There is a swelling storm and I'm caught up in the middle of it all

[itookashot]

WHO: Jesper Fahey and you!
WHAT: Catch-all for November
WHERE: Cadens and Horizon!
WHEN: Throughout November
WARNINGS: Reference to gambling addiction and addiction problems in general, NSFW scene within marked with NSFW.





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

Comments

[ordinar]

He nods. In one measure, at least, he was lucky. He can't imagine what his life would be like if there had never been an Erik, what he would be like absent Erik's influence, beyond the blurriest outline. He'd be much lonelier, he supposes. His thumb brushes over the packaging cradling his new snow globe, contemplating its contents. That's two gifts Jesper has gotten for him now; he would have to find a way to repay his generosity.

As they resume their walk through the market, Wilhelm settles into his place tucked into Jesper's side, bracketed by his arm. He likes it there. At the dropping of Inej's name, his expression brightens with recognition.

"I know Inej, she's cool," comes his glowing review. "So she's a part of your Cadens family?"

As Jesper had called it. It's a nice concept. In Thorne, they feel less like a family and more like a hostage situation these days.

[itookashot]

"She's a part of my gang, we're from the same world." Jesper doesn't know if that's come up if he knows Inej. The two of them are inseparable in Cadens so everyone there knows the two are locked at the hip, they live together, but outside of Cadens it may not be as obvious.

"We've been best friends for years. When I got here, she was in Solvunn, she was able to move to Free Cities during the peace summit to join me." The two of them couldn't bear the idea of staying a faction apart so when the option came up, they had to take it. But Inej knew that staying in Solvunn would probably have driven Jesper insane. He doesn't want to ever go back to a farmland, Cadens is far more his scene, and so she moved without question. Now with Kaz there it feels like it was the best move.

"She is very cool. Did you know she's an incredible acrobat? A tight rope walker."

[ordinar]

Inej, much like Jesper, seems too kind to belong to a gang. Wilhelm tries not to think too deeply about what such a life must demand. And he tries not to pass judgment, because from what Jesper had described, their city is a dog-eat-dog sort of place. It could be that finding a gang to stick with is the only way to make sure you don't get ground up in the jaws of the city.

Besides, the royal court is a kind of gang. The nobility is a kind of gang. The only difference is that they have the best lawyers and the arm of the media to cover up their crimes.

"I've seen her climb straight up and down a wall. And I never hear her footsteps, she's like a ghost." He laughs. "Now it all makes sense."

[itookashot]

That would be a fair assessment. Ketterdam is half criminals, half merchants, and sometimes both sides flip depending on the day or circumstance. Jesper joined that end after his addiction and his boredom made school untenable, and he's never looked back. Until right before coming here, when he agreed to be a merchant's house boyfriend for a time. He has no shame when it comes to criminal activity or what he's done in his past.

"I've known her for years and I still have no idea when she's behind me. It's become a joke between us." Jesper laughs. "Sometimes I'll just turn around and pretend I knew she was there, and then she'll be on the other side of me." He loves that about her though. He technically could change it, due to him practicing with his super hearing, but he hasn't been able to get that precise. And it's their thing. "Kaz is the only one who knows, I have no idea how."

[ordinar]

"Another friend of yours?" he asks. His eyes wander over the wares offered at every stall they pass, but most of his attention sticks to Jesper.

He likes hearing about Jesper's friends, the kaleidoscope of people he surrounds himself with. Jesper's world — not necessarily the literal planet he's from, but more so the space he's inhabited, the life he's lived — is so different from his. More interesting, more exciting.

Most of Wilhelm's friends were just people to pass the time with. The roots never really stretched deeper than joking around and having fun. For all that he'd bitched about having to leave his friends behind when he was sent to boarding school, the texting dried up fast. Group chats became foreign countries full of inside jokes he wasn't part of.

It's nice that Jesper has at least one friend from home here with him. So many months removed from his old life, Wilhelm wouldn't know what to do if suddenly a familiar face popped up. Well, maybe with one or two exceptions.

[itookashot]

"Kaz? Yeah, he's the boss. The leader of the Dregs, of the Crows." Jesper wonders what Kaz would make of Wilhelm. Probably the obvious, a sweet pigeon, exactly how Jesper saw him at first. Kaz has been trying to interact more with people here, maybe he won't be so quick to write someone off. A question for another time.

"I'm his second, always have been." His right-hand man, the one that Kaz puts faith in when sometimes he shouldn't have. Jesper's information-gathering and charming personality made him a very good contrast to the serious Kaz. There is fondness in his voice, the same as when he talks about Inej, he loves them, deeply.

"He's here too. Bit quiet and well, he'd stab me if I said shy, so let's say introverted." Although he would say in some ways Kaz is very shy. He puts on the Dirtyhands persona for good reasons, but underneath that, he is more hesitant about other people and what they think of him. "If you see someone tall, dark-haired, always wearing gloves, cheekbones that could cut glass, watching people instead of talking, that'd be him."

[ordinar]

Wilhelm starts to laugh, but then realizes that...Jesper might be dead serious about the threat of stabbing. He can tell by the warmth in his tone, though, that their relationship extends beyond the roles they play in their gang. It would be hard to thrive in that world, he supposes, without knowing who exactly you were entrusting your back to.

"Second in command? I didn't realize I was in the company of someone so important," he teases, leaning into Jesper's side.

Maybe start to wrap on this one?

[itookashot]

Kaz probably won't stab him now, but there was definitely a point in time when he wasn't entirely certain what his boss would do. He was very good at making them guess!

Jesper laughs. "That's right, second in command of the rising star gang the Dregs, you should be extremely impressed." Technically he gave up that position when he moved in with his merchling boyfriend, but maybe he'll always be it. It's not as if Kaz has replaced him yet. "And very turned on." He kisses his cheek.

sounds good

[ordinar]

Wilhelm laughs, hooking his fingers in Jesper's coat to keep him in his space. If he had another hand free, he'd be sliding it into Jesper's curls — but that can wait for later. He has two free lips, though, and he presses them to Jesper's for a little slip of a kiss. The crowd bustling around them doesn't matter much, and the perpetual twilight of Nocwich helps to create a sense of secrecy despite being out in the open.

"That's for being extremely impressed."

And...yes, turned on. He's stopped walking now. Leaning in again, he lets the next kiss linger.

"And that's for the snow globe."