Sweet Rural Shade (Yulia)

[Tsukiko Aoki]

Tsukiko stretched out beneath a giant oak, reveling in the shelter from the sun provided by the network of branches. Dandelions poked through the grass, still white and fluffy, whispy seeds fluttering through the air on the wind.

And what a wind it was: the surface of the lake frothed and rippled, slapping up against the bank wildly. Above her head the branches of the oak waved and tossed, dropping leaves on her head. At least it was only wind; the sky itself was a brilliant, cloudless blue, no signs of rain anywhere in sight.

Kiko considered this mildly dangerous weather insofar as sunburn was concerned; the sun was still beating down on unsuspecting heads, but the wind kept the temperature cool enough that burning was the last thing on most people's minds. She felt that she was probably safe, having lathered on sunscreen before heading out to the lake, though she was regretting not bringing a sweater; the wind was cold!

She turned toward Yulia, giving her friend an apologetic smile. "Sorry for dragging you out in this, I had no idea it would be this cold."

If she had, the small picnic she'd packed (aka sandwiches and soda from the deli; no way was she making it herself) would have included warmer foods.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia was glad to get a call from Tsukiko to go for a trot out to the lake today. Yulia herself had been pouring over the computer for hours, trying to figure out exactly how she wanted to approach this whole online college affair. Considering all of the people she was around she now she almost felt less than due to her lack of a degree.

No one back home had one, not her parents nor her sisters. It just was not necessary for the lifestyle they had lived in the mining town. She was sure that those at the school and some in the military had attended University, but the way they were shipped it had made it impossible, not that she had really considered it.

Now she was, internet college that was. Though what program she would go for she did not know. She was just sort of diving into this on pure momentum. Now at least she was free from the websites for a little while.

Yulia leaned against the trunk of the tree, looking out on the lake. She glanced down at Kiko. “No, no, I am glad you did. This weather is nice, at least in my opinion.” Then she grinned at her friend. “I am not as temperature sensitive as you.” She pulled out a cigarette and lit up, enjoying the breeze as she breathed out a puff of smoke.

"So, what is the plan for today? Just relaxing?"

[Tsukiko Aoki]

Kiko nudged her picnic basket closer to Yulia.

"God, what are you, a robot?" She teased, then immediately contradicted herself. "No, even a robot wouldn't like this weather. If it starts raining it would rust."

It made sense that Yulia wouldn't find the weather bothersome, of course; she'd undoubtedly faced worse during her stint with the Russian military. They probably preferred not to have recruits be sensitive about the weather.

"Just relaxing." She agreed, watching with raised eyebrows as the younger woman lit up. "Rome is geeking it up with James."

She wasn't jealous. Much. After all, James deserved to have some time with her man after being in the hospital. And it gave her time to hang out with her own friends....who had also been in the hospital.

"I would suggest swimming, but the weather is crap for that." She glowered out at the wind-swept lake, then shrugged. "But I dunno, maybe your leg wouldn't let you anyway."

She peered into the basket, contemplating whether to choose a tuna sandwich or turkey. "How is your leg, by the by? And what have you been up to, haven't talked to you much since....you know." Since half of Hammel's staff had wound up at Maddock. Weird. And the gossip hadn't been helpful, either.

[Yulia Sokolov]

“You would be surprised how many times I have been asked that question. I think it is because of the robot in Rocky IV.” Yulia said with a laugh. It was true too, she could not believe how many people were still so attached to that movie.

“I am not Ivan Drago, I swear.” She stretched her legs out a little more, or tried to, pointing her toes. Her right leg still got stiff if it was out straight like that for too long.

When Kiko commented that Rome and James were hanging out Yulia raised her eyebrows. “Geeking out? How does one geek out?” She was still new to some expressions after all, and thank goodness Kiko hadn’t used an idiom.

Yulia finally did attack the picnic basket, choosing a sandwich at random and tucking into it. She pretty much ate anything, though she tended to eat basic in all honesty. She ate whatever Ben cooked, and between that and sandwiches she never could say she was hungry.

“Yeah, it is too cold to swim,” she agreed. That thought had never occurred to her, she really wasn’t the sort of person who swam for fun. Swimming for her had always either meant training or a mission. That was it. However, she was thrown a second later.

“My leg…” Yulia started slowly. “Well my arm is fine, it is bandaged up and healing well. My leg, that is an old injury from my time in Russia.” She was sure that she had mentioned that she was in the military to Kiko, and maybe that her leg sometimes bothered her, but this subject made her for one uncomfortable. She really didn’t want to talk about what had caused that particular injury. She knew that it would have to come up eventually, but the longer she could hold it off the better.

“There is some permanent tissue damage there, it just gets a little painful sometimes, no major problems, I could swim with it still,” she added with a smile.

[Tsukiko Aoki]

"I believe you, I believe you!" Tsukiko grinned, leaning across the picnic basket to nudge the other woman in the shoulder with her own.

She grinned fondly at the thought of Rome and James and their ridiculous ways. "Geeking out is like....it's like when someone is very interested in a topic and they start telling you about it and get really enthusiastic. And since Rome and James are both geeks in the most traditional view of the word they're probably going to show off their miniatures collections and talk about elves and dragons. I'll be lucky if he doesn't come home with prosthetic pointy ears." And she wasn't joking; she really didn't put it past her boyfriend and his friends to wear pointed ears out in public, or at least at their respective houses and on the way to and from. That was public enough.

The remains of her sandwich vanished into her mouth, leaving her with a few crumbs scattered on her chest, which she flicked off into the grass, watching as green leaves skittered across the surface of the lake. She half-expected some sort of sea monster to rear up out of the murky depths; maybe Nessie, for instance, although her more practical side (which was much more dominant than her whimsical) said that there was no possible way a sea monster could hide anywhere in that lake. "Too bad neither of us can manipulate weather, maybe we could make it nice enough to swim." She mused with a laugh. "Maybe if Kat were around..." Kateri Rivera was quite a firecracker and Kiko had a great amount of respect for the red-headed math teacher. And currently her meta abilities would have been quite useful. Perhaps next time they had a picnic they would invite Kat and Janice and have a quality girl's day out.

"Oops, sorry. That's what I meant, you always limp around on it like it's stiff." She apologized, feeling rather like a crummy friend for not also asking about the more recent injury. "I'm glad your arm's healing up. What did you do to it, again?" She asked, deciding to be shamelessly nosy. Maybe Yulia would let her in on what had happened.

She began to pluck at the grass by her feet, rolling it between long fingers. "I keep forgetting you were in Russia, you're just so young." By which she meant that she felt that she hadn't experienced nearly as much as Yulia and she was the older of the two. Of course, she had spent most of her adult life in school and residency, which was probably about the same in terms of eating up time, though she was sure that the medical field was lots safer. At least Yulia had gotten out alive.

"Are the cookies in the basket or did I leave them in the car?" She wondered, turning slightly to look at the younger woman, clearly expecting her to do the looking.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia looked at her with increasing shock and confusion as the concept of geeking out was explained to her. She was not sure how grown men were still in possession of such things, let alone having them about to discuss. After all these things were not real, and she was confused as to why there should be such a following. Perhaps it was the bit about elves and dragons that confused her the most. Given that fairytales were not the fodder of her childhood she did have some trouble translating these words in her head. Now elves she mistakenly associated with the little garden gnomes that she had seen in gardens, and dragons she could not find a definition for in her mind at all. Still she looked at Kiko, puzzled.

“Do you keep those on the lawn?” She really did not understand this in the least.

Yulia leaned back against the tree again. Honestly this was all very relaxing for her personally, so she didn’t mind it at all, weather or whatnot. Still she shivered for a moment. Maybe she was becoming soft when it came to the weather. Then again while she had been in the military in Russia she had always been very well insulated. That had been well and good but nothing else had been. She was brought back to the current by Kiko’s note on the weather. Yulia had to admit that she was right, it would be nice to have a weather manipulator around, or just Kateri in general. Yulia saw her sometimes in the halls at Hammel and she did seem nice, though she wasn’t really familiar with the red headed teacher. Still why not have another addition to their outings, after all the expression was the more the merrier, right? She was pretty sure that was what it was. “We should invite her to come with us next time, yes? I think so.”

Yulia hadn’t thought much on her leg until Kiko said the word limp. She looked up in alarm, stressed by the concept of it. She hadn’t thought it was that prominent. As such Kiko’s question about her arm went right over her head and instead she looked at her friend with a self-conscious concern. “I did not think it was so noticeable. Tell me, and please do tell me honestly, is it? Is it that clear that I have a limp sometimes.” The idea of it made her feel pretty anxious. She wanted just a simple sense of normality and she felt that the limp detracted from that.

Then Yulia tried to calm down and listen to Kiko once again, who then commented on her time in Russia. “Well yes, I grew up there, I was in the military there. The leg is an old injury from that time. I am from Norilsk, and if you think that this is cold then you should go there, you will freeze all of your extremities off.” Yulia laughed as she peered into the basket and found the bag.

“Here they are.” She handed the bag to Kiko and then sprawled out on the grass herself.

[Tsukiko Aoki]

Kiko barked out a laugh at the thought of Rome keeping dragons and elves on the lawn. "Oh, hell, no, I would have something to say if he tried to make our lawn look like a scene from dungeons and dragons." She may have found his geekiness endearing, but only to a point. The moment he tried to recreate fantasy scenes in public she would put her foot down.

She nodded in agreement at the idea of inviting Kateri along next time they got together. "Good plan, we can make it a regular girl's night. What do you think, should we be typical and get our nails done?" She certainly didn't mind that idea, but she had a difficult time envisioning Yulia at a salon. Still, one never knew.

"Sorry." She apologized with a shrug at her friend. "It's pretty noticeable." She could tell that the other woman didn't want it to be, but she couldn't lie to her about it. If she hadn't noticed then she wouldn't have said anything about it in the first place. "Maybe you should do some physical therapy." She suggested, in case that hadn't crossed Yulia's mind.

The idea of any place colder than where they were that moment made her give and exaggerated shiver. "Good lord," She exclaimed with a laugh, "are you sure you lived in Russia? Maybe it was really the North Pole. Did you ever see Santa wandering around?"

She accepted the bag with a small "Yes!" of celebration, grabbing two cookies and handing one to her friend. "So how're your roommates?" If she recalled correctly Yulia lived with two men, but she'd never met either of them. She really didn't have many male friends herself; Rome was it, and as he was a romantic attachment she wasn't sure he counted.

[Yulia Sokolov]

Yulia continued to be confused by the elf concept. She didn’t understand what Kiko was so majorly opposed to. Now Yulia was not about to put any garden gnomes out on her lawn, after all it wasn’t just her lawn and they sort of creeped her out. However why wasn’t Rome allowed to have any. Then her mistake hit her and she literally hit herself in response to that. She gave herself a smack on the forehead.

“Ohhh, I was so confused. I had the elves confused with the other little men, the garden gnomes.” Once again she realized she had been roundabout with her speech. She really did need to work on that. “Wait, I will say that again,” she said determinedly. “I thought that elves were garden gnomes, evidently that is wrong.” She smiled, and shrugged. “We didn’t have any in Norilsk. You know, what lawn right?” She laughed as she thought about her old home in the arctic circle.

She turned a little bit and the lied down on the grass herself. She felt like a whole new world was open to her now that she had a couple girl friends. “Ooh, I have never had my nails done before. That could be fun.” She laughed, that would be a new experience for her. Still at the same time she wasn’t sure about half of this cosmetic stuff.

Yulia rolled over and reached into the bag for a cookie. She took a bite out of it. It was pretty tasty and so she looked over at Kiko. “Did you make these? If you did then you are a far better baker than I am.” Still none of them could, and probably never would, be able to give Riley a run for his money.

“My roommates are… alright.” She was not sure what to say about them. Ben was in a damp mood of late, and she barely knew or saw Josef. “I am assuming Rome is doing well if he is off geeking out.” Yulia finished the cookie. “I think I might try to join some kind of cooking class, because I’m pretty sure my roommates are getting tired of the sound of the smoke detector.”

[Tsukiko Aoki]

The corner of Tsukiko's lips turned up into a surprised smile at Yulia's confusion. "Garden gnomes? Oh, no, this is less whimsical and more high and lofty and geeky. I would just laugh at him if he were interested in garden gnomes." She confessed.

She still wouldn't want any on her lawn; they were almost as tacky as plastic flamingos. But they were still much less offensive than having elves on the lawn, which didn't even have the decency to be mainstream tacky.

"Hmmm." Kiko finished off her cookie and stretched her hands out in front of her, examining short, blunt nails. "Mine need to be done. I don't go nearly often enough." But having girlfriends to go with gave her an excuse.

At Lia's question about the origins of the picnic Kiko tilted forward, one arm around her waist, trying unsuccessfully to hold in her laughter. "Oh, god, no!" She gasped, trying to imagine Rome's face if she showed up with the store bought cookies and told them she'd baked them. "NO, no, I bought everything at the store. I hate cooking. Rome is the one who belongs barefoot in the kitchen."

She made a stern face, then burst into laughter again. "Your roommates don't cook?" She shook her head in exasperation, "make them do it for you, that's what roommates are for." And then, "Yes, Rome is doing well. He's such an overgrown puppy sometimes."

She smiled fondly; though she teased him, she did care for him. "Perhaps we can take a cooking class together, surprise your roommates and Rome with dinner."

She still hated to cook, but it would be a nice gesture. Especially if she could get Yulia to suffer with her.

[Yulia Sokolov]

“Whimsical” Yulia repeated the word, trying to remember what that meant as well, but she had a good idea of it. Maybe more like, childish? Colorful? That all seemed to be close enough. And now that she had a picture of them in her head she did understand how one might think it was ridiculous to obsess over them. Yulia was… morbidly fascinated with the little fellows. She didn’t want any, instead she was creeped out by them mostly. Maybe she had just reached paranoia finally? After all of those years in the military and people actually watching her perhaps she just expected it now. Instead she put it from her mind.

Yulia then put her attention back on her fingernails, waving her fingers in front of her face. She had long enough nails, but they were slightly dirty at the moment. That was pretty much the permanent state of them. She was not a preener by any standard. That simply was not her at all, and it never had been. But how could it hurt?

It was Kiko’s reaction to the cookie question that broke Yulia away and made her laugh. “I wasn’t sure if you could bake and not cook. I suppose that there is a difference, at least that is what I heard.”

“No, my roommate Ben cooks, and he cooks very well. However I don’t want to be totally dependent. I don’t have him wrapped around my little finger like you do with Rome. I pay him my rent and he feeds me to keep me from starving.” Yulia laughed at herself then, oh it was so true. She really would starve without him, that or just eat awful fast food and end up at the other end of that spectrum.

“Oh we should do both, why not right? Then again I might need to carry a fire extinguisher with me. I think we’ll need a basic cooking class.” Yulia glanced back out at the water. “A basic cooking class, a very basic cooking class.”

[Tsukiko Aoki]

"The only difference I'm aware of is that one results in meals and the other results in desserts." Kiko declared firmly. She was aware that some of her coworkers preferred to bake and others preferred to cook, but really both involved mixing ingredients together to create edibles, so she didn't think there was that much of a difference. Besides, she could and had done both. She just didn't enjoy it.

She raised an eyebrow at Lia's suggestion they bring along a fire extinguisher. "That bad, huh?" She wasn't in any danger of burning things to the ground when she cooked and she couldn't imagine that her friend really was as bad as she claimed. She was probably exaggerating. "I think I saw a cooking class for elementary schoolers advertised listed in the rec center's class booklet. Maybe they'll make an exception for us and let us in anyway, think that's more our speed?"

How to slice PB&J's and make the best mac and cheese couldn't be too hard, even a self-proclaimed kitchen disaster like Lia should be able to do well enough with something aimed at six year olds.

The last of the cookies disappeared into her mouth, and she briskly wiped her fingers across the grass. "Mmm. Think we should find a place indoors now." She suggested, shivering from the wind. "You might not feel it, but it's too cold out here for me."