noreasonneeded | IC/Overflow Post Part III

It's satisfying to see the culmination of all their hard work. She's overseen the holiday events and decor for the club as well as the decor for the new one. She can see all the business they're gaining tonight. There's been a never ending stream of people coming in and lingering. They spend their coin gambling or imbibing. It had been a genius idea of Genya's to offer free, albeit watered down alcohol, to the gamblers. The drunker they are, the more reckless they are with their money.

They haven't realized that the house always wins.

Once she's certain that all is in hand, she quietly retires upstairs. She follows Kaz like a house cat that silently pads after its preferred person. She smiles at him in greeting when she steps into his office. In her hand, there's a plate of treats and appetizers from downstairs. She knows he's been too busy to think about eating, but now they are finally getting a chance for respite.

"Perhaps in the morning," she replies as she takes a seat across from him. She smooths out the skirt of her jewel green dress. "I'm sure Jesper will be coming to me or Nina to help with the hangover."

"I'd say let him suffer to learn a lesson, but I need to make use of his skills in the morning. Best ensure he's in good shape for it." There's no rest for the wicked, and for Kaz that means working the day after winter's eve. He slowly rolls his shoulders and arches his back in his seat, feeling the stiff muscles pop. A body is merely a tool in his mind, and he pushes his to the limit. His cane with the glittering jewels for crow's eyes rests against the chair's armrest, hooked around it. His boots are neatly set near his chair within easy reach if needed. Absolutely everything has a place with purpose, and is neatly put there with nary a pen out of sorts. Kaz is as meticulous in his space and habits as his mind is in sorting through plans and projects.

He pours her a drink from the bottle he snagged for her and nudges the glass towards her, then helps himself to one. The whiskey burns down his throat and belly, but leaves a pleasantly sweet aftertaste. His eyes cast over the food she's brought. Tantalizing tidbits from the tasting menu crafted with him and his chef and bartender. Quality items, but ones that inspire pairing with expensive drinks. It's honestly better food than Kaz's efficient palate needs, but then again, he's not the target audience for the luxuries provided at the club. He merely profits off of them.

There are no decorations in his office, no hint of holiday cheer. The air up in the attic is a bit cold in the winter and warm in the summer, because Kaz can't be bothered to spend money to ensure the temperature is perfect in his living space. Downstairs where the Crows congregate is another matter, but up here? Kaz lives off very limited means. It's never bothered him, but he's aware of it now that the woman he cares about is sitting with him.

Slowly he gets to his feet, clad just in black socks now that match his black pants and suit jacket. He's wearing a silver and gold vest, his only nod towards the season for show appearances. The boss of the club wearing it made sense. He heads towards his bed and snags the blanket, moving to lay it over her lap. "Here. If it's cold."

She thanks him quietly for the drink. He's poured it into the glass that's somehow become hers over time. There's nothing truly distinguishing about it. The glasses are plain and simple, but hers has a light, frosted white design around the bottom. She wonders how this one had ended up with the rest of the set although she does like having her own special glass.

"I hope you're letting him sleep in at least," she teases. She knows Jesper will be absolutely unpleasant if he's both hungover and not well rested. Grumpy Jesper is also incredibly whiny which just adds to the package. She picks up a cookie off the platter and takes a bite with her drink.

She doesn't pay much attention while Kaz moves around. They're both comfortable here in this space. She's even removed her own boots to wiggle her toes on the cold hardwood. She suddenly finds him before her with a blanket that he tucks around it. An adoring smile blossoms on her features.

"Thank you," she tells him carefully. The blanket smells like him which makes it even better. "It's perfectly cozy!"

"... fine, he can sleep in. Sleep should be overrated, though." Kaz has incredibly high standards, and a strong aversion to sleep, so the thought of letting someone sleep in is foreign to him. It's not that he doesn't provide his workers with bonuses, but mornings off are rarely one of them. She has a point, though. He doesn't really want to deal with Jesper whining, and he can use that time elsewhere. Not giving himself a break of course. "I've gotten far ahead by not sitting on my ass where others dawdle." Would it ever be far enough? Likely not.

His stomach does a funny flop at seeing the adoring smile on her face. There's a moment where he simply stands, stupefied in watching her, before coming back to himself and shuffling back to his seat. "Yeah? Good. I never bothered improving the insulation up here." He takes another sip of his drink and leans forward to pick up one of the snacks. A cracker with cheese and a fruit chutney on it. Savory with a bit of sweet and tart are where his preferences lean. He notes that she's also shucked her shoes. Her feet must be sore, too. Neither one of them minds hard work.

"Crazy how people get during the holidays. Don't get me wrong, it's good for business. Still. They act like it's really different than any other day, when really, it's just good marketing."

"And what will you be doing when the sun rises, my little fox?" she asks with a raised, expectant brow. Kaz is a consummate hard worker. He has a work ethic that no one else can match. Even Genya, as busy as she enjoys being, likes to sleep in after be culmination of weeks of work. She intends to sleep in a little tomorrow then rise when her body decides to. She used to wake before the sun to attend to the Queen. Now she can sleep in though even when she does, it's not very late. It's nothing like Jesper or Nina.

She's pleased when he eats from the plate she's brought. It's good to see him take care of himself even if it is with her gentle and not so gentle reminders. She's made sure the plate is full of things she knows he'll enjoy to tempt him further.

"While that's true, I suppose people are more sold by the idea of what it can be. Perhaps chasing a memory or a what if," she muses. She's always the more philosophical of the two. "There's something magical about the holidays, and I suppose they think they can use that to make their dearest wishes come true."

"What I do best. Scavenging, setting traps, and hunting." The crow symbolism is so embedded with Kaz Brekker that some forget, or never learn, that it was part of the Dregs before he was. He simply built upon that poor reputation, turned it on its head into something new. The fox analogy is purely Genya's, but he doesn't mind it. Really though, if he was pressed to look for one image that told his story, it wouldn't be a real animal at all. The griffin has always spoken to him, that piecemeal monster who is built for practicality. When he climbed out of the harbor, he's put himself back together and discarded from his being what might propel him forward and what might hold him back. Various bits and bobs that others would cast aside as junk and broken, only he's bent them into his current shape with purpose.

It's less that Kaz isn't familiar with philosophy, and more that he finds little practical use in the application of it aside from using it against people for his advantage. After all, he couldn't very well profit off the holidays as much as he does if he didn't understand why people were so attached to them. He simply scoffs at the folly he finds in their beliefs, rather than not being able to understand how they arrived at them. "People want an easy out rather than to work hard," he replies tartly. "It's no different than anyone who gets desperate, or feels stagnate. They think a time of year is special because people in power have convinced them of it, and that if they spend the little they have in this "special" way, they'll reap some great reward. It's a gamble, and that's not magic. That's just laziness unless they're smart enough to rig the system themselves. You said it yourself. People are "sold" on an idea - and when there's a sale, that means someone is profiting from it if it's a good one."

"There are some things hard work can't achieve," she points out. She agrees with him that hard work can lead to goals, but sometimes there's an impossible position without any feasible solution. She'd felt like that under the Darkling's thumb. She thinks that perhaps that death had been a solution, one she'd come very close to in her escape, but she's glad that hadn't ultimately been her fate.

She shakes her head. She doesn't want to think all that she'd left behind. The plight of the Grisha is something that still aches in her chest amidst Ravka's Civil War. She has no place there between saints and monsters and righteousness. In Ketterdam, she can be anything, do anything. She's no indentured servant here. She's her own mistress. She sips her drink thoughtfully.

"Wait until the holiday for lovers. They're even easier marks them," she reminds him. She can easily figure out specials and decor for that. She thinks the promise of a romantic evening out with all their prices jacked high would make them a pretty penny.

"I disagree. Hard work is always enough. Sometimes it just requires time, and choices that most people refuse to make." How many times has even his crew looked at him like he's grown another head, because of one of his plans? Because they require diving into the depths of one's morality, because they require risking one's life - and sometimes losing a life, too. He's built on strong Kerch values while also being jaded to how those systems actually play out. That the ideology that anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps only works if you can avoid those in power stepping on you, first.

He's just found that if you point a dagger upwards, you can stab the rich in the foot, twist their ankle, and end up standing on top of them.

He gives a faint shrug, drinking his whiskey. "But I'm told that I'm a bastard, so there's that." He cheekily raises his glass in a toast at her, drinking again afterwards. The bodies he's buried or left floating he's either outrun or refuses to sleep and see again. It's a living. It's more than merely surviving, these days. "You don't have to remind me about the holidays," he reminds her in turn with an amused smirk. "I have had this club for a long time, we always run specials. You help with them this year is, of course, appreciated and compensated." Kaz isn't above adding creative talent to his fold to improve things, after all the club's staff has managed for years and slowly expanded all that time, but making money off of celebrations is certainly not new for him. "Your taste has certainly been appreciated as well by the staff. I'm glad you fit in well."

Edited 2024-12-31 14:54 (UTC)

"Hard work cannot give you family nor love," she counters. Those are wishes she'd made in holidays past. She'd come across family by chance. Finding the Dregs and making a place amongst them had truly been the best gift. They are her home now. She now wonders about love as she looks at Kaz. She knows her feelings. They've not spoken so explicitly about them, but they have an understanding, she thinks.

She smiles fondly at Kaz. He's always thinking of the next scheme, the next opportunity. She admires his sharp mind. He can see the bigger picture and put all the pieces together. "A rather handsome bastard, you are," she teases. She tells him not of the rumors and words the Barrel has for her. Genya Safin and her fiery red hair and refined elegance had raised brows amongst the other gangs. They assume she's a whore of some sort, some even say she's his whore. She pays no mind to that chatter. She knows what she is and who she is to Kaz and the others. That's enough for her.

"But you've never quite had my flair for decoration and allure," she winks. She raises her drinks in toast. "I'm happy to offer my help. I do enjoy putting together a good party." Which is essentially why these specials are. She charms and flits around with smiles to draw the customers in and to spend more and more.

"Family does require hard work by my estimation, both to get and to keep." He knows they can each only speak to their experiences, and in his, it was easier to lose family than to keep it. The poverty that ended up costing him his parents and first home, the swindling of the city that cost him Jordie. The loss of the Crows and the Dregs to Rollins. The building up of a group of misfits whom he could look after and tend to, but not without a good deal of time, money, and effort. No, nothing about family nor love feels like it's come easy for Kaz. Then again, he's not sure he would have trusted it if it had. He doesn't see hard work as a bad thing. He's used to living life with fists raised. These days he includes Genya in that group of people that he'll fight alongside and for, when and should she need it.

There's a slight tinge to his cheeks when she calls him handsome. He's still getting used to being seen as attractive and desirable. Complimenting his intelligence he finds easy to accept, but anything else leaves him needing a moment to gather his thoughts. Demon, devil, bastard, canal rat, brute, thug, thief, these are all words that he's turned on their heads to bear as a badge of personal pride. After all, it means that those who look down on him are noticing him, that he is on their radar as a problem. And he does so love to give people like that problems. Far better to be insulted by those in power, than to be what he was before, which was a voiceless child overlooked and unnoticed when he needed help. Well, he helped himself, and now they won't be able to ignore him. "Most focus on the bastard part. Then again, you're far from most people."

"You do bring something very useful to the table. Everyone who works at the clubs and store do." Kaz is never shy about noting he's amassed capable people, and is content to let them shine. The success is a combined effort, rather than due to any one person. It was already a success prior to Genya, but she's certainly added to it. He admires her for it, he does appreciate ambition. "And there'll be overseas ventures opening up in the near future as well, and with it more people to hire. And more ears on the ground then, too."

"You're not what they see you as. You're not even quite what you see yourself. You're so much more than that, Kaz," she replies affectionately. When Kaz looks at himself, he sees the survivor, the businessman, the last one standing. He's certainly all those things, but there's a heart underneath it all. A care for his people despite what he allows them to think. She knows in her bones that he'll never sell her out or let anything happen to her. Loyalty is the most precious commodity here.

She tilts her head thoughtfully at his plans. She knows that he wants to expand. He'll never be content. He's got an ambition that will spread wider and wider to see what else he can assume control of. It's his nature.

"I'd hate to leave you behind," she hesitates. She knows she'd be good at it, going to other places and helping him establish a foothold, but the thought of leaving the comfort and security of him behind makes her anxious.

IC/Overflow Post Part III

it's lovely! Ty!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I am SO sorry, January ran away with me.

❤️