action // video (Russian)

[candothat]

[Chekov, currently outside in the snowy, picturesque City, is very pleased with his lot in life. He might not be home, but home is no place he wants to be. This place is superior in all ways, and he has learned so much more about quantum physics than he had ever thought possible thanks to the scientific advances made since his time (and far beyond).

Still, the snowy evening evokes memories of Saint Petersburg before the start of the war. Perhaps it's nostalgia that prompts him to make a post to the network. Naturally, he addresses the network in Russian. It's the only language he knows, after all, and the various translation devices in the City haven't made the language barrier insurmountable in the two years he has been here.]

This is the first time I have been reminded of home in some time--not that that is something to complain about. Christmastime has been joyless there for years now, but, when I was a boy [as if he isn't still a boy] and my mother was still with us, we had very pleasant celebrations. Small, of course, but even borscht and pagach is a feast when served with enough pomp.

As my father is fond of saying, "Although there’s nothing to eat, life is fun."

My favorite thing about Christmas was the stories that my mother would tell. They were the same stories every year--I could have told them to myself, but they would not have been as good--and still I could never hear them enough. My favorite was about Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden. It is a long story and I wouldn't want to bore anyone by telling it. My mother teased me sometimes, saying that I was made out of snow and magic and given to her and my father as a gift the same as the Snow Maiden was. That is nonsense, of course, and I told her that, but she knew that I liked to hear the story anyway.

The ending is sad, and that is no surprise. The Snow Maiden falls in love and the warmth of her heart melts her into a puddle. I suppose this only proves that Russians are melancholy even when life is not unpleasant. I prefer to think of it as deep, philosophical introspection rather than inherent sadness and an acceptance of futility. I think that is what the novelists talk about when they write about the Russian soul.

Anyway, there is no Christmas at home any longer. The Bolsheviks have done away with it. That will not stop families from pretending that borscht and pagach are a feast, or mothers from telling their children stories.

[He shifts and brushes some snow out of his curly hair.]

My apologies for rambling. This is a good time of year for nostalgia--a good time to remember what we have lost, and maybe to feel the echoes of joy still left from good memories.

[And off goes the video! Chekov lingers in the snow a little longer before going home.]


[ooc: When Are You From? curse! AU!Chekov's background can be found here (sorry if anything is inaccurate. I tried?). He'll remember being in the City and the people he has met, but those memories will be very different. Russian's also the only language he knows, so... uh, good luck if your character doesn't have a way to translate?]

Comments

Video

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[Well, at least this version of Meyer still speaks Russian. He responds to Chekov's video in the appropriate language -- although he doesn't necessarily look impressed by the story.]

Sure, it all sounds nice, but is nostalgia really good for anything practical?

Video

[candothat]

[Chekov doesn't expect anyone to be impressed, especially Meyer. Does Meyer even have an "impressed" setting?]

Practical, no, but I find that it occasionally helps lift spirits.

Re: Video

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[He has an impressed setting. It's just almost impossible to find.]

Except that, as you say, most Russian nostalgia -- most Russian everything -- is melancholy.

Video

[candothat]

And most Russians revel in melancholy. My father is never more pleased than when something is causing him suffering.

Re: Video

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Mine too. I'll never understand why. I figure there's enough suffering in our lives without actively seeking it out, but hey, what would I know, I haven't been to Russia in a long time.

Video

[candothat]

When you are an old man, your heritage will catch up to you and you'll also delight in suffering. It happens to everyone.

What was the year, the last time you were there?

Re: Video

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Good thing I won't be old for quite awhile, then. I have time to enjoy myself without needing to suffer to do so.

Sometime in the late 1990s, I guess.

[phonetical]

[There's at least one other person who understand what he's saying here and can reply in kind.]

We can have Christmas here. Somebody has to know how to make borscht and pagach.

[Something seems off about him, but that remains to be seen.]

[candothat]

It isn't a matter of making them--I can do that--so much as a matter of finding someone else who will eat borscht. Westerners find beets intimidating.

Nyota, I neglected to ask this before, but now I'm curious. How is Christmas celebrated in your time, in space?

[phonetical]

If I am willing to eat Rokeg blood pie, I'll eat borscht.

[Hold up, wait a minute...]

In my time? Chekov, we've done Christmas together before on the ship. Why are you asking me that?

[candothat]

Rokeg blood pie? That sounds British.

[She isn't the only one who's confused. Chekov can only blame Uhura's relatively recent return to the City for her lapse in memory.]

I have never been on a ship and we have never both been in the City at Christmastime. Maybe you've been influenced by a curse...?

video;

[anatural]

[Somebody did something to her device so now Korra gets alerts whenever certain people -- like Chekov -- post to the network. She'd be annoyed at the intrusion, but it's actually kind of useful. Particularly now -- his talking about Christmas reminds her that she had gotten him a present.

Of course she gets distracted again.]

Who are the Bolsheviks? [She's never heard him talk about them before.]

video;

[candothat]

[Thank the powers that be for translation devices and whoever messed with Korra's alerts.]

I haven't told you about them? They are a social democratic party, like the Mensheviks, but more radical. Or they were. I think that the only significant difference between parties is how well-liked their primary advocates are, now that the tsar has been removed from power.

But you know that I dislike politics.

[anatural]

Nope. [He really must not like to talk about politics, because despite everything he's babbled about Russia, he's never mentioned this.]

Who's the zar?

[candothat]

Nicholas the Second, formerly. Now the more vicious dogs are fighting for what scraps of power they can salvage.

[There is a lot of bitterness in his voice. The metaphor is kind of weird, too; Chekov's usually fairly literal.]

[anatural]

[Wow. That is...weirdly emotional for Chekov.]

Why didn't you ever talk about this before?

[candothat]

I have, at length! You threatened to throw me into the ocean last week if I would not stop talking about this!

[anatural]

No I didn't! What are you talking about?

voice; obviously in Russian

[defies_reason]

[Well, this is an interesting thing.]

Can you complain, really, when Russians do melancholy so well?

voice;

[candothat]

No, I suppose not.

But there is no reason to be melancholy here in the City.

[Help, he doesn't know how to stop.]

voice;

[defies_reason]

Oh, I'm certain you could find a reason, if you needed one.

[He's just going to settle back and popcorn.gif.]

voice;

[candothat]

I could. [And he sounds serious, which is not normal.] Things are going too well. I expect a disaster any moment.

voice;

[defies_reason]

[This won't last, which means Isaak doesn't feel badly about being amused by it.]

You've discovered the advantage of pessimism, Pavel Andreievich. Always prepared for the worst, and only ever pleasantly surprised.

voice;

[candothat]

[Well, Isaak can be amused. Chekov is having none of it.]

There are no pleasant surprises.

What are you doing for the holiday, Isaak Stefanovich?

voice;

[defies_reason]

Then you're not sufficiently imaginative in your pessimism.

[Oh, Pasha. This would be tiresome if it lasted but for a day it's worth a laugh. A quiet, inward laugh. Isaak is only habitually merciless; he does understand the concept.]

Oh, I hadn't thought of it. Drinking with the lonely hearts who've nowhere else to go, I expect.