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"Yes."

Yes!

The power of that single word was immense and its affects immediate; the tall, seemingly immovable Russian suddenly became the most animated person in the room. With a simple motion, he snapped his back straight and let his boots separate from the floor into a small jump of joy, his palms brought together with a loud clasping sound. A smile spread from one plump cheek to the other, the previous fluster replaced with glee as Ivan let out a giggle, violet, previously so sharp eyes radiating excitement like they belonged to a kid on Christmas' Eve.

It was a complete, one-hundred and eighty degree turn from his previous threatening demeanor yet for whatever reason, none of the other men in the room seemed surprised. Most of them were rather neutral to it all, in fact. There were a few exceptions of course, with some looking a tad disturbed and some amused - but not to an extent that would suggest they hadn't seen something similar happen in the past.

She'd said yes. She'd agreed to take on the job he'd offered, and without a second's hesitation staying her tongue. Maybe all the bad things he'd worried about on their way here were just the result of her being nervous and feeling cold after all. Ivan was glad. Really glad. She was her previous, friendly self again, and Ivan wanted to let her know how happy he was - but before he could so much as start to turn his feelings into words, she interjected.

"But wait."

Ivan's mouth instantly closed and his attention refocused on the girl, heart missing a beat at the spontaneity of the word. His previous smile still lingered, but it had turned from genuine into confused. 'But'? Did she really just... say but? W-was she having second thoughts? Because if s-

"What... what is exactly the job I will be doing? I... I don't want t-to mess up like him."

...Oh!

Oh, she was worried about that - about letting him down. Aww, how cute, he should have known not to jump straight into expecting the worst - not when it was his friend they were talking about. So with that, Ivan settled to just listening, excitement slowly stirring and building up inside his chest again. He'd need to contain it for a while, though; the questions she asked all had to do with her future job, and as a responsible employer, it was his job to act suitably professional when answering them.

So, once she'd finished, Ivan nodded. "Mmm, don't worry about any of that!" He encouraged her, one giant hand resting on her head now. "The job is really easy! All you have to do is bring me information from certain people of interest - ah, and of course, you can continue your studies. You should continue; education is important." He would know.

And it was a good cover-up.

"And why I chose you, well~" Ivan smiled, gloved hand now ruffling her hair as another giggle found its way into the chilly, thick air of the room. "You're my friend and needed a job, so I thought it'd be nice to offer you one. And, well, when it comes to experience..." He glanced at the bag laying motionless some distance from them.

"He was a professional, and look what happened to him."

The Russian shook his head with a sorrowful sigh. "I think, in this job, it's better if you don't have experience. Everyone knows how to spot a professional spy nowadays." He returned his eyes on her now, lips curling into a slightly sly smile. "But nobody trains to catch amateurs."

Another giggle. "As for what's bratva..." It took all the Russian had to keep himself from chuckling at her naivety - or perhaps it was just innocence. He wouldn't know. To Ivan, the terms were always interchangeable. Knowledge corrupted. "To put it simply, we're a group of friends trying to make the world a better place - through any means necessary."

There was a slight drop of tone in his voice at the end of the sentence, gone in a second.

"But! So much of that."

With all the explanations finally done and over with, Ivan could finally let himself be whisked away by excitement - and that's exactly what he did. Enormous form moving with speed that seemed rather unnatural for someone as big as him, Ivan closed the small gap between him and the girl. For a split second his form towered over her, before the spur of the moment made Ivan bend his back and wrap his arms around the girl's slender form, pulling her into a spontaneous hug. Ivan always was a very physical person when it came to showing his affection, and in a moment of joy and... relief such as this, there was no way he could have held himself back any longer.

"I'm so happy!" The Russian exclaimed, hug tightening around her shivering body. "You became part of us after all! I promise the pay is pretty good, and you can join our drinking nights now, and... oh, that's right, would you like a bottle now? Vodka warms you up nicely on a cold day like this~"

She would say yes again, Ivan felt.

Time and time again, every time from now on.

She would always say yes.

Ivan was not a regular sight at a bar - gay or otherwise - when alone. When he drank, he usually preferred to do it with friends, so most of the time he was accompanied by at least one of his underlings to make sure he wouldn't need to be spend time with nothing but alcohol to keep him company; heaven knew that was not a good thing. That, and for all his influence and charisma, he could be very... shy at talking to people he didn't know, especially in crowded places like bars and nightclubs. Even when he was looking for romantic company, he always made sure to have someone sit somewhere near for encouragement.

Really, as far as Ivan Braginsky was concerned, talking business with cutthroats, acquiring new connections, blackmailing people and in general interacting with London's most feared were all relatively easy tasks - starting a mundane conversation with someone in a bar was not. It was scary. He always feared people would regard him as weird from the get-go and hardly offer him a chance to prove them wrong.

Which was most likely why he now found himself inching ever closer to the only one in the bar that was, decidedly, far more peculiar than him; a man with a bucket hiding his head, a simple straw enabling him to even touch his drink. It was fascinating and somewhat... mesmerizing how calm the person appeared to be despite the curious, glances and heated whispers around him. It sounded like a bad pun, but the man must have had the nerves of steel - either that, or he was very, very drunk. Either way, Ivan didn't feel quite as intimidated by him as he did with most of the bar's customers, so it didn't take long for him to find himself sitting next to the bucket-man with his own drink in hand. Vodka lemon. He'd already downed a few, but he didn't really feel it yet.

"May... May I sit here?" He asked in almost a whisper, eyes downcast as he tried to keep himself from sneaking unnecessary glances at the other. He'd been to his particular bar a few times before and while he had seen colorful folk before, this was definitely a new height and it would have been a lie to say he wasn't the slightest bit curious to know the man's reasons.

He wanted to continue his sentence somehow, say something to start a proper conversation, but he feared that if he opened his mouth again, the only thing blurting out would be the inevitable question of 'why are you wearing that', and he felt it rather rude. So, instead, he settled to just smiling.

The longer Ivan and his group of underlings walked and the further from their arrival place they got, the stronger and colder the wind around them seemed to get. The waves licked at the harbor, splashing against the lonely ships anchored nearby and from somewhere far away, Ivan could hear the low growl of thunder approaching. A storm was brewing somewhere over the ocean, and it was only a matter of time before it reached shore and the skies opened to rain down on them as well, in a manner not at all uncommon for London. If possible, Ivan wanted to be inside somewhere when it happened. He wasn't a fan of rain.

That, and it seemed like the Indonesian girl walking among them was about to freeze as things were. Even with his huge coat wrapped around her tiny form so tightly it hid the girl almost completely from sight, she seemed to be shaking from the wind. The last thing she needed now was to get soaked by a downpour and catch a cold. Ivan did have to wonder though... how did she survive in London during the winter? Granted, it wasn't nearly as cold as back home, but Ivan did recognize it was still somewhat chilly at times, most likely far more so than her home ever could be. Maybe he should let her keep the coat. She looked adorable in it, anyway.

As their silent march continued deeper into the harbor, it turned out that Nesia wasn't the fastest walker around, at least when compared to the Russian men she was surrounded with. Maybe it was just the difference in the length of their feet and the size of their steps, or maybe it was because she was cold, but Ivan noticed that she had to be constantly reminded of their pace lest she lag behind. For a while, Ivan thought of picking her up and carrying her to make the trip easier for all involved, but before he could carry out that plan, her sudden question threw his thoughts astray.

"Wer ar wi going?" she asked, and it took Ivan a while to decipher what she meant. At first he thought she had started to speak her native tongue - which Ivan admittedly knew next to nothing about - but perhaps because he himself had quite the thick accent at times, the Russian eventually understood it was just her own accent strengthening for a brief moment. It sounded funny, and made Ivan curious of the reason. Was she that cold that speaking was becoming difficult? Either way, he was just about to answer when her question gained continuation.

"Ar we... are we going to leave London?"

Ivan blinked in surprise.

"Leave London?" He repeated as if to ascertain he had heard her question right. Now where did that come from? He would have mentioned if her job was in another city, considering the possible problems with transportation and time it would impose on the Indonesian. Likewise, had her job been overseas. So why the sudden worry of leaving? Was it because of the harbour? Well, it did kind of make sense for her to want to make sure, he figured.

"Of course not," he almost giggled in response, patting her back for some added reassurance. "I told you, it's not far from here. A few minutes' walk more, at most!"

Even if he was smiling, Ivan couldn't completely shake the strangeness of her question from mind. That, coupled with her peculiar behaviour earlier really did make him wonder why she was being so... seemingly nervous. They were friends, right? And she had both wanted and agreed to come see the job he had offered. It wasn't even like he'd force her to accept the job, either. Oh no, he'd give her a choice to refuse - it'd just come packed with certain consequences, but that was to be expected. From where he was standing, there was no reason for her to be trembling. Hm. Maybe she just had a major case of stage fright - he should have probably mentioned that this job required neither official forms nor interviews for her to be accepted - just his nod of approval.

Speaking of a nod, one of Ivan's underlings gave him one before jogging ahead to knock on the door of their destination. Ivan smiled and rushed his last few steps to the door, allowing the thick smoke and lingering smell of alcohol to welcome him home once more. The smoke escaped from the open door, and in the time it took to keep the door open for the group to enter, the smoke eventually cleared enough to allow for a better view of the room. Not that there was much to see; boxes, crates, barrels and other cargo was scattered about the room, used as either seats or tables by the rugged-looking men that all turned to look at the new arrivals in unison.

Ivan raised a hand and offered them a smile, accompanied with a quick greeting before he motioned for the door to be closed. This was not one of their most well-hidden hideouts nor one of the biggest ones, just a temporary haven for the crew before they loaded the cargo on a ship bound for St. Petersburg and then relocated, but Ivan still didn't want it discovered prematurely - particularly so because lately, it had proven to be an apt meeting spot when they had to gather to scheme in a more remote location.

As the door closed and Ivan finished his greetings, he turned to Nesia in order to introduce her to her future colleagues - who were already curiously peeking at the girl, considering she was the only girl in the room, and they didn't yet know her reasons for being there. Before Ivan could so much as open his mouth however, he noticed that his new friend had slipped to lean against a wall in an almost defensive fashion and a bit amused at that, he chuckled and walked to wrap an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down.

"It's okay, don't be shy. They're all friends," Ivan whispered in what he hoped was a convincing tone as he half-forcibly dragged her to stand in the middle of the room, a dozen pairs of eyes all suddenly focused on her. Some of them were curious, some angry, and a few of them disturbingly intensive, but what they all shared was their focus. Ivan nodded and then spoke, voice easily carrying to every single corner of the room for all to hear.

"This here is Nesia~ I met her a few days earlier. She's my newest friend and a possible future comrade to you all, so treat her nicely, okay?" Ivan waited for a bit, just to allow for the girl to say her hellos before he continued, this time addressing the Indonesian herself. "These people here are your new friends, all working under me! Hum, I'm sorry the bigger bratva bosses aren't present, but I'm sure you'll get to know them too soon enough, if you decide to join us. Oh, and-"

Without skipping a beat, Ivan motioned to a few men at the back of the room, who lazily stood up and walked out of view for a brief moment. A dragging sound signaled their return, and before long they were back in the main room, dragging a large, vaguely human-shaped black bag across the floor. A slight stench emanated from whatever was inside, and as the underlings let go of the back and allowed it to hit the floor, it made a loud thumping sound.

"I did tell you before that some of your new friends were a bit more... lifeless than others, yes?"

The Russian smiled, back hunched to bring his purple eyes closer to hers. "This is who you'll be replacing. He went and saw something he wasn't supposed to, so we had to... hum, let him go."

For a brief moment, sadness visited the large man's features and transformed his smile into something close to a pout. Whether it was genuine or completely faked was impossible to tell, and neither option sounded any less dangerous than the other. Then, for the shortest of moments Ivan's tone dropped, his usually kiddy voice growing low. Each word out of his mouth was slow, lingering in the thick air of the room just a bit longer than was probably needed, like a haunting echo from beyond.

"I... don't really like it when things don't go according to plan, you see."

A moment's silence, and Ivan's smile was suddenly back, with his huge hand patting at the girl's shoulder and low voice dissolving into a kiddy burst of laughter once more. "Ah, but that's a bit off-topic, huh? After all, it's not like you'd repeat his mistakes! So, um..."

Ivan looked bizarrely nervous, even a bit shy as he continued, yanking his scarf upwards to hide his face and allowing his glance to fall on his feet. "Um, would you like to..." Like a timid child asking a neighbour out to play for the first time, Ivan drew in a breath and looked at her, eyes big and hopeful.

"... Join us?"