Moonlight cuts the landing into pale bands as Alexander stops before the study door, the note heavy in his pocket. Lewis lingers a step behind, while the silence between them feels newly dangerous.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
This does not go to the masters at once. It goes where it can be made useful.
He turns the stolen paper over once, as if weighing a military order, then looks toward the corridor where prefects drift and vanish through the dark.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
Fribble is not the point. The point is who can be made to fear discovery.
C. S. Lewis
He means to hold the school with it, not cleanse it.
Alexander slips the note back into his pocket and starts down the landing, already choosing his next audience. Lewis follows, and the path ahead is no longer toward justice, but toward leverage.
“Am I at risk of punishment once the prefects find out that I have assisted Alexander?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 49)
Alexander pauses, his gaze lingering on the shadows where a group of older boys congregate near the common room entrance. He gestures toward them with a subtle tilt of his head, his expression devoid of warmth.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
They are already watching us, Lewis. By aligning with me, you have made yourself a target for those who fear what I might do with this paper.
C. S. Lewis
The prefects will see my association with him as a betrayal of the house, and they will not be lenient.
“Will Alexander care if the prefects take severe revenge on me and persecute me as they did to Parsley?”
NO, AND WORSE (VeryUnlikely, rolled 83)
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
You are a tool, Lewis, and tools are meant to be used until they are worn thin. If the prefects break you, it simply proves you were never sturdy enough to be of any real use to me.
C. S. Lewis
He does not see me as a person at all, only as a disposable piece of his own grand design.
“Would Alexander let the prefects use me as a catamite?”
YES (Likely, rolled 14)
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
Do not mistake my protection for sentiment, Lewis. If the prefects decide to claim you for their own amusements, I shall simply watch to see if you have the spine to survive it, or if you are merely another broken toy to be discarded.
C. S. Lewis
He would let them destroy me without a second thought, provided it served his own cold curiosity.
“I reassure Alexander of my absolute loyalty to him, explain to him that I worship his authority, rank and status as an older boy, and encourage him to use me however he thinks best.”
SUCCESS (Superb Etiquette, rolled +0)
C. S. Lewis
I am with you, whatever use you choose to make of me.
C. S. Lewis
His rank is the only shelter I can see.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
Good. At least you know where safety lies, for the moment.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
If you are useful, you are tolerated. If you are tolerated, you may learn.
Alexander takes the confession in without smiling. The hard line of his mouth eases by a fraction, not into warmth, but into acceptance.
The corridor stays dim around them, the gas lamp shivering over the stone while moonlight lays a pale bar across the landing.
“I joke with Alexander that here he can beat snivelling new boys to impose his authority on the school, but once back in Russia he can inflict similar beatings on rebellious serfs to reform the Russian Empire.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Humour, rolled +2)
C. S. Lewis
Here, you can beat up snivelling new boys and call it discipline. In Russia, you can probably do the same to rebellious serfs and call it reform.
The joke lands sideways, dry as chalk dust. Lewis keeps his face mild, as if he has merely observed a convenient symmetry in the world.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
That is not entirely unfair.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
Men everywhere prefer obedience when they can dress it as order.
For the first time, Alexander's mouth almost curves. It is a thin, private acknowledgment, but it changes the air between them.
Alexander Pavlovich Romanov
If you are to survive here, keep that wit. It tells the truth without asking permission.
Moonlight catches the edge of the note in Alexander's hand, while the gas lamp gutters lower above the stair.