[oh good you opened the door to chat about the reward excellent]
While we're on the subject of negotiation - considering all you asked for was information and I've produced the man in question for you, a reasonable reward would certainly be more than the cost of a drink.
[make no mistake, this is straight up a threat. jesper goes through bullets because he uses them. he just says it likes it no thing like it's just this casual...conversation...thing]
Someone posted a bounty for 200 of the local currency simply to have someone shirtless on his farm. [which is not say not very hard work unlike THIS anyway he considers for a moment:] 600 for your bandit.
[jin, a cocky idiot, takes heed of and promptly ignores the threat. bullets are nothing: he can put up with a fight. not being able to talk his way out of this, however...
it's obvious appealing to his sympathetic side isn't gonna work, if this brekker guy isn't handing the guy over immediately. so let's. barter, then.]
400, and enough bullets to keep your associate well-stocked.
asher's studying law. no doubt, he's capable of reasoning with hard sells like kaz, but in a situation like this? he'd have simply coughed up whatever reward or favor asked of him for the bandit-- now bargaining chip-- to come home safely. and that'd be all well and good if he knew these two weren't armed and willing to flaunt it.
because jin doesn't give a damn about risking his own safety. he'd have dealt with whatever kaz and his 'associate' would have thrown at him alone. but asher? asher has risked his life for jin once before. (stupidly, rapidly losing blood, barely conscious, jin had called him for help, on nothing but instinct. asher had carried him on his back. he didn't fear the man who'd left jin for dead once.)
so, that's it, then. while jin could still push lower without feeling too guilty for cass--he wants him home, too, he's just got faith in his patented ability to bullshit real hard--he stops the bidding war right there.]
Congratulations, Kaz Brekker. [tryin real hard to mask the bitterness there:] You've got yourself a deal.
[putting asher in danger a second time is simply unacceptable.
...even if he'll need to really, really dig deep for that 500.]
[ jin had clearly intended to keep haggling. and then there was this hesitation, this momentary failure that he's trying to cover but the bitterness sneaks into his tone all the same and kaz knows what this feels like, he doesn't have to guess. it's the moment he screwed up and looked at inej and got her captured because weaknesses that were obvious ended up inevitably exploited. and like inej was kaz's weakness, asher was jin's.
but jin had it worse than kaz did. kaz had made a minisucle mistake, jin's hesiststion spoke volumes. It was likely asher didn't know how to, or couldn't, defend himself well and that (this is more important:) Jin really did consider Kaz enough of a threat to be afraid. Jin's lucky this is on audio and he can't see the way the thought makes kaz smile. This was the reputation he'd enjoyed back home, of course, but he'd been building it for years. The fact that he can start to feel it again, slipping on like his familiar gloves is a comfort no kind person would partake in. But Kaz Brekker is not a kind person. What he is is a man of his word, but his word is never free. It's best that people start learning that now, before someone like Jin's sweet, innocent Asher gets hurt.
Kaz doesn't miss a beat in all of his musings, though, his poker face has always been strong]
Excellent. We will arrive in town within the hour - unless there's somewhere else you'd prefer to make the trade?
[jin had long ago made moves to master his anger, to channel his self-loathing, frustration, into something greater. and he'd emerged on the other side, better for it. he's certainly not perfect now, far from it, but it's no longer the issue. everything else is.
he trusts in himself well enough. he'd fought for that. but how often does he find someone else he trusts, if not yet completely, nearing that? and how could he not stand for that and take that blow to the self? jin is self aware enough to realize, when all is said and done, that it's the depth of his own emotion that drives him forward, or sends him screeching to a grinding halt. it always has been. it's why he'd stolen for quick cash, hoping to chase those dark rings of exhaustion out from his mother's eyes; it's why he saw his same desperation in the eyes of a thief in outworld, and, risking war itself, broke the bonds that trapped him in an unjust pillory.
it's why, in this moment, he comes to an agreement with kaz, though he doesn't know it. jin hates this weakness, hates any lack of agency or control over the movements of his life, hates to appear anything but measured and capable, head held high-- but a friend... a friend is not a weakness he would ever consider regretting. never.]
No. In town works just fine.
[if asher's his weakness, so be it. he'll protect him, same as he would with any other vulnerability.]
Pleasure doing business with you. [asshole.
jin cuts the line. he'll have to collect asher if kaz and company will be here that soon.]
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no subject
While we're on the subject of negotiation - considering all you asked for was information and I've produced the man in question for you, a reasonable reward would certainly be more than the cost of a drink.
no subject
the first person to drop a number is always the loser, isn't he? jin pauses, debates with himself, then continues.]
Then, by all means: make me an offer. You've got what we want. Tell me what you're looking for.
no subject
[make no mistake, this is straight up a threat. jesper goes through bullets because he uses them. he just says it likes it no thing like it's just this casual...conversation...thing]
Someone posted a bounty for 200 of the local currency simply to have someone shirtless on his farm. [which is not say not very hard work unlike THIS anyway he considers for a moment:] 600 for your bandit.
no subject
it's obvious appealing to his sympathetic side isn't gonna work, if this brekker guy isn't handing the guy over immediately. so let's. barter, then.]
400, and enough bullets to keep your associate well-stocked.
no subject
no subject
asher's studying law. no doubt, he's capable of reasoning with hard sells like kaz, but in a situation like this? he'd have simply coughed up whatever reward or favor asked of him for the bandit-- now bargaining chip-- to come home safely. and that'd be all well and good if he knew these two weren't armed and willing to flaunt it.
because jin doesn't give a damn about risking his own safety. he'd have dealt with whatever kaz and his 'associate' would have thrown at him alone. but asher? asher has risked his life for jin once before. (stupidly, rapidly losing blood, barely conscious, jin had called him for help, on nothing but instinct. asher had carried him on his back. he didn't fear the man who'd left jin for dead once.)
so, that's it, then. while jin could still push lower without feeling too guilty for cass--he wants him home, too, he's just got faith in his patented ability to bullshit real hard--he stops the bidding war right there.]
Congratulations, Kaz Brekker. [tryin real hard to mask the bitterness there:] You've got yourself a deal.
[putting asher in danger a second time is simply unacceptable.
...even if he'll need to really, really dig deep for that 500.]
no subject
but jin had it worse than kaz did. kaz had made a minisucle mistake, jin's hesiststion spoke volumes. It was likely asher didn't know how to, or couldn't, defend himself well and that (this is more important:) Jin really did consider Kaz enough of a threat to be afraid. Jin's lucky this is on audio and he can't see the way the thought makes kaz smile. This was the reputation he'd enjoyed back home, of course, but he'd been building it for years. The fact that he can start to feel it again, slipping on like his familiar gloves is a comfort no kind person would partake in. But Kaz Brekker is not a kind person. What he is is a man of his word, but his word is never free. It's best that people start learning that now, before someone like Jin's sweet, innocent Asher gets hurt.
Kaz doesn't miss a beat in all of his musings, though, his poker face has always been strong]
Excellent. We will arrive in town within the hour - unless there's somewhere else you'd prefer to make the trade?
[hopefully cass is awake by then...]
no subject
he trusts in himself well enough. he'd fought for that. but how often does he find someone else he trusts, if not yet completely, nearing that? and how could he not stand for that and take that blow to the self? jin is self aware enough to realize, when all is said and done, that it's the depth of his own emotion that drives him forward, or sends him screeching to a grinding halt. it always has been. it's why he'd stolen for quick cash, hoping to chase those dark rings of exhaustion out from his mother's eyes; it's why he saw his same desperation in the eyes of a thief in outworld, and, risking war itself, broke the bonds that trapped him in an unjust pillory.
it's why, in this moment, he comes to an agreement with kaz, though he doesn't know it. jin hates this weakness, hates any lack of agency or control over the movements of his life, hates to appear anything but measured and capable, head held high-- but a friend... a friend is not a weakness he would ever consider regretting. never.]
No. In town works just fine.
[if asher's his weakness, so be it. he'll protect him, same as he would with any other vulnerability.]
Pleasure doing business with you. [asshole.
jin cuts the line. he'll have to collect asher if kaz and company will be here that soon.]