houseofcards_rp | [ota] sleeping under strange skies

He's ready for this. Of course he's ready for this.

He wouldn't be here if he weren't ready. Holló wouldn't have sent him through without being prepared. This isn't, after all, the sort of place a person gets sent without it being purposeful. Even the people who wander here 'by chance' are the people who need to be here, he's been told.

So it's the right time for Aleksei Volkov to be stepping out into the cold sunlight barely warming the walls of the Castle Spades, newly minted and processed and told he'll have to start working his way up from Two now.

The few things he'd brought with him have been settled into the cramped quarters he'll be sharing with a few other recent arrivals. What's stuck from his grandmother means he'll be starting off under the apparently quite severe Spade kitchen staff.

Hopefully it isn't the end of the world that he needs to pause when he's sent out to Town to pick up a few extra bottles of truffle oil and vanilla extract. Hopefully being 'ready for this' doesn't mean he can't take a moment--take a deep breath--as he lets settle into his bones the fact that he's here.

{ooc; He can be bumped into at the castle or being lost in Town. Also tag plz?}

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Somewhere, the Spade Head Butler was likely having paroxysms about the fact the Ace was fetching his own tea. Not here, however.

Here, there was just a boy already catching the hint to not be seen or heard letting his head bob up in surprise at hearing his own name. Thankfully, this wasn't accompanied by dropping anything--or a slowing down of his hands unloading the bag up onto the shelves where he had been directed.

"Sir?"

Crossing his arms and casually leaning a hip against the kitchen counter, Ethan shook his head mildly. "Just checking." The new name had crossed his desk just this morning, notice from the Outposts to expect a brand new arrival.

"I see you've wasted little time in making yourself useful," he observed genially, nodding at the parcels from which the youth unpacked. But then Iollan Chives was ever quick with opportunity. "Welcome to the Suit and Spade Castle, by the way, just in case no one has, yet."

"Thank you, sir."

He had, in fact, been welcomed earlier in his own native tongue--something he'd absolutely keep in his heart all day, particularly once he was (inevitably) set to something repetitive like chopping. It still felt nice, the little acknowledgements of welcome. Holló had told him to expect none, after all.

"This seems-- not a good place to be idle."

"I'd imagine not," Ethan agreed with a glance about. "Iollan runs a pretty tight ship." As did most of them, but the elder Chives would daunt a USMC drill sergeant.

"But as long as you do what's expected of you, he's reasonable. I'm Ethan. I'm also your Ace." He quirked an inquiring eyebrow. "Do you understand the hierarchy of the Suit, Aleksei?" Not a censure, but a genuine query. The boy'd only arrived this morning, after all.

It was lucky, he was realizing, that he'd had his professor to prepare him as much as he had. Calling himself a Spade wasn't feeling unnatural. Thinking about being ranked--about a world where swords were still taught as a practical life skill--didn't sit oddly in his shoulders.

It would have been more lucky if he had been properly told about the Faces he was going to be meeting in his own Suit. It would stop embarrassing moments like this, nearly losing the bottle of truffle oil in a hurry to bow his head respectfully. Not many bigger differences than between a Two and an Ace, after all.

"Learning, my Lord."

Ethan returned him the same courtesy, acknowledging the effort with an incline of his head. "Va bene." This one could have passed for a Deckborn with scarcely a second glance, perhaps. Hm. An interesting thought, that one. One Ethan mentally filed away to investigate later.

"Iollan will no doubt instruct you about your duties in the castle, and you'll also be expected to attend classes, both academic and otherwise. The Jack or one of HR's Cards will see to that for you." He paused only briefly before asking further, "Have you any formal weapons training at all?"

A little more blanding out of his accent, a few months really being steeped in the culture; he might someday be indistinguishable.

For now, he was doing his best to fit. To start to be the sort of person his father would be proud of, when the time came.

"Formal?" His fingers shifted around the bottle in his hand, uncertain if he were meant to keep stocking while answering the Ace's questions. "Only-- only books."

"Ah." Well, that answered that. "Then we must remedy this as soon as possible." Delivered with a small smile, as not to terrify the poor lad on his very first morning. "We will find a weapon that suits you and instruct you in its proper care and use."

Still leaning against the counter, arms nonchalantly crossed, Ethan added, a touch of firmness in his voice, "Should you encounter any...problems, you're to notify me immediately. Understood?" The Spade Ace took his job seriously, and keeping an eye on the younger generation was so very important, especially in this Castle.

The first half got an easy nod. It was why Holló had given him the basics in written form, surely; why he had been encouraged to brawl with the boys at his school rather than censured from it.

The second half was what struck him just a bit off. What was clearly not at all expected to hear. "You-- must be too busy to mind after every Two, sir."

"That's my job, Master Aleksi," Ethan informed him with a cordial smile. "To mind after my Suit." One which was far more taxing than it appeared, God knew. Ethan had never felt more like a babysitter in his entire life.

He pushed away from the counter and reached for his empty tea mug again. Handing it to the lad, he invited, "Bring up a service when you're finished here, if you would."

The bottle he had been holding was shuffled quickly into place to free up his hands. The mug was taken incredibly carefully--probably too carefully, but then, the first day in a Chives kitchen was a nerve-jangling thing unless you had been raised as a Chives.

"Is-- that allowed, sir?"

He suspected, if he weren't good enough to pick out the vanilla, he probably wasn't good enough to bring the Ace his food and drink.

No doubt familiarity would help the poor lad; Ethan had grown up here, so he'd never known the nervousness which Aleksi was no doubt feeling. But he could relate, a bit. Hence his nod.

"It will be for today, at least." Hopefully, Declán would understand. They'd been young too, once upon a lifetime ago.

"If-- you say so, sir."

Maybe it would be like a magic word to the older Spades: 'The Ace asked me to do this.'

Hopefully.

It wouldn't hurt, in any case. While not quite as tyrannical as Julien, Ethan didn't tolerate much nonsense, a nuance the older generation of Spades was slowly discovering. And abuse of Rank was something the current Ace absolutely did not tolerate. Not even from himself.

"I do say." But they both had work to be done. "No hurry, though. Take your time, Master Aleksi." He gave the Two a cordial nod of farewell. "You'll do fine."

"Yes, sir." It was settling deeper into his bones now. It was starting to feel like a reality, rather than the one he had been holding out in his heart thus far. "And-- thank you."

[ota] sleeping under strange skies

o7

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