IC/Overflow Post

[noreasonneeded]

Random messages and thread continuations welcome here!

Comments

Agreed! I love them whenever time is found.

[noreasonneeded]

I think you’re the only one who does find it appealing.

Though I’d put your mind far ahead of theirs, too.

[shadowthief]

I think maybe you don’t mind that so much.

A direct compliment, bold of you, Kaz Brekker. I like it.

[noreasonneeded]

Keep that up and I might start to think you know me. Although annoying you sometimes has its perks, too.

I’d hate to become predictable.

[shadowthief]

I like to think I do.
Is that so? And what are those perks, exactly?

You are many things, but predictable isn’t a word I’d use to describe you.

[noreasonneeded]

For one, you now wanting to know what the perks might be.

I know better than to ask how you might describe me in turn.

[shadowthief]

You’re not so clever, Kaz Brekker.

Scared to know my true thoughts?

[noreasonneeded]

I’m annoyingly clever, Inej Ghafa.

[Perhaps a little, though he won’t admit to it.]

Wary they might come out as a proverb.

[shadowthief]

[She hates how it stirs at something in her when he says her full name, even like this. She can hear the way his inflection would ripple through her name.]

You're incorrigible.

[noreasonneeded]

Keep sweet talking like that and I’ll think you want something.

[shadowthief]

Maybe I do.

[noreasonneeded]

Care to elaborate? Or am I left to guess?

[shadowthief]

She doesn't answer him, not for several slowly drawn-out minutes. She wonders what changes in the room that alerts him so easily to her presence. He's the only one that can, almost every time.

"It's much more fun for me this way," she says from her perch in the window of his office. She knew he would be here, he usually was. Especially at this time of night. "Not many can say they hold the power to make Kaz Brekker...squirm."

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“Hello, Inej.” How he can always sense her presence is a question Kaz has teasingly dodged answering over the years. So much of how Inej moves is like magic to him, he enjoys being able to show her a trick or two in return. The air shifts upon her entrance into his window, weight gathered by her presence that tells him he’s no longer alone. He’s seated behind his desk, head bent over papers he’s studying, his right foot propped up on a small stool beside his chair. There’s a coffee mug settled near him, what little is left in it cold by now.

“I’m hardly squirming. I’m studying.” At that his gaze flicks upwards towards where she’s perched upon his windowsill. It’s become synonymous for him, her and that place, so much so that he moved his office downstairs into Haskell’s old one. It’s also less walking up and down the stairs during the day, that’s his practical excuse. What he hasn't said is the fact that he keeps getting distracted looking towards that window ledge when he’s up here, missing that she isn’t there when she’s at sea.

He’s kept his old desk in his bedroom so he could still work at it throughout the night when sleep eludes him. “The crows will be glad you’re back so they can con you out of birdseed.” Nevermind that he’s taken it upon himself to feed her birds in her absence.

[shadowthief]

The laugh is silent, a little scrunch of her nose, a grin, picture-perfect. She eases back into stillness, taking a few quick glances around the room inside. The way Kaz has positioned himself is usually the most obvious clue about how long he's been there. He gets lost in his own head and forgets he needs to move occasionally.

"Someone's been over-feeding them," she says, the teasing tilt of her words colored in amusement. "Too much bread, I think." she glances back at him over her shoulder. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

[noreasonneeded]

He wishes he could hear the laugh. Kaz always feels a fluttering in his belly hearing it, his mood instantly lifted by the sound. It sings beneath his skin, making him feel as warm and giddy as if he’s drunk a shot of whiskey. Kaz doesn’t let himself get sloppy or fall-down drunk, but he feels like hearing her laugh puts him in a nice, tipsy state as long as the sound lasts. For now though he settles on just soaking in that she looks happy and at peace perched where she is. For all that he enjoys irritating her, and he does, he also enjoys making her feel at ease and happy.

Reaching out he lifts up his coffee cup, draining the last dregs of caffeine. It doesn’t taste particularly good right now, stale and cold, but Kaz couldn’t care less. His eating habits are much like the rest of the way he operates. He’ll eat or drink anything and think it’s fine as long as it gets the job done. He might have preferences, such as coffee over tea, but at the end of the day he’s never lost the canal rat realization that any food is worthwhile if he’s hungry.

Setting his cup aside, one eyebrow of his arches. Leaning back in his chair he muses with absolute innocence, “That doesn’t sound like me. Nina’s the bleeding heartrender of this group when you’re gone. Although if they get fat enough we could always turn one of them into dinner.” No, he wouldn’t actually do that.

[shadowthief]

"You wouldn't hurt my birds," she tosses lightly back at him, the confidence streaming through unhalted. Some things she just knows as fact, no matter how much he may want to allude otherwise.

She scoffs softly. "Oh, sure. You and that black hole where your heart should be, yes?" she rolls her eyes playfully at that.

[noreasonneeded]

She’s right that he wouldn’t harm the crows, even if he won’t admit it. While it’s Inej who started feeding them, cautioned against doing so by him, he has always liked the animal. He likes what they represent enough to have informally called his friends by the same name. It means something to him that Inej has taken that symbol to heart, even if through the more literal animals’ care. No matter where she is, she’ll always be part of the Dregs and one of the Crows to him. It’s both a fact and far too sentimental to pass his lips. Instead the curve upwards in a smirk. “The hole comes in handy, Captain. I could fit some extra kruge in there if I needed to. Prime real estate shouldn’t go to waste.”

[shadowthief]

"People forget that you can be funny because they are too busy being scared to anger you," she smirks back at him. "I'm glad I get to witness it more than most." It does, in fact, feel like a privilege to see him like this.

[noreasonneeded]

“Most people can’t hold two thoughts together in their heads at once. They especially can’t if the two aren’t easily reconciled with one another. Rubbed together they just give themselves a friction headache rather than understanding nuance.” He counts on it, the simplicity most people strive for in order to maintain a status quo. He’s created a superficial myth rich with rumors to hide that he’s just a man. An intense man, a man whose morals bend to what suits him rather than society. He enjoys frightening the merchers, he likes making them mad to have a dark mirror held up for them to face. He also likes that he can make her smile, and that he can joke with his few friends. It’s a contradiction best kept hidden from most.

Inej, too, has legends surrounding her. First as the Wraith in Ketterdam, and now she’s building a reputation out on the seas as one not to be trifled with. He likes that there’s more to her than that, too.

“I trust you won’t think less of me because I also happen to be hilarious,” he adds with a faint smirk. He trusts her, period. “Most people don’t need to see more of me than they do. Might ruin some of the mystique. Much like I’m sure you’re protective of your reputation as the Wraith out on the water.”

[shadowthief]

She rolls her lips together to suppress the soft laugh that threatens to bubble up out of her as he continued the bit.

“Quite the opposite, actually. It makes you much more attractive than you already are.” the words come easy and light, like they talked like this all the time.

“Plenty of mystique left, even knowing you have some sort of sense of humor,” she points out, lifting her eyebrows.

[noreasonneeded]

So close. It’s almost a challenge he sets himself now to make her laugh. Kaz’s mind works in a manner where he needs constant stimulation and puzzles to feel satisfied, but it’s rare that those workings aren’t darker in nature. With Inej though there’s a balance. He is striving to be a better man to build a future with her, and he’s coming to find that it’s not always difficult and arduous - though it can be that, too. In moments like this though it’s silly and soft, and while it feels like new waters to tread, he doesn’t feel like he’s drowning.

Reaching his hands behind his head, he stretches and rolls his shoulders, feeling the pleasant pop of joints gone stiff while he’s been in thought. In her keeping the tone easy and light they can pretend there hasn’t been years of buildup to talks like this, that it’s merely no different than the many random conversations they’ve entertained as hours ticked past them. “You have a slyer sense of humor than many give you credit for, while we’re on the topic. It’s good. It means I’m never bored when we talk.” Which is a huge compliment coming from Kaz, who sizes up, assesses, and dismisses most of the world within moments socially. He’s an introvert who often prefers his own thoughts, save for a select few. “Are you hungry? I have some things stashed in my drawers. And safe.” The snacks he knows she likes he’s stored so that nobody with sticky fingers can reach. Jesper might attempt to ransack his drawers, the Dregs have a policy of eat or be eaten, but nobody can break into his safe.

[shadowthief]

“Saints Forbid you ever lapse into a momentary bout of boredom, Your Highness,” speaking of her sense of humor…

Inej can feel her lips twitch in one corner of her mouth as he settles in his place. This might be one of the most at-peace moments she’s ever witnessed in him.

“Depends on what you have,” she tips her head slightly to one side, a curious glint in her eye at the idea of snacks.

[noreasonneeded]

“Boredom and stagnation are too close together for my taste. Better to be a swimming shark than a sitting duck,” he bandies back, but there’s truth in his remark for him. Even if he can sit without moving, Kaz is never truly at rest or peace. True relaxation isn’t worth the risk, and his mind can’t ever slow to a stop. He comes closest to it though when she’s near him. Inej isn’t without her inner fire, but she’s also a calming presence against his intensity. If Kaz has no regulator inside of him, and he doesn’t, if he’s all ahead all the time like the steel machines that make up his city, then Inej is more flexible like the currents on which she travels, flowing at different speeds.

“Not too much,” he admits as he leans over to pull open one of his desk drawers. “I only keep things that won’t go bad or ask for ants.” Still, Kaz often doesn’t stop to eat all day. When his body finally demands nourishment, he’s usually up here at work and he doesn’t want to waste time and effort going down into the kitchens. So he’ll just grab a handful of whatever’s on hand and call it a day. He takes out a container of mixed nuts, a bag of dried jerky, wrapped fruit-flavored candies, and a package of crackers. Setting them out on his desk for her to help herself if she wants, he cracks open the container and shakes some nuts out into his hand.

[shadowthief]

"Best to leave the fine lines to the wire walker," she smirks and slides off the edge of the window sill, her feet making soundless contact with the floor as she steps toward his desk as he pulls out his snack container.

The smile never leaves her face and softens a little at the edges. In the space of a blink, she's swapped from standing in front of him to perching on the corner as she inspects the goods. She plucks one of the candies and unwraps it, glancing back up at him for a moment, "Thank you," she says, her tone soft, and then she pops the candy into her mouth.

[noreasonneeded]

The furniture in Kaz’s office at the Slat is a far cry from that at the Club, or from the sleek way he dresses when out on the city’s streets. It speaks to a part of Kaz that lurks beneath the surface. The table is sturdy yet worn, simple wood with nothing ornate decorating it. There are some chips and scuffs from use nicked into the surface. It had been a used table even before Kaz got his hands on it, and it’s one he’s never in the years Inej has known him swapped out for another. Every fortune that Kaz makes these days he funnels back into his people and his projects. That boy who’d grown up on a dirt poor farm, that scrawny canal rat who had to fight for every morsel of food he could snatch, he doesn’t toss anything out when it’s still of use. He doesn’t care about what’s fancy or in fashion within the confines of his personal space. It’s all old and used and honestly, some of it isn’t as good as it used to be, but he still would rather make do than spend money he sees as unnecessary.

His eyes drop down for a moment to where she’s perching, right by her the small indent where Jesper had gotten restless and played with Kaz’s letter opener to the desk’s detriment a very long time ago. Every indent that happened on Kaz’s watch he remembers. His mind forgets nothing.

He won’t forget the sight of her sitting so comfortably close to him, enjoying the food he’s set out a safe distance from his work. Where words often fail him, it’s easier to simply show his feelings through gestures like ensuring there’s never an empty pantry at the Slat. He gives a little nod at her gratitude, never really knowing how to respond when people thank him. “We have a candy shop now, I figure one of the perks is seeing what they have to offer.” We as in the Dregs, Kaz took over the sweets shop along with all the rest of Rollins’ businesses. The quince candies make his heart ache a little, though while he doesn’t eat them now a part of him is glad they’re still around along with other flavors of fruit candy. After a beat he admits, “It wasn’t a life goal to own one, but here we are.” It’s rare for Kaz to admit that he hasn’t plotted and planned since birth to specifically run a sweetshop, but to Inej, it feels a little safer to acknowledge just how far he’s come.