these violent delights [have violent ends]

[Frenzi™]

Ana sat quietly, listening to the howling of the wind. If it wasn't just her imagination, it seemed to be quieting, though still clearly growling. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his face twist, into what looked sort of like a person in pain, though more froggish. A smile tugged at the sides of her lips as he spoke, finding it much easier to hear him now the wind had died. "What if it wanted to kill us?" she asked cautiously, not really knowing how the blizzard and wind could kill them, that is, unless they were stuck outside. Ana glanced up again as a light pounding started on the top of the barn, and an eyebrow raised before she matched the sound. Hail. That couldn't be good for the truck... but then, that too stopped, and the smile came back to her face as Bartok stuck his nose over the top of the stall door, and letting out a long whinny.

"What'd you just say?" Ana asked, as Dmitri spoke, but even she couldn't decipher it. If it was for her ears, it probably would've been spoken louder, and if it was, and she just ignored it, she would probably pass off as rude, so it was better to ask. She watched with interest as Dmitri hobbled over to Bartok, and then scratched behind his ear. When Bartok seemed to enjoy that, Ana stored it in her mind for later, and also thinking that the stallion liked treats alot too. "Now you've confused me," she said happily, walking towards the two. When she heard his last worlds, barely more than a mumble, she poked his unoccupied shoulder, "I wouldn't let you. If you tried, I would literally chain you to something." It was clear by the way she spoke, that she was literally saying that she wouldn't let him, but the chaining him to something was sort of an open threat.

Ana followed him back to the bench but didn't sit down. Instead, she stood and looked hopefully at the radio while it's signal zoomed in and out of hearing range. There was one screech, one just loud enough for Ana to make a face at. "Hm, that wouldn't be so bad. You could come work at..." she trailed off, wondering if it would be a good time to announce her plans. Thankfully the radio saved her, for the moment anyway, and she grinned as it started listing off counties. "Sweet! Only a half hour or so left of this miserable weather. Though, not miserable being in here with you," she said, not really thinking much about it, just saying it.

[Forte!]

Dmitri turned back towards her, focusing now that his mind wasn't totally preoccupied by the goings-on outside. The roaring had gone completely, receding into a mere murmur as the wind receded and ceased to howl through the distant mountains. No doubt it was those same peaks that had halted the blizzard, had torn it to pieces. He grinned slightly at her question, knowing that she had never experiences a blizzard before. They were still just as scary the third or fourth time, he just handled it better now. "If it wanted to kill us, we would not be here now," he replied. That was true, but a blizzard bad enough to tear up whole houses really couldn't happen around here. His grin faded again, as if the corners of his mouth couldn't strain for very long, as if they weren't used to smiling so much. And that, at least, was true. It was generally hard to bring a smile to Dmitri's face in the winter, anyhow, when the weather was already making him miserable.

He popped his head back up at her question. "Hmm?" the sound was that of a dreamer, as if his head had been far away at the time. "Oh. I was just saying hello to my friend," he patted Bartok's pink nose affectionately. The stallion snorted, effectively showing his coat with horse spit. "Thank you." Dmitri said, sarcasm dripping from his voice like honey, was he brushed himself off. Bartok withdrew his muzzle and began to look around the stall for any scrap of hay that he had missed. He had the tenacity of a battle tank when it came to food. He laughed at her next sentence, a deep, throaty sound this time instead of a chuckle. "Yes. I am good at that," he said with a grin, faux flinching away with a look of terror so fake that it was laughable on his face. Both hands were in the air. "I give in! You can do it." He said, though something about his tone suggested that he didn't really think that.

He probably would have missed her next comment had he not been paying so little attention to the storm now. "Work at...?" he asked, curious. No one in Russia would have ever said that to him, or at least he thought not. He wasn't extremely valuable as an employee, which Ivan proved when he smuggled Dmitri onto a ship instead of paying for his passage to America. He silently rejoiced at how soon the blizzard would be over. He didn't really want to be trapped in the barn all night - it would probably end up being awkward. As it was, he might even end up being back at Bar None in time to snag the dinner that Ivan supplied him as a rule, although the man would no doubt not save it if he was late. That was no problem, though. Dmitri had been saving money lately, at first hoping that he could get back to Russia. But he actually liked it here, surprisingly, and he really couldn't leave Bartok here while the horse was injured, so his goal had changed. He wanted to buy a horse of his own, really. Perhaps a foolish dream. "I agree," he replied cordially to her sentiment, with a broad grin. He didn't even think to be embarrassed.

[Frenzi™]

Ana listened to his words carefully, and then the smile faded, and only one side of her mouth twitched upwards. "So.... it could've killed us. I thought blizzards could only kill you if you were like, stuck outside, and you froze to death. Yet we're in a barn..." she said, trying to ask, and explain it to herself at the same time. Ana was really amazed how much Dmitri had smiled. When he first got to Coal to Fire Acres, he just looked like he wanted to leave. Now, Ana wasn't so sure, but he was definately smiling alot more. Sir. Smiles Alot. When his grin faded, Ana's own lit up. "Oh, what now? Face starting to hurt?" she joked, much happier now that the fact of peril was over. Out of the corner of her eye she checked on Impulse, who didn't seem interested in anything anymore. In fact, she had fallen asleep with a hunk of hay sticking out one end of her mouth. Ana rolled her eyes at the sleeping mare, and turned back to Dmitri.

"Was it Russian?" Ana asked with curiousity. When Dmitri patted Bartok's nose, she was about to say something about not doing that, because the stallion looked like he had to sneeze, but she was too late. "Ewwww!" Ana squealed softly as Bartok sneezed all over Dmitri. "Goody," she said, rolling her eyes at his next comment about being good at confusing people. "Don't blame me when I confuse you then!" she said, quite joking. Dmitri was an all-around fun person to be with, and it showed. "Oh, of course you give in, Dmitri," she said, grinning at him. Then, she caught onto his tone, and her eyes narrowed. "Are you lying?" she fake-gasped, covering her mouth with one hand.

Dang. Dmitri had caught onto her trailed off statement, but it was something she had to tell him. "Well... I kinda got a ranch. Phoenix Racing Stables. I'm here for about another week, then I'm heading off there. I just knew about it this morning, when it was 'confirmed'. If you happened to get fired, you could always come and work there. Bartok will be there," she said, giving a weak shrug. A peculiar look had come over Dmitri's face, but it vanished before she could even be sure it was there. She sat back down on the bench, and then said something again. "There's an employee house too, so you could stay there." Ana added, one of those just-saying things. "Oh, thanks." she finished to his last statement.

[Forte!]

Dmitri was on the edge of laughing at how wound up Ana was. He was completely unsurprised by the blizzard, undaunted. He'd been through worse, honestly, and they rarely got that bad in the United States, anyway. "Calm down," he said with a chuckle, "it's not as if anything is going to tear down THIS barn." He looked around. Certainly a whole lot cleaner than Bar None - there was only so much one stable hand with a gimp leg could do. And heated, for goodness' sakes! The horses here were never cold in the winter, or hot in the summer, or in need of a good hoof picking. He knew that Bartok would be happier here than he had been in a long, long time, and that this was really the best home for him, even if it meant leaving Dmitri himself behind. He looked over at Ana again as she spoke, hastily trying to grin but falling short by several lengths and then laughing abruptly. "Maybe. My mom always said my face would freeze like this if I never smiled."

"No. I am trying to get used to speaking English more," he replied to her question, rather casually, as Bartok turned and shoved his nose into the water bucket, taking a long drink before returning his dripping muzzle to Dmitri's shoulder. Dmitri grinned as droplets of water rolled down his coat. He laughed again at Ana's little outburst, it reminded him so much of his little sister squealing at some spider web or centipede. A half-grin illuminated his face, making him a lot more handsome, although he wasn't particularly aware of that. Ana was good at making him laugh, and he was in a good deal of better spirits since he had come here. He really hadn't expected to be here for more than ten minutes while dropping off Bartok, but he had ended up enjoying himself immensely. He laughed at her next few comments, shrugging and holding his palms out, "Chain me to the wall!"

Her next words surprised him, and he came over and looked her in the eyes, looking rather like a herding dog trying to get a cow to move or an angry father. "You got a ranch?" He joked lightly, turning around and sitting beside her, befuddled. He wasn't sure if she was joking about the job offer - even if she was a friend, he wasn't very valuable in the way of race horses. Sure, he could ride. But not very fast or very well. And working with skittish thoroughbreds? He was more prone to injury than a lot of people in that regard. His worry lines furrowed again as he thought, not bothering to answer her proposal for now, because he didn't really know what to say about it. When finally he spoke, an uncomfortable silence had stretched out between them, "I suppose that I will, if I get fired." And that was one of the greatest possibilities at this point, especially if he came home with a broken down truck.

[Frenzi™]

Ana let out a deep breath, still not liking the blizzard, but it seemed to be calming down, and besides, after the blizzard there would be a whole bunch of snow. Snow! The best kind of weather in the year. She sighed as Dmitri told her to calm down, "Fine, but if it does fall down, I'm blaming you." she said, smiling. She was quite sure the barn wasn't going to fall down, but the fear was still gnawing, like a feeling you couldn't get rid of. Which it was, exactly that, the feeling of dread she couldn't get rid of. Having a photographic memory also gave her the ability to think of the worst consequence and literally seeing it happen. That would be the roof collapsing and crushing Bartok and Impulse, and then Dmitri. She was more afraid of Dmitri getting smushed than she was. His words snapped her back into the real world. "Oh, now that sounds believeable! At least she tried to get you to smile!" The smile had been planted on her face again, for the moment.

"Oh really? Then what did you just say? Im quite curious." Ana grinned, looking at Bartok. "Does he speak Russian too? Or... is that just you and not your icky boss?" she asked, being honest about her question. If he spoke Russian... then she would need to read up on the Russian commands or whatever, and that would be a problem. She held back a laugh as Bartok dribbled all over Dmitri's shirt, but he didn't seem to mind, so she wouldn't say anything about it. He was so easy to be with, no awkward silences, and no awkward ummmss that always hung in the air. The half-grin that was plastered onto his face made him look quite cute, but she didn't say anything again, trying not to embaress him. "Good idea! But I need some chains. I don't think we have any out here. Hm.... that could be a problem." she said, looking around and tapping her chin.

"Of course I got a ranch! I just said that. And stop looking like my angry aunt after I just stayed out past curfew." she said, giving his shoulder a light push with her hand. She watched as the lines spread out across his forehead, wondering if he was thinking about it. "I don't need an answer right now, you can definately think about it, even if you don't even want to come. But, do you really want to get fired? I know that Ivan's icky, and sort of evil, but you've kind of set up a life there, as much as I know." she said, and then pulled out her cell-phone. "Do you want to call him and explain why you're not back yet? It's probably better than just showing up there... but you know him more than I do." Illiana offered the phone to him, head tilted slightly to the side, wondering if she got everything right, or if she had it completely backwards.

[/blockquote]

[Forte!]

Dmitri leaned back against the bench, smiling to himself and closing his eyes, listening to the storm outside. The wind was now completely stagnant, and it hardly seemed threatening anymore. The weather radio beside him was babbling to roughly the same tune, although it apparently wasn't safe to go outside yet. The snow would be at least up to Dmitri's knees, and he was starting to be afraid that Ana would totally sink in it, her being at least half a foot shorter than him. He was about to vocalize this thought, but she cut him off by speaking, and he chuckled at her apparent worrying. "Fair enough. When the roof comes down around our ears, I'll be happy to accept the blame," with a grin, he listened to her next words. "Ya. Hard as it is to believe, I do not smile so much," and it probably WAS hard to believe at this point. He did tend to smile a lot more when he was warm, of course, but Ana was such a funny person.

"Er... I am afraid it is not really that interesting. I just said 'hello, friend of my heart,'" said Dmitri, a bit awkwardly. Bartok had gone back to napping now that Dmitri was back on the bench, and had gotten hay stuck all in his massive forelock again. He chuckled at her question, "Russian? He speaks horse. And whip, probably." He trailed off a little bit at the last, recalling how Bartok had gotten his leg broken in the first place. But at least the stallion was happy now, and would never, ever have to do that again. "He knows how to bow, you know," he said after a brief moment, with a chuckle, "I'll show you some time, when his leg is better. It's pretty funny with such a big boy." He laughed as she looked around, not an empty chuckle but a real laugh. "I wouldn't bother. You're going to get buried in all that snow, anyway." Dmitri frankly hated snow. It was cold, and wet, and everything that he didn't like. The only thing that it was good for was snowballs... A mischievous grin crossed his face as he glanced sideways at Ana.

"Okay, okay, I believe you," he said, holding out his palms in a submissive gesture with a rather broad grin on his face. He nodded at her next comments, a frown crossing his features. "Now that Bartok's not there.... I do not know how long I would have stayed in any case. I mean. I love them all, and I am sad to have to leave the other three, but..." he trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Then, at her next statement, he burst out in laughter, clutching his sides. It wasn't really that funny... but still... "Ana... you can't... call someone... in a blizzard," he choked, laughter petering off as he wiped a tear from one eye. One last chuckled leaped out of his throat. "But, I guess I probably should when they've got the phone lines back up. They shut them off during weather like this."

[Frenzi™]

Illiana was listening to the radio now, letting it's steady babbling soothe her static nerves. Dmitri had sat down again before her last statement, but he still hadn't said anything about it. The storm was silent, and except for the breathing of the horses, and the continuous words spilling from the radio, telling them how much snow. "Oh my gosh! There's so much snow out there!" she exclaimed, a happy tone in her voice. Snow was brilliant, the way it glittered as the sun hit it just right, the snow angels, building snow-creatures, and snowball fights. "Okay then," she said, taking his deal as a sign of surrender. When his next comment split the short silence, she grinned. "Really? I wouldn't ever believe, from now on, that you don't smile so often. Maybe not as much as right now, but you can't not smile! It seems impossible!" Ana said, not being really able to even think of a sad Dmitri. He just seemed so very happy.

When he finally said what he had murmured to Bartok, Ana let out a big, "Awwwwww. That's so sweet!" She wasn't kidding, and it was clear on her face. It really was a sweet thing to say. She hadn't picked up the note of awkwardness or uncertainty in his voice, so here's to hoping he didn't take the compliment the wrong way. "Hm, you sure he doesn't speak Russian? Trained by Russian commands or what not? Whip speak? Never heard of it." she said. The first thing that came into her mind when he said Whip wasn't the object whip, but the dogs, the whippets that were skittish and very fast. Ana thought for the moment that it was some sort of very fast talk, that had few breaks, and was continuous. "He knows how to bow!" she repeated, clearly amazed even though it hadn't been demonstrated. She believed Dmitri fully. "I'm not that short," Ana protested, putting out her lower lip in a fake pout.

"Whoa there!" Ana said, holding out a hand to stop his little speech. "Ivan Icky has three more horses? Who would let him have them! That's.... really stupid!" she said, quite perplexed by the idea. When he burst out into laughter, Ana literally jumped two feet in the air off the bench, quite startled by the sudden outburst. She was opening her mouth to ask how he could be laughing, but then he answered her question. She flipped open the phone, and noted the two bars, raising an eyebrow. "I don't see why not, there's two bars showing here. Oh... phone lines." she said, finally getting it after he said it. How could she have forgotten that? "Well... if he has a cell phone, you could text him!" she said, sort as of a side-thought, though it was quite a stupid suggestion.

[Forte!]

He looked at her, a bit bemused, as her face lit up at the mention of the snow. She seemed happy about it. How could anyone be happy about snow? All it did was make the world blinding white and the roads slippery and cause a lot of work with a snow shovel. "You think it is a good thing?" he asked, unable to contain his confusion over the matter. Then again, she did say that she had lived somewhere warm her entire life. Maybe snow was a rarity. Dmitri had hoped, when Ivan had decided that they were going to North America, that they would move somewhere warm. Unfortunately, this was apparently not the case. "I don't know. You are funny, you make me smile. So I will smile for you." He said, hating the nagging feeling at the back of his brain that he hadn't worded that quite right. English was so confusing sometimes.

He looked surprised again at her reaction to what he had said. He didn't think that it had warranted such a reaction. This he put down to a girl thing. "Well, it was true..." he said, still looking rather bemused. If he had been an easy blusher, his cheeks would have been crimson at this point. At her next comment, he finally understood what she meant about Bartok speaking Russian. "Oh! I get it. Huh. Well, in Russia we spoke Russian most of the time, so I guess he would have picked up a few words. But he is such a great boy... I have always ridden him fine with or without saying anything. He seems to just know what you want." The horse in question was still snoozing, apparently bored with the world. "Yes, he knows how to bow. I do not know where he learned it, though." Certainly not from Ivan. He chuckled when she pouted, catching the tone in her voice that said she wasn't terribly offended. "True. I suppose I could find you if I dug long enough."

He snapped back as her hand whirled about an inch in front of his face, as if expecting to be hit. "Ivan Icky?" he asked, quickly attempting to regain his composure with mixed results, "Yes. One is from Russia, one he caught, and the other he bought." He was a bit worried about the latter - he had hardly seen the spirited thoroughbred, but the look in the horse's eye said that he was going to give Ivan no end of trouble. Which did not bode well for the horse. "Wait... you're getting service right now?" he asked. Usually, the storm would have effected the cell towers as well. "This really wasn't a terrible blizzard after all... Text? Ivan wouldn't know what to do with himself. But if you are getting service, the phone lines should be back up. I suppose I'll have to call him, in that case." He sounded almost reluctant to do so, afraid of what might happen.