[hr] [CENTER][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/fad55898-a126-4ae2-b247-85dd2be8a6d5.png[/img] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/01993fea-c3ab-7505-9f96-652080de4e87.webp[/img][/CENTER] [right][code]Aleksandr's apartment, Portland, Maine. Shadow.[/code][/right] [hr] The sound of the front door opening was what snapped Aleksandr out of his thoughts. He looked up from his spot lounging across the sofa and folded the letter whose pages he'd been staring at for the past few minutes. [color=orchid]"Well hello there, handsome stranger,"[/color] he greeted with a teasing grin. [color=orchid]"There's leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry."[/color] A tired-looking Connor smiled at him as he took off his coat. "Hello to you too. And thanks." They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while, with only the sounds of Connor putting is things away and the ceiling fan filling the apartment. It was good to finally see him, Sasha thought. They'd missed each other that morning. Connor had long gone to work when he himself woke up, and would probably be long gone to sleep by the time Sasha would come home from that night's show. One of the disadvantages of working on completely different schedules he supposed, one a teacher and the other mostly living alongside the night life. Before long, he felt something nudge his leg. "Come on, move over so I can sit, you big lug." Sasha obediently raised his legs enough for his husband to sit, before setting them right back down on top of Connor's. [color=orchid]"How was your day? And how are the kids?"[/color] He asked, getting comfortable their new sitting arrangement. "Oh, same old, same old. Too much work, not enough time. Gonna have to grade homework at home tonight, again." Connor stretched with a groan, settling his exhausted body deeper into his seat. "As for the kids, they're about as miserable as a bunch of teenagers forced to learn calculus ever are." Sasha chuckled. [color=orchid]"Ah yes, dreaded calculus. Can't say I miss it."[/color] "It's really not that bad, you know." [color=orchid]"Says the one crazy enough to get a degree in the stuff."[/color] He yelped as Connor unceremoniously pinched his shin, and retorted with a rude gesture that was only met by an eye roll, before both men devolved into barely muffled laughter. They fell into another silence as Connor turned the TV on. Sasha found his thoughts drifting back to the letter. His father, actually reaching out. He still couldn't really believe it. Over two entire decades of going no contact, with one single exception to announce his marriage, and the man has the absolute gall to try and contact him. Hell, he'd straight up been [i]disinherited[/i], and now he wants to talk? Every vindictive fibre of his body was telling him to ignore the letter, and let the old man deal with whatever he wanted to ask of him. [i]But[/i], a small part of him insisted, [i]what if it's genuine? What if he really regrets cutting you out of his life?[/i] Hence his current dilemma, and why he'd been puzzling over the letter for the past week, instead of just throwing it out. The last remaining family he had that was willing to talk to him... Could he really throw it out that easily? He was snapped out of his thought yet again by some movement in the corner of his eyes. He watched, incredulous, as the corners of the room slowly folded in on themselves, the edges blurring. The slight buzzing from the TV got louder and louder, before what seemed like a hairline fissure in the air itself appeared in front of his eyes. [color=orchid]"...Connor? Are you seeing what I'm-"[/color] With a deafening shattering noise, the fissure widened, and swallowed everything around him. [hr] [right][code]???[/code][/right] [hr] [hr] Sasha felt the world violently tilt on its axis as he instantly went from supine to standing up, leaning against a wall. The feeling was dizzying, not helped by his still dozing mind. Luckily his body was more awake than he was, and he managed to grab onto the wall before he could fall down completely. He heard someone, a young lady, scream, and something else fall heavily to the floor, and then start swearing in rather colorful Russian. [color=orchid]"Wha..."[/color] he muttered, bleary eyes blankly staring ahead. He blinked, trying to clear his vision. [color=orchid]"Where am... Who...?"[/color] His eyes widened a bit as he took in the room. The bare concrete, the rumbling pipes, the thin layer of moisture seemingly clinging to every surface, the myriad of unfamiliar faces... and the conspicuous absence of one very familiar face. His next breath caught in his chest. [color=orchid]"Connor? Connor, дорогой, are you there?!"[/color] He looked around the room, frantic, trying to catch a glimpse of his missing spouse. [color=orchid]"Come on... he, he was [i]right there[/i] a moment ago, he can't... just be [i]gone[/i]."[/color] A rather severe-looking woman tried to catch his attention, and succeeded for a moment, until a [i]ghost[/i] came out of another young woman, and pointed out at a [i]dead shark monster[/i] on the floor. His legs did give out then, the shock too much to withstand, and he heavily sat on the floor. [color=orchid]"Отче наш, Иже еси на небесех..."[/color] He began muttering a half-remembered Lord's Prayer. He might not have gone to church in literal decades, but what else is someone to do in that kind of situation?