In the Fields [Ivan]

[finland]

It had been a long day. Timo had taken an early shift, and worked through the day, and for once he was rather pleased to be going home. He’d have a nice big meal, and then get some sleep, before he had to go out again tomorrow. So eager, in fact, that he decided to take a short cut home through the farms. He didn’t often do it, but it did make things a lot quicker, and besides. It was nice to walk past all of the crops and flowers. It made him think of how things had been before he’d come to Eishoff.

He hummed to himself happily as he slipped between one field and another, his thick outdoor coat slung over his arm now. Underneath his chequered jumper looked a little faded, but he loved it anyway. He was just thinking about what he’d cook for dinner when he came round the corner and saw a figure standing in with the sunflowers. Timo paused, watching him for a moment. He’d only seen people here a few times before, usually children playing or workers. For a moment he wondered if he was taking a shortcut too, but if so why had he stopped there?

Well, curiosity killed the cat. “Hey! Are you all right? You’re not lost, are you?” He asked, heading over to him with a cheerful smile on his face.

[Ivan Braginsky]

On rare occasions, Ivan could be persuaded to spend time outside. Generally though, he found himself somehow in the Underground, in the bio-farms, where most of his status would never tread. The sunflowers always drew him, but when asked, he'd never blatantly say why beyond he happened to like them. In reality, these fields were where the first bot was chosen. Hiding out among the flowers taller than herself, the memory of the flowers had imprinted themselves upon him.

Yong Soo had convinced him to go outside and get some fresh air, well, as fresh as air could get as opposed to the penthouse. He'd put one of his older sweaters and slacks, with a more ragged coat. Ivan had tucked the tails of his scarf inside the coat to hide them. Sure, many people down in the Underground probably did not know who he was, but it was better to try and not attract attention to himself anyway. Hell, not even many in the Upper Class knew him personally due to his reclusive nature.

It was easy to feel both... happy and depressed when he looked at the flowers. They were always so bright and practically smiling as they stood there in their field, but... with them came the memory of the start of the abominations he'd wrought. Ivan stared out at the field kind of blankly, save for the semi-permanent smile on his face and his hands clasped behind his back.

A voice called out to him. It took a moment for him to realize that it was actually speaking to him. The veteran shook his head a bit to wrangle his focus back before turning to look over his shoulder at where the voice came from. "..." There was another man in the fields? Maybe he was a farm worker. "Nu.... N-no... I am not... lost..." he mumbled, looking down. Was he trespassing and this worker had been called to get him to leave? He'd never been told to leave before... In fact, he'd never seen another person here before beyond that one little girl. "Am I trespassink?"

[finland]

As he came closer, Timo suddenly realised how big the other man was. It was actually a little intimidating, but Timo never judged a book by it's cover! For all he knew he could be like a big cuddly bear. Still, he stopped perhaps a step further away than he would have normally, which was probably a good thing, as he wasn't so good with staying out of people's personal space. His accent was a little strong too, but Timo was used to that. You got all sorts here! He was just fortunate he'd been here long enough that his own had faded into something less noticeable.

"You're not, it's okay!" Timo paused, and then chuckled a little embarrassedly. "Well, you are, but I am too, so don't worry about it." He admitted, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Were you on your way home? I like to take this short cut too. The flowers are beautiful!" He said, happily. Obviously from what he'd said he wasn't a farm worker, and Timo couldn't think of any other reason why someone would come down here aside from to get home.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan watched for second as the other man approached, yet stopped... a bit farther away than a normal person. That was... odd. Well, no, not really. Sometimes this happened to him, where people seemed to have an instinctive desire to be a bit farther away from him without explanation. He tried not to take it personally. Merely shrugging it off, he just continued to smile that meaningless smile at the man, unsure whether to exactly be happy for his presence or not. At least he knew now that he wasn't trespassing, because... that could have been a problem.

Humming a bit to himself, he turned and looked back at the field of flowers. Home? Oh, no, he was most certainly not on his way home and definitely not using the field as a shortcut. This would have been such an absurd "shortcut" for him anyway, but... this man didn't know that and since he asked, didn't seem to work on the farm here that raised the sunflowers. "Нет... I am not goink home," was his usual short, less-than-descriptive answer. It wasn't like he could exactly say that he didn't even live in the Underground, that would give away that he has enough money to not live here. He definitely couldn't say that he lived in the Western Sector, by God, he'd get mugged in ten minutes flat. Maybe not by this little guy, who seemed nice enough despite... something... that Ivan couldn't quite place, but someone.

The blooms once again had his attention, setting a good example by smiling up at the sun regardless of what was going around them. They were good role models. Maybe children should have had sunflowers as main characters in their cartoons... The man was right; the flowers were beautiful.

[finland]

It was a little off putting that the bigger man was so blunt. That... well, that answer just left Timo with more questions! "If you're not lost and you're not going home, then what are you doing down here?" He asked, and then realised that he'd spoken aloud and blushed a little. Oh well. It was said now. "If you don't mind me asking." He was pretty curious, and it'd be good to have an answer. Besides, the longer he looked he started to realise that the other man's clothes weren't as poor as they looked at first glance, just old. Fortunately for Ivan, Timo didn't really care, but it did make him more curious. Normally people avoided this area if they could.

At least his delay gave Timo a chance to take in the sunflowers properly. They were so big and bright! It'd be nice to get a bunch for his little flat one day. He didn't often spend money on flowers, though, there were always more pressing things that he needed to buy. At the moment there was a leak in his roof again and he was having to scrape the money together to get that fixed. No doubt next week his shoes would break or he'd have to replace something else. Ah well. Such was life.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan kept smiling kind of blankly at the much younger-looking man as he talked. He was certainly cheerful looking, hopefully it wasn't a facade like his own cheer often was. Relatives had told him growing up that it was bizarre for him to be smiling so much when a serious expression was the norm for the rest of them. Honestly, he could not recall once seeing his father smile, but that didn't matter. That man was dead and Ivan took all that was left of his empire. If this young man was truly happy enough to be that cheerful naturally, then... Ivan was certainly quite jealous.

It wasn't exactly off-putting to be asked what he was doing down here. Granted, he was standing around doing seemingly nothing and he wasn't a worker heading home, so he could understand that his presence might certainly be seen as unusual. However, he didn't want to fully answer the question. Ivan had no idea who this nice young fellow was, his affiliations, or if this was all an act. Worse would be if this young man knew anything about the operations Ivan had running in the Underground and Ivan accidentally let something incriminating slip. That would be no good. Instead, he hummed a bit before answering, hands still clasped behind his back.

"I am lookink at the flowers~"

That was truthful enough.

[finland]

Well, that was understandable! The flowers were so pretty. Timo thought that if he had lots of time on his hands he'd like to come here a lot more than he did too. "Oh, well, that's nice! They make me think of home. I mean, this city is nice a nice place and I have lots of friends here and I love my job, but sometimes I miss being able to spend time outside in the wilderness." Innocent as he was, Timo didn't mind chatting happily about himself. There wasn't anything in there that could be used against him, right?

"This isn't quite the same, but it's still nice, don't you think?" He asked, happily. While it was true that Timo had a tendency to forget that not everyone was born in the city, he'd guessed it with this man from his accent. It seemed to strong to have come from here, even if the man was one of those who stuck to his family's language and culture. Timo preferred to adapt, but he'd had the advantage of growing up bilingual like a lot of Finnish people; he'd already known a fair amount of English, and through school had become more or less fluent.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan stared at the flowers as he listened to the much younger-looking man talk about himself. It wasn't annoying. In fact, he found it quaint and heartwarming... or more accurately emotionally warming considering he didn't technically have a heart anymore. It was almost ironic. This young fellow worked for a living, lived down in the Underground Sector, and yet was still smiling and content as though nothing were wrong in the world. Ivan felt... jealous. He was wealthy; he had everything and that which he didn't have, he could acquire... in a manner of speaking. He had few friends, but he had servants... and a make-shift son that he really did care about. He wasn't nearly as lonely as he used to be, but still... he felt constantly like something was missing. Whatever this young man had, Ivan wanted in his own life. There had to be some sort of secret.

"You are... happy, да?" he asked, not turning away from the bright blooms. Sure, this young man sounded happy, but... Ivan had to be sure. He couldn't know for certain without hearing it directly from his mouth. Of course, it could be implied but... Ivan hummed quietly, stretching out a hand and touching one of the leaves of the plant-stalks. Sunflowers were oddly fuzzy and soft, but then again... there were other plants like that.

"Why are you happy?" The smile on his face just... didn't match up with his questions.

[finland]

It was a little strange to be asked if he was happy. It wasn't something that Timo often was asked. People tended to assume it from his smile, and if he hadn't noticed that the other man's didn't meet his eyes he might have returned the question. As it was, he nodded. "I think so! Things are pretty good right now." He said, cheerfully.

The second question took a little more thought. "Well, I don't really have anything to be unhappy about." He said, eventually, tilting his head a little. "I have my friends and a good job, and I have my health." There were some things that could be better - he could still have his family for a start, but there was no point crying over split milk. "I try and look on the bright side of things, other wise I think I would be miserable all the time, and that'd just be unpleasant for everyone around me!" He said, cheerfully. "It's not that hard! I mean, there's good in every situation, right? If I hadn't taken a shortcut today I wouldn't have met you!" It wasn't the best example, but it was a point. Every action had a result, and even if it wasn't immediately good, Timo did believe, or at least do his best to believe, that eventually it would prove positive.

"Aren't you happy?" He asked, finally, in return. "Why not?" It was strange to think that someone with better prospects than he'd ever had would be unhappy. "Don't you have friends and family to cheer you up?" Even with his naivety it seemed strange to be asked about this by a stranger. There had to be better people for him to go to. Timo didn't even know his name!

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan kept smiling as he listened to the young fellow continue to talk on. He was curious, in a way, to his secret of being so genuinely cheerful. Ivan's own smile was a complete farce more often than not. Still though, his flower-field companion had just admitted to being happy so... either he was a good liar or it was true. His tone of voice was quite convincing.

Friends. A good job. Health. Those things would contribute to being happy, wouldn't they? Ivan had those things, more or less to a degree. He didn't exactly have friends, but he had Yong Soo, Allison... and sometimes Arthur and Francis when Ivan bothered to venture outside of his penthouse, self-imposed prison. He had a job, in fact, he technically had a few. He was technically the owner of Bodark Vodka, but... the company practically run itself these days after his father died. He had a pension from the military. He ran D.E.R.P. from behind the curtain and received proceeds from that, along with his own research and the research he did with Yong Soo. He had all of the work and money he could ever dream of. Health. That was a little more complicated, but he was certainly functioning in a more or less healthy manner and wasn't completely falling apart.

"You coult be right," he said, keeping his voice quiet, almost as though the sunflowers nearby would hear and be disturbed by the noise. "I am not... unhappy," he added, because he technically wasn't unhappy but he wasn't happy either. He felt more like... there was just something missing from his existence but he had no idea what. He had all of the things that would make most any other person happy. "I am... not alone." Family and friends... they existed, in a way. The two family members he'd given himself were doting and seemed to genuinely care, despite both being bots... hence "seemed".

Ivan stood there for a moment, pulling his hand back from the soft petals to rest under his chin in thought. He had to ponder the word he was looking for to describe how he felt. What was it? He had almost literally everything. "I am..." The silence stretched for a moment as his mind continued the search through his mental lexicon. "Empty." Perhaps, he wondered, if maybe he merely felt like his life had not been lived fully for whatever reason, especially at his age. Ivan knew that he had many years left, especially with a machine for a heart, but... he wasn't sure what to do with it or if he could even make himself do something with it. His previous motivation, loneliness, had brought about the birth of abominations. What if his next driving force wrought worse creations?

"What is your name?" he asked, turning to look at his... acquaintance. They were not friends, not yet. Sometimes, though, it was easier to confess your inner thoughts to a stranger than to the soul closet to you.

[finland]

Watching the way the stranger had to work these things out for himself, Timo felt a pang of sympathy for him. Something didn't seem all together there for him, and instantly Timo felt himself wanting to help. There was too much good in the world to be so abstract from it! Noting the way that he had to validate these things to himself, Timo knew there was something wrong. He wasn't alone, but did that mean that he had friends? People that he could really trust in? Had he known Ivan's situation he might have said that he had friends in his bots, but of course he was clueless.

"Oh, I'm Timo! Timo Väinämöinen, but don't worry, I know it's a bit of a mouthful." He said, brightly. "What's yours?" There! That was the first step to friendship accomplished. Timo found himself deciding that he was going to make this man smile properly - a true smile, one that would meet his eyes - if at all he could. Even if it took months, or even years. Everyone should be able to smile!

"Are you hungry? I'm on my way home to make dinner. You could have some if you like?" Not many people would invite someone they'd met not half an hour ago back to their homes, but apparently Timo was one of them.

[Ivan Braginsky]

To say that Ivan wasn't exactly all there all of the time would not have been an understatement. He wasn't completely gone though and most of the time he was quite sane... seeming, even if once he thought he newest bot was going to assassinate him. Granted, that had been humorous in retrospect because she really startled him well. For some reason though, this young man had not startled him, but then again, he didn't run up behind him and go "Boo!" Ivan had been half-expecting a farm worker to eventually tell him that he was trespassing and needed to leave anyway, but it was already clear this young man was not associated with the farmers.

"Timo..." he repeated, trying to commit the name to memory. He'd probably never see this young man again, but at least he would have a name to put with the face that went along with the pleasant recollection. There was a small, amused hum coming from his mouth for a moment before he responded in kind. It was only fair. "Ivan Nikolayevich Braginsky. Is... nice to meet you~" The smile was still weak, but now... it was a little less fake, at the very least.

However, being suddenly invited back to this young man's house for food was a little surprising. They'd only just met and only just been told each other's names. Was that even proper to invite someone like that? Then again, Ivan hardly ever interacted with those in the lower class, as nice as many of them were, especially if they were like Timo. Maybe it was something customary that he just didn't know about.

Besides, it would be horribly rude to refuse such an invitation. He'd already done that once and trying to make up for the transgression ended up horribly. What if this was an elaborate ruse and "Timo" was setting him up to mug him or murder him? What if... he was the assassin sent by the powers that be to claim payment for his abominations? If he went with him, then he'd be going to his death, but... it would come anyway. If he went with him, maybe he'd be kept unsuspecting and it would be painless, quick. He'd never know what hit him if he cooperated, right? It was either cooperate or fight. Fighting would just make it more of a pain.

After a break of silence where he just continued to look at poor Timo, he nodded slowly. "Perhaps just some tea woult be very nice, thank you~"

[finland]

As though Timo needed any confirmation that the other man was Russian. Still, he smiled brightly to be able to finally put a name to the face. And he decided that Ivan suited him. He was like a big bear! About as scary as one at first glance too. Timo was starting to feel more comfortable, though, more settled and he didn't really feel afraid any more. "Ivan's a nice name." He said, happily. "I think it suits you!"

Really, Timo would be the most unlikely mugger in the history of the city. He didn't look like he'd say boo to a goose, and in all honesty he probably wouldn't. There was nothing but true intentions in his face, and he smiled brightly at Ivan while he considered it. The man probably had other things he needed to do, or he was worried about getting home safely afterwards. That wasn't much of a concern for him! It was understandable! But his face did light up when Ivan accepted his offer, and he clapped his hands happily.

"All right! My house is this way! You'll have to excuse it, it's not very big or fancy, but it's a nice little place." Timo started to lead the way away from the field, glancing back to make sure that Ivan was following him. "It was a bit of a state when I first took it on, but I've fixed it up as best I can. The roof needed fixing first of all, and I repainted too. But it's nice to be able to put my own mark on it, you know? And when I move out someone will have somewhere nice to live!"

[Ivan Braginsky]

There was a longstanding joke that all Russian men were either named Boris or Ivan. Well, it was true that those names were hilariously common, but at least it seemed appropriate for him according to little Timo. He seemed like a well-meaning guy, if potentially an assassin or mugger in disguise. Still though, it would have been horrendously rude to refuse him. If he was polite, death would probably be granted painlessly and swiftly should it arrive.

Soon, Timo was leading the way, or at least appeared to be, still talking happily and excusing the state of his home. Ivan didn't mind if a home wasn't much. He'd either lived among luxury, barracks, or the nearly empty factory where he'd done his experiments. It wasn't so much empty anymore now that he'd set up a system of manufacture, but it was still... a lonely warehouse at times. Not many living beings were there, and those that were died soon enough. He tried not to go there if he didn't have to. "I am sure your home is fine," he said.

Timo seemed so glad that he could work on his home. Ivan never had to make repairs to his penthouse, since... not much broke and maintenance was dealt with by the building staff for the most part. That must be a fulfilling feeling, seeing the immediate fruits of your labor and making your world a better place. Ivan felt another little pang of jealousy where a heart should have been. "I look forwart to seeink it, Timo." It may not have been much, but if it made Timo that happy, it was worth seeing.