Hi everyone, we're back a bit early with a New Year's chapter! As the year changes, so too will things change for our team - hotel time is coming to an end!

Chapter 34

The Wager

The training had been how he expected. Inadequate, but they had also done their best with the resources available to them, so he withheld opinion. At least they were practicing.

Alexei was apparently receiving his first training. So Vai'dqouulth had been right. Just because the runt used a weapon didn't make him worthy prey. Adrien had done well as a teacher, however.

Petrov – despite warrior status – was completely disappointing. Easily distracted, not accurate, and there was no motivation in it. One had to have fire in their blood if one wanted to win. It was why he believed Petrov would perish.

The only time he'd seen the drone show any drive was the night Vai'dqouulth had brought Katja to the roof of the dwelling. That human had been ready to fight, and might have been worthy.

As for Adrien, he hadn't disappointed, but Vai'dqouulth already knew what the marine warrior was capable of. Everything just reinforced his current opinion of the human.

Katja had been the unexpected delight. He knew she was a warrior, but her display of prowess had been… beautiful. She trained with fire, like it was a real hunt despite the targets being static. Her skill was also commendable for the fighting style.

When Adrien had told her he was aroused by the display, Vai'dqouulth had fully agreed. He had only briefly fought her; and she hadn't really fought, choosing instead to evade and keep his attention on her and not her incapacitated companions.

They had politely offered him the training space, but he declined and spoke candidly why it would do him no good. That did lead to a thought of a simulated human hunt. Unfortunately, Petrov was right. Simply tracking them wouldn't be much of a challenge; however, it seemed Adrien had different thoughts.

Going to a part of the recreational dwelling that housed their supplies, Adrien opened a crate.

"Simmunition or, non-lethal ammunition if you prefer. I assume Weyland brought it thinking they could take serpents down without damaging them. Idiots," Adrien stated as he handed over one of his weapon's kinetic rounds. The tip was pliable.

Interesting. But he had said it was non-lethal.

"The tip is rubber, so it only hurts like hell if it hits you. No death unless it's by freak accident," Adrien explained.

"So, we could simulate lethal targets for Blue, but what about his weapons?" Katja asked a valid question.

"Can set burner to stun," Blue offered. "Hurts like hell," he added with Adrien's voice.

"There are tennis balls in the hotel's gym. We could put those on the tips of his arrows. Again, it will hurt, but it won't kill," Adrien suggested.

"That just leaves stabbing. Can you do that without actually hurting or killing?" Katja asked.

He could definitely do that. He was trained with real weapons during spars and was directed to attack with real force, but not kill. He was excited, even if it was just a practice hunt. Maybe he could find a way to do more practice hunts with them after this was all over.

"Guys, is this really a good idea?" Petrov asked nervously, flicking his eyes to the female with concern. Blue audibly chuffed at the cowardliness. He already assured them there would be no death or major injury.

"It's not, and I'm not doing it," Alexei voiced. That hadn't been a surprise to him. The runt was no warrior, he knew now.

"Blue getting practice is only good for us," Katja argued.

"Plus, it'll be good training for us since, ya know, everything out here is hunting and trying to kill us," Adrien added.

"Then it's settled. The captains overrule everyone," Katja stated.

"What?!" Alexei squawked.

"You can't seriously be in favor of this, Pierce? After what happened to you? And Katja still sick?" Petrov asked.

Vai'dqouulth noted Adrien giving Katja an unhappy look. He could swear she mouthed 'sorry' back.

"A chance to practice against a hunter with no risk of bodily harm? Yeah, I'm on board," Adrien shot back. "Sounds fun."

"Ok, guess I'm overruled and outranked," Petrov finally agreed reluctantly. He died first, Vai'dqouulth decided. Simulated, of course.

"I am still not doing this," Alexei declared, sticking out his lower mouth part. Weakling.

"It's that, or you are cleaning up the range. Alone. Take your pick," Katja stated. The runt groaned, but nodded.

"Good; we need some rules, then," Adrien interjected. "We stay within the hotel patrol perimeter only. No further. We pack sim ammo, but I also want some lethal ammo kept separate in case we are ambushed again. I also think we need some time to plan – if you want us to make it interesting for you, that is. Finally, I think we need suppressors on our weapons so as not to draw unwanted attention."

Vai'dqouulth agreed to those terms. This would certainly be a new experience, since the humans knew that they would be hunted, and by someone whose tactics they had observed. Just the challenge and practice he needed.

"Ok," Adrien began as he tied something around Vai'dqouulth's wrist. It was so fast; he hadn't had time to protest. "Here's my watch. Not sure if you know how to tell our time, but I'll give you a crash course," he finished.

For the next few moments, he was instructed how to read time on the device. It wasn't the worst way he'd encountered. Some species told time in ways that were downright impossible to follow. They had allotted themselves 'twenty minutes' to run, hide, and plan against him. Seemed reasonable.

"Let's make this interesting," Adrien suggested. "If we win, we get to try some of your weapons out."

A friendly wager. He liked that idea. He had done those with hunting companions before. "If I win?" Vai'dqouulth asked.

"What do you want? Alexei's skull? A date with Katja?" Adrien asked. The Runt's skull? Laughable; that had to be humor. Anything with Katja was always a prize, though he had no idea what a 'date' was, in this context. Still, he decided to keep it simple.

"More practice hunts," Vai'dqouulth stated.

"Seems fair," Katja agreed for all present.

He hadn't done a human hunt since… Vai'dqouulth mentally shook himself. He had been invited on many human hunts since his dishonorable kill, but had never accepted. It felt good to be excited about hunting once again, even if it was more or less a game.

"You ready? We're gonna go hide. Timer starts now," Katja explained. Vai'dqouulth nodded. He was very ready for this.

"What's the plan, Pierce?" Petrov asked once they had adequately lost themselves in the surrounding woods.

"No way; he knows my tactics too well. We need some fresh thinking on this," Adrien answered. And privately, he knew it wasn't going to be the nerd or the unimaginative lieutenant that came forth with a plan.

"Any suggestions on how to plan, at least?" Petrov pushed.

"No tactic is too low or dirty. I'm talking major crotch shots here," Adrien explained a little too explicitly.

"Ok, ok. We need to assume he's gonna find us in almost no time at all. He's also going to be expecting an ambush, so we have to make the ambush unexpected," Katja deduced, adjusting her helmet.

Atta girl, Adrien thought proudly.

"You're thinking of hiding under the snow?" Petrov suggested.

"No, he'll be expecting that. We need to stay out of his field of vision, not mask ourselves from it," Katja chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"I get the feeling you already have a plan. Care to share?" Adrien prompted.

"I need Alexei to whine…"

Vai'dqouulth jumped between trees, his cloaking engaged, the blood in his veins pumping at the thrill of hunting, even more so because there was competition to it. With the snow, he had picked up their tracks easily enough; but if they were smart, they'd know that already.

"Help!" he suddenly heard a Russian voice. It sounded like the runt. Making his way toward the noise, he perched on a branch where could see Alexei laying in the snow, rubbing his ankle.

"Guys, c'mon!" Alexei continued to wail.

This was most definitely a trap; he just wasn't sure how. A deep scan showed they weren't hiding in the snow. And they didn't seem to be in the vicinity, so what was their game?

Scratching at an itch discreetly, Vai'dqouulth considered his options. Sometimes the only way to flush out prey was to trigger their trap, though this was a messy way to do it. But the matter stood, he could not see them on any vision spectrum.

Dropping down silently, Vai'dqouulth slowly approached the wailing runt from behind. Perhaps he was the trap. He goes to collect 'trophies' as it were, and they have a surprise waiting for him. Again, several different scans showed nothing unusual about Alexei.

"Now!" he heard Katja yell, and a second later, he felt an impact on his person. It was… chalk. The dust now coated him. He was forced to take cover before too many of those non-lethal projectiles hit him, ending the game. Alexei had also bolted out of the area.

Very clever humans. The dust would make his cloaked figure semi visible to their eye. Not only that, they had attacked from up in the trees. Unexpected, because humans were terrible climbers. It seemed they had tried to get higher than him, outside his field of vision.

"Where'd he go?" Petrov said aloud, receiving no response. Perfect. He pinpointed the man's location and leapt up the tree with blinding speed.

A second later, he tackled Petrov out of his perch and into the snow, peripherally noticing Katja and Adrien bid a retreat.

He tapped Petrov on the nose with his wrist blades. "You are dead," Vai'dqouulth stated through computer.

"So I am," the drone conceded with a smile.

Good; now he was going after Alexei. Last thing he needed was an unpredictable amateur getting lucky while he went after the more worthy prizes.

It took no time at all to find the runt. Just for his enjoyment, he began clicking and playing voice mimicry. Alexei, in response, stumbled around looking for him.

Tying off a noose, Vai'dqouulth lowered it into the idiot's path – at ankle level instead of neck. Alexei stepped into it and Vai'dqouulth yanked, pulling him up upside down. Securing the snare, Vai'dqouulth dropped down and pulled his knife, dragging it lightly across Alexei's stomach, implying gutting.

"You are dead," Vai'dqouulth repeated.

"Ugh, it was so much work living anyway. Can you let me down please?" Alexei requested.

Vai'dqouulth walked away instead, internally pleased with himself as Alexei wailed once more. Turning, he tossed his shuriken at the snare, cutting it cleanly and dropping Alexei into deep snow. He returned the weapon to his belt.

Two left, and the best for last. The most challenging ones.

Returning, he picked up the trail of Katja and Adrien. They didn't have many options open to them. He could track their footprints, or even their scent.

They had to know this as well, which made them dangerous. They would try to draw him in again with overlapping fields of fire. But there weren't many places for them to back themselves into. He just had to catch up to them before that.

Jumping from tree to tree, he followed their trail below. It wasn't long before he heard voices.

They were at just the edge of the woods, near the frozen lake adjacent to their dwelling. "…Figure we have about thirty seconds until we are found," he caught Adrien stating between panting breaths. A very good estimation, but they were found earlier than that.

Vai'dqouulth wasted no time and pounced, pinning Katja to the ground with a foot, but was careful not to hurt her.

He spun and shot a bright green ball-tipped arrow at Adrien's shoulder. Not a killing blow. He followed up with a shot from his burner, on stun setting. He watched Adrien convulse and fall.

Turning, he looked down at Katja, only slightly disappointed in her performance. He had expected more, especially after her display of combat prowess earlier. He went in to signify her death, but got the surprise of snow being tossed in his face mask. Shortly, he felt several more of those rubber tipped kinetics impacting him.

He watched her go. She had earned that escape, and he would face her on even ground. But first, he needed to rub it in.

"You are dead," he peered down at Adrien. The human was clearly out of energy after that hit.

"Ugh, feels like it, too. Ouch, dude," Adrien groaned in pain. Vai'dqouulth took great joy in his suffering, but pulled him to his feet.

"Injured?" Vai'dqouulth asked.

"I'll be fine; go after the girl. You still have a bet to lose," Adrien said as he braced against a tree. Vai'dqouulth wouldn't put it past her to pull a win out of this…

Katja ran across frozen lake. She and Adrien had only just started making a new plan when they had been jumped. It was just her now.

Suddenly, she was pushed to the ground, her rifle skidding away. Looking over, Blue materialized, still covered in white chalk powder from Adrien's grenade round. It was like confetti on him. Hilarious.

He took off his mask and roared as loud as he could at her. For a moment, she forgot they were on the same team, and just playing. He was a terrifying creature. Not so hilarious now.

Seemingly, he realized he'd taken it too far and waved, much like she had to him during patrol.

Right, they were still 'fighting'. He presented no weapons. It seemed he was going to do this hand to hand with her. Standing, she got into a fighting stance. When he got close to her, she delivered a series of blows, he clicked a laugh at her and pushed her back across the lake.

"Fight like a human, not a hunter," he advised through his computer. He began to approach her fallen form, and she had seconds to decide what to do. Fight like a human, not a hunter. Ok, she could do that.

Pulling out a grenade, she held it up. "The game is over, we are both dead," Katja announced. Blue stopped and looked at her.

"Explain," he requested.

"I detonated the grenade over an ice lake. I am dead by the explosion; but you died from the ice that would inevitably break. If you didn't drown from your equipment that would surely waterlog you, and somehow managed to crawl back out onto the ice without cracking it, hypothermia would kill you before you could warm up," Katja explained, making educated assumptions.

Blue stared intensely at her. Maybe that was just his thinking face. "Concede, we are both dead. No winner," Blue finally stated. He came over and pulled her up. "Fought like human, worthy prey," he praised.

"You weren't so bad yourself," Katja rubbed his arm.

"Kizz?" he asked with his own voice. She rolled her eyes, but motioned him to lower himself. When he was close enough, she planted one right on his cheek.

"Good job, big guy."

"Yeah, yeah, so who won?" Adrien cut in. She noticed he was slightly struggling to walk, his arm awkwardly trying to prop his back.

"Nobody, we both died," Katja answered.

"Dammit; really wanted to try out that canon," Adrien huffed out.

"Sorry. You ok?" Katja asked, coming over to check him over. As she moved, the other two boys emerged from the tree line, coming toward them.

"The stun shot caused convulsions. That, coupled with all the strain I put on my back since I got out here, I threw it out," Adrien answered with a wince.

"Let's get some painkillers into your system and get you some rest."

Having slept most of the previous afternoon, Vai'dqouulth insisted on taking the worst watch shift, which ran a few hours after the middle of the night up until morning. It was the least he could do for his human clan. Especially since he had unintentionally incapacitated the veteran.

Whoever the hunter was that hadn't finished off Adrien was a complete fool. Leaving the human to endure permanent injury… When hunting, one never left prey to suffer like that.

He idly considered the medical equipment aboard his ship. He could certainly heal that condition. Would be simple enough and make Adrien an even more lethal opponent to hunt.

Thoughts for later; for now, he needed to occupy his mind. It was quite early, before the sun was up, and Vai'dqouulth was wandering the hallway outside their shared suite when he heard the door opening.

Katja and Petrov emerged from the suite together, speaking quietly and smiling at one another. When they spotted Vai'dqouulth, Katja gave him a nod, closing the door behind her. "Good morning, Blue," she whispered. "Adrien and Alexei are still asleep in there, but Maksim and I are going to go to the kitchen and make breakfast. I'll make sure to save you the biggest portion."

Vai'dqouulth's stomach pinched in anticipation. Humans created good meals. It was almost an art. Completely laughable to imagine a human surpassing a Yautja in anything, but when it came to food…

The drone grasped Katja's hand, and they walked down the hallway towards the lifting mechanism that went between building floors.

Hand clasping. Another human ritual? What meaning did that have?

Disregarding the matter, Vai'dqouulth decided to do a perimeter check, cloaking beforehand. This time, he would not be caught off-guard by one of the parasites.

It took him quite some time to wander the grounds. The air was colder than previous days, but the driving snow had at last completely stopped. After making a careful, precise sweep of the land surrounding the structure, but nothing appeared amiss.

Inhaling deeply, Vai'dqouulth allowed the frigid air to fill his lungs. Earth oxygen was different. Moister, perhaps. Yautja Prime had its humidity, certainly, but the cold here made it feel even wetter.

Shaking himself to warm up, Vai'dqouulth turned and went back to the building.

Imagining all the delicious meal possibilities Katja and Petrov had concocted, he found himself wandering to the kitchen.

Inside, a warm, doughy scent lingered. He did not see either human.

Inspecting the large dish-cleansing machine that Adrien had taught him to use, Vai'dqouulth saw the light indicating that its cleaning cycle had completed. Perhaps neither the female or male had been here for quite some time, then.

He had assumed he would dine with them. Where were they? Did Katja not desire his company?

Striding to the enormous gray door of the food cooler, Vai'dqouulth searched inside. There was new leftover prepared food, small tan discs. That must be what Katja and Petrov had made.

Well, he would eat after his shift.

He began to wander the levels and halls, part of him searching for Katja. Surely, they hadn't left the safety of the structure. He did have his thermal imaging; but like everything, it had its limits – and the building was huge.

Eventually, he ended up outside the door of the suite. He was debating whether to wake Adrien when the 'elevator', as it was called, chimed and opened.

Katja had returned with Petrov in tow. Her body language was calm and relaxed, even pleased; a far cry from what it had been yesterday.

And then Vai'dqouulth detected something that started his blood boiling. Petrov's scent was all over her, head to foot.

They had copulated.

He was trying to detect what he was feeling, exactly. It was foreign for sure. A feeling of resentful longing aroused by the weak warrior's… fortune, perhaps? He never felt like this when other females went to different males. Why did this bother him so? Sure, competitiveness was normal among males of his kind, but this went far beyond that. He wanted to kill Petrov over it, as if to remove him as an option to Katja. Not something he had ever felt when he lost out a female to another male. Usually, he moved on to the next prospect without a second thought.

He swore as quietly as possible, grateful for the language barrier for once.

" 'Pauk'? Did you mean to say 'puck'? You a hockey fan?" Petrov asked. Much too cheerfully, in Vai'dqouulth's opinion.

Ignoring the question, his next instinct was to challenge the man in a show of his strength and Petrov's relative weakness, but he immediately reigned himself in. That was the Yautja way. He wasn't sure Katja would like that.

"Blue? Something wrong? Is your neck hurting again?" Katja broke his thoughts, running her fingers through her hair to smooth it. Even now, she asked about his well-being, which made him even more angry. He stood there trying to decide what to say or do.

He didn't need to, as Adrien suddenly stepped out of the suite.

"Why are we all standing around–?" Adrien began before cutting himself off. His eyes narrowed, and he gave off a pungent smell.

Anger.

Vai'dqouulth might still get the satisfaction of a beating on the weak warrior yet.

"What, in the actual hell?" Adrien posed in a low, threatening tone. Perhaps a human equivalent of growling. His sentiments had been similar.

"What?" Katja asked innocently.

"Don't 'what' me, you know damn well what I'm talking about!" Adrien hissed at her.

"Pierce, what is the problem?" Petrov asked carefully, subtly moving to put himself between Adrien and Katja.

"Drop the act, the smell of shame and sex is heavy on the air," Adrien retorted flatly. This was confusing. He knew the human sense of smell was very weak, but the description was so accurate. Maybe it was thick enough for even weak senses of smell.

Either way, Katja crossed her arms defiantly, and Petrov grimaced. Yet they refused to make eye contact with Adrien. They didn't speak, either. Vai'dqouulth was wondering what transgression they had committed to earn this rebuff. Adrien was most definitely angry, though possibly for different reasons than himself.

"In the suite," Adrien ordered.

They didn't move and didn't look at him. "That means now!" Adrien roared a bit. They flinched but moved into the dwelling, Petrov encircling Katja's shoulders with his arm. After they'd passed, Adrien motioned respectfully to Vai'dqouulth to go first.

Inside, Katja and Petrov were standing near the food prep area.

"Sit down," Adrien ordered with a point. Katja tilted her head, almost challengingly.

"Sit your asses down now," Adrien repeated more intensely. This time, they obeyed.

"Blue, give us a moment of privacy," Adrien requested. Vai'dqouulth made to leave, but was stopped. "Leave your knife, please," Adrien asked. He took it out of his boot and handed it over.

He might find Petrov hanging outside skinned by the time the veteran finished with him.

"Somebody better start talking," Adrien spoke angrily as he stabbed the knife into the table. "And Katja, for the record, when I said I thought you were banging him, that was not intended to be taken as a goddamn suggestion!"

"I don't see how this is any of your concern," Petrov said hotly; but even to Katja, it sounded like a lame comeback. "And leave her out of it. I'm the one who initiated this. If you're going to be pissed, be pissed at me."

"You hold your tongue, lest I feed you your offending body part. I am well aware this was not your idea," Adrien threatened, and Petrov scoffed.

Katja grabbed Petrov's shoulder lightly, giving him a message without words. Do not escalate it.

Besides, she knew she had no real justification for this. Though their breakfast date had been sweet and wonderful and far more considerate than anything Alexander had ever treated her to, the logical part of her knew this wasn't the time or place for any of it. In short, she'd had a weak moment, things had been taken too far, and it was a bad idea. "I have no excuse," Katja finally answered. She hoped Maksim wouldn't take it the wrong way.

She still hoped, maybe naïvely, they could find a way to make things work if they made it home, instead of this being a one-time thing.

Unless that was all Petrov had been wanting… but she didn't think so. She really did trust him.

"Did you at least use the protection in Alexander's nightstand?" Adrien drilled. Katja cringed; he was digging at that fresh wound while simultaneously asking a question she had tried to avoid thinking about.

If she had known there were some in the hotel… but she hadn't. They hadn't been anywhere near the penthouse. Too late to take it back now.

Neither of them replied, and Adrien took it as their answer.

Enraged, the American looked between them before pointing the knife at Petrov.

"Next time you have unprotected sex with a woman, you might want to make sure she's as invested in you as you are in her. Get the hell out of my sight."

"Pierce," Petrov began, calmly, "you don't understand. If you could stop treating us like children for one–"

"That is an order, Lieutenant. This stunt can warrant serious consequences in any military," Adrien said.

Petrov looked at Katja, and she gave him a slight nod. Right now, it was best not to poke the bear. Her lieutenant must've concurred it was wiser to obey, and bid a retreat. But before he did, he gave Katja a very professional salute, and then gave Adrien the worst salute she'd ever seen.

"Katja," Petrov said in Russian, "if he… if you need help, or I hear something happening, I'm coming back."

Although something told Katja that Adrien would never physically harm her, no matter how angry he was, she nodded anyway to acknowledge Petrov.

"Lieutenant! I will not tolerate your insubordination, different countries or not. You salute the rank, not the man. I will see you do it properly," Adrien seethed. Surprisingly, Maksim did it again the right way, maybe even better than the one he gave Katja, before stalking away.

For a few moments, Adrien let the quiet linger. "A gun and a condom operate on the same principle. You want to have one and not need it, then need it and not have one. So, why do you have a gun and not a condom?" he finally asked.

Thinking further silence was the best answer, Katja didn't reply to the stupid question.

When he realized she wasn't going to talk, Adrien stood and began pacing behind her chair. "You know, I learned a lot about you, Katja, when I tried to forcibly evacuate you. You do not like to be lied to or information kept from you, especially when lives were on the line. How is this any different?" Adrien asked.

"Oh, come on. Why is this an issue for you? It didn't hurt anyone," Katja tried to justify.

"Completely wrong. You just created a ladder, and communicated that Petrov is clearly at the top. You have hurt everyone. Not to mention the unborn child," Adrien said.

He was right. It was showing favoritism.

A baby, however, was… quite a leap in assumption. "Ch– child? We don't know that. And I'm not worried about the next nine months," Katja shot back. "We both know I'm unlikely to survive the next nine days."

"Maybe not, but what if you do? Did you consider that? Or, how about a month from now, if we're still trapped out here, down to our last rounds of ammo, and Blue tells you he has detected a fetal heartbeat? How is that going to affect everyone? What'll it do to Petrov?" Adrien interrogated, the only word that perfectly described the situation.

Katja had to admit, that scenario did sound awful. But it was so very unlikely. After the attack all those years ago, the army doctor had said that getting pregnant would be very difficult for her, and it was better not to try – and so far, he'd been right. Besides, what difference did it make now, when she was so close to death anyway?

She suddenly realized he was still talking. "While you, the person everyone admires, was near death, it fell to me to keep everyone together. And I realized, morale kept us going. I did everything to prevent hurt feelings and bad circumstances. You undo all that with one fling," Adrien spat.

"I'm so sorry that I wanted just one morning to forget that I found out my fiancé was only using me and having other women on the side. You couldn't possibly understand," Katja spoke rashly, before remembering his marriage problems.

Then again, at least his marriage had been real. At least his wife had actually loved him, once. "Adrien, I didn't mean–" she began to apologize anyway.

"Chloe is seeing another man. There is a good possibility my marriage is over for good. I still didn't let that get in the way of the people out here," Adrien cut in, speaking emotionlessly.

He hadn't mentioned that originally. Which made Katja feel even more crappy with presumptions. What could she say now?

"We're done here. I don't want to see you or your screw toy the rest of the day," Adrien motioned.

"Adrien–" Katja began.

"Katja!" He cut her off. After a moment, he spoke again. "Alexander betrayed you. Life is hard, I am very sorry. That is still no excuse for what you did. This wasn't just some simple barracks liaison. Everyone now knows where they sit as a priority for you, and the answer is below Petrov."

She choked on any words she had wanted to speak.

"I have to plan an assault on the nest with just me and Blue now, since you and numnuts have proven that you aren't reliable. I will be in the manager's office for emergencies only," Adrien cut her off.

"No! Do not cut us out. Do not punish humanity for this!" Katja demanded, finally finding her voice. "People will get killed, innocent people!"

Adrien stared coldly at her, mulling over the request.

"Fine," Adrien said as he stood and walked out. Leaving her alone with her thoughts. Perhaps the worst punishment he could give.

We wanted to start the first chapter of the New Year off with a bang! (Literally for Katja!)

There was an internal debate between the writers over who initiated, Katja or Petrov. Writer #1 says Petrov, Writer #2 says Katja. Both have good arguments. Its ultimately up to interpretation, but drop a comment who you think started it! All joking aside, we always write things for a specific reason... we will see what this leads to...