Unbreakable & Enduring

I have bore witness to countless victories and tragedies over my lifetime. Hope often seems too frail, but laying down to die is never an option. [Indie APH Russia Blog.] [Est. 2013]

[soyuznerushimy]

crew-from-capulet​:

A certain gleam came to his eyes, along with a smirk. “Mmhm, well. That assumes that I’m not trying to offend anyone in the first place.” He chuckled. “Suppose I should find someone to teach me how to say things correctly then. I know the structure and the words, for the most part. Obviously I just don’t know how to say them correctly.”

  Ivan sat back with a little smile on his face, “You would certainly need someone who was a native to teach you while you are here.” Perhaps if he was feeling charitable he would offer up his services to help the stranger for as long as the man was in town. 

[soyuznerushimy]

mauerfrau​:

She had to resist the urge to make a noise in her throat. Where was all her discipline and training when she needed it most? She breathed slowly through her nose to calm her mind and avoid looking as embarrassed as she felt. She made herself smile at the corner of her lips. “I’ve grown up. I’ve been through a lot. I have more confidence now.” Usually, anyway. But he had a way of making it disappear, though not in a bad way.

“So, ah…what day and time then?”

  Any kind of reaction Lily had was an amusement to Ivan at this point. He wanted to out and say this to her with his friendly tone but, also resisted only because he was worried that she would take the gentle teasing the wrong way. So instead he focused more on the question at hand, pondering, giving a light hum of thought.   “We can do it tomorrow, yeah? I would think maybe around 11am and then take a walk after the fact, go where you want, just so you feel at ease...” Which was important to Ivan. Even though they both liked each other he did not want Lily to feel off put at all or even the least bit nervous when she did not need to be.

[soyuznerushimy]

mauerfrau​:

She felt a jolt when he said yes. She had still been anticipating him to say no. It was all going to turn out to be some big joke, wasn’t it? Yet he had said yes, and they were going to go on a date. She supposed…it could still turn out to be false. Just a longer con, perhaps. But she decided to let herself have some hope just this once. Maybe this would be the start of everything she had hoped for. 

“Coffee on a walk through the park sounds really nice. When would you like to go?” She tried to settle her nervous fidgeting so she could appear more confident, now that he had said yes. “We could do a home dinner too. Would you…prefer for me to cook, or would you like to? I have an apartment here, you know. I come around so much for work, it made more sense to have one than to keep staying at hotels. It isn’t grand, but it’s enough for two people on a cozy night in.” Shit. Cozy? Had she really just said that? Hopefully he didn’t take that too far too fast.

“But I…I’m fine with coming to your place too.”

  “I offered so no, no, please do not worry about making the food for us I will do it.” Ivan smiled warmly at her before giving a little chuckle as he noted Lily’s attempts at trying to be less nervous which, in all honesty, he himself as going through his own little routine in an attempt to appear a lot less fidgety. Mostly because the swell of happiness which he felt when she also accepted his advances brought a great weight off of Russia’s shoulders.

  “Oh ...a cozy night?” Ivan rose his brows a bit with mild surprise at the abject forwardness of her statement. “Well -- Lily, aren’t you much more bold than I remember you being.” Might as well tease the woman just to ensure all their tensions were completely dissipated. If the pair of them were able to joke around then that should at least make her feel a lot more comfortable.

[soyuznerushimy]

crew-from-capulet​:

Artimus gave an understanding hum around the straw before pulling it out of his mouth.

“Yeah, I don’t know any… what’s it called? Kanji? I don’t know any Chinese.” He shrugged and picked up another pie. “I translate by trade,” he lied, it was his cover story for being here trying to get a particularly rare book from a particularly stubborn vendor. “But no… languages like that. I do Latin, Greek, Romanian, and Russian. So I can read and write all those but never considered much that I don’t know how they sound said by real humans. I figured I could just wing it.”

  “Kanji I picked up on a little bit for a time, also hiragana but then quickly dropped those unfortunately. I found speaking Japanese much easier though than writing any of it down.” Ivan regarded Artimus with a little amusement for a moment when he spoke about what he did know. How funny. Learning all of those but never actually thought about the necessity to speak any of them? Well, this trip probably cemented to the man that it was important to know these things.

  “Never wing it with languages. You pronounce something wrong, put it in the wrong order, and you end up accidentally offending everyone.”

[soyuznerushimy]

mauerfrau​:

Her eyes widened further. An entire decade? She could have said something for the past ten years and he might have said yes, finally fulfilling the desire she had had for so many more decades, and she had waited till now to do so. And not even that. She had simply made a joke, not expecting it to result in anything serious at all. Yet here they were, confessing long held feelings at last.

It was better late than never, right? 

She blinked a few times and looked down at her hands as they fumbled with the hem of her shirt. “I…I wish I had figured that out sooner. I’m normally so much better at that, but I guess I…I was afraid to hope for it. It hurts to be let down, you know?” She swallowed. Another question was in mind. Should she dare to ask? What better chance than this?

“Would you…like to go on a date then? It could be something small. Some coffee, or a walk in the park.”

Lily’s expression both amused and eased Ivan’s nerves a little bit; cos now he was no the only one feeling the nervousness of admitting feelings. Letting out a soft breath his purple eyes looked kindly upon the beautiful young woman as he gently drummed his fingers on the tabletop.    “They say the worst thing that can ever happen is the person saying no but, I do understand what you are saying. I -- feel the same when it comes to putting myself out there for others.” Time and again, always being let down in some capacity or another and often by his own hand too. 

A smile formed at her next question though, “A date? Of course! I am fine with going to get a coffee and talking it with us on our walk if you’d like. I ....well I am also a fan of home cooked meals too and ---” Ivan started to fiddle with his scarf a bit, “I mean, I wouldn’t mind making something for you either.” 

[soyuznerushimy]

crew-from-capulet​:

Artimus picked up the drink and took a sip, listening to Ivan talk. “Yeah? You been somewhere before where you didn’t know how to speak then either?”

  “First time I went to China. There weren’t any words I could pick out that sounded like anything I had ever heard before aside from the term for tea, but that was it. Don’t get me started on learning the writing systems -- I mostly have been able to speak it rather than write it or anything like that.” 

[soyuznerushimy]

mauerfrau​:

She knew her face had become a bright shade of red. There was no more pretending or flaunting. This was genuine. She was afraid to believe it, in case it turned out to be a horrible, horrible ruse to take pleasure in her pain. “No, it’s not silly,” she said quietly, her voice catching slightly in her throat. “I have…often wished for this.” She wouldn’t dare to tell him for how long. It was embarrassing enough to let even this much out. She had certainly not expected to be doing so. 

“How…how long have you…liked me?”

  Well, he was worried that in saying this statement she might think that Ivan was a coward for not coming clean sooner about his feelings. Feelings were...interesting. Sometimes they were difficult and nasty things that did little more than cause him grief, but there were moments where the man would muster up the courage and just push on forward all outcomes be damned. Sure, there were many people who he wished to make friends with or any other kind of close alliance which was its own brand of relationship. Lovers? Ivan couldn’t even remember the last time he had a steadfast anyone at his side, and certainly most just found him too quiet at first, too introverted but that was before anyone really got to know him.

And...when they did get to know him then often the man was called unstable. Dammit, he knew he was messed up in so many ways that there was no one place he could start to patch himself back together.   “A decade at least.” Ivan finally mentioned looking at her with a now sheepish smile.

[soyuznerushimy]

crew-from-capulet​:

“It’s no trouble,” he assured him. “This is good by the way,” he stated, gesturing with the remaining bit of the meat pie he was eating.

A smirk tugged his lips and his eyes gleamed playfully. “You didn’t say so, no. But can you tell me that you weren’t thinking it?” he asked, finishing the first meat pie.

  “Glad you like it. We’ll make sure that you are exposed to some other filling foods so that your stay can be pleasant.” Ivan pointed out before finishing off his tea giving the cup a little shake as the ice clanked around inside of it. 

  “Pfft, not really! I know -- maybe better than most -- that a few bad eggs do not make up an entire country. I just know also that traveling to a foreign land where you do not speak the language can be troublesome.”

[soyuznerushimy]

lavendersails​:

“He what?!” João must be having a nightmare, he must, there’s no way this is real. He’s extremely flustered as he shakes his head and waves his hands in a negative motion. “No, I’m not! We’re just neighbours!” Part of him wonders if he should elaborate, but the truth is he doesn’t know Ivan well enough to go into detail about his personal life. And it’s not like he’s lying, he and Antonio haven’t ever talked about being… anything, really. “Like I said, you shouldn’t believe anything he says…”

  “Yet he believes that you are cheating on him even though you are only neighbors? Spain really does seem to get far more attached than I thought he did; must be something about Rome’s bloodline.” Ivan gave a few nods like this made total sense to him. If you were related to Rome then that meant you were automatically a dramatic person with a flair for some odd behavior.

[soyuznerushimy]

lavendersails​:

“So.. so you’re the one who made that up??” João’s first instinct is to raise both hands to the other man’s neck, but he settles for his own hair instead, messing it up as he groans. “Do you know how fast rumours spread? That’s gonna affect me more than Tonio, I’ve already been asked if I’m cheating on him! Hit–” His eyes widen and he turns to Ivan. “Hitman?? What hitman thing?!”

  “Kidding! Antonio just was going to hire me to kill the men he thought that you were sleeping with, but that was definitely not going to happen. Oh...so you ARE with him in a committed relationship?” Also it is very good that Portugal did not reach for Ivan’s neck. No one gets away with that one unscathed.

[soyuznerushimy]

mauerfrau​:

She looked genuinely surprised at what had come out of him. Her mouth parted just a bit and her eyes widened. She set her beer down on a table and carefully put her hand on one of his. “Ivan, that was very touching. Did you mean it for real?” Her heart pounded. She was afraid to admit how much she hoped he had meant that.

  Oh, this was so difficult because Russia wasn’t even all that sure that his words were even that touching. Well, not until he heard Lily speak and her words denoted the opposite of what Ivan had feared, and so he cast his gaze up at the blonde giving a surprised expression before his lips gave a soft smile that she was touched -- even asking if it were meant in truth.   “Yes, yes I mean it. I mean what I say because well ...I’ve ....I’ve liked you for a while now but, I wasn’t sure how you really felt about me. Silly, no?”

[soyuznerushimy]

teableeds​:

“I did. I invited over some of my neighbors and cooked a large meal for them. I really thought that the kids would have enjoyed the Resurrection Rolls more, but oh well.”

  “Resurrection rolls? Huh ...interesting.” Ivan shifted on his feet a little bit, “You invited them and they still didn’t act very grateful? I hate when that happens.”

[soyuznerushimy]

lavendersails​:

João stares at Ivan for what feels like a long moment until things start falling into place, little by little. The Portuguese man can’t deny that Antonio’s behaviour is, well… exasperating at the best of times. And yet he’s still worried about what manner the blond might have chosen to poke at his neighbour. “Well, yes, it’s quite annoying, but he’s been like this for… goodness, centuries now. I doubt anything you do could make him change. And uh, if I may ask, what… what did the chaos card entail, exactly?”

  “Oh, just the kind where I said that there really are more than one Antonio -- corroborating your statement about how it is a common name. The whole hitman thing though was just a fun ruse because, well, I really am not very motivated to attack you.” 

[soyuznerushimy]

teableeds​:

I didn’t get enough compliments on my new Easter dress at church today, so I’m wearing it around town and demanding that everyone make up the deficit.

  “Not sure what you want me to say other than it looks very pretty. Did you have a good Easter dinner as well?”

[soyuznerushimy]

lavendersails​:

“Ah, right. Those guys are just terrible influences on each othe—” He notices the slight change and crosses his arms a little defensively. “Huh? What do you mean… do you know of anyone else who’s been making stuff up?”

  Ivan felt a little playful tug of mischief begin to pull him towards acting a little more like some trickster than he was normally want to do. With a slight hum the man looked upwards for a second as if a thought was just coming to his mind before resting his eyes on Joao. 

  “I may have decided to play the chaos card against Antonio. After all he’s been awfully loud and a bully to you about this whole ‘there better not be others’ kind of rhetoric. Too far?”

[soyuznerushimy]

mauerfrau​:

His stumbles made her smile more. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him so nervous. Coming from him, it was kind of adorable. And was she the one making him this way? She hoped so. It was flattering to think about. 

His compliment made her blush. “That is one of the best things anyone has ever said to me.” She paused for a second and then leaned towards him. “Does this mean that I am making you melt then?”

 God, this was absolutely embarrassing that he wasn’t even able to speak properly to Lily without stammering and feeling himself become so warm.  Wait, yes. Warmth... Ivan looked at her for a second before his mouth quirked into an almost shy kind of smile. “I think that is exactly what I am trying to say. You are making me feel a lot less like I am surrounded by a blizzard and more like the sunlight can finally touch me.” Well he certainly didn’t mean to wax poetic there towards the end of his sentence.

[soyuznerushimy]

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