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Entry tags:
Memory: Tessa
Source: Roleplay (Polychromatic)
Time: Year 2 (age ~nineteen)
Pavel, eighteen and in civilian clothes, is walking down a city street, arm-in-arm with a pretty young woman with dark hair. They both look a little pensive. Sad, even.
"What else has changed?" the woman asks quietly.
Pavel frowns. "I had another--I was seeing someone, romantically. I'm not sorry for that, but it did sometimes seem disrespectful to you."
She looks away from him. Her reply comes with some difficulty. "I do not think it disrespectful. If you... loved her. I know that you did, me.
"I did," he says quietly. "I still do. Maybe it is something that never goes away entirely."
"I do not think that loving one person must be at the exclusion of loving anyone else." She pauses, clearly uncertain as to whether or not she should continue. "I, back home--I was engaged to be married to Jem. I love both him and Will."
Pavel's face rapidly goes from surprised to confused to carefully neutral. It takes him a moment to come up with an appropriate response, but when he does, he sounds nothing but genuinely curious. "And they make you happy?"
"Yes."
"Good," he says, all sincerity. "That's what is important. That you are happy."
She nods, but her expression is troubled. "I--I did not remember you. At home."
"I would not expect you to." The Russian tries for a reassuring smile. "I'm luckier, in that way. All of my memories of you are good."
"I remember now." It sounds like an admission she doesn't want to make, as if remembering Pavel somehow makes loving Jem and Will a betrayal.
Pavel doesn't feel betrayed. It's... hard, hearing that the girl he loved is in love with two other men, but it's been a year. There was no expectation that what they had would last. Of course she moved on, and so did he. Even if he never stopped loving her. "That doesn't mean that you have to love anyone any less."
"I do not think I could, even if I tried."
They lapse into solemn silence as they continue their walk.
Time: Year 2 (age ~nineteen)
Pavel, eighteen and in civilian clothes, is walking down a city street, arm-in-arm with a pretty young woman with dark hair. They both look a little pensive. Sad, even.
"What else has changed?" the woman asks quietly.
Pavel frowns. "I had another--I was seeing someone, romantically. I'm not sorry for that, but it did sometimes seem disrespectful to you."
She looks away from him. Her reply comes with some difficulty. "I do not think it disrespectful. If you... loved her. I know that you did, me.
"I did," he says quietly. "I still do. Maybe it is something that never goes away entirely."
"I do not think that loving one person must be at the exclusion of loving anyone else." She pauses, clearly uncertain as to whether or not she should continue. "I, back home--I was engaged to be married to Jem. I love both him and Will."
Pavel's face rapidly goes from surprised to confused to carefully neutral. It takes him a moment to come up with an appropriate response, but when he does, he sounds nothing but genuinely curious. "And they make you happy?"
"Yes."
"Good," he says, all sincerity. "That's what is important. That you are happy."
She nods, but her expression is troubled. "I--I did not remember you. At home."
"I would not expect you to." The Russian tries for a reassuring smile. "I'm luckier, in that way. All of my memories of you are good."
"I remember now." It sounds like an admission she doesn't want to make, as if remembering Pavel somehow makes loving Jem and Will a betrayal.
Pavel doesn't feel betrayed. It's... hard, hearing that the girl he loved is in love with two other men, but it's been a year. There was no expectation that what they had would last. Of course she moved on, and so did he. Even if he never stopped loving her. "That doesn't mean that you have to love anyone any less."
"I do not think I could, even if I tried."
They lapse into solemn silence as they continue their walk.