#we love a paternal mentor figure who is so so emotionally stunted

[abloginnameonly]

Fun

@oc-tober2023

This was becoming a routine. 

Ubek would normally appreciate the predictability if he could count on her for anything else, stupid girl. All he’d asked her to do was drop a package at a house in the south district: two blocks down and one east from the town square, directly across from the large house with the green door, preferably without being noticed. And if she could manage that, then all she was expected to do after was wait in the designated spot back in the square. 

So why, several hours later, did he find a swarm of children where there was only supposed to be one. 

Braze had changed her outfit since that morning - she’d shown him before how she sewed two different patterns together so her top was reversible like his own coat, and how the sleeves could be pinned to different lengths - and her hair was down in short springy curls from the scarf she’d had them tied in, so she was at least doing the minimum. But the noise. At least a half dozen little bodies shouted and shrieked at a pitch that already made Ubek’s head pulse. 

Maybe the girl really is as deaf as she pretends to be when I’m talking to her, he mused sourly. 

Adding to the cacophony, she as rolling a small clay jar filled with seeds or pebbles or some other bits for a continuous shifting rattle while her scarf twirled and flitted about until Ubek was finally passing close enough to hear. 

“With their hero now far away, the Thunder Queen grew bolder. She shouted to the people below loud enough for their armor to rattle, ‘Why do you all remain here like lambs in a butcher’s pen! This is your final warning: Leave now!’ CRASH!” She whirled the yellow scarf in a great circle over her head and flicked it out - snap - in front of their faces. The children started, then erupted into commotion. 

“She’ll never win,” a chubby young boy declared. “The winds were already turning on her! They’ll bring the hero back!”

“She’s trying to get them to run because she’s afraid!” from another with matted hair. 

“And the lake’s too sick with blood to give the Queen her water back! She’s weak! The hero will kill her dead, just you watch!”

…Sure. 

Before Braze picked their attention back up, Ubek whistled a soft pattern. She caught it after his second call of it and made a quick scan of the crowd. Ubek was half turned away buying a pear. He didn’t particularly like them, but it was as good a prop as any. Transaction done and trusting Braze to follow, he turned and walked down a street. Behind him, Braze was making a reluctant goodbye.

“But we do need a hero to finish the story, right?” 

“Yes! Yes!”

Hurry up. 

“Then I charge you, my renegade little raindrops, to find one. Find our hero, wherever they may be!”

There were varying levels of assent and a polite effort of applause from some of the stand owners who’d been subjected to the noise nearby and the mass finally broke apart to allow Braze down an adjacent street. Ubek kept a leisurely pace until she met him at a corner and they continued on in the same direction. 

“You were supposed to be at the bench,” he said after a block. 

“Bench was taken.”

“Was all your sense taken too?” She rolled her eyes, but Ubek pulled her chin back to him. She was getting tall enough to actually meet his eyes. “I’m serious, you’re making a real habit of pulling out spectacles like this.”

“There were, like, two other entertainers there, relax. One was taking a break to fuck the fake fortune teller and another singing by the fountain.”

He sighed. 

“That’s fine now, but what about-”

“It’s been fine the other times too,” she insisted. “I’m not as stupid as you expect me to be.”

“You have no idea how stupid I expect you to be.” Braze grinned like it was a joke. “Alright then, how much money did you get then?”

She had the audacity to laugh at that. 

“Are you kidding? Most of those kids were barely ten, and not particularly wealthy ones at that.” Ubek had to take several long moments to process what the girl was saying. She dug around her pockets and pulled out three copper pieces. “Someone’s parents tossed this to me for watching her kid while she shopped, I guess.”

“Are you telling me-”

“Oh- No, wait. One of these is just left over from some food I grabbed.”

“Do you mean to tell me that you didn’t even earn anything while you were out there making a fool of yourself? Did you even try?” Was he angry? No, not quite. He couldn’t seem to work past “baffled.” It was enough to make him suspect whether he was actually the one who raised her the past thirteen years. 

Despite keeping his voice even for the public setting they were in, Brazeheard something and her arms crossed. Now she was defensive, here we go. 

“What?” she demanded. “I did what you asked. And you wanted me to wait in the area after. You found me, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but you-”

“And do you know how often people want guards to chase off strange loitering kids?”

He narrowed his eyes. He’d been a strange loitering kid once himself, that’s why he chose populated areas for her - specifically to try to avoid that. “You never mentioned-”

“Because I took care of it.” 

Ubek gave her shoulder a smack - she interrupted him a couple times too many and he was pretty far past done with that. She scowled and huffed at him, but continued after with less attitude. Better. 

“You always say you don’t wanna babysit (which is good, because you’re terrible with people that you’re not threatening) and that I should be able to do things on my own, but then you get all…pissy and weird when I do. It would have taken five minutes, tops, to finish what I was doing, but then you came in like a surly old cuss and made a big thing of it; now it’s weird that I left just like that after being there all afternoon.”

“I didn’t-”  Damn this girl. He’d negotiated with some of the most dangerous people on the coast for much higher stakes than this. Why did he feel more and more often that he was losing conversations with this child. “I just need you to behave professionally. One of these days you’re going to get us both in trouble because you’re not paying attention.” 

She glowered at him for a moment, then dropped her arms and looked away. But before he could conclude the conversation over, she mumbled quietly, “I was just having fun…”

He didn’t look at her, but he could see her in his peripherals. It was a stark change from just a few minutes ago. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, life was difficult for folks like them. Even her mother- 

His jaw flexed. They continued walking in silence. Braze followed him into another right. Noise began to pick up ahead and, still not looking at her, he could feel her suspicions needling into him. Entering the square again, he could see the fountain musician packing his belongings away, and the fortune teller’s tent was still closed. Just the passive murmur of the crowd. 

Ubek leaned himself back onto a bench. 

“Well then, if you think your sudden departure could draw attention, wrap it up then. Should have said so to begin with.” 

Braze stared at him, trying to read his face. 

“You said you needed five minutes, so that’s all you have; Go!” he snapped. 

It took another second for the relief and delight to swell over her face. Then she tamed herself, posturing as if she hadn’t really cared to begin with. He couldn’t tell if he was being mocked or she just picked that up from somewhere. 

“Easy.” She tossed her hair. 

“Shameful line of work, entertainers,” he called after her. 

“Oh, is the thief going to preach to me?” she shouted back. He’d give her hell for talking like that out in public. Five minutes would give him plenty of time to build up steam. But he tossed the pear away while he waited. It was making his stomach twist.

#oc-tober #oc-tober2023 #braze #we love a paternal mentor figure who is so so emotionally stunted #voted number 1 least qualified in tricynth thirteen years in a row