IC contact for maskormenace

[devoutish]

You've reached Alfie Solomons. Leave your name and state your business.

Alfie can be reached via the imPort network, or via a home phone and answering machine. He does have a cell phone, but it's not publicly available.

Comments

[devoutish]

Is there still a Jewish neighborhood there?

[trouvaille]

There's a Jewish Museum there, so I'd guess probably.

( she is not a demographics expert, to no one's great shock. )

[devoutish]

A museum, really? Do the gentiles visit?

[trouvaille]

Not Jewish people? Sure, I think so. There's a lot of...

( hey, you know what gwen's even less equipped to discuss than feminism? the impact of the second world war. this time, she sidesteps. )

People like to think of prejudices as history, ( is what she settles on. ) Whether it's true or not. Museums are great for that. Look at all this historical stuff that doesn't reflect on who we are as people probably. I mean, I don't know if it's that kind of museum, I prefer an art gallery. But I've been to Jewish memorials before and I'm technically supposed to be a Catholic.

( doesn't count if you were baptised to impress a lady. in her view. )

[devoutish]

Mm. Born into the faith, but not practicing?

[trouvaille]

The woman I'm named after, my brother's mother, she's a Catholic. I think she helped plan the baptism.

( and her willingness to do that is not irrelevant to emeric wynne-york's decision that he wanted one. )

[devoutish]

And what do you consider yourself? Who do you identify with?

[trouvaille]

( gwen often has a swift answer for everything-- this is not one of those times. she visibly hesitates. she isn't even sure what species she considers her own, so much neither one thing nor the other.

but yeah, cry more about how hard it is to the jewish guy from the 20s, whatever. )

I always wanted to be Russian when I grew up.

[devoutish]

And do the Russians accept you?

[trouvaille]

I've never asked them to.

( her russian carries a faint trace of an italian accent, but she switches back and forth deftly, practised. a shrug-- )

I don't have a tribe. I'm a global citizen, or whatever the bullshit line is these days.

[devoutish]

Global citizen. Fucking ridiculous.

[Everybody needs a tribe, in his humble opinion. He switches to Russian too, just because:]

No wonder you're lonely.

[His speech is native-like and fluent, with no real trace of accent - he grew up speaking the language, and so the pronunciation is natural to him.]

[trouvaille]

( he's not wrong. it's a lack she feels more keenly than she'd care to admit in so many words - and that she doesn't disagree is sufficiently telling. )

Everybody's lonely.

( no, honey. )

We lived in Russia for three years, when I was little. No where special.

[devoutish]

I've never been. I'm told it's very cold.

[trouvaille]

Never go to war with Russia in the winter, that's what they say, which is good advice. I wore a lot of fur, there's stupid photographs.

( she was very small, you can just see the hands and the face. )

[devoutish]

Do you know men who have gone to war in Russia in the winter?

[trouvaille]

No one's done it recently. I think most of the people who died the last time it happened were Russians.

( someone crosses ahead of them; gwen is briefly engaged in trying to untangle herself when putin tries to move in front of her again and tangles the lead. )

I don't know people who've gone to war. Or, not war that looks like that.

[devoutish]

[Alfie pauses to let her take care of things, rather than walking on ahead of her.]

I had family who fought against the big man in Russia, back when there was a big man. But I never met them.

[trouvaille]

( she briefly tries to work out the timeline on that-- )

The last Tsar? The Romanovs are Russian Orthodox martyrs now, I heard.

( it's moderately surreal to realise, properly, that she's still talking to someone for whom that's rather more recent history and has never yet been made into a cartoon by don bluth. )

My godmother's family is Russian. Some of it. I used to listen to her talking t her friends on the phone to learn all the good words.

[devoutish]

Half the Romanovs are on the run, in my time.

[He sounds completely satisfied about this.]

I can't curse in the language at all. I heard it from my mother only.

[trouvaille]

That doesn't end well for them, as I remember my history.

( there's a thoughtful pause. alfie can probably literally see the wheels turning before she even says, )

Well, what do you know, something I can teach you.

[devoutish]

I'm sure it doesn't.

[He says it cheerfully. And then he looks over at her, eyebrows raised. Go on, teach him some Russian curses.]

[trouvaille]

( it's genuinely a little impressive, in that she starts rattling them off and just -

it keeps going, like, for a while. she's got words. she's got phrases. there's a couple that may have been made up but would certainly leave a mark well-delivered. there are the old standards, naturally, your fuck and your cunt and whatnot per translation, but russian is a great language for swearing and gwen has a filthy fucking mouth. )

[devoutish]

[And he just listens, amused. Then he switches back to English:]

Yeah - you know I've got no idea what any of these mean.

[trouvaille]

One of them was cunt and I'm going to introduce these words to your life, slowly and deliberately over time, until you can tell me which one it was.

( that's her favourite curse word, because of course it is, she's in her twenties and she lives in london, there are nightclubs where it's essentially punctuation. )

[devoutish]

I should rightly be punched for getting a young woman to speak like this.