There was no time to think. Kate was glad that they had insisted to carry their equipment in the cabin, fearing a hotter than warm welcome if things went wrong. Of course and as always, Kaz had been right over a suggestion most had shrugged off. Lantsov being the very first one to insist on how smooth their arrival would be.
Yes. Smoothly downwards.
Securing Lucky's travel harness to the seatbelt on his seat, Kate tried her best to pet and ruffle the nervous dog, letting him half climb on her lap as much as the belt would allow it. She hugged him, burying her face in his fur.
"If anyone of us dies in this plane I'm coming back to haunt the fuck out of--!"
Despite on how strongly she had been holding onto Lucky, she heard his whimper as they crashed into the surface of the water. The strong pull, like a whip, before her head practically bounced against the back of her seat. If the retriever had not been buckled, her would have been stolen right off her arms, Lucky kicking his hind legs as he was turned on his back.
"Kaz?!" For a moment it felt as if they were still on the air. Except the remains of the plane seemed to be groaning even louder than its passengers. The second she saw her partner was moving and turning his attention towards them, Kate reached on her side, grabbing Nina's hand in her own. Asking if she and Jesper and Wylan were fine.
There was no time to waste. Faster than a bunch of tourists that cannot wait for the buckle signal to become green, everyone undid their belts and started gathering their equipment.
Alarm bells started ringing in her head. Kaz hated water. She had always suspected that maybe he didn't know how to swim, even though he had survived when a job kept them close to the water. This was different though. She was gonna have to carry him while trusting that Lucky would follow them and be fine too. And her bow? Her arrows?
"Guys, what's the plan now?!"
There was a big pull. The water was starting to call the plane towards its depths.
Kaz could swim. He hated the ocean and avoided it whenever possible, but right now was a trauma resurgence he'd compartmentalize and deal with later. Much like Kaz having moments where he could wrap his arms around a loved one and carry them despite his touch-aversion, the adrenaline pumping right now propelled him to survive first and suffer later. It wasn't rational, but what phobia was? At his very core and heart Kaz was a survivor. He might move more clumsily right now, with less precision than normal, but there was a sharp target that drove him onward.
His family was at risk.
Nothing made Kaz act swifter than that - not even his own survival.
Reaching Kate, he gave her a silent question in his gaze. 'Good enough?' None of them were great right now, but he was asking if she was good enough to do what was needed. To move as was needed. Kaz's second point of assessment was Jesper, followed by Wylan and then Nina. An order that he'd say was for practical reasons, but also held some personal ones.
"Land." That was the plan. Kaz's raspy voice remained calm, if tight. "We need to say on the left side of the range. That's Ravkan territory. Getting from here to there, Jesper and Kate, we need long-range cover. Wylan, make sure any raft's motor still works along with Lantsov."
Nina gave Kaz a look. "Let me guess, you and I are drawing attention?"
"You make anyone who gets close love us, Nina Dear," Kaz said with a smirk. "And I'll drive a blade or a bullet between their ribs for it."
"You're one sick bastard, Kaz." Nina shook her head as Nikolai prepared the emergency raft for them.
There wasn't much more time to think, to check on each other, and so the fact that Kaz had saved a moment to come back to her in that silent exchange was noted. Kate nodded sharply in response before she finished gathering her things. Her quiver and bow were soon on her back, along with a rolled up bag of throwing knives she stuffed into her thigh bag. She wouldn't be able to take any extra arrows, but there was nothing irreplaceable in her duffel bag.
Every shot she and Jesper took would have to count.
"Got it!" Was her quick response to Kaz's orders. She was soon on the move, noticing that Nikolai was searching for something. After a quick exchange, they were both pulling the emergency raft and a bag with supplies that would help them survive out in open waters.
The plane groaned again as it was rocked violently by this supposed storm that had already won it's first battle. The waves crashed against theis metallic fortress, tilting slightly towards the back as it seemed to be struggling to keep its 'head' out of its wet deathbed. Water begun invading it, reaching to feet of those down at the back.
Lucky was nervous, heading up and down and whimpering before Nina grabbed his leash and kept him in place. Jesper, Wyland and Kate headed towards one of the emergency exits at the top, the one that would grant them more time before the water caught up. It took their strenght combined with Jesper's Grisha abilities for the metal to give up and obey them.
Kaz wasn't one to bother with idle turns of phrase, but he could appreciate the momentary literary irony of their situation. After all, he knew the power of words and visuals. He knew that right now, a literal mountain range divided them between safety and the enemy, and that the ships heading their way would want to sway them on the wrong side of that equation.
Numbers and angles. Those he felt more solid when working with, because wasn't even poetry a type of math when one got down to it?
Kaz couldn't keep the little raft afloat, and he couldn't keep the farthest away at bay. He could however maneuver his friends and family into the position to where they could best show their talents and keep everyone alive. He worked best from that position, the man behind a massive array of talent that everyone else underestimated. He simply put proverbial and literal knives in their hands and told them they were dangerous until they believed it.
Or, like Kate, he convinced to work alongside them. Just as she'd convinced him to work alongside her.
He tasted the bitter salt of the water, felt the waves rapidly throwing them as they made their way to shore. Lucky snarled and bit the arm of someone who tried to get too close, with Kaz taking care of the rest of them. Nina lulled people who veered near into a stupor as their long-range fighters held back the massive army.
Then the water fought back.
A man that Kaz had just stabbed, about to sink under, looked at him with a terrible blue smile. Eyes bled red with watery rage filling his veins, and the voice of ancient Tides said through his puppet mouth, "We are owed what was stolen from us."
The raft then capsized.
Kaz was thrown. Owed? Did they mean the drugs? Did they mean the man Kaz had stashed and proclaimed dead who had made the jurda parem? Did they mean the grave he should have joined Jordie in?
Did they mean something he didn't even know?
Kaz grasped Wylan, thrusting him towards Jesper. He then reached out to Kate, trying to tug them both along, with her doing plenty of the heavy lifting, to shore.
Almost there.
Nina behind them with terrible power cast the dead who tried to rise in the waves back against them. A bit of necromancy she hated to show and didn't want to talk about when they all were washed to shore, bedraggled, bloodied, and without any way home.
Kaz forced himself to his feet, stumbled as the watery edges tried to pull him back. "Northeast," he rasped hoarsely, like a destination was both the question and the answer needed right now.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
noreasonneeded) wrote2024-12-23 06:23 am
no subject
Yes. Smoothly downwards.
Securing Lucky's travel harness to the seatbelt on his seat, Kate tried her best to pet and ruffle the nervous dog, letting him half climb on her lap as much as the belt would allow it. She hugged him, burying her face in his fur.
"If anyone of us dies in this plane I'm coming back to haunt the fuck out of--!"
Despite on how strongly she had been holding onto Lucky, she heard his whimper as they crashed into the surface of the water. The strong pull, like a whip, before her head practically bounced against the back of her seat. If the retriever had not been buckled, her would have been stolen right off her arms, Lucky kicking his hind legs as he was turned on his back.
"Kaz?!" For a moment it felt as if they were still on the air. Except the remains of the plane seemed to be groaning even louder than its passengers. The second she saw her partner was moving and turning his attention towards them, Kate reached on her side, grabbing Nina's hand in her own. Asking if she and Jesper and Wylan were fine.
There was no time to waste. Faster than a bunch of tourists that cannot wait for the buckle signal to become green, everyone undid their belts and started gathering their equipment.
Alarm bells started ringing in her head. Kaz hated water. She had always suspected that maybe he didn't know how to swim, even though he had survived when a job kept them close to the water. This was different though. She was gonna have to carry him while trusting that Lucky would follow them and be fine too. And her bow? Her arrows?
"Guys, what's the plan now?!"
There was a big pull. The water was starting to call the plane towards its depths.
no subject
His family was at risk.
Nothing made Kaz act swifter than that - not even his own survival.
Reaching Kate, he gave her a silent question in his gaze. 'Good enough?' None of them were great right now, but he was asking if she was good enough to do what was needed. To move as was needed. Kaz's second point of assessment was Jesper, followed by Wylan and then Nina. An order that he'd say was for practical reasons, but also held some personal ones.
"Land." That was the plan. Kaz's raspy voice remained calm, if tight. "We need to say on the left side of the range. That's Ravkan territory. Getting from here to there, Jesper and Kate, we need long-range cover. Wylan, make sure any raft's motor still works along with Lantsov."
Nina gave Kaz a look. "Let me guess, you and I are drawing attention?"
"You make anyone who gets close love us, Nina Dear," Kaz said with a smirk. "And I'll drive a blade or a bullet between their ribs for it."
"You're one sick bastard, Kaz." Nina shook her head as Nikolai prepared the emergency raft for them.
At the moment, she didn't sound unhappy about it.
no subject
Every shot she and Jesper took would have to count.
"Got it!" Was her quick response to Kaz's orders. She was soon on the move, noticing that Nikolai was searching for something. After a quick exchange, they were both pulling the emergency raft and a bag with supplies that would help them survive out in open waters.
The plane groaned again as it was rocked violently by this supposed storm that had already won it's first battle. The waves crashed against theis metallic fortress, tilting slightly towards the back as it seemed to be struggling to keep its 'head' out of its wet deathbed. Water begun invading it, reaching to feet of those down at the back.
Lucky was nervous, heading up and down and whimpering before Nina grabbed his leash and kept him in place. Jesper, Wyland and Kate headed towards one of the emergency exits at the top, the one that would grant them more time before the water caught up. It took their strenght combined with Jesper's Grisha abilities for the metal to give up and obey them.
no subject
Kaz wasn't one to bother with idle turns of phrase, but he could appreciate the momentary literary irony of their situation. After all, he knew the power of words and visuals. He knew that right now, a literal mountain range divided them between safety and the enemy, and that the ships heading their way would want to sway them on the wrong side of that equation.
Numbers and angles. Those he felt more solid when working with, because wasn't even poetry a type of math when one got down to it?
Kaz couldn't keep the little raft afloat, and he couldn't keep the farthest away at bay. He could however maneuver his friends and family into the position to where they could best show their talents and keep everyone alive. He worked best from that position, the man behind a massive array of talent that everyone else underestimated. He simply put proverbial and literal knives in their hands and told them they were dangerous until they believed it.
Or, like Kate, he convinced to work alongside them. Just as she'd convinced him to work alongside her.
He tasted the bitter salt of the water, felt the waves rapidly throwing them as they made their way to shore. Lucky snarled and bit the arm of someone who tried to get too close, with Kaz taking care of the rest of them. Nina lulled people who veered near into a stupor as their long-range fighters held back the massive army.
Then the water fought back.
A man that Kaz had just stabbed, about to sink under, looked at him with a terrible blue smile. Eyes bled red with watery rage filling his veins, and the voice of ancient Tides said through his puppet mouth, "We are owed what was stolen from us."
The raft then capsized.
Kaz was thrown. Owed? Did they mean the drugs? Did they mean the man Kaz had stashed and proclaimed dead who had made the jurda parem? Did they mean the grave he should have joined Jordie in?
Did they mean something he didn't even know?
Kaz grasped Wylan, thrusting him towards Jesper. He then reached out to Kate, trying to tug them both along, with her doing plenty of the heavy lifting, to shore.
Almost there.
Nina behind them with terrible power cast the dead who tried to rise in the waves back against them. A bit of necromancy she hated to show and didn't want to talk about when they all were washed to shore, bedraggled, bloodied, and without any way home.
Kaz forced himself to his feet, stumbled as the watery edges tried to pull him back. "Northeast," he rasped hoarsely, like a destination was both the question and the answer needed right now.