Seeping warmth [Cal]

Date: Winter, present day
Tags: Cal, Russia
Location: Moscow, Russia
Word count: 333
Notes: I feel bad that this is as short as it is. My introductory posts are never very long...

The day was cold and snowy, as was to be expected for this time of year. It was winter, after all. Although the heat was on, Sveta was wearing one of her thicker sweaters, as well as her shoes. It would be warmer if she started a fire in the fire place, but she wasn't going there. Fire and Moscow did not get along. She could also turn the heat up, but her cold tolerance was pretty hi. A little nip indoors wasn't enough to bother her. She had gotten her work done that morning. Paperwork filled out and neatly put away to be taken in the next morning, important phone calls made and resolved.

The chill of the day made her want something warm to drink. Svetlana didn't like coffee in the slightest, wouldn't even touch it, and she wasn't particularly big on tea, either. That really only left cocoa. Sveta didn't like sweets either, but chocolate was bitter if you didn't use sugar with it.

Smiling, Sveta collected what she needed from the cabinets. She carefully laid the ingredients out on the counter and measured out what she'd need, putting the containers away when she was done measuring. Glancing at the stove, she retrieved her cell phone and the book she'd spent the past hour reading from the couch in the other room. Her dog, loyal mutt he was, joined her and lay on the kitchen floor, ears angled toward the kitchen door, as though expecting someone.

She laughed softly at the dog before retrieving a pan and putting it on the stove, adding the milk to warm it. This was the boring part, waiting for the milk to simmer. Sighing, she tapped the counter a few moments, poked at her phone to check for calls or texts, and boredly settled her gaze on the kitchen window. It was snowing badly now, the sky dark and wind whistling loudly. The milk, which had yet to simmer, was all the more appealing.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] Every mile further, there's a part of me that slips away Russia was spending most of the day doing work. He really did not like all the paperwork they had to do now as opposed to quite a long time ago. Sure he was used to it, but that didn’t mean he actually liked it. There were a lot of things he was used to that he didn’t like per say. It was just the fact that he would have to deal with them either way and so he just did. Really, there wasn’t exactly much that Russia did like to be perfectly honest. He’d become a rather hateful country over the years certainly, and so he found it hard to enjoy things much of the time. There were a few things that he did actually like, but mostly he kept that fact to himself rather than let anyone know that. Honestly, most didn’t even know very much about him, really the only ones he regularly talked to were his capital and sisters. Their capitals didn’t always like him for one reason or another, and so if they wanted to be snotty he tended to pretend they didn’t exist for his own amusement. Usually people didn’t like it when you pretended they didn’t exist after all. He was about done with the paperwork when his cat jumped onto his desk and planted itself right in the middle of it. Well, clearly he was going to take a break then. It really was impossible to move the cat, because it would get back up where it was previously anyway. Thus he just nudged it aside a bit to finish one last document before giving up for the day. Ivan did give the cat a few scratches behind the ear before standing up and deciding to see what his capital was up to for the moment. Maybe she wouldn’t be busy and thus be able to keep him occupied somehow, or he’d try and find something on the television. Either worked perfectly fine for him. Thus he wandered out of his office and around the rather large house. It really was too big for just two people, but that was because he hadn’t changed anything since the Soviet Union collapsed. Maybe he slightly hoped it would happen again, even if it wasn’t quite right at times. Or maybe he just didn’t want to forget the memories from that time. Regardless, he just stayed here with Moscow now, and thus would keep her as company rather than trying to steal other nations again. Anyway, he found his capital in the kitchen appearing to make something. He did wonder what it was she was making, and so he figured he would ask. ”What are you making?” he asked her simply. He spotted the dog on the floor, and it seemed he had heard the nation coming, but that wasn’t a surprise. He gave the dog a pat on the head quickly before turning back to his capital. ”The cat sat on my paperwork, so I’m done with it for now.” he stated simply as an explanation as to why he was in the kitchen. It was known by both of them that Russia owned a very large and fluffy cat that pretty much did whatever he pleased. 542 / Moscow and Tilt / boom. Russia appears. [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

Date: Winter, present day
Tags: Cal, Russia
Location: Moscow, Russia
Word count: 416
Notes: Huzzah, more acceptable length.

Moscow turned away from the almost hypnotic dance of snow, smiling at Russia. “Hot chocolate, do you want some?” She asked, retrieving a whisk from a drawer. The milk was simmering, so she reduced the heat as she started stirring in the unsweetened powder and squares of dark chocolate along with the sugar. There was enough for two people anyway, she had been figuring on offering Russia a mug of the warm drink anyway. “It seemed like a good idea, considering the weather.” She added idly, adding in the vanilla and cinnamon, still stirring. As much as she disliked sweets, she liked hot chocolate when it was snowing, even if it grew cold before she finished on most days. The warmth was a comfort, and the smell was nice.

The dog got up from the floor, tail wagging as he nosed at Moscow's hand, as though expecting a treat. “A break is good. Haven't you been working most of the day?” She asked, pointing at the doorway when the dog started pawing at her leg. The dog whined and lowered his head, trying to look as pitiful and adorable as possible. “No, chocolate is bad for you.” Moscow said sternly, pointing again. The dog whined, but obediently left the room, flopping down in the hall with a loud sigh. Moscow rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. She always felt this content at home. She didn't have to worry about keeping up a facade of calm and diplomacy, or try to fight off her normal shyness.

“Is it going well, your paperwork?” She asked as she dropped the heat on the stove to just enough to keep the drink warm. She really couldn't remember where she'd learned to make it, but it was a nice treat every now and then. She went about pulling a mug from a cabinet, paused, and retrieved a second one, should Russia say he'd like some. Moscow then grabbed the whisk to wash. It had taken her a long time to get used to things like cooking and doing dishes. There'd generally been some other nation in the house to do tasks like that. So even though Moscow hadn't been sure how to, or been comfortable with, giving orders, she'd never exactly had the responsibility of doing such things either. But she'd learned after everyone had left them alone in this big house. So, while it wasn't by any means enjoyable, she'd become capable of menial tasks such as these.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] Every mile further, there's a part of me that slips away Russia didn’t particularly mind the snow, but watching it was not something he made a habit of. He was just very used to it and found no interest in it at this point. That, and General Winter was a very scary man and he liked avoiding possibly seeing him. Anyway, Moscow gave him an answer as to what she was doing and he pondered the question for a moment. Did he want hot chocolate? Actually, he could pour vodka in it and then he would be content for several hours. ”Sure.” he said simply with a slight shrug. She added that it seemed like a good idea because of the snowy weather. ”It’s not a terrible idea certainly.” he said with a slight smile. Definitely was going to pour some sort of vodka in it. Just a matter of whether he wanted flavored or regular. Regardless it was all top shelf stuff because he hated cheap vodka. It was usually disgusting and shouldn’t be considered vodka at all. At least, as far as he was concerned it shouldn’t be vodka. Anyway, thus he now had to figure out which vodka he wanted to use. He did have quite a few different types, and a number of them would go well with hot cocoa probably. She asked if he had been working most of the day, and he thought about that too for a moment. ”Yes I have actually. I usually do end up working most of the day. That’s just work on average though isn’t it? It tends to take up most of the day.” he stated and then watched as she interacted with her dog and told him to go lie down and stop begging. Good, the dog shouldn’t be begging for hot chocolate anyway. Actually, the dog shouldn’t be begging at all really, but usually that couldn’t be helped. It could technically be avoided if you never gave the dog treats when begging occurred, but there was a chance that it would continue anyway even with that. Then his cat seemed to jump over the dog and walk his way into the kitchen to sit at his feet and just stare at him and Moscow. Well then, clearly both of their pets either had begging issues, or were just like them. It fit really, and he didn’t mind the extra company around the house. The cat at least had somewhat of an excuse to beg with milk being cooked and such, but it was a cat, they weren’t supposed to beg. ”It’s going about as well as it usually does. It’s dreadfully tedious. I miss not having to do it.” he noted idly. She had grabbed the mugs now though so he opened the liquor cabinet and pondered at the selection. ”Do you want vodka in yours? If so what flavor?” he asked her simply while pondering just that himself. Which one did he want to use? It really was kind of a hard choice, and you had to take into account the fact that not all of them would taste very good once warm. 517 / Moscow and Tilt /vodka chocolate~ [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com