Grey wasn't exactly the easiest person when it came to socialising. He found the corner of the train cart and sat down with a book. Hair bundled up to the back of his head to alleviate at least some of the summer heat and gradually wearing less. He had a worn out travel backpack sitting next to him, his grey coat rolled on top of it, after a while the thin sweater in loose grayish green knit of linen and wool with tattered sleeves joined it. He wore a worn out t-shirt and jeans that had seen better days. But he refused to toe off his boots that must have been uncomfortable in the heat.
The thing with Grey was that he was always ready to jump out of the moving train, alert and ready to move. He'd been hunting demons for over a decade now, the tail end of it alone. You didn't just brush off that kind of readiness even if the trip from Oslo to Stockholm was probably pretty safe.
He hummed under his breath every now and then while reading, but otherwise he remained pretty quiet unless spoken to. He had already assessed the group during briefing and of course he already knew Kai. They would probably be okay if these people wouldn't turn out to be loose cannons.
Come bother him?
Grey >> Rune, day 4, Gulf of Bothnia
They were well on their way out of the harbour when Grey found him. Stockholm with its tall buildings and stench of people was falling behind. Grey found himself wandering to the prow of the boat, breathing in deep the salty air that almost had the fragrance of home about it. It had been at least five years since he'd been this close to Finland. He'd breached the borders six years ago for a quick trip but he'd been moving on foot and didn't dare to go very far. Something inside him was singing with pleasure as he thought about going home now. And with more than a little dread knowing the state of the country.
He stood there, hands on the railing, eyes closed, listening to the birds and the waves hitting the front of the boat. Then suddenly a rustle behind him jolted him aware of his surroundings.
He was sprawled onto a tarp, slowly waking up from what seemed liked quite a deep sleep. He obviously wasn't anyone from the crew and didn't look like he was ready for some hiking either. A small jolt of dread went through Grey and first he was thinking demons and sabotage, but soon realised that this young man was far too comfortably asleep to be anything but an accidental stowaway.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked as he stopped beside the young man, casting a shadow over him.
Rune is having a dream, and it's a beautiful dream. He's out on the sea again, salt spray in the air and body rocked gently by a boat. It calls to him like a siren, willing him to the water, out on treacherous waves that hold the unknown, a place where he is most comfortable by embracing his discomfort.
The sun filters through his closed eyelids as he turns to what might be an empty bed or what might contain the other party responsible for his very satisfied aching this morning. He tries to remember a face, a name... a wiry smile manifests in his mind when instead, very suddenly, he hears a voice he does not recognize.
And just as suddenly, he jerks awake. "Um."
"Where's--" what was his name again? "--Kai? Åh för fan i helvete, är vi till sjöss igen!"
Grey sighs quietly when he hears the name the young man utters. Of course. Kai has a way of attracting trouble, it tends to follow him around like a loyal puppy and take any opportunity to jump him like an overzealous lover. He probably hadn't meant to trap this young man at the sea, but that's what he's done, hasn't he?
Kai had said something about his company parting early, Grey recalls, so maybe Rune had taken a stroll around the deck and fallen asleep. It isn't all that mysterious, drunken people do crazy things.
"Up, up," he says and reaches down to curl his hand around the young man's elbow, pulling him up to his feet as easily as he were manhandling a child. "Juu, hans namn är Kai, men, do har någon större problem, du förstå?"
Rune can't quite believe he's having a naked argument first thing in the morning with a strange Finnish man upon whose boat he seems to have boarded last night. But at least he has discovered that it wasn't a lie and Kai is actually part of the crew. "Yes, ja förstår ganska bra att jag har ett jävligt stört problem, which is precis varför jag fragåde om närmaste hamn."
"Or if not the nearest, then wherever you are stopping next!" he tries, and through his panic, the words might be English but his melody is distinctly Swedish. "Where is this boat going?"
Yes, he didn't ask. To be fair, he barely remembers Kai's name, so why would he have bothered asking where he was going? Who would do something like that? Grey, you really have your hands full with this one.
"To Finland," Grey replies simply with a sigh and then decides to have some mercy on the lad. He releases him, pulling off his own tattered sweater and offers it to him. It's cold out at the sea even if it's summer. The wind is beating on them quite mercilessly.
"We're going straight across," he says and his brows furrow darkly. He might not mean to look so unforgiving but there's something awfully gaunt and striking in his looks, in the way his brows furrow over his eyes and darken his gaze.
"Come on," he says regardless of whether Rune pulls on the sweater or not. He stalks towards the cabin, looking for Kai who has some explaining to do.
"What!" is all he can muster at the moment. And then he pulls the sweater on, which honestly makes him look like a mess, hair all out of place and pale legs jutting out like little birch saplings.
"No, no no, we can't be that far then, we'll just call another ship headed to Stockholm and we'll make a transfer at sea. Or, you know what, do you have any spare lifeboats? Anything? I'll have to give it back to you some other time, but I am not going to Finland!"
It's a long train ride, and Kazik has decided to buy something to eat with the meager advance that he's managed to get out of this exchange. However, he has such a hard time communicating that he manages to buy two sandwiches, and he has no idea how to tell them that he only wants the one.
He recognizes Grey from the crew documents he'd been given, and remembers thankfully that he's one of the Finns, which means that they can actually talk. "Hi," he says, "excuse me. Are you hungry? I bought two," he offers.
Honestly he would like to trade one of them for a bottle of water, or really anything to drink. But he doesn't want to make that mistake; he can't wait to get on their ship where all the room and board is supplied and comes free. He doesn't care that he has to work long hours and face certain danger for these accommodations; at the very least, his services are no longer free of charge.
Grey looks up with a frown from his book. It's not necessarily an angry frown, but it might look like it given that he has a face that isn't exactly friendly. But when there's no budging from the young man who speaks Finnish with a distinctly Russian accent, Grey tilts his head a little to the side, and towards the seat beside him, an invitation if there ever will be one.
"Sure," he says simply. Kazimir might have to be more forth coming about his attempts to trade. Grey isn't exactly the most forth coming individual.
But he's not rude either. When Kazimir takes the seat - if he does - Grey pulls his backpack closer to himself. Not out of suspicious feelings but because he's reaching to flip open a pocket on the side, pulling out a small burner and a gas bottle. He sets his items on the table and fishes out another one, a steel mug. Water goes in from a bottle and a bag of tea.
If he knows something about Russians is that they like their tea strong and plentiful.
Among the very little possessions that Kazik had brought with him to Finland, which were summarily taken away by his captors, one of them was a samovar, so Grey is correct in believing that he might enjoy a cup or two of tea. Though in the years he's spent in prime coffee-drinking territory, he's learned to accept the drink, but his heart is staunchly rooted in afternoons of dark black tea and spreads of little sandwiches and sweets.
He misses home with a physical yearning.
Even if Grey does not appear to be friendly, his gestures are, and that's enough for Kazik. At the very least, this new band of strangers treats him with respect or just doesn't mention him at all, and honestly, it's an improvement.
"Have you done a mission like this before?" he asks. The notes he was given wasn't exactly comprehensive.
The tea is brewing and Grey sits back. He's not quite as nosy as Kai is about the crew they travel with but he's a little bit curious about Kazik nonetheless.
"Yes," he says simply. "Well, I have been out there with the demons, but mostly it's just been me alone or me and him," he nods his head towards Kai. "This is the first time with a party and equipment and someone else footing the bill."
He regards Kazik for a moment quietly and then decides to elaborate, perhaps in hopes of Kazik volunteering some information about himself without any questions necessary.
"I get calls," he says. "Through the grapevine. About possessions." His brows furrow while he waits for the reaction to the mention of demons. Some people still manage to not believe they're real. Some people who live in areas like Oslo, which is relatively safe.
Well, considering his kidnappers brought him along for precisely the kind of protection against demons, while going on foot through the countryside, it turns out that Kazik had seen a lot more than he had really intended to. In fact, he carries around a few trinkets to ensnare them, since he finds it easiest to conduct magic through objects. After all, it was why the wand was invented, but he prefers not to use sticks unless nothing else is readily available.
"What sort of calls?" he asks. He also didn't know that Grey and Kai were friends, but he supposes that makes sense, two people who wind up on these sorts of things probably have a high chance of running into each other again.
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ainomieli2018-07-30 04:22 am
no subject
Grey wasn't exactly the easiest person when it came to socialising. He found the corner of the train cart and sat down with a book. Hair bundled up to the back of his head to alleviate at least some of the summer heat and gradually wearing less. He had a worn out travel backpack sitting next to him, his grey coat rolled on top of it, after a while the thin sweater in loose grayish green knit of linen and wool with tattered sleeves joined it. He wore a worn out t-shirt and jeans that had seen better days. But he refused to toe off his boots that must have been uncomfortable in the heat.
The thing with Grey was that he was always ready to jump out of the moving train, alert and ready to move. He'd been hunting demons for over a decade now, the tail end of it alone. You didn't just brush off that kind of readiness even if the trip from Oslo to Stockholm was probably pretty safe.
He hummed under his breath every now and then while reading, but otherwise he remained pretty quiet unless spoken to. He had already assessed the group during briefing and of course he already knew Kai. They would probably be okay if these people wouldn't turn out to be loose cannons.
Come bother him?
Grey >> Rune, day 4, Gulf of Bothnia
They were well on their way out of the harbour when Grey found him. Stockholm with its tall buildings and stench of people was falling behind. Grey found himself wandering to the prow of the boat, breathing in deep the salty air that almost had the fragrance of home about it. It had been at least five years since he'd been this close to Finland. He'd breached the borders six years ago for a quick trip but he'd been moving on foot and didn't dare to go very far. Something inside him was singing with pleasure as he thought about going home now. And with more than a little dread knowing the state of the country.
He stood there, hands on the railing, eyes closed, listening to the birds and the waves hitting the front of the boat. Then suddenly a rustle behind him jolted him aware of his surroundings.
He was sprawled onto a tarp, slowly waking up from what seemed liked quite a deep sleep. He obviously wasn't anyone from the crew and didn't look like he was ready for some hiking either. A small jolt of dread went through Grey and first he was thinking demons and sabotage, but soon realised that this young man was far too comfortably asleep to be anything but an accidental stowaway.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked as he stopped beside the young man, casting a shadow over him.
no subject
The sun filters through his closed eyelids as he turns to what might be an empty bed or what might contain the other party responsible for his very satisfied aching this morning. He tries to remember a face, a name... a wiry smile manifests in his mind when instead, very suddenly, he hears a voice he does not recognize.
And just as suddenly, he jerks awake. "Um."
"Where's--" what was his name again? "--Kai? Åh för fan i helvete, är vi till sjöss igen!"
He shakes his head. "Where is the nearest port?"
no subject
Kai had said something about his company parting early, Grey recalls, so maybe Rune had taken a stroll around the deck and fallen asleep. It isn't all that mysterious, drunken people do crazy things.
"Up, up," he says and reaches down to curl his hand around the young man's elbow, pulling him up to his feet as easily as he were manhandling a child. "Juu, hans namn är Kai, men, do har någon större problem, du förstå?"
no subject
"Or if not the nearest, then wherever you are stopping next!" he tries, and through his panic, the words might be English but his melody is distinctly Swedish. "Where is this boat going?"
Yes, he didn't ask. To be fair, he barely remembers Kai's name, so why would he have bothered asking where he was going? Who would do something like that? Grey, you really have your hands full with this one.
no subject
"We're going straight across," he says and his brows furrow darkly. He might not mean to look so unforgiving but there's something awfully gaunt and striking in his looks, in the way his brows furrow over his eyes and darken his gaze.
"Come on," he says regardless of whether Rune pulls on the sweater or not. He stalks towards the cabin, looking for Kai who has some explaining to do.
no subject
"No, no no, we can't be that far then, we'll just call another ship headed to Stockholm and we'll make a transfer at sea. Or, you know what, do you have any spare lifeboats? Anything? I'll have to give it back to you some other time, but I am not going to Finland!"
no subject
He recognizes Grey from the crew documents he'd been given, and remembers thankfully that he's one of the Finns, which means that they can actually talk. "Hi," he says, "excuse me. Are you hungry? I bought two," he offers.
Honestly he would like to trade one of them for a bottle of water, or really anything to drink. But he doesn't want to make that mistake; he can't wait to get on their ship where all the room and board is supplied and comes free. He doesn't care that he has to work long hours and face certain danger for these accommodations; at the very least, his services are no longer free of charge.
"Do you like turkey?"
no subject
"Sure," he says simply. Kazimir might have to be more forth coming about his attempts to trade. Grey isn't exactly the most forth coming individual.
But he's not rude either. When Kazimir takes the seat - if he does - Grey pulls his backpack closer to himself. Not out of suspicious feelings but because he's reaching to flip open a pocket on the side, pulling out a small burner and a gas bottle. He sets his items on the table and fishes out another one, a steel mug. Water goes in from a bottle and a bag of tea.
If he knows something about Russians is that they like their tea strong and plentiful.
no subject
He misses home with a physical yearning.
Even if Grey does not appear to be friendly, his gestures are, and that's enough for Kazik. At the very least, this new band of strangers treats him with respect or just doesn't mention him at all, and honestly, it's an improvement.
"Have you done a mission like this before?" he asks. The notes he was given wasn't exactly comprehensive.
no subject
"Yes," he says simply. "Well, I have been out there with the demons, but mostly it's just been me alone or me and him," he nods his head towards Kai. "This is the first time with a party and equipment and someone else footing the bill."
He regards Kazik for a moment quietly and then decides to elaborate, perhaps in hopes of Kazik volunteering some information about himself without any questions necessary.
"I get calls," he says. "Through the grapevine. About possessions." His brows furrow while he waits for the reaction to the mention of demons. Some people still manage to not believe they're real. Some people who live in areas like Oslo, which is relatively safe.
no subject
"What sort of calls?" he asks. He also didn't know that Grey and Kai were friends, but he supposes that makes sense, two people who wind up on these sorts of things probably have a high chance of running into each other again.