I Will Not...

Mwahaha... My hack fraud-ery continues!

An excerpt from my little fic Sergei Serenades in Seclusion:

The mixed CD had “MUSICAL EDUCATION” written with no accompanying track list. Margo pressed play on her stereo and began skipping through the tracks. The music and lyrics emitted by the speakers jumped genres and moods representing an interesting variety of music.

Margo’s brow jumped and creased as she recognized each track. Not all were familiar, however.

She landed on a truly unfortunate country song where the cowboy crooner uttered the phrase:

If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me.

Margo’s brow creased incredulously and wondered at the ceiling, “Dear God.”

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For All Mankind | 4x07 - Crossing the Line

Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison Ania Bukstein as Tatyana Volkova

Warning! Do not listen while operating heavy machinery! Just about knocked me out with that voice. Woof.

I'd like to propose an alternative soundtrack for FOR ALL MANKIND season three finale. 😁 (Although not QUITE the same vibe, this is so damn cool).

I just wanna be cool like Margo. So, for your background listening. You know, for planning missions. To space.

Not quite her lane, but I'm working on it. I have in the past flirted with jazz, but dang it, I'm too easily influenced by my blorbos.

Can you tell me that you could pass up on this gorgeous man reclined on a sofa? Pshaw!

As @historysquib calls them, a Palate Cleanser fic:

Margo entered her office and shut the door softly behind her. Turning, she slumped against the door briefly and released a sigh. It had been the most tiresome of evenings. Three hours building support for a new proposal by the recently defected Sergei had been needlessly tedious. Margo was well practiced at moving political levers, but new Russian defectors had a break-in period for trust building in the wider political sphere that could not be abridged.

She turned to her drinks cabinet and turned on the lamp above it. She considered how many fingers of brandy that loss of time was worth, before finally settling on a light pour–any more would turn her out like a light as tired as she was. Margo pondered what she would ideally need to relax: a stiff drink or… Her thoughts trailed away and found their home on her sofa.

On her sofa Sergei reclined with a hand thrown back behind his head. The other hand was draped across his chest and trapped a creased report that threatened to slide to the floor. His relaxed countenance flooded her heart with warmth as she crossed the room towards him. She flicked on the lamp at the side table behind his head and observed his slumber. He looked markedly improved from his Lefortovo stay. His hair had grown back in, disheveled from his repose on what she knew wasn’t the most comfortable of couches. He seemed to be managing his traumatic stint in jail by leaving his frail self behind with wild hair, wilder beard and a filling out of his frame. It was an improvement of his physical health and image that she made no secret of liking.

Taking a seat near him on the coffee table, she set aside her brandy and removed the report from his grasp. Briefly scanning the report, she replaced it with her hand, she called to him softly, “Sergei.”

Sergei mumbled some indiscernible Russian in response and shifted slightly. Margo shook his hand lightly and called to him again. He blinked awake and smiled at her.

“Did you need your Soviet expert?” Sergei groggily asked.

Margo leant forward, “Something like that,” she drawled before placing a soft kiss on his smirking lips. Sergei responded slowly, kissing her softly in return. His hand came up to caress her face before sliding into her hair. Margo pressed a light kiss to his lips before she eased back to her seat beside him. She glanced at the time on her wrist and looked at him shrewdly.

“Were you waiting for me or for the resolution on your proposal?”

He grinned at her and levered himself up, leaning towards her to plant a kiss on her cheek before whispering into her ear, “Both, naturally.”

He drifted more kisses down her neck before she halted him, both hands clasping his head and redirecting him up to face her.

“Sergei,” she chided, eyes semi-serious. She was tired and needed to go to bed. The sooner she could maneuver him out of her office the better. She would get no rest otherwise. “I need to go to bed and you need to go home.”

“Ah, but home is where you are, Margo,” he replied quickly. “I cannot sleep without you.” He made to continue his onslaught of her neck, but was forestalled by Margo’s halfhearted evasion.

She snorted and shook her head, “And just now?” She gestured to the sofa.

"A convenient rest of the eyes,” Sergei rejoined. Margo raised her eyebrows. “It may have gotten away from me,” he amended with a shrug. He pursed his lips before smiling that absolutely obnoxious, and in no-way devastating, grin at her.

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded in response. “I'm off to bed.” She took off her shoes and bent to retrieve them. Sighing gratefully at their removal.

"Do you need help finding your way there? Perhaps an expert on navigation could help?” Sergei murmured with no small amount of cheek. “Perhaps another Soviet first?”

Sergei stood up and took her shoes in one hand and her hand in the other, pulling her to her feet.

“A Soviet first?” Margo questioned, exasperated.

“Exploring the bedroom of the NASA director, a first for all man-”

Margo interrupted him with a slap to the back of the head.

“Ah, woman!” Sergei cried in mock pain.

Margo walked briskly forward, leaving Sergei behind. She hesitated at the office door while Sergei stood rubbing the back of his head. The smile on his face sent shivers up her spine. She couldn't and wouldn't send him away no matter what she threatened and he knew it.

“Perhaps you are right. A Soviet first,” she said with some emphasis. At that she turned the lock on her office door and briefly stopped at the threshold of her bedroom, “You coming?” She called behind her.

Sergei followed diligently, carrying her shoes.

Good news, he ran away from the KGB, he's fine now

Fargo Season 5

I haven't kept up with the series as a whole, but I saw Mary McDonnell's season and a few at the beginning. Really enjoyed it all.

But boy howdy, I keep picturing her as Lorraine Lyon and she would have killed it.

No disrespect to JJL. I just would have found Mary's a tough ass bitch more enjoyable to watch.

Soft warm light filtered into their bedroom and illuminated Sergei stretched out in bed, reclined against the pillows with the weekend edition of the local paper.

Sergei contemplated their lazy Sunday morning with joy in his heart. As open and cloudless as the sky outside their window, he rejoiced in their time together. The woman he loved would be at his side in only a moment.

Margo interrupted his reverie when she entered the bedroom with two mugs of coffee. Sergei sat up smartly from the bed and lifted the blanket to allow Margo to slide back into the warmth under the covers with him.

Handing him his mug, Margo harrumphed when she saw the discarded section that featured news of the asteroid orbiting Mars. He set his mug aside and snatched the paper away from her, holding it out of her reach.

“Nyet, Margo,” he chided as Margo clicked her tongue, “Work can wait.” Sergei braced himself; Margo did not like to be handled.

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If I had a bat signal for fic writers, I'd put one up for this scene. It feels decidedly truncated to me. Now, I do know that there is an extended version on the released DVDs, but it is rather unsatisfying.

Somebody! Please! Fix this for me? Thanks. 😘 Unless maybe I'm crazy. Does this scene bother anybody else?

I need to talk to you.

Sergei doesn't get a lot of screentime (but all that time with those shithead Stevens brothers?!), but we do get a few diamonds in that short time. Smug Sergei is a definite gem that I love.

Lovingly adoring Margo in an Elevator (3x03)

Drunk Sergei (2x06)

Smug Sergei (2x06, 3x06)

Feisty Sergei (2x07, 2x10)

EVERYTHING ELSE

Sergei + being a smug bastard (complimentary)

This is exactly how I feel about the fic writers I follow here. 😘

Do you ever binge read someone's work on ao3 and get the urge to serenade them, like, hello my fair fic author you have wooed me with your excessive flowery metaphors and complete lack of plot, even your messy 3am fics with very visible flaws are gorgeous, your self indulgent dynamics have enchanted me, please accept my kudos