Chapter Text
When you first met Tugarin, you were scared of him. You thought he might bite your ears off, but once you figured out his barking was only his desire to play with you, you calmed down. When you got enough confidence and pet him, his tail wagged like a fan. This meant he was happy, if you were correct, so whenever you saw Tugarin outside you'd take time out of your day to pet him and give belly rubs.
Tugarin had a red badge connected to his chest and seemed well-fed, so he definitely wasn't a stray. You didn't bother to figure out who his owner was until you were caught petting him by said owner.
You were giving the black and white dog belly rubs but stopped abruptly when you heard a grim voice behind you, "Tugarin, what are you doing?"
You jumped, and turned your head to see Alyosha glaring at Tugarin. Why? You had no idea. But now Tugarin was whining-- either because you took your hands off of him or because his owner seemed disappointed in him-- you didn't know either.
"Tugarin, sit." The dog sat up. You were surprised how obedient he was towards Alyosha.
You pointed at the dog and looked up at the hunter, "Name's Tugarin?"
Alyosha crouched down and nodded. "Yeah, he's my dog." He fed the dog a sausage and patted his head. He turned to you to see you had moved away from him. Am I still scary to her? he pondered. The fact his dog had a better relationship with you than him pissed him off more than he'd like to admit. For a moment he wished he were Tugarin, being pet and getting belly rubs from you-- but he forced that thought to a halt and put his attention on the real you. "Has he been nice to you?" As if I need to ask that question though, he mentally grumbled.
"Yes! I love Tugarin." Your grin was a little too bright for Alyosha and he turned his attention back to Tugarin as his heart slightly broke. He wished you'd say the same thing about him. He couldn't believe he was jealous of his own dog of all things.
After recovering, he looked back to you, "I finished all the cleaning. You don't go outside of the theatre much, right? I was wondering if you'd... like to take a walk around Snezhnograd together." He was taking a real leap of faith here, asking for something like this, and he knew it.
You grew even more silent than you were already, and thought. You did miss the outside a lot, and although you didn't like to think about it, with Alyosha's gun, you were almost guaranteed safety from what you knew. Odette and Vodyanitsa would praise you for going outside with out them, too. In the end, you nodded to the huntsman's proposal.
Alyosha's eyes widened and he smiled, "Let's go, then."
Snezhnograd was the capital of Snezhnaya, and it shoed in the complex and more permanent architecture. When he came to the city the first time, he felt as if it was all unreal. But now that he came here to sell game and work at Korolevskiy Theatre, the sights became normal ones. The way your steps slowed to look around for longer reminded him of when he first entered Snezhnograd. He'd wait as long as you needed to soak in the atmosphere, unlike his first time here where he rushed himself, he decided.
Tugarin and Alyosha followed you, but when you all reached the plaza of Snezhnograd, you felt a little nervous about how many people were around. Merchants, fellow fae (though there were no rabbit fae that looked just like you), rich citizens, Fatui, and hunters. You prayed you wouldn't run into that huntsman; the one who tried to kill you. You tried to focus on the scenery around you, but it was blocked by dozens of faces of strangers you didn't know. There was a reason you never peeked into the audience on shows; this was the reason. Seeing so many faces at once made your survival senses go on overload. You found yourself stepping back and actually migrating closer to Alyosha. He was the only one you knew in this sea of people, after all.
Alyosha glanced at your rabbit ears-- they were flat against your head. He took that as a sign to lead you away from this place. "There's a ton of people here. Let's go somewhere more quiet." You nodded anxiously, and took his hand like you would Vodyanitsa's or Odette's. He was pleasantly surprised at the physical touch, and he could feel his muscles tense for a second, his ears and cheeks burning up, along with a spike in his heart rate. ...He definitely spent too much time with animals than fellow (mostly) humans. Hopefully you didn't know what his symptoms might mean. He brought you to a small alley that coincidentally lead to a stair case that exited the whole city and entered the wilds. "Here. How's this?"
The view was breathtaking. You gasped, letting go of his hand and rushing to the protected ledge to see the viewpoint closer-up. Your ears returned to a normal angle. "Let's go out?" You pointed to the outside world of Snezhnograd.
"...Sure. Just stay close so I can protect you."
You grinned and took his hand again. He didn't think his cheeks could get hotter, but they did. A good way to warm up, and a good way to figure out that he was extremely touch-starved. Luckily, you were more focused on safely traveling down the stairs. He made sure to hold onto your hand tightly just in case (and, admittedly, because of his own selfish desire).
Every day, snow would be swept away from the streets in Snezhnograd. but in the wild, there was no reason for that, so it was a wasteland of sorts. After getting away from the man-made city and heaps of people, you were a lot more relaxed. You breathed in the cold air and breathed out your body's warm carbon dioxide. Although it had been a bit since you were outdoors like this, the feeling felt familiar; nice and clean. Grateful to Alyosha, you were about to hug him with your free arm, but your instincts stopped you. He may be kind to you right now, but who knows what's actually going on in the yellow eyed huntsman's mind? You pondered, your ears lowering anxiously agian. Suddenly, you longed for the crowd back in the plaza. At least there you wouldn't get killed; hunters didn't kill in front of people. Even if it made you uncomfortable, you'd be safer in the crowd, you decided.
"Let's go back... please?" You whispered all the sudden.
Alyosha was shocked by your change in attitude, but if that was what you wanted, who was he to deny you such an easy task? He nodded and led you back up the stairway. What made her want to leave? She looked so joyful a moment ago. Alyosha had a feeling you weren't as comfortable around him as he thought. Is it because I'm a hunter? he wondered. He would have to ask Odette and Vodyanitsa if they had any clues to what your behaviors meant.
The pair returned to Korolevskiy Theatre and walked in on a show featuring Vodyanitsa. The only other way to get into the green room was through the window, but that would alert the security. Alyosha brought you to the back of the audience seats and gestured for you to sit down on one of the empty seats. You looked at him, confused for a moment on why he wouldn't sit down either, but still sat on the comfortable seat like he silently and kindly asked you to.
...You kept peeking up at him even when Vodyanitsa reached the peak of her song. "What's wrong?" He asked, making sure not to get too close to your ear so he wouldn't fright you.
"Why you not sitting down?" You asked him, slowly gripping his sleeve and dragging him down into the seat next to you.
"H-huh? Oh, yeah, no, I'll-- I'll sit down." Alyosha felt himself slipping into the theatre seat by your hand.
Vodyanitsa's show ended about half an hour later. You fell asleep, probably because of how the walk seemed to take a lot out of you. The lights over the audience turned on, and in the front seats Alyosha noticed a familiar researcher who strolled through the leaving crowd straight towards him. He hoped he wouldn't be in for a long monologue about a new scientific idea.
"Heyy, Alyosha! Feels like I haven't seen you in a while. I just finished writing a new idea for Project Mistilteinn, if you'd like to see-- mmph?!" Mitya was about to spill the tea on Project Mistilteinn, but his magic scarf gagged him. "Geez, okay, I won't say anything..." Mitya promised and the cyan scarf went limp once more. The scientist noted the rabbit fae sleeping next to Alyosha and a grin came across his face. "Oh, is that... Uh, Nika?"
Alyosha's face turned protective for a reason he didn't know himself. "...Yes."
"I thought you guys weren't on good terms?"
"And how would you know?"
"Uhh, well... nothing! Goodbye!!" Mitya ran away and out the wide theatre doors.
After all the audience members left, Vodyanitsa came to Alyosha, a bit surprised to see you and him alone together. "Hi, did you hear my songs? What did you think? --But more importantly, why's Nika with you?"
Alyosha felt himself getting a little self conscious. He scratched his head, "Is that a bad thing...?"
"Huh?! Oh, no no no, I was just wondering why. It's a great thing! I've been thinking about ways to get you two closer, so I'm actually really happy right now. But there's more Kresnik Krystal in the green room, so if you could pick her up and bring her there, that'd be great!"
Can't she do that herself? He thought, but followed the Prima Donna's instructions, bridal carrying you to the room as gently as possible.