Lost to the wind

[Serpentis]

They had sat down on her porch on some comfortable chairs she grabbed from her room, drank some wine and chatted for a bit. For once, Sergei actually felt nervous. ”F*ck”, he was not even nervous when he had those dinners with Li Hana. But, eventually, he relaxed and she obviously noticed.
“Not used to having pleasant conversations with a woman, Sergei?” She said with a smirk on her lips, before taking a sip of her third glass.
He hated that she had read him that well, usually, he was quite good at hiding his emotional state, the few that he had. He shrugged and chuckled.
“Sort of, not the best one at being social.” And he thought to himself afterwards “By choice mostly.”
“Ah, not enjoying it either I guess?” She asked, showing some interest in his reactions, he was damn sure of it. He immediately believed she might have some experience in psychology or some sort of investigative occupation.
She then just giggled.
“Sorry, I keep making assumptions, I apologize.”
Sergei shrugged and chuckled in response.
“You do seem to have good guesses so far, Lina.” he as well took a sip of the wine. He never was much for white wine, he could stomach it at times when it was required of him. Like now, he couldn’t really go and say that he wanted a drink, preferably one that gets him drunk quickly. And no, he wasn’t an alcoholic, but why drink for anything other than relaxing and what isn’t more relaxing than being drunk? “Hmm, maybe I am a bit alcoholic?” he thought, but waved that thought away from his mind. But then refocused on Lina and the conversation they were having.
She had stayed silent for a little bit.
“It’s part of my former occupation, criminal psychiatrist. Worked in Liberty for a few years in the security forces, but, the work wasn’t rewarding.” she offered a light smile.
Sergei immediately got nervous again, but shut it down and forced it back into the dark of the back of his mind.
“Aaah, military. I had actually guessed you were in that line of work. Actually close on both my guesses.” he smirked at her. Not sure why, but he felt a bit proud of guessing her occupations through observations. Then again, this is what he did back in the Coalition, at least from what he remembered. But he had always been good at reading people, mostly to see their attentions towards him. He wasn’t that good at estimating emotional states, but, body language and how one speaks tells a lot.
“Oh, is that so? So, that means you had been in a similar line of work then?” she tilted her head and observed him.
“Not to be.. Harsh. But, you do not look like you were a psychiatrist. Maybe military?”
Sergei chuckled and nodded.
“Sort of, I had a few years in Rheinland military.” He was also observing her expressions as he spoke, carefully trying to interpret what she showed, but she was obviously trained and it was hard to get a grip.
Lina just smiled widely and laughed a bit.
“So, we’re both trying to read each other now, are we? This can be fun.” She then straightened in her seat, put the glass down and looked him over.
“Tattoos, some with what I believe to be a mix of ancient myths and legends, that one is a wolf of some kind, right? Maybe old Nordic?” She pointed at the wolf’s head on his upper arm.
“And that down there would seem to be a Rheinland rune, most likely from the old Earth culture of the Nordics as well, yes?”
Sergei was impressed, he looked down at the rune on his chest, it looked like an B, he had gotten it the year when Hans stopped being who he was and he was Sergei. It meant Liberation and birth. He was never sure why he had gotten that one, perhaps because he felt like that? Rebirth. But, the tattoo artist on New Berlin, an old man with runes and ancient nord symbols on his upper body, had told him what the runes had meant and that rune stuck with him. The wolf's head was also linked with the nordic culture, it was that of a massive wolf called ‘Fenrir’. It was him that during Ragnarök would break free of his chains and collapse upon the gods that had bound him, eating the god Odin, the leader of those ancient gods. There was a theme there, breaking free of their chains. It was strange to Sergei that had those feelings when he wanted nothing more than to return to the Coalition. But, he supposed that was not truly what he wanted. Just like he didn’t want to ask them to help with the implant. He was free and he wanted to remain free.
“Damn, that is impressive, Lina. I thought only Rheinlanders were this involved with old ancient cultures and mythologies. It is Fenrir, the wolf of old Scandinavian mythology, who were to devour the gods after getting free of his chains. And the rune just means, Liberation.” he touched the rune and then looked at Lina, observations be damned, she was truly fascinating. She in turn moved to touch the Fenrir tattoo then chuckled.
“I only got this one.” Then turned to show him her own tattoo on her left arm, which had been mostly hidden until now. It was that a finely made Anchor with a compass rose next to it, finely intermixed with plant wines to bring them together. He tilted his head at the tattoo and then smiled.
“Navy?” He chuckled and she nodded.
“Yeah, navy pilot, two years.” She shrugged and sat back down and yet again sipping from her glass.
“So, let me guess. Psychiatry school for three years, then, to get some experience, two years in the navy. Then, after that, getting a ‘promotion’ to criminal psychology for the LSF? But, the time with the navy was such an important part of your life, you and the other navy pilots decided to do a joint tattoo for the years working together?” He smirked and relaxed in his chair, sipping his own wine.
She on the other hand grinned at him.
“Close.. I did do the tattoo after my navy time. But just me. My dad had the same one and I always wanted it, so, after I was a pilot I felt like I deserved to have it too.” She chuckled.
“You weren’t half wrong though. It was an important time of my life. And I do not regret it.”
Sergei nodded at that.
“I can understand that. Military careers are usually important for anyone, even if they change career paths later on.” He tapped the side of his glass.
“So, Sergei huh? Former Coalition?” And again, she hit the nail in the first shot. He sighed, looked at her with a ‘That obvious?’ look on his face.
“Now, I should say, I’ve met several non-coalition people with old Earth eastern block names, there are several families left in the houses, who’s ancestors fled with the other ships. But, with how you act, your rather good observation skills, physique and general attitude, I see military service. And with the name. Just an educated guess.” She gave him an apologetic smile. It was soft. Almost caring.
“Yeah, in another life. Well, that was my second life. Sergei is my third life.” He was surprised that that came out of his mouth. He sighed again and downed the glass.
“Hmm, three lives? So, first, working and living in one of the houses, second, joined the coalition, third, left the coalition? But why Sergei, would that not give the wrong impression if you left the second life? And not to mention, why leave in the first place?” She was right about that, he had chosen the name of Sergei for some reason.
Sergei pointed to her left arm and nodded.
“Just like you choosing to do that tattoo. Something to remember from that time.” He wasn’t dishonest, but he’d rather not say too much about his time there.
She on the other hand just smiled at him, then stood up and walked into her room. He watched her leave. A few minutes later, she came out with a bottle of rum in one hand, a bucket of ice in the other and managed to hold a bottle of coke under her arm. Sergei just chuckled.
“Could’ve helped you, you know?” He did help her with the coke bottle when she got close and put it on the table.
“Then you can go grab two glasses, it’s completely barbaric to use wine glasses for rum.” She grinned at him.
“Aye aye captain.” And headed into her room, while walking past the door to her bedroom, he caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a holster with a pistol in it. He didn’t stop walking, but made sure he remembered that she was armed. Not uncommon, a lot of people carried personal firearms. But, maybe not if you aren’t in the military.
He returned to Lina with two drink glasses, they were really fine and well made, just proving how much money the resort had spent on even the minor stuff. As he put the glasses down, she went ahead and made them each a rather strong drink, then offered one to Sergei as they still stood up.
“To old lives.” she said and raised her glass towards him. Sergei chuckled, then clinked their glasses together.
“To new lives.” He said, with a smile on his face. “Bad emotions.” he thought.

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