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 Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:31 pm
Nikolai sat in the small Russian coffee shop, absentmindedly sipping a drink he ordered at random. All he wanted was something with caffeine, he hadn't slept in a few days and everything was starting to blur together when he approached the train station. But he needed to make this train, so it would do him no good to fall asleep before he was on the train. He bobbed his head lightly when he set his coffee down, his large headphones over his head like normal. The coffee shop was crowded and busy at the time, but Nikolai heard none of it. The pounding rhythm of his music and the overall sound canceling of his headphones made everything around him in the world silenced as though it was nonexistent. He moved lightly in time with the music, preferring to be moving rather than sitting still; it was his way of controlling his fidgety nature. He sipped his coffee again, each taste of the caffeine making his blood pump; he probably would have been sleeping like a corpse if he wasn't so extra-caffeinated. He glanced at his watch, sighing, he saw how much longer he had to endure this coffee induced hell before he could relax and sleep in the safety and comfort of a train car. He hummed lightly after a moment and a few people looked at him like he was a weirdo, he ignored them of course, if he cared what other people thought about the way he acted, he most certainly wouldn't act that way, and it was better than letting them see who he really is. It's a good thing the song he was listening to didn't have any lyrics or he might have actually sung along to it.
Despite being in his virtual bubble of solitude, and obviously enjoying his time to himself, Nikolai clearly looked like he wouldn't have minded being interrupted. Perhaps this is why she walked over and asked if she could sit at his table in the otherwise completely full coffee shop. Every other table was taken, no one wanted to sit near that weirdo, so people were just getting their coffee and leaving. Needless to say, Nikolai was interrupted, but it takes some effort to interrupt him, he normally wouldn't notice someone even if they talked to him, but obviously this time was different. Nikolai looked up and saw a woman, with long black hair and black clothes on. He paused in his movements, not an easy thing to make him do, and removed his headphones, only off of one ear though. He smiled lightly and asked the woman, "What can I do for you miss?" He took another small sip of his coffee, knowing that he would fall asleep even from the simple exertion of turning his head and speaking without the caffeine that may as well have been his blood by this point.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:01 pm
Anya had left the UNS building in Moscow behind for about two or three hours now. She was about to take a train to get out of Russia now. Well, that was the plan anyway. She he had gotten off a train that had left Moscow two and a half hours ago. She would have to take a connecting train out of this small city to actually leave the country. Sure, she could have taken a plane, but that would have been too obvious and Lucien or Thomas would search planes for her first. On the entire ride, Anya had sat staring out the window, watching the scenery fly by as fast as the train moved through it. The Poison Owl had only been paying half attention to where the train had been going anyway. All she knew was, she just wanted to get away from the UNS.
Anyway, Anya had been forced to wait around for her connecting train to take her out of Russia for another couple of hours since getting off the one from Moscow. She had discarded the idea of getting anything to eat in that time because she hadn't been all that hungry anyway. She had merely wandered the city for a while before returning to the train station. And since she still had some time to kill before boarding her next train, Anya found the nearest coffee shop so she could sit down and wait. As soon as she entered, Anya ordered herself a small cup of coffee. Her duffel bag with the rifle and other armaments was slung over her shoulder where it had been the past couple of hours.
Her coffee was handed to her a couple of minutes later Anya paid for it and turned to look around for an empty table to sit at. Unfortunately, the only empty seat was at a table with a blond guy who was humming and bobbing his head while listening to music from his headphones. 'Why was it that I always manage to find myself around weirdos?' she thought to herself as she rolled her eyes, making her way towards the table. Anya tried not to frown as she stood there, waiting for the weird guy to actually notice her. When he didn't, Anya let out a curt sigh and a grunt before asking. "Hey. Can I sit here?" she asked. When he finally looked up at her, Anya resisted the urge to scowl and roll her eyes again as her question was ignored. Instead of either repeating her question or anything like that, Anya unceremoniously placed her cup of coffee down on the table and sat down in the chair, the duffel bag sliding from her shoulder and being placed carefully onto the floor next to her feet. She said nothing else and just began drinking her coffee.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:28 pm
Nikolai continued to smile at the woman, even though she had obviously asked her question already and had no intentions of asking again. He followed her when she set down the coffee cup, and continued to smile when she sat down. He knew she thought he was weird, she had an air about her that was all too similar to his for some reason. He sighed and took another sip[ of his coffee, still watching the woman over the edge of his coffee cup. Still smiling, and still having his music played in his ear, Nikolai continued to smile at her and started moving again, he didn't bob, just tap his foot lightly in time to the music. The floor of the coffee shop was warble, and the soles of his shoes would normally be quite loud on such a place. Though his shoes touched the marble and should have made a tapping noise, there was no sound coming from his feet. He looked the woman in front of him over, she obviously wasn't Russian, and she obviously was here to catch a train, a few things were similar about them, some were different, but the one that Nikolai found the most perplexing was the air she carried about her, it was similar to his. She was quite beautiful, he noticed, but she looked unassuming about it, like it was something she knew about but didn't care terribly about. Nikolai giggled lightly, he didn't know why, he just couldn't help it, it wasn't loud, and no one seemed to notice but a few people, but someone like him laughing lightly didn't seem terribly out of place, so they quickly put it aside. Still smiling, Nikolai watched the woman with the familiar aura for a few more moments his blue eyes glancing over her features until his mind couldn't take it any more. Nikolai noticed he had no more coffee, at which point he sighed, got up and ordered another cup. It was his eighteenth one, and the person working the register didn't quite care why he needed so much coffee. After grabbing his new source of energy, Nikolai went back to his chair and sat down, his bag still where he left it at the foot of his chair.
He sighed lightly and yawned as the track his mp3 player was on faded, and switched over to a new song. He tapped his foot lightly to the irregular beats and smiled, taking another sip of his coffee, he noticed a large green ring on the woman's finger. He couldn't place what was odd about it, but it was strange for some reason. He chalked it up to his mind playing tricks on him and continued to smile at this woman who perplexed him. Even the music in his head couldn't suppress the thought's that Nikolai had at the moment; he wanted to talk to this woman, get to know her. He figured since he still had a little while before his train left, he may as well spend it doing something he wanted to do. He moved his chair in slightly, a bit closer to her and smiled lightly before asking, "Might I ask your name, miss?" His smile was friendly, but not overbearing, and while his way of speaking was a bit overly polite, Nikolai had long since learned that politeness was important when dealing with unknown factors and people.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:02 pm
As she sipped at her coffee, Anya could feel his eyes following her every movement. Her features twitched briefly in mild annoyance. The last thing she needed was someone staring at her like she was an alien or something. However, Anya managed to say nothing about it, and instead concentrated on her coffee. She was relieved when the guy seated across from her got up from the table. She would have left as well, but he soon returned with a refill of his coffee and sat back down across from her once again, and continued studying her like she was some piece of furniture or whatever. Good lord, if he was going to speak to her or something, just say something already! Anya was about ready to give him a piece of her mind about his rude staring when he finally spoke up. It annoyed her a little bit more when she heard him move his chair slightly closer towards her.
Setting her jaw and eyes closed, Anya put her coffee cup down onto the table with a light yet emphatic clack sound of cardboard against tabletop. She waited a split second before opening her eyes, giving the man a slight glare and a frown to match. Not because he was trying to make conversation with her, but because he had annoyed her already with his staring and such. "What's it to you? Why do you want to know my name anyway?" Anya's tone was a little on the defensive side. She didn't really want to interact with people very much at the moment. She just wanted to be left alone so she could get out of Russia and to her destination. Not that she actually had a destination in mind anyway...
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:37 am
Nikolai smiled even as the woman glared at him, he didn't mind, he was used to it. She even frowned at him, obviously she wasn't a fan of being stared at, then again, Nikolai doubted anyone really was a fan of such a thing. He continued to listen to his music and replied simply, "Because you're interesting to me." It may have been an odd statement, but it was true, nothing more, nothing less, the woman was interesting to Nikolai and he wanted to get to know her, even if it was just a tiny bit. He continued to smile and said, "It's not as though I'm some crazy person, I may act a bit weird, but I just want a bit of conversation, that's all. If you don't want to talk, that's fine, but at least give me the pleasure of knowing your name." Nikolai smiled lightly, his expression a friendly one. He was interested in this woman, if only because she was so strange to him, he wanted to know what that similar aura that surrounded her was. In all honesty, Nikolai wasn't one to pursue such things unless they were of extremely great interest to him. He sat back in his chair a bit and tapped his feet lightly, no sound was coming from them at all, unconsciously, Nikolai thought about the shadow under the table, he ran it over the woman's bag, and since it was closed, her could see inside of it. He unconsciously smiled just a bit wider when he saw what was in it; this woman was certainly very interesting.
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:31 am
"Pfft! Not a crazy person? Yeah, right..." she muttered in response, rolling her eyes. Anya had heard that kind of answer before. Maybe not in the same exact words, but it sounded relatively the same in its intentions to what Will had said to her when they first met. As such, Anya resisted the urge to start screaming at the man seated at the table with her. Hopefully, this guys wasn't entirely like Will or whatever. If he was, Anya would have to hurt him to get him to leave her alone. "Only conversation? Really now? You think I haven't heard that before?" Anya replied before taking another sip of her coffee. After placing the cup of coffee on the table again, Anya then continued talking. "But whatever. You can't possibly be any worse than someone else I know. I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours first."
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:07 pm
Nikolai chuckled lightly, it seemed this woman had run into a few people like himself before, as odd as that may have been. Still smiling, he replied to her condition, saying, "Very well. My name is Nikolai Krane. That's Nikolai with a 'k' and Krane with a 'K'. But you can call me Nik if you like, or just Nikolai is fine. And your name is...?" Nikolai smiled and extended his hand to shake. There was something to be said about being polite, Nikolai knew that such politeness could sometimes be out of place, but he felt that being polite was important when dealing with people for the first time. Still smiling, Nikolai noticed something under his arm on the table; his shadow. His shadow wavered slightly, as though it was a living creature trying to escape from under the shadow itself, but couldn't. He hoped the woman wouldn't notice and he concentrated his thoughts on controlling the shape of his shadow. When he was extremely tired, Nikolai had a difficult time controlling his ability to manipulate shadows. When he was like this, Nikolai had to concentrate quite hard to control them, which is why he shut out the rest of the world with his headphones. He still had the same light smile on his face, not giving away any of his internal worries or feelings in his calm expression.
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 8:21 pm
Anya almost rolled her eyes again at Nikolai's introduction and subsequent explanation of how he spelled his name. She didn't care as long as he told her his name. She glanced at his hand briefly before giving it a curt shake and then retracting her hand. "Anya. Anya Newton." Anya replied flatly, taking another sip of her coffee. She thought she saw Nikolai's shadow move on its own underneath his arm on the table. Which brought her to think that maybe there was more to this guy than him just being weird when listening to music from his headphones. Maybe he was an Owl like herself. However, Anya didn't mention anything out loud. At least not yet.
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 8:38 pm
Nikolai smiled wider when she shook his hand and gave her name. It was pleasant to meet new people, so he tried to do so whenever the mood and opportunity coincided. He nodded lightly once before saying, "Well, Anya, it's very good to meet you. So, have you enjoyed your time in our country? It's a bit dreary some times, but it's not all bad." Nikolai could tell Anya wasn't from Russia, she didn't sound Russian, and Nikolai heard what sounded like a faint trace of German in her voice. He continued to smile and listen to is music, eagerly awaiting the woman's response. He took another sip of his coffee, and thought for a few seconds. The woman was foreign, there was something odd about her, and she had a bag full of weapons; Nikolai would have to see what he could learn about this woman, he was interested in such things. He wasn't going to report her o the authorities or whatever, he just wanted to see how things would turn out if she brought a bag of guns on he train with her. Nikolai had been resting his hand on the table, but when his shadow started wavering again, he promptly moved it off of the table again; an unstable shadow wasn't something he liked to show off, especially o strangers, no matter how interesting they were.
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:32 pm
Anya simply shrugged when Nikolai said it was good to meet her. Not that she didn't think it was nice to meet someone new once in a while. She just wasn't in the mood to be around people at the moment. However, Anya did her best to keep that sentiment hidden from Nikolai for the time being. There was a very high chance he wasn't going to be on the same train as she was anyway.
Leaning her elbow onto the table, Anya placed her head on an upraised hand to lean on the table. Her left hand remained on the coffee cup. When Nikolai asked her if she enjoyed her time in Russia, Anya blinked and looked back over at him briefly before looking away again. "That would depend on your definition of the word: enjoyment..." she replied flatly, recalling her recent time in Russia and leaving the UNS base in Moscow without saying goodbye to her friends first. Again, Anya noticed, out of the corner of her vision, that Nikolai's shadow was moving of its own volition. She frowned slightly, but it was also because she was recalling her last moments at the UNS base in Moscow. But it was also because she was annoyed that maybe she was starting to see things that weren't real: like Nikolai's shadow moving on its own or something.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:27 am
Nikolai smiled even as Anya frowned. He could tell something fairly bad had happened while she was in Russia, but he didn't think it was cause enough to make him stop smiling. Things would turn out very interesting if he continued to hang around this woman, and making things interesting was really his only objective at this point. He continued to smile and replied to her flatly stated comment, "I see. I'm sorry to hear that. But no matter how bad things get, you can't say they aren't interesting." Nikolai took another sip of his coffee, set it back down on the table and his shadow knocked the coffee cup over accidentally. Luckily it was empty, or he would have been splashed with coffee. He picked the cup up and set it upright again and looked at the clock, saying, "Still a little time left before the train arrives... I'm so tired..." Nikolai was talking to himself, but he didn't mind whether or not the other people around him heard what he was saying. What he cared about was whether or not Anya had noticed the fact that his shadow alone knocked over the coffee cup. He didn't have time to ponder this as he got up and got another cup of coffee quickly; losing control of his shadow in a public place was a perfect example of what he didn't want to happen. He still had a smile on his face however, and he continued talking to Anya, "So Anya, care to tell me what brought you here? By here I mean this country, not this place. Obviously you're here here to take a train." Taking a deep breath, Nikolai closed his eyes for a moment and tried to concentrate on his shadow, but quickly opened them and smiled at Anya again.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:22 pm
Anya's frown deepened when she heard Nikolai comment on how interesting things might be. This guy didn't know anything. Then again, Anya wasn't about to just open up her life story to some random guy named Nikolai Krane whom she just met in a coffee shop in a Russian train station. What kind of name was Nikolai Krane anyway? From the way Nik talked, Anya assumed that he was of Russian decent. And Russians always named their kids weird names. "Interesting isn't even on the description word list for what happened." Anya muttered, rolling her eyes and shaking her head once or twice. She would have used some other choice words to tell Nikolai to shut up rather than what she just said, but what was said was probably more polite of her.
As Nik's coffee cup suddenly tipped over, Anya looked back over at him and down at the cup as he put it back in its upright position. Good thing there hadn't been any more coffee in that cup, otherwise, Nikolai would be soaked in hot coffee right now. "If you're so tired, why are you drinking so much coffee then? If you drink too much of the stuff now, you won't be able to fall asleep on your train." Anya pointed out before turning her gaze back outside the coffee shop at the board which had the train times and track numbers posted. She was watching and waiting for her own train's posting to come up. It would be within the next ten minutes apparently. "As for what brought me here, that's none of your business." Anya replied to Nikolai's last question, not looking at him and instead staring at the train listing over the rim of her coffee cup as she took another sip.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:42 pm
Nikolai sipped his coffee and smiled at Anya, not even phased by her polite attempts at shutting him up. He shrugged at her comment about not sleeping and said, "I'll have no problem sleeping, considering the only thing keeping me up is the caffeine buzz at the moment. I'm on my twentieth cup at the moment. My train gets here in about ten minutes so I can't afford to sleep now." Nikolai glanced at the board, seeing his train's estimated arrival time he smiled. He set his coffee cup down on the table after taking another sip and clenched his fist lightly a few times, as though he was trying to restore feeling to his fingers. He stared at his currently numb fingers and the wavering shadow below it for a few moments before returning his gaze to Anya. He hummed in disappointment at her reply and said, "Now now, no need to be terribly hostile. I was just curious that's all. You certainly seem to be in a hurry to leave, if you don't mind me saying. So where are you headed? Anywhere in particular or just out of the country?" Nikolai sipped more of his coffee, he only needed to bear it for just a little longer, then he could sleep for a long time.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:57 pm
She frowned slightly at his reply about the caffeine buzz being the only thing keeping him awake. At least he was more honest about something like that than Armand ((another character on the UNS side)) probably would be. "Well, you should stop drinking it anyway. No telling how badly you'll have to pee later. And no telling if there's a bathroom on the train either..." As soon as the thought crossed her mind and was out of her mouth, Anya regretted mentioning it. She could tell from Nik's personality that he would probably make some sort of joke about the comment.
Anya scowled slightly and gave Nikolai a glare. "I'm not being hostile. I'm just saying I don't want to talk about what happened." she replied flatly, turning her attention back to the train listing when she heard Nikolai say his train left in about ten minutes. 'Dammit! He's gonna be on the same train...' she thought to herself. "Anywhere but Russia right now would be great." she said aloud instead of what she thought.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:17 pm
Nikolai chuckled at her comment, he felt that he shouldn't make a joke about it even though he really really wanted to. He simply took another sip of his coffee, as though he was taunting her about drinking it, though it was his body and risk of later discomfort. He hummed lightly at her comment about her hostility and said, "Well, see you're still being slightly hostile about that. But okay, I understand, we don't have to talk about it if you'd rather not." Nikolai nodded lightly, glancing up at the arrival board he continued to smile. Anya's comment struck him as rather odd; judging by the way she acted and her possessions, she was running away from something. He paused his movements momentarily and said, "I'm sorta the same way, I think Russia has given me all it has to offer me. So tell me Anya, if you won't tell me why you're here, and you won't tell me what happened... Care to tell me what you're running from? No one packs that kind of heat unless they intend to break through some obstacles, and you don't seem like you're running to anywhere." Nikolai chuckled lightly, he was of course, referring to her bag full of armaments at her feet, but how would she react when he told her the contents of her own bag without even looking at it? Whatever happened was bound to be interesting, and that's all Nik wanted.
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