abraxaslogs | {Catch the freedom of falling

"We might be able to go beyond city limits as bandit hunters. Not monster hunters, but the next thing." Jesper has already been essentially sworn off monsters by the many friends of his that tell him not to bother. Bandits however are fair game. "Many of them hide in the Badlands, between us and Thorne." Smartly! They stay off the radar themselves and only swoop in when they can take something. Maybe all of then should be paying more attention to that way of thinking.

Jesper is the loud mouth of the three of them, so if anyone is going to be terrible at keeping it quiet, it's him, but he nods firmly in agreement with the other two. Sometimes things only need to be within Crows. He might mention it to Mat in terms of thoughts, but not in terms of actual plans, until they need to get down to it.

"We can't guarantee that Solvunn will stay neutral, so we either get our own piece of the Badlands, or go elsewhere." He's thinking the fae territory, if he's being honest, although he's heard no one survives it.

She nods. “Something to consider. Let’s look more into it, see what we need to know. I’m sure Geralt could help us,” this is mostly said to Jesper, who is more familiar with the other man in question.

“I’ll start looking into maps and territories,” there are no Sikurzoi mountain caves to shelter her in this place, she’ll have to start learning more about the broader parts of this world they’ve found themselves in.

In truth, Kaz isn't certain about any of this except that it all will benefit what he's already promised Jesper and so he will have to make good on that. Which means taking the chances he has to explore as much as he can. There's a map to be made and even then he needs to know the land.

"Don't I look it?" His tones dry, a brow arching, knowing that Inej is not likely to be bothered by his tones. Or that look that hides his uncertainty about this place and going in with as little information as they have.

If they were sitting somewhere, Inej might kick him under the table, as it is, she only casts him a brief glance before nodding at the pair of them. "Then let's go."

The initial part of the journey is... well, frankly, it's devastating to see all of the destruction caused by the attack from the Queen of Thorne. These are the kind of images that will stick with her for a long time to come. She keeps her eyes sharp for anything alarming as they go.

Kaz had been more than willing to work on forming this place into his own but he has to admit, the idea sounds interesting as well. Making their own place, with their people. Enough time and the right resources and they could be a kingdom in this place to reckon with.

And Jesper and Inej would be thankful for those they considered friends to be in safer places, especially now that the war they'd planning for seemed about to start and not just some far mental image.

"We'll do what we need to while we're planning. Helping with this place and seeing what we can do about supplies and money for when the time comes. Being in service means we can keep our ears open and see what details we can find as well as those sympathetic if we need it.

"These bandits may have places they've started of their own, and it could be interesting to find out why and how they started." For all they knew, they were people like them or the friends Jesper and Inej wanted to rescue.

I understand.

[She isn't surprised by the Commander's pointed questions, but- she has to keep her word.]

Do you trust me, Shepard?

Claire has a very specific feel about her, the kind that isn't all that different to street kids in The Barrel. Made of sharp wit, and even sharper knives, soaked in blood and borne of tragedy or greed and sometimes both. But it's not just that, either. It's something else. Other. Something that burns a little familiar, but not quite familiar enough to pin it down.

Something in her posture, the tightness in her shoulders, makes Inej suggest, "Seems like a night for whisky," she pours it up and slides it back toward her. A classic, really. No one frequenting bars would say no to a few fingers of whisky, would they?

This is my job, right now, and you're asking me to bend the rules for you. I gave these people my word, and I have to assume that if this was something straightforward and easy, you'd just say it: people don't need to hide legitimate business, and they don't need to ask for trust if what they're doing is above-board.

That isn't to say I'm unwilling, but up until now you've made clear your intention to keep what's going on between us nice and professional. This isn't that. So.

Are you gonna trust me?

I know. I know I'm asking a lot, and I DO trust you. But right now, I need you to trust ME and know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important.

[And, the fact remains that if she can't get Shepard's help, she'll just go find him on her own. And she trusts Shepard is smart enough to realize that, as well as considering all the potential trickle-down if something happened and it came out that she knew something about it in the first place. It won't, because this is a simple hand-off delivery, but the Commander doesn't know that, and Inej isn't in a place where she can outright tell her right now.]

[There is a noticeable pause.

It's a break in protocol; that much will have her in some kind of trouble. If she's lucky, it'll be minor, a chewing out, a snide comment or three. She's had worse, and doesn't have more pride than practicality. But if she escorts Inej to the RO— the Quartermaster she reminds herself— and something happens about it, Shepard wil certainly be held responsible.

Well on one hand, this much is certainly true: Inej does need Shepard to trust her. Otherwise this is her ass on the line.

On the other, Shepard didn't get to where she is by mistrusting her gut, or by being a bad judge of character. She thinks for a moment, then makes an executive decision.]

Fine. Meet you at the gate in twenty.

She turns at the sound of a voice addressing her, a pleased smile on her face at the greeting. "Oh, really? I had no idea," she may be familiar with the shopkeepers she frequents for Mags, but that hardly means she knows every single one in the whole city.

"That would be great," she nods at his offer. "Thank you...?" she trails off, to give space for him to give his name.

She notices the way he seems to give her a quick once-over and it's appreciated. She's fine, yes, but it's the concern that she might not be that sticks to her.

"Yes," she nods. "but I'm not sure I'll find who I'm looking for at this rate." between the wreckage and the scattering of people, it's a bit hard to hope for right now.

[She isn't sure what to make of the silence at first. Had she given up? Was she weighing the options? Was this the sure sign of a hammer swinging down into a solid and firm 'no'? She doesn't know Shepard like she knows some, can't begin to guess which way she might land.

But when her next message comes through, the relief is palpable as it washes through her.]

Thank you.

[And in twenty minutes, that's where she'll be: At the gate, as requested.]

[The gate is, as they always are, a hub of activity. Even on a calm and quiet day it would be bustling with people entering and exiting the city, inspections, bargaining, and people trying to sell something to those stuck in line or newly arrived.

There's always a guy with deeply suspicious sausage buns. Always.

But today it's a much larger and more rapid chaos than usual; the military works on its own rules. Shepard is ready and waiting when Inej arrives, dressed in a somewhat dusty uniform, and she cocks her head to Inej as a clear follow me.]

Don't talk to anybody, don't make eye contact, walk like you're on your way to do a murder. [This is good advice, Shepard feels, for those who are in a hurry and don't want to be stopped. Not everyone can be invisible in a crowd, and the next best thing is to be unstoppable. Shepard's good at that one, at least.] Which you'd better not be.

[It isn't a threat: if anything, Shepard sounds a little resigned to the idea. Something about the barely-constrained bedlam all around them, of people offloading and wagons coming in and out, of all the shouting— well, it's not how she'd have organized it. But it isn't her place to say.]

Last anybody saw him, he was first in on this mess. [As you would expect. She approves.] Should be coming back off duty for mess within the hour; if we're lucky, you can catch the guy before he ends up heading back to base— there.

[She spots him, with his mark of office standing out on the shoulder. He's on a slightly raised bit of ground, surrounded by aides coming and going, and gesturing with a clipboard, clearly harried and just as clearly exasperated. Might be that all this isn't how he'd have preferred it, either.]

You see him? [She'll follow, at least up to the point where it's a proper hand-off.] There's your guy.

[Hopefully this'll be quick.]

"Claude," he offers after that pause and holds up a hand, briefly, before hesitation kicks in and he drops it back down to his side. "You'll have to forgive me as I'm still figuring out where handshakes are common and where they aren't. I'm used to something more formal - like bowing - where I'm from, so pretend your preferred greeting was here." That's offered with a grin to make it clear this is a joke all at his own expense. "And you're Inej, right? I've seen you around the inn."

Slightly less so now that he's out more often than not, but with a nod back over his shoulder before he turns to head in the direction of where the other shop waits. "I've worked for the man you're looking for here and there. Fortunately, he keeps a pretty reliable schedule so he should still be there. Have you met him before?"

"Hey." Nadine is on her way back from delivering some supplies to one of the many places set up for treating refugees who are still recovering. At least her education is advancing in leaps and bounds, with all of this.

"The Academy of Medicine? Yeah, I know a lot of the professors there."

Mm. So it is for all of them. If not for the scrawled messages in their heads, he'd be losing track of his own people, too.

He lifts a hand in a noncommittal gesture. "You have a name?"

Is there a chance he knows? Perhaps. Among the workers, he's come across repeated faces that have started to grow familiar.

He bends to gather up his bag while she answers, tucking the filthy bear inside.

Cassandra nods back, and they set off.

It’s devastation that greets them, and although the destruction and devastation that had befallen Whitestone had been different for the most part, there is a similarity there all the same that turns her stomach. But she can help. She can do something, here, now. And that’s what’s important.

Her gaze is sharp, observant, taking careful notes and keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Marking the changes and the destruction. Mapping them.

"Geralt probably won't want us to go out there. We'll talk around it." This also to Inej, again since they both know the witcher. He is protective of people under his wing, so to speak, but wouldn't stop them either. They'll just have to be smart about it. It's no matter.

"So maybe go in not shooting right away, figure out if they're worth talking to?" The bandits, he means. If they want to figure out how and why they started.

She nods her agreement with Jesper's comment. Geralt isn't likely to outright deny them anything, but there would be copious warnings, and instances about the way they do things.

"Then we have a place to start," she nods, looking between them. It wasn't much, but it was something, and they've faced worse odds.

There's no change in Kaz's expression as they go. Pale, cold eyes taking it all in, filing away things for later when it's him and Inej and Jesper. It's for that reason he makes small notations on a slip of paper in his palm, using the stub of a pencil. He doesn't need it to remember what's going on but to add markers to his map on the wall. They're known areas but nothing he's personally seen or been part of in his time there.

"You've both been here longer than I have," he says in a low, rumbling voice. "Were there outward clues to this war they were kidnapping people for or just timing they were snatching people just as a war started?"

It's a thought that keeps rolling around in his head. It felt convenient that war had started, but then he hadn't been there long at all.

[She isn't surprised by the short run of instructions as a greeting, but Inej nods her agreement to them and doesn't bother hiding the slight roll of her eyes at the last bit.]

I don't make a habit of it, it doesn't please my Saints. [She has enough blood on her hands as it is, adding more to that isn't something she personally seeks out.]

I understand- it won't take long, promise.

[Once he's been pointed out to her she nods and heads toward him. It's a short exchange, a brief conversation- Shepard might catch something about a delivery, but the details aren't there. Inej thanks the man for his time, sends well-wishes for their efforts, and slips away once again.]

"There've been tensions, yes. It's clear that The Free Cities and Thorne, especially, have been... in a particularly precarious position for quite some time," Inej starts as they continue down the path, keen eyes seeking at all times.

She shakes her head a bit, "I don't think it was timing... I think it's been brewing for a long time, they found a way to bring other people into it and hope that by isolating us from the others, feeding us their personal propagandas, they can make us see their reason, fight their war."

"Have you found anything in your research that's been any more helpful, Cassandra?"

"Rachelle Adwarin, an alchemist, I believe?" No one she'd ever heard of, but she wouldn't have. Geralt, though, he knows people. Even if he isn't exactly a people person in the broad sense, he's good at making connections, there's some hope there, at least.

"Yes," she nods at the question. "That's what I'm banking on. Do you know a Dr. Eras Thawne?" hope tinges at the edges of her voice. If she can complete these deliveries, something good will come of it, she's certain. And she's a woman of her word, she made a promise, and she intends to keep it.

{Catch the freedom of falling

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