Martin Crosby V
April 01, 2020 5:04 PM
Meeting Miss Katerina [Music Room] by Martin Crosby V
This whole ball affair was simply beneath Martin. Actually, it intrinsically wasn’t, as balls and formal events of this nature were the social backbone of his world. But this specific one, he could not have cared less about. A Sonora ball was hardly a proper society function, but alas, they were having one, mockery though it might be, and a prize such as himself had to behave accordingly.He had to have a date. The Crotalus was one of few boys here, it seemed, and even fewer of any note-worthiness. But Martin was also picky. There were only a handful of suitable girls in the years surrounding his, but as he went down the options, it occurred to him that most of them were actually related to him in some manner or another. That was the trouble with being a Brockert relation - you were the best, but you were also numerous. With two Brockert girls and two with Brockert related mothers, the options dwindled.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that Katerina Voronstov was his only option. As far as foreigners went, Russians were probably the most tolerable to him. His great-grandmother was born and raised there, and some of his family took that heritage decently seriously. (See: his cousin whose actual legal birth name was Vladimir.) Perhaps surprisingly given the everything about him, Martin wasn’t actually particularly xenophobic or racist - he pretty much disliked everyone the same, no matter what race, religion, blood, or creed - but anyone with an accent gave him a run for his money. They were simply hard to decipher, and he hated the defensive feeling it gave him when he was obligated to understand. At least Russian he was more used to.
Martin wasn’t especially romantic, but he knew he couldn’t just ask a girl he barely knew to a ball in a boring fashion. There had to be a little pizzazz, at least. So he got her some flowers and sent her an anonymous note to meet him in the MARS music room, where several portraits of violinists had been paid to perform for them.
At first he wasn’t really sure if she would come at all, but then he heard the paintings begin to play, which was meant to signal her entrance. Martin turned to face the door.
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Martin Crosby V
Meeting Miss Katerina [Music Room]
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Katerina Vorontsov
April 02, 2020 3:09 PM
In more ways than one. by Katerina Vorontsov
Katya was not, by nature, adventurous. Unlike her sister, who had - at least at first - jumped at the challenge of going to a strange school far away from anyone they knew, Katya liked to stick with what was familiar and predictable. She liked order and rules and for everything to go along smoothly, without great dizzying highs or lows and the attendant up- and down-swings that went with reaching such positions. She did not like mysteries.Despite herself, thought, she was curious about who would send her an anonymous note asking her to meet them in the Music Room. Her first thought involved her sister, but the trouble there was that Tatiana would have no reason to be so mysterious, and would almost certainly never write to Katya in English - she joked that she had to be Russian with Katya at school so she didn't forget how to be Russian with anyone at home. Besides, she knew Tatiana's English handwriting well enough anyway. That left her with absolutely no-one she knew of who had any particular talent for music and a reason to ask her to come see how well they could play or sing.
Ignoring the note did occur to her, and seemed like a wise thing to do - after all, it was very suspicious, someone wanting her to come to them without saying who they were, wasn't it? However, the general lack of violence and such at Sonora made it unlikely that someone wanted to ambush her, even had she been someone anyone had a good reason to ambush, so she allowed curiosity to propel her out of the Teppenpaw area and toward the music room at the specified time.
Stepping through the door, she saw...one of the third years. Not the foreign one. Jeremy or Martin...and Jeremy looked very much like his older brother, which this third year did not, which made him Martin. And there was violin music and flowers.
"Chto eto?" she said, surprised momentarily into her own language. She flushed as she realized she had just spoken Russian out loud in company she had no reason to think would understand her. "Ah - did you also get a note?" she asked, holding up the piece of paper which had been delivered to her. "I get note, says come here."
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Katerina Vorontsov
In more ways than one.
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Martin Crosby V
April 05, 2020 5:06 PM
Hoping for the best. by Martin Crosby V
She came.Martin was struck by a variety of thoughts. He was relieved she came and did not stand him up. Why wouldn’t she come, though? He was awesome and her best opportunity. But then again he hadn’t signed the invitation, so she could have disregarded it and accidentally squandered her chance. But she didn’t, because she was here and she came and she was here. Phew.
She baffled him slightly, and an unintended “What?” managed to slip past his guard. “No, I didn’t get a note. Miss Voronstrov, I sent you the note. I asked you to come here, so that I could ask you something else.”
At this revelation, the third year presented her with the bouquet of flowers he had brought for her. “Katerina,” he asked boldly, daring to use a first name with a girl he didn’t know all too well. While he certainly did not look as smooth as he felt, Martin did his best to create some sort of blue steel expression to help win her to his cause. But then again, why wouldn’t she say yes? He remembered his previous point, and now that she knew who was asking, of course she would say yes. His confidence renewed, he asked the crucial inquiry: “Would you accompany me to the Midsummer Ball?”
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Martin Crosby V
Hoping for the best.
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Katerina Vorontsov
April 09, 2020 5:12 PM
Likewise, honestly. by Katerina Vorontsov
"Ah."For a moment, this was the only response Katya could possibly think of in English. He had sent her the note, and wanted to ask her something...and no-one else? This was most improper! A young lady was not supposed to be alone with a young man; they were supposed to be perpetually chaperoned. If they were not - well, actually, she didn't know what would happen, as she had never been told that part, just that it seemed to involve ruining the girl's reputation even if a hasty and probably unhappy marriage followed the incident.
Furthermore, he was handing her flowers, which was a romantic gesture - but did Americans know the language of flowers, and was it the same as what Mama had taught her? She accepted them by reflex, though she did note that they smelled very sweet - fortunately, she had never been one of the unfortunate souls who sneezed at flowers. She felt sorry for such people, really, they had to miss out on such lovely things....
"Katerina."
Katya was not sure if she should take this address as formal or informal. On one hand, he was not calling her 'Miss Surname' in the American manner. On the other, he was using her full first name - but without her patronymic. On yet another, Americans didn't know about diminutives and patronymics, did they -
"“Would you accompany me to the Midsummer Ball?”
Katya's thoughts were quite firmly interrupted by this, and sent down much more practical paths.
There were, she thought, two reasons to decline. One was that she did, after all, hardly know anything about this person, much less what had drawn his attention to her. The other was that she recalled Sylvia indicating that she had decided it would be more proper for their set of years to all go to the Ball as individuals and dance on a case-by-case basis, and Sylvia would not, she thought, be best pleased to see someone she clearly saw as an underling breaking ranks with what she wanted....
In breaking ranks, however, lay opportunity. Possibly. If Katya was guaranteed a date and Sylvia was not - particularly since the only boy Katya had ever seen her show any interest in was her cousin, and the only boy who had ever seemed that interested in talking to Sylvia, ditto - then, if she understood Americans properly from her reading of their novels set in boarding schools like this one, Katya would be perceived as having more social capital than Sylvia. Or at least, between the art club and that, they might be perceived as people of roughly equal status, which would probably actually be better - Katya could not really hold onto a position as Top Girl here, with her accent and lack of knowledge of the terrain, but she could at least not feel like the low woman in the group anymore, which would be very nice. Of course, Martin was a year younger, which was a bit odd, but....
"Oh, my. You honor me," she said, flushing and looking down modestly. "Thank you. I would be happy to dance with you."
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Katerina Vorontsov
Likewise, honestly.
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