"Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act." –Truman Capote
6th of December. 6th of December. Same day, different feelings. December of 6th, 1895 was the first time in a longtime since she visited Saint Petersburg. She remembered it looking relatively impressive for the time, It was still stupidly cold but someone was there for her. December of 6th, 1966. Her first time in a long time in the city of Gayny. She didn't came here in her own free will, It's just something fate decided for her. But she doesn't feel the same happiness she felt all those years back.
She had no home, barely a army left, her real home occupied by the Fascists. She didn't feel anything anymore except misery. Always being forced to swallow it up and make that same stupid smug expression again. She missed the days when they weren't fake facades, she remembered when she beamed a genuine smile in Moscow. This place... reminded her of her own home a too much, is this what Paris feels like right now? Miserable and cold?
She can't blame the people here for the sad condition this place, or well, the entirety of Russia is in. It's not their fault, It's the constant bombings from the Luftwaffe and Terror raids that made this country what it is. She imagined her home to not be much different from this place... and it was upsetting her. It really was. Was all of this preventable? She sighed, there's no point in thinking about that. She can only hope for the future.
"What are you thinking?" The man sitting besides her at the bench asked, looking at her in the eyes, a bandage wrapped around said man's face. He had a very unamused face, and she could tell he was just trying to start small-talk. Like always she just returned the unamused look and leaned back.
"Aren't you supposed to be in jail, Komi?" France asked, raising a brow. Komi leaned back in disdain. "Yes; but I was pardoned." Komi answered, she could tell he was... not ecstatic. "Really? He just let you go like that?" France asked. "Apparently so," Komi responded, his tone still rife with annoyance. "He was giving me some long-ass lecture about being a good little communism supporter, but in the end all he really wanted was a verbal pledge of loyalty, which he got."
He then let out a heavy sigh, leaning his head back against the bench he was sitting on. "And after all that, the bastard has the audacity to keep his guards around me even after I'm free to go. Can you believe that?" Komi said, as he cautiously looked around. "Wow, that sounds fun." France responded, sarcastically. "Oh, real funny," Komi muttered, rolling his eyes. "I swear to God, the more I have to deal with him, the more I want to just kick him in the face."
"Just like how he shoved that Bayonet up yours?" France asked, trying to compose herself, but eventually a chuckle escapes her throat. Komi groaned at France's laughing. "That was painful, shut up." Komi groaned. "Yeah, but you deserved it." France responded. "Oh, shove it." Komi muttered, shooting her a look. "I did not deserve it, even if he thought I did."Komi argued. "I would say you do deserve worse, actually." France shot back, with a mischievous grin.
"Yeah, Fuck you too then." Komi cursed France out. "Why am I even here with you?" Komi muttered, to himself mostly.
"Well, because I'm keeping you here." France replied, her smug grin growing wider. "Besides, it's not everyday that you get the opportunity to torment a loser like you." She let out a giggle, her tone becoming more teasing as she continued. "Oh and also, because I find your annoyance amusing." She explained, as Komi's face grew even more disdainful. "I simply wanted to know about what you were thinking." Komi snarled.
"And I simply wanted to tease you a little bit, so we're on the same page here." France replied, her grin becoming even more amused as she stared at Komi's increasingly annoyed expression. "You must admit, it is fun watching you get all riled up like this." Komi rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes in annoyance. "Please do not say 'Riled up' ever again." Komi responded in his annoyance. "Oh~?" France feigned innocence, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "Why? Is it such an unpleasant word for you to hear? Or is the fact that you know I'm getting under your skin making you madder?"
"Please shut the fuck up." Komi pleaded. France burst out into laughter at that, and it only grew more obnoxious as she saw the effect it was having on Komi. "Oh~ I don't know, that response just makes me want to keep going! I must be hitting a nerve!" France mocked, giving him another grin. "Oh? Oh? what about you! You don't look so great yourself." Komi responded, anger still present in his tone. France raised a brow. "What do you mean-"
"You know exactly what i mean! Don't play dumb with me here, I see through that smug shit face of yours." Komi snarled, France was... a bit caught offguard. The mockery and amusement on France's face disappearing.France's expression suddenly became more serious, her eyes becoming narrower as she looked Komi up and down. "You know, you're right," she replied slowly. "I haven't been... feeling right as of late."
"As if your sad little face didn't tell me that before we started the conversation." Komi responded, the annoyance in his voice slowly fading too but a hint of it still remaining. "Oh shut up." France grumbled, her dismissive tone returning, but there was also still a tinge of sadness under it. "You do realize that there's a difference between having a 'sad face' and just not feeling 'right' at all, right?" She added, more annoyance in her tone as she tried to dismiss this topic. "Like I said, I can see through you, your character is as thick as paper. So you either stop annoying or tell me what's wrong." Komi finished, now he had the smug smirk on his grin.
France let out a deep sigh, her irritation clearly growing as she crossed her arms. "Oh, what? You want me to spill all my emotional baggage on you like you're some kind of therapist or something?" She then rolled her eyes, giving him a dismissive pout. "I'm fine, really." She tried dismissing it again. "It's bothering you, and It's bothering you a lot, don't lie to me." Komi responded, his voice still having that teasing tone. "Yeah, you're right. It is bothering me." France conceded, her expression growing even more annoyed in response to his teasing. "But just because it's bothering me doesn't mean I have to tell you the exact reasons why. Or even tell you anything at all, for that matter."
"Is that so?" Komi asked, raising a brow towards her. France glared at him for a few seconds, trying to maintain her composure. She then scoffed quietly. "Yes, really. So just shut up about it, will you?" She spoke in a tone of both playfulness and disdain. "Can't believe you, Miss Teasing herself, is being annoyed by teasing right now, curious." Komi replied. France opened her mouth, but then promptly shut it again, seemingly unable to come up with a proper response to Komi's comment. She instead grunted quietly, looking away from him. "No, but in all seriousness, If something's bothering you, you should talk it out with someone." Komi's tone changed as he said that, that smirk seemingly just disappearing off his face.
France continued to look away, not saying anything for a few seconds. Then she looked back to him, her tone suddenly becoming more apologetic. "Yeah... You know what, you've got a point. But I really don't think you want to hear about my stupid little problems." She confronted. "Oh, no, problem's are hardly stupid, considering the grand scale of today's problems... we all live through something. Some problems are just insatiable." Komi assured her.
"You sound like WRRF with how philosophical you're being." France grumbled, her tone still filled with slight annoyance, though this time there was a more genuine appreciation underlying it. "I mean, you're right. I just... I don't know. It just feels trivial to talk about. I don't want to bother you with my whining." France explained. "Well, why not hear it then, I can only decide if its trivial or not only after hearing it." Komi replied.
France sighed once more, then shifted slightly in her seat on the bench. She seemed to ponder something for a few seconds before finally deciding that she might as well just do it. "Well... it's not really a big deal per say, or maybe it is..I don't know, but it's just..." Her tone was still filled with some residual annoyance at having to talk about this, but there was a genuine hint of exhaustion in her voice as she continued. "I've just... I feel stuck, I guess." She explained.
"Why is that?" Komi asked. "Ever since 22nd of June, 1940... That was the last time I saw my actual home, last time before those German bastards occupied it. Those British and American cowards just surrendered... but to be fair, there wasn't much they could do." France explained the history, both her voice and explanation having that somber tone. She continued. "By the time I managed to run away to Africa they surrendered, most of my colonies had announced independence and well... they began their berates against me. On hindsight I did mistreat them severely... I'm not too particularly proud of those moments and to some degree I deserve those berates."
The more France spoke, the more Komi's demeanor changed. Gone were his teasing, joking attitude, replaced by a sympathetic, almost pitying look. At the same time, his tone of voice became more solemn and his expression more somber. He knew a bit of the history, but hearing it explained like this was still something new to him. He could understand her reasoning, and he did sympathize with her more than he had before. "That must be hard." Komi finally said after hearing the whole explanation. "No shit." France responded, followed by a chuckle, more to reassure herself more than anything.
"Yeah... No, of course." Komi agreed, with an understanding chuckle of his own. He then paused for a few seconds, as if thinking about something. "But, just because you did some bad things in the past doesn't mean you deserve any hate now, you know? People can change, they can learn and grow. No matter how bad." Komi reassured. "I don't know if my words are helping, but I'd say WRRF went through something similar to your situation." Komi tried to be reassuring.
France sighed, still looking a little melancholic, but there was definite relief in her voice when Komi finished speaking. "You're right," She admitted. "There are... similar points, between us, and that's reassuring to know. I just feel like such a hypocrite, though... I've spent so long berating other countries for their crimes, but when something similar happens to me, I suddenly get all sensitive about it." She explained. A bit of both regret and annoyance in her voice.
"It's easy to feel remorse when there's a barrel of a gun pointing towards you, I suppose." Komi's words weren't meant to be reassuring or understanding, but they somehow came off as that. France's sigh suddenly grew more tired than it was before. "Yeah... I suppose you're right." She admitted, her voice still tinged with sadness, but there was a sense of resignation to it now as well. She didn't try to argue with Komi on that point, knowing that whatever she might say would barely change the situation she was in. Then, her expression suddenly became a lot more weary. "I'm just so goddamn tired..." She mumbled to herself.
"Now I'm no doctor, but I think that means you should just take a chill pill and take a rest." Komi responded to her mumbling. France grumbled and rolled her eyes as she heard Komi respond. "Ha ha, very funny and all, but it's not that easy. You think I haven't already tried resting and relaxing?" She then groaned, her tone growing more exhausted and frustrated as she continued. "But whenever I lay down to sleep, my mind immediately starts racing, and I can't stop thinking about all the things that have happened, and..." She left the rest unspoken, seemingly not wanting to continue on that topic any longer.
"Are you scared you will never reach home again?" Komi's question came out of nowhere. She raised her head... she was caught offguard.
France took a pause, clearly caught offguard by the sudden question. "Huh... I guess... yeah?" She hesitantly admitted. "I never thought about it in those terms before, but... I guess deep down, that's what's really bothering me." She spoke as she pondered. "Москва, гори" Komi spoke, she didn't understand what he was saying. "What does that mean?" France asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "What I'm trying to say is your and our situation Isn't much different, both Paris and Moskva, both under the boot of those German bastards... Were just as scared as you, That we may never get Leningrad or Moscow back... But we can't just stop now, can we?"
France's expression grew more somber once again as she heard Komi describe the similarities between her situation and his. "No..." She replied quietly. "We can't." She then sighed once more, but this time the exhaustion in her voice was more apparent than before. "You have a point. It's just... knowing that doesn't change anything, you know?" France was quickly cut off. "So what if it doesn't? who gives a shit? We're gonna stay here and accept the situation? It maybe hopeless but your gotta give it your all! kick! bite! scream! Just fight back til the bitter end!" Komi's words were irrational but oddly motivating.
France couldn't help but give a tired smile as she heard him speak, despite the irrationality of his words. "Yeah... You're right." She admitted. "We can't give up on something just because it's hopeless. We've got to keep going, no matter what it takes." She agreed. "Glad we could agree on something." Komi replied to her agreement of his words. France let out another sigh, her face still worn from everything. "Yeah... Now we just need to put all that into action, huh?" She then paused for a few seconds, before speaking up again. "Anyway... Enough about all this depressing and motivational stuff. Do you think you could bring me back down to earth? I don't know, just start talking about some stupid shit or something?"
"Sorry Lady but I afraid we gotta look for WRRF now." Komi objected as he prepared to get up. France let out another sigh, her expression growing more exasperated as she realized that their attempt to lighten the mood was put on hold again. "Damn it..." She grumbled. "And where is WRRF anyway? Shouldn't he be here by now?" France asked. "Probably berating his guards or something or warmongering like always." Komi took a educated guess at France's question. France mumbled something under her breath in response to Komi's guess. "Probably..." Then, she suddenly perked up. "But you know what?" She then began to speak in a more teasing tone. "You really have a negative opinion on the man, don't you?"
Komi paused. Thinking for a moment. "Errr well... we did just fight like thug's a few days ago over our countries... Mostly over ideological differences. I'm surprised he even pardoned me."
"That's true, I'm surprised that he let you go after the whole thing too." France replied, raising an eyebrow as she did. "Speaking of ideological differences... Do you really not like him just because of ideology, or is it because of something else? You know what I'm talking about." Her tone was still teasing, but there was also a slight sense of prodding in her words this time. "No, despite all the shit I've said and done to him, I don't believe him to be a bad person... we both just have a goal and were in each others ways." Komi paused before continuing.
"Just because your fighting someone doesn't mean the other person is a bad person." Komi finished.
"Heh... Funny, I never thought I'd hear you say something like that." France replied with a smirk on her face. "And here I thought you considered him to be the embodiment of everything that's wrong with the world." She continued teasingly. "Well, Communism is, just not the person leading it." Komi explained. "Huh, well look at that." France replied with a surprised chuckle. "I didn't know you could be so... tolerant, for lack of a better word." France chuckled at her own words. "Well, I don't think rationally when I'm mad... when I'm lax I think rationally." Komi explained, again.
"Huh, so you really were being illogical just to spite WRRF, huh?" France responded with a teasing grin. "You really shouldn't be so impulsive, you know?" She then shrugged her shoulders. "Then again, I'm in no position to preach about that, considering how angry you made me back then..." She paused again for a few seconds, before suddenly speaking up in a curious tone. "Can I ask you a serious question? No teasing, no insults, just... a genuine question?" She asked. "Go." Komi simply responded, gesturing her to ask straight ahead.
"Alright." France took a deep breath before speaking again. "Have you... ever truly hated someone, just on a personal level? Like, not because of their politics, or their stance on a certain issue, but just because of who they are as a person?" Komi paused at her question, he paused... thinking. Thinking... Both sat there for a couple seconds, in awkward, deafening silence. "Well... yes, but why do you ask?"
"Well..." She then paused for a few more seconds, as though she wasn't quite sure how to explain herself. "I... I guess I'm asking that question because I'm trying to understand why you acted the way you did towards WRRF in our previous interactions." She then looked away briefly, suddenly seeming more nervous about the topic than before. "I mean, it seemed more like personal animosity than just disagreeing over some political differences or something."
He sighed, putting his hand on his face. "No... No you are right, It goes a bit beyond than just... petty politics. WRRF would probably tell you the same thing I'm telling you but... It's just not me, or him, It something that bothers everyone in this godforsaken place known as Russia." France's expression grew thoughtful as she heard what he had to say. "So... this animosity... it's not just between you and WRRF then?" She asked. "It's... more common in Russia, between different groups of people?" "All of us." Komi answered, no questions to be asked. "No matter ideology, race or opinions, all of us." "I... see." France frowned as she heard this. "So this... animosity, it's so common that it's basically become... the norm, I assume?"
Komi nodded. "That's right, it's everywhere." France's eyes widened slightly as she let the word sink in. "So... just how bad is it then?" Komi sighed as he heard her words. "That is... difficult to answer..." "Then try to, is it like a small grudge between individual people, or is there full blown hatred between groups?" "Both." he sighed once more, this whole topic was getting to his nerves. "Well, We can stop if you want, this is clearly irritating you." France suggested. "Yeah, that's the best thing to do probably." "Yes, let's drop the topic..." Komi said, now realizing how much this situation was getting to him. "For now, at least."
"Yeah, we can pick this up later..." France replied, now looking a little more embarrassed at having brought up such a touchy subject. "Agreed, let's just go look for WRRF now." Komi replied, now seemingly eager to drop the conversation. "Indeed, let's just get this over with. The faster we find him, the faster we can go back." France agreed, getting up from her seat. "Where is he anyways?" Komi asked, raising a brow. France just shrugged. "No clue." She said, giving another shrug. "That's why we're looking for him, after all." "I guess he shouldn't be too far from here anyways." "Probably." France agreed. "But you never know, he could be anywhere. He always seems to go off to do his own thing."
"Well, I guess splitting up here is the best thing to do, I look for him this way, and you look somewhere else." Komi suggested. "Yeah, that's probably the best. We'll split up, and then meet up again once we find him." France said, already starting to head off in the opposite direction. The cold wind attacked her face, irritating her slightly. She kept on walking, no signs of Plesetsk, Ukhta or WRRF. "Where are these idiots...?" She asked, mumbling to herself.
She kept walking for a few minutes, her mind still reeling from the conversation she had with Komi. The chill in the air was only contributing to her irritation. "Damn it, where the hell is he?" she muttered, feeling a growing sense of frustration. France came to a halt, a person Infront of her. She nearly mistakened him for WRRF due to the similar attire... but she realized this wasn't the person she was looking for. The person was crouching down, their back turned to face her. The person glanced over to look at her.
The person got up from crouching, revealing himself fully, this wasn't WRRF, that was confirmed. "My my!~ What am I doing here minding my own business ignoring such a beautiful lady?" The man spoke first, a smile present on his face. France instantly went on the defensive, her eyes narrowing as she looked the man up and down. He didn't resemble WRRF in the slightest, yet his attitude reminded her of him in a strange way. "Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice rife with hostility.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to come off as hostile, I'm sure you got plenty on your hands anyways." The man paused, before continuing. "Say, you got one of those familiar faces? Perhaps we've met before?" France frowned, trying to recall if she had ever encountered this man before. He seemed to have some familiarity with her, but she couldn't remember any such interaction. "No, I don't think so..." she replied, though there was obvious skepticism in her voice.
"Ah... that's silly of me to ask, Apologies..." The man paused again. "Well, In such case I must get going, but it was nice to meet you." "Wait a minute, who are you?" France demanded, now stopping him in his tracks. "Tell me your name." The man stopped, thinking. "For now, I'll refrain from disclosing that, but you'll eventually know." France let out a frustrated sigh, but decided to keep her cool. After all, there was no sense in acting irrational. "Fine, if you must..." she said, her voice still showing some hostility. And thus, he walked away.
France couldn't explain exactly what just happened, but she just tried brushing it off. France stood there, watching him walk away. She didn't like this one bit. The whole interaction felt off, and she had a bad feeling about that mysterious person, but she couldn't explain exactly why. She decided to brush it off, for now. She needed to find WRRF, and now she was getting too distracted with this. She continued making her way, still on the lookout for WRRF... Eventually she did find him, hanging out with his guards like nothing happened. It irritated her seeing him being so casual. But decided to keep her cool.
WRRF was acting as though nothing had happened, as if everything was normal. France felt a growing sense of irritation, but decided to remain calm. "There you are." she said, approaching him. "Took you me enough." France added. All three of them turned to face her. "Oh... hey." WRRF waved a hello. France gave a quick nod. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. "Where were you just now? I was looking for you everywhere." she said, her tone becoming more irritable by the moment.
"Yeah Boss, princess is worried about you-" Ukhta jokingly added, WRRF simply glared back at him, prompting Ukhta to shut up. He sighed, glancing back to face France. "We must've lost track of time, sorry for keeping you waiting." WRRF apologized as he got up. France remained silent for a moment, her expression turning cold. "We must have lost track of time," she repeated, her voice starting to grow bitter. "I was going on a whole search for you, meanwhile you were just wasting time doing... whatever the hell you were doing." A small part of her wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but she managed to keep her anger in check.
For now.
"Yeah yeah, my bad..." WRRF apologized again, jokingly rolling his eyes. He looked at France again. "Where is Komi?" WRRF asked. France took a deep breath, trying to keep her calm. "I'll get to that in a minute." she said, ignoring his attempt at a joking tone. "First, I want to know what the hell you were just doing. You just disappeared for almost an hour without a word." She asked. "We were supposed to pick up Father from the church here due to the integration of Gayny, but I guess we trialed of into random chit-chat." "And what was so important about this supposed 'random chat' that it kept you occupied for so long, huh? Did you at least accomplish anything worthwhile?" she asked, her tone becoming more venomous with each word.
"gee... what's gotten into you? We simply trialed off, that's all." WRRF tried reassuring her. Ukhta was about to say something before being stopped by WRRF. "Do not say a word." France let out a frustrated sigh, trying to restrain her anger. "Stop avoiding the damn question!" she snapped, now feeling her patience quickly running out. "Answer me, did you accomplish anything worthwhile, or did you just waste your time with 'random chit-chat'? Because to me, it sounds like the latter."
"Well, you would be right, we did waste our time i guess." WRRF bluntly stated. France narrowed her eyes as he acknowledged her accusation, yet she still didn't feel any better. If anything, she was even more frustrated now. "Yes, you did waste your time." she said. "Congratulations on finally admitting something." For some reason, he couldn't contain his smile, it wasn't a mocking one or anything just a... smile. "Why are you smiling?" France asked.
France could see the faint smile plastered on WRRF's face, and it only added to her irritation. "What's so damn funny? Is the idea of wasting time some kind of joke to you?" she said, anger slowly beginning to replace her initial frustration. "Because it sounds to me like you're trying to provoke me." She growled. "Oh, oh no... It's just funny seeing you all concerned over us."
France rolled her eyes at WRRF's response, clearly not buying into his excuse. "Yeah, so funny," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I guess it's just so humorous to see someone be worried over your well-being. Real damn funny."
This only made him chuckle more. "Yeah yeah, I'm sorry, let's get to work." WRRF gestured his guards to come along. France let out a sigh, feeling her anger starting to boil over once more. "Yeah... let's get to work." she said, the annoyance in her voice obvious. She kept following WRRF and his guards, still in a foul mood. "So, wheres Komi?" WRRF asked France. "Well, I don't know." France said, her tone becoming even more irritable. "I split off from her earlier to look for you." She explained. "Well, Isn't that just romantic?" Ukhta jokingly added.
France shot a hostile gaze in Ukhta's direction."Do me a favor, and keep your mouth shut." she said, still trying to keep her emotions in check. "Nobody is laughing, especially me." She snarled. "Yeah, I agree too." WRRF also snarled. "OK, geez, fine... I'll shut up." France let out a sigh, not quite satisfied with Ukhta's response, but deciding not to push the issue further. "Good, because I can't take any more of your stupid jokes right now." she said, her tone still hostile. "Now, let's go."
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"The person scolding you is often the person who cares the most for you." - Francis I of Lorraine, 2nd Duke of Guise