[For Katya] Unexpected Visitors

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

Even just a day away from everything was centering, and by dusk on Saturday night, Elisha was feeling much more...even than he had been. New plans and ideas were buzzing in his head, and while he'd promised to spend a weekend away from his work, his work was still on his mind.

Still, he'd gotten out a sketchpad and settled on the couch in the cabin he'd taken for the weekend, ready to turn off his brain and get to work on other work - a mural of Israel for Elani's festival, maybe a general world culture mural too. But then his phone rang.

It took a second for his brain to start translating the Russian, but the name Athena snapped his mind to attention. He'd left after she'd arrived, so he knew, of course. And was just as glad not to be anywhere near the inevitable Spade explosion.

"Why don't you come out here," he said after a moment in fluid Russian - still accented with Israeli, as it always was with that language. "I've got steaks. And vodka."

Comments

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

"You know I don't talk if there's no reason to." And this wasn't exactly something to be used as leverage for any of his usual maneuvering.

Especially not given who it ended up being, Elisha thinks as he blinks. "Your butler?" he says, tipping his head to one side. "That...is an odd request."

[maidenthespade.livejournal.com]

She waves a hand at him. "Do not sap all fun out of teasing you. And yes, my butler. I suspect he sees Queen more than Katya. I will disappoint him one day." This last she says a trifle sadly. Declan is one of few she can relax around. That will change once she no longer dazzles.

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you underestimate him," Elisha offers as he takes the steaks and vegetables off the grill. They'll have to rest of course. Enough time for more scotch. "It's possible he sees both the Queen and Katya, and likes both."

[maidenthespade.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps. Such things become more difficult the higher one climbs. Have you ever taken up with another Club?"

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

He has to stop and think about that. He hadn't slept with anyone the first couple of years. "A...few," he says. "Not in some time, though, I have to admit. It's nice to be able go home to another building."

[maidenthespade.livejournal.com]

Katya hunts in Elisha's cabinets and drawers until she locates plates and cutlery.

"This is true. No fighting for covers. No searching for wash room in dark. I find higher one rises, same suit becomes more difficult. There is always risk of pressure where it is not intended."

And the coat tail climbers, of course, though those are easy enough to spot.

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

"I found that myself." Opportunities for dating in the Clubs sort of dried up about the time he cut down Noah in one of the shortest krav maga fights he'd ever been in. And there's the fact that when you're in the same Castle it starts to feel pointless to walk down the hall to sleep.

And then suddenly you're living together. "But fortunately I always have the Spades and Hearts to turn to, right?"

[maidenthespade.livejournal.com]

"You never know, Ilyusha." Katya readies the salad, her tone teasing. "I am fickle woman. Victor, I think, you can always come home to. Do not be forgetting Diamonds. I understand their Jack is fond of dark men."

Jacks and Aces, Elisha, have all the fun.

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but he's left me for another woman," Elisha says as he slices the steak and piles pieces on a plate. "And given that she had me evicted while he was in the infirmary, I'm not sure I can count on his solace."

A shame, in that case, that Alexander and Argine didn't see fit to name him Jack. But then - he wasn't really surprised.

[maidenthespade.livejournal.com]

Katya tsks. "And she will not share? That is very bad of her. Poor, zaichik. If that is case I will have no choice but to console you. Perhaps I will take you shoe shopping."

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

"Some girls are just terribly possessive," Elisha muses and hands Katya the steak. "Nothing to be done about it. And I'm always glad to escort you on your trips to make the shopkeepers very happy." Even if shopping was mostly a required endeavor that he happened to be good at.

[maidenthespade.livejournal.com]

Katya sets the platter on top of the gathered dishes and carries everything to the table. "Ilyusha, I would not make you go shopping--unless it was for weapons. You are no fun to tease if you accept your fate so easily.

"Though I do not see why you do not enjoy shoes."

[cipherspeak.livejournal.com]

"You're a goddess, Katinka, truly." And he grins as they sit at the patio table. "It's just that the interesting ones don't come in my size."