The Incounter [Heleen & Dasha]

[Deleted]

Dmitri did feel bad telling Heleen "no" to magic, but it was how they were raised. The two only practiced and learned magic in one place, and had to fend for themselves the rest of the time. Dmitri knew better than anyone that fighting back in self defense could make things worse. Nights with a very drunk father proved that point very well. And as he grew older and started going to the fights, he wound up taking more and more hits on his sisters behalf. "Yes, safety is important. No one has anything to worry about here, right now" Ever since Dasha was born, Dmitri had taken the job no himself to protect her. Sometimes he wasn't here, and knowing that killed him inside. But he hoped that his sister knew that he would do anything to protect her. Dmitri could feel the tension only rising. This was not how today should have gone.

Dmitri moved to Heleen's side as she cooked, and put his hand on her shoulder. He momentarily ignored Dasyenka's comment as he tried to comfort the obviously more distressed girl in the room. He moved closer to Heleen and looked her in the eyes. "This isn't the way things should have gone. But old habits die hard." He had told the girl some of his past. She knew that his past wasn't easy. "My sister and I were raised to hide things. It was safer that way." He smiled a small smile at her. Making her his main focus. He would address Dashyenka's attitude later. She had the right to be on edge. It was how they were raised.

@seph
@dasha

[Deleted]

She understood why, but it didn't really help her levels of comfort. She was starting to feel like leaving was the best choice with every passing minute. It really didn't help that his sister kept speaking to him in Russian. It felt like a very conscious effort to shut her out of whatever conversation they were holding. It wasn't exactly a welcoming kind of vibe, even though she didn't expect one. Maybe she should have known better than to think that anything in her life was ever going to be simple. She mentally sighed but kept it hidden, far more for their sake. She didn't want them to see just how bad this morning was starting to feel. It wouldn't exactly improve the atmosphere.

She shook her head slightly as Dmitri came to stand by her and said it wasn't how things should have gone. Old habits indeed died hard. "It's fine. I understand." She reassured him with a small smile. No matter how much she understood, it did hurt. It hurt to have found out this way and to feel unwelcome after the previous day had been so exceptionally wonderful. Perhaps she had should have expected it to come, as the bad commonly followed the good for her. Nothing had ever been free or without some sort of repayment before. It had been the price of love in the past. It wasn't too strange that such patterns might repeat again.

She couldn't be angry with him. For him there was far more to all of this, as was rather obvious by the reactions from his sister. She stirred in the pan a little, her eyes avoiding his, mostly because she didn't want him to notice that she was feeling a little hurt regardless. She didn't want to, but it was hard to silence the little voice that saw this as a rejection of sorts. She felt a bit stupid for expecting the good times to last this time. She took a deep breath and put the spatula down for a moment and looked him in the eye and softly squeezed his hand. Then she whispered softly for his ears only. "Just please promise me that things did not change between us. That's all I really need to know. I'm very kind of shaken and insecure and I hope you don't blame me for that." She looked at him with a slightly pleading look before picking up the spatula again to avoid the eggs burning. Now that wouldn't improve the day at all.

@dasha
@dmitri

[Deleted]

Dasha felt increasingly uncomfortable as she heard Dmitri speaking to Heleen about her and their upbringing. It bothered her that he was suddenly so open with someone outside of their family—not that their sister was around. They had been taught to hide things; he was right, and that included, in her mind, how they were raised. It was safer that no one knew anything about them at all, which was the sort of privacy that they received from living in a largely non-magical village. Anything they shared about themselves was something that someone else could exploit, and Dasha knew better than to say anything about who she really was. Even as a child, she had aliases and learned how to keep her story straight. Any mistake there was dangerous, if not deadly. How could Dmitri throw that away just because a woman happened to be attractive? Heleen was pretty, but there were millions of beautiful women in the world. That didn’t give Dmitri the right to put both of them in danger by bringing her home with him.

“Just please promise me that things did not change between us,” she heard Heleen beg of Dmitri, saying more than that—about being “shaken” and “insecure” over… Her? If a teenage girl who knew how to curse was enough to freak her out, Dasha knew that there was no way that Heleen could handle the full story behind why she and Dmitri were living alone in Britain without any other relations. Without any other explanation for Heleen’s being so jarred—apparently—by what had happened, Dasha continued to look on at her brother and… whatever Heleen was to him.

Pursing her lips in distaste as she watched Heleen scrambling for the spatula, Dasha shook her head. She hated to break up whatever moment Dmitri and Heleen were having in front of the hopefully-not-burnt eggs, but it was weird and definitely not the sort of thing that she had expected to feel about Dmitri’s being with anyone romantically. “…What does she mean about things changing between you?” she questioned Dmitri in Russian, not caring that it probably put Heleen on edge even more because she couldn’t understand what she had just said.

@dmitri
@seph

[Deleted]

"It's fine. I understand." Heleen stated, but was it really? He knew that she had some bad relationships in the past, and in a way, he felt like he was becoming one of the worst. But her smile helped to ease that worry. Just a little. As she cooked, she avoided making eye contact, which was a text book sign of being uncomfortable. But the tides turned and she looked at him, taking his hand. He listened to his words, and gave her a rare sweet smile. One that didn't happen often, and one that he rarely let out. He moved in and killed her cheek softly and whispered back "Nothing will change, I promise"

Dmitri had kept the secret of his past from Heleen for quite some time, but slowly released some information. There was still a lot that she didn't know, but he had a desire to let her in. Even if it was little by little. Dashyenka probably wouldn't like that. She probably wouldn't like his show of affection to the woman either. Happy faces were for cons. The children learned to mask their true intentions by providing believable fake ones. As children especially, toothy grin, or even a tearful plea worked miracles. But what he exhibited to Heleen was genuine, and rare.

The moment was swiftly broken as his sister spoke again, in Russian. He couldn't blame the girl for how she was acting. Normally the two spoke English around the house, and only used Russian when they were out in public, and wanted a private conversation. To the girl, Heleen was an intruder, and didn't have a right to know what the two were saying. It was perfectly logical, and he couldn't blame her for that. He looked at his sister, pulling him self square to her. "Heleen and I have been dating for some time now. I trust her fully." He spoke in English this time, so that both would hear and understand his words. "I would ask that you would give her a chance, Dashyenka" He had half a mind to take more of an authoritative position and call her Daria, or what their father would call her, Dashka, but that would be going much to far. Intimidation was not the way to do things, they both had enough of that in their past. All he could do was hope that his sister would at least try.

@seph
@dasha

[Deleted]

Heleen was moments from walking out the door as things felt like they were just getting increasingly tense and she wasn't too comfortable any longer. Things had been so perfect the day before but such things were never meant to last. She was starting to feel unwanted and disposable, like she was being nothing but a bother in sticking around. She could almost feel the negativity of her past wrapping her up to suffocate her as she kept every expression as cheerful or neutral as possible. Being an occlumens meant more than shielding ones mind. It usually meant you became rather proficient in lying, no matter what the reasons were. Heleen did not keep secrets for the sake of having them or lie only because she could. She usually lied and otherwise downplayed things to keep others from getting too concerned. She wanted the best for everybody but that wasn't always easy to accomplish. Sometimes that meant stepping on toes, but she still tried to avoid it. Sometimes her trying ended up getting her hurt.

But Dmitri wasn't like the others that had been in her life before. He treated her well and he reassured her when she got insecure rather than put her down. She'd confided in him and he'd trusted her with fragments of his past. He showed her a side of himself that she'd been quick to notice wasn't displayed to all. With the parts of her own past that had led to her being hurt, she had come to know when people wore a mask in front of the world, although it usually masked an ugly truth rather than a more vulnerable interior that they simply didn't trust others with. So Heleen had not pushed and had allowed Dmitri to share as he pleased on his own pace. It wasn't like he knew everything that had happened in her past yet.

Heleen was glad when the eggs were done, especially as his sister once again displayed how unwelcome Heleen was to her by purposefully excluding her from the conversation. It hurt, but Heleen was an expert at hiding pain, even from those closest to her. She was about to tell Dmitri she had to go and fix some things at work when Dmitri choose to explain what was going on to his sister. The fact he said he trusted her fully had her heart racing, although she kept her face calm, as if such a thing wasn't as much of a big deal she knew it to be. She scooped the eggs out of the pan and put them on the bread she'd laid out, putting the plates on the table as she laid out cutlery for the three of them. Maybe she didn't have to leave just yet. But as she glanced over at his sister she realised that perhaps it was better to give the choice away. She sighed ever so slightly as she sat on the edge of one of the chairs. "I'm sorry I surprised you. I didn't exactly plan to meet you this way." She left out the part where she'd not known the younger woman had existed before this disaster of a first meeting. "If you prefer me to leave I will. I'll grab my wand and phone and I'll be gone in a second." She was being genuine and honest and pretty much trying to be the best version of herself. "But if you're okay with it, I'd like to stay so we can get to know each other." She glanced at Dmitri for a moment. "Your brother hasn't really told me a lot so far and I can understand not everybody is a sharing kind of person when it comes to their past...." She shrugged slightly. "So I won't ask anything and let you decide on a topic. Favourite books or games if you wish or you can interrogate me if that makes you feel more comfortable. I won't promise I'll answer everything but I'll try my best if you give me a chance. It's up to you."

She wouldn't blame the girl if she said she wanted to see Heleen gone but she'd at least made sure she sounded like she trusted the other girl and saw her as an adult and not as a child that didn't know what was best for her. The very limited information about Dmitri's past had made it clear that both he had his sister had more sense than most of the people she knew back home combined. She didn't want to intrude on her time any more than she already had, so she'd leave in a heartbeat if requested. She just hoped that Dasha wouldn't ask that of her. If she did? Well Heleen figured she'd just see Dmitri at work the next day. It wasn't perfect, but that seemed impossible to achieve at this point anyway. Yesterday had been perfect enough for both days and she was sure that Spock would at least be happy to see her if she did end up going home.

@dasha, @dmitri

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The thing that bothered Dasha most was that she didn't feel that she could leave. She wanted to, faced with the discomfort of watching her brother kissing and caressing a woman she hadn't even met an hour before, but she couldn't. It almost felt like a betrayal. Dasha didn't know what made Dmitri feel as though he had been given the right to speak about her, to bring a woman home with him without her knowledge, given everything that they had been through. It was dangerous and stupid, Dasha thought, and she didn't hesitate to let him know it.

Dmitri answered her in English rather than in Russian, probably for the benefit of Heleen, though Dasha was sure that he must have missed that the whole point of her addressing him in Russian was to keep the conversation between the two of them. Not her. "Heleen and I have been dating for some time now. I trust her fully." How long was "some time"? A night? A week? Could he have been any more specific? "I would ask that you would give her a chance, Dashyenka."

Letting out an irritated sigh, Dasha kept her attention focused on Dmitri. It didn't even cross her mind that Heleen was plating their food, and Dasha only realized that she had done so when she heard Heleen speak up from the direction of the table. "I'm sorry I surprised you. I didn't exactly plan to meet you this way." That made two of them, and Heleen added that, if Dasha preferred that she leave, she would. She would take her wand and phone, she said, and be gone in a second. "But if you're okay with it, I'd like to stay so we can get to know each other."

Watching as Heleen looked at Dmitri, Dasha listened to her say something about not being "a sharing kind of person". Dasha felt that she was a little old to be talked to that way, but she was willing to indulge her, she guessed. "So I won't ask anything and let you decide on a topic." Books, games… the list was, theoretically, endless. Heleen even offered to let her interrogate her. It was unorthodox, maybe, but Dasha considered it briefly. "I won't promise I'll answer everything," Heleen added, "but I'll try my best if you give me a chance. It's up to you."

Focusing her attention on Heleen, Dasha paused to consider her first question, which turned into multiple questions in a frenzied mess of English as she avoided slipping back into Russian. "What is your name? How long you know Dmitri? You are girlfriend?" (It didn't seem that Dmitri was paying her for her time, anyway…)

@dmitri
@seph

[Deleted]

Dmitri staied by the stove as he spoke to his sister, and let Heleen move about. This was a rough situation, and it really was all his fault. But, the thing about being raised to con was, you learned to roll with the punches. If something happened that you didn't expect to happen, one had to quickly reassess and re-aim.

He continued to look at his sister, their eyes seeming to be having a private conversation only for the siblings. He noted, mentally, the woman he had been dating moving about, then finally she addressed his sister. "If you prefer me to leave I will. I'll grab my wand and phone and I'll be gone in a second." He wanted her to stay, but Dmitri also knew that it was important to let Dashyenka make this decision. He smiled at her softly as she spoke. He hoped that his sister would give Heleen a chance. This woman came from a different world. And he could see the potential that she had to help make theirs better.

Heleen gave Dashyenka the option of asking all the questions. There was no doubt that the woman was brave, and kind. But such an offer could be dangerous. She did say that she may not answer all questions, but the Krovopuskov children were raised to be quite cunning. But as the girl began to speak to Heleen, asking questions in a fragmented English, he finally moved to the table and sat down. Silent for the moment, this was their time to get to know each other. He would jump in if he saw that he needed to.

@seph
@dasha

[Deleted]

Well, the questions that came first were obvious enough. They were logical and more than expected. Heleen steeled herself and tried to stay as calm as possible. It was a rather complicated situation but she had every intention to make the best of it. She nodded slightly as the girl spoke to her, the stress causing her English to go slightly wonky. Now that was something Heleen could easily relate to. It wasn't as if it never happened to her. She was almost proud of herself for not completely falling apart and slipping in Dutch. Not that either of them would even be able to begin to understand a word she was saying if she accidentally messed up that way. She knew being on the outside of the conversation was normal but it hadn't helped her comfort. She just wanted to fix this in the best way possible.

She waited for Dasha to stop asking question before starting with her answers. She absently twiddled with a hair band she'd carried on her wrist as she answered the question. "My name is Heleen Oppedyk." There was no use in adding in the various middle names she had. It didn't really add anything in her own view. Besides, the name would clearly show that she wasn't from the UK either as her name very much wasn't and she didn't butcher the pronouciation to make other people comfortable. "I've known Dmitri for a few months. We work together." She figured that wasn't exactly classified information and would also hopefully shut the door on some of the possible questions that she wasn't allowed to answer because of the non disclosure part of their jobs. Dmitri took it very serious, she'd seen that much from the encrypted notebook he had. She couldn't even begin to start to make sense of it and she was pretty sure nobody was supposed to, his sister included.

At the last question she paused briefly and glanced at Dmitri. She wasn't sure if they were officially a couple, although she personally viewed them that way. Considering everything that had happened that morning she didn't think it likely that Dmitri would even have taken her home if he didn't see her that way. If anything it was probably better to presume she was indeed his girlfriend than to let there be doubts for either of them about what she wanted them to be. She shrugged slightly. "I see us that way." She decided to clarify, just in case there was a possibility that Dasha misunderstood. "We've been dating for a while but we haven't really made it facebook official or anything." She said, although she forgot for a moment that such a thing possibly made no sense to people not familiar with muggle technology and culture. She didn't even have a facebook account, but she meant to say that it wasn't exactly as if they'd publically declared themselves to be in a relationship. She didn't want to mess things up. It felt like this conversation was going to make or break their future and she really didn't want to crack under that pressure. She wanted nothing more than to be his girlfriend at this point but she figured it could be a senstive point. This seemed to be rather new territory to both of them.

@dasha @dmitri

[Deleted]

"My name is Heleen Oppedyk," Heleen answered her, though Dasha noticed that she was messing with a hair elastic as she responded. Didn't she know her own name? That was hardly a question, Dasha thought, though at least Heleen had given her a response. As much as Dasha hated using her patronymic because it inevitably served as a reminder of her father, she was mildly disappointed that Heleen didn't have one that she could use to figure out more about her. She didn't think that "Oppedyk" was an English surname, though, which did narrow it down a bit…

"I've known Dmitri for a few months," she said in response to the second question Dasha had spat out at her. "We work together."

Dasha gave a short nod. That meant that Heleen was likely a Ministry worker like Dmitri. It was possible that she was an Unspeakable, as he was. If she was, that gave her at least one question fewer to have to answer; Dasha knew that one of the requirements of Dmitri's work was that he wasn't allowed to discuss what he did, which made Heleen's presence a bit of a predicament.

It was obvious that she was more than just a work colleague to her brother, however; Dasha knew that. Heleen herself didn't seem certain as to how she should answer the third question, and she looked to Dmitri. Heleen then shrugged. "I see us that way," she said. "We've been dating for a while," which Dmitri had also mentioned, "but we haven't really made it Facebook official or anything."

"Face" what? Face… book? Dasha didn't know what that was or what Heleen meant by it, but that wasn't really the point. Quickly, she looked over to Dmitri, who was seated by that point in time. She needed confirmation. If Heleen was his girlfriend, why had he kept her and Heleen a secret from one another?

"So you have a girlfriend, Kostya…" Dasha mused in Russian, knowing that she should have been happy for him. She should have been happy, but she couldn't be. It wasn't like Dmitri to behave so strangely. "While I'm asking questions, is there anything else that I need to know?"

@dmitri
@seph

[Deleted]

Heleen started to answer the young girls questions, first with her name. In Russian culture, they technically had two last names. The first was, in his case Mikhailov, was patronymic patronymic - basically meaning "son of Mikhail". The second was their official surname, for him Krovopuskov. He had found that many in this country didn't have such names. While Mikhailov was officially part of his name, he tried not to think about it too much. Memories of his father, making it too painful.

Then mentioning how long she had known Dmitri. She also carefully stated that she worked with him, meaning that both of them were Unspeakables. Dashyenka would know very well not to ask about work then. The last question that his sister asked was simple, but telling. It hadn't been something they had talked a lot about. Heleen looked at Dmitri. He remained quiet, letting her answer, curious himself.

He felt a strong bond with the girl. He wouldn't have even let her know what village he lived in if there were any doubts, and he had brought her home. "I see us that way." Instantly Dmitri's lips turned up. He liked her saying that. And, as the girl he knew well, she then continued to explain, stating that nothing was official, which was true. While the way she said it, was slightly lost on Dmitri, he knew that his sister may not fully understand it. He met his sisters eyes as she looked at him, and again, spoke in Russian. "So you have a girlfriend, Kostya…" He nodded "I'll answer all the questions you want after she is gone." He spoke in Russian and continued in English "It's not a subject that we have talked about, but, yes, I guess I do"

@seph
@dasha

[Deleted]

Heleen felt that constantly shutting her out of the conversation was starting to feel slightly rude, bordering on hostile and she was too tired to deal with this. She figured that it wouldn't be long until she could get out of this entire mess by saying that she'd promised to meet up with her brother. While not exactly true, she had asked her brother if it was okay if she stopped by for a moment to celebrate her birthday together. It was as good a reason as any to politely leave and allow the siblings to discus this without her at first. It would hopefully save all of them quite a bit of headache. For now she didn't want to be rude so she attempted to ignore the isolation she was being forced in.

Yet her heart rejoiced when Dmitri said something she had to guess was his sister asking if he had girlfriend or something along those lines. It made everything just a little bit less painful, although she worried a little that she might have misunderstood. She glanced over at the kitchen clock. It was still early, but late enough to make excuses to leave. She still wanted to change clothes and probably take a shower before going to see her brother. If she showed up the way she'd dressed for Dmitri there were bound to be questions she didn't feel like answering just yet. Since work wasn't a topic her brother could talk to her about it had too often ended up on love and family and Heleen wasn't in the mood to have such a conversation twice in one day. Once was quite enough. She smiled politely. "Any other questions? If not I should probably head off. I told my brother I'd be over for coffee today since I didn't have time for visitors yesterday." There, a polite way to exit the conversation without insulting anybody... hopefully.

@dmitri @dasha

[Deleted]

So it was really the case that Dmitri had a girlfriend he hadn't mentioned and that he had brought her home with him the night before—again, without mentioning who she was. "I'll answer all the questions you want after she is gone," Dmitri had at least promised her, which Dasha hoped would clear things up for her. "It's not a subject that we have talked about, but, yes, I guess I do."

Meanwhile, Heleen seemed to be in a hurry to leave, as she asked if there were any other questions and then suddenly mentioned that she was supposed to be meeting her brother for coffee. It would have been plausible enough, in Dasha's mind, had she not just made breakfast for the three of them. What was she going to do? Leave the food sitting there? It sounded like a convenient excuse, more than anything; she hadn't seemed rushed when she and Dmitri were cozying up to each other.

Sighing, Dasha looked between Dmitri and Heleen, maintaining her focus on her brother for a little bit longer than on his… girlfriend. "Stay," she stated plainly. She wasn't trying to drive her out.

@dmitri
@seph

[Deleted]

Dmitri didn't think too much about the bi-lingual conversation that was happening. But as he would come to think and look back on the morning, he would come to regret it. But it had came so naturally. Since moving to Europe, he and his sister spoke in Russian when around others. "Any other questions? If not I should probably head off. I told my brother I'd be over for coffee today since I didn't have time for visitors yesterday." Heleen's words were both good and upsetting. Dmitri didn't want her to go. But perhaps, in this situation, it was for the best. He had watched her, and knew that the surprise had been unsettling. He also knew that she had been in some less then ideal romantic situations in the past. Dmitri feared to becoming one of those to her. That was never his intention.

Having Dasha say that one word "Stay" was all he needed to hear. He knew that he would have to explain himself to his sister. But she knew that he would stick to his word. But that word also meant that she - in maybe just a small way - approved of Heleen. "If you really do need to go, I won't stop you." He understood that it was a strange situation, and he probably hadn't helped as much as he could have to make it better.

@seph
@dasha

[Deleted]

It wasn't that she actually had to go but the situation made her so extremely uncomfortable that she just couldn't really bear the idea of staying much longer. She had agreed to meet her brother at some point today but the idea was she'd send him a text when she was awake so he knew he could come over without ending up in front of a shut door. Now that she hadn't slept at her own apartment she wanted to do some tidying up before he came over, despite the fact he could care less about the state of her place. He worked with dragons so the odds he'd mind a mess were pretty much non-existant. Still, it was a little true that she couldn't stick around too long for that reason, although her discomfort was a far bigger factor in why she wanted to leave. As time went on, she could feel the doubt starting to creep in.

Had this been a mistake? While it was obviously not a common situation for the two siblings, Heleen couldn't help but wonder if this meant she was setting herself up for a world of hurt. It wouldn't be the first time she'd misjudged somebody, but she wanted to believe more than anything that this time would be different. That Dmitri wouldn't hurt her like she'd been hurt in the past. She was just settling into her new life here and didn't want to feel the desire to run again. She was the type of coward to run when scared, although perhaps she'd been right to with her ex. She glanced at the clock as Dasha bid her to stay. She heard the words Dmitri spoke but her mind was already starting to stray. She wasn't feeling too good and she'd never been good enough at pretending to keep up the act too long.

"I can stay for about fifteen more minutes before I really have to go. I'm just going to pop upstairs for a moment to get dressed." She didn't say it of course, but she also wanted to give them a moment to speak in privacy without her around. She headed upstairs without much of a gesture to either sibling. She gathered the clothes from the day before and used her want to significantly alter them to suit a less romantic setting. Different colour, less of a tight fit and suited more to comfort. She looked at her shoes in disdain for a moment, although she knew they had been a perfect fit the day before. It couldn't really be helped, she supposed. With a sigh she stuffed them into her small purse and retrieved a hair band to contain her mess of hair. She felt cornered, but the moments alone gave her time to think. She probably just needed some time to sort it all out. Seeing her own brother would definitively help distract her for a while as she sorted out what on earth she was to think of this. She sighed as she checked her reflection for a moment. She looked somewhat pale and not too healthy, although she blamed that on shock. Apart from that she looked quite nice in her own mind. She smiled slightly for just a little while and then grabbed the little bag, steeling herself as she went back down. She laid the purse near the door before putting on her best smile as she went back into the kitchen.

"I hope the eggs are nice." She said in her best attempt to cover up her state of mental turbulance. It was unlikely she could fool Dmitri, but she didn't really want to show too much to his sister. She wanted to get along with the girl, although this surely was a horrible start. Perhaps one day it'd be better. It just wasn't going to be today. Still she sat down, not quite hungry at all. She did cut her own bread and eggs, although the idea of eating them wasn't overly appealing. She knew they were up to her own standards but the reason for her lack of hunger was very different than not liking the food.

@dmitri @dasha

[Deleted]

If Heleen really needed to go, said Dmitri, he wouldn't stop her from leaving. Heleen still looked visibly uncomfortable at the thought of sticking around at their place for any longer than she had to, and she explained that she could stay for fifteen minutes but that she really needed to leave. She was just going to go back upstairs, she continued, and get dressed.

Funny how she hadn't mentioned that before, Dasha thought. She finally sat down at the table, leaving one of the places beside Dmitri for Heleen, and absentmindedly picked at her food with a fork without putting any of it into her mouth. Not knowing what to say to Dmitri in Heleen's temporary absence, since she had only gone upstairs, Dasha remained silent.

It felt as if the fifteen minutes that Heleen had mentioned had passed ten times over before she came back down the stairs again, dressed and back in the kitchen. "I hope the eggs are nice," she smiled.

In truth, they probably had gone cold, Dasha considered, although she hoped that she had moved them around enough on her plate to suggest that she had actually taken a bite of what had been made for her. She hadn't done it at that point to be rude or dismissive of Heleen, but she didn't know if she was in the mood to eat just then. Cold food was hardly the deterrent for her that it might have been for some people. Food was food, and she knew how fortunate she was to have any at all. If it wasn't quite the right temperature, it didn't matter. She had had worse.

"Yes," she nodded to Heleen in spite of the fact that she hadn't tasted the eggs for herself, the lie coming out more naturally for her than she would have liked. She smiled as Heleen sat down, though she noticed that Heleen wasn't touching the food, either. "Very good," she assured her. "Isn't it, Dmitri?"

@dmitri
@seph