Name: Dmetri Ashcov
Age: 23
Background: Dmetri used to work in a grand royal Russian castle until there was an invasion between the brink of a war. He saved two royal sisters, but one was lost. Now, he works for the one Princess and helping her find her sister once again.
Personality: Dmetri is a strong man. He's smart and quite educated for how he was brought up as a peasant boy. Now, he's middle-class upon the Victorian setting.
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Name: Galina Ciltenov
Age: 26
Background: After loosing her sister when trying to escape the desperate scene of a devastating loss, Galina has been looking for her sister ever since. Being the Grand Duchess of Russia, she stays and retires in the uptown part of Paris with her dying husband, Christian.
Personality: Strong, smart, and proper...this girl always knows what's best. When she's determined, she's sure to not give up until it's a total loss. She's really loving, but she's been pained with trying to find the only living one of her family left. She somehow just knows that her sister is still alive.
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Name: Lizaveta "Liza" Morozova
Age: 21
Background: The youngest daughter of the Russian royal family, Liza's house was invaded by usurpers attempting to steal the throne. Their house was burnt to the ground, and as far as she knows, all of her siblings as well as her parents have been killed. She is exceptionally good at hiding in plain sight, and has been living in small cottage in the suburbs of Moscow. She purchased the space with a small sum of money she managed to salvage before her escape, but is otherwise poor.
Personality: Stubborn, strong-willed, and a bit sarcastic. She refuses to be taken advantage of by men, and can be describes as a shrew. She mourns the death of her family, but is secret grateful she did not have to undergo an arranged marriage like her older sister Galina.
Appearance:

Galina sighed as she rubbed her stressed eyes. She looked at Dmetri who was sitting before her in her office. "You've been working for me for a long time now," she said as she looked at the photo of her and Liza, her long lost sister.

"Yes, your majesty...," Dmetri responded messing with his favorite hat. He had always been nervous around her.

"I'm giving you a raise. I want you to travel back to Russia to go back to look more for her," Galina said as she thanked the maid who brought in a hot cup of tea for her.

Dmetri was shocked at what Galina had just said. "A-a raise? For that? It's been ten years, your majesty. She might have been dead this whole time--"

"--she's not dead!"

Dmetri sighed and just nodded his head. He needed the money and he missed Russia. Looks like he had his work cut out for him, but he was unable to complain out loud.

Lizaveta Morozova fiddled with her basket, moving it to her left arm while she paused in front of a stand of apples. The man behind it watched her, glaring as if to tell her that she needed to pick a damn apple and buy it already, before he lost his patience. The girl had been checking each and every one for dark spots, and she wanted the most perfect fruit that money could buy. Finally, after about ten minutes of this, Liza settled on a shiny, red apple with a minuscule brown smudge near the stem, and tossed it into her basket with the rest of the produce she'd accumulated over the course of the evening. "Here," she grumbled, handing the grocer a few coins before moving on.

It had been precisely ten years since the palace burned down, taking with it several of her siblings... As well as the Czar and Czarina. Not a day passed that Liza did not recall those dire hours... Flames everywhere, the screaming and maddened dashing of servants. Alas, she'd managed to get out of the window onto a tree branch, with a small fortune in coins... A pouch of them. She was coming to the last of her savings, though. Four days a week she worked in a book store, as a clerk. But that did not pay well enough for high quality clothing nor good. She had to be stingy, and pick out the best when she could.

The former princess heaved a sigh and began rifling through another stand of seafood, selecting several fish that would have to last her throughout the week. All she could afford to eat these days were stews of vegetables and hard loaves of bread. It was a hard life, but she greatly preferred it to settling down. Not that her looks had not earned her attention from local men. However, not only did they seem to berate her in terms of her abilities and intelligence, how was she supposed to interact with them? Liza could not simply tell them, 'Hey, guess what, I'm the only surviving daughter of Czar Alexei Mozorov!'

Dmetri had been traveling by horseback for hours, it seemed. He sighed as he stopped by a local village to rest at, seeing that the day was half gone and this would probably be the village he would have to rest at until he found what he could of Galina's missing sister. He looked around the village. Shouting food stand owners, running and laughing children, happy villagers, and one unhappy villager. He rested his eyes on her for a moment. She looked familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen her from. Then he noticed she was at a sea food stand. That sounded good at the moment. Grilled fish would be a good supper. He can't remember the last time he's had it.

So he walked over to the stand, next to the sad-looking woman, and paid for three fish from the pay that Galina had given him for food, clothes for upcoming winter, looking for her sister, and just staying not-poor. He sighed and thanked the merchant for the fresh fish as he let go of his horse's bridal to place the wrapped fish in the side-satule. He checked his gold and found that he had gotten his fish for a bearing cheap price. He looked back at the sad and poor-looking village girl with beautiful black hair and handed her four gold coins and smiled.

Dmetri had been brought up to be kind and giving when he had things to spare. And particularly, he was happy about that feature about himself. Another reason why Galina trusted him with her life.

Liza's jaw dropped as the (attractive, she noted) young man beside her placed precisely four gold coins in the palm of her hand. He smiled, charmingly, holding the reins of his horse and regarded her with a kind expression. While many poor people would burst into tears and warmly thank him for his generosity, Liza felt insulted. She fumed, inwardly, and tried to return the man's gold with a flushed face. "This is your money," she muttered, bravely seizing his hand and shoving the coins back into it. The girl then released him, as though he had the Plague, and used some of her own money to pay the fish merchant.

She refused to take help from strangers, particularly men. Just because she had on a shabby, old gown did not mean that she was helpless, nor trying to raise a starving family singlehandedly. The girl could afford some new things now and then--she just preferred not to. What was the use of flashy garments when your family had died and you could no longer call yourself a princess? She'd sold her royal raiment long ago, to afford food. And did Liza miss that clothing? Not at all, except for the sentimental value that it held.

"I appreciate your help," she lied, "But I am quite all right. I have a job, and I wear ugly dresses because I want to, not because I have to." The girl hesitated, eying the man warily. Something about him seemed familiar, but her mind struggled to place his face. The revelation, far back in her thoughts, fogged up and remained elusive. Finally she gave up struggling with her recognition, and awkwardly cleared her throat. "Er, welll... I'll be going now." Liza turned away from him, making to leave.

Dmetri was shocked at how she had thanked in in return. He looked down at the coins she gave back. "That's not why I gave you the money," he said as his expression formed into a shocked and angered face, following after her, dragging his horse with him. He didn't get why she didn't want the money.

He never took 'no' for an answer, though at times he had to, but this time, he just didn't. Judging by the sad look on her face and what little food she had bought, he had easily guessed she was running low on money at the time.

Liza stopped dead in her tracks, lower lip quivering with irritation. She whirled around on the man, her brows furrowed. "Oh, really? You were trying to be nice, because obviously, I look pathetic. I know that. But I work really hard to support myself, so forgive me if I do not want help from other people..." The girl shook her head, clearly confused as to why the man had bothered to follow her with his horse in tow. She made a helpless motion with her hand, opening her mouth and stammering silently as though she were searching for the correct words to express to him her particular sentiments. "Look, sir, it drives me crazy thinking that people feel sorry for me. I am doing just fine, and will continue to. I live alone, this is plenty of food for me. I do not want to get fat anyways." She sniffed, turning her nose up at him with a light scoff.

The former princess dusted herself off of the matter, squeezing her basket tightly against her chest and dramatically walking away. If the man continued to follow her, so help her God, she would have to discourage him some other way! What she could not seem to get over, though, was the fact that he seemed so familiar to her. Where had she seen him before? Those eyes, the hair color... The overall face shape. Perhaps it was a man she'd seen before further in the city, or in a village she'd visited in her younger years. Still, Liza swore he had not been in this part of town once before, because most people who lived in the area frequented the market and she'd memorized the majority of their faces. That meant he had to be passing through, whoever he was.

Anger welled up inside Dmetri like a slap in the face. He stopped after seeing she was walking away from him. He sighed. "You'll get nowhere in life if you don't let others help," he yelled after her. It was true. People who don't want other people's help mostly end up regretting saying 'no' and end up just being more foolish than they were before. His horse scoffed at him and he turned around to look at his horse. "What?" he asked the stallion.

He sighed and turned back around, he could see the village inn at the end of the street and quite frankly, he was by far tired. But before he stopped, he headed into the forest to eat his supper, unable to even think about the quality of the poor village's inn's food.

After he had eaten his supper, he headed to the inn, tied his horse in the village's stables, paid the stableman, and got a room. That girl from earlier was really bothering his thoughts and quite frankly, he didn't even know why. Maybe if he ran into her again, he could ask about the long-lost Russian Princess.

Liza wanted to make a childish face at the man who dared yell after her, among other rude things. What others? Everyone she had ever loved and cared for died ten years ago! Why should she bother to befriend someone else, or even accept kindness from a handsome stranger? In the end, all people were selfish, and acting on such motivations as greed, lust, envy, or wrath... In fact, all seven of the deadly sins. She tried to convince herself that she was unlike everyone else. But ultimately, Lizaveta acted in the very same way. She hated and avoided people, preferring her solitude to heartbreak. Either she distrusted or pushed away those who did genuinely care for her, fearing the pain that loss would bring. Nothing good in her life had stayed. Happiness seemed only a fleeting dream, and was unlikely to remain in her presence for any real length of time. She would not get her hopes up, even if Liza wanted to.

On the way home, annoyingly, she thought about the young man. Something caused guilt to eat away at her insides. Perhaps she shouldn't have protested his generosity with such fervor... The girl growled, chopping up peeled potatoes and carrots with a dulled kitchen knife. The pieces were cast into a broth, made from some cubed bullion that she'd found in the cupboard--chicken, she thought. The simple stew was dressed with nothing but a few shavings from a hard block of cheese, and then a slice of stale bread. At the completion of her meal, Liza still felt hungry... But she dismissed the feeling by curling up in a chair under a blanket, a book open in her lab. She angled her gaze down to its pages in order to read a sentence at where she'd left off the previous night.

The woman realized, upon seeing the young man, that he'd been from her childhood. But she had never noticed his existence before that moment...

Almost instantaneously, Liza's memories came to life. With a sudden burst of inspiration, she threw the book onto the floor, jumping to her feet and clasping her hands together. "DMETRI! THAT'S WHO THAT WAS!" As she recalled, he had been a boy a couple of years her senior, working as a serving boy in the palace. Occasionally he would fetch her something, when she played with her sister in the study. But the majority of the time, he'd helped in the kitchens or the stables. How had she not recognized him before?! With the realization came an intense pang of remorse... She had been so rude to him there, at the market... The only person alive with whom Liza had a connection with. Perhaps he had not remembered her, either? Well, if he had not already left, Liza decided she would seek him after her shift at the bookstore the following day.

((Wow. >.> That was a long post. Yay that totally gave me an idea! :squee:))

Dmetri sat at the inn's bar, drinking down some ale before he would go to bed. The place was poorly lit with only a fireplace and one iron chandelier hanging in the room. The air was filled with sweet smell of ale and wine along with fresh poorly-baked bread. He sighed and put of a few shillings onto the part of the bar he was on as he got up and headed up to his room.

His room was small, but quaint and surprisingly comfortable. Seemed that the color combination they were using were creams, browns, and oranges. A chair stood in front of the fireplace that the inn keeper had stirred up into a small fire. He sat down in the chair and stared at the fire. That girl from the market earlier seemed so familiar and it was bothering him to the point he couldn't push away from it.

"I have to know who she is," he murmured to himself as he sighed and unbuttoned his waistcoat. He then took off his riding boots and placed them about. He then noticed how he was slowly falling asleep. So, he got up and hurried to his bed before he would fall asleep in the char and would wake up with a stiff neck and back. That night, a certain memory was transformed into a dream that he dreamed that night.

Flashes of fire came into the view and cries and screams hung in the air. Dmetri, when he was still working at the castle, was tugging on the two royal princesses dresses, pulling them towards the servants entrance where they would escape safely from the scene.

He held onto the youngest princess', Lizaveta, hand. Dmetri was only about two or three years older than her, but he had always favored her somehow. Before he knew it, the scene jumped to when he was running away with the burning castle in the foreground. Then Galina forced for them to stop.

"Where's Lizaveta!?" she screamed.

Dmetri felt his heart break again the same way it broke when it really happened ten years ago. He looked down at his empty hand and began to freak out.

"She was just holding my hand...." Then they jumped at the sounds of shouting voices of the men who set the castle on fire. Dmetri's heart flung and tugged at Galina hand again towards safe grounds.

Dmetri sat up in his bed. It was in the middle of the morning and the sun hadn't began to rise yet. His body was clenched with a cold sweat and he was gasping for his breath back. He crouched forward and put his face in his hands when his elbows were resting on his knees. It was my fault that Lizaveta was lost.... He ran his hands through his short coal black hair and let out a loud shaky sigh.

(( And then you wrote a long post that I loved. <3 *huggles* ))

Liza pried herself out from under her covers, at once shivering from the cold air. The fire had long since gone out, leaving the room chilled and the windowpanes fogged up with cool condensation. She exhaled, a puff of air forming from her breath, as the girl pulled the blankets around her and scuttled to the closet seeking clothing for work. She found her best white blouse and black skirt, as well as a heavy dark coat whose interior was lined with a soft fleece. It was the only jacket she owned that withstood the perilous Russian winter, even during the snowy times of year. Since the weather was starting to turn for the worst, Liza needed the layers. Perhaps it was time to dip into her saving to buy a coat or two? And perhaps another pair of boots.

Once she'd woken up enough to produce coherent thoughts, Liza's mind drifted back to the handsome man at the seafood stand whom she'd recognized as Dmetri. Her last memory of him, that she held, was of the three of them--Dmetri, Galina, and her--fleeing from the blazing royal palace. Flashes of him spilled through... They'd played together sometimes, up till the age of ten. After that, the boy had not been allowed near her or her sister, on her father's orders. She thought it had been because Dmetri was a commoner, but now she realized that they had simply been too close in those days for her parents' comfort. Now she remembered scarcely anything about the servant and his family.

After pulling on her black boots, which had been scraped and worn from frequent use, the former princess wandered into her tiny kitchen to prepare a small breakfast of sliced bread and butter... She dusted cinnamon and sugar onto it, taking a bite as she set a kettle to the stove. Within fifteen minutes she'd finished the bread and a quick of tea, and disappeared out the front door towards the suburban village. Liza arrived at the bookstore just on time, avoiding a scolding from the manager, and was ushered to the register in case customers wished to buy any particular item. If asked, she'd be expected to answer questions about the inventory.

Since she worked part time, Liza would leave for lunch in approximately four hours. Then she would make the ten minute commute back home on foot. Or, at least today, the girl would seek out Dmetri, her old servant boy instead. She heard a bell at the front door, stirring her from her thoughts, and she smiled charmingly at the customer despite being annoyed by their presence in actuality. "Hello, how may I help you?" The middle-aged woman scoffed, eying the poor girl down the bridge of her nose. "Just browsing," she muttered, and disappeared into the shelves of the store. Liza frowned. Exactly why she avoided people in the first place.

Dmetri had been up since he woke up from that nightmare. Once the sun was up enough, he put on a warm coat and his leather boots due to the cold Russian weather he remembered happened every morning when it wasn't Summer. He sighed as he wrapped a warm scarf around his neck and put on his leather gloves and headed out to the village to browse around, in search of the girl from yesterday.

After passing by many stores and going in circles, he then saw the girl from yesterday in the window of the village's book store. He smiled, satisfied with finding her so fast, and entered the book store. He smiled and rested his elbows on the counter that the girl was behind.

"Hullo again," he said as he smiled warmly at her, glad it was at least warm in the book store. He looked around the store real quickly and saw what looked to be endless bookshelves of different sized and shaped books. He was impressed for it to be a small village's bookstore. [/SIZE][/FONT]

Liza had been recording the sales of that morning in a log book. Her script across the parchment paper was frilly and ornate, suggestive of a talent and practice beyond those of most commoners and peasants of the region. And also, the only hint of her royal upbringing. Of course, most people who visited the store did not pay close attention, and would therefore never know this about the former princess. The woman did not see nor hear the servant boy enter the store, however, regardless of whether she'd been immersed in arithmetic or not. And she certainly did not notice his presence whatsoever until the exact point in time that he popped his elbows up on the counter and leaned towards her with a stunning smile-- "Hullo again."

The former princess jumped, jolted out of her reverie. It took a few moments to process Dmetri's appearance. But once Liza had, she trembled suddenly and clasped the bookstore log book tightly against her chest. She floundered for words, unable to decide whether it was in her best interest to outright reveal her identity as Lizaveta Morozova, or hide it until she knew for certain that this handsome mad was indeed the Dmetri Ashcov of her childhood. She'd been going by the alias Liza Maksimova for the past decade or so...And, cretins as they were, no one had noticed her resemblance to the lost princess or the closeness of their names. Finally, Liza opted to keep her existence secret until she knew... After all, Dmetri had not seemed to recognize her as of yet.

Liza cleared her throat, arching a thin, dark brow and regarding the man coldly. She feigned irritation, saying, "Oh, it's you again. I thought I had managed to chase you off yesterday. But, I see that you are stubborn. Что это (what is this), do you want to treat me to lunch, from the kindness of your heart?" The girl secretly hoped he would respond to that statement. Unless Dmetri did not find her attractive, in which case she would be out of luck.

Dmetri wasn't pleased with the sort of sarcastic attitude she was giving him. He just wanted to start over again with her and maybe become her friend. He relaxed his expression into a blank face and glared with his eyes at her.

"My name is Dmetri. What is yours?" he asked her in a friendly and warm voice. "And I'm sorry for how I behaved yesterday. Though if you do want to go out for lunch, I would enjoy some company," he apologized and pointed out.

He hated the fact that she seemed so familiar to him because it just itched all over, wanting to know where he's seen her from. Probably after this, he would have to begin his search for the missing princess. For all he knew she could be right under his nose. And that would be a foolish mistake not to notice.

Liza mentally scolded herself for sounding so harsh. If she was too rude to the young man, he would get irritated with her and eventually refuse to deal with her. Perhaps, to keep him in her company, she would have to pretend to like him. Well, she had liked Dmetri as a child... In a sort of friendly way... At least, as friendly as one could be when they interacted with a servant in an amiable manner. But this Dmetri (and she now knew it was him, as he'd given his name), she had not seen in over a decade. While he seemed to be nice on the outside, she did not know his intentions for her. He did not know she was Lizaveta Morozova, in which case he could be speaking to her merely for selfishly purposes or something that she could not figure out on her own. "Liza Maksimova," she said after a moment, wondering if Dmetri would put two and two together. Or, alternatively, he could either not care or simply remain oblivious.

"I suppose..." Liza hesitated. "...I apologize for my behavior as well. But really, I do not enjoy pity. I am stubborn, to a fault." She laid the log book down on the counter, finally scooting it off to the side and focusing her full attention on the strikingly-handsome young man. She did not think much of his looks, of course. The former princess was more interested in Dmetri's personality and intelligence, if he had any. "I will be free from this ghastly place in approximately one hour. You can look for someplace to take me while you wait. Or, as I assume you are a tourist or a traveler, I can find someplace for us to go when I meet you outside. You are most likely not familiar with the area." She shrugged after a moment. "No offense, of course. Simply my observations, and forgive me if I am wrong."