OPEN POST 2020.

[legalized]

【my ❝CALL ME OUT❞ post】
get my ass in gear.

♛ here is my muselist. ♛ post "calling" one of them out — you can do so by putting their name in the subject line! ♛ can be informal/formal/comment spam/crosscanon/explicit/whatever tickles your fancy! ♛ feel free to make up a scenario at the start, or wait to see where things go. meme code.

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[wraithes]

[ she resumes running her fingers through his hair, thoughtful. she usually doesn't talk very much, at length, but it feels right to do so. besides, it's only kaz. it isn't as if whatever she says will leave this room. ]

I spent a long time thinking I wasn't worthy of being loved.

[ it's a painful thing to admit, because she feels so differently, now. but the menagerie had removed a piece of her soul that inej has fought very hard to reclaim. and trusting someone enough to love her also seemed out of reach. being loved, or wanted, or treasured just seemed impossible after the torment heleen had put her through. ]

And I used to think about what that would look like, being loved. Or cared about, or valued. Seen. [ her expectations, in ketterdam, slowly lowered the longer she spent in the barrel, but -- ] Once I decided it was possible for me, I decided it was possible for you, too.

[ she releases a small sigh, at that. ]

It was just a silly daydream until I tasted freedom, and then it felt like something worth fighting for.

[ketterdamn]

[ The thing about the both of them is that they had to work at being vulnerable. They're fiercely independent people and valued that trait; they knew how to handle themselves when shit got tough, as they've proved time and again.

And while Inej was better at saying how she felt–definitely she had a head start on him–there were still some things she had a hard time with. Talking about the Menagerie at all was still difficult and he knows there's so much he doesn't know. Stuff that she's wanted to lock away and never speak of again.

So when she explains more, about her thought process, he simply listens, still gently stroking along her leg.

It's strange to think she hadn't felt worthy of being loved. Kaz, despite all of his sharp edges and attempts to keep away simply hadn't been able to. Jesper and Nina were fiercely protective of Inej, the adoring friends that they were. She had this way about her that made her almost instantly likeable. Lovable, if one spent more than an hour with her.

(But he knows the Menagerie stripped so much of a person's self away. It seems he's always finding new ways to hate Tante Heleen.) ]

I might've doubted asking you to marry me, but I never second guessed how much I loved you. [ Even during the time when he'd been desperately trying not to. He'd known deep down what it was.

Carefully, he sits up a little, cupping her face with one hand, thumb brushing across her cheek. ] I'm thankful every day that I stepped into that place.

[wraithes]

[ when van eck had taken her, inej had truly thought she was on her own. that she had burned the last bridge she had with kaz, in demanding something of him that he couldn't give her, and in getting herself kidnapped, she had removed the one thing she had going for her, in the dregs -- the wraith could not get caught.

van eck knew that, obviously. and seemed to know every single thing to pull at her heartstrings. he knew who she was, and what mattered to her. he knew that she felt alone. he threatened to break her legs not because it would hurt, but because it would ruin her. and inej genuinely didn't believe anyone in the dregs would come find her, until they did.

she's known that jesper and nina have always liked her, but never really thought that they would ever sacrifice their own freedom or well-being for her. that just wasn't done. nina had wanted to go home, and jesper had needed to get out of debt -- there's really no contest, in weighing inej's life to their own self-interests. but they had risked it, to save her. and kaz had, too, jeopardized everything he had worked for in the barrel to save her, in challenging van eck.

after that, inej felt more comfortable, with the idea that she was loved. but it was still a little bit of a journey. and, if she's honest, it's still a work in progress today. which is why her eyes look suspiciously wet, as he takes her face in his hand, and a small laugh escapes before she turns her face to kiss the palm of his hand, expression warm and grateful.

she doesn't say anything out loud, but she knows. ]