Work Text:
"Come on, Cub", Bad Grief - or perhaps it was simply Grief nowadays - said to Artemy with his usual grin. "You're always in such a hurry. Stay put for a while and rest your sorry ass for an hour at the very least."
Clara watched as Artemy sighed and kicked at something with his foot, obviously trying to come up with an excuse so as not to stay.
"Not tonight", was his reply, and he averted his gaze when Grief replied, perhaps to spare himself of the disappointment he'd otherwise see in his friend's expression. It didn't take long until he left the backyard of Grief's new lodging, and Clara materialised herself from the bush she'd been hiding in.
"This is outrageous", Notkin said as he, too, crawled out of another bush. "He's so stiff with constraint that he won't even hang out with his best friends!"
Grief sighed as he nodded, slouching back into the armchair he'd dragged out to stand below a ragged roof. "Constraint is the right word, kid. He's taken accountability for the town's future, and I fear that the guilt is weighing down his every move."
Clara shook her head and crossed her arms in thought. "We should help him", she decided, and received two pairs of raised eyebrows in response.
"And how would we do that?" Khan emerged from yet another hiding-place, somewhat preoccupied by drawing something in a notebook.
They all pondered for a moment, until Notkin snapped his fingers.
"If it's his guilt that's the problem, then maybe we could set him up to befriend someone he won't feel that he's condemned."
"What, do you seriously think he believes he has condemned me?" Grief snorted, although he raised a single eyebrow in subtle interest, perhaps deep down wishing for it to be true. "I've condemned myself a thousand times already."
"But not by silencing the heartbeat of the town. It's different." Notkin looked at the darkening sky and fiddled with his collar, as if that would bring him new perspectives.
Clara studied him, and nodded slowly. "I think you're onto something", she said. "He obviously needs his emotions to be released, but he's unlikely to let them out if he feels that they're a reasonable punishment for his choice of saving the townspeople."
"Yes!" Notkin smiled at her, and Khan rolled his eyes even though he still had his nose in his notebook. "So we just need him to become friends with someone from out of town!"
They all thought for a moment, until they all spoke simultaneously.
"The Stamatins!"
"The Bachelor!"
"Lyuricheva!"
"Anna Angel!"
Clara shook her head and mimicked Notkin by snapping her own fingers. "Yes!" She exclaimed. "Say that again!" She regretted it when three names were repeated another time. "No, hang on - the Bachelor would be perfect, no?"
"Doesn't Burakh dislike the dandy?" Khan raised his head only to frown at the gathered, and Clara shrugged.
"Anyone but that strange woman, Angel." Grief made a face as he waved in the air as if that would make her disappear from the Earth. "She's undeserving of his kindness, I'm certain of it."
Clara had to agree, even though she did believe in the power of change. "So then it's decided?" She grinned, excited to help with something even without the power of her hands.
"Fine", Khan mumbled, and Notkin nodded with a smile.
"Let's bring it!"
Clara peeked into one of the windows of the Stillwater, searching for life within. She leaned on her fingertips upon the windowsill, stabilizing herself.
"Do you see anyone?" Capella asked, her voice strained, and Clara supposed that she understood why. Clara was perched upon her shoulders, and the girl's feet were drenched in the decorative water around the old observatory.
"Not yet", Clara replied, but saw a dark shape just as she'd opened her mouth. "Or yes I do, it's him!"
"Great. Let's give him the message and then bolt."
Clara studied Daniil through the window. He seemed lonely, she thought; dressed to the nines as usual, with the exception of bare feet that somehow made him seem so sad. Eva was living with him, of course, but the woman was floating more and more towards the yet unbuilt town across the river - her soul slowly leaving this one even now.
When he turned towards the window, she immediately ducked, though. The quick motion made Capella lose her balance, and she stumbled backwards slightly before she cursed and fell. The next second, they were mostly drenched in the shallow water, and Clara laughed loudly while Capella chuckled.
"What are you kids up to?" Daniil asked from behind them, his arms crossed and feet haphazardly thrown into a pair of shoes, now.
Clara looked at him sheepishly. They'd been planning on delivering him a letter through the door. So much for doing this the stealthy way.
"There's going to be a party at the Broken Heart this evening", Capella said, not bothering to conceal the truth.
Daniil raised a single eyebrow at them. "And that fact made you eager to take a bath in the water around the observatory?"
"Yes!" Clara beamed, trying not to give away their plans completely. Men were all so obvious - if they believed themselves to be forced into something, they'd hate it, but if they believed it to be their own idea, they'd always go through with it. "This is our favourite pastime before every party, obviously."
"Obviously", Capella agreed, a grave expression on her face.
Daniil studied them both for a while, brows slightly furrowed in both exasperation and amusement, Clara thought. Then, he gave in to his curiosity.
"What sort of party is it, anyway? Another one of Andrey's impulsive ideas?"
Clara tried not to grin, knowing that they had him on the hook already. "Oh, I don't really know", she said and observed her nails carelessly. "That's all we've heard of it, more or less."
Daniil hummed, and drummed his fingers against his coat in thought. "Well then", he said. "I'll leave you girls to your… bath. Do try not to acquire a cold, though, enough people are already sick in town as it is."
They promised, and watched as the man walked back into the house with his head held high. Capella splashed some water into Clara's face.
"So, do you think he'll go?" She asked.
"Oh, I'm certain of it."
The Broken Heart pub was filled with people of varying ages. Most tables were taken, but some groups were standing by the walls, chatting and laughing while sipping on drinks.
Clara was sitting between Capella and Khan, with Notkin, Grace and Sticky on the opposite side. They were all on the lookout for two healers, hoping that they'd both arrive soon.
"What did you even tell Burakh to make him come here?" Khan asked Sticky after the clock chimed one of the last tunes before midnight.
Sticky shrugged. "First I told him that he should go here to relax, but that didn't persuade him. So then I said that I'd drink an entire bottle of vodka if he didn't come here to stop me."
Notkin broke out into laughter while Capella raised her eyebrows.
"Threatening our menkhu? I respect it", Notkin said between chuckles. "Did he believe you?"
"I don't think so. He knows that I find the taste of it revolting."
Soon thereafter, Artemy did descend the stairs to the pub, looking around like a lost puppy. Clara grinned, impressed that such an intimidating man could be so unassertive at times. They made eye-contact, and he approached them warily.
"Sticky, let me feel your breath", were his first words. The teens all began to laugh at that while Sticky groaned in embarrassment.
"I haven't touched any alcohol, I promise!" As if to prove his point, he waved at the table where most of the others had a glass with either wine or vodka, while his place was empty. Still, Artemy crossed his arms.
"Fine", he said. "Try to keep an eye on your friends, then. They shouldn't drink too much." He looked them all in the eyes seriously, but his lip tugged upwards slightly, revealing his amusement. He walked to the bar to chat with the Stamatins, when the second puzzle piece descended the stairs.
"Bingo", Khan whispered.
They all watched as Daniil observed the pub, taking in the different impressions. He seemed to spot someone he recognized by one corner, and began to move there.
"He's not following the plan!" Grace said as she jumped to her feet. "He's supposed to speak to Burakh!"
"On it!" Notkin said as he jogged up to the Bachelor. Clara couldn't hear what he was saying, but he gesticulated a lot before pointing towards the bar, where his frenzied behaviour had earned the attention of most of the gathered - including one surgeon in particular.
Hesitantly, Daniil nodded at Notkin before letting himself be led to the counter, where he was greeted by a shy smile from Artemy. Notkin kept speaking to them, making them laugh and lose some of the awkwardness. He didn't overstay his welcome, though, and soon returned to the others who nodded at him in appreciation.
Then, they watched as the two men leaned against the bar and conversed, soon with glasses in their hands.
"Well?" Khan asked after a while of them all quite obviously staring at the pair. "Is it working, you think?"
"Hard to tell", Capella replied, deep in thought as the town whispered to her. "They're neither friendly nor unfriendly. I'd say they're both seeing each other as nothing but colleagues, still."
Sticky sighed and shook his head. "Well, at least this is a start, no?"
"Yes, but we need them to realise that they can evolve their relationship", Clara said, and Notkin nodded.
"Perhaps they need to be thrown into a situation where they have to speak about matters other than work?"
They watched in disappointment as Artemy soon gave a curt nod towards Daniil before making his way out of the pub - but not before jokingly making sure that Sticky was still sober. The Bachelor asked for another glass of whiskey before making his way over to Lyuricheva and Peter Stamatin, perhaps immediately having forgotten his conversation with Artemy.
"Yes", Clara said as if their conversation hadn't been interrupted. "We'll need another plan."
It was a chilly day on the verge between autumn and winter, but the children of this town weren't affected by the cold as most were. Perhaps it was the remnants of the Polyhedron that still warmed their innards, or maybe it was something intrinsic to the town itself. Thus, they all waved Lara's concerns away when she fussed about them all wearing thin shirts and shorts on a day like this.
They'd told her about their plan, and an amused expression had crept onto her face as they did. "You want them to befriend each other, you say?" She'd grinned at them, then agreed to help.
Now, Lara and Grief were sitting in the Shelter's living room, sipping on vodka and telling each other jokes. Clara and Khan were hiding on the higher parts of the stairs, talking amongst themselves as they awaited the main guests. They had to wait a rather long while - the young children tasked with questing the two healers of this event running on perhaps too short legs across the town.
Eventually, though, Daniil arrived. Although his back was straight and his head held high, his gaze darted uncertainly across the house, unsure as to why his presence was wanted, perhaps. Clara knew feelings of unease all too well.
He was welcomed into the living room, and was served a glass of vodka before he even had time to blink, on account of Lara being a perfect host while Grief wanted to make the man drunk.
"Some children told me that my attendance was required", he said and eyed the glass suspiciously. "Although they were vague in their descriptions as to why."
"Oh, we simply sought your company", Lara replied kindly, while Grief clapped his shoulder in a friendly way that Daniil didn't seem to appreciate.
"We realised we've never had the time to get to know you, old boy."
Daniil grumbled something about him "not even having passed thirty", but it was drowned in the sound of heavy knocks on the front door. Lara beamed as Artemy didn't wait for someone to open it before he entered.
"Wow, you're as handsome as ever, Cub!" Grief proclaimed, and clapped Artemy's shoulder, too, and this time it seemed to be wanted.
They talked by the entrance for a while before Lara led them back to the living room, and although she and Grief tried their hardest to make it all feel relaxed, Daniil and Artemy both fidgeted in their seats as they stole glances at each other.
Clara sighed, and Khan nodded in agreement. The two men were hopeless. Even now, when they had every chance to speak of anything except their work, they were still painfully awkward. Of course, Artemy was more comfortable in the presence of his old friends, but he was still years away from lightening his heart of its burdens.
When Lara and Grief not so subtly walked into the office to give them a chance to speak unbothered, Artemy and Daniil sat in silence for a long while before they spoke.
"So why are we really here?" Daniil asked, and Artemy sighed deeply and shook his head.
"No clue, oynon." He looked to the ceiling, as if the answers could be found within the beams of the house. "Those two were always the masters of schemes when we were young. They could have any plan at all in store for us."
Clara groaned quietly, and pulled her hat down to cover her eyes in frustration. Khan patted her back in reassurance. The men could be so daft; for their first thoughts to be that there was a plan behind them simply getting to hang out with people! Well, in this particular case it was true, but still. Daft.
Daniil sighed, and downed the last of his vodka in an impressive display of indifference to the taste. "Does that mean that we should flee while we have the chance, or play along to see wherever it will lead?"
"The safest option would definitely be to take flight."
"Then I'll make a round of goodbye's, I think." Daniil rose to his feet and put his arms through the sleeves of his coat below the gaze of Artemy. "I really have to stop trusting the children of this town, don't I?"
Artemy snorted, and shook his head. "If you do, then we'd all perish. But you might want to take their words with just a tiny pinch of salt."
"I will. Thank you, emshen."
"What makes you think that this will work?" Sticky's arms were crossed over his chest as he gave Clara a defiant look, although he didn't show any sign of not wanting to go through with it.
"It has to. Those two are like opposite sides of the same coin, but they're too dull to realise it." She rolled her eyes and sighed, before clapping her hands together. "Alright, let's go."
"Dad, dad!" Sticky shouted to be heard across the square, proving himself to be a good actor as he ran in a frenzy towards Artemy who was bartering with a resident. "Come quickly, Clara's hurt!"
He didn't have to say it twice as Artemy immediately took off to follow his apprentice, and Clara was touched upon seeing the panic in his eyes.
"Ouch, my leg!" She yelled dramatically, clutching her knee as she even willed a few tears to fall down her cheeks. It was ugly to lie, of course, but she hoped that Artemy would forgive her when he and Daniil found happiness with each other, eventually.
"What's wrong?" Artemy quickly surveyed the situation, relieved upon not seeing any injuries or blood. He placed his hands hesitantly on either side of her leg, not wanting to touch it in case he'd hurt her more.
"Oh, I fear it's an infection! I can feel it in my veins!"
He leaned his head to the side in doubt, but then nodded. "Is it from a wound? Or is it bacterial?" He dared to touch the leg, and Clara wailed as if it really did hurt.
"It's probably bacterial", Sticky said with a finger on his chin in thought. "We should take her to the Bachelor so that he can determine its source!"
Artemy leaned back on his heels and raised an eyebrow at him. "No need. The train came the other day with medicine, don't you remember? We can do it at-"
"But Dankovsky's place is closer!" Clara shot in, suddenly sure that the game would be lost if he'd be allowed to finish his sentence. "I only need to be carried."
With a deep sigh, the Haruspex looked between the two kids, then looked at his notebook to see where he was needed this day. Thankfully, there were only three hastily scribbled notes, and neither seemed to be too important, because he pocketed the book again and relented.
"Fine", he mumbled. Then, with much more care than an annoyed man with a body count - and not the less brutal one - close to the hundreds had any reason to be, he picked Clara up and began the walk towards the Stillwater.
"What's this?" Daniil asked as he leaned against the doorframe of his residence. He observed Clara with suspicion. "Why are you carrying her as if she is a small child?"
"I'm hurt!" She defended herself, and after his comment it was true, anyway. "And I need you to determine what kind of infection's in my leg!"
"I get that it's far from being surgery, but surely anyone who's studied medicine knows the difference between an infection and a hoax, no?" His gaze was penetrating, and Clara gulped below its fervour.
Artemy nodded. "Indeed. But I must say that I was intrigued as to what they wanted to get out of this interaction."
Slowly, Sticky took a few steps backwards, until he finally began to run away. The traitor. Well, Clara would've done the same had she not been imprisoned by Artemy's large arms. But still.
"What", she said, trying to salvage the situation. "But I really am hurt, you can't know it’s not true!"
The men shared exasperated glances with each other before she was released to the ground.
"Not medically, no", Daniil relented with a deep sigh. "But we know you."
"You're like a cat", Artemy explained when he saw her confused expression, although that statement didn't help much. "When you're hurt, you hide in corners where you can lick your own wounds in safety and silence - not shouting for help in the street."
Her cheeks flushed below their gazes, embarrassment at having been caught and happiness that they're friendly enough to know her so well at once.
The two men exchanged another glance, and this one lasted much longer. Clara thought that she was reflecting her hope into it by calling it endearing, and waved it off as her own hopefulness.
"Take this stray with you", Daniil said to Artemy then, which made her laugh at his - hopefully playful - malignity.
Well, they could always come up with another plan, she figured.
"Maybe we should just give up?" Khan asked, but was instantly booed at, and he rolled his eyes at the dramatics. "What? We've tried three times now, to no avail. Maybe they simply don't like each other."
"That matters not", Grace said with the air of someone who used romance novels as textbooks as she tried to learn to read. "Malice is often close to endearness."
Notkin nodded, and grinned at Khan as he wiggled his eyebrows. Khan threw a pencil at him so that he began to laugh for real.
"Then what should we do?" Clara asked, her head upside-down on the sofa in the Nutshell.
"You could just ask them to become friends, you know." Murky and Taya were playing an awfully violent game with some toys, and Clara shook her head at them.
"Just ask?" She repeated. "This is serious business, girls. There needs to be a plan. P-L-A-N."
"If you say so."
Notkin leaned this way and that on his heels until he finally steadied himself and snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"
And so began the fourth plan of theirs, which was how Clara, Grace and Capella found themselves cramped within the small operation room inside Stanislav Rubin's apartment.
"Which one of you farted?" Capella hissed, but was immediately shushed by the other two as they all watched through the tiniest of slivers through the door into the larger room outside.
There, Stakh was discussing the pros and cons of the kin's methods for surgery with Artemy and Daniil.
"They're just discussing work again!" Grace whispered exasperatedly, and the girls sighed in unison.
"I've much reason to believe that the ways of the kin are backwards", Daniil was saying - ever the provocateur. "Why we should use human body parts to create medicine when we could use cells from pigs is beyond me."
"I agree that some of what I learnt from my father shouldn't have a place in a modern society", Artemy said, while ignoring the frustrated eyes of Stakh. "But much of it is more efficient in the ways of the old. Without respecting the lines, for example, we'd be nothing but butchers."
"Isn't that what the townspeople call you anyway?"
Artemy frowned, and looked at the floor, hurt, as Stakh began to berate Daniil for his insensitivity and ignorance.
Behind the door, three teenagers sighed again. Perhaps they were simply doomed to fail by the Powers That Be.
"Alright", Clara said with downtrodden eyes. "Maybe this is the world telling us that we really should give up."
"At least they'll always become close in death", Grace said, probably trying to lighten the mood but definitely doing the opposite. They were sitting in the yard outside of Burakh's house. Notkin and Khan fought every now and then by the swingset while Grace and Sticky played in the dirt. Clara and Capella mostly sighed and complained.
"I just don't understand how nothing's worked!" Capella threw her hands in the air. "They're, like, perfect for each other."
"I know!" Clara sighed and leaned back on her elbows. "Does anyone have any more plans at hand?"
"Not really", Khan replied. "Except locking them inside a small room for some time, but that comes with a lot of ethical consequences I'd rather not discuss."
Capella and Notkin both gaped at him.
"Yeah, we're definitely not following through on that plan."
"Hey, I didn't present it as one we should follow through on!"
Clara sighed again. "Maybe they're simply doomed to be alone, those two. Equally lonely, equally stupid."
"Who's stupid?" Murky's voice made Clara turn her head, and she smiled solemnly at the girl who was approaching them along with Taya.
"Burakh and Dankovsky", she replied. "They just refuse to acknowledge that they're perfectly suited to be friends, and perhaps even more than that!"
"More than friends? Do you mean, like, best friends?"
Clara laughed. "Yes, exactly."
"Be oylgono ugyb. Do best friends usually kiss each other?"
Six sets of eyes turned the size of plates as they all turned to look at Taya, immediately discarding their previous activities to gather around the young girls.
"It… depends", Capella answered, while the teens all exchanged looks and glances. "How so?"
Murky picked at her nose until Sticky reprimanded her, and after she stuck her tongue out at him, she continued. "That's what they're doing. Kissing each other, on the mouth and all."
"Dankovsky and Burakh?" Khan asked, probably to make sure that they were all really on the same page.
"Tegdegh, yag iim baina. And you think it's them that are stupid."
"Wait, what the hell?" Notkin clutched his head, as if this revelation genuinely struck his mind from above. "How come?"
Murky shrugged, and tugged at Taya to leave, apparently already bored with this conversation. "You're all complicating everything so much", she told the teenagers. "We simply asked them to become friends, and they listened. I told you it was easy." She nodded towards the house. "Look for yourselves."
With eyebrows up in their hairlines, they did as they'd been told. Clara and Sticky led the way as they quietly opened the front door to sneak inside, then they all crept and crawled along the corridor as if they were part of a thriller book. They all stopped outside the living room, where low voices could be heard.
Clara dared to peek the top of her head through the door, observing the two men. They were on the couch, Artemy sitting up with Daniil's head in his lap as his legs were strewn over the armrest. They seemed peaceful, she thought.
"Do you fear death?" Artemy asked with a low voice, hesitantly placing his hand atop Daniil's head - a question in physical form.
The Bachelor froze momentarily, perhaps surprised by the touch. But he didn't indicate that the hand should be removed. Instead he simply answered the spoken question, and by doing so, he answered the physical one, too.
"Fear is too vague a word, I'd say. I respect it, much as anyone else. And I wish to fight it, so that my grave will not be dug for an eternity to come."
Artemy hummed, and began to stroke the dark strands as he nodded in thought. "That sounds a lot like fear to me, but I won't go about putting words in your mouth if you believe that they don't belong there."
"How kind of you." It was an equally sarcastic and playful sentence - one that made the Haruspex chuckle slightly.
It was a sweet scene, Clara thought, and she knew that her friends agreed with her. Although, her eyes quickly widened with incredulous amusement when Daniil soon bravely added:
"I'd prefer it if you put something else in my mouth, though. Something that I do think belongs there."
It wasn't the statement, but the flushed and surprised expression on Artemy's face that made Notkin and Clara snort loudly enough that both men jumped to their feet quicker than the blink of an eye, ready to lash out towards intruders. Six sheepish-looking teenagers revealed their faces, and both men sighed in exasperation.
"There you all are." Artemy crossed his arms over his chest. "Murky's been telling us about your… plans, was it?"
For some inexplicable reason, all eyes fell on Clara, who cleared her throat awkwardly in the stagelight.
"Well, Murky's told us about the power of her words, too."
Artemy's eyebrow raised, as if he wondered how that was supposed to be a comeback, and Clara sighed.
"Alright", she relented. "We wanted you two to find lo- be friends. Because you're both quite lonely men who think that you prefer solitude when really you could be good for each other." She hoped that the sincerity in her words would make them less angry, and it seemed to be working to some extent.
"Indeed", Daniil said. "That's why we've taken to being in each other's company. We don't need silly plans made by children for it to be so, though."
"Except for the words of an even smaller child, then?" Notkin shot back, referring to Murky. Artemy's lips tugged upwards at that, and he placed a steadying hand on Daniil's shoulder, probably knowing that the man disliked kids at the best of days.
"I'm not to be puppeteered by anyone younger than half my age", Daniil grumbled, and Clara laughed.
"Well, we just wanted what's best for you", Capella said, trying to sound reasonable even though they'd definitely crossed a few lines together.
Artemy sighed again and rubbed at his temples. "Well", he said. "There's definitely worse things you could get caught up in than playing matchmakers, I suppose. But please, respect people's privacy next time. I'm especially disappointed in you, Sticky."
Sticky lowered his head in shame, although he quickly raised it with a grin again. "Hey, at least I didn't get drunk on vodka."
"A small victory, that is."
Clara looked between the two men, both stubborn in their own right, and smiled. Perhaps their plans had been a bit far-fetched, but so long as her friends were happy and able to speak about that which bothered them both, she was glad.
"We have to tell Grief and Lara!" Grace exclaimed, and Daniil and Artemy both groaned in unison.
"Don't tell me that they were a part of it, too. I knew something was up when we attended Gravel's place!"
Yeah, Clara thought, they would certainly be alright.