[M] Masha and the Bears [IC - Shxt & Nastia]

[Anastasia]

[M] for Graphic Violence, explitive language and possible sexual content.

It had probably been a day like any other, though a sudden malaise had enveloped her. Aleksandra sat atop a desk in the lecture hall, it was designated meeting location for a group of students selected to go on a trip through rural Russia. Their task was tour historic sites, take notes, and live through history. It felt more like a joint archaeological venture through all of Russia.

When Sasha thought of the students in her class, most of their names washed over her. A sigh escaped her lips as she ran her fingers through her near raven tresses. Weeks with these people, none of whom were her friends. What would they do?

Overall, she could say it was a sense of excitement, history of the feudal era was something she held dear, it was probably her favorite period of her nation's history. It was certainly, in a way less depressing then the modern things times they had been inundated with and lived with the unbearable heavy head. At least she did well, she had rejected studying what her parents wished her to, and decided to go with her own love.

Adjusting the form fitting black sweater, she retied the pair of cons at her feet, with better shoes packed, but still it was a source of comfort, it made her stand out. Alright, she would keep to herself, that would pass the time, or maybe she would try to expand her horizons a bit.

Had she really known anyone? Her eyes lowered toward the floor before she stood straight up, anticipating the arrival of the professor shortly, and the other students as well.

Looking down at her phone, the minutes passed, she felt herself moving to lean back on the desk but straightened her back, pushing away from it. It was a time to be serious, she thought.

"Oh come on... is everyone in this country late?"

The better question was, why is she here so early?

[shxt]

Ruslan leaned his head against the window of the passenger seat and quickly fell asleep. Just another thirty minutes, a good thirty minutes. When you are hungover and it's early, nothing feels better than some extra sleep, especially when it's a cold and grey spring morning outside while you're in your friend's warm Range Rover.

Something brusquely pushed Ruslan in the side and he groaned, opening his left eye to see Evgeniy's insolent grin. "WAKE UP SOLDIER!" He said. Ruslan let out an annoyed sigh and shut his eyes again as he mumbled, "Zhenek, fuck off..." Here they were, four close friends setting off on a trip to the middle of nowhere - Russian vastness of which they, city boys, knew nothing of from first hand experience. All equally annoyed by each other on this hungover morning.

Ivan pulled the car into the university's parking lot and Ruslan received another awakening push, "Alright, seriously now, let's go." Slowly and nonchalantly they unloaded their baggage from the Rover's trunk and stumbled into the building. "So uh... where's the meeting point?" Yaroslav looked around the many stairs and corridors of the uni and silence was the only answer he got: nobody knew or remembered. Thankfully all of them were saved by the teacher who had just arrived herself - Irina Nikolaevna walked through the same door a minute after and gave the boys a smile, "Ah, how early! That's what I call enthusiastic students, let's go meet up with the others at the lecture hall."

Ruslan opened the class room's door with a swing of his arm and said loudly, "MOSCOW POLICE, EVERYBODY GET ON THE FLOOR!" He did not expect Sasha, whom he at times thought to be a wee bit too distant, to be the only person in the room.

[Anastasia]

The door swung open wide and a familiar booming voice came through. The phrase, she was ashamed to admit brought a smile to her face, leaning forward and looking toward her shoes, strands of her dark hair fell forward. Several moments had passed before she looked up again, arms crossed in front of her.

Their professor strolled in behind the boys, pushing them quietly out of the way. Sasha stood straight at attention and waited for the command to be seated, or something... then again this wasn't the typical day to day deal, they weren't there for a lecture, but more specifically a field trip. Relaxing slightly, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Доброе утро, Руслан." (1). Sasha's voice was calm, almost sweet, she did her best to hide how amusing she found this, for no actual apparent reason. It was typical of him, it was who he was. By the looks of it he was most likely more than a little hungover, he and his boys had most likely waited until the last minute possible to pack and set out, yet to her amazement they were on time.

Not even on time, but early. Irina Nikolaevna nodded at Sasha and flashed her usual smile. She was way too happy about this trip, then again... so was Sasha. Trying to remember, there should be another handful of students arriving, maybe two or three. The exact number seemed to escape her.

The three that came with Ruslan were his closer friends, all in their class as well. Two of them she recognized, the other she had hardly known, their cadre was a little larger than most of the others, it was understandable to think how someone could so easily get lost... or just go unnoticed.

Setting her phone down in her bag, she watched her professor, and the other boys, shaking her head.

------
1. Good morning, Ruslan.

[shxt]

Ruslan went quiet for a few moments out of surprise, but then stuck a smile into the corners of his lips and gave Sasha a greeting nod. "Утро-то это да. На счёт доброго, пока ещё не знаю..." (1) The further the morning went on, the more his body felt the hangover's effects on itself. Letting out a tired sigh he dropped down on a chair and laid his head down on the desk, shutting his eyes carelessly. His buddies sat around and Evgeniy began a debate with Vlad about the importance of flow in dubstep, claiming that it was not all that much about the heavy distorted basses but the bounciness of the bassline, while Vlad stood by his point about the necessity of "dirty sounds".

About seven more students came into the hall, most of them girls. Everybody took a seat at random, some held conversations, others silently checked their phones... Finally the teacher tapped her legs to get everybody's attention and spoke out, "Well, it seems like we're all gathered here. Nobody's missing, I think? Let us head out to the bus that is parked around the principal exit." She stood up from her seat and headed in the direction of the exit, leading the way for her students.

Oblivious to the world outside of his head, Ruslan was still sleeping...



1. Yeah, it is indeed a morning. I'm not sure about "good" yet though.

[Anastasia]

Sasha held back something of a laugh as Ruslan had acknowledged her. The two were never the type for conversation, at least not with each other. Letting her smile fade softly as she rested on one of the tables, waiting. The men seemed to be having themselves an animated conversation on a subject she knew little about, other than what she heard in the clubs, though to speak on such matters authoritatively was well beyond her level of comfort or determination.

Several other women piled into the room. Sasha sat up from her place and smiled quietly at one of them who immediately approached her and began discussing the previous evening. Most of which the girl was unable to remember, though her recounting the details of waking up in a stranger's bed were most vivid. The girl was Natal'ya Dimitrievna, their parents had long since been friends, and they had known one another since childhood.

As their professor herded them together, she grumbled and put her arm around Natasha, and gently pushed her, commenting on her own events and the usual things they exchanged. Looking over the grounds of the campus, it was beautiful, the time of year was perfect, and yet they were leaving civilization all behind them. None of this would be there in a few hours, and that was a beautiful thought.

The bus was smaller than expected and the students had to crowd around, Natasha left her side instantly to sit beside one of the boys, who she had been after for the past few weeks. Sasha couldn't help but laugh quietly, and then the opportunity to arose, Ruslan was seated, and moving in before his friend even had the chance, she sat beside him. An attempt to simply be social. After all they'd be stuck together for the next few weeks in rural Russia.

"Still hungover, still asleep, I'd venture... правильно (1)?"

----

1) Correct.

[shxt]

Floating about in his half-hungover half-still drunk mind, Ruslan sat down in the bus almost first, staring into nowhere with an empty look in his eyes. Yesterday he was DJing at a club and as it usually happens with such events, the club's manager pays him not only in money but also in alcohol and drugs. Ruslan knew that the morning would be brutal, but does anyone really care about the morning when they're about to go party?

The sound of somebody dropping next to him brought him back to reality and he looked over. It wasn't either of his friends, it was Sasha. Caught by surprise, he didn't reply quite right away and stared in silence for a good few moments. Was it because of the after effects of alcohol that he had noticed her good looks only now, or did he simply never pay attention to it before?

Realizing that he might be starting to look dumb, Ruslan put on a half smile and gave her a nod. "To be honest, I've no clue of what you just said, but I agree with all of it. Have a seat, feel like home! Would you like a drink, tea, coffee?"

The bus moved...

[Anastasia]

The bus began to move and the scenery began to pass, it was still a glorious urban landscape. Everything she had ever known within the limits of this city, and suddenly it was all flying by, all too quickly for her taste. But it meant an adventure was about to begin.

Had it been an ordinary weekend, Sasha might have found herself in a similar state as Ruslan, though knowing what today would bring. Instead, she refrained and simply stayed at home, glancing over as he finally brought himself to respond to her. A polite laugh escaped her pallid lips followed by a quick shake of the head. Picking the pair of aviators which sat atop her head off she put them on him.

"That should help a little... the light is undoubtedly not your friend today. It's also hard to feel at home on a bus, though if you're going to offer me a drink, I'd probably take it."

This was probably the most she had said to Ruslan in the entirety of their history which mostly consisted of passing glances as they moved around and had shared several classes together. It was somewhat pathetic, she thought. Sasha had hardly known anyone in her program. Leaning back in the seat, stretching her legs out she wrinkled her nose for a single moment.

"Come now, don't look so excited for this trip."

[shxt]

Ruslan let out an involuntary smile as the glasses landed on top of his face and lowered them down his nose a little bit, giving Sasha a serious look. "Wait 'til you land in some old hag's hut in the middle of Siberia, you'll wish this bus could have been your home." He chuckled, but in a grim fashion, "I couldn't be more excited than that, I don't see why you aren't... Every day I dream of living in a wooden house, visiting old-ass wooden churches that all look the same and smoking cigarettes that taste like wood."

He kept his lips in a serious line for a couple moments, before putting the smile back on, which now had a tint of sarcasm. "On the bright side, I didn't forget my cards this morning and from what I heard the alcohol out there is a crazy experience. Also bears..." Ruslan mysteriously looked down at his bracelet and watched it as he rolled it around his wrist for a few moments, "You like bears by any chance?"

The drive was on. Some were sleeping, some were speaking... Only in about five hours would they finally land at the beginning of their actual trip in the Russian countryside. For now, it was the comfort of a bus: no A/C, hard benches, hardly any motion of limbs for hours... Enjoy.

[Anastasia]

Sasha shook her head as he lowered the glasses to the bridge of his nose, biting her lip at the rather serious look her cast upon her. Running her fingers quickly through her hair and leaning back in the seat, she thought for a moment about what to say, how to respond to his comments, she hadn't any idea why it was so difficult.

"This isn't Baba Yaga, you know. Besides, I've stolen my Domovoj and keep him in my bag to guide my way through the forests and occasionally steal things like my keys."

This was her small attempt at a joke, looking past him she gazed out the window at this point there was nothing, simply trees and road. They flashed past in constant streams of green, brilliant greens, some as bright as the day and others as dark as the night itself. It was nothing like what one could see in Moscow, it was simply breathtaking.

"So you have an obsession with wood. You're excited for rural drunkenness and you appear to have an interesting relationship with bears. Yes. I love bears. Bears are Russia, are they not?"

Sasha asked quickly, quietly and leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment, snapping back to reality a moment later, realizing this was not something she should be doing. They would arrive at their destination within the hour, or so Irina Nikolaevna announced.

[shxt]

"It's a complicated relationship," Ruslan replied with a serious tone, obviously joking. However all his humour was wiped away as he was left dumbfounded by Sasha suddenly leaning her head on his shoulder. The quiet question that creeped into his ear added on to his surprise as it almost made the whole thing kinda intimate. He was used to affection from women, but only when everybody was drunk and out at a nightclub. Ruslan blinked in silence and forced a smile to the rescue of his face and the situation: "Here I am, from being in a relationship with bears to being a teddy bear to sleep on. Don't worry bout it tho, sleep on, I think we still got a while..."

He glanced over his left shoulder, through the seats, at his friends who were seated at the bench right behind them. Evgeniy caught his look and gave Ruslan a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, followed by both him and Ivan laughing. Rus turned away, forcing himself to contain a chuckle of his own and briefly turned his attention to the world speeding past outside the window.

Civilization was gone... The last couple of nine-floor apartment blocks were left behind in the last major township on the outskirts of the outskirts of Moscow (which is pretty damn far away now). The road was cutting through forest and fields, wild Russian nature surrounding speeding cars. On the horizon, the sun was slowly approaching the finish line and surely by the time they would arrive to their destination it would be night... mosquitoes.

Ruslan let out a sigh and slid his phone halfway out of his right pocket, briefly glancing at the time.

[Anastasia]

"I'm curious to hear the Bear's side of the story. I'm sure she feels entirely different... but complicated? That's a bit heavy handed, don't you think?"

Sasha had little idea as to what she was doing, all she really understood was that exhaustion was beginning to set in. Hours on a vehicle that appeared to move quickly on one hand, but on the other it seemed to be glacial. Allowing herself to sink back, and lean against him once more, her head falling to his shoulder, the familiar ding of a incoming SMS sounded from within the bag at her feet.

"Isn't that just the luck?"

Sasha spoke softly, almost jokingly as she reached down, fingers swiftly moving the clasp aside to pull out the phone, look glancing down at the message she couldn't help but laugh. A message from Natasha who sat in the back of the bus near his friends.

"So, so? Has he made a move?" is simply what it read, allowing the phone to drop beside Ruslan on the seat, she dug through her bag pulling out a white cable knit scarf, balling it up she turned in the seat and faced the back of it, sitting on her legs, she had risen well above the back. Looking at Natasha she narrowed her eyes and hurled the scarf in her direction. The scarf hit the girl squarely in the face. The two laughed as she held up her hand in surrender.

Facing forward again, Sasha readjusted in the seat and leaned her head back against his shoulder. As daylight faded the skies turned darker, magnificent arrays of colour sweeping across the plains. Beautiful deep reds and brilliant oranges.

"Where has the time gone? How much do you know about our first destination? I'm curious as to whether or not you ever actually paid attention in class, or simply sat staring at Irina Nikolaevna?"

Sasha attempted to make a joke.

[shxt]

Ruslan took a shit-eating grin upon his face and leaned down, lowering the tone of his voice to make sure the teacher wouldn't hear it. "Don't tell anyone, but I got a crush on Irina Nikolaevna. She's an old hag - just my type!" He ended it by clearing his throat and widening his eyes in a somewhat comical way, just to make sure he wasn't being taken serious.

"All I know 'bout our first destination is that it's a tiny village... Here, looked it up on the maps app," He pulled out his phone and went through the apps, opening the maps on which the destination was already located, "See the big road? To the left is a small village, continuing on the road past the small village is a smaller village, then another smaller village, and another even smaller village, and the one right before the very last hermit hut in the woods - is ours."

A sour facial expression drew on his face as he got to their destination in his explanations. "If it's as remote as where Zhenek's grandma stays, then apparently s'the kinda place where the grocery bus comes once a week to bring stuff 'n then that's about it for the civilization there. I hope for your sake you got'cha mosquito spray."

The little arrow on his maps app turned left from the big road and drove off through the villages that got smaller and smaller. Finally, as the sun has set, the bus came to a stop...

[Anastasia]

As Ruslan managed to crack his joke, Sasha broke into quite audible laugher, her hands clapped together as she slid down further into the seat, continuing to laugh for a few moments about this. She didn't quite understand why she found it so amusing, but she did.

She looked over the map and remembered going through the same thing herself when she began her research about all of the locations they would be visiting on the trip. Some were places so small that most people had never heard of them if it hadn't been for the historical bit of property that was just near it.

"It must feel quite like home for you then."

The bus stopped moving and everything jolted forward just slightly. They had arrived at the first of the villages, though it was unfortunate because all work would be off until the morning, when there was light.

Irina Nikolaevna stood up and smiled brightly at all of the students. "Well! Here we are. Alright everyone off the bus in a neat and orderly way, stretch, stretch, stretch!"

Sasha couldn't quite look at her without thinking of Ruslan's previous comment, shaking her head, she even bit her lower lip slowly, turning to cast her eyes on him as she stood up from the seat, turning a bit she began to exit the bus, grabbing her bags quickly and quietly, she left Ruslan with her glasses on his head, and to momentarily rejoin his friends, as their lodgings would be figured out. It would be a home stay, which she had already anticipated, intriguing, she thought.

Stepping off the vehicle onto the dirty road beneath them, the ground was hard, not frozen, nor was it soft. There was a soft fog about them, you could see the faint glow of lights from the house or two that couldn't have been that far off in the distance. It smell of the woods, not of the subdued and conquered wilderness that Moscow or Saint Petersburg had smelled like, but real, breath taking woods. Sasha took a moment to inhale, before quietly finding her friend Natasha.

A figure would emerge from one of the homes, or at least, this is what the group presumed and make their way toward Irina Nikolaevna, it was an older man, elderly, even. He walked with ease despite his age, and from beneath his mustache, one could see the faint beginnings of a smile.

[shxt]

The students unloaded from the bus and banded by the side of the only street in the village. Irina Nikolaevna smiled back at the old man and approached him, greeting with a kiss on the cheek. It seemed that they had known each other, perhaps old friends or family. "Good to see you, Boris!" She exclaimed and he answered with as much enthusiasm, "Likewise! So here's the new generation of people who'll write history and forget 'bout us?" He spoke with a joking tone, nodding towards the students.

As it had gotten dark and the mosquitoes were being most rowdy at this point, no more time was wasted and the students were quickly housed. Baba Lera from the 4th and baba Stesha from 9th took in the girls, while the guys were moved to Boris' own house which had a big barn that was quickly transformed into a a communal room.

Ruslan entered the barn with a sour look on his face: although his hangover had wore off, he's been sober all day and that was unusual for him. Three of his friends and two other guys from the program were unpacking for two days of stay in a place that was used as storage for food. Letting out a tired yawn, he dropped down on the stack of hay that was covered with big thick cloth serving as a mattress. Shutting his eyes, he dozed off...



"Hey, Rus! Wake up, motherfucker!" He heard joyful laughing and lazily opened his eyes glancing in the direction of the sounds, "C'mon! We got village moonshine, let's play durak." Moonshine sounded intriguing and although it wasn't Hennessy, it would surely do the thing at this point. Ruslan hopped down from his "bed" and made it over to his friends who had carried a table to the back of the barn and were passing around cards. Two bottles of 2L each full of half transparent white muddy-looking liquid rested by the table, the whole thing was illuminated by a couple of candles.

He sat down and joined in on the late night fun. It was about eleven in the afternoon when they started. Drinking, smoking, talking, laughing, playing, they went on for three hours if not more. Suddenly a well placed gasp of surprise shut everyone up: Zhenek was the last one with a pack of cigarettes and he had just realized that they ran dry. "Бляяяя..."(1) Everybody sighed out in unison with a last little "Хуёво дело" (2) by Seryega in the end.

"We passed a 24/7 corner store on our way... in the third village." Zhenek announced and everybody quickly responded, "I AIN'T GOING!" But everybody wanted to smoke, so they decided to play one game of durak to pick the "lucky winner" who would have to take one for the team and walk forty minutes in the night to the neighbouring village.

Just his luck on this day, Ruslan lost the game and letting out another loud "БЛЯ!" grabbed his wallet, a flash light and went out on the street at two in the morning...



1. "Bitch..."
2. "Shit is bad."

[Anastasia]

The girls were shuffled and funneled into the house. Smiling and laugh there were a few extra rooms, but for the small group she was with which included her friend Natasha. Their rather small living room had been cleared and beds made up for them. They spent most of the night sitting on their makeshift beds. Some of the girls had taken to painting their nails. A bottle of vodka had been passed around and most of them laughed off what had been going on.

Sasha felt herself steadily going crazy as her friend sat down beside, her leaning against her, pushing her lightly. Playfully.

"Скажи мне о нём, о Руслане..." (1)

Her eyes widened as she picked up what sorry excuse for a pillow she had and struck Natasha with it playfully, biting her lower lip and holding back a laugh, but instead something like a snort came out from the both of them. Sasha pushed her off the bed.

"There is nothing to tell. I sat next to him. We discussed bears and then I fell asleep. Oh there was the time you interrupted me."

She could feel Natasha rolling her eyes at her, and Sasha could only make it through it comfortably by sighing loudly and crossing her legs, then falling back on the surface, allowing her hair to fan out around her.

"Go. Sneak out, have a little fun. You could loosen up a little, Aleksandra."

Sasha rolled her eyes this time, leaping off the bed, dressing quickly and grabbing the bottle from a group of the girls she took a quick swig and struck a dramatic pose. Pointing at Natasha, who made a hand motion pushing. Quickly she moved through the door careful not to make any noise. She made her way through the dark along the path. There was nothing here.

A few houses, most of the lights were off, with the exception of the house that contained the other girls and the barn in the far distance. It was past 2 in the morning. In the shadow of the moonlight there was a singular figure which emerged from where the boys had been lodged, and sure enough she realized it was Ruslan.

"Late night, Ruslan?"

Catching up to him she stopped along side him, folding her arms she allowed their pace to synchronize.

[shxt]

It was night and by night I mean, really what it is: darkness. There was no street lights in this little village. The very little light that fell on the street came from the young moon and the stars. Shivering from the early morning cold, Ruslan zipped up his sweater and tucked his hands deep into its pockets. Leaving the backyard of the house and crossing the fence, he thought of the vast wild world around that he was not able to see and it made him shiver a second time.

Suddenly he heard movement in the dark and froze. He stood silently, petrified, clueless of what to do... until the figure came closer and he could see now in the moonlight that it was Sasha. Ruslan let out a very subtle sigh of relief and mumbled something incoherent as a response, being unable to produce anything witty on the spot after the scare she had given him just moments earlier. He finally spoke out intelligibly, "Ran into a little problem there... Cigarette shortage, times are hard!"

Throwing a glance back at the barn, where was the comfort of a friend circle, a few candles, booze and a card game, he continued with another sigh, "Seems like it's just my luck tonight to walk forty minutes in complete darkness... Well, least not alone!" He turned to Sasha and gave her a smile, "And why are you out so late?"

[Anastasia]

The countryside meant that the light pollution was almost non-existent, the stars were abound in the sky and everything seemed to be illuminated despite the fact that it still technically dark. The world around her seemed to fade into obscurity. The trees, the dirt roads, everything seemed to blend together.

Sasha cracked a smile, she realize she had taken him by surprise, while this wasn't necessarily her attention, it was something to laugh at, regardless. Walking alongside him as he moved down the pathways, she shrugged her shoulders.

"You'd think you would have stocked up before coming out to the middle of nowhere. You know we'll hit towns without anything, right?"

Biting her lower lip for a moment she inhaled deeply. The fresh, clean of their surroundings was something novel, it was nothing like the air in Moscow. It smelled of the trees, it smelled of the fires that raged in chimneys and how begun to reduce themselves to an ember and eventually to nothing more than ash.

"Well, my friends seem to think it would be in my best interest to sleep with you. I got kicked out, and decided to walk for a while, then curl back up into that sorry, but oh-so rustic excuse for a bed."

Laughing quietly and looking up to the sky as she walked, arms folded in front of her, her hands gripping the opposite forearm of each, just moving slowly through the night.

[shxt]

"Oh we did stack up," Ruslan smiled and rest his right hand on Sasha's left shoulder and raised his shoulders in a shrug while turning halfway through in her direction, "Except see, the magical powers of alcohol make cigarettes just disappear... It's like, you sit down with a bottle and a pack full-a cigarettes, and then suddenly you down your fifth glass and you realize that the cigarettes somehow left the pack..."

He let out a sigh and dropped his arms by his sides, glancing up at the sky. "Gotta give it to this place though, it feels healthy." He grinned to himself and refocused on Sasha as he went over what she had just said in his head, "Wait, your friends think it would be in your best interest to sleep with me? Well, damn..."

Ruslan kept a little silence and cracked a grin, "Friendship is nice... Usually, I'm friends with people that I believe and trust the judgement of." He filled his lungs with air in a deep breath and saved the smile on his face as he suddenly felt like this cigarettes trip turned out much better than expected.

Floating about in his mind, he didn't notice a few subtle shadows passing silently between the trees, but then again, it'd be hard to notice them even if you were looking.

[Anastasia]

Sasha laughed lightly as he made his comments about stacking up, she could feel her body freeze as he touched her shoulder, though she slowly relaxed and then finally his hand was moved. Feeling the vodka course through her waves, she was overcome by a sense of warmth in the cool night, the cold no longer seemed to bother her at all.

"Brave man, trusting your fate to the village moonshine... At least I'm assuming so. I should hope it wasn't five glasses either... are you sure you aren't blind yet?"

Sasha attempted to make a joke as the two of them walked through the night along the still fading roads, it was quiet, quiet of humanity, the only noises were those of nature, insects moving in the night, animals racing through the woods, snapping twigs as they moved.

The skies were dark, but you could see nearly every star. Some were far brighter than others, those were the planets, she determined. The moon was waxing, the sky was bright with life. Pulling ahead of him she turned to face him, walking backwards carefully.

"Don't get too flattered. I'm pretty sure they just want me to get laid... On friendship... you said usually. Does that mean you don't trust my judgment?"

Sasha tilted her head to the side, stopping until he reached her, turning around to face forward again her hand reached out and grabbed his as they moved silently through the night. If you paid enough attention, you could smell it, the change in the air. As they moved further it seemed to smell richer, deeper. It began to smell less like the modern town, it somehow smelled purer then it had even just a moment ago.

Figures and shadows passing in the trees, animals running to and fro, without destination.

[shxt]

"Moonshine is this thing that one could ever and while doing anything..." Ruslan rambled on for a few more seconds, his explanation turning into pure gibberish that said nothing about moonshine, or anything at all. He held a pause and gave Sasha a shit-eating grin, that of a person who has just said a bunch of smart stuff on a topic that he knows very well... even though it wasn't actually the case, although the notes of sarcasm in his expression made it impossible to tell whether he was just joking or actually being a stupid drunk.

He followed her moves with a pair of narrowed, smiling eyes and shook his head in response of the last thing she had said, "I'm not sure where you got that from. All I meant is that friends - they tend to try and give good advice. I usually listen to my friends... Except when they talk about dubstep." Ruslan let out a chuckle and unzipped his sweater, taking his free arm out of the sleeve.

"Couldn't help but notice you looking like you're 'boutta catch a nice cold out here," He gently pulled Sasha back at himself by the hand that he held and wrapped the other half of the sweater around her shoulders. He said no more and began to pay attention to their surroundings as he figured they should eventually be closing in on the village. Not too far away, under the moon light, he saw the silhouettes of the houses between which they should find a tiny convenience store. However, no sign of artificial life seemed to give away the presence of anything close to a store from here...

[Anastasia]

Nodding quickly, the look on her face was one of confusion and the pain of withholding laughter as he made his comments about moonshine, it was one thing she generally made a note to stay away from. Perhaps she was still just a little too stuck up to do something silly, out of character. Sasha thought perhaps it was time she tried to loosen up.

Her eyes widened as he put part of his sweater around her, she hadn't felt terribly cold but she enjoyed the gesture. Until this morning, or rather now, yesterday morning he was someone she thought nothing of. Just another one of those foolish boys in some of her classes. Sasha would be lying to herself is she had said that she hadn't judged him, prematurely perhaps.

"You you like моя мама... Это кошмар (1)."

Sasha attempted to crack a small joke, as she watched him, his attention had fallen to the world around them. They had been walking for a long time, longer than she felt they should have. The neighboring villages didn't quite seem this far away.

"Ruslan... is it just me or does something appear different now? Just slightly... I can't quite... nevermind. Let's keep going."

Nodding to herself, she squeezed on his hand lightly and watched the distance, the silhouettes as they moved ever closer in the dead of the morning.

-----

1. My mother, that's a nightmare.

[shxt]

Ruslan's face took on a content grin as he walked down the street with Sasha in his arms. However the grin had soon faded, because they entered the village and the corner store was supposed to be the first thing they would see once they had crossed the south entrance.

"Fuck, really?" Ruslan released a deep sigh as he began to roam through the village with hopes of finding a corner store, although hope was slowly melting away. "Well, that was a nice useless walk," he grumbled with disappointment, "Let's walk somewhere else then, perhaps retreat back to camp..."

Just as he had said this, a burning arrow landed in the first house to their right. Then more. And more. Almost every house, shed, barn was the target of an unknown archer. Luckily not one of them had touched Ruslan and Sasha yet, but all of that was just the beginning.

"WHAT THE--" Ruslan shouted in surprise and threw himself and consequently Sasha along behind the closest wall. And then the chaos started... Human shapes sprung out of the dark, armed with curved swords and lances, yelling things in their own language and soon filling the four streets of the village...

[Anastasia]

Moving along the path, for the first time in what felt like ages, Sasha had stopped really thinking about the situation and about her surroundings. Taking a few moments to simply breathe, to smile. To let her thoughts run wild and free. Then they were interrupted.

"No, that's not possible... it was right here. I saw it... you saw it."

She looked puzzled, confused, wondering. It was gone. And it looked as though it never existed. As they prepared to move back. The flaming arrows were overhead, and the roofs of houses and barns, structures began to catch fire, slowly but surely. Smoke was filling the cool night air.

She listened and almost froze, allowing herself to then be pulled down toward the wall, Sasha looked up at Ruslan, just as struck as he was.

"Old church slavonic... it sounds like old church slavonic.. but before that... even older... don't you recognize it? Do you remember as children... the сказки our parents told us? You know about the old days... the primary chronicle, all that jazz? Or about the two university students who went on a casual night stroll and ended up in say about 1100?"

Sasha was attempting to rationalize, she stared and him and peeked around the corner. Chaos was everywhere. Something awful had been unleashed into the streets, they had stepped back into a raid... But maybe this was all some sort of elaborate plan, a recreation of sorts... no, that would be logical she thought. For a moment, she hesitated and then grabbed tightly onto Ruslan, thinking of their next move.
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Сказки - Fairytales.