#&; ( alexei ic )

[illustratus]

Hut in a Wintry Forest by Alexei Savrasov

[dozydawn]

[talesofourworlds]

"This guy still hasn't completely unlocked Zaude's controls."

Looking past Rita, Raven found that what she had said was right. Alexei was still fiddling with the same sort of panels Rita always used to access the controls for blastia and the like. So that meant Alexei was just buying time as the ground they stood on continued to climb upward. Maybe they stood a chance after all, he thought as he nocked an arrow in preparation. They had a rough fight ahead of them, but there was a chance.

"Ah, Rita Mordio. How careless of me," Alexei said, dismissing his panel. He still wasn't preparing for a fight, though. Why? The man was commandant of the knights, for crying out loud. Was he just that confident that he could wipe them out? That he didn't need to prepare anything for the fight ahead? Or was there something else?

Footsteps. Raven could hear footsteps just behind him and the others. He drew in a breath and whipped around, arrow pointed at their target. Then he stopped. His breath caught in his throat and his hold on his bow slackened

"Ah. Canary, you made it."

Alexei's voice carried some sort of twisted satisfaction. There before him stood a woman. Brown haired, brown-eyed, and oh so familiar. But her eyes lacked something. A spark of life that was once there no longer seemed to linger. She was adorned in the orange uniform of Alexei's knights, and she too carried a bow.

"Canary? Who the hell?" Of course Yuri would ask. The others were starting to look now, but Raven only could see it from his peripheral. No... no, this wasn't right. It couldn't be right! She was dead. He'd seen her die!

Apparently, Alexei had noticed his state.

"Did you really think I wouldn't have a replacement in mind for you and Yeager? After you both failed me so?"

"C... Casey..." Raven didn't know when he'd started to shake so. His bow clattered to the ground and, before long, Raven found himself sinking to his knees. A guttural, choked cry rose up from within him.

Not her... not her, too! Memories of himself, freshly brought back from beyond, asking about her whereabouts came rushing back to him. Alexei had said that he hadn't had a use for her.

It shouldn't have been such a surprise. Of course Alexei would lie. He had wanted to cut him off from everything. So why. Why did this sting so much? Why was seeing Casey standing there, bow pointed at him, so wrong?

"Casey...!" He choked back another sob.

"I'm sorry... you seem to have mistaken me for someone," she said. "I am Canary. And I will not let you stand in the commandant's way."

So... she was just as much a puppet as he had been. How long had she been alive? How long had Alexei kept her from him? His breathing quickened. Alexei...

"Bastard...!" Raven's voice broke as hot, angry tears came rolling down amid his grief-filled ones. "Bastard!!" He shot a look back at the man who once had him entangled in his strings. The commandant's sick satisfaction only served to make him angrier.

"Canary, take care of them. Should you fail... well. You'll have served your purpose. The same as the others."

"...Casey... please..." Raven turned to look at her again, hoping beyond hope he could reach her. "It's me... Damuron. Ya gotta snap out of it. I don't wanna do this..." But he could see it in her eyes. She didn't have a choice. Neither did he. So he reached a shaky hand out for his bow again.

He hoped she could forgive him.

[cataclysmus]

I’ve heard it said that kissing is the ‘language of love.’ Would you care to have a conversation with me about it sometime?

Second pick-up line, failed.

“I… don’t see it necessary to have a whole conversation about that.”

“Is there… something in particular that needs to be addressed?”

[bravewolfvesperia]

"We are in a situation that is beyond morality." — @cataclysmus

@cataclysmus

"Beyond mor-", Yuri stopped. The look he had when he turned to Alexei held an anger in his eyes that he wasn't ready to talk about to anyone else. Until they'd made completely sure everything was settled and that the Adephagos was truly gone, he was trying to push his aggravation toward Alexei out of the way. There were things to sort out still, and that would only grow when the general populace found out Alexei was still alive. Right now though Yuri had been holding back, and Alexei was making it... difficult.

"And who created this situation in the first place?" The very thing Duke was trying to avoid, and Alexei had brought it back into the open. Even if Yuri didn't agree with Duke's current method of trying to eliminate it, he could still understand how annoying it must have been all this time trying to stop humans from risking it coming back. Now that it had, they were at odds with the very man who had been assisting them over and over since this all started.

He got it. He understood. He knew Alexei was going through recognizing his actions had led to this. But the way the former Commandant seemed to sometimes say things that indicated they needed to play nice trapped a pit of fire in Yuri's stomach. For Raven's sake he was doing his damndest not to kill Alexei or turn him in, but trying to force away lingering feelings was still difficult. Right now, impossible, even.

For the time being he had set aside any grudges to focus on the Adephagos, but seeing Alexei from time to time still stung. Originally they had planned to have the man arrested and put on trial, and Yuri hadn't intended to kill him... but the core had fallen and did nearly kill him and would have if Raven had not stepped in. Frankly, Yuri couldn't say a convenient accident like that would have truly bothered him.

"I don't wanna hear this morality nonsense. For you it's just a convenient excuse right now. I'm not turning you in out of respect for a friend of mine, because I would be in the same boat as he is if someone I knew for some ten years that I cared about turned out like you after I'd known the real them. That doesn't mean I'm setting up a pity party for you or handwaving all the destruction you caused that wasn't related to that thing in the sky."

So much had been planned and caused that at this point, the Adephagos was nearly a footnote in Alexei's history. The man had even managed to plan ahead well enough to take out the top heads of the guild cities and cause serious chaos and destruction to the guilds. Natz was a grown man and could protect his city just fine now, but Harry wasn't ready for that role.

Aside from just the guilds, in some way one could even suggest Alexei's destruction had been on a similar scale as the Adephagos itself, simply in a societal manner. His plans had affected people around the world. He was a smart man - one of the most intelligent Yuri could say he'd ever known. There was not a question in his mind that Alexei's morality didn't matter one bit until the truth of his actions was about to literally end all life on the planet.

He sure didn't care about morality when the Lower Quarter was nearly left behind to be decimated. He sure didn't care about morality when he threatened Ioder's life. When he'd tossed aside all the people who believed in and trusted him. When he'd ruined the knights' reputation further and further. When Yuri had hoped he would be the one to fix things within Zaphias because Flynn believed so much in the man, only to have to come to terms with the fact that Alexei was the one who allowed all of it and even fueled some of it for his own purposes.

"It's not about morality that got Don and Belius killed, right? Got Harry wrapped up in a huge mess that affected the Union's standing? Made the empire one of the most distrusted factions of the entire world instead of simply disliked throughout your time as Commandant? Not about the people who suffered at Ragou and Cumore's hands, some of who were killed along the way? You didn't have to see it happen so it was easy, right? You didn't have to see the bones of children in Ragou's mansion, right? No, it's only about morality now that your legacy is unleashing this thing and making people clean up after your mess. If you want that pity party, ask Raven to set it up for you."

[starrymused]

@lannamused

For some reason, Alexei had it in his head that a sleep clinic was a relaxing experience to help people with sleep disorders, but according to his latest client, that didn't seem to be the case. A client had called up his office and said that there was a sleep clinic downtown that was nothing but a huge scam being ran by some creep who was just interested in charging extortionate prices for very little service. Alexei had to laugh at that. This was L.A where pyramid schemes that revolved around promoting good health and wellbeing were widespread. It was kinda the client's own fault for falling for such a thing.

But Alexei also needed to make money, which was why he had decided to accept the case. Suing a scammer was an easy win and he was confident he'd have it done in half a court day. The client had already paid a visit to his office the day before and while Alexei admitted she had all the makings of a Karen, he wasn't against a quick case that would bring with it quick cash.

He snorted as he tucked his notes into his top drawer. He felt sorry for the sucker who thought it would be a good idea to take on a woman with that haircut. What was the guy thinking? She had 'I'm going to sue you!' written all over her!

[pkmn-spira]

"What!? The isolation policy has been lifted!?"

"Why the surprised look? Didn't our dear Champion stated that the isolation policy that the previous Champion had instated two years ago would be lifted any time soon? After all, we've already recovered from the damage Team Andromeda has done for the most part, so its time to let outsiders in again, right?"

"No! You don't get it! At least for the past two years, I've had suckers within this region to deal with! And now you're telling me that I'd have to deal with suckers from outside Spira now, too!?"

"And that's a big deal how?"

"It IS a big deal! The nature preserve is far from finished! And don't get me started with the damn pricks from foreign regions that release their Pokémon out in the wild here again! We still have yet to fully resolve the damn invasive species issue to begin with!"

"Ahahahaha, ah, don't think so hard on it. Besides, who knows? The influx of foreign trainers would have them ending up capturing the invasive species too, thus curbing their population in Spira. Gotta think out of the box, our esteemed innovator."

"Sometimes, I have the urge to smack that smug look off you." She grumbled, before sighing. "Well, fine. I'll put up a good show for whoever foreign sucker ends up in my Gym. That, and I didn't doll up Adamantine Town to the marvel that it is today just to let it gather dust."

"That's the spirit! Now, if you'll excuse me, my Gym calls to me. Things are going to be busier for us from here on out now... Though I guess that doesn't change much for you, considering you're the busiest one among all of us, hm? Ta-ta~."

"Smug bastard using me being busy against me. The fucking nerve..."

[booletsandblossoms]

Es Springtime at last!

Am very glad. Vinter es making me melancholy, especially here vhere snows year round. Vill be very glad to be able to spend more time in greenhouse!

[endlessendymion]

undefined

The Evgeni Plushenko vs Alexei Yagudin it's been the best thing of the year

[conradrasputin]

I had to lmao that things only went rly wrong for Frankie when he set up with a younger guy, like the universe really had to course correct that

[eudoxia-ulyanov]

For the first time, acclaimed historian Eudoxia Ulyanov presents the complete account of the "Dance of the Dragons", the bitter and bloody civil war of succession between Olga Nikolaevna and Alexei Nikolaevich, the children of Tsar Nicholas II, from 1929-37. With deep and careful attention paid to the customs and culture of the Uralic region, the history of Romanovs, their command over dragons and their long and tumultuous reign over their Empire, this chronicle details the succession crisis that mandated Olga's rise to the position of her father's heir, the schism within the Russian court, the destruction of the dynasty and their dragons in the Soviet Revolution, their rise again and the calamitous war that followed, as the remains of the mighty dynasty took to the skies to tear each other apart - with only one side scarcely making it out alive to create the Russia we know now today.

[talesofourworlds]

@cataclysmus liked for a starter with Rita!

These visits to Dahngrest were becoming more and more commonplace in Rita's life. She shouldn't have been surprised, really. When it was convenient for Brave Vesperia to use it as a meeting place, of course she would come all the way there to meet them. This was one such day, but at the same time Rita was there to share what she'd been learning about potential replacements for the blastia. Progress was, admittedly, slower than she would have liked. A small amount of progress was better than nothing, and she was eager to share what she'd learned.

Of course, some things never really did change. Just as it had been when Rita had first set foot in the guild city with the others, Dahngrest proved to be as lively as anything. By then, Rita was used to navigating the streets and avoiding colliding with others. Such was the benefit of needing to come to Dahngrest as often as she and the others had. She strode forward with confidence, dipping and moving about to avoid various guild members. That was, of course, until someone caught her eye for just a moment.

There, moving in the opposite direction to her as the crowd thinned, was someone clad in a mage's cloak. Their hood was covering their face just enough so Rita couldn't immediately identify them as she walked closer to her destination. For just a heartbeat, Rita looked back and decided it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Rita wasn't the only mage out there, even if she didn't often don her mage's cloak. Maybe it was just another mage getting ready to go somewhere else in Dahngrest. That was the thought process, at least, until Rita thought more about the encounter.

She squinted. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. She liked to think that she knew at least a majority of the mages that hailed from Aspio. Even the ones who had been scattered by what had happened to their beloved city when Tarqaron rose should have been recognizable to her, but she couldn't put a name or face to this stranger. Assuming they were a mage at all, of course. Was someone parading around like a mage? For what purpose? Rita's mind raced, and she did the only thing she could think to do. Her pace picked up as she started to follow the stranger. Something wasn't right.

"H-Hey! You!" It was the first thing Rita could even think to say. Not so genius mage of her, she knew, but she was caught off guard. Somehow, she managed to catch up and tried to get in front of the stranger. She was right back to squinting as she looked him over. "Pretty sure there aren't any mages from Aspio living around here. And I think I'd know a cloak like that anywhere. So who the hell are you?"

Already, Rita could imagine some people thinking she was leaping to conclusions. Maybe she was. She couldn't help it in this case, though. When she felt like something was off, surely it made sense for her to pursue it. Right?

[cataclysmus]

Was you father an alien? Because there’s nothing else like you on Terca Lumireis!

Pick-up line, failed.

“Are you insulting me, Raven?”

“You treat hard work and diligence as if it’s abnormal, when in reality, it’s your indolence that should be frowned upon.”

[krinon]

❛  how are you?  ❜ / alexey

🐝  *  ―  𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑬𝑬 𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑺 | accepting

"Как вы?" She said aware her accent came through very strong as she repeated the words in Russian. She was a perfectly apt student if cautious even at times reluctant. While her family was one of the most respected in New York, Europe had seemed to her a bewildering and frightening place like the woods in a fairy tale.

Her parents and even the rest of New York society had always spoken in hushed, gossiping tones about that Aunt and Uncle who had spent their days wandering the puzzle work of countries. And where had it gotten them? Dead, their daughter Ellen orphaned and raised by Marchioness Medora Manson the most colorful of the dark sheep in her family with a string of deceased husbands that hung around her neck like the beads of a necklace.

[bravewolfvesperia]

"I just feel I need something to occupy my mind."

@altosk

Is that why he... kept going to bars and flirting? Kept acting like everything was fun and games? Lately he seemed to be spending more of that time with Yuri, Karol and Judith in Dahngrest. Was he... better adapting at having people to turn to now then? Before, he seemed to used to evade topics and act silly, but... sometimes now, he'd tell Yuri or one of the others when something was on his mind. Sometimes he'd even ramble.

"You know you can always talk to one of us, right? Even if it's just as a distraction, if something's bothering you, we can try to help." Try, because he couldn't always promise it would work, but... they didn't make it a habit to ignore each other when someone's mind wandered to a bad place. It wouldn't be the first and probably not the last time that Yuri caught Raven on an off day. His tone was always different, and his gaze always seemed far away.

What could he... Oh. Well. Maybe Yuri could try to use some sort of weapon training? Either Raven could teach him sword techniques, or if that was too distracting because of his past, Yuri could always try to learn bow techniques from him. Even if it wasn't his style, it could still be of use in situations that he couldn't account for right in the moment.

Nowadays Yuri was, truly honestly, getting worried about Raven. His honesty was accepted and embraced, but it also came with a concern that Yuri couldn't have known about when Raven kept hiding it and pushing it away. Lately, he'd let his feelings come to the forefront more often. They seemed... sad, really. This wasn't the Raven he used to think he knew, but he was adjusting. Realizing this was probably the real Raven.

"Do you... want to go try some weapon training? Sword or bow is fine, even if I don't even really knows the basics of a bow... Could distract you and get us both something out of it. Productive stuff. We could take Karol out too and go for dinner - in general or just... do both. I'm sure the kid has plenty of stories he can think up to talk about."

[bujorulgalben]

🕯️ logging on here just for this :3c

send me 🕯️to hear my character's inner thoughts about your character. | accepting!

Disappointing.

Hm. Was I perhaps expecting something else? I would downright foolish to expect to expect anything else, but also... it could have been spitting acid? Do I now think I was too kind with that choice of wording, perhaps?

I used to find his company almost... almost some sort of enjoyable. Or! Or maybe it was more his enthusiasm for the arts. When opera finally reached that far, it was a pale imitation of the sort I was taught in Italian, let us be very frank about that. But it matured, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed Alexei's company at those productions. I cannot tell you if I ever sang to him. I simply cannot remember!

Ah, but I remember being caught out in singing under my breath to one in-patient, when I was tasked to look after the war this awful boy was in. He told me to stop. I had half a mind to drug his next sleep. Such was the way between us.

It did not... have to be, however. I am beyond trying to wrongly pin regret on myself and think "O, what if?" about this. I... I will deny that sometimes, sometimes, Alexei knows what he is talking about. Even if he choices in productions can be rather, ah... bleak.

He does not need to sound so... so prissy about it, either! Ugh! I cannot believe I almost got some sort of sentimental there! Eurgh!!