Autumn Open Post

[callmeles]

Autumn Open Post As we know, I love my AUs and PSLs! I love exploring worlds and discovering how little changes can tumble and create big changes. My characters are top-leveled but feel free to add your own and let me know if there's someone you'd like! ♥

C

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time is an illusion!

[withoutanet]

Inej is still unsure how he knows she's there but she's long since stopped being surprised. Instead, inwardly, she's started to see it as some sort of game. Although, the word game was too playful of a word for Ketterdam.

She owed a lot to Kaz Brekker, even if she wouldn't verbally say it out loud. What he's taught her so far was eons better than everything since arriving in Ketterdam.

Instead of disappearing further into the shadows, Inej slips next to him without a sound and keeps pace with him. Was she invited to this? Maybe or maybe not but she'd made a habit of following him occasionally.

Just in case.

"Evening, Kaz," she says, keeping her eyes peeled at everything around her before glancing at him. "Business as usual?"

[bealufull]

Anyone that knew Kaz, so really nobody entirely, might notice that the scowl softens. Not gone, but its not the same as it is with others. Not when she's there. Especially when he's right about his shadow there, his Wraith, the Spider of the Barrel falling in alongside of him with greetings.

"Not quite as usual, but it might be entertaining as well. You're just on time," he notes, as if he had literally done anything to invite her along but that he went out in the night. "I'll need the backdoor unlocked. I could have taken the time to purloin the key but, truthfully, I hadn't the desire to wait."

He keeps walking, making turns into dark corners effortlessly, bringing them to the back of the gambling house known as The Golden Bend.

"If you would be so kind as to open the door for me, there's something in their safe that belongs to me."

Speaking softly and yet casually as if there's nothing untoward into breaking into a gambling house.

[withoutanet]

There's a hint of a smile on her mouth when he says she's right on time. Of course, she was. He always seemed to have plans, didn't he?

Inej glances at him and nods. "Must be something important if Kaz Brekker didn't want to wait," she can't help tease him just a little. But it also meant, at least to her, that he knew she would most likely be there to help him inside.

She walks with him, her footsteps not making a sound, and spots the back of the building coming up. Inej looks at him and without another word slips into the shadows to find an opening.

It takes less than seven minutes before the door unlocks and swings open, Inej stepping back so he can enter. It was embarrassingly easy. "I expected more of a fight," she says, her voice low. She didn't crave it as much as Jesper did - always looking for a fight or something to occupy his thoughts and time - but all the same.

[bealufull]

He doesn't even look over when she slips away from him. He doesn't need to know where she went or how she was getting inside. That isn't the part that matters. All that matters is that she does exactly what he needs, she opens the door.

So he stands there by the door, fingers lightly curled against the crow head of his cane and waits. Even as the door swings open, he's already moving to step inside as if he had calculated the exact moment she would open it.

"They trust in their tiny locks and assume that since they don't know the means in and out of places that no one else does either," he says in a low voice, pitched just for her ears. "Come on. It's in the back, in the office."

The sound of the club can be heard, a distant din of chimes and bells that holds the attention of most in the building and leaves them free to roam.

"I'll only be a minute. Don't let anyone bother me."

Because he trusts her to have his back, no matter what.

[withoutanet]

Inej nods as they walk toward the back office, keeping an ear and eye out for anyone who may wander along their path.

"You got it," she says and as they get to the office, stations herself close by but out of sight. After all, she was the Wraith. She worked best when no one could see her or know she was there.

There are days and times that Kaz drives her up the wall, and there are times like this when they work so effortlessly together and when he shows his trust in her that it makes it worth it. She's not sure what he's getting out of that safe but it didn't really matter. Kaz always had a reason, she's found.

[bealufull]

All that they endure and everything they have in this world and the life they've made, and he knows that he can rely on Inej above and over anyone else. She would always be there for him, and he knew that while she was often frustrated with him, when it came to moments like these, he knew there was no questioning why he was there and what it meant to do as he asked.

Not that he was there long. The safe was nothing new, old enough that many might well be capable of cracking it so it didn't take him long.

He gets the things he needs from the safe, tucking them into his jacket. He isn't gone long before he steps out of the room, closing the door and heading out into the shadows. There isn't a word, knowing she would follow along with him, or meet him back at the Crow Club.

[withoutanet]

She watches and waits and breathes a silent sigh of relief when she watches him exit the office without anyone coming close to catching him. It hadn't taken long so she's not surprised but still, it's nice when things go in their favor.

Inej meets up with him outside of the Golden Bend. "Jesper would have been disappointed there wasn't more excitement," she says dryly but with a tiny smile.

[bealufull]

"Jesper needs to accept that not everything is a spectacle. Even here in the Barrel."

Not that he can argue that a lot isn't a massive spectacle, and that's what draws in marks. That said, there's much that operates on a level that most won't ever know it happened. Not even those victim of those actions.

"Besides, a spectacle would have someone there checking their things. With this who knows how long before they realize someone has been there."

[withoutanet]

A little grin tugs on her mouth as she keeps her eyes focus on the path ahead. "It's Jesper, if there isn't one, he makes one," she says, and she knows exactly where they would find him currently too if she had to guess.

But she's different. She prefers when it doesn't get dicey. It's easier to manage that way. She's not opposed it, she can handle herself now.

"You need anything else tonight?" If he did, she's sure he would tell her or have told her. It's not like she has plans at all but it would make the difference between going back to the Club and going to her room vs. something else.

[bealufull]

He considers that for a moment as if truly thinking about it. He glances at her and then makes a soft sound. "I believe it would be best if you stayed close for the night. I'm hoping it won't be needed but then you never know."

Except he was sure she wouldn't be needed, but admittng that she's wanted is something else entirely.