timewasting | OPEN POST 2020.

[ The tension goes out of her shoulders but he doesn't quite feel relieved. It could be that he's unused to apologizing, the bitten back words still sitting on his tongue. The part of him that's grown up in the Barrel wants to let them go. Apologizing is weakness and the streets didn't care if you said you were sorry. It made you pay for it in blood instead.

Inej is asking for none of those things. And she deserves something that isn't half-assed or just him being defensive about his stupid decisions.

Some of his tension does lift when she puts her hands on his face, her touch immediately welcome. Her words simply reinforce what he'd thought in the aftermath, sticking like nettles. But he knows she's right—he'd admitted as much to himself. So he unclenches his jaw and forces the remaining annoyance down, settling on a few key words.

One being that she definitely would've done something if the shopkeep had gotten fresh. And the other: ] As I recall, there's been a certain wraith clipped to my shadow. That might have something to do with it.

[ the comment prompts a roll of her eyes, because kaz places far too much trust in her to constantly watch his back. he doesn't even bother looking up (or, at least, not that she could see) when inej is on the rooftops, being his eyes when he can't see. it's lazy, in her professional opinion. especially when she isn't always in ketterdam to protect him.

still. that's not really the point. the point is: ]

I am your shadow.

[ pointedly, as she adjusts the bag of books over her shoulder, crossing her arms again.

but semantics aside, kaz has always been bad at . . . well, telling the truth in a straight-forward manner. he hadn't meant to be possessive. he was probably just being protective. and those two are very different things.

so, after a pause: ]

You should ask Specht what happened to the last man who was inappropriate to me, in this port.

[ and she reaches out to adjust the collar of his coat. it's an affectionate gesture, but: ]

He'll reassure you that I don't need a man to defend my honor.

[ Okay, yes, she basically is his shadow. Especially at this point. After she'd left, he had to get used to scanning the rooftops again, looking for figures he would normally leave to her. That isn't to say he had been totally unaware with her around—he would look up every now again. Though that was usually to get his bearings on where he thought she would be and not so much looking for other people.

His focus always seemed to narrow with her around. Like right now, he's only somewhat aware of the people passing them by where they'd paused off to the side to get their words out. ]

I know you don't. You've got a hundred knives and the exact angle to break someone's wrist. [ He'd taught her the latter and given her the resources to get good with the former. Why was he ever worried? The rational part of him wants to laugh it off but there's still a small curl of annoyance that the shopkeep had even said anything. Even with how benign it had been. ]

Though now I want to know what you did. [ He says, holding out his hand tentatively, seeing if she wanted to take it. ]

[ she considers him for a moment, almost pointing out that she doesn't have a hundred knives. she carries six, thank you very much!! but her lips twitch slightly, betraying that she's long-since forgiven his stupidity, and she takes his hand, intertwining their fingers. ]

He was inappropriate. And -- what did you say earlier, the phrase -- "older than the dirt."

[ mildly; she won't go into detail what he said, but it certainly wasn't appropriate!! and definitely old enough to be inej's father, which made it even more inappropriate.

and she bumps shoulders with him, as they begin to walk further into town. ]

I slipped away down an alleyway to get behind him. Dislocated his kneecaps from behind and caught him by his dominate wrist to snap it. I then asked if his mother knew he was soliciting sexual favors from teenagers on the coast.

[ and inej shrugs her shoulders. ]

He was crying for said mother, so I never got my answer. But I think he's learned his lesson.

[ It's a relief when she takes his hand, though the twitch of her lips certainly says she's more amused by his comments than she is still holding onto her annoyance.

Of course, he frowns when she starts explaining how it all started, feeling revulsion on her behalf. It's never great to have someone make crass remarks but somehow it's worse when that someone is old enough to be one's father. Those are the kind of men he'd be happy to drop off a bridge; he's done it once and would do it again.

He feels a small swell of pride though, as she describes what she'd done. Dislocating a man's kneecaps is certain to hurt. As well as a broken wrist—he wouldn't be grabbing anyone inappropriately with that hand for at least six months. If it ever healed properly. ]

He deserved much worse. [ But he knows Inej. She wouldn't take the lethal route unless she absolutely had to. And that was the main difference between them; Kaz was not nearly as forgiving. He had no interest in seeing if someone would change their tune, usually. ] Satisfying, though.

[ there's a hum of agreement at he deserved much worse, but indeed, inej doesn't kill unless strictly necessary. she has no interest in adding more sins to an already hefty ledger. ]

His wallet paid the bar tab that night.

[ with a slight grin to herself, squeezing kaz's fingers. ]

The crew was grateful.

At least he did something useful. [ Kaz says around a grin. He can imagine how grateful her crew would've been—they're an affectionate lot when they get some alcohol in them. They never drank too much when sailing, but he'd caught them with some drinks a few times. Every time he had been pulled into the circle of their stories and laughter. ]

What next, Captain?

[ inej avoids drink and the like, and inej is fairly certain the crew's lack of drinking on board is more out of respect to her than of a need to avoid liquor while sailing. she also never participated in the actual drinking when they went out, but had been bothered more than once into showing cheap card tricks to the table.

basic "magic" always wooed drunk men, for some reason.

at any rate, kaz's question is more important, and speaking of magic: ]

Well, we should decide what show we want to see tonight.

[ thoughtfully. ]

There's a few quasi-permanent shows run by my people, who choose to stay rather than travel. [there's no judgment or mystery in her tone; the suli have a rough existence, in ravka, and you learn to survive where you can. ] One is reported as being more reputable than the other. It's a magic show, with acrobatics. So I'm sure someone will disappear, at some point. And plenty of card tricks.

[ how thrilling!!! but as she speaks, she glances up toward kaz, one corner of her mouth tugging upward:]

We can go as long as you promise to not ruin the show.

[ "magic tricks" are really just code for "sleight of hand thievery," so inej is wholly prepared to kick him under the table if some child asks how did they do that and kaz ruins years of card magic in two seconds. ]

[ Hearing about her people is always interesting. He knows so little but had never really brought them up in the past, worried she would be upset by it. After all, she hadn't known where her parents were up until recently.

Maybe now he'll start asking more. ]

I'm not going to ruin the show. [ Though most certainly he'll understand the card tricks without much trouble. Maybe he'll see one he hasn't done. ] I've never made a person disappear before.

[ Not strictly true. He has, albeit involving more death and the hiding of a body than anything dealing with a magic show. ]

[ well, inej will take that promise to heart, though she can already see kaz offering quiet commentary about amateur hour during breaks in the program. she supposes that's different than ruining the surprise, because inej (now) will see the tricks, too. ]

I was usually the one to disappear.

[ ruefully; it's something of an irony, now that inej is frequently hiding in plain sight, silent as the grave. but that's a life long since gone, and so inej nudges his arm with her shoulder lightly. ]

I'll tell you how they do it if you can't figure it out.

You still disappear. [ He bumps her shoulder gently, smiling a bit. Maybe she'd honed those skills from the trick. It would make sense. ]

What else did you do? I know you mentioned the high wire. [ And with how her balance was on rooftops– almost unnatural– it made it easy to believe she'd grown up with that thin rope under her feet. ]

[ well, true enough, and she sways with the motion as she thinks to herself. ]

When I was young, I helped on the ground. I sold tickets or I was the volunteer, the subject of the trick. But I always wanted to go high.

[ she can't remember a time that she didn't want to climb the pole to the top of the tent. ]

So once I learned how, I did trapeze. Routines with the ribbons and hoops. Like dancing in the air. And once I learned high wire, I mostly did that. [ and, her tone shifting back to being rueful: ] I was never good at the card tricks. I had no idea how to do that until you showed me. My uncle gave up on teaching me.

[ now, inej is quite the accomplished pick-pocket and thief, but she never really bothered to learn, when she was younger. ]

[ So daring while so young. He feels like he can relate; even in Lij he'd always wanted to do the things he wasn't able to yet. When his father had finally let him atop one of the horses, he'd been ecstatic. It'd been like he was on top of the world so high up.

That had been shortly before the accident. Suffice to say, he didn't learn much riding after that. ]

Ribbons? [ He's having a hard time forming a picture of what she means. ] Some of the tricks are harder to show off to other people. The muscle memory makes you want to do it quickly. If I go too slow, I miss a step.

You still taught me.

[ read: inej is pretty sure her uncle (who inej loves very much) was not a very good teacher.

but at the subject of ribbons, inej wrinkles her nose, trying to figure out the best way to explain. ]

They are giant ribbons, that hang from the ceiling. Thick pieces of fabric, almost like rope, but harder to grip. And you wrap them around your legs, mostly, to swing through the air. You can spin around really quickly if you use your weight the right way.

[ all of that said: ]

It will make more sense once you see it in person.

[ Frankly, he's taught her a bunch of things. He'd seen it as practical; if she were going to survive in the Barrel, she needed to know certain things. And while he'd made so many mistakes, had bled and scraped to learn all those skills, he wasn't such a selfish asshole as to not pass them onto someone who had desperately needed it.

The last thing he had wanted for Inej was to buy her indenture and throw her to the wolves. It had never even crossed his mind. A lucky thing that Per Haskell had made her his problem and not anyone else's. ]

You think they'll have something like that, then? [ Her description gives him a slightly better idea of what she means. Now he's just thinking of her hanging upside down expertly– something a little harder to do on the rooftops of Ketterdam. ]

They might.

[ with a shrug, guiding Kaz along the street, mostly aimless in their wandering. she’s sort of aiming back for the hotel to drop off their purchases of the day, but she’s in no clear rush to get there.

And, somewhat thoughtful: ]

Maybe they’ll let me use it after the show.

[ As usual, he's considering what it might look like, trying to get a picture in his head. The ribbon in his imagination vacillates between actual ribbon and something like a sheet. Or maybe a scarf? ]

I'd like to see that. [ First her working her magic to convince them to let her borrow it. And also watching her do the thing. If it's anything like her normal flexible acrobatics, it sure would be something to watch. ]

[ goal in mind, the rest of the day passes by fairly quickly. they drop off the books in their room, find lunch to eat, and soon they're ready to make their way to the outskirts of the city, just as the sky is beginning to darken.

the tent on the outskirts of the city reminds her of the caravan, but this specific population of suli aren't related to her. from the information she's collected, it looks like the majority of her specific group are further north, likely biding time before hitting one of the port cities.

but judging from how the ticket people greet inej when they see her, you certainly wouldn't know that they didn't know one another. the young man selling tickets greets her with a warm laugh and a brief hug, once inej greets him in suli.

the hug is returned by inej loosely, arms barely grazing the man's sides, as she speaks in suli. and after a few moments, the man nods in understanding, and a suspiciously large amount of coin exchanges hands for more than two tickets before inej reaches back to take kaz by the hand, tugging him into the tent.

it's . . . crowded. but inej bypasses all of that to move to the very top, picking a bench against the back wall. it's some stairs, which inej faintly feels sorry for . . . but once they get to their seats, it's a whole bench that's suspiciously empty. ]

Sit.

[ a bit breathless; she's excited, and she gestures to the seats. ]

I'll go get the food.

[ best to avoid kaz going up and down too many flights of stairs. ]

[ They get back to the hotel to drop off the books and then it's an elongated lunch—most of which is him asking more questions about Ravkan and trying to learn more words that aren't swears. Eventually, they start heading towards the outskirts of the city, where the Suli have set up their show tents.

It's an impressive looking thing. Sturdy as well, for how tall and wide it is. He's curiously watching the bustle of people—both the crowd and performers alike—only to be pulled from his observations by the sudden excited greeting Inej receives from the ticket counter. As she's pulled into a hug, he can't help feeling two ways about it. Nervous, since she had mentioned it in the past that sometimes it made her want to disappear. There's also a fragment of happiness, seeing her get to speak her native language.

Of course, he doesn't understand a lick of it but he supposes it doesn't matter. Coins exchange hands and he follows her tugging towards the top bench. It's a bit of a walk but it does have a great view. Up here there aren't as many people either; an entire bench to themselves. ]

You sure you don't want help? [ It's a long walk up here but it's not too bad. ]

I'm positive.

[ easily, as she shrugs out of her jacket to drape it on the bench next to him, though she keeps the bag attached to her hip on her person. truthfully, she knows kaz would probably like to see the different stalls and people-watch at a closer level, but there's also a lot of people. and it will be all-but impossible to move through the crowd of folks trying to find seats without touching.

she keeps that to herself, though, instead blaming it on something far easier to talk about and way less injurous to kaz's ego: his leg. ]

I won't be very long. And I can't carry you home if you trip.

[ but she touches his cheek briefly, with a warm smile, before she quickly moves down the stairs, to buy . . . damn near everything at the concession stand.

it's been a long time, since she's had the chance to eat these specific treats. ]

[ Well, that's a fair point. The stairs leading up to their seats are a bit narrow. With the stream of people, it had been difficult enough just getting up here. Especially since some people had decided to block the way or didn't know how to move aside for others.

Not that he had been surprised. Crowds were so bad and generally people didn't have great spatial awareness.

So he watches Inej go and disappear into the thick of things. Angling his body, he finds he has enough room to stretch out his leg—another perk of being up here without anyone else. While she's gone, he takes in the surroundings, the general chatter of the crowd, and then lets his mind drift towards the conversation he had with Inej the previous night. About the slavers. He starts mentally lining up the things he was probably going to have to do in order to get a location, neatly arranging it in order of priority.

Probably not what he should be thinking of in a more joyous atmosphere, but he thrives on solving problems. Distraction will come soon enough. ]

[ she waits patiently to get to the various food stands, and is again greeted warmly and with much excitement once she offers a slight wave. there's such familiarity and warmth, in being able to interact with her people . . . it's truly a massive family. no matter how disconnected she is from home, they're always with her.

when inej eventually returns, it's with a bag looped over her arm, plus a tray full of . . . a wide assortment of food. there's salted popcorn, which is fairly universal, but also handheld stuffed peppers that smell delicious. there's also some type of fried dough (with sugar, and without), along with some sort of candied apple, and what looks like some sort of fried bread. and some type of juice in cups.

it's honestly miraculous how she managed to get all the way up here without spilling anything, but her balance is perfect. ]

Here.

[ as she sets down the tray next to him, divvying up the food. some of it looks like common entertainment fare, like the popcorn. some of it does not. but as inej hands him some dishes, she explains what they are, slipping back and forth between suli and kerch with ease. ]

There is ardei umpluți, it is like a stuffed pepper with meat. And xaritsa, that is a fried bread with cornmeal, it's a little sweet. And this is a juice made out of pumpkin -- and candied apples.

[ as she settles next to him with a grin, settling the bag next to her. ]

And I got souvenirs.

[ He's deep enough in thought that his brows have furrowed—he's gone from considering all his angles to reviewing the small bit of vocabulary he's learned, realizing he would need to step it up if he's going to be any real assistance. The slavers likely spike Kerch but they operated all throughout Ravka (probably) and getting information was going to require Ravkan.

Not just passing Ravkan either, since he's pretty sure "slave routes" and other related vocabulary was in the beginner books.

In his periphery, he knows Inej has come back a half second before she says something, and his expression lightens a bit when he turns to look at her. And the tray she's brought, which he's guessing has one of everything. Honestly, he can't blame her, it's probably been a while since she's had this kind of food. ]

Pumpkin juice? [ That's a new one. He leans over a bit once she settles, getting a better look at everything. Ultimately, he picks out the xaritsa, deeming it the least adventurous. Aside from the popcorn, of course. Eventually he'll get around to the rest. ]

What kind of souvenirs?

[ she can tell, that he's deep in thought when she sits down. his scheming face, loud and clear for only her, in this space. and she nearly asks what has him so deep in thought when he shifts his attention to the food, inspecting each item before picking (indeed) the safest option.

she looks amused, before sipping her juice, shoulder to shoulder with him as she watches the crowd file in. ]

You make what you have with what you have.

[ easily enough. but the juice isn't super sweet, and has cinnamon in it. he might like it yet.

the souvenirs, though, have her setting her cup down to collect the bag, rifling through it. ]

I bought tarot cards. [ as she pulls up a set, fanning them easily with a flick of her wrist. they're beautifully illustrated, with different portraits of various gods and images. ] And a set of regular cards. [ as she puts the tarot cards back into their specific bag, rifling through the rest of the gifts. ] I also bought some jewelry from one of the artisans. Necklaces, for Nina.

[ they looked like they suited her, at any rate. ]

I can understand that. [ Really, he's not knocking it. Just such a strange combination of things he'd never considered.

He takes a bite of his snack as she pulls out the cards– which are some of the most beautiful ones he's ever seen. They go back into the soft velvet bag and he knows he'll want to take a closer look when the lighting is better since there's a lot of the detail that's getting lost. ] Jewelry only for Nina?

[ Kaz can't recall ever seeing her with earrings or bangles or anything. It made sense not to have anything dangling while in the Barrel, it made one for an easy mark. And ripped out earrings were not a great injury to have to deal with. ]

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