashioning - and if we are to be family in spite of whether or not we ourselves have chosen it, I hope to try to become your friend, if you will allow it and are similarly amenable. 

If nothing else, dear Princess, please find comfort as I do in that we are at least united by this: that we both wish for your brother only the utmost happiness.

                                                                      With warm regards,

                                                                                                             Sonya

[skyjci]

Marya Dmitrievna’s eyes are shrewder still in age, and when she fixes Sonya with a PARTICULAR LOOK as the butler returns from the door - she cannot quite decipher what it means, whether it is appraisal or approval, only that it was sharp with expectation. Her mind stagnates and stops on the question when it becomes clear she must receive her visitor herself, her chest suddenly hollow and her hands cold. So what IS expected of her now - ? That she do as a considerate young lady might, and release Prince Andrei? She doesn’t know. A strange and haunting sense of SIMILARITY prickles inside her - a year ago, she had received that very same visitor on her own, and the terror had roared to life in her chest in just the same way.

(Pointedly, she doesn’t think whether she could live with it. There’s no point letting her mind wander to the letters scribbled hastily in her nightgown, arms cold when she eventually tucks them under the covers again, to the way candlelight had lit his eyes warm and golden despite their color in a distant ballroom, to his expression when he said he loved her - if she must live without, she must live without. She must STILL LIVE, after all.) 

But - he speaks before she does upon her entrance into the drawing room, and so she has no time to dwell on it, before she had a new occurrence to dwell on. “I - If MY mind has changed? - ” The words startle out of her, voice tremoring at the end of the question, helpless - no longer the careful, soft and quiet way Sonya is used to speaking. Dimly she’s aware of warmth at the tails of her eyes, though why she cannot yet fathom - he is always capable of confusing her, somehow - or perhaps it’s simply surprise. “Natasha is ill and the Rostovs are - ” She had told him this by letter, one which he had not answered, and perhaps Princess Marya Nikolaevna had also. The WHOLE of Moscow knew and there’s little point in repeating it out loud. “But you want to know if I - ”

It’s foolish. He’s being foolish. As foolish as it had been the first time he had offered her his hand, knowing that they were so different in station, knowing that his family could not have approved of her or the match. As foolish as she had been when she only hesitated moments before she wrote down words she had never spoken of to anyone, not even Natasha, and sealed them into envelopes and sent them halfway across Europe. It’s all foolish - all foolish, and feels MORE LIKE LOVE than anything she has ever known.

“ - My feelings,” Sucks in a deep breath - composed now, every word bright and painful and exhilarating, and something close to FREEDOM - and looks up finally, lifting her head, “Have not changed.” They have - only not in the way he’d implied. A smile curls at her lips - and she reaches out, for the first time, FIRST - “I will marry you.” 

ANDREI | this was gonna be the kiss meme but WE’RE WILDIN @skyjci​, for Sonya

Prince Andrei had arrived in Moscow in the evening, and almost immediately his father had told him stories of Natalia Rostova’s abduction. The old prince’s voice had been animated and there had been a cheerful gleam in his eye, but Prince Andrei had gone to bed without any discussion of breaking his engagement to Sonya.

In the morning, he had called on Marya Dmitrievna’s house. Marya Dmitrievna had not received him; the butler had shown him into the drawing room without a word. There were footsteps moving around in the upstairs rooms; he heard the voice of Count Rostov in the hall, though he could not hear what was being said.

After a few minutes, Sonya entered the drawing room. Prince Andrei lowered his gaze and went up to her, then looked her in her face. He felt, looking at her, a settling weight of his duty towards her, but it did not feel like a burden; it was paired with a sense of relief that made the weight joyful. He reached for her hand and kissed it.

“I would like to apologize for not writing when I arrived last night,” he told her, letting go of her hand. “My father’s requirement has been fulfilled, but I have come to ask if you need more time, or if… your mind has changed. Please know that you have always been free, and I will bear you no ill if it has,” Prince Andrei said, though his lips tightened as he said that. 

[skyjci]

“ - Prince Bolkonsky,” She PARROTS in greeting, voice light and bright with something like a laugh, a sudden and startled sliver of amusement which softens in an instant, and does not add, like she wants to, that she might have expected to find him here. She’s kind-hearted enough presently, to spare an old man, she thinks - especially because her mother has not. And anyway - she’s the mother of a married man, so perhaps it was FINALLY TIME to grow up. Unlikely - but perhaps.

Goes to stand beside him, tucking her fingers into the crooks of her elbows, lips pressed together as she watches the ballroom silently for a moment. Voice is low when she speaks again, warm and quiet. “...You know, I have always wished for two things. Firstly, when you were this high - ” Cannot stop the smile bleeding into her words even as she gestures in the way her mother did earlier that evening, holding her arm out to the height of a little boy - “I wished we were family.” Retracts her arm - “Secondly - I always thought I wanted a daughter. And now, look - both things are true. And you’ve got two Nikolais - ” Winks. “Don’t worry, I’m quite certain my son would throw himself into the Neva in january before he so much as thought of upsetting Katya. And St. Petersburg is not so far from Moscow.” 

It wasn’t so much a SURPRISE, when her son had told them, in a voice that resembled his father so much Dunya had to make him repeat himself out of necessity - that he wished to marry Andrei’s Katya. The young people had been acquainted since their youths, closer than their other friendships - and she had said to her husband one night after one Christmas or another - that she thinks she might have very well spotted something. And - at the very least, she hopes - after he had announced it once to his parents - he could probably, go on to propose to the girl at a normal volume and speed.

“ - Do you remember when we were their age? Bright and young and quite ready to crash headfirst into love? And now we’ve grown old. I don’t suppose either of us had ever imagined it then?” Laughs as the next song starts and very gently lays a hand on Andrei’s arm - looks at him, gaze sincere - “But it looks well on you, Prince Bolkonsky.”

ANDREI | starter for @skyjci, for Dunya - it’s 1834 and their kids are getting marrieddddd

The ektenias had been intoned. The crowns had been held over Katya and her husband-to-be’s heads and then Ekaterina and Nikolai had been lead around three times around the Gospel. She was Princess Tverskaya now.

Prince Andrei Bolkonsky had stood stone-faced through the service, though his eyes had softened whenever his daughter had glanced his way, and he’d held Princess Sofiya’s hand in his almost the entire time. He wanted to weep, though from joy or sorrow, he couldn’t decide; perhaps it was both, and that annoyed him. The groom’s family was large and all of Andrei’s own children were there, as well as his sister and her family. The wedding feast and ball afterwards had grown quite boisterous. 

After watching Prince Tversky gaze fondly into Katya’s eyes and her sigh happily in return, Prince Andrei kissed Sonya’s hand and then stepped away towards a quieter corner of the ballroom for a brief respite from the festivities. He almost felt as if the party were mocking his loss, though he’d known this was coming for some years now. Still, it hadn’t quite prepared him. It should have. (Across the ballroom, Countess Bezukhova had watched her brother slip away with a look of sympathy, though he did not see it.) But how could he not be happy for his daughter? He was. He could not help the lines around his blue eyes crinkling as he caught sight of her laughing, twirling across the floor with her Nikolai. 

He heard steps behind him and then turned to see that it was the mistress of the house herself, the mother of the groom. “Princess Tverskaya,” Prince Andrei greeted her, his voice dry from bittersweetness. “Congratulations. You should know that you have gained an excellent daughter-in-law.”

[skyjci]

@personnages   /   we’re pretending this is from the actual show shhh. we’ve even got pierre’s dramatic monologue.

[skyjci]

- “Tree of Life,” Eavan Boland, The Lost Land

Sonya Rostova  &&  Andrei Bolkonsky  //  @skyjci​​  //  insp (x)

[skyjci]

personnages​ // OLGA :

Olga finally set the letter aside, next to her on the cushion, and let herself lean into Dunya. “Given the hour, I should refuse, but tea sounds wonderful,” she said, managing a wet laugh. After a moment, she straightened. “I had thought – that after August, we were lucky, and I had thanked God for it and prayed that would be the end of it,” Olga said, swallowing hard and shaking her head, her gaze up towards the ceiling, shadows crawling over it in the dark. “And I couldn’t ask him – to be less than he is,” she said fervently, looking back over at Dunya, “or to give up his duty, and I am so proud of him, but…” Her hands were twisting into each other, and Olga couldn’t meet Dunya’s gaze any longer, feeling that she was confessing something shameful. “This war has gone on for so long. And… every month it’s gone longer, I could not help but wonder, ‘is he more or less likely to come home after this time?’ And now –” she said, lifting the letter before dropping it again.

“Given the circumstances, I’m SURE we might afford a little irregularity.” Smiles at her, traces of her own weariness well hidden, and loops an arm around to rub her sister-in-law’s shoulder. In a moment she turns to call for tea as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the rest of the house unnecessarily, and goes about lighting another candle. Perhaps she ought to light a stick of them, but there’s something a little bit comforting about half of the room shrouded in uncertain shadow. Face lit softer than usual in the dim, and when she takes her place on the sofa again, she takes Olga’s hands as well. “...You wish he was here with you and the girls now and not out there in terrible danger.” Sums up succinctly, and sighs, “Dearest, there’s nothing SHAMEFUL about it.” Only, there was nothing they could do - and this is a feeling Dunya hates as well, that there’s simply nothing to do about it all. “ - Kiryusha loves you, and he loves those girls to death. If there’s any way, any way at all - he’ll come back.”

[skyjci]

“Oh, my dear - ” Lips press together as she ties the strings of her nightgown and crosses the room quickly to sit beside Olga,“ - It’s alright. Really, it’s alright.” She’s worried TOO, even if she keeps it under careful wraps for the children - though she was certain she’d know in her heart, somehow, if Kiryusha really was this moment in PERIL. Her sister-in-law had to be strong too - ESPECIALLY SO for the children - and only now, with the children gone to bed, could they keep their vigil. “ - Only, light another candle, and let’s ring for some tea. It won’t do for you to sit here in the dark and the cold and ALL ALONE.” 

OLGA | starter for @skyjci, for Dunya - October 1813

At the sound of the door opening, Olga quickly wiped her eyes and smiled a contrite and watery smile at her sister-in-law. “I will admit, I was rather hoping you wouldn’t find me awake,” she said, even as she moved on the sofa to allow Dunya to sit with her. “I do try not to be a hypocrite – I know it’s late – but sometimes it’s – hard – to sleep,” she said. A letter, one signed by Prince Eugen of Wüttemberg, was loosely in her hands. She’d read it ten times already since its delivery this evening, but she couldn’t bear to put it down. Your husband fell as a hero worthy of his fatherland… he was taken to the field hospital but I regret to inform you his condition is uncertain – 

[skyjci]

“Dear Princess - ” He stands, and for a moment cannot know exactly where to look or place his hands, arms hanging awkwardly at his side. It has been some time since he has seen her, seen any of them - a LIFETIME, he feels, and - he wants to look at her and trace the features of that familiar face that he knows must have changed in the time that has passed, but fears his gaze might be too pressing, too hot to the touch, and so kept it low as he reaches out to take her hand. “I am - very glad to find you well.”

When he has presence of mind to branch past the veil of his epiphany and the nearly SURREAL aftermath of his capture and rescue - he thinks of Andrei, and then, strangely and yet entirely naturally - of Marya. Perhaps his heart had still been buoyant and floating, aimless in that plane that seemed half a tone higher than the rest of the world until it has finally settled, solid and real again in his chest, when he has seen her in this moment.

“And -" A beat late, he clears his throat, as if remembering himself. “ - Andrei? He is...I’ve been told he’s wounded. The Rostovs - ah, but you must have heard from them as well.”

MARYA | pre-epilogue, but post-Andrei-getting-wounded-at-Borodino (he’ll be fine he has a wife and two kids to live for) starter for Pierre @skyjci

In January, Princess Marya was living in Moscow, in her father’s house on Vzdvizhenka Street, which was now hers. Her brother, his wife, and their two children were staying with her, for Prince Andrei was still recovering from his injuries at Borodino.

It was late when Tikhon entered her rooms and told her there was a visitor to see her. Her brother and his family had already gone to bed. Princess Marya asked who it was, and was told it was Count Bezukhov.

A few minutes later, Princess Marya entered the drawing room, where Pierre had been told to wait. A fire had been lit in the stone fireplace, and it was the only light in the room aside from two candles on the table; the fire cast amber shadows along the walls of the room. A maid ran to fetch more candles, but Princess Marya barely noticed. “My friend – how wonderful it is to see you.”

[skyjci]

soooo i need to make myself a bg image, some headers, a promo and a dash icon, a n d add col. fitzy back before i can go live...

[skyjci]

tag drop !

[skyjci]

tag drop!

[skyjci]

i am a   WANDERING   bird   .     //     @personnages

[skyjci]

or i might just get my muse page done hhh

what do you do when you’re dead inside and supposed to be doing other shit??????? uh. learn html to code your own tumblr theme ofc -

[skyjci]

what do you do when you’re dead inside and supposed to be doing other shit??????? uh. learn html to code your own tumblr theme ofc -

[skyjci]

the feelings are long, and the page is too short .     //     kirill & olga   for   @personnages

[skyjci]

with every sunset, a new hope is born, an old expectation dies