Summary:The botanical gardens is a good place to get to know each other. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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After dealing with the demon and getting it to Illyana to return home, Piotr decided to return to the park with Keiko. As they walk, he's keeping to himself - not trying to take her hand or linger in her personal space. Just enjoying her company as they walk. "Where I was from, it was almost all farmland. We cleared all out to make room for plants to live and for others - no forest or flowers." he admits.
He has stopped, and he had picked himself up a couple of foot long corn dogs with lots of mustard - but he wasn't sure what to get Keiko. So he has a pizza slice to offer to her, along with a lemonade - a jumbo size, with two straws.
"Where I was, in the compound, there was lots of forest around." Keiko says quietly as they walk. "We had a small plot where we would grow vegetables and such. I never gave much thought to anything like that though." At least she's staying close to the big man, and hasn't put distance between them.
"It was very different in the cities, villages, we went to." She takes the slice pizza that's offered and nibbles at it. Even if he did want to take her hand, it's not exactly possible now.
"I'm not sure I asked why you came to America …"
"Originally? My sister came here. Mutants in Russia.. they are either weapons. Or worse." Piotr responds as he takes a bite of the corn dog, glancing towards the tattooed woman as he explains. "My brother, he was taken to be used as cosmonaut. Myself, I was taken to be weapon. Can only imagine what they would do with Illyana and her power. So. Sent her to America. Then she disappeared."
The first time. "I came here, because she was lost. When I got here - she had been found. But was older. She had changed." She was Belasco's servant, and just escaped. "She told me she was safe. I went home to tend to farm. Then, when she was taken again…"
He sips from the lemonade and offers her the cup. "I did not come back immediately. Parents were ill. Needed money. I needed to stay on the farm for them. I did. And then they passed. I found myself.. free." He frowns. "Maybe not right word." All things considered with her, after all.
"So, I came back to be with sister. Not exactly fugitive from own government, but they are not happy with me, and things I did before I came here."
Keiko listens, frowning slightly as Piotr explains. "Illyana was gone years but minutes here, yes?" She knows it was similar for her as it had been for them. It's no wonder things are confusing for them.
"You don't like talking about your time with the Government. How did you get free? So you could send her away?" He knows her sins. Knows what she did for the Nightfall. And yet she knows so little about him.
Except he has the soul of an artist.
"I fled." Piotr explains as he takes another bite of the corndog, and continues to walk with her, glancing from her to some of the plants. "There was a mission. A submarine was damaged. They needed someone to go down to it. I do not need to breathe, or anything, when metal. They sent me down to submarine. When I get there, I thought I was supposed to help crew, get them back to safety. It was not what they ordered me to do."
He pauses in his steps, looking at his corndog. "I did not want to do what they told me. So I did not. People say I was hero. Government pin medal of me, secretly plan to…" he shakes his head, and changes the subject.
"You came here. Nightfall was strong here.. did they expect you to kidnap a child? Or help them?"
Keiko winces. She knows about orders and doing things that don't necessarily sit well with you. "You don't have to tell me." For a moment she touches his arm before going back to her food. "That you didn't follow their orders speaks … well. Not like me. I did everything I was told till I ran."
"I came here as somewhere to come, yes. The Nightfall wasn't here when I got here. They don't, or didn't, target big cities like this. Too many police and people to track them. Smaller villages where life is cheap, is easier."
The peruvian looks at the russian considering. "They did not know I was here till I started investigating. I asked Koa for help because I suspected. I was right and when they knew I was here, they tried to recover me." What would they have done to her?
"They ordered me to put hole in sub. Sink it. It was place where it should not be." And that's where Piotr leaves it. It's a big step for Piotr. His trust in her it's always been there, but he's sharing a part of himself he was not pleased with.
He brushes his arm against her hand in return, keeping the affection low, to make things more comforatble for her.
"You chose to ran. As I did. Because it was no longer right. If ever." He glances to her. "They will not take you from me." It's said with a certain firmness. She's his, and he's hers.. and he's not letting her go.
"You didn't do it, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Keiko says simply. It's easy for her. "I helped take children for years. Then trained them, just like I was." Broke them. That's what she means.
"I ran when I finally could. I could have run sooner, if I'd been stronger but I wasn't." beat "No they aren't. We broke them, Illyana, Koa and I, when we went to Sifror." She's never spoken about that, not even in Limbo. "It was worth everything, doing that. Breaking Ploktas ties to the Nightfall."
Piotr nods at that. "I asked Illyana to let me help." he says, finally. "If she needed me." He shrugs his shoulders. "There are some things I am not able to do." he finally decided to come to terms with it. He's had seven years to come to terms with it.
"Now you are trying to help. You can't dwell on what happened. It is what it is. Can only continue to move forward. Make for a better future." Finishing off the first corndog, he tosses the stick towards the trashcan. It hits against the side of it and lands on the ground, but Piotr doesn't seem to notice.
"She was protecting you, Piotr. What happened … " Keiko shakes her head. It's what the effects of Limbo that much more for her. "… you didn't see me, or Koa, afterwards. Not even you could save us from what happened." She lets it go though when he changes the subject.
"They came at me because I was helping. They won't anymore. I'm much stronger than I was and I know more, now." She watches the stick fall to the ground and she moves to pick it up and dump her own container in the bin.
"Something on your mind?"
As Keiko goes to pick up the stick, a vine had wrapped around it to start to pick it up. It pauses and goes limp when she comes over.
"Hmm? No, nothing on my mind but spending time with you. I know my sister was trying to protect me. And then you went there. Came back and we ended up in Limbo together." Piotr gives a roll of his shoulders in a shrug and then smiles towards her.
"Was there something in the park you wanted to see?"
Keiko doesn't notice the vine and dumps the trash in the bin, turning back to look at Piotr with a frown. That unmoving vine at her feet. "I did and I survived. The Nightfall are broken and I suspect Plokta is dealing with a challenge from Sifror. Or challenging him. I'd have to see if there's any update on that."
"If it hadn't been for that, it's unlikely Illyana's demons would have chosen me for you." For him. Because that's what they'd done. Who knows who they would have chosen.
Not likely someone as strong as the peruvian, that's for sure.
"See? I … don't know. I've never been here and you know I can't read. Show me around, we have time."
"That was I was planning to do. In the spring, the cherry blossoms are very pretty. I would like to see them with you." Piotr responds, now that they have a hand free, his brushes against hers, before returning his attention to the discussion. "I am.. boring compared to you." he finally admits. "You have had so much to overcome in your life. Sometimes I worry that I am not a challenge for you."
"No, that's not a way for me to say I want things hard. They can be plenty complicated already, with collars and Koa and consorts and everything." he smirks at the thought and then shakes his head. "You told me about the collar. And tattoo. What is the brand?" he asks her finally.
"Why must you think you need to be a challenge?" Keiko murmurs, her fingers twining in his for the briefest of moments. "We're all different and sometimes I think I'm … too complicated."
The mention of Koa is glossed over. He will be a part of her life, as a friend and employer.
"It is not spring though, so there are no cherry blossoms. What is it that blooms in the summer?" she asks instead, starting to move. "The brand? A melding of the elder gods and the Nightfall. It is something that … it works to change me. Initially to drive me to Plokta but now? I do not know and removing it would likely kill me." beat "That's not something I want to consider."
She did say complicated, didn't she?
Really, if he were in his right mind, he should probably run. Change his number, hide in the mansion.
But she can find him.
They have a child together.
And he's in love with her.
Keiko can just add it to the list of complications.
There's a smile towards Keiko as she asks what is blooming in the summer. Turning off the main path, they start to walk down a small side path alongside a stream. His fingers twine with hers. And when she tries to pull away, his hand tightens. She can stay - just a little longer. Though he realizes what he just did and starts to give her the option to pull away.
Along the path are summer-blooming hibiscus, rushes and sedges, and umbrella plant.
Dragonflies, their wings lazily buzzing drift from pad to pad while ducks are roaming in the water. Tearing off a piece of crust from his corndog, he tosses it out, coaxing some of the ducks to come over, quacking as they devour the small morsel and immediately look for more.
Piotr should run. Keiko won't follow. Her heart might break but she just won't. She knows exactly what she is.
Not pulling her hand away when his grip finally loosens, the peruvian is quiet as she takes in their surrounds. "The forest near the compound was sometimes pretty but not like this. Did they set this up to be like this?" She doesn't know the names of the plants and such, they're not important. She's not a botanist, after all.
The ducks though, they get an amused sort of look. "Do you like duck? They sometimes served it in the compound. I could never get a taste for it myself." Probably not what he had in mind.
"We're not hunting the ducks, Keiko. We'd get arrested. And we don't get to share a cell." Piotr smirks at that, though he smiles at her. Hopefully she was just teasing. Hopefully. "They made it like this. For people to enjoy. And feed the ducks." He tears off a piece of the batter, and offers it to Keiko so that she can feed a curious duck that edges closer to them.
He could read the signs to her - but that's not what they're here for. It's to spend time together and learn about each other. And figure out what they had to wait seven years to figure out.
"There was streams near farm - but they were man-made. For irrigation, to water the farm. Never got just enjoy them."
"No need to hunt them. They are here…" Is she joking? It's hard to tell. Keiko has an interesting set of values sometimes.
"I've seen people feeding the animals in the park. I just don't understand why you would. They aren't useful are they? They're just … decorative." That's the mindset of someone who's been raised to make everything count. Is it any wonder she had had trouble with her bonded spirits.
"But irrigation is good, useful, yes? The streams in the forest, they were often cold and full of leeches."
"Many people in the city, this is their only interaction with animals." Piotr points out as he finishes off the last of the corndogs. "Everywhere else is concrete, glass, and no life to it. Here, there is life. The ducks? They get fat. They know that the people here will feed them, and they will not be hurt. They know they are safe."
He considers this for a moment and then chuckles. "So that's how you keep so small, leeches." he says with a grin towards her, and a gentle squeeze of her hand. "I was looking at your Netflix account. You watch a lot of romance shows. Telenovelas?"
"I suppose." Keiko answers watching the ducks. "Living in the city takes some getting used to." She does take some bread to feed to the ducks. She doesn't look entirely convinced.
"No, I'm small because I'm small. Leeches don't do that." There's a small amount of pride in her comment.
"I watch a lot of things but when I came through South America and could stay in motels, that's what they had on the tv there. I … kind of got used to them. In a way, it's how I learned to speak English as well. Some of them had english dubbing."
Now that's probably a real oy vey, moment.
"I learned mainly through music. Billy Joel. Phil Collins." Piotr gives Keiko a smile. "You're just right for me." he finally decides, when it comes to her height. She fits against him nicely and he has no complaints about her. "Then I learned some more at the school to communicate with others."
"But like the ducks, it takes some getting used to." he agrees with her finally as they return to their walk after feeding the duck.
"Once saw a duck in a pharmacy. It asked for some chapstick, and when the cashier got it, he said 'put it on my bill'."
Revenge for talking about eating domesticated ducks is best served as 'pun'ishment.
"Who?" Music … is something Keiko listens to but doesn't really pay attention to. At one point she might have danced to it, but probably not now.
"And of course I'm just right for you. I'm the mother of your child." She might well be teasing him again in that flat way of hers.
There's been no school for Keiko, just learning through living and the small woman has done a lot of living in the past year or so.
"Huh." The pun has her looking up at Piotr. "I've never seen a duck in a store. Much less a speaking one. Was it's bill dry or something?" Only revenge, if the recipient is aware of it.
R
Piotr sighs as his joke goes as flat as his lover's expression. "I.. a duck has a bill. And a bill is a payment…" he stops there, and shakes his head. "Nevermind." It's just too much to try to have to explain a pun to someone.
"Come on, I'm going to take you home and introduce you to Billy Joel."
Some Oliver and Company will be a good start for that.