@hellconsumed ā¼ starter call
Wylan is nervous when Jesper meets him from the tannery and leads him to the Crow Club. He's vaguely aware that he's going to be asked for something illegal, or at the very least immoral, but there's part of him that hopes Jesper had approached him earlier by accident. At the very least, he should hear them out. Maybe they're looking for a flautist for the club, and that might pay better than the tannery. He clings to that hope and he promises himself a hot pie from the shop on the corner if he's right. The Ketterdam rain doesn't wash away the stink of chemicals that cling to his clothes, and he's all too aware of it in the tiny back office with three other imposing figures. Coming here was a mistake - his father hired them to kill him - he's going to die after all -- It turns out that they are not looking for a flautist for the Club, but rather someone who will make bombs, and Wylan looks Kaz in the eye as he stammers out his refusal and leaves, scurrying through the rain back to his tiny rented room. He passes by the pie shop, his stomach growling its protest. He gets back to find a letter bearing the Van Eck family seal slipped under his door. It's not enough for him to immediately change his mind. He stows it, unopened, under the thin mattress, and spends a sleepless night watching the door, utterly convinced that his father is going to send someone to finish the job. When he survives the night, and the next, and the next, he begins to think over Kaz's offer. It would likely be better money, and some naive part of him wonders if he might be able to expect some protection from anyone his father sends after him. He'll have to cook up a story so they don't know who his father is, and he doesn't want them to think he's a liability because he owes money - he'll have to think of something believable but innocuous. The untouched letter burns a hole through the mattress on the fourth night after Wylan's refusal but it's hunger rather than fear that keeps him awake tonight. The next day, he finds himself in Kaz Brekker's office once again, trying very hard not to shuffle his feet. "I've reconsidered," he says, as though it isn't obvious - he has no other reason to be here, after all. He swallows, and the sound is far too loud in the quiet room. When he shuffles his feet, he winces, and looks down. He'd promised that he'd come in here with confidence, not stuttering and stammering and fidgeting like a scolded schoolboy. Wylan inhales, and looks at Kaz. He exhales, and nods, once, as if he's steeling himself. "If you're still looking for a demolitions expert, that is." Had he delayed too long? Perhaps they'd found someone else. "Are you still looking?"
