Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Colder than the Snow ((me and Houdini))

SHIBBY+_+

Pulsar
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Senka Deshinov looked somewhat disconnected with the world as she sat in a dingy Nazi cell. She wasn't the only Russian women solider that had been captured, but off course in the army the men would always outnumber the women. She wasn't a front line solider, no. That "privilege" was only given to the men and with good reason. She was a sniper in the Russian army. At first she had worked alone, having no partner with her on tasks and missions. She was probably one of the best snipers in the army, with a confirmed 77 kills. The men had taken to calling her "Hawk Eye". However most of them stayed away from her as she was cold and disconnected, it seemed, of having any emotions. The men saw this as somewhat irrie. Pretty soon the high ranking officials got word of it and assigned her a partner for some sort of companion ship and perhaps a vent for any emotions that she had. So far it hadn't really helped. She'd manage to crack a smile or to, or chuckle once in awhile but not much else. Still, they considered that her psychological health was at a higher standard than it had ever been before and to this day she still had a partner. However, her partner had not been captured, he had gone back to get help, but they had found her before they could get back.

Why had she joined the fight in the first place? Women tended not to be known for their service on the battle field. The Russian army was one of the first to allow women to join their ranks. When the war fist began, the Nazi's had invaded her town. They burnt the whole town to the ground and slaughtered all the men of their village right before their eyes. Even the smallest of male children were not spared. Any women that objected was captured and most likely raped. Those that kept their mouths shut, lived and escaped. She was one of those. She had managed to escape with a few other women, however once they had escaped, they had nowhere to go. So instead of standing around waiting for the Germans to capture the again, they ran to the nearest army base. They were given food and shelter and offered the chance to join the fight. They were probably the easiest people to enlist. The hurt they felt in their hearts would have them lust for vengeance. The out of the 7 that had escaped, 4 of them joined, including her. The rest were sent back to safe areas of the country to begin new lives.

The 4 of them grew very close. They were all trained in how to use a sniper rifle, and a hand gun. They learnt tactics, how to move around silently and other skills that would assist them. Then they were shipped of with other female soldiers to the camp they were in now. During this time, the four of them had grown quite close. Their reasons for joining were one in the same after all. Senka had lost her father, brother and Fiancé in the bloody massacre. She and her mother were the only ones left in their family. She and her mother had escaped with the 7 women. Her mother now resided in Moscow, working as a seamstress.

Senka sighed to herself. She was dressed in her military uniform, designed to combat the harsh Russian winter. Her red hair was up in a messy bun and stuff up inside her fury woolen cap. Her uniform was marked with a few decals, denoting her rank of lieutenant. Her uniform consisted of a large over coat, then a jacket, a shirt, a pair of thick trousers and black boots. Hardly flattering, however that was not its purpose. Its purpose was to keep her alive in the cold.

She reached inside her shirt and pulled out a ring on a chain. It was her engagement ring, only simple in design, but what it represented way the complete opposite. It was made of a sliver band with a large green stone in the middle and smaller white ones around it. He had told her he had chosen green because he loved her eyes. She held it in her gloved hands for a moment, her mind drifting back to those somewhat happy days before the war, in a somewhat blissful state for a moment. However, footsteps approaching made her quickly put it away from view once more and she was back in reality, in the cold nazi prison cell. She couldn't believe she had been captured, and now she was stuck here till the Russians came and got her out or she was left to die
 
Josef Kirchner carefully reviewed the prisoner's thick file in his office. As an SS interrogator, he was known as one of the best. He had started out his career in the military as a sailor, was was soon promoted to an investigator. In that assignment, he looked into allegations of disloyalty on the part of disenchanted soldiers. He prided himself on having always performed well at his responsibilities. He had personally been responsible for the court martial of numerous German soldiers who questioned the Fuhrer or the mission.

Now, as an interrogator, he routinely debriefed and extracted sensitive information from Prisoners of war. He was conversational in several languages, and had successfully extraced top-level secrets from British, French, Russian, and American prisoners. He rarely failed in getting what he wanted. Of course, at times he himself had questioned the purpose and the rightfulness of the actions of the Third Reich. However, he never acted on such doubts, if they could even be called that. He reasoned that the motherland must always come first, above any personal ambitions, desires, or morals.

As he perused the file of Senka Deshinov, he gave thought to how he would extract the secrets from her as to where the enemy troops were deployed, and who was currently in command. It was rare to interrogate a woman, he though it would be interesting, as well as far easier than breaking a man.

Josef was a tall, well developed man with dark hair slicked to the side. He rarely wore a hat except when necessary to meet uniform requirements. He had been married briefly, but after only 8 months of marriage, his young wife was killed in an artillery blast during a bombing raid. And he always thought that he was the one risking his life with the dangerous job of a soldier. She was sitting peacefully alone in their kitchen when it happened. In the several years since this incident, he felt that if it made himself somewhat of a colder, more disenchanted man, it was none the worse, since it would only help him serve his job and his country.

He never went to the prisoner for interrrogation. They were brought to him. As he sat in small the interrogation room and waited, he knew that two imposing guards had been dispatched to bring Senka into the room. He always sat up straight and kept his uniform buttoned up all the way to the top, in order to give a more fearsome presence. As the redhead was brought into the room with an escort on either side, he saw a fire in her eyes to match her hair, which he had not expected in a woman soldier.

"Welcome, Ms. Deshinov", he began. Please, have a seat. Do you know why I've brought you here? Do you know what we want from you?"
 
Senka looked up was two guards approached her cell. They stepped in and with out a word roughly pulled her to her feet and handcuffing her arms behind her back, they walked her out of the cell on either side of her. She glared at them as she lead her through the room to a small room. They pushed her in first roughly. She glared at them angrilly.

When their superior offered her a seat they pulled her around to the other side of the table and made her sit infront of him. They then left closing the door. She stared at him with a venom in her eyes.

She heard his question she looked at him and said "Yes I do, you want to know the secrets of my nation, so then I must tell you that you won't extract them from me as easily as so assume you will" she said still looking at him with the venom and hatred she harbored against all Germans fighting in the army.
 
Josef felt the unveiled venom and hatred evident in her eyes piercing him. But this was nothing unusual. Although her form was concealed beneath the layers of uniform, he could tell that the handcuffed redhead before him was a beautiful woman. Even more so than was evident from her black-and-white file photographs.

"You are as smart as you are pretty, Ms. Deshinov. But what makes you think that I brought you here today to extract anything from you?" He lit up a cigarette and let a few moments of silence pass before adding "I'll even show you I mean it by releasing you from your bonds, for now." He gave the guards the signal to remove the restraints from her wrists.

"I just want to talk with you a bit today." He always started his interrogations by acting a friend to the subject. He knew Senka was too smart to fall for that, yet he knew the subliminal aspect this tactic could have. "Why don't you tell me why a nice girl like you joined the army?", he asked, knowing full well the reason.



((Hi- I hope you don't mind a note OOC. You are a good writer, BTW. Much better than me. Do you know how she got captured? I thought it might help to know. Also - based on our characters, I am in control of a lot of how this goes. I can certainly move forward with a plot, but do you know what kind of story you were looking for (eg forbidden romance, action, smutty story, all of the above, etc)- after all it was your story, so I want to give you the option of doing your craving, not mine. Thanks ^^))
 
((Thanks for the compliment, I'm not exactly sure as of yet how I want this to go, maybe when we delve a little more into it, I'll have worked something out))

Senka looked at him as he spoke. She took no heed of his comment that he wanted nothing from her. I short term it may be the truth, but in the long run it was a lie and she wouldn't fall into some sense of trust with this man. He wasn't going to fool her that way. She felt the guard come around and take the cuffs of her hands.

She flexed her thickly gloved wrists as he continued to speak to her, the foul odor of cigarette smoke filling the room. She hated that smell. She heard him ask why she had joined the army.

She frowned and said "If you want a story, go read a novel, I'm not your avenue of entertainment" she said. She leaned back in the chair and looked at him. He wasn't going to let some German dog beat her.
 
Josef studied Senka's cold, deep eyes as she spoke, responding with a cordial smile. "Ms. Deshinov, I think you ought to remind yourself where you are. You are a prisoner of war. You no longer outrank anyone here, not even the rats that scurry beneath the cell floors." He paused for a while until the silence almost became uncomfortable. Senka was clearly intelligent, and on one hand, he had to admire her staunch convictions. She was unusually bold, especially for a woman. However, he wondered if such a rough manner had gotten her into trouble before.

"Don't you know, Ms. Deshinov, that I could have treated you much worse. I released you from your handcuffs, even though I had no obligation to. I could have had your legs shackled as well. I could have made you to stand naked out in the snow and poured cold water on you until you talk or die. My intelligence tells me that is the method your 'comrades' are using against my countrymen in their Russian war prisons. So, I will give you one more chance. I beg you to think about it again. Why don't you wish to tell me a few harmless details about yourself?"
 
Senka did not have to be reminded of her position here. She was well aware of it herself. He glared at him as he spoke about what he could have done to her. How dare he criticize her comrades methods, when their own were hardly any better. She glared at him as he spoke.

She then looked at him and said "If you really insist on knowing fine, but it might hit a little close to home" she said frowning. "Why did I join the war, I might as well tell you the whole god damm story, no doubt you will want to know" she said

She looked at him and said "I grew up in a small town, tight nit community and all that. When the war came, German soldiers invaded. They razed my home to the ground, along with the rest of the town. They then gathered all of the people and split the men from the women. The men were then brought to the front and without a word, executed , no, murdered would be a better word. And oh no, it wasn't just the men, even small children were killed. I lost my father, brother and Fiancé. My brother was 7 years old. Would you like to explain what he could have done to any of your men?" she glared at him and then continued.

"You'd think after murdering them all, they would get some dignity in a proper burial, but no, they were picked up and tosses into a mass grave like they were nothing more that pieces of garbage and buried. No marking of a grave, no dignity. And then after having disposed to the male threat, we women had no protection anymore, so anyone who spoke out was raped by your "countrymen" over and over again, until all they could do was lie they while they used, when we heard their cries for help stop coming in the night, we knew they were either dead or had just stopped resisting". Senka was angry, so much so that her hands were shaking as she spoke.

She then looked directly into his eyes and said "So don't you sit there and criticize our methods, when your "countrymen" seem to accept the mass murder and rape of civilians" she said. She glared at him angrily and looked away. "Are you satisfied now?" she asked him
 
Josef looked into her cold, glassy eyes as she wove her tale. "That's better, Senka - if I may call you that. You have had a difficult life. But I'm sure as a soldier, you have seen much suffering and death. You must be aware that you and your countrymen are not the only ones who have suffered, or are suffering now. You became a soldier knowing the risks or death or imprisonment that come along with the territory."

He sighed as he looked up and down Senka at she bristled visibly at his response. "I can understand, then, why you became a soldier. However you must understand that I have a duty to my country to protect it residents from the same thing happening to them. Tell me, Senka, I see from your uniform that you are a Lieutenant. You must have exhibited a great degree of courage and skill to have been promoted to that rank. Who is your commanding officer?"
 
Senka looked at him and glared. "Then you should have no fear, Russians don't attack innocent people" she said snappily when he spoke of his duty to his people. She glared at him and said nothing as he continued to speak.

He asked who her commanding officer was. She looked at him and said "What importance is it to you whom my commanding officer is" she asked him crossing her arms and frowning at him. She would not give this man anything with out know why the hell he wanted to know. She wasn't just about to chuck information at him.
 
Josef had known, of course, that she would not answer his last question. But he wanted to see her reaction when he pushed the envelope. It actually wasn't as bad as he thought it might be. "Very well, then, Senka. Allow me to say that I think you overestimate the highly esteemed morals of your people. Your 'leader' mass-murders his own people. Dare you suggest that none of those millions were innocent? At least we Germans focus our energy against the enemies of our Reich."

He looked thoughtfully at her, before continuing "But if that's all you have to say, I suppose I'll have you seen back to your cell. It was a pleasure to meet you. I must apologize in advance, but we don't have many resources to make our prisoners comfortable. But if you wish to talk with me some more, I'm sure we can manage to make you a bit more comfortable."
 
Senka looked at him with a frown and soon the two guards had brought her back to her feet roughly and lead her out side the door. She glared at them both as they walked her back to her cell. She was nothing more to him, she had nothing more to say.

They opened the door to her cell and pushed her inside roughly and locked her back inside. She frowned and sat back down on the bench where she had been before and leaned back on the wall. She sighed to herself and looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Just how long she would be stuck here, she did not know, she hope it would be sooner rather than later.
 
Josef looked at his sergeant, and pondered following his usual protocol for this type of situation - making life miserable for the prisoner. He could give the order to lessen her food rations, make her cell extra cold, send her for a humiliating medical exam, and so forth. He knew she would rather die than betray her "rodina" - the motherland. Yet prisoners could be broken by wearing down their soul.

But for a reason that was not the course he selected. He was not sure exactly why himself. It's not that he was attracted to her. He was no teenager, susceptible to the whims of a crush. But there was something noble about her beyond the rough exterior, which was too rare to try to break. He returned to his normal office, until after dark, when most of the staff had gone back to their barracks. He then decided to make a personal visit to her cell. He walked down the long row until the end and stood in the hall outside the cage, staring at her as she lay down facing the other way, waiting for her to notice his presence.
 
Night had fallen. It seemed she would be spending at least this night here, she knew there would be many more to come. She had decided perhaps sleep was a good option, so she lay down on the bench she had been sitting on and tried to go to sleep. After about an hour or so, she had managed to be unable to fall asleep. She her the ring around her neck for some comfort in this hell of a place.

She heard footsteps coming, but paid no mind to them, assuming the person so a guard or soemthing doing rounds so she kept her eyes closed. But when the stopped infront of her cell, her eyes opened. What did they want with her now. She quickly put away her chain inside her shirt and she sat up and looked to see who her "visitor" was, the same man as before

She looked at him and said "What do you want?" she said frowning slightly.
 
When she finally took notice of him, he answered her in a steady voice. "You must think I'm here to torture or abuse you, but that's not true. I just want to talk." He pulled something out of his pocket. "I want you to know I'm not here for a fight. I know you're at least my equal when it comes to combat, but neither of us will benefit if you attack me. Even if you prevail, there are still guards on patrol."

He opened up his small package and pushed it through the bars. "To show I'm sincere, I brought you something. I know you're hungry." The napkin contained some chicken and warm bread. "Why don't you eat, and I'll be back in five minutes."
 
Senka looked at him as he spoke to her. She watched as he pushed the napkin through the bars. He walked back the way he had came and she wondered why the hell he would bring her food. Once he was gone she got up and walked to the napkin and opened it, moving back to sit down.

She saw the food, had they not starved her, she would have not accepted his charity, but her body drove on instinct to eat. she needed food. It did not take her long to devour the small portion of food he had brought her. She supposed she should at least be grateful for that. She looked down and sighed and waited for him to return. He'd want something in return now, he wouldn't just show her kindness for nothing.
 
"I trust you have enjoyed my offer of good faith", he said, returning to the front of her cell. He turned the key and slid the door open joining her in the cell before softly closing the door. He didn't want to make a commotion among the other prisoners. "I haven't come to obtain any of your country's precious secrets", he began. "You are the most intriguing prisoner I have ever been assigned to interrogate." He sat down across from her on the other bench. "Was your fiance' really killed like you said, or were you looking for pity? Because it was quite a sad story you told. It's not that I don't believe you, you just don't seem like the settling down and marrying young type."
 
Senka looked at him as he walked in and sat across from her. She heard him speak. She looked at him and said "Yes...he was...back in time when the hadn't clawed out to cause any worry in our heats, I was quite content to marry him, not just content...happy...then the war stole that from me... the war is a harsh teacher. It stomped out any naive thoughts i might once have had and showed me that man could be his own worst enemy. I watched him die, and I could do nothing for him, I couldn't save him, or the rest of my family, you carn't imagine the weaknesses and helplessness a person feels until you watch you own loved ones die" she said.
 
"War is hell indeed", he responded, taking in her story. I suppose you wouldn't be the person you are today were it not for this madness. You would be a weaker person, in many ways, yet happier, more naive." He thought for a moment back to his own life, his young beautiful wife, who perished at the hands of a British bombing assault. But it wasn't the time to tell her that. It wouldn't ease her own pain in any case. "I wouldn't be the person you see before you either were it not for the decisions made above either of our heads. In a different world, we Germans and Russians might be taking holidays in each others countries, and not killing, torturing, and imprisoning each other. But these things we cannot change...."

His eyes drifted out into the hallway as he remained in thought for a time. "It is a pity that we must keep you locked up here. Tomorrow I must call you into interrogation in front of my men again. Don't take it as a personal attack. It is a routine that I cannot control. I can tell you here that I respect your courage to keep your country's secrets safe. But there", he said, pointing towards the interrogation building, "in front of my men, I cannot say so."
 
She looked at him as he spoke. She looked down and away and said "Perhaps" when he spoke of another world. That future was long gone now. She sighed a little to her self when he said that tomorrow he would have to interrogate her again. She looked at him and said "Do you job...I can expect no more from you" she said to him. She looked at him and said "You should probably lead now before one of your men comes by" she said
 
"Yes, I was just preparing to leave", he admitted with a sigh. "Perhaps we will talk again sometime. I hope I have not kept you from your sleep too long. Stay strong, Senka", he added, placing a firm hand on her shoulder for a moment.

He quietly left the cell, closing the gate behind him, and walked slowly back to his barracks. He went to bed, but barely slept a wink that night, thinking about his life, and its purpose and direction.
 
Senka looked up at him as he got up. She had not expected works of encouragement from him at all. The hand on the shoulder was most surprising. She watched him leave, closing the cell behind him and left the goal.

She sighed and she lay back down on the bench. Once more she pulled out her ring for comfort from this place. She slept holding it in her hand as she slept.
 
Josef was frazzled from lack of sleep the next morning, but sipped a strong cup of coffee as he dressed, and carefully combed his hair. He must always be aware of his appearances, lest they be mistaken for laziness or weakness, and never left a hair out of place or left for the day without shaving.

After finishing some paperwork in the morning, and a debriefing of his general, he headed back towards the interrogation room. It was with mixed feelings that he commanded his soldiers to retrieve Senka and bring her handcuffed into the interrogation room. "We won't be so polite to her today", he barked to his men, unable, or course, to reveal to them the impression that her story had left on him. As he waited alone in the room, he put his head down in his hands and thought. He was unwilling to treat her poorly, yet unable to show open compassion for her without fear of losing his position, or even his life.
 
Senka woke slowly as the rays of sun entered her cell. She sat up slowly and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She sighed to her self and put her ring back in it's place underneath her shirt. She sighed to her self and leaned back against the wall and looked up at the roof.

After a few hours, the guards came by her cell again. She looked up at them as they open the door and once again hand cuffed her ad lead her to the interrogation room. She frowned at them as she was lead and made to walk infront of them. They knocked on the door before they opened it and sat her down in the chair across from Josef. She looked at him and said nothing. He knew she would not give up anything, so she prepared her self for what was to come. He's try to make her falter in her resolve, but she would not allow him to.
 
Josef waited in silence in the cold, dank cell, breathing in the musty air as he awaited her arrival. There was a sudden flurry of activity as the guards entered, escorting the fiery haired, stone-faced soldier into the familiar interrogation room and forcing her into the seat across from his. He had hardened himself against feeling emotion for such detainees, but felt regret within him for what he was expected to do. He locked eyes with the prisoner.

"OK Ms. Deshinov. The charity is over. I'm not asking you for all your country's secrets, but we need to tell us now where you were headed when you were captured and what your mission was." He glared at her, trying against his will to look intimidating, as he waited for her answer.
 
Senka looked back into his eyes when she was sat down. She glared back just as angrilly at him and said "I'll tell you nothing" she said simply. She knew her resistance would only result in torture, but no matter what he did to her, she would not give up anything. She was strong and she knew it. If he could break her resolve, it would take a long time. She glared at him and said "I'll give you nothing".
 
Back
Top Bottom