“ i’m sick of listening to everyone ” (theywillnotfade // from olga, maybe survival au ?)
it’s funny, he muses, how they could have had this same conversation years and years ago, a life so forcefully divided from this one. with the return of the empire, the old aristocrats and nobles have trickled back in, reclaiming what diminished wealth might remain. though he hasn’t a ruble to his name, vladimir went back just the same as the rest; he knew no other home than the cold, eroding grandeur of a bygone era.
lily had made the impossible less than difficult, and it was in no small part due to her tireless efforts that he once again has an audience with the tsarina. but for all the baubles, duties, and prestige that her station brings, she seems every bit like any other young woman, complete with the usual complaints. ( though really, he thinks, she more than has the right to harbour her grievances. )
“ the trick isn’t to stop listening to them; it’s knowing when to listen and when to turn a deaf ear. if you will, your imperial majesty, ” vladimir says, his tone cavalier, edged with a slight deference, “ learn to tell which voices speak, REALLY SPEAK, not just say something. ” alright, perhaps that’s a bit self-gratifying, coming from him, but he hopes that she’ll accept the advice as the genuine article. “ moreover, trust in yourself. haven’t you accomplished so much in these past few months ? think of all the good you’ve done.
“ then what’s stopping you from trusting yourself, the very first person you should be able to trust ? ”
@theywillnotfade / SOME OLD MEME / no longer accepting