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*GASPETH*
Soviet Russia era Bible smugglers/underground churches?! EEEEEEEE…I am so happy.
Also, I adore the name Nikolai.
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
@koshka Hehe, I’m glad you’re excited!!! That’ll be quite a bit of their 3rd book, so I’m glad you like it😂
Yesss, I love it too <3 I like him already…he may get his own book at some point😆
'Thought I'd wait'
'For what?'
'For the right partner'His own book? Welp, that is the way it goes, isn’t it. XD
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
@koshka Yesssss, it is possible. It really is 😂
His book/arc would highlight persecution/speaking up when the rest of the world is silent…and I think I have an idea for who the 2nd MC could be…
Nikolai and Peter as the MCs of a Soviet Russia novel would be a lot of fun :3
'Thought I'd wait'
'For what?'
'For the right partner'Pastor Nikolai Aleksandr Smirnov and MGB Agent Peter Dimitri Kuznetsov together as the MCs of a novel would be fabulous…I’m getting ideas already…oh no XXD
'Thought I'd wait'
'For what?'
'For the right partner'Thanks!! 🥰
It was because i saw a pic of a girl riding piggyback with a guy and I was like, “I need to put this in my book!” XD
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
Umm… my immediate answer would be Leon. I find him more relatable in a general sense and for some reason I just love him more. XD I wish I could give you more of a complete answer, lol. I guess I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said.
And that scene….
Girl!!! They’re smuggling Bibles together?!! I love that!! 😆
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
@mineralizedwritings I actually like the Star Wars shows better than the movies for that reason. The show characters are easier to connect to. Their character development is more spread out. They typically have more clear ambitions/passions/etc, even if those ambitions and passions aren’t exactly good ones. The movie characters don’t have it that way.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
Pastor Nikolai Aleksandr Smirnov and MGB Agent Peter Dimitri Kuznetsov together as the MCs of a novel would be fabulous…I’m getting ideas already…oh no XXD
What?! Does that mean it’s an official WIP now? Oh dear. XD
A quick side note: did you intend Alesandr and Dimitri to be middle names or were you referring to patronymics (the father’s (or other male relative’s) name + suffix)? If these are Russian names (or Slavic culture in general really) there would be a first name, a patronymic, and a surname. For instance, Nikolai would be something like Nikolai Aleksandrov Smirnov, meaning his father’s name was Aleksanr.
Or wait…did you intend Smirnov to be the patronymic and Aleksandr to be a (albeit rare) middle name? Then, what is his surname?
I think I’m confusing myself. XD
Anyway, what I meant to say was, you may want to do a little poking around with Eastern naming customs. In any case this sounds like another amazing book.
Also….MGB Agent? O.O I am so excited.
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
@koshka I am going to have to do more research (once I get to that WIP, at least XD) @elishavet-pidyon @godlyfantasy12 @grcr @esther-c @lightoverdarkness6 @mineralizedwritings @smiley @keilah-h @rae @savannah_grace2009 @jonas @highscribeofaetherium @anyone-else-idk-lol
I have a couple more scenes I wanna share!!! ✨✨
“You know you’re always welcome here, Riker.”
Riker’s gaze cut away, unable to meet the pastor’s kind, compassionate eyes. “You’re finished with resistance work and the Nazis are through. You shouldn’t have to be under suspicion from the Americans.”
“I sincerely doubt they even know you were in the Schutzstaffel.”
“And if they found out and knew that you helped me with anything, they could take you too, Ezekiel.”
Ezekiel smiled sadly and rose from where he sat behind his desk, perusing the bookshelves. “…I didn’t trust you at first, Riker. I wasn’t apt to even letting you into the Violet Iris group. I feared that it was all a trap and that I would place everyone in terrible danger. Before you proved yourself trustworthy, I only trusted you because Fin trusted you.”
Riker glanced up; with Ezekiel’s back still turned to him, he whispered, “Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he shouldn’t have trusted me.”
Ezekiel turned on his heel, a small, leather-bound book in hand. He raised a single eyebrow. “Wrong about you how?”
“Maybe he shouldn’t have trusted me—maybe he was just…wrong about me in every way. I got him killed—”
“Fin made many mistakes in his life, as we all do;” Ezekiel settled back in his chair, “choosing you was not one of them.”
Riker stood, unable to sit still a second longer. He paced back and forth across the office, his boots tapping against the carpet. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned. “He shouldn’t have trusted me.”
“Why? Just because you were in the Schutzstaffel, same as he was?”
“I failed him—I failed everyone…I always have.”
Ezekiel opened the book in his hands and glanced up at Riker. “And where did you get an idea like that?”
Too many open doors; too many invited questions. Riker’s feet stopped in their tracks. He bit his lip and didn’t meet Ezekiel’s gaze.
“You are not to blame for Fin’s death, Riker.”
“I failed him, Ezekiel,” a sob threatened to choke out Riker’s words, “and he died because I can’t do anything right.”
“Riker—”
Riker covered his face with his hands and moaned. “I even failed my own mother.”
“…And do you think Jennie or Fin would want to see you like this?”
It didn’t matter what they wanted—it didn’t matter what they would have desired. They were both dead. And they weren’t the only ones.
Jennie, Fin, Aadelheide, Jezyk, and even Hans…each and every one of them died when Riker failed to do what was needed—a regret he’d bear the rest of his life.
Maybe he wasn’t entirely to blame for Jennie’s death. Maybe he hadn’t been the one that brought Fin to his death. Maybe Hans’ death really was Hans’ own choice. Maybe Jezyk really had surrendered himself to the will of the ones who ended his life.
But no one, nothing, could change the fact that Aadelheide was dead by his hands and his hands only.
And with that fact solidified, Leon had every reason on earth and in heaven to hate him. Nor did Riker blame him. Riker hated himself for what he’d done—the things he hadn’t fought against because he was too afraid, too naïve, to stand up.
Riker uncovered his face, slicked back his awry hair, and offered Ezekiel a brisk nod. “I need to go…I promised someone I’d go and see them.”
Ezekiel slowly nodded. “Alright, if you must go…but I hope we will have the chance to speak again soon.”
Riker smiled a smile he didn’t feel and stepped out of the office, stepping off the stage and striding down the aisle. He pushed his way out of a church he didn’t belong in, even if it was for only a short conversation, and onto the cobblestone streets.
He strode down the streets, back and forth, fighting back memories and feelings he had no desire to deal with. He stumbled into the Red Cross hospital and shared a quick conversation with the nurse at the front desk.
Riker strode into one of the wards and into one of the small rooms. A small head turned to him, and a smile brightened a chubby face. “Riker! I have colors!” Lina held up a box of crayons proudly, standing up from where she sat at a small table.
Riker smiled and went to the small girl, hefting her into his arms, twirling her around, and placing her on the floor again. Lina giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a hug. She skipped, as best as she could, back to her seat; she opened the box in her hands.
Lina looked up at Riker with big, bright, pleading eyes. “Do you want to color, Riker?”
Riker crouched in front of Lina, taking a single crayon from the box in her hands. He smiled the brightest smile he could muster. “I’d love it more than anything.”
~*~
“I’m proud of you, dear.”
Leon glanced at his mother-in-law, hanging one of Albert’s shirts on the small clothesline on Louisa’s porch. “How so?”
“Well, you’ve gotten a job to provide for your kids. I hate that it’s at a bar, but the man was so kind to offer you a job, and if that’s where you must work for now, it will work,” Louisa smiled faintly, “and I’m proud of you for just being here for the children…they need a Daddy in their life. And most of all, I’m proud that you haven’t even touched alcohol in a little more than a week.”
Leon shrugged. He’d been around his kids so much and worked so much, he hadn’t had much of a desire. Refusing to let his mind stay on what he’d endured and instead focusing on the small lights in his life took away the gnawing hunger…at least enough.
“I’m proud of you, child. I always have been.”
Leon’s brown eyes met Louisa’s blue. Leon smiled softly. “Thank you, Louisa, for sticking around.”
“Honey,” Louisa tilted her head and set her hands on her hips, “I wouldn’t leave you and especially these grandbabies even if there was a whole army trying to pull me away.”
Leon chuckled and opened his mouth to reply; Louisa’s bright eyes suddenly widened. Leon’s head turned, and he knew his own eyes followed suit.
Donned in the blue dress uniform of the British Royal Air Force, a man with bright blue eyes and bright blonde hair stood on the walkway leading up to Louisa’s home. He’d aged, most assuredly…looked more like a man that a boy, but it was still unmistakably Abelard.
Louisa swayed, and Leon caught her arm. Louisa’s hands covered her mouth. “Abelard!? My boy?”
A smile and tears brightened the young man’s face; he ran to the porch and Louisa ran off the porch. Abelard’s arms wrapped around Louisa and lifted her off the ground. “Mama, oh, Mama…it’s been so long…”
“Too long, darling, way too long.” Louisa murmured, kissing Abelard’s forehead.
Leon stepped off the porch; Abelard set Louisa back down and faced him with a familiar boyish grin. “Leon! Wow,” he whistled, “you’ve aged.”
Leon scoffed. “As have you. Don’t pretend you’re still eighteen.”
Abelard grinned and wrapped Leon in a tight, brotherly hug. “I’ve missed you too.”
Leon chuckled and returned the hug. “And I’ve missed you, lunkhead.”
“Dimwit.”
“Boys,” Louisa sighed, but a smile still played with her lips, “you haven’t seen each other for six years, and you instantly start calling each other names?”
Abelard pointed at Leon. “He started it.”
Leon chuckled and gave Abelard a friendly clap on the back. “I really did miss you,” his eye caught Isabel, who played with her brothers in the grass, “and it’s good to see you again. Isabel, come here, cupcake.”
Isabel skipped over, twirling and grabbing Leon’s hand. Her eyebrows furrowed; she looked up at Abelard in confusion.
Abelard smiled and waved; he faced Leon with a frown. “I don’t think she recognizes me.”
“She was only just over a year old when you left. Isabel, cupcake, this is Abelard…Uncle Abelard.”
Abelard crouched in front of Isabel. His eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes crossed. “Where is Isabel? She’s so big from when I saw her last, and there’s two of her! Which one is the real one?”
Isabel giggled. “You’re silly!”
Abelard tousled Isabel’s curls, stood, and glanced over at Albert and Elias, who chased each other around on the grass.
Leon smiled. “That’s Albert and Elias.” He whispered, motioning to each of them when he said their name.
“They’re adorable,” Abelard glanced back and forth, over and over again, “but where’s Aadelheide? I wanted to say hello…we haven’t seen each other in six years and her letters stopped arriving over a year ago…”
Leon shared a look with Louisa; Louisa’s eyes brightened with tears and Leon’s burned just inside his eyelids. Leon took in and released a deep breath, refusing to let them surface.
“Abelard, child, your twin…your sister…she-she’s gone. She died almost a year ago, darling…I’m so sorry,” Louisa’s voice cracked, “but Aadelheide is in heaven.”
Abelard stared at her for a long moment; he swayed on his feet and faced Leon. “No…no! Leon,” he gripped Leon’s shoulders and shook them, “please tell me she’s lying…please.”
Leon shook his head. Not allowing his voice to quiver, he whispered, “…It’s true.”
Abelard’s legs gave way beneath him, and he crumpled onto the pavement. His knees rose to his chest; he buried his face in his hands and moaned.
Louisa’s eyes met Leon’s. “Leon, dear, could you take the children…?”
Leon motioned for Isabel to follow him and picked up both of the boys, leading or carrying all three of them inside. Leon closed the door; Abelard’s first wail echoed through the still air.
Leon grabbed scraps of paper and something to color with for each of his kids, settling them on the kitchen floor.
Abelard’s sobs resounded in Leon’s ears: a reminder of Leon’s own screaming, agonized soul. Leon opened a cabinet and pulled something out. He leaned against the counter and watched as his kids colored.
He popped a top off; he tipped up the bottle; he took a long sip. And waited for the alcohol to kick in.
'Thought I'd wait'
'For what?'
'For the right partner'They were…twins. I forgot…
Oh.
How could you?
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
@koshka *whistles and strides away*
'Thought I'd wait'
'For what?'
'For the right partner'Oh, I like Abelard… and I feel terrible for him!! 😭😭 the poor guy.
...i see the world in my head every time i close my eyes...
Ahh, that was so good but so saddd!! 😭 Poor Abelard 🥺
Ok, but when they first saw each other and started calling each other names, I thought immediately of Steve and Bucky. XD Like when they said something along the lines of:
“Don’t do anything stupid without me.”
“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.”
I think those are my favorite lines in the whole movie 🤣 I just love their dynamic so much
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
@grcr Ty!! I know, poor guy😭 I actually haven’t written him in a very long time, but he was the first WW2 character I actually came up with! I should write him more XD
@esther-c Ty!! Ack, I know😭💕 Yeahhhh, poor guy…he’s gonna be reeling for a little while😢hehe…as a Steve and Bucky fan, you saying that makes me happy😂😆
and yes, their dynamic is 👌
Marvel did it so well <3
'Thought I'd wait'
'For what?'
'For the right partner'
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