Post by Russia on Mar 17, 2011 0:03:37 GMT -5
((This thread is rated a strong R for violence and and touchy subjects. Come on, you had to have seen that coming, it's a thread about "The Great Purge" after all. XD
April 12th of 1938
The rain was coming down in endless torrents in the old Belarusian city of Orsha. For Ivan, the dreary, wet atmosphere was all too fitting for the mission which had brought him to this relatively unimportant place. Standing under the eave of the train station building, the tall Russian watched with weary eyes as the last of his fellow travelers scrambled to get off the train they had arrived on, in a hurry to get out of the foul weather. Had he not been on such a potentially depressing mission, the sight of men’s hats getting blown off by the wind and swept away onto the muddy cobblestone streets to be smashed by traffic would have been rather amusing. Especially when accompanied by the various frustrated swears coming from the now hatless men. But despite the comical antics of the wind, Russia remained in a relatively nervous state.
It wasn’t so much the mission itself that had him in such a state of anxiety. No, he had been doing these little missions for the NKVD for years now. It was the fact that he was to be accompanied by his younger sister for this particular mission that had him jumpy and on edge. She would be meeting him here any minute now, and the thought of the encounter was enough to bring a cold sweat to the pale nation.
At six feet tall and possessing a brawny, decently powerful build, it was bizarre that a man such as him would be nearly trembling in his black boots as just the thought of his smaller sister. He was large even by Russian standards, and struck a very intimidated figure when he needed to. And here Belarus was at only three inches over five feet and weighing perhaps thirty pounds more than half his weight, and he was utterly terrified of her. By all means it made no sense. Not even he was completely sure as to why her presence chilled his blood in a way that not even General Winter was able to. He was sure however that it wasn’t her looks that scared him. It was more the way she carried herself, the unnatural eagerness she had to be in his company, and of course, the creepiness of her obsession with him. Whereas he had to admit that he was flattered that she would want to be with him so badly, he was unnerved by the level of inappropriate obsession that she had for him. She also had that creepy habit of seemingly always being able to find him, and scratching at the door with her fingernails like a crazed tiger trying to get at prey. Then there was the dreaded concept of marriage that she loved to bring up; driving Ivan to deeper levels of terror.
Despite his fear, it was not like he didn’t genuinely care about his sister. He did. She was his younger sibling after all, and he had thought it his job to look out for her- being the strongest and most influential of the Soviet siblings now. He certainly cared about her well being, just not in the way that she seemed to want him to, which made meeting with her all the more awkward and nerve-wracking. Then again, Russia had become an emotional, mental mess over the years, and not just because he had lost command over Lithuania-who had since broken free from him to become independent again. He was constantly torn between his duties as an older brother and good sibling (which he viewed himself as in spite of the questionable treatment of his siblings at times), his duties as a nation, and his loyalty to his boss.
The only thing just as frightening as Belarus, was turning out to be Russia’s boss, who was becoming more and more of a source of moral confusion and dismay for the already mentally unhinged Russian. Stalin had seemed like such an amazing leader at first to the naïve blonde, who had embraced his leadership without question after the chaos surrounding Lenin’s death. Like his name implied, Stalin had seemed powerful and in control; a force to be reckoned with, who would restore order to the Communist Party. Which he had, in a way. Not in the way that Ivan had been hoping for however. The crazed blonde had been confused but hopeful when Stalin had turned away from Lenin’s New Economic Policy and re-embraced the War Communism that had been in effect around the time of the October Revolution. It had brought good things for him then, hadn’t it? So why should he be concerned with Stalin wanting to re-instate it? He had been all too quick to forget the fact that Lenin had had a reason for the shift in the first place, and that he had been miserable near the end of the previous installment of War Communism.
Then came the accusations from other old members of the original Soviet Politburo. Men that Russia had held in great esteem, in particular, Leon Trotsky. With the differences in policy, Ivan had felt just as confused and disoriented as he had during the Revolution. Then, only a few years ago, Stalin had decided to take actions against these claims and strengthen his authority, leading him to call upon the NKVD to deal with those who would speak out against him.
Now, only Stalin himself and Trotsky were alive, and the latter was in exile in Mexico. And it wasn’t just the members of the Politburo that were the targets of Stalin’s questionable purges. Now, even the peasants and Kulaks were not safe accusations of espionage and anti-Soviet agitation.
Russia himself was now working with the NKVD to eliminate “enemies of the state” at Stalin’s will, and he had seen a great many questionable cases. He was never a nation known for his kindness and understanding, so when he was questioning the orders from his boss it meant things must have surely been bad. Truth be told, he loved the chance to beat, drown and shoot enemies, but the men that Stalin had him chasing after were his own people in a lot of cases. And not only were they his own people, but unlike in the “Bloody Sunday” incident, these people were usually not doing anything to mark themselves as being un-comradely. By all means, a lot of them were playing nicely and not disrupting the chain of command. The orders to execute and imprison so many of Russia’s top position military personal was particularly worrisome for the nation. Though his boss would not listen to his concerns, all the deaths of these well trained, seasoned veterans was going to weaken him in the long run, if it wasn’t doing so already.
It was because of his understanding of this, that he wasn’t so pleased with this new mission Stalin had ordered him on. He and Belarus were to locate two of his top admirals who were suspected of attempting to arrange a coup. They were supposedly hiding somewhere near or in Orsha, which was why Stalin had insisted on Belarus accompanying Ivan. She knew her city better than he did, and in the event that the leads the NKVD had were proven false, she might know other likely places to search for two admirals on the run. That was the official reason he had been given. Secretly he suspected that Stalin just wanted to punish him by giving him the one person who could scare him into a sort of submission as a partner.
Nervously, Ivan turned to look up at the large clock over the train station. It was exactly 20:00, meaning his sister could be there anytime now. Hopefully she would be in a good mood tonight, and wouldn’t insist on marriage quite so much as usual. It seemed impossible to imagine, but he was still hopeful all the same.
April 12th of 1938
The rain was coming down in endless torrents in the old Belarusian city of Orsha. For Ivan, the dreary, wet atmosphere was all too fitting for the mission which had brought him to this relatively unimportant place. Standing under the eave of the train station building, the tall Russian watched with weary eyes as the last of his fellow travelers scrambled to get off the train they had arrived on, in a hurry to get out of the foul weather. Had he not been on such a potentially depressing mission, the sight of men’s hats getting blown off by the wind and swept away onto the muddy cobblestone streets to be smashed by traffic would have been rather amusing. Especially when accompanied by the various frustrated swears coming from the now hatless men. But despite the comical antics of the wind, Russia remained in a relatively nervous state.
It wasn’t so much the mission itself that had him in such a state of anxiety. No, he had been doing these little missions for the NKVD for years now. It was the fact that he was to be accompanied by his younger sister for this particular mission that had him jumpy and on edge. She would be meeting him here any minute now, and the thought of the encounter was enough to bring a cold sweat to the pale nation.
At six feet tall and possessing a brawny, decently powerful build, it was bizarre that a man such as him would be nearly trembling in his black boots as just the thought of his smaller sister. He was large even by Russian standards, and struck a very intimidated figure when he needed to. And here Belarus was at only three inches over five feet and weighing perhaps thirty pounds more than half his weight, and he was utterly terrified of her. By all means it made no sense. Not even he was completely sure as to why her presence chilled his blood in a way that not even General Winter was able to. He was sure however that it wasn’t her looks that scared him. It was more the way she carried herself, the unnatural eagerness she had to be in his company, and of course, the creepiness of her obsession with him. Whereas he had to admit that he was flattered that she would want to be with him so badly, he was unnerved by the level of inappropriate obsession that she had for him. She also had that creepy habit of seemingly always being able to find him, and scratching at the door with her fingernails like a crazed tiger trying to get at prey. Then there was the dreaded concept of marriage that she loved to bring up; driving Ivan to deeper levels of terror.
Despite his fear, it was not like he didn’t genuinely care about his sister. He did. She was his younger sibling after all, and he had thought it his job to look out for her- being the strongest and most influential of the Soviet siblings now. He certainly cared about her well being, just not in the way that she seemed to want him to, which made meeting with her all the more awkward and nerve-wracking. Then again, Russia had become an emotional, mental mess over the years, and not just because he had lost command over Lithuania-who had since broken free from him to become independent again. He was constantly torn between his duties as an older brother and good sibling (which he viewed himself as in spite of the questionable treatment of his siblings at times), his duties as a nation, and his loyalty to his boss.
The only thing just as frightening as Belarus, was turning out to be Russia’s boss, who was becoming more and more of a source of moral confusion and dismay for the already mentally unhinged Russian. Stalin had seemed like such an amazing leader at first to the naïve blonde, who had embraced his leadership without question after the chaos surrounding Lenin’s death. Like his name implied, Stalin had seemed powerful and in control; a force to be reckoned with, who would restore order to the Communist Party. Which he had, in a way. Not in the way that Ivan had been hoping for however. The crazed blonde had been confused but hopeful when Stalin had turned away from Lenin’s New Economic Policy and re-embraced the War Communism that had been in effect around the time of the October Revolution. It had brought good things for him then, hadn’t it? So why should he be concerned with Stalin wanting to re-instate it? He had been all too quick to forget the fact that Lenin had had a reason for the shift in the first place, and that he had been miserable near the end of the previous installment of War Communism.
Then came the accusations from other old members of the original Soviet Politburo. Men that Russia had held in great esteem, in particular, Leon Trotsky. With the differences in policy, Ivan had felt just as confused and disoriented as he had during the Revolution. Then, only a few years ago, Stalin had decided to take actions against these claims and strengthen his authority, leading him to call upon the NKVD to deal with those who would speak out against him.
Now, only Stalin himself and Trotsky were alive, and the latter was in exile in Mexico. And it wasn’t just the members of the Politburo that were the targets of Stalin’s questionable purges. Now, even the peasants and Kulaks were not safe accusations of espionage and anti-Soviet agitation.
Russia himself was now working with the NKVD to eliminate “enemies of the state” at Stalin’s will, and he had seen a great many questionable cases. He was never a nation known for his kindness and understanding, so when he was questioning the orders from his boss it meant things must have surely been bad. Truth be told, he loved the chance to beat, drown and shoot enemies, but the men that Stalin had him chasing after were his own people in a lot of cases. And not only were they his own people, but unlike in the “Bloody Sunday” incident, these people were usually not doing anything to mark themselves as being un-comradely. By all means, a lot of them were playing nicely and not disrupting the chain of command. The orders to execute and imprison so many of Russia’s top position military personal was particularly worrisome for the nation. Though his boss would not listen to his concerns, all the deaths of these well trained, seasoned veterans was going to weaken him in the long run, if it wasn’t doing so already.
It was because of his understanding of this, that he wasn’t so pleased with this new mission Stalin had ordered him on. He and Belarus were to locate two of his top admirals who were suspected of attempting to arrange a coup. They were supposedly hiding somewhere near or in Orsha, which was why Stalin had insisted on Belarus accompanying Ivan. She knew her city better than he did, and in the event that the leads the NKVD had were proven false, she might know other likely places to search for two admirals on the run. That was the official reason he had been given. Secretly he suspected that Stalin just wanted to punish him by giving him the one person who could scare him into a sort of submission as a partner.
Nervously, Ivan turned to look up at the large clock over the train station. It was exactly 20:00, meaning his sister could be there anytime now. Hopefully she would be in a good mood tonight, and wouldn’t insist on marriage quite so much as usual. It seemed impossible to imagine, but he was still hopeful all the same.
