Kazimir felt his blood freeze as the guards advanced towards him, L, and Orin. He could feel his fellow companions freeze up at the soldiers' movements in their direction.

Finally, as the soldiers came to a halt, Kazimir was able to muster up enough courage and strength from within to ask, "What do you guys want?" It came off as somewhat snippy, partly cold, and a little nervous—--he hoped they wouldn't notice the nervousness though.

"Well," the head guard began to address the group that was trying to pass through. "We'll need some sort of identification for you to pass through." He flashed a sickly sweet grin—--laced with hidden pure stone cold malice underneath it. "...Anoketo's orders."

Orin, only now seemingly being able to break free of his trance, glanced over to both Kazimir and L before looking back to the guards. "Seems only fair to me," he choked out, hand gently sliding to his belt, resting there—--inches away from a small pistol. "You've got to do what you've got to do to appease the boss." He flashed the guards the same exact sarcastic, demeaning smile they had just given him, L, and Kazimir just moments prior.

The head guard looked to Orin and questioned, "And who might you be?"

Orin rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet and sucked in a breath. "Orin Mayy," he told them. "I should be on your little list." He gestured to the list that one of the other guards had been holding.

The head guard gave Orin a blood chilling glare before looking at the guard with a list and asking, "Look for him. Orin Mayy."

The man with the list began to turn pages and skim through names. "Orin Mayy. Orin Mayy," he repeated rhythmically. Finally, after a few moments, he said, in a more confident tone, "Orin Mayy. Right here."

The lead guard looked to where his co-worker pointed at the paper and squinted at it before huffing and looking at the other group once more. "Orin Mayy... So, you're the guard who was supposed to be on duty out here then?"

Orin tried to contain a snicker at the word 'duty'.

L rolled his eyes, huffing, and hissing to Orin, "Oh, grow up!" He swatted at his friend's arm.

The guard focused his gaze on L when he heard him and Kazimir soon afterwards. "And who might you two be?"

L inhaled, holding the air for just a moment, trying to figure out some sort of witty quip to answer with before letting it all out. "Hmm? Who do—-- Oh! You mean us. I'm Sir Reginald Bitchlord of Winterwood and this is Assface Mitchell of Pigshitshire," he said, gesturing to Kazimir at that part.

"Your real names," the guard said with a pissed expression. "Now."

L rolled his eyes, dropping the posh accent he just had. "If we must... I suppose I have to say it..."

"Just let us the hell through," Kazimir said, trying to push past only to get knocked back by one of the guards.

L scoffed. "How dare you do that! Do you know who you just pushed? That's Aleksandr Maximoff. Tsar Joseph Maximoff's son. We've just come from Daskanalasć for a dignitary meeting. Do you know just how angry Perry Anoketo will be knowing you harmed his ally's son?"

"I—--" The lead guard froze up, gulping at his actions and buying into L's somehow convincing lies. "I'm so sorry, sir," he said directed to Kazimir as the young man got up with the help of Orin. "I just guess I didn't recognize you with your... vibrant, scarlet eyes. My mistake. It won't happen again. You're all free to go." He waved his hand, gesturing for the rest of his patrol to follow him out of there. They headed off.

Once they were out of ear shot, L, Kazimir, and Orin continued on in the direction of Bloodwall.

Kazimir exhaled. "Wow, L... I didn't think that would work... Thanks."

"Well, you never know with these guards," L murmured, gaze trained on Kazimir. "I had a theory and I just tested it out, you know..." He inhaled once more. "But, really... It's not a big deal."

"Still," Kazimir said. "Thanks."

L looked down to the ground as they walked, his cheeks flushing slightly red.

Orin saw, huffing, playfully. "Get a room..."

The three of them continued on for an hour or two before Orin said, "We should make camp. It's too dark to see where we're going if we were to continue on, given our lack of proper equipment."

Kazimir nodded. "Sounds good to me."

Orin added, "We should be far enough out from central Zandoro that we shouldn't have to run into a patrol of that size again."

The three of them soon found a place to start a fire and sit down. Little conversations sparked here and there, but none of them really captivated Kazimir... At least not until the name 'Axdrouska' was mentioned.

Kazimir lifted his head, his heart skipping a few beats. "Axdrouska?" He swallowed.

"Yep," Orin replied. "The sister city of ours... Just less of a shithole."

Kazimir scoffed, bitterly, shaking his head at that. "No... Axdrouska's just as bad as Arcon is." He clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "...It's just... better at concealing its true nature."

L looked over to Kazimir, raising an eyebrow, expecting Kazimir to say more on the topic.

Kazimir paused, taking a moment to articulate his thoughts. "Shitty government aside, even the people could be cruel. Growing up in Axdrouska, you knew next to everyone there... Even in the largest districts. I remember people knew my name enough, they'd shout it when I passed by... When they'd chase me down... Beat me until I was down..." Kazimir's voice got quieter and drifted off a little, before recalling one of the things he had heard from them before, "Dobroy nochi, Kazimir..." The syllables tapered off to nothing.

"I get shithole places, man," L said, sympathetically when he saw the fire light up the look on Kazimir's face while recalling such details. "Daskanalasć is just as bad... I'd know."

Silence fell over the group of three until Orin broke it. "...Axdrouska's the new name of Volgograd, right?"

Kazimir nodded. "That's what I was always told, yes."

Orin commented, "So, if we lived back in the Old World... Prior to the global collapse, you'd be Russian."

Kazimir thought on that comment. "Yeah... I guess so. I've never really given the past thought like that in that respect..." He paused and asked, "What about you guys? ...Where would you have been from?"

"The Netherlands for me," Orin said, softly.

L watched the flames flicker and dance in the wind before replying, quieter than Orin, "Poland. ...I'd be from Poland."

Pure silence fell upon them once more before Orin suggested, "We should get some sleep."

"Yeah," Kazimir murmured. "We should."

Orin put the fire out and curled up a little ways from L and Kazimir.

Kazimir and L gave each other a quiet, awkward look in the dark before parting too, heading off to go get sleep for the night to prepare for the next day's long trek.