Tanya takes another sip of her tea and offers a suggestion, "Maybe we stay here for awhile and build up enough supplies before we try and make our way anywhere?"

"Well, that was the plan, but this far we haven't been able to gather any more supplies. One of the reasons to jumpstart and fix more was to check out the laddies in the trainstation..."

"Then we'll probably have a good base to start negotiating"

"The only problem is those guys at the station, hehe"

"Who are these men at station?" asks Vladimir.  "I heard small amount on the radio; what happened?"

"Marauding scum," Tanya says to Vladimir.

"Another possibility is finding a safe place for the woman and baby and then using this place as a decoy for the marauders," Virgil said, "we set it up to look as if we assume that we've beaten the gang but in reality we place snipers around to give us warning and get the place ready for a fight. Then when the marauders come in thirsting for revenge, we spring the trap."

Vladimir's brow crinkles as he tries to figure out "marauding scum".  After a moment, he looks up, unsure.

"Bandits?  They were bandits?"

He puffs out his cheeks and raises his eyebrows as he glances significantly at Svetlana.

"Did you kill all of them?  Or will some attack soon?"

"We killed everyone that was there," Virgil said, "well, Tanya and her crew did. What we found however suggests that there were more, a lot more, maybe twenty or thirty. I'd say our chances of facing retaliation were good to absolutely inevitable."

"Yes, bandits.  We killed everyone there and we didn't see anyone get away.  People will surely talk though.  We may have problems!"

"Hm.  Maybe leaving is a good idea . . . ."

Katka nodded her head to Tanya’s mentioning of moving past it a wholehearted agreement to the notion, and then huddled in to listen at the exchange between the others.  The newcomers were viewed dimly by the Ukrainian woman, though her usually dower expression might have kept such things from being plainly obvious.  None of what had been discussed as options seemed likely to help her return home, and It didn’t seem logical to expect so many Westerners to even want to make the journey to the Ukraine.

Her weapon had seen use, and so in the interim provided by the lengthy discussion, she saw to dismantling and cleaning the thing.

Lana’s lips pulled into a soft frown, adding to her already pensive mood, as she listened to the deluge of information and the agreed upon lack-there-of. A slow breath was taken, and then she simply smiled. “If stay, City may vant for Doctor Dah?..  If ve go.. Ve maybe have easy destination for to start?.. -They say; Set achiewable goals..”, Her words were gentle and encouraging if, but broken by her accent.

By then, in the relative security of the Clinic, her helmet had found its way to a cheerful spot on her lap, one hand folded over the other atop its worn surface. Darkness shown through the bleach blonde strands that whispered past her cheek, sorrel gaze following the flow of the room.  She knew Vlad was eager to move on, almost as eager as she was to the other end of that spectrum, but Svetlana was not possessed of the skill, nor means to go it alone, and she had come to value her countryman’s versatility. Leaving wouldn’t get her any closer to her family’s assassin, but her time here hadn’t gotten her any closer either..

Tanya looked at the newcommer and tried to answer or make a suggestion to the group, "I think we would be safer inside the city itself but, we've got to build up enough of a reputation about us and I'm thinking to make a name for ourselves.  The running a clininc is a good idea.  We have a security force and medical personnel to run it.  It would require the supplies and the place to run them.  Perhaps we can strike up some kind of deal with the Major to sell ourselves as their medical team/clinic?  I believe he said we would have to prove that we could be of use to the city and the locals.  This could be a way out of here and we could still use our people as security and to run 'errands' for us and the Major if needed.  I'm not that crazy about it but, we need to get our boots in the door somewhere!"

Vlad looked around the group.  "We stay, then?"  He shrugged fatalistically.  "More language lessons . . . ."

Turning to Svetlana, he speaks some quiet words in (presumably) Russian, his face a little somber.

Miss Ivanova quirked a delicate brow at Vlad’s words. She appeared uncertain at first,  gaze lowering slightly. Home seemed a curious thing, a state someplace between where she was and where she assumed she wanted to be..   Something cold flickered, lingering behind her dark eyes for a fleeting moment before softening.  Then a wane smile turned the corner of her mouth as she bobbed her head and spoke softly in kind.

Her response was lengthy, and murmured at as short a distance as propriety would allow, before shifting to her thin grasp of English. “Forgive me my.. Rude?..”

Puzzling over the stringing of words together in a coherent stream she continued, “My Comrade, and I.. -how is you say?..  -Homesick, dah? Vorking together is good for Krakow City if you stay.”, The name of the place was mouthed carefully as  Lana’s hands rose to lace fingers together before her gaze.

Vlad shrugs again and nods.  Turning back to the group, he says, "I know some languages: English and some German, Polish, and Czech if that will help with this . . . hospital you want to have."

"I also speak German very well so that shouldn't be a problem there.  What else do you do?"

"I can not do very much: I was a university professor before," Vlad explains somewhat apologetically.  "I learned chemical farming and a little computers in school, but I," he frowns in concentration, "was a teacher for political ideologies and some history."

"That's very useful," Virgil said, "one of the major issues we've had is communication. Your use as a translator will be invaluable and later, if we get settled, I'd like us to get some language lessons going so our sub-units will have more independence from specific translators."

Cinàed has had eyes only for the mysterious Svetlana, who he has yet to say hello, but he really want to bring up an eye-contact first, to let him sweep her off her feet with his impeccable manners.

"Univerzita Karlova v Praze?"

Don looks up from his thoughts, with a big smile.

"Budova Filozofické fakulty je velmi krásné! Studovali jste tam?"

The question is obviously asked to Vlad, in a language not heard yet during the journey. But it is a language he seems to like to speak, or at least show of that he CAN speak...

"Anyway, it seems as most of the men and the beautiful women of the group would like to stay in the town for at least a while. And I guess I have the same reasoning. It is a long way to go, even if going west or east, so we should try to build even more supplies. "

"Some of the people in the town probably have some anger building up on us. So we have the question about those who can't help themselves if the thugs are trying to make a statement here on our premises."
"What do you say girls, should we try find a hotel with a nice restaurant and take care of ourselves, while the others are fighting?"
"Especially you, my precious!"

He walks toward Svetlana, extends his hand to get hers, giving her a kiss on her hand while looking her in the eyes. Whether he manages to get it or not, he states "Enchantée. My name is Cinàed Donnachaid. If you want anything, anything, don't be afraid to ask" and stands rather close to her, letting her feel the manliness emerging from him. The look of him being dressed in a suit instead of all the others who are in their uniforms.

Don’s presence seemed to loom larger than life, expanding almost exponentially within the scant few seconds during his speech. From her seated position, perched as she was, Lana found herself only able to watch as the surly Scotsman took her hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles.  Even through the hardships of recent years, Svetlana’s hands remained mostly callous free, deep brown eyes searching Donnachaid’s gaze a moment, unabashed, before allowing a small smile to bow on her lips.

“Charmed, Mister Donn..a..chade.. Eer shee?”, Her accent alone struggled with the pronunciation, though there was an attempt to parrot the moniker as it had been related.  A slight blush touched her cheeks as she lowered her gaze.. “Svetlana Valentinnova Ivanova.” , Likely a needless introduction on her part, but it seemed the thing to do at the time.

She, like the others, wore worn fatigues slung with gear, though her pack, rest at her feet on the floor.  Along with it was a battered violin case, the clasp having broken and been tied shut.  Lana reclaimed her hand gently.. “I keep Your.. offer? in mind..”

Vlad first nods absently at Virgil's words then frowns in concentration as he tries to follow the Britisher's words.  His reply is short and hesitant as he gropes a bit for words.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Tue 27 July 2010.

Letting everyone else weigh in on the current circumstances Devlin remains to the side and watches with passive interest.  Part of him was not interested in setting up camp in this town.  His yearning to rejoin the military forces or at least escape into "friendly" territory was still a driving factor yet he knew that he could do a lot of good for the people here and, more to the point, wouldn't last long on his own.

Preparing to slip out of the room to check on their two patients he cannot help but frown at the thought that he still had not made it to the market.  Grabbing his gear once more, he clears his throat, "Whatever the group decides, I'm in.  For now I still need to visit the market and obtain some milk for our little patient lest we lose him.  Anyone want to join me?"

"Do you need someone who speaks some Polish?"

"I don't think speaking Polish around here would hurt us at all, only help!"

Vlad nods and starts up to go with Mitchell.  He turns to Svetlana and asks something in Russian.