apassingafternoon

"We only bought supplies for two last time we were here," Roland replied, patiently. He was in his own clothes again, and felt rather more comfortable in them than anything from his own world; the same was apparently true of Bert, who'd refused any offers of borrowed clothing and was still wearing his battle-soiled gear. "We have five to travel now. We'll need more food, more water, bedrolls and gear. Horses would be a boon, too, but maybe not in the mountains."

"Walking's a better way to travel, anyroad. Much sooner have blisters on my feet than on my ass." Cuthbert seemed to have regained his usual good humour, although there was a strange kind of brittleness to it that was new. He scuffed his boot on the dust, pulling a face up at the mechanical doors. "They like their showing off, hey?"

"I don't think it's showing off when it's always been this way for them," Nariko answered as Kaine wrapped her arm in the elder woman's free one. The inside of the homely city was about the same as before, still thriving with life at nearly every corner from the kids receiving lessons from a tall, thin man, to the sheep, and the dull roar of chatter towards the center of town. "Come to think of it we probably wouldn't even need horses unless a full days walk from here to Farcade bothers anyone. We'll have to charter a Wayship in but that shouldn't be difficult. Four good shots versus Looker Owls? They might try to hire us for good! And then through the Valley - Well, there's more climbing involved in that."

"Which means there can't be too much or someone will fall off a cliff," Kaine intoned. She followed Nariko's lead, only occasionally tightening her grip when she was blatantly stared at. "Before then, we can stop for Sekht and Fyra's wedding if we go a day earlier right?"

Nariko shrugged, and looked at Roland and Bert because Kaine still refused to do so even as they neared Wei's open shop once more. "I don't see why not if we just leave a day earlier?"

Bert looked automatically to Roland, who shrugged his good shoulder. "If Alain's up to it," he agreed, affably enough. "Seems to me we're all due a little cheer."

Bert scowled at that, but held his tongue on the subject, instead electing to say in that same brittlely cheery voice, "Did you understand a word of what she said there, Ro'? We have to charter a ship to fight owls after a wedding. Last time words sounded this random was when I woke up in the middle of Vannay's classes."

Roland didn't answer, just rolled his eyes a little and went on walking. "If we leave when Alain's ready, then seems to me we can at least hope to make it."

For the first time Kaine had it in her to smile at that. The proverbial parents were in agreement so Cuthbert could throw as much of a fit as he wanted, Kaine had what she wanted. It did nothing to solve the overall problem but it was something of a start as they passed the threshold and stepped into town. Lydia and Alaric were out, and Nariko waved to both but didn't stop talk to them, she could practically feel Kaine's nerves grating.

Unlike last time Wei lingered at his shop and the one that Christian supposedly owned (or watched? Nariko couldn't remember.) was empty.

"Welcome back!" Wei's voice remained warm and cheerful as usual, and since Kaine was looking off to the side and Nariko appeared to be looking for something the slightly older man addressed Roland. "What do you need this time? Hopefully not more guns." It was a joke and if Nariko had been listening she might have tried to warn her ex-lover that Roland wasn't the one for that.

"Hardly." Roland frowned a little, hands in his pockets, and glanced at Bert, who was looking around with some interest. "Truth be told, you're like to get most of them back. No sense in dragging guns halfway across two worlds when there's no-one left to bear them."

So much for jokes. He was even less in the mood for fooling than usual; the bitterness of grief crept into the edge of his voice, despite his best efforts to keep it level, and he tensed a little. It wasn't Wei's fault that he'd happened to touch a nerve; truth be told, just at the moment there was little to Roland but raw nerves.

Clearing his throat, he nodded to Bert. "Cuthbert Allgood, my brother in all but blood. Bert, sai Wei."

"Hile and well met," Bert responded, with consummate politeness and a thoroughly overwrought bow.

No, it wasn't Wei's fault at all and even as Nariko came back to the present, the other man had the good sense to accept that something was going on, here. Something that definitely wasn't his business. He moved on quite easily then, acknowledging Bert with a polite enough smile. "Well met indeed. I'll take a fair guess and say you're all trying to get home?"

"Perceptive as ever," Nariko half returned to the conversation, "Bedrolls, a few more grapplers, and rope if you've got it?"

"When haven't I got it?" And Wei set to finding what they would need quite easily but her frown deepened every time something more was added. There wasn't a single unnecessary item in the bunch but if there was to much weight on those sharp turns, if the wind was too fierce … Well, if Kaine noticed her other halves concern it was ignored or impossible to tell. Either way she dug in her pockets for her coins but Wei lifted a hand. "Hey, hey, none of that."

"Last I checked money was exchanged for goods and services," Kaine's tone was a long, gently irritated draw but the Hong Kong native didn't mind it. For him, Kaine had always sounded like that so there was no use in getting upset with her about it.

"Usually, but everyone here saw the last half of that journey, kiddo. We owe you more than just some apologies and 'sorry for being such shits to your family' casseroles. I get it if you're never too fond of hanging around here but you saved our bacon when you had every reason not to. That counts for something in my book."

Kaine looked over at Nariko, who only shrugged at the question that now hung between them. They would have to ask Matilda about it.

"Okay?" Kaine sounded as awkward as she felt, but Wei quickly filled the silence again as he considered what else they might need.

"Good! And for the record that guy your husband almost killed? Chris? He's still in the holdup but I don't think Matilda intends to keep him there. It's a bit ironic that invading someone's house isn't against one of our laws, but," And here, he shrugged.

"That sad little bitch is alive?" Kaine had only needed an excuse to let out her anger and it seemed Wei had found it. "And he was in my house?!"

"I'm never coming here with the lot of you ever again." Nariko's comment was a bit glum and followed by a roll of her eyes.

"Not alive a great deal longer, I suspect," Roland said almost casually, leaning back against a stand with his hands in his pockets. "All things considered, I'd judge his life expectancy by the day, and not worry too hard over it."

"Good to know you've been keeping busy while you've been away," Cuthbert muttered under his breath, rather bitterly, and went to look over some clothes, mostly to keep himself busy, muttering all the time about how he had no idea what the hell was going on.

Roland gave him a withering look, then turned back to the others, gesturing for them to go on.

"That's still concerning. He knows where we are, and I get the vague feeling that there might be a level of obsession involved, here." Kaine had no illusions about the matter, that casual tone was only covering up something else, a good something in this case. If Roland wasn't the one to do it then it would fall to Kaine because, judging by Nariko's complete lack of desire to even speak on the matter, her friend was becoming frighteningly lax. But that was a matter that could be discussed later, right now it was enough to get most of what they needed without having to pay for it.

As Wei wrapped up their necessary gear Kaine took the bag, but it was as she turned her back that the elder man motioned to Roland, keeping an eye on Nariko. And, speaking of her, she appeared deeply troubled by something and looked to her husband and friend.

"Will you two be alright? I need to go do something."

Kaine tilted her head as Wei notably restrained himself. Whatever he wanted to say couldn't be overheard by either women, not too difficult a task as Kaine was already heading directly across the cobbled streets to the Grocers.

"A song?"

"Yes, and if its one that helps us get back home I don't want to miss it."

Kaine nodded and waved a hand, so Nariko only waited on Roland's confirmation.

Roland frowned a little, but nodded, waving one hand briefly. "We'll be here," he confirmed, glancing at Bert's tensed back for a moment, then looking back to Nariko. His smile was taut, and didn't even slightly reach his eyes, but it was the best he could summon up just at the moment.

When she was gone, he turned back to Wei, quirking one eyebrow, and made that little twirling gesture with his hand: go on, go on.

If there was any universal gesture then surely it was that one. Wei Shen was a man nearly a decade ahead of both Nariko and Roland but as he regarded the latter his warm brown eyes were filled with nothing be leveled calm. It never occurred to him to treat Roland because of the age difference between them, or the potentially awkward commonality they held, a fact that lent a certain familiarity to the way he spoke.

"I think you and I both know that Chris is a useless little pissant, and I think we both know that, as a man, really as any human being, the worst thing humans can do is fixate. Gods know I don't get half of what he was going on about but what little I did get before I realized who he was talking about? It's disgusting, and I've survived three wars and two marriages." That wasn't a joke, both categories had resulted in the tattoos that hid themselves along his arms and chest along with the scars. "That asshole needs to be dealt with as soon as possible whether Matilda and Aelious like it or not. In two days he'll be released from the cells, and I'd bet half my haul that the first thing he'll do is try to get Nariko alone. And bless that girl, she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen and she's got a good head but her heart is an idiot twenty-four seven. I don't want to judge shit. I want to get rid of him before he goes anywhere near Kaine and Nariko."

And the faint gleam in Wei's eyes, the razor edge of it was likely enough to prove how willing he would be to slip under his Ambassadors rules.

Kaine paid no mind to either of them. Their voices were vague in the back of her head but ultimately swallowed as she neared a different shop, just slightly off to the side of Cuthbert who she also ignored. There were two people ahead of her in the line which left her open to the attentions of a young man who appeared tremendously nervous. Kaine was only vaguely aware that someone was near her - within an acceptable range - and didn't look over until he spoke.

"Uh - Kaine -- I -" His cheeks were flushed a deep red, his intentions were very clearly displayed. She tensed, unconsciously taking a step back, closer to Bert.

"Yes?" If her eyes screamed 'dear god go away I don't want to deal with this why are you even near me' any louder they might pop right out of her head and roll away.

Roland nodded, just once, his own expression as level and unreadable as ever. It was a moment before he responded beyond that, picking his words as carefully and delivering them as coolly as if it were a government discussion. "By my understanding, he's committed no crime here, and it's not the place of this world's dinhs or this world's citizens to see him punished. But by my world's laws, he is a traitor and an enemy. And if, in returning the guns I can no longer use to you, my finger should slip on a trigger..." He shrugged one shoulder. "Little loss to me, for I've no plans to linger here."

In other words, Leave it to me. It wouldn't be the first time he'd killed a man in cold blood - that was, after all, what he was born and trained for. By the laws of the Affiliation, conspiring with Farson was enough to justify Christopher's death. By the laws of justice, what he'd done to Nariko was enough to make it a sweet prospect.

Behind him, Bert looked up out of the corner of his eye, his jaw shifting a little and his shoulders tensing, but didn't move.

"And I think when you return those guns, it should be a bit early in the evening, and I should happen to be testing what you've returned. I've cleaned my hands of them for over ten years now, no one around here would see the error in my forgetting to check the safety." Wei would, of course, because while he'd avoided guns that didn't mean he had ever forgotten how to handle them. The grip of his service pistol, hidden in his apartment, could still raise the gooseflesh on him and, as Lin would say, as Nariko had nearly three years ago now: You never forget that sensation, the desire to never let it go.

"Lingering isn't any fun but if it should happen that you and yours end up here again for whatever reason, well, I'd rather not have to go outside the walls to sell to you, understand?" It was a matter of practicality as much as kindness. Of course he wasn't planning on staying but a bridge that lead to Matilda was not one to burn.

The boy - she was relatively sure that his name was Tyler? Or something? - cleared his throat, likely to refocus himself, because when he spoke again he appeared a tad steadier. "Sorry, I'm kind of nervous!" He laughed, but Kaine just looked ready to bolt, as if sensing the tepid reception Tyler faltered again. "I was just wondering if you'd like to go out sometime -"

"No." The word came out quick and clipped, well doused in her immediate fear. But nothing could spark immediate entitlement like such a clear cut response and though Tyler's feelings were immediately hurt.

"You don't have to be so quick, you don't even want to think about it?" Frustrated or not that hope was impossible to block out, and of course that only served to make her even more nervous. Kaine backed up again, and this time Tyler followed, cutting the space between them in half.

"I don't. Please leave me alone." Which really meant please fuck off before I punch you or cry, but she didn't exactly have the voice for that right now. Her eyes darted away, trying to find where Nariko went, and her heart sank when she realized that the other woman wasn't visible, wasn't within reach, likely impossible to reach short of making a scene. How fantastic.

Roland nodded. "Understand," he agreed, briskly, one thumb running along the grip of his right-hand gun for a moment. "They'll be back to you tomorrow night. Cleaned and ready to sell."

Meanwhile, setting aside the clothes he was sorting through, Bert sauntered over with his hands in his pockets, giving the unfortunate Tyler a bright, sharp smile.

"I don't know what the etiquette is here," he said easily. "Maybe I've missed something in translation. So, just a quick question, cully - around here, what is it no usually means? Help a poor tourist out." Leaning up against the edge of the stall, he looked between the two of them, the picture of wide-eyed innocence. "Because where I'm from, we tend to assume that it means, well, no."

"I believe we've an arrangement, then! I'll make sure to wait for you while everyone else is getting ready for dinner." And that was how it would work. It wasn't his place to worry about how Roland would get away from his wife, he had that job all to himself, and Wei had faith in him.

Before Tyler could encroach on her space anymore, as he did intend to do, Bert slid himself right into the situation. Kaine nearly jumped out of her skin as he spoke, her head practically snapped up to look at him, and the terrified look in her eyes faded by a shade, and then two. Why was he ...?

Unburdened by past events Tyler's brows furrowed, "It means 'no'" He said it as if Cuthbert really needed it to be clarified, his brain failed to catch the intricacies quickly enough and he flushed brightly. "I was just making sure!" It was a feeble defense against a far stronger, worldlier man, and it showed rather clearly. "What does it matter to you anyway?"

Roland nodded, and turned away to examine some of Wei's wares. It was only then that he noticed Kaine and Bert, and kept half an eye on the situation as he browsed. It wouldn't be the first time that Bert had done something stupid while emotional, after all.

In fact, Bert just shrugged one shoulder. "You mean besides a general dislike of kids who feel like their half-dropped balls give them a right to a lady's time and space? Ah, not much." He waved a hand dismissively, rolling his eyes. "Word to the wise, cully, if she decides to waste her time on some skinny streak of nothing, I'm sure you don't actually have to be standing on her toes to hear about it. Unless you're deaf. You're not deaf, are you?" Then, cupping his hands around his mouth, he added in a louder voice, "I said, are... you... deaf?"

If there was one thing that Cuthbert Allgood was especially talented at then it was certainly making people feel like shit. Kaine had thought that maybe she was some horrid exception. She knew that she was a bit too sensitive just as she was often too callous about certain matters, but even she hadn't flushed to the point of transforming her face into a tomato when Bert had hurt her feelings. Tyler was exponentially worse off, shaking more with embarrassment than worthwhile fury.

Was this something she needed to stop? Was he going too far? It finally occurred to Kaine to look at Roland for help but ... He wasn't doing anything and not for lack of paying attention. Surely that meant everything was fine, right?

"Fuck you!" Was the indignant, clearly eloquent reply. "She's just a dumbass bitch, I don't see any women around here worth being such an ass about!"

"Can I at least have a pot pie for every time I get called a bitch?" It wasn't even particularly upsetting, this level of repetition was just irritating. "Bert - Come on, he's a douchebag-"

"I'm the douchebag?" Tyler had some strange ability to look affronted. "You could have just said he was your boyfriend!"

"Oh, believe me, that's the absolute last thing I am to anyone." Calling her a bitch didn't hurt but reminding Kaine that both of her romantic pursuits had not just ended, but crashed and burned painfully? That hurt.

Edited (typooooo) 2015-03-09 02:34 (UTC)

"Damn right. She's got better taste than that." Bert smiled, or at least showed his teeth, and winked at Tyler. "And by the way, it's my experience that calling women dumbass bitches isn't the best way to get them to reconsider your oh-so-tempting offer. Consider that free advice for your trouble. Better luck next time." He didn't quite shoo Tyler away, but he might as well have done. The same amount of condescension oozed off him.

And with that, he turned away, giving Kaine a smile and a shrug that might almost have been apologetic, and headed back to Wei's stall, hands finding their way back into his pockets.

"Right, because as the other man who said nearly the same thing you have all the right to talk about that." For such an inherently confrontational set of words, said loud enough for him to hear even as he walked elsewhere, Kaine didn't sound angry. In a sense she wasn't. For whatever reason Bert had helped her and quite literally saved her, she wasn't at all ungrateful but there was a level of hypocrisy going on here.

It did, however, force Tyler to stomp off, furious and the definition of humiliated, so Kaine could finally suck in a deep breathe, an attempt to right herself. The line was now gone and there was one very confused Mr. Alamone staring at them. She wiped her palms on her jeans and worked up a nervous, uncertain smile.

"What happened?" Because no one would convince Nariko that there hadn't been an event. Kaine was red around the neck, and she had caught the very tail end of that whole discussion.

It wasn't just Kaine. Cuthbert's skin was darker, and the blush didn't show up as starkly, but he was still clearly flushed, and her words seemed to catch him in the back like an arrow; he drew himself up sharply, not quite gasping but inhaling rather sharply all the same, and tensed visibly. Well. That let a few things fall into place, even for someone as thick-skulled as he felt at the moment.

Letting out a long, hissing breath between his teeth, he shook it off for the moment, and headed back to dig through the clothes he'd been examining before. That left Roland to come up to Nariko, giving her a little shrug.

"Bert blew off some steam at some boy who made a move on Kaine," he explained succinctly. "Good to know his tongue's as sharp as ever, I guess. Kaine, you alright?"

You know, for as lacking in imagination as Roland could be at times Nariko found herself far more grateful for that trait more and more often. He just laid it all out there, and she knew that there really wasn't anything else worth concerning herself over, aside from the basics. If that was the case Roland would have told her. "Oh. Good to know." And that was the extent of her answer for the moment.

Kaine managed to get the entire list of groceries to Mr. Alamone, an elderly fellow who looked at them all quite doubtfully.

"No." But she had to be. She had a job to do so even if she wasn't alright it didn't change a single thing. The quicker they finished the quicker they could go back home and she could sleep for the next eighty-five years, away from all men and stupid feelings and embarrassing, public spectacles.

Nariko muttered, speaking only to Roland, and hopefully far off enough from Bert. "When did we have children, Roland? Because this feels an awful lot like having children." Granted they were children whose problems might be more easily solved if they stopped being idiots and kissed so ... Maybe that wasn't the best analogy. Oh well. Nariko pushed her hair out of her face, "I think once we've gotten our groceries we should have lunch near the bridge, outside. She'll feel better with some space."

There was, for a moment, a twitch of amusement around Roland's lips. He didn't necessarily agree - it was hard to think of Bert in those terms, if nothing else, given how they'd grown together - but it was still a funny thought. Even he had to acknowledge that. "I think we might all feel better for some space," he replied with a little nod, unconsciously mimicking her as he pushed his own hair back. "Did all go well with your errand?"

"For the most part. I feel quite sick and like I need a nap. Specifically to nap on you, but I'll survive until we make it back." This only meant that Nariko did not feel terrible enough to actually crawl onto Roland's lap in public and sleep, and it did count for something. If the pain had been unbearable she might have just leant on him and closed her eyes, forsaking any concerns over public displays.

Kaine finally looked over at them. "Is this enough?" Considering that she had apparently gotten enough for ten people, not five, Nariko felt safe in replying for them all.

"More than enough. Why don't you go visit the sheep?" She looked over at Bert and added, "You and Bert. Unless someone actually wants to buy new clothes? We don't need four people to carry everything and get lunch."

She was not a very subtle mother, never had been! Maybe if they had a few minutes to themselves they could manage to be vaguely amicable. And Nariko could get in at least a half-decent kiss with her husband without feeling terrible about it. A sort of trade off for avoiding the nap.

"That depends," Cuthbert all but drawled. "Are there clothes I can wear that aren't stiff with blood and don't have my friend's brains spattered down one side? You may call me a traditionalist, but I do rather prefer that in my clothing."

Roland looked him up and down, then shrugged one shoulder. There was a pain in the draw of his jaw and the set of his mouth, but it was very well-hidden. "There are clothes back at the house that will fit you well enough to last while those are washing. As I believe I told you this morning."

"Well, then." Putting down the shirt he was looking at, Cuthbert smiled with a sharp kind of brightness, and said sardonically, "If Mama and Papa are in agreement, what can I do but obey? Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he added to Roland with a wag of his finger, heading over to Kaine.

He really did have very good hearing.

Nariko restrained herself from snapping. She possessed a far thicker skin than Kaine, and knew better than to put much care into Bert hearing her. She wouldn't have needed to say it if the both of them could be even marginally reasonable. And, yes, they were all just kids masquerading as full grown adults but Roland suffered just as thoroughly as Nariko. The lack of empathy wasn't going to win Bert what he wanted so he could take his negative reaction and shove it for all Nariko cared. If not for Roland and the irritation t would have caused him she might have said something but Bert got off with nothing more than a roll of her eyes.

Kaine looked over her shoulder as Bert neared and, for a moment, looked ready to say something. Whatever it might have been was pushed off with a little sigh, and she motioned to the little spot just across the bridge. The kids had been freed of their lessons and we're playing near the grazing animals. To the left there was a tree with generous shade and that was what she motioned towards.

"I know it wasn't entirely for me, but thank you." It wasn't what was really on her mind but it would do for now.

Edited 2015-03-09 16:12 (UTC)

He shrugged, giving her a little smile, and walked on in uncharacteristic quiet for several moments more, hands deep in his pockets, before saying in a low voice, "...It really hurt you, didn't it? What I said to you last night."

It sounded disingenuous - was disingenuous - but he hadn't thought it would have hurt her so deeply. It wasn't the first time he'd misjudged, but he had a tendency to forget just how sharp his tongue could cut. Besides, he'd grown used to Jamie, Alain, and Roland - people whose emotions he could read as easily as his own, sometimes easier. She was different. And although he'd be lying if he'd said he hadn't meant to hurt her, in the harsh light of day he felt like an absolute ass.

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