She was just on the edge of 16 when she was caught by the men who had, inadvertently, changed her life. Rather, that's what she had assumed as it had been five years since she'd left the city of Akrosm, forever leaving behind the closest thing to home she'd experienced in her entire life. Then again, she could only trust so many things she had been told at that place as it had proven many times that it did not care about the well being of those who lived within it's walls. For five years she had been running, gradually becoming a soft whisper of curious citizens. She had become known as the "ghost of death" as, where ever she went, a trail of bodies followed.
Her most recognisable feature were her odd, deep green eyes that looked much brighter against her dark, messy hair. And it was said that her skin was as pale as the swords with hilts and handles made of bone that she carried on either one of her hips. There were murmurs that her cheeks were so sunken in, her eyes so filled with exhaustion, that one would believe she was that of a walking corpse. Thus, giving her the variations of her title of "ghost."
The girl was always careful, and the fact that her frame was so small from malnutrition worked in her favour as it allowed her to move quickly on her feet. Though her skin was as pale as snow, she worked in the shadows. Stealing what she could and living off of whatever she found laying around. The swords she kept on her at all times were all she owned that were truly hers. Even down to the skin tight, deep red clothing she wore, and the black coat draped over it, had been stolen. She had taken the red garnet from an acrobat just hours before their performance, and had always felt a deep sense of guilt for it as it was one of the first times she had stolen from a person that did her no wrong. It was now her life's work to do just that. The coat; however, had been stolen from a swindler who had been just unlucky enough to cross her path. She felt no guilt for taking all that he owned from him.
Despite her careful nature, she was still a child, which meant mistakes were bound to happen at some point. She had no room for mistakes, especially ones as big as this. The monster hunters of Jursaim were notorious for their inhumanly strong builds and their tall frames that left them resembling that of giants compared to the starving people they often encountered. Their entire lives were devoted to hunting down those who were gifted with powers and slaughtering them to extinction as well as whatever creations they had made. It was said their most recent work was Far East in a place known as Hwa Tsong, and there was only one survivor who lived long enough to tell the tales of their massacre before succumbing to his wounds and dying in the arms of a stranger far from his home.
The young woman should have known better than to try and swipe a small bag of food from a sleeping hunter, but she couldn't help it. Descriptions of her were beginning to spread, even here, hours from her hometown, and it was beginning to grow difficult for her to steal any sort of food without being recognised and followed. Her first mistake was not scoping the silent cabin for any signs of others. And her second was that she was unaware of how trained the hunters' ears were to hear even the smallest of sounds. The large man had captured her before she had even been in his grasp.
She fought back at first. Flipping over and slicing through the men with her sharp blades that left dangerous wounds in their wake, but it was no use. There were three of them, and she was but a child with no prior training in combat, only what she had taught herself.
The rest was a haze, and all she remembered were small grumbles of a man named "Kaz" and a trip just two hours away to a place called Ketterdam on a rocky mound of wood.
-
Kaz Brekker was a tall, dark haired man with sharp eyes that were tinted with a deep green that resembled that of a gem. His skin was as pale as the moon, and his curly hair was always unkempt and falling into his eyes despite his best attempts to tame it. Though he was a young man, no older than 23, he was feared in his home of Ketterdam. He walked with a dark, wooden cane, decorated with a crow at the top, and leather gloves covering his hands. If he was not seen in a formal button up shirt, he was often in a large, black coat that covered his entire body as there were rumours that the slightest touch would infuriate him. It was said he was a ruthless killer, with an assassin as fast as the wind and a shooter with such a sharp eye he would kill you without looking, at his side. And he was known for having been such a good thief as a child that he had grown to take over the gang, who had taken him in, known as the Crows.
He ran a bar, notorious for welcoming all kinds of currency, hidden just in the depths of Ketterdam's busy marketplace.
Though the man would usually be downstairs on a busy night like this, watching his customers with a sharp eye, he was upstairs, tucked away in his office with a dark skinned, curly haired man that sat with his shirt un-bottoned and his tie hanging from his shoulders.
"There are more hunters appearing in Ketterdam lately. I've been seeing them around the brothels and in bars. Inej says she's spotted at least six in the last three days" Kaz states as he rested his cheek against the palm of his hand, his free hand fiddling with a pen as his eyes rested contently on the twirling object.
Jesper leaned back in his seat, his mind growing distracted from the spinning pen as he reached up to play with the thick coils he had picked out delicately so that it was an impressively neat poof on top of his head. "And what does that got to do with us?" He questions.
"It's got everything to do with us. It means there's either a job, and a big one, coming. Or, Ketterdam is going to be raided," Inej's gentle voice appeared before she did, and Jesper jumped with fright as the tan skinned woman emerged from the shadows behind Kaz, small breeze following her presence.
"Holy hell-" Jesper starts breathlessly as he rested a hand over his heart, hunching forward in his seat. "You're going to kill me if you keep appearing like that" he complained.
"Focus, Jesper" Kaz says irritably as his hooded gaze flicked to meet the elder mans. "I need you to scope the city. Socialise, see what information you can get on why there are so many of these men appearing in our city. Understood?"
Jesper let out a grunt at that, his arms folding across his chest as his lower lip jutted out in a pout. "It's my night off. I was gonna go gamble" he whines.
Inej's curved nose crinkled at the elder's words, her head cocking absently "we don't get nights off."
Jesper waved a dismissive hand in the air before sighing "yeah yeah, don't remind me" he grunts before standing. "So my job is to be a sexy conman? Got it~" he mused.
"Jesper-" Kaz started, but the man had already hurried off into the night to escape further scolding. The younger man sighed deeply, running a gloved hand through his hair before he peered up at Inej. "You smell of coal" he comments as his eyes trailed down to her dirt covered hands at either of her sides.
Inej shied away from his gaze, her hands grasping onto one another behind her back as she cleared her throat, her eyes looking ahead of her as she spoke. "I did some extra work today. I found a woman who's like me. She's probably better, really. She might be-"
"There's no one like nor better than you, Inej" Kaz states firmly, his eyes now resting on the woman's face, his jaw clenching before he spoke once more "stop doing those jobs. I told you, you're one of us now. There's no need for them."
The elder woman nodded slowly at that before she returned the man's intense gaze with a soft one. She found it difficult to accept that someone like him could find her useful. Not only that, but could care enough to allow her to leave if she ever wished to. There was a small silence between the pair, and Kaz was the first to break eye contact.
"I need you to work the bar tonight. Listen in to however many conversations you can," Kaz instructs, sitting the pen down before resting his hand on his cane and standing. "I'll look for any odd currencies being used tonight at the gambling table."
-
"Stupid hunters. Interrupting my night of gambling. It was gonna be my lucky night. I just know it was." Jesper grumbles under his breath as he roamed the busy streets of Ketterdam, his dark eyes searching for any signs of tall, buff men. And Hunters, of course.
