[...he'd moved from the Administrative District to a larger apartment closer to the outskirts of Belobog- not to the point in which it's run down, but somewhere quieter. Less away from whatever counts as action in Belobog. It's a nice place. Large. His inheritance (as on one hand, he had resigned from the Silvermane Guard, but on the other hand, he'd done his duty and sired a child, and on the other hand his parents wanted to see their grandchild and seemed to think money would bring him back into the fold) plus what money he made at his job paid for utilities.
He'd researched schools and found the best one to send Lily to. One that wouldn't pay attention to the fact that she was a Landau - she went by her mother's family name, Lily Bellanger, and Gepard had briefly considered changing his name to Bellanger out of respect for her mother, but his sisters had both talked him out of it. And he had agreed. Gepard Bellanger sounded-
Not. No.
...it was a peaceful life he had settled into. Quiet. Like his sister Serval, he had failed at living up to the Landau duties, which meant all of his parents' hopes and dreams rested on Lynx. But it wasn't bad. Just. Sedate. Peaceful. But not much happened when your job was selling books. (This was Pela's doing. He tried bartending and broke two glasses, and she suggested something less...challenging.)
A peaceful life. Quiet. In fact, he was about to pick up a treat for his daughter (she'd done so well on an exam, and he wanted to spoil her) when he turned a corner, blanched, made a noise, and then immediately un-turned that corner and went back in the direction he came from, no, bye, his mind's working, there has to be an alternate direction he can take, he needs to avoid that guy, he's a civilian, he's got a family, no, no, no, absolutely not.]
[There's a moment when Sampo's just idly walking the streets, trying to wrap his brain around the idea of Captain Landau not being around to chase him-- is he out on leave? Injured, maybe?-- when he sees a brief flash of blond and white that disappears around a corner. It's exactly the same kind of blond and white that he saw on every chase he'd had through these streets, just the other way around, and it attracts his gaze as surely as a magnet to iron.]
[It might be Gepard, or, maybe, it might just be someone who looks like him. There's always the possibility that he's mistaken, however small. Either way, Sampo can't ignore the retreating figure.]
[He follows, but not the way that Gepard would follow-- Gepard would barge after him like a bull that just caught a glimpse of red, barreling along the path with singleminded focus. Sampo gets up onto the rooftops and follows with a little distance, stalks after the fleeing figure like a serpent hunting after prey. This isn't their usual way of doing things, with Sampo being the pursuer, but there still is a thrill to the chase.]
[With the advantage of height, Sampo can catch sight of his quarry quite quickly, and shadows his steps.]
[Is it him? Is it him? But why would he have fled, if it is? Gepard doesn't run from him-- he always ran towards, usually yelling about arrest warrants.]
[He's so sure that it's him, even though the figure's face is away from him and he can't see it. But he would know Gepard Landau in total darkness, were Gepard mute and Sampo deaf. So why is he running? And where is he going? All questions that Sampo can't leave alone.]
[Gepard slows after a minute, casting a glance behind him - it almost feels like someone's following him, but that can't be right, and, besides, it's not as if he's interesting to anyone. He's a civilian.
And nobody's there. Slowly, his shoulders relax, and he enters-
A bakery. And picks up Lily's favorite sweet rolls. Because what's the point of living if you can't get your daughter her favorite treat for being a good girl? Exactly. (Serval teases him for doting on Lily, he says she does the same; Lynx rolls her eyes, glad it's not her anymore.)
He emerges, a smile on his face, humming as he heads towards the school to pick his daughter up- he got off work early just for the occasion. It's a special occasion. (And he can hear Serval's voice, teasing him for how soft he was for his daughter. But why not? Why wouldn't he be?)
At this point, Sampo could be banging on cymbals and Gepard wouldn't notice him. He doesn't matter. Getting to the school in time to sweep his daughter up into a hug was the only thing that mattered.]
[Okay, so stop number one is... a bakery? Gepard had never seemed like the kind of guy who was all that interested in food, but maybe that's changed in the past few years. He does look a little healthier now-- cheeks a little less gaunt, fewer bags under the eyes. Like a man who actually eats three square meals a day. That's good, a net positive. And he isn't walking around like a man who's injured or ill, and Amber Lord knows it would take something serious to get Gepard to stay on medical leave for any decent period of time. So all this can't be because he's gotten himself stuck on medical.]
[He's smiling when he leaves the bakery. Gepard Landau is smiling and humming to himself as he walks down the street, and Sampo seriously considers the possibility of pod people landing on Jarilo-VI. But no, no-- he would've found out about that. No one's taken undue interest in Belobog since the planet rejoined the galactic stage and all that rot with the IPC was cleared up.]
[Sampo keeps following. He almost thinks that Gepard will notice when he has to make a leap across the width of an alleyway to go from rooftop to rooftop and keep him in sight, but if he does, he doesn't act like it.]
[Gepard reaches a school right about when the kids are being let out, just in time for a little girl to run out of the doors with the rest of the primary school rabble, all bouncing blond braids and blue dress wrinkled from playing at school. She's swept into Gepard's arms and even at a distance, Sampo can see that she looks just like him.]
[Oh.]
[Well.]
[It's almost funny, isn't it? The way something goes cold and aching in his chest at the sight of Gepard and his little girl. But what did he expect? That time would stop while he was gone? Hell, it's not like he had any claim on Gepard anyway. Gepard probably didn't even remember him! Or if he did ever spare a thought, it was probably just about how he was glad to no longer have to deal with a nuisance like Sampo Koski, good riddance. He's probably glad that Sampo disappeared like a thief in the night. And now he's moved right along with his life, got himself a kid and probably a pretty wife at home and all that domestic bliss. Good for him, really, getting something good out of life.]
[Sampo watches them from the rooftops. He follows them through the winding, snowy streets until they get back to Gepard's new house, bigger and more comfortable than his little apartment in the Administration district had been. Sits on the eaves of the house across the street until well into the night, watching the warm yellow glow of electric lights from within the house, how they move from room to room with Gepard and his daughter's nighttime routine.]
[(He hasn't seen the wife yet. That doesn't mean that she isn't there, just that Sampo hasn't caught a glimpse of whatever woman finally caught Belobog's most elusive bachelor. He's got an idea in his head, though, of what she must be like-- patient, kind, with enough of a stubborn streak to match Gepard's, and as beautiful as the nights are long. A real catch.)]
[All the lights eventually go out. The daughter asleep, Gepard presumably in bed with his loving wife.]
[He should be pleased about all of this, really. What better indication could he have that he's given his Winterland a happy ending than for the man who seemed most likely to die for it to have settled down and gotten a happy ending of his own? For the grim Captain who risked his life on the front lines to be able to set down the heavy mantle of duty and find love, raise a family? A perfect bookend for the show he put on in Belobog.]
[It kind of makes him want to throw himself into a snowbank.]
He goes home. He asks his daughter about her day. She asks him about his, and Gepard tells her a careful mix of bright falsehoods and truths with all the unpleasant details carefully scrubbed away. His day's fun. And it's not like it's utterly miserable so much as-
Anyway, he cooks dinner as she does her homework. Occasionally, he helps her, but so far nothing's too complicated. She's too little to have real homework. They eat. He's still not the best at it - helping with homework or cooking - but Gepard's learned to be better for Lily.
Sometimes he plays with her. Sometimes he reads to her. Eventually, she washes up and goes to sleep.
Gepard takes cold showers. Sometimes, he closes his eyes and imagines he's back on the front lines, as for all he wouldn't trade his daughter for the world, he had a purpose, once, and now his purpose has shrunk down to one little girl he'd do anything for, and he-
He gets out.
He reads a book. That's what he does. One book a week, so that he can talk about his stock. Sometimes two. This particular one's imported from Penacony and talks about things that Gepard will never, ever see, but- maybe his daughter, one day. Maybe.
Mornings are the same. Breakfast, and he walks his daughter to school - and Gepard dreads the day Lily will be too old for him to do that, when she's old enough to have her own life and her own mind (and he swears that he'll respect what decisions she makes when she comes to that point) and doesn't need him anymore, because even if he wants her to become her own woman he still dreads the day she'll no longer need him and he'll have to confront whatever it is he's become - and then he goes to his job.
What's his job? A quiet bookstore in the middle of nowhere, where no one recognizes him as a Landau- at least, they don't mention it if they do. And he sits, and he watches the snow fall in the distance, and continues reading the book, and his routine is-
His routine is. He has a routine.
He makes tea? That can be- it's not bad tea. He ignores his mail. There's a letter from his parents. He'll read that later. Always later.
...maybe he'll do something fun for lunch. Perhaps go to a cafe? (He always goes to the same cafe for lunch when he wants to do something "fun", and he'll read, and eat a sandwich quietly.)]
[Sampo is there when the last light goes out in the Landau household, and he's there when they come back on again in the morning.]
[Early, of course, because Gepard's always been an early riser, and Sampo can track his progress through the house and to what he assumes is the kitchen, where he probably makes breakfast; back upstairs to get his daughter up, and then a little while later, they're walking hand in hand back towards school. Her skirt is plaid today, her coat white and puffy, and her hair is tied back in a little ponytail with a matching ribbon. Sampo's fairly certain that Serval's the one that taught Gepard what to do with his daughter's hair.]
[(Sampo still hasn't seen hide nor hair of the wife.)]
[Rather than being a Captain, Gepard spends his days at a bookstore instead, reading and selling books and generally being... normal. A normal family man, going about a normal family man's day.]
[He even follows Gepard to his lunch-- some cute little cafe where he sits and has a sandwich and reads.]
[There's a... sort of wistfulness in Gepard's expression whenever he stares off into the distance, looking out at the gently falling snow with an expression like he's longing for something.]
[Sampo leaves him at the cafe for a little while and goes back to the little house in that quiet Belobogian neighborhood, and engages in a little bit of crime. But it's crime for a good reason-- or, at least, it's for a reason, and that reason is to satisfy Sampo's curiosity. Curiosity kills cats, but Sampo Koskis are trickier creatures.]
[He does a little breaking and entering, jimmying open the lock on one of the upper floor windows so that he can sneak inside. It's the master bedroom window, and when Sampo slinks his way inside, he's met with whatever it is that Gepard decided to surround himself with at night. But what he wants to find-- what he needs to see-- is if there's evidence of someone else living in this room, too. A woman's hairbrush on the dresser, a woman's wardrobe in the closet, something that either proves or disproves the existence of a wife.]
[Sampo Koski finds a tidy room, with an untidy stack of books by the bed. If he investigates them, he'd discover they're equal parts romance and equal parts adventure - far off lands, strange new people, something happening to change the status quo. There's a note tucked into one of them.
"Tell me what you think!" And a sloppy, but likely familiar handwriting - Pelageya Sergeyevna had given Gepard at least one book, and it's a shitty historical romance novel.
If Sampo looks hard enough, he'll find a hairbrush on the dresser.
It's a woman's hairbrush, or at least made for someone with more hair than what Gepard has, and it's bright magenta and shocking blue. It's a well worn hairbrush, with a place of honor.
If Sampo Koski waits long enough, he'll hear the sounds of keys as the front door opens, and an old woman - Olga, lives down the street, gets paid 5 shield per hour - arrives to clean the place. See, she came from one of the IPC's planets, and she needed a job, and she cleared security, and Gepard couldn't handle everything on his own, and she comes once a week to clean, and cook a meal and leave it in the fridge with a reminder to eat well, the both of them.
Meanwhile, Gepard's dealing with a customer who wants a book that's got a green cover and a title that starts with P (it doesn't, it starts with B), and Gepard stares out the window and longs for escape. But hey, at least Granny Olga's coming over and he won't have to cook tonight!]
[A stack of romance and adventure novels by the bed, tidily folded stacks of clothes in the drawers and closets. That odd hairbrush on the dresser, the one that could be a woman's, if she has particularly eccentric tastes. But one single hairbrush isn't the marker of a wife, where are her clothes? Her jewelry on the nightstand, her make-up in the bathroom, any single thing that implied that a woman actually lived here?]
[Is there no wife?]
[Sampo stands in Gepard's bedroom, looking at the tidy but simple bed that is, technically, big enough for two.]
[Is she dead, or did Gepard divorce her? Did she leave Gepard's daughter on his doorstep one day and disappear?]
[He's been left with more questions than answers. And while he's standing there trying to puzzle out the mess of Gepard Landau's life, there's the sound of a door opening and closing on the lower floor; someone's come in. He can hear shuffling footsteps, an older woman's voice complaining about her aches and pains when she thinks no one can hear her. There wasn't a whole lot of time for him to go and poke around, but that's all right-- Sampo has things to think about as it is.]
[He leaves the way he came, slipping out the window and back onto the roof. He should catch back up to Gepard, anyway, and follow him through the rest of his day. How else is he going to learn the man's schedule? It gives him time to think about how he wants to approach this, too. What he wants.]
[He'd thought that he would know what he wanted when he set foot back on Jarilo-VI-- his Winterland, his cat-and-mouse games. Everything as it had been when he left. But now he's back and everything has changed and he has to decide what he's going to do with that.]
[First thing, he's going to keep watching Gepard for a few days like a completely normal person. Because Sampo is a man who knows the value of information, he intends to have as much of it as possible on the confounding factors. It's while he's watching over Gepard that he comes to a decision-- he can't approach the former Captain first. If Sampo approaches him, he'll be suspicious and defensive, worried for his daughter's safety. Gepard needs to approach him, and he needs to think that it's his idea to do so. Like he's in control.]
[Thankfully, Gepard is a man with a very predictable schedule. He gets his daughter to school at the same time every day, he goes to work at the same time, he closes up shop at the same time. Routine is good. Sampo can work with a routine. Sampo can time out the exact moment that Gepard will be opening up for another day at the book store, exactly when he'll look up and catch a glimpse of magenta coat and blue hair disappearing around a corner. Once upon a time, that little glimpse would be all that Gepard would need to start up a chase.]
[-today, Lily insisted on wearing a dress Serval had given for her. It was respectable enough that Gepard didn't have any concerns with it, but just fun enough to be, well. Fun? (Because at the end of the day, Serval had remembered what Belobog schools were like, and had said as much when she gave the dress.) Lily twirled in the street and pretended like she was a pretty princess, the Supreme Guardian-to-be and Gepard hid the pang he felt and said something- placating. Encouraging, but not overly so. He doesn't remember what he said. He just remembered his daughter's laugh, so he said the right thing.
He's at the bookstore, fumbling for his keys. There was something he had to do with a crate of books, and he's trying to remember-
But then. There. Out of the corner of his eye there's a flash of magenta and something blue, around a corner. There. The logical part of Gepard says: he's not a Silvermane Guard anymore, he can text someone who is, the toil of a civilian life has probably eroded whatever physical fitness he once had, he probably couldn't keep up with Sampo, Sampo might have perfectly legitimate reasons to be here, the smart thing to do would be to text Pela and get back to work, that's what he should do, he promised himself he wouldn't get involved anymore, not for Lily, not after the incident, he should text Pela, he should go inside, he should go back to his routine day after day after day-
But, then, what if Sampo's here to rob someone else? One of the sweet old ladies down the road? The grocery?
And that's how Gepard finds himself turning away from his store, turning towards the whatever-that-was he saw, biting back a yell because he's not a guardsman, is he? He has no right to tell Sampo to stop. He can only follow, slow but relentless.]
[There's always the chance that this wouldn't work, that Gepard would be a good little citizen and call the proper authorities about a suspicious character. But Sampo also likes to think that he knows Gepard after all of those years of being chased by him, and that thought is vindicated when he hears familiar footsteps behind him.]
[He's not as fast as he used to be, and his footsteps don't have the heaviness that came with wearing armor and carrying Earthwork, but the gait is the same. If he shouted something about stopping in the name of the law, it would be just like Sampo had never left.]
[Since he doesn't want an interruption for their little reunion, Sampo leads Gepard further into the back alleys, away from the main streets. Just lets him have enough of a glimpse of him to keep him following, not getting so far ahead that he can't keep up, not letting him get too close. Luring men is just like making a good deal-- it's all about leaving the other party wanting more.]
[When he does let Gepard catch up to him, he's sitting atop a wall that divides one alley from another-- not an uncommon way that he'd stop to chat with the good Captain all those years ago, because being up high gave him access to an escape route via rooftop, and also kept him out of easy reach. Isn't this just like old times, Gepard?]
It's been such a long time, Captain! [That's the friendly, cheerful, kind of annoying voice that you remember.] Dropped by to chat with your old pal Sampo Koski?
[Gepard's running, and he's running, and it surprises him how much he missed this, this- this stupid chase, the fluttering signs of Sampo just ahead. Maybe he needs to add a morning jog to his usual routine? But now's not the time for such thoughts and Gepard shoves it away for later.
But then it ends. A corner, an alley, Sampo's annoying voice, the same as before. Almost comforting in how familiar it is. Gepard flinches as he's called Captain, a little twitch that would be indistinguishable to the average layperson, but not to Sampo Koski, and Gepard hates that he knows that.]
Now I know you've been off planet. [Well, he suspected, but there's a difference between knowing and knowing-
Fuck it. Gepard folds his arms, leans into his anger just a little, just a hint. He's a civilian, not a captain, he's allowed to be a little bit angry.] I haven't been a captain in quite some time. Or did you call me here just to mock me?
[There's all sorts of things that happen away from Jarilo-VI. Aeons and Stellarons and conspiracies aplenty, overzealous directors in the IPC who step on the wrong toes, Emanators of various kinds getting mixed up in everybody's business. It's a wild galaxy out there, Gepard, and Sampo was up to his elbows in that mess.]
[But it's all lead back to him being in this snowy little alley in Belobog. What does that tell you about Sampo Koski?]
[Gepard's annoyed posture makes everything feel a little more normal, even though he's in civilian clothes and doesn't have that massive guitar case strapped to him anymore. A little hint of the man that he used to be, underneath the veneer of simple domesticity.]
Call you? I didn't say a word! I was just minding my own business, you're the one that decided to follow me.
[See, Gepard? This whole interaction was all your idea.]
But I had heard a few little rumors that you weren't in the guard anymore! I wouldn't have believed it, but I guess it must be true.
[A lie, because he obviously already knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gepard had left the Silvermanes behind-- but he also isn't about to come out and tell Gepard that he'd been stalking him for the past few days. Gepard doesn't need to be a captain to get Sampo arrested, all he's got to do is send a text message or two and he'd have guardsmen up his ass in a heartbeat. Gepard's men had loved him and he has friends in high places, and that kind of loyalty doesn't just go away.]
[His hands clench, and if Sampo was on the same level as him and he could get his hands on him, Gepard doesn't know what he'd do, he just knows he'd do something he'd regret later, but not in the moment, no, not in the moment. And that-
He exhales, forces that wild, angry impulse out of him. That's one thing that remained true, between being a guard and being a civilian: he's not allowed to be angry in anything less than a physical fight. He's a Landau.]
You heard correctly. [He snaps out the words, precise, sharp, throwing them out like they're some sort of accusation. (Of what? He wouldn't know.)] There was an accident, I realized I didn't have what it took anymore, and I quit.
[He could say more. He wants to, because as much as he loves his daughter (and he does, he does) he also hates so much- and Sampo Koski is probably the one person he could be bitter to, and Gepard nearly opens his mouth to say as much, but he reminds himself that he owes Sampo absolutely nothing and Sampo deserves nothing.]
So if you want to play with a guardsman, you'll have to find someone else. Is that all, or do you have some other jokes you want to make at my expense, Koski?
[Gepard keeps excellent control over himself, but hasn't he always? Even at his most obnoxious, Sampo had only ever managed to break little cracks in his ironclad willpower. So it's hardly surprising that he's keeping his cool now, when Sampo's barely said anything to rile him up.]
An accident?
[A reference to his daughter? To the death of the woman who bore her? It's impossible to be sure; Sampo had gone through newspaper archives to try to find a birth announcement or obituary that might clarify things about Gepard's maybe-wife, but he'd come up empty-handed. A few possibilities, but he couldn't be certain without knowing how old the kid is to narrow down his search window. But the reason that he quit the guard is definitely tied to his daughter-- either suddenly having her thrust into his life, or having her in his life without a wife to take care of all the child-rearing things.]
[Sampo sighs, and flops one hand back and forth dismissively.]
I don't think this is a joking matter, Gepard. Another guardsman? It wouldn't be half as fun to be chased around by any of them. Why even bother?
[He'd just be disappointed, and Sampo really isn't in the habit of disappointing himself. What was he supposed to do, let Captain Dunn has him around? The very thought's absurd.]
Besides, I only just got back, and the statute of limitations is up on all my old warrants. Nobody has a legal reason to chase me around.
[Y'know, because no one knows about the whole stalking thing yet, and hopefully never would.]
You're making it sound as if I was the first person you went looking for after you got back.
[He's slipping back into old patterns, and older habits, and he hates that Sampo still has this strange hold over him. After all this time. Gepard tried to smother that part of him, and here it is, springing back up in response to Sampo's stupid smile and his stupid laugh and his obnoxious voice.]
Please be serious. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but as a civilian I haven't been keeping up with my training, so I doubt you'll have as much fun outrunning me as you used to.
[...even if he's decided to start morning jogs to get that part of him back in shape- Sampo doesn't need to know about that.]
The only thing I can do is offer you a book- I run a bookstore, Koski. [He says this flatly, like it's a fact the two of them should know and is obvious. After all, the two of them had been right there. But also, he'll probably play dumb.] And I have a family, so I won't be able to stay up as late as I used to. I'm so sorry to disappoint you.
[Ah, that stern Landau expression. Seeing it again really makes Sampo feel like he's come home! It had felt like a piece was missing, not having this particular blond man give him the stink eye.]
[Sampo bounces one heel against the brick wall, a steady little thump-thump-thump that gives him something to do with his legs. Normally, he'd be running by now, and he'd have to yell whatever he wanted to say over his shoulder at Gepard. It's much easier to have a conversation with him when he's not at a sprint.]
Maybe it's serendipity! I came back here to retire, after all. Ol' Sampo Koski's out of the adventuring business, it's about time for me to leave that kind of thing to younger folks.
[He's sure not getting any younger. And even if he's still in quite good shape, he gets these twinges in his back sometimes, and his knees really don't take a hard landing like they used to, and it takes more than three hours of sleep and a few strong cups of coffee to bounce back from a long night. Really, he'd been looking to go into semi-retirement even before the Nameless came along, but now, some five-ish years even after that? He's probably overdue.]
[So. He's back in Belobog, his Winterland, to figure out what he's going to do with the rest of his life now that he played his part in galaxy-saving.]
[...and this conversation should be over by now - Sampo running off and him, furious, trying to climb up the wall after him. It's not. Sampo continues talking, his leg thumping against the wall - thump-thump-thump - and it's easier to stare at that than Sampo's face. Gepard does.
He doesn't know what he wants, and he can't figure it out. What he does know is that Sampo doesn't care about anything besides what's interesting, what's fun, what's exciting - all things that he's not. What he does know is that he's under no obligation to pretend with Sampo, like he is with most every other adult in his life.
Gepard makes a rude noise as Sampo says that he's looking to retire, a disbelieving snort. Because it's bullshit, and he knows it, and Sampo know it.]
Great. [But...he shouldn't, but.] I'm not going to have this conversation with you, here. [A cold alley.] My shop has heaters and couches, Koski. And if my company is that important to you, I can keep the doors locked.
[Only half bullshit! Sampo will probably never be able to retire from his little scams and cons and games, those are the small things that keep life interesting, but the big stuff? The galaxy-saving, the grand clashes of Emanators, fighting off Antimatter Legion and Swarm hordes-- he's kind of done with that. Did his part, played his role, the curtain's fallen and everyone's given their encore! Time to go home.]
[All roles, even good ones, have to end eventually. And it's really in your own best interest to know when it's time to get off the stage.]
[But Gepard, a man who by all rights could just tell Sampo to take a hike and never think of him again, seems very reluctant to do just that.]
Are you inviting me in? [He puts a hand over his heart in mock surprise.] All these years we've known each other, and this is the first time you've invited me anywhere but a jail cell!
[He looks away as Sampo places his hand over his heart, and makes a non-committal noise. Something neutral. Neither positive (yes, he's inviting him in) nor negative (he wants Sampo to leave, to stop wasting their time and leave, because he will when he's bored) - it's just a sound. He heard what Sampo said, and Sampo can draw his own conclusions.
He half-turns away...]
Believe whatever you want, Koski.
[And Gepard starts heading back down the alleyway again, and Sampo can decide if he wants to follow, or live up to his expectations and leave, or indecisively sit on the wall like he's some gargoyle longing for rain that will never come. It's cold. It's cold in a way Gepard seldom let himself feel, but- it's cold.]
[Hey now, Sampo only hangs around like a gargoyle in the eaves when he's stalking Gepard's house at night, watching him in his evening routine. You know, like a normal person would do.]
[The thumping heel stops as Gepard half turns away, Sampo's ridiculous blue head tipping in a sort of curious gesture.]
It's not belief! Either you invited me or you didn't.
[He's going with did, personally. And since Gepard's leading the way, well, it would be rude not to follow, wouldn't it? Besides, annoyed or not, Gepard's attention is back on him again, and for the first time in years, it feels like things are... maybe not quite normal again, but close. On their way there.]
[Sampo hops down from the wall. The jolt as he lands is a little irritating to his knees and ankles-- Aeons, another ten years and he'll be so creaky-- but then he follows along after Gepard with the usual pep in his step.]
Books, hm? [He moseys along next to Gepard, a step or two's berth between them.] I didn't think you were much of a reader! Or that you'd really need a job after you've retired, all things considered.
[Those things being both his pension-- because the Silvermane guard paid their honorably discharged forces pretty well-- and the fact that he's the eldest male Landau. Hell, now he's the eldest male Landau with a child, and even if his parents don't like the way he made her, he's the only one of his siblings to actually produce a biological heir. There's no way that they aren't invested in the future of their legacy, at least financially, even if Gepard limits their physical contact.]
[He slows as he hears the thump of Sampo's feet against the ground, just enough to make it a little bit easier (only a little, barely a little) for Sampo to catch up with him until there's only a step or two between them. Close enough to have a conversation, far enough away that Gepard can relax. A little. Maybe.
Someone looking at them from a distance would wonder if Gepard even knew that he was being followed. He focuses on the way ahead like he's walking alone, and Sampo's just some stranger who just decided to go the same way he did and now here they are.]
I'm not much of a reader. [So, mystery solved.] But, I'm a father now, Koski. [And for a moment, he glances at Sampo, asking without asking did you know?] And I have to set a good example for her. The last thing she needs is a father who just spends all day sitting at home.
As it turns out, selling books is a job that doesn't pay all that much money, and requires someone strong enough to lift heavy boxes of books day in and day out. My pension takes care of the first part, and I'm strong enough to manage the second. It's a good fit for me. [He...thinks? He's not sure, really. He's still suspicious as to the circumstances Pela managed to get this job lined up for him. He has questions, questions that aren't Sampo's problem. Things Sampo doesn't need to think about.]
[Sampo keeps his face neutral when Gepard mentions being a father-- it's not that strange to think that he might have heard about Gepard Landau's daughter if he'd been hearing rumors around town. It's not as though she's a secret, she's clearly going to public school hand-in-hand with her doting father.]
[So! No reason for that side-eye, Gepard. Sampo's just being a Normal Guy here.]
I'm sure there are plenty of guys who are stay-at-home dads. It's a modern galaxy, after all.
[Sure, that would imply that there's a not stay-at-home mom in the house, the one that's going out and being the breadwinner. But Sampo would have no reason to think that there isn't a mom hanging around, right? Because he's been a totally normal person who hasn't been weirdly invasive about anybody's privacy.]
Well, I guess what really matters is that it works for you, right? Your work doesn't have to be something you love.
[And it's true. His work doesn't have to be something he loves. It can be something that he vaguely tolerates at best, day after day after day of unending tedium. Boredom. Uselessness. It's fine. He has the best daughter in the world, and isn't that enough? Unlike many other Belobogians, he doesn't have to worry about money. His needs are met.
Sampo's still following him.]
I suppose so. [Then:] As I'm sure you're curious, my daughter - Lily's - mother was an offworlder. She stayed for a while, grew bored of Belobog as well as me, and left. [Sometimes, driving someone off doesn't come in the form of fists and punches, and Gepard knows better than to believe he could drive Sampo off that way. It never worked before, and now, well. Well. He's much less than he used to be.
So, instead, why not this? Sampo would inevitably treat him with the same vague pity as everyone else did, the conversation would falter, and he'd find an excuse to go. (Which he? Does it matter?)]
[As far as Sampo can tell, this woman had the Prize-- she had the galaxy's most loyal partner. That's what everyone wants, right? A guy who's a hundred percent husband material. Considering she stuck around long enough to have a kid with him, marriage must have been on the table at some point. And assuming that Gepard is a reliable narrator here, she got bored enough to ditch not only a presumably loving partner, but also her own child.]
[Lots of people have called Sampo a snake before, for many different reasons, but boy. Even he'd call that pretty cold-blooded.]
[(Unless she noticed something about the man she was with that would make her want to go. Still pretty cold to leave your kid, even so.)]
[But that explains the empty bedroom, the lack of Lily's mother in the house. She's gone, out of the picture, gave up her claim. One person's failure is another's opportunity.]
Lily's a cute name, though. [He smiles and looks at Gepard side-long.] Did you name her?
[Mister Can't-Keep-A-Plant-Alive, naming his daughter after flowers. This is one lily that he's taking care of pretty well, right? Blossoming like anything.]
[There's a way this conversation goes, and it's usually as follows:
Gepard mentions what happened, and people make sympathetic noises. They ask him questions about what she was like, and he describes her in detail. Increasingly, excruciating detail, going over every last moment of the relationship, forced to figure out where their flaws where, how utterly incompatible the two of them were. In fact, Gepard suspected that if he hadn't once been Belobog's indestructible shield, people would have blamed him more often than they had, even if it had been his fault. Always his fault.
And this usually segues to The Accident, what drove him to retire, and he gets more sympathy, and he comforts the people upset on his behalf (and he's gotten so tired of it) and they go back and forth a bit more, they commend him for selling fucking books, and then they go, feeling better for having cheered him up, and Gepard feels just a little bit more drained for enduring it.
That's how it usually goes.
But then, of all the fucking people. Here's Sampo, unexpectedly taking the script and flipping it and throwing it aside. A throwaway comment about her lack of taste, no questions about who she had been, and then immediately focusing on his daughter, and Gepard finds himself...smiling back? Is he smiling?
Yes he is.]
Why...yes. [Yes he had.] I wanted to give her a hopeful name.
[They've reached his bookshop. He's reaching for his keys.] I went to Eversummer Florist for inspiration, but decided an offworld flower suited her better. After all, imagine me naming my daughter something like 'Summershade Bamboo Landau.'
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
He'd researched schools and found the best one to send Lily to. One that wouldn't pay attention to the fact that she was a Landau - she went by her mother's family name, Lily Bellanger, and Gepard had briefly considered changing his name to Bellanger out of respect for her mother, but his sisters had both talked him out of it. And he had agreed. Gepard Bellanger sounded-
Not. No.
...it was a peaceful life he had settled into. Quiet. Like his sister Serval, he had failed at living up to the Landau duties, which meant all of his parents' hopes and dreams rested on Lynx. But it wasn't bad. Just. Sedate. Peaceful. But not much happened when your job was selling books. (This was Pela's doing. He tried bartending and broke two glasses, and she suggested something less...challenging.)
A peaceful life. Quiet. In fact, he was about to pick up a treat for his daughter (she'd done so well on an exam, and he wanted to spoil her) when he turned a corner, blanched, made a noise, and then immediately un-turned that corner and went back in the direction he came from, no, bye, his mind's working, there has to be an alternate direction he can take, he needs to avoid that guy, he's a civilian, he's got a family, no, no, no, absolutely not.]
no subject
[It might be Gepard, or, maybe, it might just be someone who looks like him. There's always the possibility that he's mistaken, however small. Either way, Sampo can't ignore the retreating figure.]
[He follows, but not the way that Gepard would follow-- Gepard would barge after him like a bull that just caught a glimpse of red, barreling along the path with singleminded focus. Sampo gets up onto the rooftops and follows with a little distance, stalks after the fleeing figure like a serpent hunting after prey. This isn't their usual way of doing things, with Sampo being the pursuer, but there still is a thrill to the chase.]
[With the advantage of height, Sampo can catch sight of his quarry quite quickly, and shadows his steps.]
[Is it him? Is it him? But why would he have fled, if it is? Gepard doesn't run from him-- he always ran towards, usually yelling about arrest warrants.]
[He's so sure that it's him, even though the figure's face is away from him and he can't see it. But he would know Gepard Landau in total darkness, were Gepard mute and Sampo deaf. So why is he running? And where is he going? All questions that Sampo can't leave alone.]
no subject
And nobody's there. Slowly, his shoulders relax, and he enters-
A bakery. And picks up Lily's favorite sweet rolls. Because what's the point of living if you can't get your daughter her favorite treat for being a good girl? Exactly. (Serval teases him for doting on Lily, he says she does the same; Lynx rolls her eyes, glad it's not her anymore.)
He emerges, a smile on his face, humming as he heads towards the school to pick his daughter up- he got off work early just for the occasion. It's a special occasion. (And he can hear Serval's voice, teasing him for how soft he was for his daughter. But why not? Why wouldn't he be?)
At this point, Sampo could be banging on cymbals and Gepard wouldn't notice him. He doesn't matter. Getting to the school in time to sweep his daughter up into a hug was the only thing that mattered.]
no subject
[He's smiling when he leaves the bakery. Gepard Landau is smiling and humming to himself as he walks down the street, and Sampo seriously considers the possibility of pod people landing on Jarilo-VI. But no, no-- he would've found out about that. No one's taken undue interest in Belobog since the planet rejoined the galactic stage and all that rot with the IPC was cleared up.]
[Sampo keeps following. He almost thinks that Gepard will notice when he has to make a leap across the width of an alleyway to go from rooftop to rooftop and keep him in sight, but if he does, he doesn't act like it.]
[Gepard reaches a school right about when the kids are being let out, just in time for a little girl to run out of the doors with the rest of the primary school rabble, all bouncing blond braids and blue dress wrinkled from playing at school. She's swept into Gepard's arms and even at a distance, Sampo can see that she looks just like him.]
[Oh.]
[Well.]
[It's almost funny, isn't it? The way something goes cold and aching in his chest at the sight of Gepard and his little girl. But what did he expect? That time would stop while he was gone? Hell, it's not like he had any claim on Gepard anyway. Gepard probably didn't even remember him! Or if he did ever spare a thought, it was probably just about how he was glad to no longer have to deal with a nuisance like Sampo Koski, good riddance. He's probably glad that Sampo disappeared like a thief in the night. And now he's moved right along with his life, got himself a kid and probably a pretty wife at home and all that domestic bliss. Good for him, really, getting something good out of life.]
[Sampo watches them from the rooftops. He follows them through the winding, snowy streets until they get back to Gepard's new house, bigger and more comfortable than his little apartment in the Administration district had been. Sits on the eaves of the house across the street until well into the night, watching the warm yellow glow of electric lights from within the house, how they move from room to room with Gepard and his daughter's nighttime routine.]
[(He hasn't seen the wife yet. That doesn't mean that she isn't there, just that Sampo hasn't caught a glimpse of whatever woman finally caught Belobog's most elusive bachelor. He's got an idea in his head, though, of what she must be like-- patient, kind, with enough of a stubborn streak to match Gepard's, and as beautiful as the nights are long. A real catch.)]
[All the lights eventually go out. The daughter asleep, Gepard presumably in bed with his loving wife.]
[He should be pleased about all of this, really. What better indication could he have that he's given his Winterland a happy ending than for the man who seemed most likely to die for it to have settled down and gotten a happy ending of his own? For the grim Captain who risked his life on the front lines to be able to set down the heavy mantle of duty and find love, raise a family? A perfect bookend for the show he put on in Belobog.]
[It kind of makes him want to throw himself into a snowbank.]
no subject
He goes home. He asks his daughter about her day. She asks him about his, and Gepard tells her a careful mix of bright falsehoods and truths with all the unpleasant details carefully scrubbed away. His day's fun. And it's not like it's utterly miserable so much as-
Anyway, he cooks dinner as she does her homework. Occasionally, he helps her, but so far nothing's too complicated. She's too little to have real homework. They eat. He's still not the best at it - helping with homework or cooking - but Gepard's learned to be better for Lily.
Sometimes he plays with her. Sometimes he reads to her. Eventually, she washes up and goes to sleep.
Gepard takes cold showers. Sometimes, he closes his eyes and imagines he's back on the front lines, as for all he wouldn't trade his daughter for the world, he had a purpose, once, and now his purpose has shrunk down to one little girl he'd do anything for, and he-
He gets out.
He reads a book. That's what he does. One book a week, so that he can talk about his stock. Sometimes two. This particular one's imported from Penacony and talks about things that Gepard will never, ever see, but- maybe his daughter, one day. Maybe.
Mornings are the same. Breakfast, and he walks his daughter to school - and Gepard dreads the day Lily will be too old for him to do that, when she's old enough to have her own life and her own mind (and he swears that he'll respect what decisions she makes when she comes to that point) and doesn't need him anymore, because even if he wants her to become her own woman he still dreads the day she'll no longer need him and he'll have to confront whatever it is he's become - and then he goes to his job.
What's his job? A quiet bookstore in the middle of nowhere, where no one recognizes him as a Landau- at least, they don't mention it if they do. And he sits, and he watches the snow fall in the distance, and continues reading the book, and his routine is-
His routine is. He has a routine.
He makes tea? That can be- it's not bad tea. He ignores his mail. There's a letter from his parents. He'll read that later. Always later.
...maybe he'll do something fun for lunch. Perhaps go to a cafe? (He always goes to the same cafe for lunch when he wants to do something "fun", and he'll read, and eat a sandwich quietly.)]
no subject
[Early, of course, because Gepard's always been an early riser, and Sampo can track his progress through the house and to what he assumes is the kitchen, where he probably makes breakfast; back upstairs to get his daughter up, and then a little while later, they're walking hand in hand back towards school. Her skirt is plaid today, her coat white and puffy, and her hair is tied back in a little ponytail with a matching ribbon. Sampo's fairly certain that Serval's the one that taught Gepard what to do with his daughter's hair.]
[(Sampo still hasn't seen hide nor hair of the wife.)]
[Rather than being a Captain, Gepard spends his days at a bookstore instead, reading and selling books and generally being... normal. A normal family man, going about a normal family man's day.]
[He even follows Gepard to his lunch-- some cute little cafe where he sits and has a sandwich and reads.]
[There's a... sort of wistfulness in Gepard's expression whenever he stares off into the distance, looking out at the gently falling snow with an expression like he's longing for something.]
[Sampo leaves him at the cafe for a little while and goes back to the little house in that quiet Belobogian neighborhood, and engages in a little bit of crime. But it's crime for a good reason-- or, at least, it's for a reason, and that reason is to satisfy Sampo's curiosity. Curiosity kills cats, but Sampo Koskis are trickier creatures.]
[He does a little breaking and entering, jimmying open the lock on one of the upper floor windows so that he can sneak inside. It's the master bedroom window, and when Sampo slinks his way inside, he's met with whatever it is that Gepard decided to surround himself with at night. But what he wants to find-- what he needs to see-- is if there's evidence of someone else living in this room, too. A woman's hairbrush on the dresser, a woman's wardrobe in the closet, something that either proves or disproves the existence of a wife.]
no subject
"Tell me what you think!" And a sloppy, but likely familiar handwriting - Pelageya Sergeyevna had given Gepard at least one book, and it's a shitty historical romance novel.
If Sampo looks hard enough, he'll find a hairbrush on the dresser.
It's a woman's hairbrush, or at least made for someone with more hair than what Gepard has, and it's bright magenta and shocking blue. It's a well worn hairbrush, with a place of honor.
If Sampo Koski waits long enough, he'll hear the sounds of keys as the front door opens, and an old woman - Olga, lives down the street, gets paid 5 shield per hour - arrives to clean the place. See, she came from one of the IPC's planets, and she needed a job, and she cleared security, and Gepard couldn't handle everything on his own, and she comes once a week to clean, and cook a meal and leave it in the fridge with a reminder to eat well, the both of them.
Meanwhile, Gepard's dealing with a customer who wants a book that's got a green cover and a title that starts with P (it doesn't, it starts with B), and Gepard stares out the window and longs for escape. But hey, at least Granny Olga's coming over and he won't have to cook tonight!]
no subject
[Is there no wife?]
[Sampo stands in Gepard's bedroom, looking at the tidy but simple bed that is, technically, big enough for two.]
[Is she dead, or did Gepard divorce her? Did she leave Gepard's daughter on his doorstep one day and disappear?]
[He's been left with more questions than answers. And while he's standing there trying to puzzle out the mess of Gepard Landau's life, there's the sound of a door opening and closing on the lower floor; someone's come in. He can hear shuffling footsteps, an older woman's voice complaining about her aches and pains when she thinks no one can hear her. There wasn't a whole lot of time for him to go and poke around, but that's all right-- Sampo has things to think about as it is.]
[He leaves the way he came, slipping out the window and back onto the roof. He should catch back up to Gepard, anyway, and follow him through the rest of his day. How else is he going to learn the man's schedule? It gives him time to think about how he wants to approach this, too. What he wants.]
[He'd thought that he would know what he wanted when he set foot back on Jarilo-VI-- his Winterland, his cat-and-mouse games. Everything as it had been when he left. But now he's back and everything has changed and he has to decide what he's going to do with that.]
[First thing, he's going to keep watching Gepard for a few days like a completely normal person. Because Sampo is a man who knows the value of information, he intends to have as much of it as possible on the confounding factors. It's while he's watching over Gepard that he comes to a decision-- he can't approach the former Captain first. If Sampo approaches him, he'll be suspicious and defensive, worried for his daughter's safety. Gepard needs to approach him, and he needs to think that it's his idea to do so. Like he's in control.]
[Thankfully, Gepard is a man with a very predictable schedule. He gets his daughter to school at the same time every day, he goes to work at the same time, he closes up shop at the same time. Routine is good. Sampo can work with a routine. Sampo can time out the exact moment that Gepard will be opening up for another day at the book store, exactly when he'll look up and catch a glimpse of magenta coat and blue hair disappearing around a corner. Once upon a time, that little glimpse would be all that Gepard would need to start up a chase.]
no subject
He's at the bookstore, fumbling for his keys. There was something he had to do with a crate of books, and he's trying to remember-
But then. There. Out of the corner of his eye there's a flash of magenta and something blue, around a corner. There. The logical part of Gepard says: he's not a Silvermane Guard anymore, he can text someone who is, the toil of a civilian life has probably eroded whatever physical fitness he once had, he probably couldn't keep up with Sampo, Sampo might have perfectly legitimate reasons to be here, the smart thing to do would be to text Pela and get back to work, that's what he should do, he promised himself he wouldn't get involved anymore, not for Lily, not after the incident, he should text Pela, he should go inside, he should go back to his routine day after day after day-
But, then, what if Sampo's here to rob someone else? One of the sweet old ladies down the road? The grocery?
And that's how Gepard finds himself turning away from his store, turning towards the whatever-that-was he saw, biting back a yell because he's not a guardsman, is he? He has no right to tell Sampo to stop. He can only follow, slow but relentless.]
no subject
[He's not as fast as he used to be, and his footsteps don't have the heaviness that came with wearing armor and carrying Earthwork, but the gait is the same. If he shouted something about stopping in the name of the law, it would be just like Sampo had never left.]
[Since he doesn't want an interruption for their little reunion, Sampo leads Gepard further into the back alleys, away from the main streets. Just lets him have enough of a glimpse of him to keep him following, not getting so far ahead that he can't keep up, not letting him get too close. Luring men is just like making a good deal-- it's all about leaving the other party wanting more.]
[When he does let Gepard catch up to him, he's sitting atop a wall that divides one alley from another-- not an uncommon way that he'd stop to chat with the good Captain all those years ago, because being up high gave him access to an escape route via rooftop, and also kept him out of easy reach. Isn't this just like old times, Gepard?]
It's been such a long time, Captain! [That's the friendly, cheerful, kind of annoying voice that you remember.] Dropped by to chat with your old pal Sampo Koski?
no subject
But then it ends. A corner, an alley, Sampo's annoying voice, the same as before. Almost comforting in how familiar it is. Gepard flinches as he's called Captain, a little twitch that would be indistinguishable to the average layperson, but not to Sampo Koski, and Gepard hates that he knows that.]
Now I know you've been off planet. [Well, he suspected, but there's a difference between knowing and knowing-
Fuck it. Gepard folds his arms, leans into his anger just a little, just a hint. He's a civilian, not a captain, he's allowed to be a little bit angry.] I haven't been a captain in quite some time. Or did you call me here just to mock me?
no subject
[There's all sorts of things that happen away from Jarilo-VI. Aeons and Stellarons and conspiracies aplenty, overzealous directors in the IPC who step on the wrong toes, Emanators of various kinds getting mixed up in everybody's business. It's a wild galaxy out there, Gepard, and Sampo was up to his elbows in that mess.]
[But it's all lead back to him being in this snowy little alley in Belobog. What does that tell you about Sampo Koski?]
[Gepard's annoyed posture makes everything feel a little more normal, even though he's in civilian clothes and doesn't have that massive guitar case strapped to him anymore. A little hint of the man that he used to be, underneath the veneer of simple domesticity.]
Call you? I didn't say a word! I was just minding my own business, you're the one that decided to follow me.
[See, Gepard? This whole interaction was all your idea.]
But I had heard a few little rumors that you weren't in the guard anymore! I wouldn't have believed it, but I guess it must be true.
[A lie, because he obviously already knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gepard had left the Silvermanes behind-- but he also isn't about to come out and tell Gepard that he'd been stalking him for the past few days. Gepard doesn't need to be a captain to get Sampo arrested, all he's got to do is send a text message or two and he'd have guardsmen up his ass in a heartbeat. Gepard's men had loved him and he has friends in high places, and that kind of loyalty doesn't just go away.]
no subject
He exhales, forces that wild, angry impulse out of him. That's one thing that remained true, between being a guard and being a civilian: he's not allowed to be angry in anything less than a physical fight. He's a Landau.]
You heard correctly. [He snaps out the words, precise, sharp, throwing them out like they're some sort of accusation. (Of what? He wouldn't know.)] There was an accident, I realized I didn't have what it took anymore, and I quit.
[He could say more. He wants to, because as much as he loves his daughter (and he does, he does) he also hates so much- and Sampo Koski is probably the one person he could be bitter to, and Gepard nearly opens his mouth to say as much, but he reminds himself that he owes Sampo absolutely nothing and Sampo deserves nothing.]
So if you want to play with a guardsman, you'll have to find someone else. Is that all, or do you have some other jokes you want to make at my expense, Koski?
no subject
An accident?
[A reference to his daughter? To the death of the woman who bore her? It's impossible to be sure; Sampo had gone through newspaper archives to try to find a birth announcement or obituary that might clarify things about Gepard's maybe-wife, but he'd come up empty-handed. A few possibilities, but he couldn't be certain without knowing how old the kid is to narrow down his search window. But the reason that he quit the guard is definitely tied to his daughter-- either suddenly having her thrust into his life, or having her in his life without a wife to take care of all the child-rearing things.]
[Sampo sighs, and flops one hand back and forth dismissively.]
I don't think this is a joking matter, Gepard. Another guardsman? It wouldn't be half as fun to be chased around by any of them. Why even bother?
[He'd just be disappointed, and Sampo really isn't in the habit of disappointing himself. What was he supposed to do, let Captain Dunn has him around? The very thought's absurd.]
Besides, I only just got back, and the statute of limitations is up on all my old warrants. Nobody has a legal reason to chase me around.
[Y'know, because no one knows about the whole stalking thing yet, and hopefully never would.]
no subject
[He's slipping back into old patterns, and older habits, and he hates that Sampo still has this strange hold over him. After all this time. Gepard tried to smother that part of him, and here it is, springing back up in response to Sampo's stupid smile and his stupid laugh and his obnoxious voice.]
Please be serious. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but as a civilian I haven't been keeping up with my training, so I doubt you'll have as much fun outrunning me as you used to.
[...even if he's decided to start morning jogs to get that part of him back in shape- Sampo doesn't need to know about that.]
The only thing I can do is offer you a book- I run a bookstore, Koski. [He says this flatly, like it's a fact the two of them should know and is obvious. After all, the two of them had been right there. But also, he'll probably play dumb.] And I have a family, so I won't be able to stay up as late as I used to. I'm so sorry to disappoint you.
no subject
[Ah, that stern Landau expression. Seeing it again really makes Sampo feel like he's come home! It had felt like a piece was missing, not having this particular blond man give him the stink eye.]
[Sampo bounces one heel against the brick wall, a steady little thump-thump-thump that gives him something to do with his legs. Normally, he'd be running by now, and he'd have to yell whatever he wanted to say over his shoulder at Gepard. It's much easier to have a conversation with him when he's not at a sprint.]
Maybe it's serendipity! I came back here to retire, after all. Ol' Sampo Koski's out of the adventuring business, it's about time for me to leave that kind of thing to younger folks.
[He's sure not getting any younger. And even if he's still in quite good shape, he gets these twinges in his back sometimes, and his knees really don't take a hard landing like they used to, and it takes more than three hours of sleep and a few strong cups of coffee to bounce back from a long night. Really, he'd been looking to go into semi-retirement even before the Nameless came along, but now, some five-ish years even after that? He's probably overdue.]
[So. He's back in Belobog, his Winterland, to figure out what he's going to do with the rest of his life now that he played his part in galaxy-saving.]
no subject
He doesn't know what he wants, and he can't figure it out. What he does know is that Sampo doesn't care about anything besides what's interesting, what's fun, what's exciting - all things that he's not. What he does know is that he's under no obligation to pretend with Sampo, like he is with most every other adult in his life.
Gepard makes a rude noise as Sampo says that he's looking to retire, a disbelieving snort. Because it's bullshit, and he knows it, and Sampo know it.]
Great. [But...he shouldn't, but.] I'm not going to have this conversation with you, here. [A cold alley.] My shop has heaters and couches, Koski. And if my company is that important to you, I can keep the doors locked.
no subject
[All roles, even good ones, have to end eventually. And it's really in your own best interest to know when it's time to get off the stage.]
[But Gepard, a man who by all rights could just tell Sampo to take a hike and never think of him again, seems very reluctant to do just that.]
Are you inviting me in? [He puts a hand over his heart in mock surprise.] All these years we've known each other, and this is the first time you've invited me anywhere but a jail cell!
I have to accept, of course.
no subject
He half-turns away...]
Believe whatever you want, Koski.
[And Gepard starts heading back down the alleyway again, and Sampo can decide if he wants to follow, or live up to his expectations and leave, or indecisively sit on the wall like he's some gargoyle longing for rain that will never come. It's cold. It's cold in a way Gepard seldom let himself feel, but- it's cold.]
no subject
[The thumping heel stops as Gepard half turns away, Sampo's ridiculous blue head tipping in a sort of curious gesture.]
It's not belief! Either you invited me or you didn't.
[He's going with did, personally. And since Gepard's leading the way, well, it would be rude not to follow, wouldn't it? Besides, annoyed or not, Gepard's attention is back on him again, and for the first time in years, it feels like things are... maybe not quite normal again, but close. On their way there.]
[Sampo hops down from the wall. The jolt as he lands is a little irritating to his knees and ankles-- Aeons, another ten years and he'll be so creaky-- but then he follows along after Gepard with the usual pep in his step.]
Books, hm? [He moseys along next to Gepard, a step or two's berth between them.] I didn't think you were much of a reader! Or that you'd really need a job after you've retired, all things considered.
[Those things being both his pension-- because the Silvermane guard paid their honorably discharged forces pretty well-- and the fact that he's the eldest male Landau. Hell, now he's the eldest male Landau with a child, and even if his parents don't like the way he made her, he's the only one of his siblings to actually produce a biological heir. There's no way that they aren't invested in the future of their legacy, at least financially, even if Gepard limits their physical contact.]
no subject
Someone looking at them from a distance would wonder if Gepard even knew that he was being followed. He focuses on the way ahead like he's walking alone, and Sampo's just some stranger who just decided to go the same way he did and now here they are.]
I'm not much of a reader. [So, mystery solved.] But, I'm a father now, Koski. [And for a moment, he glances at Sampo, asking without asking did you know?] And I have to set a good example for her. The last thing she needs is a father who just spends all day sitting at home.
As it turns out, selling books is a job that doesn't pay all that much money, and requires someone strong enough to lift heavy boxes of books day in and day out. My pension takes care of the first part, and I'm strong enough to manage the second. It's a good fit for me. [He...thinks? He's not sure, really. He's still suspicious as to the circumstances Pela managed to get this job lined up for him. He has questions, questions that aren't Sampo's problem. Things Sampo doesn't need to think about.]
no subject
[So! No reason for that side-eye, Gepard. Sampo's just being a Normal Guy here.]
I'm sure there are plenty of guys who are stay-at-home dads. It's a modern galaxy, after all.
[Sure, that would imply that there's a not stay-at-home mom in the house, the one that's going out and being the breadwinner. But Sampo would have no reason to think that there isn't a mom hanging around, right? Because he's been a totally normal person who hasn't been weirdly invasive about anybody's privacy.]
Well, I guess what really matters is that it works for you, right? Your work doesn't have to be something you love.
no subject
Sampo's still following him.]
I suppose so. [Then:] As I'm sure you're curious, my daughter - Lily's - mother was an offworlder. She stayed for a while, grew bored of Belobog as well as me, and left. [Sometimes, driving someone off doesn't come in the form of fists and punches, and Gepard knows better than to believe he could drive Sampo off that way. It never worked before, and now, well. Well. He's much less than he used to be.
So, instead, why not this? Sampo would inevitably treat him with the same vague pity as everyone else did, the conversation would falter, and he'd find an excuse to go. (Which he? Does it matter?)]
no subject
[As far as Sampo can tell, this woman had the Prize-- she had the galaxy's most loyal partner. That's what everyone wants, right? A guy who's a hundred percent husband material. Considering she stuck around long enough to have a kid with him, marriage must have been on the table at some point. And assuming that Gepard is a reliable narrator here, she got bored enough to ditch not only a presumably loving partner, but also her own child.]
[Lots of people have called Sampo a snake before, for many different reasons, but boy. Even he'd call that pretty cold-blooded.]
[(Unless she noticed something about the man she was with that would make her want to go. Still pretty cold to leave your kid, even so.)]
[But that explains the empty bedroom, the lack of Lily's mother in the house. She's gone, out of the picture, gave up her claim. One person's failure is another's opportunity.]
Lily's a cute name, though. [He smiles and looks at Gepard side-long.] Did you name her?
[Mister Can't-Keep-A-Plant-Alive, naming his daughter after flowers. This is one lily that he's taking care of pretty well, right? Blossoming like anything.]
no subject
Gepard mentions what happened, and people make sympathetic noises. They ask him questions about what she was like, and he describes her in detail. Increasingly, excruciating detail, going over every last moment of the relationship, forced to figure out where their flaws where, how utterly incompatible the two of them were. In fact, Gepard suspected that if he hadn't once been Belobog's indestructible shield, people would have blamed him more often than they had, even if it had been his fault. Always his fault.
And this usually segues to The Accident, what drove him to retire, and he gets more sympathy, and he comforts the people upset on his behalf (and he's gotten so tired of it) and they go back and forth a bit more, they commend him for selling fucking books, and then they go, feeling better for having cheered him up, and Gepard feels just a little bit more drained for enduring it.
That's how it usually goes.
But then, of all the fucking people. Here's Sampo, unexpectedly taking the script and flipping it and throwing it aside. A throwaway comment about her lack of taste, no questions about who she had been, and then immediately focusing on his daughter, and Gepard finds himself...smiling back? Is he smiling?
Yes he is.]
Why...yes. [Yes he had.] I wanted to give her a hopeful name.
[They've reached his bookshop. He's reaching for his keys.] I went to Eversummer Florist for inspiration, but decided an offworld flower suited her better. After all, imagine me naming my daughter something like 'Summershade Bamboo Landau.'
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)