Kazimir stood still in terror, holding his breath, as this 'Orin' marched toward him and L. Kazimir's thoughts went at a million miles a minute. He thought of all the gruesome ways his life might be cut short when Orin finally arrived. He dreaded the moment the guard would reach them. He wanted to run off, leaving L in the dust, with a final message of 'good luck, you're on your own', followed by a 'have fun dying', but he couldn't. For reasons unknown to Kazimir, he was stuck—--completely stuck in place, unsure how to finally make his muscles work again... how to break them free of their current stasis. He wanted to get his brain to jumpstart and to take off running as far as he could—--until his lungs caught fire—--but still, nothing he did would help his cause. He knew that fear—--absolute true terror—--was the very reason he was stuck in that exact spot, helpless to whatever grim fate he'd face in Orin's grasp.

I'm going to die, Kazimir thought. This is the end. Orin's gonna kill you. There's no way he won't—-he works for Perry Anoketo after all—--that's his job to do so. ...And even if he didn't kill me right here in this very moment, he'll probably inject me with that foul shit from before that the guard squadron had and haul my ass right back to the cellblock, personally delivering me to Anoketo to face almost certain execution. ...I'm gonna hang... I'm gonna face the guillotine. Fuck.

But, to Kazimir's very surprise, none of the gruesome things he theorized happened.

No murdering.

No decapitation.

Nothing.

Just... Talking? Conversing?

Orin finally fell in front of two shorter men and he completely ignored Kazimir at first. He just looked straight over to L and started talking to him like he knew him for years. "L! Hey, man!" Orin started to say, a grin seeping onto his face, mantling itself there. "So... How've you been? How's life been treating you?"

L rolled his eyes. "Well, I was in prison. Thought you knew that, Orin."

Orin cackled. "I did, yeah... But I was asking how the prison experience was, actually. Was the food any good?"

"The food was shit and you know that," L remarked.

Kazimir just felt awkward standing there, being caught in the middle of their conversation—--he nervously swayed side-to-side just a little as he continued to listen to L and Orin speak and joke.

"Even the pudding?" Orin laughed. "...What am I kidding? Everything in Zandoro's prison is toxic sludge." He forced back another laugh. "I don't know how you survived in a place where the food is actual pig-shit."

L bitterly huffed, saying sarcastically, "Well, I guess the constant head trauma helps everything else go down easier in that godforsaken hellhole."

"Didja at least have a prison job? Or were you completely tied up?" Orin snickered at the thought of the latter question.

"A prison job? I—--" L crossed his arms that had smaller wounds and irritations on them from the rough textures of the tightened ropes. "Well, damn, Orin, it's almost like you've never been stationed in Zandoro's complex before?"

Orin rolled his eyes. "Come on, L. Yeah, I know I've been functioning over here for a couple of years now and yeah, I do in fact know how things work in there, but honestly... I thought you could do with some humor."

"Humor? Orin, I was trapped in actual hell for three months," L said, quickly and sharply. "Do you even know what torment I had to go through? Just because of the bounty on my head?"

Orin shrugged, exhaling. "...No, but I have a guess." He paused before cheekily asking, "What about a prison buddy? Make a friend or two?"

"Orin," L grumbled, irritated. "Now is really not a good time for jokes and laughing."

"Well, considering where we are right now, there will never be a good time for that," Orin remarked. "So, I might as well make the best of it. ...It's now or never."

"Orin..."

"I'm serious, L," Orin said. "...You had to have made some sort of friend or at the very least an allyship in that prison, otherwise you'd have never made it out of there—-hell, you'd probably never even make it out of one of those damn cells."

L took a deep breath, clearly pissed off by his friend's lighthearted comments. "Yeah, I did. But he's not a friend... More like an... acquaintance at the very most." He gave a quick gesture in Kazimir's direction.

Orin's gaze slid over to Kazimir. "Well, hello... And you are?"

Kazimir held his breath for a moment, noting all the weapons Orin had on him. He nervously replied, "Kazimir Petrov." This guy is buff... He's larger than L and I. There's no way that if worst comes to worst, we'd be able to take him down, he thought to himself as he awaited Orin's response. We're shit out of luck.

L added on, calming himself down, "He cut my binds. He's the only reason I got out of there."

Kazimir said, "Well... I don't know about 'only reason'. I'm sure you probably would've figured out something by yourself, had I not been there."

L wet his lips. "Had you not been there, I'd probably still be rotting in a cell while Anoketo and his loyal assholes waited to collect their prize... their bounty. I'd be five seconds away from being in the Devil's clutches once more. ...So, I really should thank you... for that at least."

Kazimir's eyebrows furrowed with a little bit of confusion at L's remark. "The Devil? What do you mean?"

"Makar," L simply said with no other explanation. "...But, yeah. Thank you... I really do owe my freedom to you, Kazimir."

Kazimir's expression shifted, softening at L's words as silence fell over them for a moment—--until Orin interrupted it.

Orin looked between the two and grinned. "Oh, L! Why didn't you tell me prior? You didn't get yourself a prison buddy, you went the extra mile and went and got yourself a boyfriend!"

L and Kazimir's heads turned to look at Orin, quickly with sharp jerking motions.

"What?" L hissed. "No, Orin. That's not what this is!"

Kazimir then said, quieter, his expression hardening once more, "Yeah, no—-- I'm not his... boyfriend."

Orin belly-laughed at them. "You could've fooled me with those lovestruck eyes you were giving each other."

L swatted at Orin—--though, he was far too short for his hand to actually come in contact with Orin's face, so it just collided with the guard's arm instead. "Orin!" L growled, embarrassment written all over his face. "Will you shut the hell up for once in your damn life?"

Orin protested that, continuing to insinuate there was something between L and Kazimir, starting a full-blown bickering match between the two friends.

Kazimir, already feeling awkward for getting caught between it, slowly inched away, before turning and heading off.

L noticed this and shouted after him, "Hey! Where are you going now?"

"To Bloodwall..." Kazimir answered, calling back to L over his shoulder. "I don't have time to sit here in a military outpost and wait to be captured because you two are bickering."

"What the hell?" L began to say, running to catch up with Kazimir. "Not without me, you're not. That wasn't the plan—--I'm going too."

Orin jogged over, falling into pace with them. "And you do know that you need backup, right? Two twigs like you are not gonna survive out in some place like Zandoro for very long without me."

"Fine, whatever. You can both follow along, but we really need to keep it quieter because—--" Kazimir was cut off by the four guards that stepped into view, coming off one of the crumbling platforms nearby and parking themselves directly in front of the small group.

One began to speak, questioning them, "...And where exactly do you three think you're going?"