Title: Trust Fall
Fandom: Rusty Quill Gaming
Rating: General
Length: 1,055 words
Content notes: none
Characters: Sasha Racket, Azu
Summary: Azu, Sasha, and a long drop. (AU post-Rome)


"That is a very long drop."

Sasha shrugs as she turns to face Azu, legs still swinging freely off the Vengeance's starboard rail. "Yeah. Makes for a good view. I mean, it'd be better if there were buildings and such instead of all the trees and giant skeletons, but I like watching something that changes, right? Otherwise it's just the boat and the sky and that's kind of--"

She pauses, shrugs again. She likes Azu, likes Azu a lot, but putting into words the way the unchanging world of the ship and the giant bowl of the sky make her feel tight and trapped, like a roach under a glass, feels too large and awkward to tackle.

"I think I understand," Azu says, and Sasha remembers she has her own trouble with feeling boxed in.

"Want to join me?"

Azu hesitates, gauntlets clacking softly as she presses her hands together. "Thank you, but no. I don't think my balance is as good as yours, and I wouldn't want to break the rail."

"Ah. Yeah. Makes sense. You can still come over and take a look, though." Sasha pats the rail to her right in invitation.

Azu walks forward -- that rolling stride that says here is a load-bearing pillar, made of steel, that will not bend or break -- and leans against the rail. Her head is still a few inches higher than Sasha's, despite the height advantage of the rail, but from this close Sasha can see the faint smile lines at the corners of Azu's eyes, and the hint of curl in her ruthlessly shorn hair.

She can also see the safety line and carabiner clip tucked into Azu's belt, and the realization of what Azu probably actually meant by talking about the drop crashes into her like a flash-bomb.

"I'm not going to fall," Sasha says.

She immediately has a feeling that was the wrong thing to say -- too blunt, too much like she thinks Azu doesn't trust her -- but she has no idea how to make it softer. And anyway, it's true. She's got a rope and a clip in her bag of holding for if the weather turns, a dragon flies up out of nowhere, or they hit a patch of wild magic, but right now it's a beautiful calm day and she's not going to lose her grip on a rail as nice and wide as this. She could turn cartwheels along it, that's how safe it is.

Probably wouldn't, considering. But she could.

"I know," Azu says, interrupting Sasha's thoughts. "It's a little silly of me to worry, but I can't help thinking, what if this is the point where our luck runs out? We made it through Rome. It would be--" she pauses, seems to grope for a word. "It wouldn't fit, for any of us to die in the middle of the northern wilds. Which is why I worry that it might happen."

That makes sense, Sasha supposes. The world can't be trusted, and just when you think you've found a bit of peace and quiet like, something's bound to come along and kick you in the teeth.

"Does that make sense?" Azu asks.

Sasha nods. "Yeah, the peaceful bits are when you need to look sharp, 'cause that means trouble's sneaking up on you. But it's not gonna be me falling off the ship. Nah, it'll be an abominable snow monster. You'll see."

"Of course," Azu says. "How does one fight an abominable snow monster?"

"Dunno, but I bet a giant axe and some bombs'll be a good start." Sasha leans on her right hand, raises her legs, and pivots herself around and down onto the ship's deck. "Or we could chuck your marbles at it. I bet Cel could build something to set them on fire, too -- little bits of melty glass ought to ruin a snow monster's day."

"I think that would ruin anybody's day," Azu says. She pulls a large handful of marbles out of her bag of holding and examines them with a contemplative air. "I never thought of marbles as a weapon, but I suppose I could crush someone if I emptied the whole bag at once. Or crush many someones, in fact. I may have gone slightly overboard buying marbles."

"We used to kill rats with ball bearings, back in Other London," Sasha volunteers. "'s all in how you flick your thumb. They're a bit smaller than marbles, but I bet I could manage."

"Hmmm." Azu picks one marble from the pile in her left hand and holds it up. Sunlight pours through the clear glass, setting alight the swirl of green and gold trapped within. Then she shoots Sasha a conspiratorial wink and tosses the marble over the ship's rail.

Sasha leans out, feet off the deck and braced entirely on her hands, and traces its glittering fall as far as she can.

"That'd kill a bloke stone dead if it hit 'em, falling from this height," she says.

"We can't always count on gravity to do the bulk of the work, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could kill someone by throwing a marble through their eye," Azu says. "Additionally, anyone searching you for weapons is less likely to confiscate a bag of marbles than your daggers and chemicals."

Sasha grins. "Sneaky. I like it."

Azu returns the grin. "I thought you would. Shall we set up a target for you to practice? I believe there's a bit of free space in the cargo hold."

The cargo hold. Right. Which is cramped and tight and not a suspicious suggestion at all. "Why not out here?"

"The wind," Azu says promptly. "It's best to learn a new skill with as few environmental distractions as possible. Those can be introduced once you have a solid grasp of the basic mechanics."

It's not a half-bad reason, Sasha allows, but if the real reason isn't that the cargo hold is inside and well away from the long drop to the winter forest, she'll-- well, she hasn't got a hat to eat, but Wilde's'll do just fine, especially since Sasha's not wrong.

"Yeah, all right. Probably best not to chuck too many of your marbles off the ship while I'm learning," Sasha says, and firmly pretends not to react to Azu's beaming smile.