exsilium | oo1; voice + video

oo1; voice + video

Biggest country in world I know but Initiative don't seem to bother to bring anyone else but me. Too many goddamned Americans and Japanese. [ Says the heavy Russian accent. ] And aliens. And fucking elves. [ For all the emphasis he puts on that word, he doesn't sound angry. More of a 'fuck, what the hell, man?'

... Sorry, elves. He's targeting one elf in particular and he doesn't much care if there's more of them.

Sharp snort. Sound of a lighter snapping on, and the crackling of cigarettes. Then the camera switches on.

Have a pair of heavily tattooed hands, one of them curled around a white stick. Then he tips the tablet upwards until it shows his face, and Nikolai pulls off the sunglasses. ]

You lot ever get tired of talking on this thing? Bunch of stupid questions lately. [ He takes a drag of the cigarette, and blows it at the screen. ] You've all forgotten how to fuck, or something?

[ ooc; for any character with knowledge of Russian criminals, Nikolai's hands carry tattoos that basically says he's one of the worst ones out there. Yeah.

Also, content warnings for sexual assault for the thread with Steph (

controlledvariable). ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The way he puts out the cigarette gets a raised eyebrow, but she won't comment on it.]

I thought we already established I wasn't a little girl. [Come on man her pride can't take that. But still:] Stephanie. And you?

Have we? [ He takes another drag from the cigarette. (He stubs it out that way as an intimidation tactic. Also it's convenient.) ]

Nikolai.

Yes. [There's a slight edge to her tone, the sort that suggests she's not interested in arguing the point. It's the first time she's sounded anything other than polite or amused, but she thinks the best way to get someone to take her seriously is simply to tell them to.

Whether it actually works is a different matter.]

A pleasure, I'm sure. [and that's just dry.]

[ He chuckles softly. ]

Okay. Why are you not little girl?

[There are a lot of different answers she could give, some of which would reveal more than she wants to, so she sticks with something simple.]

Little girls don't tend to have little girls of their own.

[Not that her daughter is really hers, but the point stands.]

[ Long pause. Nikolai ducks his head and takes another drag of his cigarette. The smoke obscures his face, and he lets it do so while he answers. ]

I know plenty of little girls who had little girls. [ Beat. ] One was fourteen. You will say she is not little girl?

[ Slaves give birth to slaves, Nikolai has said himself. He had stood aside while Kirill cried, unable to fuck Tatiana like his father told him too; stood aside while Semyon finally came down and did it, to show Kirill how it should be done.

Nikolai has seen plenty of little girls made to have little girls. Most of the time they don't get to give birth, but forced somehow to abort. But there are some unlucky ones, he knows. ]

[The corner of her mouth twists, like she was going to try for a rueful smile but gives up half way. She was barely sixteen, and she had her mom to support her, but she knows not everyone in the same situation is as lucky.]

It's pretty hard to be a little girl after that.

[She sounds like she regrets that. It's the most honest she's been in the entire conversation.]

[ Damned if he's not glad the conversation is private. Nikolai's fingers twitch. He almost rubs at his eyes. ]

You miss her? [ He pauses, and, as if he's aware that he's revealing too much about himself, he falls back to half-insults. ] The little girl's little girl?

[She can't even be bothered to argue the insult, because her chest suddenly feels too tight, so she just shrugs, looks away from the screen.]

Can you miss someone you've never met?

[Maybe it's a rhetorical question. Maybe she should just hang up.]

[ Can you miss someone you've never met?

(Can you miss someone who has never really met you? Can you want for something you've never had? Can you miss someone who doesn't remember all that you've gone through together?

Nikolai knows a little too much about everything he never really had. Things that slipped out of his reach before he even touched it with the tips of his fingers. Things that he had the barest taste of before it's snatch away.)

He shrugs. It's only long, long practice (longer than she does, in terms of sheer years) that keeps the emotions from his face and eyes. ]

You are not asking me that question. [ He tips his head, slightly. ] You are asking yourself.

[ It's a kinder answer than he should have given. ]

[And she laughs, a huff of a thing, entirely lacking in humour, but she isn't sure what else to do. She shouldn't be having this conversation with this man, she shouldn't be having this conversation at all, she really should hang up. What stops her is the knowledge that doing so would be like admitting a weakness, that it would be just as telling as anything she might say right now. So she laughs, and shrugs, a wry twist to her expression.]

Are you always this insightful?

[What she's really curious about is why he's even still talking to her like this, being - kind, when everything about him says that he should be cruel.]

[ He hears the unheard question, and he leans back against the wall, watching her through the screen.

It's been months since he's been in a place where being a vor means anything. Because pretending, being rude, being harsh- it's like slipping on a mask he doesn't want to wear again but he thinks he should. Not a habit but a duty; a duty he doesn't even know is still necessary. There's always the fear, at the edge of his nerves, that another vor will come in. Someone else. Kirill. Semyon. Azim. Soyka. The machine is randomised; there's no telling who might come in.

Stay away from people like me. It's the best advice he can give to anyone about himself, but sometimes Nikolai wants to feel human instead of just trying to be human.

He has no answer for her. Nothing that he can render into words, especially not to a stranger. Instead, he blows smoke towards her. ]

Only to polite dyevochka who insist they are not little girls.

[A lot of strange things have happened in this damn city, but she thinks this might just have climbed to the top the list. His tattoos mark him as a criminal, and she's watched some of the other conversations, seen how callous he's been with most of the other Tranports, and is absolutely at a loss to explain why he hasn't been the same to her. Admittedly, she didn't approach him the same way that most of the others did, but that doesn't seem like enough.]

It's been a long time since anyone's called me polite.

[But she inclines her head slightly towards the screen, a silent thank you for the small kindness.]

[ Six of one, half dozen of another, really. Nikolai has his reasons, and he thrives best when he's not understood. There's always a part of him that craves for understanding, but frankly, he's given up on the ghost. Having people tell him things without need for coercion or seduction might be asking a little too much already.

He gives her a half-grin. ]

Maybe they don't give you enough incentive to be.

[ It is, in his own way, a form of don't mention it. (He does mean that in the most literal way as well.) ]

[The grin eases something in her, like this weird moment can pass and she doesn't have to worry abou how she's been more honest with Nikolai than she has with half the other people here.

(She thinks part of it might be that with someone like him, she doesn't have to worry about trusting them or not, because she knows not to. It makes things simpler.)]

I can't argue with that. Most people are idiots.

[Perhaps being a little harsh, but occasionally she gets a little frustrated with the general populace.

She's also amused at the fact they're suggesting that he did give her incentive to be polite, but she won't actually point it out.]

[ Nikolai shrugs. Turning away, he flicks the ash off of his cigarette before he drops his elbow on the table, looking at her, his smile crooked. ]

Depends on what you think is idiocy. [ He waves a hand. ] For example, young girl talking to someone like me, probably very stupid.

[She seems to consider that, looking almost thoughtful for a second before she shrugs right back at him, smiling a little. This is still strange, but easier than the tension of a few moments ago.]

It was a calculated risk.

[So, no, she's not stupid, and there's the implication here that she's wary, but not scared of him. She doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceiving.]

[ That tells him a lot about her. Not in how she says it, but the two words themselves. There are certain types of people who will use 'calculated risk'. Suddenly Nikolai thinks of Yuri, of a man he hasn't thought of for months, and he almost laughs.

Calculated risk. Alright then. ]

Very clever to calculate like that.

[The smile she gives him would almost be sweet, if it weren't for - everything else about this situation. But she knows what she's revealing, and it can be a warning as much as it could be anything else.]

I'm glad you think so.

[Which could be saying all sorts of things, but mostly she's just kind of bemused by the fact he hasn't told her to fuck off yet.]

[ Almost sweet is better than 'sweet'. 'Sweet' is dangerous, in his world. Either it's a trap, or it's something that will be ruined sooner or later.

He just shrugs. And frankly, it's pretty much fuck-off time. ]

You always have this much time on your hand, dyevochka?

Unfortunately. [She's being mostly serious there, there is very little to do in Exsilium, when compared with her schedule at home.] It's probably why everyone spends too much time on this thing - [she taps the edge of the tablet.] - too much time on our hands.

[ He laughs at that. ]

And Initiative tell us we at war. [ He shakes his head. ] Fucking unbelievable.

[ He means that literally: that it's something that cannot be believed. ]

I don't think they care much whether you believe it or not. [She seems more wryly amused than anything, because she can understand how unbelievable the whole thing is] They don't give you much of a chance to say no when the "missions" roll around.

[She doesn't actually make airquotes, but she considers it, and they're audible in her tone.]

[ He tips his head, just very little, to the side. ]

Interesting. They have way to convince people to go even when they try to hide?

[a shrug]

We get a warning on the tablets, but if you don't head to the transporters, they'll just send us off anyway, same way we were brought in.

[So, without asking. Just sudden teleportation.]

lmao that would be interesting to see

8DDDDDD

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