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#Miner'sRespite – November 9, 2016
Yan Sun is sitting at a fairly secluded booth in the Respite, looking out at the parking lot outside, glad to have a hot cup of tea in her hands as she watches the streetlights reflect off the icy asphalt. It wasn't very good, but it was warm and caffeinated. And she'd gotten used to expecting as much. Besides, she didn't have the heart to complain to the timid-looking girl that had delivered it. She's asked Kirill to meet her
here now that nightfall has come and Jessica has gone off to work her shift at the dam. She's dressed the same as she has been all day, and despite having been inside for a good long while now she still feels chilled enough that she's pulled up her hood and withdrawn her hands partly into her sleeves. She wonders idly if the window is spilling heat. She wasn't used to the climate here, and she wasn't a fan. Who lives in
Kirill steps into the Respite dressed the same as he was previously, idly rubbing his hands together to generate some heat once he removes his gloves and shoves them into his pockets. Snowflakes cling to his thick, unkempt beard, indicating that it still must be coming down outside. He pulls back the large, fur-lined hood from his head and dusts some snow from his shoulders as he looks about for the woman he's supposed to be meeting.
Yan Sun raises a hand, giving Kirill a small wave to get his attention when she spots him entering the Respite. She sips her tea as she waits for him to approach.
Kirill rolls his shoulders as he catches sight of Yan Sun and returns the gesture. He gives a brief glance around the room before making his way towards Yan Sun's booth. As he nears it, he unzips his coat and begins to slide in across from her with a grunt. "Gotta admit, I was a little blindsided when you began messaging me." he says as he gets situated. This close, without the added distractions of the club, it's easy to see that
Kirill is someone who has lived the life of a working class man. His skin is weathered and aged by the elements and his hands, which he's wringing out to get the blood flowing to his fingers, are scarred and calloused. "I don't mean to be blunt but-.... Mind telling me what all of this is about?"
Yan Sun winces slightly and nods, looking a little awkward. "Yeah, I-... I realize this is probably a little... weird." she says after setting down her tea. "I was just hoping-..." she sighs, trying to phrase things right. "Jessica and I, we... we haven't known each other very long, right? I was just hoping to talk to someone that's known her a little longer than I have." She studies him, a frown forming as she adds: "Look,
I-... I get it if this is-... it's just... I like her. I like her a lot, actually, but... she can be really, reaaally 㞗 difficult sometimes. You sounded like you-... I was just hoping to get another perspective, I guess."
Kirill's expression softens somewhat and he lets out a quick chuckle. "Difficult." he whistles, "Right. That's putting it lightly." He gives a brief shrug, glancing out across the bar. "They don't make 'em much more stubborn than that girl. She-... uhh...." he reaches up, scratching at his chin through his thick beard, "....She came to us back about-... I don't know... Been a while now." He seems to suddenly realize Yan Sun might not
even know who 'us' is and looks back to her. "Uhh... Children of Aite. It's a-... Maybe you've heard of us we-...." he shakes his head, "...that doesn't matter. Point is, I do a lot of recruiting." He gestures out towards the bar, giving a humorless chuckle, "I don't have much luck, mind you. But I do what I can. But Jess? She just came to us. Claimed to be some big shot Alliance soldier and said she wanted to-..." a smirk
tugs at his lips as he raises his hand to airquote, "... 'stick it to all those fucks and fuckers'." He shifts in his seat, adjusting himself so he can place one arm over the back of the booth as he gives a brief shrug, "She was full of shit. She's a terrible liar. Which is a damn shame considering so does so much of it." he chuckles with a shake of his head, "Don't think many of us believed her but, eh, wasn't worth calling
her bluff. We just ignored it. Figured if she wanted to pitch in, it doesn't really matter why, ya know?"
Yan Sun grins slightly as she listens to Kirill's description of Jessica. She chuckles quietly at the familiar story, her grin growing a little. Once he pauses she nods. "You know, that sounds really familiar..." she says with a light sigh. "...and by familiar, I mean she was doing exactly the same thing when I met her." She shakes her head to herself, taking another sip of her tea. "I have heard a little about your group,
Kirill chuckles along, giving a nod as Yan Sun speaks as it comes to no surprise to him to hear her pulling the same poorly thought out tricks. When she comments on his group, he merely shrugs. "Not much to hear. We're just a group of people tired of being stepped on." he says matter-of-factly. "Which has, sadly, become a way of life on this planet. We've got-... 'Collectors' abducting entire colonies of people-..." he continues,
giving a quick gesture towards the window and the galaxy that exists beyond it, "...and yet we're still putting our boot to our own people's throats." He swallows, settling back into his seat, "Sorry... I'm not trying to make this a 'thing'. But people don't join us without reason. And those reasons usually come with a whole lot of anger and pain." he explains, attempting to bring the conversation back on track, "And after Jess
joined us, it was pretty clear that she had a whole lot of baggage in both columns. We didn't know her last name. Didn't know who she really was. She barely even spoke to anybody at first. But-..." he gestures to the right side of his face, giving a sympathetic, guilty wince as if ashamed of even bringing it up, "...but that ain't the sort of thing you can just hide or 'lie away', you know? But we set her up with a place to
stay and she barely even left that cramped little shack throughout the first few days. Just to come down to the mess hall and get a bite to eat. Always sat alone. I'd-... I'd sometimes walk by her place and hear her just-..." he brings his hand up to scratch at his beard again, a habit long-developed when he gets uncomfortable, "...just sobbing, you know? All by herself in there. Tried to check in on her a few times but she's
like one of those old, hinged traps. Gotta be careful or she's likely to just snap shut and take your whole damn arm off." He gives a quick snicker, gesturing to Yan Sun, "Well, hell, I probably don't have to tell you that..."
Yan Sun listens in silence, nodding along as Kirill describes the Children of Aite, actually seeming rather interested. As he goes on to talk about Jessica's first days with them her gaze falls, and she sips her tea, a faint, sad frown forming and her nods growing fainter. The final comment elicits a small snicker though, and she meets his gaze once more. "Yeah. I-... she's not the easiest person to talk to. It's worth doing,
though." she says, a subtle smile creeping across her lips. "It sounded like she was with you guys for a while..."
Kirill sighs but nods. "Yeah." he says simply. "It took a while. The pain that girl was dealing with-..." he trails off, reorienting to lean his elbows against the table before going into his explanation, "...That is the sort of stuff people keep behind a locked door, ya get me? You try and kick it in and you're likely to break the damn lock and then you ain't ever getting in. You just have to kind of-... smile. Stay close. Be
patient. And put out an open hand while you wait for 'em to drop the key into it." he explains, giving another snicker. "So that's what I did. She kept her distance. Helped around our little community from an arm's length. I was teaching her how to tend to the crops, actually-..." he recalls, "...when she just... started talking. About-..." he frowns, tilting his head from one side to the other as he seems to be considering what
to say, "...I'm not sure how much you know but-... but about her family? There wasn't any emotion there. Was like she was just telling me a story or something. But I knew what that must've taken to open up like that. So I did the same." he shrugs, giving a brief, sad smile. Almost unnoticeable. "Seemed like things started picking up after that. She started getting more involved. Even met a guy she seemed to take a shining to. I
mean it ain't exactly easy to tell with Jess, the girl only has two modes: Asshole and bigger asshole, pardon my language." he explains lightheartedly, "But I think she was happy. At the very least she was smiling every now and then, and I thought that maybe that would be enough..." he shrugs, his gaze moving to the table. It's not hard to see that he feels like he let her down.
Yan Sun 's frown deepens as she continues to listen, looking down now at the cup of tea, cradling it in her hands. "Yeah, she... she's told-... we've talked." she says simply, not all that comfortable talking about this with someone that isn't Jessica, even if he knows already. She lets out a slow sigh and looks up at Kirill again, her gaze drawn to the beard for a moment before noticing the look in his eyes. She hesitates
Kirill breaks eye contact, nodding uncomfortably as Yan Sun acknowledges what she knows. His hand once again comes up to idly scratch at his beard. Upon hearing Yan Sun's question, he simply shrugs. "Like I said. Seemed like things were going good. She never came clean about the Alliance bullshit-..." he snickers, pointing to Yan Sun, "...But she also stopped talking about it. Don't think she needed it anymore. She had people who had
come to care about her, edges and all. A guy who was head-over-heels about her. She did her part around the community and then some." He pauses, giving a deep sigh before continuing, "Few months back this boy shows up. Few of our guys recruited him out of Adrasteia. Couldn't have been more than 19." he says, "Shows up with our people and instantly recognizes Jess. Big ol' smile crosses his face and it looks like he's gonna
hopscotch across the room in slow motion to give her a big hug. I'm over the moon at this point. I figure she's gonna have someone who actually knows her to relate with, you know?" He shakes his head as his gaze grows distant. "Took me and two others to keep her from putting a knife in that boy's belly right there on the spot." he says flatly, looking Yan Sun in the eye. "Turns out she was part of some-... I don't know-..." he
shakes his head dismissively as if the facts don't particularly matter to him all that much and brings a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose, "...Some local Adrasteia gang. Not exactly the nicest of people if you catch my drift. You know, the sort of people we're trying to take a stand against. She was ready to kill that boy just to keep him from letting anyone else know who she is. And-... and that was when it all clicked
for me, I guess. Why she lies. Why she-... why she is who she is. Because that girl hates who she is so damn much that it's easier for her to just... be someone else. For her to push and push and push until you hate her for the reasons she can control before you hate her for reasons outside of her control." He gives a long, drawn out sigh as he brings his hand down to the table, drumming his fingertips against it for a moment.
"People were upset. But I don't think-... There ain't a single person alive that doesn't fall into one of two categories, right? You've either got some baggage in your past that you ain't too proud of, or you're lying to yourself." he snickers with another shake of his head, "Ya can't just erase that stuff. It won't go away. So I try not to judge a person by what they did yesterday if the thing they're doing today shows me that
they found a better way, you understand? And the rest of the people there-... sure, they were mad. But I think it was more a matter of them being hurt that Jess didn't trust 'em enough to think that she could own up to who she was without being turned away." He looks off to the side, studying a passing patron for a moment before resting his gaze on Yan Sun once more to finish his tale. "A few days passed and clearer heads
prevailed. Was like nothing ever happened. Like I said, people cared about Jess. And what she did before coming to us wasn't about to change that. But one day I go to her shack and she was just... gone. Not a word to any of us. Snuck out in the night, I guess. No explanation, nothing. Left that boyfriend of hers damn near heartbroken, I'll tell you that much. Cold as ice."
Yan Sun listens quietly, her gaze moving away from Kirill every now and then as he goes on. Her frown grows deeper the more he tells. At one point she lifts her cup up to her lips only to put it back down again almost immediately. Eventually she moves her gaze to the window, looking out at the dark lit up by a coat of crisp snow. When he's finally done she remains silent, and for a moment her attention shifts to the reflection
in the window glass of them sitting there. Making eye-contact with herself seems to snap her back and she looks to Kirill, swallowing. "I-... she hasn't told me anything about... any of that." she says, even though that is no doubt fairly obvious. There's a troubled look on her face, and it's quite obvious she isn't quite sure what to say, even though she's the one that asked him to talk. She opens her mouth again only
to close it, looking down at her tea, staring at the dark liquid as she tries to sort out the many thoughts running through her mind.
Kirill remains silent as Yan Sun seems to process it all, merely looking out across the Respite with his hands folded atop the table. When she speaks, he gives a small nod. "Doesn't surprise me. Letting people in doesn't seem to be her strong suit..." he says, the understatement followed by a quick, humorless chuckle. "She just reached out to me out of the blue about all this. Asked me to help her track down some info." He gives a
sheepish shrug, looking somewhat embarassed for a moment. "Guess I thought that maybe I could reel her back in. That if I helped her, she'd see that we've still got her back and consider coming back to us..." He sucks in a deep breath, "But she's got what she wanted, so I guess she doesn't need me anymore. So out with the trash I go..." he says plainly, though it's quite obvious that the thought bothers him.
Yan Sun has clearly been given quite a lot to think about, and she offers no response at first. She sips her tea, trying again to collect her thoughts. "I... could try talking to her, if you..." she trails off. It's a half-hearted offer at best. Where would that leave her? Selfish thought. "...if you want." she finishes. She lets out half a sigh, glancing around the Respite before looking back at Kirill. "I-... I'm sorry.
Kirill gives a low, unenthusiastic chuckle. "I appreciate the offer, but I couldn't ask you to do that." He shifts in his seat, sitting up a bit straighter now that he has finished telling his story. "But what you can do for me? Just-..." he breaks eye contact, glancing down to the table as a small smile crosses his lips. "Just give her a hug from me." he says before waving dismissively, "You don't have to tell her it's from me. Not
unless you want to sleep with one eye open." he snickers. He looks back up to Yan Sun as his smile fades away, "...And keep her out of trouble, Yan Sun. I know what she's going through. And I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if that man fell down a well tomorrow but-... speaking from experience?" he tilts his head to the side, a brief look of discomfort crossing his face, "...It ain't gonna help her. Even if she had a snowman's
chance in hell of bringing down Cross- which she absolutely does not-..." he makes abundantly clear, "...It ain't gonna bring back the people she's lost. It's just gonna leave her with even more blood on her hands and nobody else left alive to blame but herself." He gives her a sincere, kind smile and reaches across the table to pat the woman's forearm.
Yan Sun nods, and briefly flashes a faint smile as she says "That I can do." in response to Kirill's request, but she falls quiet again as he speaks more. Her troubled look returns as she considers his words. She falls silent, but upon feeling the pat on her arm she's brought back, and nods. "I-... I will." she says, sounding quite sincere as she meets his gaze. "Thank you." She nods once more, an awkward smile forming.
Kirill nods in turn, giving a grunt as he begins to slowly slide out of the booth. "Well, I should probably get going." he says with a sigh, "I have a long drive in the morning." He sticks his hands in his pockets once he reaches the edge of the booth and pulls out his gloves. On closer inspection, they're mittens. The kind where the ends fold over to reveal fingerless gloves just in case a little dexterity is needed. "You have my
contact information, Yan Sun." he says before standing up and looking down to her, "Don't hesitate to ask if you need something. If she needs something.... Jess has a family whether she wants it or not." he says sternly, giving a grin as he does. "...And she deserves to be happy. But you've got a tough job cut out for you." he warns as he tugs his mittens on, "Because now it's fallen in your lap to show her that she deserves
to be happy." He gives a quick whistle and shakes his head, "I do not envy your position." he adds with another chuckle. "Take care of yourself, Yan Sun." he offers before starting on his way.
Yan Sun offers another couple of nods, her turning lopsided. "Appreciate it. And... I'm doing my best." As he turns to leave she briefly considers voicing her other question, but decides against it. Later. "Safe driving." is all that she says, instead, before leaning back in the booth and lifting the cup to her lips once more.