Not one step back

If there's one thing I've always been good at, it's surviving. I wore the armour, I fought for my country and I believed in my cause - until I found out it had all been a lie. I've paid my dues. I've ticked the decades off on the walls of Kolyma's Gulag. Never Again.

[aseaofquotes]

Marguerite Duras, Hiroshima Mon Amour

[snikkts]

favourite character meme ; 1/3 emotions    ↪ happiness

[fedecrisshalliwell]

mamma mamma…. ma quanto è perfetto Drew?

[patlaurie]

Secret City - Season 1 | Harriet Dunkley.

[organa-solo]

Army Wives: Season 5:  4, On Behalf of a Grateful Nation. 

the tribe leans on each other as they cope with the loss of a loved one. 

[fedecrisshalliwell]

Holly + passione fotografare il figlio telefilmico ( Drew) Ammetto che al suo posto farei lo stesso

[ohsupernaturall]

[darkstar-petrovna]

@wasthecrimsondynamo

[darkstar-petrovna]

He had a good heart, even though she knew he'd deny that. But so did all of them. Misha definitely did, though it was a little bruised and lost right now, he had dealt with enough cruelty in his life to not wish it on another. Yuri too.

And Kolya.

Tucking one of her legs under her on the couch, Laynia elbowed a cushion into submission beneath her arm, her shoulders lifting up into a shrug.

"If I ignored him or cut him off, then I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to him. I know he's not perfect, Yuri, but I'm not either."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

And that was the very probable outcome with Nikolai. There was a question mark obscuring why Nikolai had been absent or where he had been. The danger of their kind was a simple one now - who else was waiting in the wings?

They were weapons and assets and if one went missing for a prolonged period of time, then it was either on an assignment or they had been incarcerated.

"None of us are," Yuri countered, blowing out a quiet breath and standing again, he flopped onto the couch next to Laynia, lifting his arm to let her curl up against his side.

"Just don't get dragged in too deep, Laynie."

[darkstar-petrovna]

There it was - the proverbial elephant in the room that she had elected to ignore when she had been talking to Nikolai. If she had asked that, then it would have sounded like she wasn't happy to see him, or that she were still angry with him and after all this time, she was tired of falling in and out with people.

Pursing her lips in a tight line, Laynia stared at Yuri, knowing that he expected her to flit to anger, but instead she lifted her shoulders into a small shrug.

"I don't know, but he's here now, and I'm gonna choose to be thankful for that."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

He and Nikolai had never really seen eye to eye. Not enemies forthright, but Yuri couldn't say that they'd ever truly been friends either. They had been comrades, and almost in-laws a lifetime ago.

Traipsing across the apartment, Yuri sat on the armchair across from Laynia, perching his elbows on his knees, dipping his head to make sure she didn't avert her gaze. This was a shit situation, because he hoped for her sake that Krylenko would stick around, but if history was anything to go by, well - Yuri knew someone would have to pick up the pieces.

"I get that, I do - and I understand why you want to build that bridge Laynie. I guess I just don't want to see you get hurt again, that's all."

[darkstar-petrovna]

There it was - the proverbial elephant in the room that she had elected to ignore when she had been talking to Nikolai. If she had asked that, then it would have sounded like she wasn't happy to see him, or that she were still angry with him and after all this time, she was tired of falling in and out with people.

Pursing her lips in a tight line, Laynia stared at Yuri, knowing that he expected her to flit to anger, but instead she lifted her shoulders into a small shrug.

"I don't know, but he's here now, and I'm gonna choose to be thankful for that."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

There was a knot of sadness sinking in his chest at her quiet acknowledgement. Years ago, she would have pitched a fit and told him where to go, maybe storm out of the room, or demand he leave on pain of being made to leave.

"C'mere," Yuri breathed out, closing the distance between himself and Laynia and pulled her into a hug.

"I know he's your brother, but just be careful, alright? If I can help with anything, I will, but I'm wary that this could be history repeating itself."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

Yuri's on Wire: yuribezukhov :)

[darkstar-petrovna]

"Say whatever it is you wish to say, Юрий. We promised no more secrets."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

Easier said than done when the guy was her twin brother. How was he supposed to express his worries without it sounding like he was shitting on her brother?

Blowing out a breath, Yuri tried to pick his words carefully, acutely aware that he was fighting an uphill battle here, but still knowing that he had to. Nikolai swanned in and out of her life as he pleased, and it was either he or Ursus who were left to pick up the pieces.

"How long until he drops off the radar again?"

[darkstar-petrovna]

"Nikolai was here when I got home last night."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

"..."

[darkstar-petrovna]

"— promise there's not going to be three-hundred questions?"

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

"Nope."

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

@darkstar-petrovna

"You seem cheerier than usual - something I should know?"

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

Continued from (X)

Yuri took a slow pause in his approach to the bar's counte, his expression was unreadable as he locked eyes with Mikhail, his gaze steady but not hostile. There was a subtle weight in the air between them, an unspoken history of shared battles, betrayal, and survival.

"You look older," Yuri finally spoke, his voice gravelly, a touch of irony in the tone. "The years have been unkind to both of us, I suppose."

"Thought or hoped?" he repeated, his lips curling into a slight smirk. "Perhaps both. Though I would guess 'hope' is a more fitting word. After all, you didn’t expect to see me, did you?"

He leaned back against the bar, his eyes flicking toward Mikhail’s drink before returning to his face. "Not everyone gets out of places like Kolyma alive, Mikhail."

Yuri’s tone was calm, but there was an edge beneath it, a recognition of their tangled past, as though time had not erased the scars. He was studying Mikhail carefully, not with animosity, but with the sharp awareness of a man who knew what it meant to survive in their world. The room seemed to shrink around them, the stale air thick with history that neither man was eager to revisit, but neither could completely escape.

[russiasredguardian]

@wasthecrimsondynamo continued from (x)

operation snowblind.

how the fuck did he know about that? it had been one of the most secretive assignments he had been tasked with - its whole premise sang to the literal translation of need to know. the very foundations of the operation had been built upon the silent and secretive erasure of what might mar the foundations of the future.

his mind flickered through the other male's repertoire of service; fuck knows what happened to him as a kid with the department's toying. the seventies had seen him under bruskin's thumb and holding the mantle of the crimson dynamo. pencil in a failed attempt to capture natalia and he'd been incarcerated in a gulag ... who had toyed at his strings then?

lukin? that was likely, considering he'd next turned up in the black dolphin. but how the hell had he heard about snowblind? or was this a fishing expedition? tongue darting out to wet his lips, alexei had no care to guard his tells from the former winter guard. he needed to know where this conversation was veering and how much yuri knew about the operation that had led to him defecting after a lifetime of unwavering loyalty.

' i really suggest you chose your next words carefully, bezukhov. you're treading on thin ice.

[wasthecrimsondynamo]

Well, he had asked for a direct approach, had he not? And now he felt as if he were squared in the crosshairs of a sniper's scope. Ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"The whole concept of Snowblind was to ensure that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing - plausible deniability and easier to eliminate the loose ends."

He was already on a countdown to explain his pitch and Yuri was acutely aware of that. He hadn't played a role in that operation, but years of holding court in a gulag and the time he'd spent confined in the Black Dolphin prison - well, he was gifted with gleaning information.

Side-eyeing the once upon a time Red Guardian, Yuri watched for any tell as he chose another direct approach.

"Brushov is alive."