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#me-- instantly stressed and near tears: I know you're joking and it's not even important but. that isn't funny. to me.
blujayonthewing · 3 months
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well I just spent an hour digging through my own dnd notes and social media and also almost cried because I mentioned, in passing, something justin had said about one of his NPCs and he, completely lightheartedly, was like '?? I don't remember that at all. [I mean I'm not making it up?] I think you might be making it up 😏'
#me-- instantly stressed and near tears: I know you're joking and it's not even important but. that isn't funny. to me.#I really wish there was a term for 'gaslighting but they're not doing it on purpose'#this is distinct from simply 'being wrong' because 'that's definitely not what happened 🤨' is a key part of it#the other person trying to convince me that I'm wrong and I must be crazy-- not for manipulation purposes but because THEY forgot#and are MUCH more confident in the possibility that I'm completely full of shit than that they maybe can't remember exactly#this is an extraordinarily specific thing that nonetheless happens to me ASTONISHINGLY OFTEN.#I mean clearly often enough that I'm now hair-trigger sensitive upset about it#AND TO CLARIFY QUICKLY-- that's not what justin even did (this time) but 'well I don't remember that' is still...#OKAY WELL I DO. WHY DOESN'T ANYONE EVER BELIEVE ME.#trembling and crying searching for Receipts while explaining to my husband that it's not even that I don't think he believes me (this time)#I just. I just. I just. I'm not fucking crazy. I know you don't think I'm crazy. but I still feel like I Have to prove it.#my mom sending a package to the wrong address and then saying-- confidently and irritably-- 'you never GAVE me a unit number'#when I can scroll back up through texts to where I sent her our new address when we moved and it was complete and correct#my friend during our big stupid fight saying 'no one actually AGREED to that [dnd] plan except you and justin 😒'#going back into my audio recording to that conversation where everyone BUT him agreed#including his fucking pick-me 'yeah jay's being shitty right now' brother whose character said 'this sounds like a good plan' verbatim#like. I KNOW it's not just 'my memory vs theirs and we both assume we're right'#because SO OFTEN when this happens I have FUCKING RECEIPTS. that I'M NOT WRONG OR CRAZY.#no one ever wants to entertain the notion that I might know what I'm talking about.#I can't stress enough that I'm not mad at justin right now he was very much 'no I believe you! it's weird that I don't remember though'#which is fair! honestly! but I'm a LITTLE. sensitive. of the fact that everyone always ALWAYS automatically assumes I'm incorrect#and very often in a way that's a mark against my competence or character.#'well *I* couldn't *possibly* have gotten the address wrong so YOU must have fucked it up'#you know. it's like that. it's like that a lot.#maybe this only happens to me so much because I happen to be cursed with remembering things better than most people#or maybe I'm uniquely viewed as incompetent. who can say.#about me
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guigz1-coldwar · 3 years
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'Great interest' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !
"Great interest"
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"Yirina Grigoriev...MI6 Agent...nice to meet you!"
Chapter Summary: Memories are still coming back inside Yirina's head and the one she's having might be giving a 'great interest' for her to discover more about herself...
Link of the Picrew used !
To read it on AO3, click here!
Words : +3400
Taglist : @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart
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I was looking at myself in the mirror inside a restroom and wearing a black training outfit from Perseus and by the look of it, I was apparently looking much younger...probably in my teenage years, the hair looking less long and my both hands intact as they were both on each side of the sink, gloves for them in front of me. The look on my face must be telling that this day was important for me but also very stressful as it was necessary for me to make a lot of deep breaths to stay calm, it was sure that stress was all over me this day.
To help me to focus back on staying calm, I decided to pass some water on my face, trying to make me think of something else & mostly something more positive than my actuals thoughts. All of this while feeling my hands trembling, the blood inside my body almost ready to freeze in place like that at any moment. As I was slowly recovering from that state, I could hear the door of the restroom getting opened and as I was at the sight of the door, I was able to see who was coming into the room.
"Yirina, here you are." It was Freya herself, dressed in the same clothes as me but with slight minors change than me. "I've been looking for you for about 5 minutes now, you're late," She told me as she closed the door behind me.
"I just needed to destress, isn't that so hard?" I said in a clear voice to her, looking away from her to see the water getting away through the hole of the sink.
"Are you stressing the day you can have a chance to enter the KGB?"  She asked me in a normal voice, staying near the closed door.
"Why I shouldn't be?" I asked her back, removing my hands from the sink. "It's maybe a little day but for me, it's meaning a lot," I added, my eyes on the gloves that were still on the sink. "I'm not sure that this path is for me."
"You can't say that Yirina, it's our only way and you know it." Freya protested, staying normal in her gesture & voice towards me, crossing her arms.
"My only way?" I whispered, taking the gloves in my hands. "I have dreams, Freya," I alleged, checking the gloves, seeing them like the objects that could determine what path I could take. "I wanted to be a historian, travel the world but instead, I learned cryptography and I'm like....a soldier now." I chuckled, thinking about that as I was resisting the urge to throw the gloves away.
"I know it's hard for you, that your parents never wanted that for you but you know well that you have to do something for them, it's normal!" Freya commented, slowly walking in my direction, probably to make me change my mind.
"Damnit, Freya, I'm just 15 years old and I'm already fighting like I always did this, it isn't normal!" I complained, my left hand above the Perseus emblem on my black shirt, pointing it to her. "I've been almost wearing that emblem on me for years, it isn't normal."  I pointed out that fact to her. "Nothing is normal in here, not even fucking me."
"No, you're normal, Yiri." Freya approaches me as I put my hands back on the sink, closing my eyes, on the verge of tears. "You always said that you were doing this to protect the innocents, I'm making this because it's the right & only way."  She continued, putting her hand on the back of my shoulder.
"I did but I....sometimes, I just have doubts," I explain, opening back my eyes. "I want to protect the innocents, avenge my parents & have someday a normal life." I breathed, my eyes turning around to look back at her.
"Yes, that's what you stand for and me too." She smiles at me, keeping her hand on my shoulder as I leaned away from the sink, the gloves in my hands. "As I said, this way is maybe not normal for us but inside of us, we're both staying normal." She added, moving her hand away to join with mine. "You should put them, you need them." She advised me.
"Of course, of course," I muttered, taking a last look at the gloves before I start to put them on around my hands, now hidden by the black tactical gloves. "It's the only way," I spoke to myself before Freya gently tapped me on my left shoulder.
"Come on, we should go join Perseus, must be awaiting with the KGB inspector." She suggested as she started to walk away from me and as she told me, it was better to follow her.
I took a last look at myself in the mirror, seeing if everything was in order on my outfit and gloves before I started to walk away from the sinks to follow Freya out of the room as it was looking that I was in a military base by looking at the persons that were passing by us while we were directing ourselves out of the building, Freya keeping the lead before we stepped out, getting greeted by a clear sky.
However, we still needed to continue to walk away as we had to join Perseus and a KGB inspector as Freya told me. This base was like a training camp, seeing multiple groups of soldiers training in hand-to-hand fights, obstacle courses, and of course, shooting stands at hearing the gunshots around the compound and after a few moments, we finally arrived at where I supposed that we needed to be: a shooting stand.
"Perseus," Freya spoke up, calling him out as he was speaking with the supposed KGB inspector, dressed in his usual military outfit.
"Yirina, Freya, here you are!" He exclaimed as he turned around to face us, a smile on his face as the man beside him was looking at me, a bald man, hands behind his back, dressed in a KGB uniform.
"Is this the KGB inspector?" I asked Perseus, looking at the man that was keeping a normal face to me.
"Yes." Perseus instantly replied before he half-turned between me & him. "Yirina, I present to you, Colonel Lev Kravchenko from the KGB." He presented me the man, gesturing to him.
"You must be the Yirina Grigoriev Perseus talked a lot about," Kravchenko said, surprised on the inside by the tone of his voice.
"Exactly," I said, staying focused on what this man is going to make me face against.
"I heard a lot about your shooting skills despite having only 15 years old, I'm curious to see if it's a lie or the truth." He stated, moving his hands from his back as he starts to walk towards the shooting stand. "Follow me," He ordered in an authoritarian tone, giving me already the feelings to not like this man at all, still following him to the stand as Perseus & Freya were staying behind me.
"And now?" I demanded.
"Take one of the guns on the table and show me that your exploits aren't fake." He dictated, showing the pistols on the table with his right hand, and he moved away, letting me approach it. There were two pistols: a black Makarov and a silver-nicked M1911 and after a few seconds, I decided to take the M1911 in my hand. "Taking the American one...why?" Kravchenko asked me curiously
"I like it." I instantly replied to him, checking the M1911 in a better way, the mag still on the table. "We can say a lot about the Americans but they actually did good guns and the M1911 is one of them," I added, aiming as a test with the sight. "It's for its liability and the fact that it's easy to use that the Americans used it for the two World Wars, that's something I make you learn?" I scoffed, getting my left hand on the mag to load the gun.
"Just shoot with the gun, understood?" He said in a harsh tone, sounding annoyed by my little joke, making me load the gun.
This was a simple test but with that guy behind me to make sure that the things that were told about me and having Perseus & Freya too behind me were something that I would want to not have at all, feeling the stress again from when I was in the restroom. I looked around me to see that it was like the world was stopped, some people looking at me, waiting for me to shoot with that M1911.
Once I have taken a deep breath to reassure myself, I prepared myself by putting the headset to cover my ears from the gunshots before taking back the M1911 in my hands, looking away at the shooting target: it was a black & white one with the red center, a simple paper attached to a wooden board and I start aiming at it, feeling the weight of the gun in my hands and keeping steady...you can do this....you can do this...I took another deep breath and I was ready.
In the second that followed a deep breath, I opened fire with the gun, managing to keep control as I pulled the trigger rapidly without even moving from my position, closing my left eye to stay focused on the target. I shot the 8 bullets from the gun and after that, it was done as I put back the gun on the table without forgetting to put the safety on and then, removing the headset as a soldier was taking the shooting target in his hands to come to bring it to us.
"Let me see that," Kravchenko mumbled as the soldier gave him the paper with the bullet holes in it as I was leaning against the table, looking at him. "So...that wasn't fake at all," He whispered, looking at the paper...the eight bullet holes all in the red center with just one near it. "When did she learn to shoot?" He demanded Perseus that was coming to take a look at it.
"Since last year, colonel," Perseus responded, nodding at me, looking proud as Freya was moving near me. "I've trained her & Freya since they were children, they have this in their blood." He added, smiling at us. "As you see, Yirina will make a perfect agent in the KGB."
"You did good, I'm proud of you," Freya said silently to me, bringing a little grin on my face even if I wasn't sure of it
"I see but for the moment, she's too young to join, she needs to have at least 17 years old to join," Kravchenko told Perseus, his voice changed as he was still impressed by my shooting skills "Dragovich is maybe going to come to see her personally and I'm sure that he will like her." He added, putting the paper away back on another table.
"He will surely do, Yirina is a great element to our cause, he will know that," Perseus exclaimed, hands behind his back and looking at me.
"I know, Perseus," Kravchenko breathed before he looked at me too with the same curious face he did when I first meet him moments ago...
"We will watch your career with great interest!"
Watching myself back in my teenage years, seeing myself shoot a gun despite having only 15 years old, that was quite a strange feeling & memory to relive about and it was sure that it was staying in my head when I opened my eyes, awakening up in bed in the morning. We watched TV and that french movie until it was time to sleep and to say, it was a pretty good night as Park was looking & feeling better now, having probably helped for that.
I made a yawl while stretching my arms away above me before going to sit on the side of the bed, my personal diary on the nightstand with a pen nearby. As always when I catch a new memory in my head, it was time for me to write about it. I opened it up right after the page about that memory where I got an argument with Freya on the phone, now describing the memory I just had.
To accompany the numerous lines I wrote, I decided to draw the M1911 I had in that dream with another drawing...my gloveless hands holding the black gloves and I was still thinking about it as the moment I took the choice to walk on that path. As I was finished drawing that I could feel Park's arms getting wrapped around my waist, feeling the cold from the palm of her hands on my torso's skin.
"Sleep well, love?" Park asked me in a low & good voice, her head against my back.
"Yeah, I did," I replied with a smile on my face as I put my hands on her arms after I put my personal diary back on the nightstand. "I slept well because of you, Park, what about you?" I demanded.
"Like you, I did sleep well for once," She responded as I could feel her head going near my neck before she kissed me behind it. "Yirina, tu es si gracieuse, [Yirina, you are so gracious,]" She said in french, moving her arms up to my chest.
"Tu n'as pas oublié hier soir, on dirait? [You didn't forget about last night, it seems?]" I observed, laughing a little about it.
"Oh, tu sais...j'adore t'entendre parler français! [Oh, you know...I love hearing you speak french!]" Park told me, her head now on my left shoulder. "It's one of the numerous good qualities you got into you, that's why I love you." She proclaimed, switching back to English.
"Me too." I breathed before I take a look at my personal diary. "I had a memory this night, you want me to tell you about it?" I questioned her as she was always curious about that thing.
"Of course, what is it about?" She demanded as I predicted in a curious voice.
"It was me when I was only 15 years old...making a test to enter the KGB." I started, turning around to look at Park, seeing her covering her top with the sheets as she was naked on that part. "To make me enter the KGB, Perseus makes me do a shooting test in front of a KGB officer: Lev Kravchenko."
"Wait, the same Lev Kravchenko that Portnova knocked down at the Lubyanka a month ago?" I nodded to her. "Wow, I never expected that..." She whispered, looking down.
"I was only 15 years old and I already knew how to shoot with a pistol, I used an M1911 to do that." I continued, quickly grabbing my diary in my hands to give it to her and make her look at the page I wrote on earlier.
"Interesting..." She said as she was looking at what I write and then, looking at the drawing I made: the M1911 and my gloveless hands.
"Before making that test, I had doubts about doing it and...Freya was here to make me go on the 'right path'," I explained, sounding low at the end of my sentence, not because of that choice but because speaking about Freya to Park was a bit hard for me after what happened. "She was looking & sounding more different than recently," I admitted to her.
"I know, it's something hard for you to tell yourself that," Park affirmed to me, putting the diary aside as she moved her hands around mine.
"Yeah, something happened to her but what? I don't know," I mumbled about it, that thing may be locked behind one of the numerous red doors in my head, opening one of them randomly at only precise moments during my nights. "I want to bring her back to our side but...I just don't want to lose hope." I muttered, looking away from Park. "Me & her, it's done but we both know that we can try to save her from Perseus...maybe along with Sonya."
"We'll try, Yirina, we will," Park reassured, her right hand going on my left cheek to stroke it slowly with the back of her hand. "We will," She whispered before she pulled me for a kiss on the lips, closing my eyes as I moved my hands on her shoulders, a smile on my face.
"Thanks," I breathed after the kiss, looking at her as she was having her left arm on the sheets to cover her breasts. "I'm going to go make breakfast for both of us, you should get dress," I advised her, moving away from her and off the bed to get dressed too.
"Okay, I will," She muttered, looking at me dressing up while she was still on the bed and by her look on her face, she was liking what she was seeing.
Once I was fully dressed up in my clothes...well, still Park's clothes...I was ready to leave the room, letting Park alone as I was going to make breakfast, meeting Beans along the way, and patting her as always before going to the kitchen until I saw that her two bowls were looking filled up despite that last night, me & Park both saw Beans eating & drinking a large part of her food...must be Park doing it as she was the last one to go to sleep.
Before pulling the food for me & Park, I decided to dress up the living room table, still feeling that were something strange in here as Beans was seemingly happier than before and then, as I was entering the living room in peace...
"Surprise!" I heard two voices in the room and it was enough for me to make me jump from my spot in scare, literally going over the couch and falling on the floor and when I look back up, I could see Zasha standing up from their seat while Portnova was sitting on her chair.
"Are you both crazy? You almost gave me a heart attack!" I exclaimed, going back on my feet as Zasha was looking worried to have done this to me.
"Sorry, we thought that you heard us coming back in the morning," Zasha told me, helping me up before they hugged me in a friendly way.
"Were we this silent to not been heard by you?" Portnova asked me and I nodded as Zasha was still hugging me.
"Well, if I had jumped away in scare over the couch, you already had your answer," I said to her as Zasha broke the hug. "When did you come back? I thought you would have come back later," I asked them both.
"Only an hour ago, we left earlier our place to come back here," Zasha responded, moving back to their seat. "And for a surprise, we make breakfast for you & Park," They added, sitting as they were gesturing towards the table.
"Uhm...thanks," I smiled at them, scratching the back of my head as I walked to my seat and sit on it. "So...how was your honeymoon?" I demanded.
"It was all nice & perfect, a good thing away from work." Portnova was the first to reply, her cup of coffee in her hands. "I hope that work wasn't so hard for you both," She added.
"Not at all, having to lead Zed's team for the time being and trying to find anything new about Perseus wasn't this hard," I commented, telling the truth about the situation. Leading Zasha's team was mostly giving advice & teaching them some methods, nothing too big. "I'll tell them more about what we did at work," I told her, looking at Zasha.
"Oh, you're here..." I turned around to see Park arriving in the living room, dressed up and looking surprised to see Zasha & Portnova here just like I was...in a way...
"Hi, Park," Zasha waved at her with their left hand, knowing that they shouldn't ask about what happened that night as I advised them in that phone call to extend their honeymoon. "You're looking great," They observed.
"Thank you, Zed," Park grinned at them as she sat down at the seat near me. Everyone was looking at her as she was peacefully taking in her hands a knife & a bread to put strawberry jam on the bread. "What?" She asked, seeing the three of us looking at her and stopping herself in her moves.
"Oh, nothing...you just look beautiful," I spoke up from the three of us, giving her a little blush on her face and me too and causing the three of us to return to eat breakfast, me happy to see the table surrounded by my closest friends & my love...
"I guess that it's the beginning of another good day for us..."
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