[ota] sleeping under strange skies

[thepupthatmatters]

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?}

Comments

[thepupthatmatters]

Six. That's filed, at least. Slowly he's learning.

"I haven't. I-- didn't think it would be so easy to meet our Faces."

[longingforthenight]

"They're usually around. It's not as if they keep themselves shut away from everyone else. You'll run into Katya at some point, especially since you're new, probably. She's tall-" she breaks off, then smiles impishly. "You know what? I won't ruin it. You'll see for yourself."

[thepupthatmatters]

"...I'll see?"

That... sounded foreboding. He'd have to call Holló with some questions.

[longingforthenight]

"Yeah." She nods, not making eye contact with him. "You know - when you try to explain a work of art, it never turns out well. So I won't try to describe Katya before you see her. Does that make sense?"

[thepupthatmatters]

"A work of art."

It takes a moment to get the thought worked through his head. Idioms and metaphors will always come a little more slowly.

"I-- think I see, yes."

[longingforthenight]

"Come find me after you do meet her, okay?" she says suddenly, as if it's something she's forgotten until that moment. "I want to see what you think of her."

[thepupthatmatters]

"It's really so exciting?"

But it's absolutely got a smile on his lips. He's absolutely lost the edge of tension the shopping misadventure had inspired in his shoulders.

[longingforthenight]

"Is that weird? I just like seeing what people think, I guess." She shrugs. "She's very important to me, after all."

[thepupthatmatters]

"Not so weird, no, Miss Kritika." Just... interesting. Something to file.

And hopefully a sign that the Suit really was full of stunning ladies.

[longingforthenight]

"Good. So you're set then?" she asks, feeling just a touch motherly towards the boy. "No more ridiculous demands from anyone else?"

[thepupthatmatters]

It's not a sensation he knows, being mothered. It sits nicely between his shoulder blades anyway.

"At least until I get back to the kitchen, I think. Thank you."

[longingforthenight]

"Wonderful. Remember - I'll be ready for you to find me sometime later. Okay?Just ask around for directions to my office. I'm usually anywhere between the Queen's office and mine at any given time."

[thepupthatmatters]

"Of course, Miss Kritika."

He'd find a way to slip away. And he'd find it all the quicker once he'd met Katya.

Some people were meant to be appreciated.

[longingforthenight]

She'll be anticipating meeting him later in the evening, unable to concentrate on her work whenever she hears footsteps passing. He's right - she is a little unnaturally excited about this.

[thepupthatmatters]

He'll be a little ruffled when he finally slips down the hall to knock on her door. Working for Iollan Chives is harrowing, even for the prepared. And accidentally meeting the Queen?

Ruffled and overwhelmed.

"Miss Kritika?"

[longingforthenight]

She jumps to her feet, nodding as she heads to pull the already-open door wider. "Aleksei!" And then she takes into account his appearance. Waving her into the room, she gestures at the second armchair in the room before tumbling into the comfortable chair behind her desk. "How was your first day, hmm?"

[thepupthatmatters]

He sits a little too straight. The kitchens absolutely haven't knocked the boarding school stiffness out of him.

"I didn't know a day could be so long."

[longingforthenight]

"Aw, kutti." She nods sympathetically. "Life here has it's fair share of long days. They do get better, though - if you find something you like doing."

[*pet name for young people]

[thepupthatmatters]

"How long does it take to find something you like doing?"

Because working in the kitchens wasn't shaping up to be that. He was fairly certain, despite being only one day in.

[longingforthenight]

"Depends. What do you like doing for fun?" she asks, raising her eyebrows at him. "As soon as you find something, you can start challenging up in it and escape the perils of kitchen duty."

[thepupthatmatters]

"...I don't know yet." He'd only gotten sixteen and a half years under his belt thus far. A lot of that had been discovering things he didn't like. "I've-- been looking into filing?"

[longingforthenight]

"Secretary work. A boy after my own heart." She grins at him. "I mostly do organization and courier things. I could do more, but right now, I'm satisfied. Speaking of which!" She raises an excited finger. "Did you meet Katya?"

[thepupthatmatters]

Ah, well. That is something (or someone, at least) he knows he likes. "She's beautiful."

[longingforthenight]

Something in her... isn't too pleased at that answer. She shifts a little in her seat, smile not fading a bit - but her response is a little less enthusiastic. "She is. I... She's very lovely."

[thepupthatmatters]

He doesn't quite notice. The gushing of a boy this age is a delicate sort of butterfly to begin with, after all.

"Just like you said. Like-- a work of art, igen?"