abraxaslogs | Smart men are always looking for loopholes.

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Smart men are always looking for loopholes.

WHO: Jesper Fahey and you!
WHAT: Catch-all for October
WHERE: Cadens, Nocwich, Horizon
WHEN: Throughout October (may add event things)
WARNINGS: Nothing right now.

[ooc: feel free to wildcard below or ask me for a custom starter on plurk]

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Abby walks her way from the arch toward the wall and makes her way back to 'ground.' Stopping and leaning against the wall because she wants to and definitely not because of the vertigo involved in her new powers.

"It's the boredom for me. Having access to near infinite music, videos of cats being dumb, and bullshit humans make is hard to just- not have." This isn't to say she's never been bored, she's been bored all the time at home. But she could do things about it. She just didn't want to. "I guess being stuck on just one planet is the same deal."

There's a small smirk on Abby's face at the idea of Jesper joining a space exploration crew. Because the vibe she'd always gotten from nerd spaces was that a lot of them really wanted to fuck aliens. "See the stars, escape dangerous places, see what weird sex things hot aliens are into?"

She's not judging, she is just using what she knows to have a little fun.

"Saints I miss her." It feels so long ago that the Crows were all together. Because he has a year and a half here, and a year back home, and that's more time than they actually spent as a crew. And yet it is so bright in his head, frozen, as the best heist of his life, and in general.

"I know." He has a year on him. A fantastic one. One of true love and abiding friendship and feeling at ease in his body and with another person. And since Wylan showed up here, they've been anything else. Jesper is usually so good at hiding behind his smiles but he looks sad for a moment, and then resolved.

"You know, whenever I talk about you to other people, or try to explain you, it always comes back to how you changed my life for the better. How important you are to me." Jesper leans back in his chair, almost shy, darting looks to Wylan, unsure of what to say here but willing to figure it out as he goes. He usually just speaks from his heart, and it's not always coherent. Maybe I liked your stupid face. "And then I was like hey, Jes, you know who hasn't heard that? Wylan."

That sounds too complicated for me. Baking isn't really my thing. Growing up I hunted and cooked for me and my Da, typical farmland stuff. Sugary treats weren't really in great supply. That's probably why the first time I had a waffle I thought I'd died and gone somewhere beautiful.

[ He and Nina are on the same page about that, it's their favorite thing, and it's still one of his favorite things, in her honor. His domain even smells like waffles when people walk in, on purpose. Jesper took care of the household after his mother died and Colm just sleepwalked through life and work for a decade. They weren't bad times, only boring ones, until he got to run off. ]

I had it at Thanksgiving, it wasn't my favorite. It's a bit mushy and now that I'm seeing the insides, I understand why!

[ All pies can be a little mushy but that one in particular felt mushy. Jesper will eat anything so if he is handed pumpkin pie, he will eat it, but he'd probably take something else first. He also loves sweets, for the reason he already said, that he didn't get them. Going to Ketterdam meant getting everything he dreamed of. Friends, community, food, freedom. It's no wonder he looks back on that time so fondly. ]

As if we need a reason to drink margaritas together. But I do love when it comes with a party.

[ Jesper's drank so many new beverages thanks to Julie, as she has a wider variety of liquors where she's from. He loves mixed drinks. It's a good thing he can't get drunk in the Horizon unless he wants to, because he would have been stumbling around with how much he sometimes consumes when going to her events. It's worth it. They're both party people.

He is following her by carving but he does make his eyes more circular with sharp eyebrows over it to make the pumpkin look angry. The teeth he carves are jagged. He isn't going to make it pretty this way, but he can still get the theme! ]

So no hints, huh? Rude. [ Jesper laughs. ] I love him, I'm going to make him a dozen hats for every occasion. Who knew a sharkman would be so sweet? Between him and the wisecracking raccoon, Solvunn's become an interesting place.

I didn't really cook much. I lived with my parents, we ate a lotta freezer food. Or my mama cooked. Then after... things weren't real conducive to cookin' most of the time.

[ Maybe if she had gone to Boulder, if the witch appeared in her dreams and asked her to come, she might have learned. Julie learned the basics at home, how to make pasta and grilled cheese and macaroni. Anything she could simply dump on a tray from a box and bake for a set amount of time was fine. But actual cooking? Baking? No, no one really taught her.

And in Vegas, cooking was a chore far, far beneath her station, and anyway, she was so hopped up on coke and champagne all the time that she rarely ate more than a few bites at a time. ]

Oh, pumpkin pie only gets a spotlight at Thanksgivin' 'cause it's so close to Halloween. Pecan pie is the real star, and everyone knows it. My granny used to put bourbon in hers. [ She chuckles a little, cleaning up the cuts she's made on the eyes. ] Cinco de Mayo is fun, though. My town was boring white as hell, but was in farm country, and Mexicans used to do a lotta farm work. Seasonal stuff. So it was a good time. Everyone loves a good piñata.

[ She's getting ready to start raving about how perfect and wonderful Nanaue is, but then Jesper says raccoon, and she stops in her tracks, mouth still open. It takes her a minute, but then her eyes go wide and she stops carving to gently push Jesper's shoulder. ]

Oh, it was a fuckin' raccoon! I knew that guy was somethin' weird, I just couldn't figure it out. I thought it was a jellicle cat, from CATS.

[ As with many things Julie says, there's a lot to unpack here. She met Rocket once, he was in costume, and she was absolutely blasted on fairy wine.

She will not be explaining that last sentence. ]

Wilhelm laughs into the kiss and resists the old urge to glance around, check if anybody saw. He hadn't told Jesper about his appointment to the Conclave, because he didn't want to make a big deal of it, but he's not surprised that Jesper knows anyway. He has plenty of connections in Thorne.

"It's not that exciting." Idly, he plays with a strand of hair. "We've met with some castle officials, like, once. I never even know what to say."

It’s strange, knowing Jesper knows more about him than Wylan realizes or knows about Jesper. A year makes a difference when getting to know someone. The Wylan Jesper knows knows him better, can probably read him better, knows when things aren’t said what he means. This Wylan still really doesn’t know this boy who he’s fallen in love with.

Wylan glances up, a little surprised though there is a pleased look in his eyes. “You talk about me to people?” That might not be what he was supposed to take away from that. He blushes though and looks up at Jesper. “You tell people that? That I did that?”

Jesper is right, it is nice to hear. He’s never felt so disconnected from Jesper, not since before the ice court and even then it wasn’t like this. “Then why-“ he cuts himself off, not sure if he wants to ask, not sure if he wants to know the answer. But he had promised Inej he would be brave and actually talk to Jesper. He can do that.

“Then why do you keep pushing me away?”

"Of course I talk about you to people, Wy. I love you. You are my first love." Maybe not his only or his last, but he is his first, and Jesper feels that way, truly. Wylan changed who he is, how he saw himself, what he thought of himself. Colm said he was good for him, and he was right. The fact Wylan seems surprised about that means that he messed it up, not saying this earlier.

Jesper waits instead of jumping in after the why, letting Wylan decide what he wants to say. It's not easy. None of this is easy. Wylan's a pain point for him, has been since he arrived here all that time ago.

"Because I don't want to hurt you." Jesper reaches out to take his hand. "I promised you monogamy back home and I can't do it here. I love other people too, but it doesn't change that I love you. My heart isn't cut into pieces of a pie." That's also not how he saw it before, when it was just them either, he's always had a big open heart. "You were jealous when I kissed Kuwei thinking it was you. You might not be able to handle this."

Jesper checks his trinkets on the stall and reaches over to fix the clasp on one of them. All he has to do is touch it, it's also how he sometimes changes sizes on things so anyone can wear them. His scarves have sold out for the day, he makes very colorful ones that people like to get for the sand in the hair to stay out.

"I get that. I used to be a part of a gang, we always had things going on. Kaz kept me constantly on jobs and working so I wouldn't be bored." He was a good leader that way. He could tell Jesper was jumping out of his skin at times and needed the distractions. They didn't entirely know that the lack of Grisha power using was responsible for it, only the symptom.

"Absolutely!" He grins. "To all of the above." See the stars, escape danger, sleep around. His kind of future. "I really want to hook up with a turian, that's what Garrus is. Shepard won't share so I'd have to find another one down for a human mix."

Jesper has an eye for fashion and has been making clothes since he arrived, usually for the other Crows or for himself, and the core cloth went to his close friends. None of that is intentionally shiny, not like his own style, so he likes being able to stretch his wings out.

"Ah, a diplomat's reply." Jesper teases because he knows talking around a problem all too well, being a talker himself. "You are allowed to say mind your own business, Jesper, I won't take it personally." It also won't really stop him as he prods away occasionally, but most people know it comes from a place of care rather than gossip. He knows Sylvain's been tying himself into knots with the two of them, so it matters to him too.

He picks up a pencil, he has one of course, and taps onto the image. "I should make some very fashionable boots to go with that. A nice hair tie." It's not the sort of thing he's implying Claude should buy, all his suggestions are his own. "But as much as Hilda is a very glittery girl, I have a feeling she's more interested in behavior changes than shiny gifts."

Jesper on the other hand looks like he belongs there and that he's there for the obvious reason. Not only does he have weapons on him, the metal chest piece he's wearing turns into multiple knives at a moment's notice. He's not allowed guns here. He's dressed in black meaning he's ready to blend in with the darkness in there and he has a special pair of glasses for the dark. They're loosely on top of his head for the moment though. He cuts quite the hunter look at the moment.

"Yeah, we met when you made a sublime cocktail in the Feywilds." They probably both got drunk at the time. He does remember Eliot had a way with the drinks though, and he never, ever, EVER forgets a pretty face. It doesn't bother him that he doesn't remember though, they were drinking, and there was a lot of things going on. "Jesper Fahey." He salutes him.

"But Eliot, you don't strike me as the type to be hunting creatures." He absolutely looks out of place here. He smiles. "Bit lost?"

"You've got a good head on your shoulders, you should speak up. You have as much a right as anyone." Jesper is more confident in Wilhelm than Wilhelm probably is, but that's nothing new. Jesper is always the cheerleader for his friends, believing them capable of anything and everything. He lends his confidence wherever possible.

"Claude and Sam just went for another go, they're the responsible ones so it makes sense. I might nominate someone next time just to see their face. Someone who would be good at it, obviously." But simply not think about it themselves. Jesper likes surprising people to get them to live a little. Even if that living is in politics.

Jesper's traveled through the whole Horizon, he's fairly certain, and it's a few miles as far as he can tell. He did that early on because he just likes to know things and he found it interesting. He hasn't done more than make his domain and wander around though, and have sex with people from different factions. It was interesting to walk around though, it didn't take long. The Horizon feels like it is endless miles and miles, but it's magic so it can feel like anything.

He absolutely loves showing off, it's one of his favorite things in the world to do. It is why he does gun tricks that technically aren't necessary but they feel natural and necessary to him personally. He isn't able to pick up guns without a little twirl in them and he can do it with almost anything. He can do tricks even with a rifle, and he'd probably find a way with a sniper rifle, although all guns are snipers to him.

"My mum taught me when I was five. She was Grisha, same as me, or Zowa's what her people call it." Blessed. A far nicer word than the way Ravkans think of Grisha, but Grisha's the way most others think of it, so it is the word he thinks of. "These are her revolvers." It explains why he so comfortably carries them and why he copied the look for the ones in Cadens. "She was extremely skilled, hopefully I'll get to her level in a decade or so."

And Jesper's become quite good in the past fourteen months or so, but that just speaks to how much better a Durast can get, with the right training. "She died when I was seven." It used to be an almost impossible subject for him to talk about, but he's gotten better.

Well if you want to learn I know some things. Mostly meat and vegetables, if I'm being honest, but with flavors so it's not boring. We'd probably both have to take baking lessons from someone else, we can probably count on Sam for pecan pie.

[ Or count on Sam for any of these traditional dishes, apparently that's his thing. Jesper wouldn't know the phrase 'as American as apple pie' but he gets the energy from Sam when it comes to all these holidays and meals he likes the most. Ketterdam has more of an 'as sketchy and untrustworthy as Ketterdam' vibe to it. He didn't cook for a long time there, they just had actual inns and pubs with worthier food. ]

The Zemeni, my mother's people, had a lot of things like that. They're a very lively people, they have so many festivals and holidays. It's very work hard, play hard in Novyi Zem. And they love colors.

[ Jesper would say he gets basically everything from his mother. As much as he loves his father, they could not possibly be more different. Colm has red hair, he's pale, and he has a serious and paternal energy to him. As opposed to his mother who was dark-skinned, warm, and fun-loving. Also an amazing Durast, far more so than him, but Jesper feels like he's getting closer to her every day. He's such a momma's boy. The only thing he got from his father is his silver-gray eyes.

So basically he thinks he'd get along great with Cinco de Mayo and whatever this piñata would be. But he laughs at her reaction to Rocket, nodding and he chips away at one of the teeth. ]

Yeah I met him while he was trying to buy something off them and didn't have the honey pellets. He's a real interesting person, loves guns too. I think he's from one of those future spaceship places.

"You think it doesn't hurt seeing you with other people and then you keeping me at arm's length?" Wylan asks, his voice quiet so that it doesn't waver. He cried in front of Jesper once and he really, really doesn't want to do it again. "You explained that to me when I got here, and yeah maybe I wasn't onboard that second, but to be fair I just showed up in a strange world and you were telling me you love other people. I needed a minute. But then I kissed you and you acted like I shouldn't have, and I told you I miss you and nothing changed." He wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do.

"And for the record, I wasn't jealous of Kuwei I was mad that you thought it was me, and then worried you had terrible taste in men, he wasn't even good at demo." The last part is said slightly petulantly. He wasn't good at a lot of chemistry, it was insulting.

"You kissed me because you wanted me, and wanting me is easy, Wylan, but sharing me is not." It's probably arrogant to say that with such ease, but he knows it's true, people want him all the time. He's never been proven wrong! "I love you, do you think I could stand it if I was responsible for any of your pain? The others are easy because it doesn't hurt any of them."

They all knew the deal going in and it means every relationship he has is different and unique, but all on the same page from the very beginning. Wylan and him started out in their own place. Their own commitments. It's harder to navigate.

"Most of them are just lovers." As in, only there for fun sex and good friendship and they're happy about that. "But I'm in love with Kaz and Inej. And Mat. And you. It's not like it makes a huge amount of sense to me either, but I know how I feel."

"I kissed you because I love you, you idiot." He pulls his hand away and pushes back from the table exasperated. "And that's as easy as breathing, but if you would like to continue telling me how it's supposed to be hard and painful then be my guest, but you are the one who's not making it easy. Not anyone else."

He rolls his eyes up at the ceiling as if asking a higher power for patience. "I know you love them. You keep telling me that. I don't care. Just stop treating me like you know best. Just...stop."

Kaz leans into Jesper for a moment, savoring the closeness they have between them now. He craves it, something he had denied himself for so long, and yet he is still cautious. Not because it's not what he wants, but because he knows how much his fear could take control of him and he wouldn't be able to stop it before he hit the floor. It hasn't happened in a while, but he knows it could.

And yet his fingers ghost along Jesper's chest. Not afraid of touching him, but in savoring every chance he had to do so. It's been so long of knowing him and keeping him at arm's length that he still delights in every chance they have now.

Even if they have work to do.

So he sighs as he straightens, looking back down at the maps instead of at Jesper.

"I believe that as well. I don't think they'd help us, but they'll accept whatever summoned we bring with us. So long as we're not caught," he says wryly, knowing that if they were, the Free Cities would deny any knowledge of what they were doing. Not unless they were ready for war.

"How do we know about the symbols and how much they link us to the lands? If we brought people here would they be able to claim them by those alone."

He pauses a moment before adding. "When the creatures came... One of them bore the mark I do. For a time after my encounter with it... I made the Kaz Brekker the Barrel knew look like a nice gentleman. I avoided you and the others then but I couldn't avoid everyone."

Jesper stares up at him, and honestly, he can't help it, he loves when Wylan is annoyed at him. When he gets all irritated and sassy and not the sad little merchling he thought he was when they first met. Because Wylan has a spine of steel underneath his sweetness and he loves that about him.

He grins. "So you love me." Jesper's said it multiple times now and this Wylan's never said it to him directly, in this way. Technically they had only known each other a short time when they fell for each other. Over the year they were together, they exchanged those words multiple times, but it still matters to him to hear it.

Wylan's spent time with him, more time than they ever had in Ketterdam. So if he's fallen for him for real, it's not the thrill of the Crows or passion, it's them. "And it's as easy as breathing?"

Edited 2023-10-24 20:55 (UTC)

Jesper will distract him later, for now they are there to talk about the maps. He can't help it if he sometimes looks at Kaz and wants to put his mouth on every inch of his skin, which is impossible as they have only somewhat been able to get to some skin. It's still an impulse and he still feels that hunger, maybe someday he'll get lucky. He clears his head from his flirty energy, focusing.

"The most logical thing is to get them to Solvunn from Thorne, although it would mean the Free Cities would lock down for us. We're not going to get most of the Summoned willing to leave here anyway unless things are bad, but Thorne is the most at risk." Especially if the Free Cities is about to bang them out of the sky. He knows that technically Libertas got harmed far worse than anything in Thorne, but that was a surprise attack.

"Inej would have a higher chance of getting her Summoned tribe going in Solvunn, they have a lot more space and think we're godsent." Jesper doesn't sound terribly happy about it, but it's not entirely about being happy. If it's the thing the Crows think is for the best, and it makes Inej happy, he'll go to farmland. They could definitely make their own colony there.

He puts a hand on Kaz's clothed back. "The Arcana, apparently it's like a personality thing. It says something about who you are as a person. But it does seem weird it's something the creatures had too."

Wylan pauses, taking in Jesper's grin. "Oh don't be so smug about it, of course, I love you. How could I not? You and that stupid face of yours." Jesper's smile is enough to take the angry wind out of his sails, and he has to fight not to grin back at him, not yet.

"Loving you has always been easy, ever since the ice court, when I saved you from those guards." Now it's his turn to be a little smug. He deserves it, though if he's being honest he's probably been in love with Jesper from the moment they met, he just hadn't realized it. His stupid face and that perfectly shaped mouth.

There's a little bit of pain to Abby's expression at the word 'gang.' Other than rhyming with the not-word for Abby and her friends, it just kind of brushes up against a wound that seems a little less healed this month. A little more open to being irritated.

Jesper doesn't have all of his people, as far as Abby is aware. But he has some of them.

She shakes it off as the topic moves forward, smirking at how brazen and candid Jesper is about his interests. She liked sex, it was nice, it felt good. Jesper loved it, in all its forms. She may be willing to throw herself off buildings and run into danger, but she was not nearly as adventurous as Jesper was.

He was about as adventurous as she got, after all.

"You'll have to write to me about your adventures," She finally moved from the wall to peer over all that Jesper was poking and working on at his stall. Now that her head is a little more settled into her current (normal) gravity, "I'm sure out there has the same assholes as down here, just further away and the sign for the bathroom won't be in eng- whatever the fuck the language is here."

Abby doesn't know either Shepard or Garrus, so it really isn't her business and she really shouldn't ask- like that's ever stopped her before, "Why the curiosity, Shepard tell you something fun about Turian sex?"

That teasing gets a laugh from Claude since - well, guilty as charged even if it wasn't entirely his intention. Some habits are too hard to break, and the occasional circular answer falls well within there when it comes to those years of deflecting if not outright avoiding actually addressing what was said. Claude's also pretty sure he's said the same in regards to okaying someone else to tell him to mind his own business, and that's yet another thing the two of them share in common.

It's what follows which gives him pause for all of a second before laughter settles into a grin, albeit a bit of a knowing one. That's not an incorrect observation in any sense, nor is it one Claude takes as anything other than the care he knows Jesper offers those he cares about.

"I was thinking of this being a gesture for both, really. A long overdue one at that, as it's been a ... complicated last few years." To say the least; the same would've held true if they were back in Fodlan without those years coming into play in Abraxas. "Something we'll work on, hopefully."

As there are things to work on, and ones for Claude specifically, though for now he hums in thought while leaning back in his chair as the picture of ease. "I'll take you up on those other items at some point, definitely, though I think starting with this would be the right step first. Next time I'll also step aside to Hilda's far better abilities when it comes to designing something like this."

I mean, honestly, it makes me feel kinda dumb. Who can't figure it out when there's a cookbook? I'm okay with biscuits, though. Everythin' else turns out like, a little off.

[ Part of it is unfair self-criticism, but she really does seem to have a knack for mistakes or unfortunate outcomes. Things crumble or bake unevenly. Taste just a hint too salty. ]

Fun cultures always have the best food, too. I'm from the worst kinda borin' people there were back home. [ Julie is, unfortunately, from what would be described best as white trash. She's realized that this is a class that simply doesn't seem to exist in other worlds -- only equivalent Earth-dwellers tend to understand her background when she explains. ] When I got to Vegas, I tried all kinda stuff that I couldn't get back home. Sushi, paella, pad thai, everythin'. Now I can only get that stuff in the Horizon.

[ She heaves a sigh. Not everything about her world was a total wash. Food was something they'd had a lock on. It would be nice to be able to get her hands on some foods that don't seem to have translated into Abraxan cultures. ]

I only met 'im at the masquerade. He had like, a freaky little human face. But still the ears and the tail and all. [ Her nose wrinkles. ] He was kind of a dick. But maybe I'd be a dick if I were a raccoon too, I don't know. D'you think he's like, the brain of a human implanted into a raccoon body? That would be so fucking terrible, I bet he misses bein' human. Although those little raccoon hands are pretty similar to ours, I guess.

[ She will have to be stopped. ]

The news about his mother passing away when he had only been seven brings about a sympathetic expression to her face and she gives his arm a comforting squeeze. Hearing about some of his past makes all of this - the guns, the shooting range, the showmanship, but most importantly the level of detail and care that he puts into taking care of his guns - mean so much to him. It helps her understand him a little more. Shows her that there's more to the sparkly young man in front of her with the easy smile. If anything the loss makes her admire his ability to do everything he does and more.

"I'm sorry that you lost her so young. That's awful," she starts before faltering slightly. Awful doesn't encompass the experience of losing someone you loved but she didn't know what else to use at the moment. "I'm sure it's been a while but if you wanted to talk about it, we could." Everyone moved through grief differently, but she didn't want to discount what he might be going through or still grappling with. Losing someone like that...just because the wound scabbed over and healed didn't mean that it hadn't existed.

For years they have worked side by side, and yet now it feels different. There is no invisible barrier being kept between them where Kaz is utterly careful about where his body is at all times. Now there is this easy between them that Kaz had wanted forever and yet had no idea how to ask for it or even find it.

So now as they talk, he leans in close to Jesper, not worrying if their bodies touch. He thinks about so many things with the other man that he's left lightheaded and dizzy, and yet he welcomes those sensations if it means having more of Jesper every chance he gets.

Even if he knows now is not the time.

"The most logical thing, hmmm?" He can't say that has always been their plan, even if it makes sense in this moment. "I can't see fault in all you've said, though I guess I could if I tried," he teases, entirely deadpan in his delivery.

"Do we have an idea of how many are trying to get out of Thorne? And how many would want that if it was a possibility? It would give us an idea of how much room and space we're accounting for." And how much of a task it would be.

He glances at Jesper. "But then we're living on farms," he murmurs softly. "Not a life I think either of us is looking for."

They were made for the city. The hustle and bustle, the livelihood and the liveliness. No matter where either of them had started.

"Though if we did create a Summoned enclave, we could eventually build our own city. If they don't destroy us in the process."

It's easy talking about this and not the arcana, if only that it had led him to behavior he knows the others think is well behind him.

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Smart men are always looking for loopholes.

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