[ alina fidgets through the rest of class. it's only fifteen minutes but it feels like a lifetime because her phone is there on the teacher's desk, screen up, and she has no way of knowing what messages are coming up on it.
when the bell ring, she darts to the desk and tries to snatch it. the teacher holds her. demands a promise that she won't use it in class again, which alina agrees to without a thought. she'd agree to anything, just then.
when it's back in her hands and she's passing to lunch, she calls him. ]
( inspecting the facilities to better plan for future lessons. it's an impressive set-up, actually. easily on a par with the little palace — bigger, perhaps, now that he thinks about it.
[ she knows the gym, though every time she's there she's miserable. it doesn't bode well for this conversation. she smiles and dismisses the offers of friends to grab lunch and makes her way down there. detention, she explains, for having her phone out.
she cuts in through the side door. the space feels emptier for how big it is, and how she still has to search for aleksander in it. ]
( over by the bubble suits, actually, trying to figure out what exactly they're for. it's just as well, perhaps, that he's not accustomed enough to the technology of this place to recognize how much of what's on offer is in deep need of repair—or at least a thorough cleaning. )
I don't suppose you have any idea what these are for?
( to put it mildly. after enduring all the relevant seminars, with student safety a prominent feature, aleksander wondered just how anything was really accomplished. the answer, it seems, was barely.
still. he wasn't about to let that deter him. years spent negotiating the fickleness of lantsov kings had taught him the value of picking one's battles. )
And cumbersome. Corecloth would be more efficient. A pity there are no Materialki to hand. ( frankly, he'd settle for just david. )
Isn't it a good sign that this country doesn't have to put all its gold into armor so that its children can become soldiers?
[ she grimaces a little as she says it. he's been a soldier all his life (has he? how long has his life been?), so it feels like an insult. but it's the truth. she dreams of a day that ravka has no need for a second army or a first. ]
But there are applications for our power other than war. ( at least in theory. he hadn't given much thought to it. a testament to how utterly the war has consumed his life. he is simply the black general now. )
And control doesn't come simply because we desire it.
[ a smile spreads over her lips. the first since she's arrived. some of the tension melts away because he's right. this is a luxury. one that, apparently, they're both a little grateful for. it makes it easier to relax around him —
too easy. for she catches herself leaning towards him and straightens up, sliding one step back so that they're not inappropriately close to one another. she checks the doors of the gym. ]
( he might as well have called them "uncultured louts". it's been long enough since he'd heard her laugh — the free, ease of it — that he thinks he might do anything to make it happen.
but then her attention shifts, away from him and to the door, and he clears his throat, looking down at his feet. right. right. )
A pity, really. The simple pleasures are often sweetest.
[ she doesn't know why she feels compelled to put herself separate from her classmates when she has been so eager to fit in with them outside his presence, quickly adapting to her phone and changing her manner of dress and even the style of her hair. ]
( aleksander can't decide whether she's placating him or whether she's being genuine. it doesn't matter. he's charmed all the same.
he looks to the door of the gym. so far no one has stumbled in to interrupt but that's more down to luck than anything else. he should send her back to whatever she'd been doing, promise to talk to her later, at home, where it's safe, but she's here now and he's suddenly full of a yearning to touch her. )
I wonder, Miss Starkov, if you'd mind helping pack away a few things. ( only staff have a key to the storage area as far as he knows. )
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If they believe there's anything more to our relationship, I'll lose my job.
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Do you want to end things?
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but i don't seem to get a say in this since you're telling me your job won't allow otherwise
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But until I can find something better, let's not give them reason to cause trouble.
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her teacher has taken her phone :)
it's probably fine ]
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has he just been left on read? he squints at the screen. debates. )
I really meant it.
I have no intention of letting you go.
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when the bell ring, she darts to the desk and tries to snatch it. the teacher holds her. demands a promise that she won't use it in class again, which alina agrees to without a thought. she'd agree to anything, just then.
when it's back in her hands and she's passing to lunch, she calls him. ]
Are you here?
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( inspecting the facilities to better plan for future lessons. it's an impressive set-up, actually. easily on a par with the little palace — bigger, perhaps, now that he thinks about it.
there's potential, here. something he can use. )
Feel free to join me.
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she cuts in through the side door. the space feels emptier for how big it is, and how she still has to search for aleksander in it. ]
Hello?
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( over by the bubble suits, actually, trying to figure out what exactly they're for. it's just as well, perhaps, that he's not accustomed enough to the technology of this place to recognize how much of what's on offer is in deep need of repair—or at least a thorough cleaning. )
I don't suppose you have any idea what these are for?
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[ she grimaces at them. any time the bubble suits come out, someone's gonna have a bad day. usually it's her. ]
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( to put it mildly. after enduring all the relevant seminars, with student safety a prominent feature, aleksander wondered just how anything was really accomplished. the answer, it seems, was barely.
still. he wasn't about to let that deter him. years spent negotiating the fickleness of lantsov kings had taught him the value of picking one's battles. )
And cumbersome. Corecloth would be more efficient. A pity there are no Materialki to hand. ( frankly, he'd settle for just david. )
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[ she grimaces a little as she says it. he's been a soldier all his life (has he? how long has his life been?), so it feels like an insult. but it's the truth. she dreams of a day that ravka has no need for a second army or a first. ]
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( at least he doesn't sound offended. )
But there are applications for our power other than war. ( at least in theory. he hadn't given much thought to it. a testament to how utterly the war has consumed his life. he is simply the black general now. )
And control doesn't come simply because we desire it.
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[ her nose crinkles. ]
Showing off for kings and boyars?
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( amusement warms his tone. she is ambitious, his alina. for all she hates the war a part of her longs for that sense of purpose. )
The point isn't necessarily the purpose so much as the luxury of being able to find it.
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[ a smile spreads over her lips. the first since she's arrived. some of the tension melts away because he's right. this is a luxury. one that, apparently, they're both a little grateful for. it makes it easier to relax around him —
too easy. for she catches herself leaning towards him and straightens up, sliding one step back so that they're not inappropriately close to one another. she checks the doors of the gym. ]
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( he might as well have called them "uncultured louts". it's been long enough since he'd heard her laugh — the free, ease of it — that he thinks he might do anything to make it happen.
but then her attention shifts, away from him and to the door, and he clears his throat, looking down at his feet. right. right. )
A pity, really. The simple pleasures are often sweetest.
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[ she doesn't know why she feels compelled to put herself separate from her classmates when she has been so eager to fit in with them outside his presence, quickly adapting to her phone and changing her manner of dress and even the style of her hair. ]
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( aleksander can't decide whether she's placating him or whether she's being genuine. it doesn't matter. he's charmed all the same.
he looks to the door of the gym. so far no one has stumbled in to interrupt but that's more down to luck than anything else. he should send her back to whatever she'd been doing, promise to talk to her later, at home, where it's safe, but she's here now and he's suddenly full of a yearning to touch her. )
I wonder, Miss Starkov, if you'd mind helping pack away a few things. ( only staff have a key to the storage area as far as he knows. )
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