Summary:Keiko drops in on Piotr to talk to him as he works on a piece of art. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Piotr had woken up early, and went out to work in the shed on the statue he'd been hard at work at since he returned from Limbo. Now that it's going to someone, he's needing to put the finishing touches on, and making sure that the stone is polished. Which means he may not hear much as he's running the rock polisher, his hands working over the stone.
It is a large human form that is being ripped into twain. and from within those two pieces, a demon is emerging. The demon is a hybrid creature, the head of an eagle, with sharp bull horns, and the body of a bear as it claws its way out. The creature itself is made of banded strips of metal.. ones that look awful close to the large Russian's himself when he's in metal form.
He's dressed down into his overalls, most of his skin of his torso on his display as he works on the final touches.
Keiko doesn't sleep much - she never did before and even less so since her return from Limbo. She *dreams* and not the sweet type of dreams. She might be telling her counsellor about those - and her counsellor might be needing a counsellor themselves. Still, today she managed to sleep a little later than usual.
It's the first time she's ventured into the shed. Something's told her that's Piotrs area and he needs it. Today, though, she's got curious. He won't hear her over the sound of the machinery, but she's standing in the doorway watching. Bare footed, in jeans and a t-shirt.
When the machine cuts off, that's when she speaks. "Is that how you see yourself?"
Keiko is always so quiet - it's a surprise when she arrives. Piotr doesn't quite jump out of his skin, but he startles slightly as he turns around to acknowledge her. There's a little smile. "Did you sleep well?" He was beside her - but he tries to give her the room when she wants it. He dusts himself off slightly, looking at the art, then back at Keiko. "I do not know. It is something that was in my memory. That I would become that if Limbo continues.." he closes his eyes and shakes it off as he heads over to the freezer to fish out one of the bottles of vodka.
"Agent Turner saw it when he visited me yesterday. I offered it to him as a thank you for helping us. He said he would find a place to put it, so I wanted to make sure it was ready." he explains.
Of course Keiko is quiet. She was trained to stealth and Limbo only reinforced that. "I didn't mean to startle you." She says, dark cats-eyes watching as Piotr retrieves the Vodka from the fridge. There's a look that passes over her face, fleeting and then gone.
Her eyes track back to the statue, considering it some more. "I can see that. Why it might be on your mind. Limbo … it made us what it needed." They'd made themselves that too. She knows that.
"Koa came by and you talked? This is good." She knows how injured the Agent is and *why*. Apart from Illyana, she wonders if anyone else realises what he did for them. The extent of them. "Will you be working in here all day?"
"Yes. We talked about several things." He looks up to Keiko for a moment, considering her, before he moves to pour a pair of coffee mugs with vodka and brings one over to her. "Mainly about whether or not I was fine. And how I am adjusting after all of this." He shrugs his shoulders. "He does not seem to understand that I am fine."
Even if he's anything but sometimes. "Are you.. okay, from the thing yesterday, at the museum?" he asks, concern in his eyes as he looks her over. "I.. I was proud to see you handle it so well." he admits quietly.
"I will not be working here all day. I thought I would clean up this. And then clean up, and spend some time with you, and then tonight, we could take Elena to the waterfront and watch the fireworks together."
"It is a little early, don't you think." Keiko looks at the mug and accepts it. She'd never been a big drinker before Limbo. Then … it had seemed … prudent. "Are you fine, Piotr?" There's nothing in that question to indicate it's a challenge. It's a question designed to get him to think. "Out of us all, you have … recovered the best. Even there, you held onto some of your humanity. Better than I did, not that I had much to start with."
"I am well. The snake was annoying but not really a problem. If it had persisted I would have called Mirlo or Cullen to aid. Spirits aren't usually an issue when I have staff." There's no pride there, just a certainity. "After the demons in Limbo, that was a light workout." She is pleased at the praise but can't say the words thank you.
"Is Elena at school, then?"
"No, she was out playing earlier. Illyana took her for ice cream." Someone more trusting. "Am I well?" Piotr asks, and glances into his mug. "I am. I know that we.. are not traditional. And that you have a lot going on. But you are here. And I cannot ask for more than that." He could, but it would meet with resistance. So he's trying to accept what she can offer him.
"You are still a human, Keiko. Beautiful, and strong willed, even if you hide behind your own acceptance. You're still.. we were there for seven years. You were in a cult before that." He's learning. His hand reaches, brushing against the side of her arm. "And you are here." That he can accept as well.
"That was the same type of thing that you did when you were.." his finger moves, tracking along the ink on her arm, touching and exploring as he steps a little closer, and his hand raises, over her shoulder, a light touch to her neck as he feels that connection that's far closer between them and he draws back. "Illyana asked me if I wanted our bed from the citadel. Or any of my art."
Traditional. Keiko looks at Piotr at that word. "It bothers you? That we aren't?" She doesn't even know herself at the moment, how can she give more to others. They have … what she's got. Almost all of it.
"I am human, yes. But humanity? Compassion? You know I struggle with that. I was raised a soldier, Piotr and was one in Limbo. I did what I had to so we could we survive. I don't regret it. I would do it again and willingly." That she's strong willed gets a snort. "Maddeningly frustrating, I believe it's been said. I am strong willed, I had to be - it why I was made a bearer…" She looks at her arm as he touches her tattooes. "I have never really been free, Piotr. I ran from the Nightfall - ran for 3 years. I spent most of those 3 years wondering if they would find me and drag me back, or how I was going to eat. That's not freedom, I was just a shackled but by different things. Then Limbo and … now."
It's a list to be sure.
"Different things, really but in ways the same. In the Nightfall, I recovered children and trained them. If we had to kill, we did. There was no … remorse, I think the word is. In Limbo, I fought demons and punished them for challenging us. I had to show strength and there, strength is cruel."
She doesn't stop him touching her, just watches his eyes. "I used to think my ink defined me, Piotr. That I was who I was, because of it. Now, I'm not sure."
"Our bed? I don't think so. We should start … fresh. If you want to burn it, we could roast marshmallows though. Your art? I think, if Illyana doesn't, we should."
"We can burn it and make a good show of it. And yes. We are trying to start again. New and learn each other. I know now that your favorite ice cream is chocolate." Piotr responds, before he shakes his head. "You're not understanding what I'm trying to say." he admits with a sigh.
"I'm trying to say that I accept all of that. I accept all of that. You aren't your ink. You aren't just Elena's mother. You're Keiko Kurita." Maybe someday /that/ will change, but after seven years and now a reboot of the relationship? It's starting over from scratch. And he has to accept that. "I have no regrets, Keiko. About us. About Elena. About you."
"I know I seem softer than you. Compassionate. And it's maddening in it's own way, I'm sure. You push, I pull. I say start, you say stop. We're not going to get along all the time. But we did. And we survived because of the other. I'll ask for the art. Maybe we can put some of it here in the garden. Maybe sell some of it. Help us raise money."
"We survived together. Now I want to live and thrive with you." Maybe she'll understand. Maybe not. But he's going to be as loyal to her as she is to him.
"Maybe I want to understand what you want." The peruvian answers. It must difficult to speak with her at times. She's direct and she's blunt but her experiences in this world are limited, shaped on the anvil of obedience and servitude. "I know what you sacrificed the day you picked up that sword. I was prepared to fight, to die if I had to, so you could be free. But you … " she shakes her head and decides that maybe Vodka this early is needed.
She drinks deep.
"I have never said that I see you as soft, Piotr. You have a strength all of your own. If I seem difficult, stubborn, it's because I'm learning … everything. How to be the Keiko that I am now and how to do …. this."
She gestures between them and then back to house. "… you and me. A mother. Have a … family." There's a sigh. "I'm going to get wrong, a lot. But I want that too, Piotr." And if they can't have it, when all's said and done? Maybe they'll still be friends.
"Put the money for your art into finding a studio for yourself." Keiko says finally. She doesn't say it - she's earning more than enough to provide for the three of them.
"Everyone asks what I want." Piotr responds, glancing down. "I couldn't answer Koa when he asked that. Because of one simple reason. Because I know what I want. I have what I want. I have a child. A family. My brother has returned. My sister is safe.. and there is a woman that I.." he considers. No. He will not be weak and sugar coat it. "I have a woman I want to keep being in love with. And know that those that words she said to me are true." he looks at her, and he tilts his head.
"I have the school and my teaching. Maybe I'll have a studio someday."
"/We/ are not perfect. /We/ are going to get a lot wrong. And I want that."
"What do I want?"
"I want you."
There's no smiles from Keiko. She doesn't do it. Maybe she's forgotten how. "You know the words I spoke to be true." It's a simple statement she makes, but it says a lot. "I am not an easy woman, Piotr. You know that but I am here and I'm yours. I have not run despite how terrifying this all is."
"You have me. I'm not going anywhere. I will be beside you and our daughter."
"And I'll try to improve as time passes."
"And I will learn as well. Because that's how this works. And just have faith that I know what you say is true." Piotr responds, and then leans down to press a kiss to her forehead, because it's the easiest place to reach with the obvious height difference. "I was just done out here." he points out to her. "Would you like to go inside, have some coffee.. and just spend some time together?"
"I might. Or I might like you to show me your workshop. I'm interested." Keiko answers, pressing a kiss to his cheek when he leans down.
"Then, I think Firefly is showing on Netflix and Three Musketeers. I was going to watch those this week." She might have some work to do about the house, but it's not much.
"You can tell me about growing up in Russia, again." The others are likely to be home at some time. So there'll be food. Food that Keiko doesn't have to, and shouldn't, cook.
There's a mote of amusment in Piotr's features, and then he considers her. "The last time I tried to teach you to sculpt, I made the mistake of not telling you it was going to turn into an escape attempt. Now? I don't want to escape from you, Keiko." It's an attempt at humor as his fingers brush her cheek and he steps back before nodding. "Shop, then inside for movies and time together. Perhaps I will take you to see Russian art next time. Less likely to have spirits."
Oh little does he know.