Log: Associations
Summary: It's a nice, busy day at the market when Skinner and June meet up. K'aus, stalker that he is, happens to be around, too, and when he joins in on the conversation, several things are revealed about the man called Kozec.
Location: Skinner's Market, Ista Weyr
Date: 8-31-09
Skinner's done his work today, luring the members of a recently arrived tithe train over to his market. As a result, the place is bustling, the shopkeepers busy talking up their wares and roping in customer after customer. So what's left for Skinner to do? Apparently not much, because he's just strolling the periphery, pausing here and there to listen in on a sales pitch without comment. He looks pretty pleased with himself, though.
The girls of The Lucky Seven have been keeping to themselves a lot more lately. Midday outings are rarer and when they're taken, they're taken in tight groups, so when June appears in the bustle, her sisters aren't far behind. They lag, just now, because Valenia has been snagged by a particularly convincing peddler hawking lovely little trinkets and knick knacks he's carved from wood himself. Danta hauls on the younger girl's arm, but lacks the firmness it takes to break that kind of absorption, so she just hovers, keeping one eye on each of her sisters. June notices the distance her wandering has put between her and the others, so pulls her pace to a stop at the last stall on that edge, people-watching while she waits. When Skinner falls under her idle gaze, she smiles warmly and inclines her head to persuade him to come closer.
The lucky girls aren't the only ones laying low. If for nothing else, K'aus has been trying to avoid people asking him questions. Questions are annoying. As for how he's found himself to be here, in the market's vicinity, for the first time since he came to get his cards read, well. It's no secret he keeps close to the Lucky Seven, there's been some speculation about his relationship with the female proprietors; they might not realize it, but he's trailing after /them/ today. Trailing, limping-- same thing. His face looks better. Valenia's preoccupation brings the group to a slow stop and he struggles to compensate and look like he isn't stalking them all. Look at that thing there, it's so interesting. He painfully tries to let himself be engaged by someone trying to sell something and watches June and her brood out of the corner of his eye.
The lucky girls aren't the only ones laying low. If for nothing else, K'aus has been trying to avoid people asking him questions. Questions are annoying. As for how he's found himself to be here, in the market's vicinity, for the first time since he came to get his cards read, well. It's no secret he keeps close to the Lucky Seven, there's been some speculation about his relationship with the female proprietors; they might not realize it, but he's trailing after /them/ today. Trailing, limping-- same thing. His face looks better. Valenia's preoccupation brings the group to a slow stop and he struggles to compensate and look like he isn't stalking them all. Look at that thing there, it's so interesting. He painfully tries to let himself be engaged by someone trying to sell something and watches June and her brood out of the corner of his eye.
Surveying his own handiwork gets a little dull after a time, so Skinner's perfectly happy to take that smile from June as an invitation. Putting on a bright smile of his own, he waves as he walks towards her. "Good afternoon, lovely ladies." His smile extends over the sisters hovering nearby, even the distracted Valenia. "Finding things you like, I hope."
The watchful shadow that is K'aus seems to go unnoticed during all of their wanderings through the stalls. But in the lull provided to Danta by Valenia's overdose of curiosity, her observant glances become searching ones that stop and drop as soon as she's scouted out the brownrider's new location. The two younger sisters take no heed of Skinner, thanks to their distractions, but June gives him the attention due to the proprietor of the market. "Finding nothing, I'm afraid," June answers him, removing her gaze long enough to exchange a look with Danta. "When are you going to bring someone who can make a decent instrument?" And she passes another quick inspection over each of the stalls, including the one K'aus busies himself with. Returning to Skinner, she adds cheerfully, "The harpers here want an arm and a leg for one."
Fact: K'aus is not sneaky today. It isn't even necessarily for lack of skills, but it probably is, but mostly he just gives up. Can you blame him, after several minutes being pitched a sale he isn't even the slightest bit interested in? After another minute or two he finally lets his eyes do the walking. They're on June so the rest of him turns in her, and Skinner's, direction. Which means he leaves that poor vendor without a word. Luckily there's still Valenia, on which he preys next. Poor Val. "Hey," the brownrider says when he approaches.
Skinner's eyebrows go up in a show of sympathy for June's inability to find the things she needs. "As soon as I can convince someone who makes a decent instrument to come out here. Or, as soon as you tell me what instrument you're looking for and commission me to find it for you." Cue the sparkling teeth. His eyes flicked towards K'aus somewhere in that conversation, making note of the beat-up brownrider's approach, but it doesn't keep his attention long.
Valenia, so focused on the clever brainteaser puzzle the vendor is demonstrating for her, starts at K'aus' simple greeting. Her eyes fly up to him and a second later she's calming herself with a smile and a breathed, "Oh, hi." Danta greets him, too, in her own way, with a glance that lingers to catch a moment of eye contact and a curt smile when it's caught. "What are you doing out here?" Valenia wonders innocently at the brownrider. "I mean, there's no reason you shouldn't, it's a nice day, I don't blame you. Just, are you looking for anything?" The peddler perks too; wooden brainteaser anyone? Danta takes advantage of her sister's break from the sales pitch to tug on Valenia's arm again, which does it's job in getting her to meander a few steps in the correct direction. June meanwhile chuckles softly at Skinner's response. "It's not urgent," she tells him, "I'd rather your cut come from them and not from me." She inclines her head at the nearest stall, in the process casting a glance at her sisters plus one, finally joining up with her again.
K'aus stares at Valenia while she speaks as if she is a very mysterious little sprite creature. His hand has come up right before she stops speaking to perhaps use a finger or two on her lips; squeeze them together, take them off, something. But she's done, his hand pauses. "I'm always looking for something," is his super helpful answer. His eyes move past her to the older redhead and he adds, "Excuse me please," before he wades through sisters in order to get to June. He addresses her thusly, "You're harder to keep track of when you aren't seven people. Skinner." There isn't a lot of mystery in who that last part is for.
Skinner stretches his arm up the inside of the stand next to him, leaning his weight against it. The merchant's on the other side of the stall, trying to sell wooden brainteasers to K'aus and Valenia, so he's too busy to mind. "Hey, I get good prices, June. And good quality. Just think about it," he ends with a wink, because his pitch has been cut short. "Hey," is for K'aus. One of those words piqued his interest, though, and his gaze shifts to June with an arched brow. "Keep track of?"
Valenia stares at K'aus as he walks on, confusion distracting her while Danta guides them along after him. Poor Skinner's sale is on the edge of being sealed when K'aus comes and June's consideration and her reply are both cut short. She turns instead to pass a quick assessment over the brownrider's feature, responding dryly, "I'll work on getting some chains, lock us all together, how's that? It's nothing." She returns to Skinner without so much as a transition. "A certain... unsavory guy is hanging around the tavern. K'aus is keeping an eye out for us, is all." Simple as that, though the way Valenia's eyes skitter around the group is telling. There might be more to it than that.
June has a way with words. 'Keeping an eye out' instead of 'blatantly stalking', for example. K'aus looks from Skinner to the redheaded sister and back again, a bland smile in place for her lovely explanation. It means he doesn't have to say anything, and he likes it that way. Except he /does/ have something to say, still, to add to that. In the usual flat voice, "Strange coincidence, this guy causing all this trouble. See now I would've thought a businessman would have more keeping him busy than harrassing women. In a bar." His eyebrows knit and he turns to June without looking at her. Playing the forgetful sort, "What was his name again, June, wasn't it like-- Kochek or... Korev, help me out here."
"Miss? Miss?" The woodcarver tries to get Valenia's attention back on his puzzle boxes, and Skinner glances that way. Now that this little group has stopped to talk instead of buy, they're blocking business for his merchant. "Let's mosey on," he suggests brightly, unwrapping his arm from the stall and stepping back. He takes himself out of the flow of traffic entirely, in fact, leaving the little circle of his market stalls. His attention moves to K'aus. "No offense, man, but you don't look like you're up to the part of the whole hulking bodyguard thing. What happened to your little girl?" Skinner asks June, holding his hand up to indicate yea high. "Piper."
Valenia and Danta's heads are both turned by the peddler's address, but June's eyes are stuck in the mild confusion brought on by K'aus' feigned forgetfulness. She answers eventually, with a low and wary, "Kozec." She's quick enough to return to Skinner, though, especially when he's inquiring about her girl. "She's still around," she replies while she moseys on. Even Valenia, after a tossed apology to the stall vendor, follows suit. "I've been letting her stay at the Weyr, lately, if it's going to be a slow night. But she's still around."
Snap of fingers. "Right." Glance at Skinner. "Kozec." And consider K'aus swept up with the rest of their little group to walk close at June's side with his hands in his pockets. Just never you mind the last phases of the limp he has yet to completely shake and the calm little smile he gives Skinner for his comment will be calm and confident instead of just calm and accepting. "I do what I can. Say there Skinner," all feigned innocence, "don't... /you/ know Kozec?" Because let's not change the subject here.
"Sure do!" Skinner replies, all brightness and cheer. If K'aus is going to fake dumb, Skinner's going to act like he really is. After looking around at the girls, he lands on Valenia and beckons her closer. "If somebody's bothering you, June, then it doesn't sound like you're having slow nights. Why not put Piper on high alert so Bruises here can rest easy?" A wink goes to K'aus for his new nickname.
Eyebrows startled upward are drawn right back down again when June turns to catch Skinner's response, when it turns out to be a cheery affirmation. The other two are visibly baffled by this revelation, too, suggesting at least partial knowledge of the villain of the day. Valenia just blinks blank surprise at Skinner's beckon. "Because that somebody happens to get his kicks from hurting girls like her," June answers, tone still serene, though her eyes snap. "How exactly do you know this Kozec?" she demands, still not moving her burning gaze away from Skinner for a second.
All smugness, K'aus tilts his chin up and purses his lips. Well, maybe not /all/ smugness, there's some trouble in his expression when Valenia is brought into the light of the issue, is used as an example. An example that perhaps hits a nerve. His dry, "Oh they're just business associates," is aimed up.
Skinner reaches out for Valenia's hand, to cure her confusion by giving her a little tug towards him. Given the new nature of this conversation, though, he doesn't insist, if she holds back. June's hard stare demands an answer first. "Kozec and I go way back. Not pleasantly. But I knew him in Bitra, well enough not to be surprised when Bruises told me about his girl. Don't tell me he came after Val?" An arched brow travels from younger redhead to the older one, his fingers giving another little twitch to keep calling Valenia towards him.
The fact that Skinner admits to rather unpleasant terms with the man called Kozec does much to dull the sharpness of June's stare; he even shakes the stare off for a second when he refers to 'his girl' and she shoots a glance Bruises' way. Valenia is won over by the familiar tug and, comforted far more than her two sisters by the explanation Skinner gives, she even has a small smile for him when she sidles away from Danta and toward him. "He bought me a few drinks, yeah," the younger redhead gives her own account of things. "I thought he was really nice until June told me, well..." A glance for her older sister as she allows herself to be drawn right up next to Skinner and lets her arm idly fall to his waist. "... what happened. And what he said. I felt horrible. He just didn't seem like the sort, you know?" June herself doesn't have much to add; she silently crosses her arms and keeps up her study of Skinner's expression.
Silently receiving June's glance, and returning it, K'aus holds her gaze steadily while he addresses the answer from a second ago. "If there's a-- history with you two, I think you'd see it as like a good decision if you elaborated a little. Considering your current company and the fact that this guy's a fucking fiend." He's watching Skinner now, his eyebrow up all expectant-like.
Skinner lifts his arm so Valenia can fit herself in at his side, then wraps it around her shoulders. His expression is all for her, listening to her uncertain account of meeting Kozec and offering a squeeze when she's finished. "Devils never do," he tells her. Keeping Valenia under his arm, he finally checks back on K'aus and June. The show of sympathy was just for Val, and there's none left over. "You mean, did I go around attacking women with him? No. I owed his boss money, and Kozec was the guy who tracked me down to show me why I'd better pay it back. That -" he tilts his head, focus retreating into the distance, "was painful. Never default on a loan, sweets," he advises Valenia, returning to the here and now to impart this sage advice.
Valenia greets his sage advice and the silly idea that she would have loans to default on with a single chuckle to hesitant to develop into a true laugh. June, after all, is still very soberly conversing with him. "But you're still doing business with him," June says, guiding him to the next elaboration she wants to hear from him.
Just consider K'aus another interested party. June's just asked the right question so he keeps his mouth shut and waits for the answer.
Hesitant though she is, Valenia gets a wink just for being a sport and laughing along. "I don't carry grudges," Skinner answers her sister, with a shrug. "I've still got business with his bosses, and I'm out of debt. Mind you, I hadn't seen Kozec again until just recently, even though he's been here a while. He must be bored."
June doesn't even try to fault him for his easy forgiveness, she just goes on to say, "Well, I do hold a grudge." For the offense of talking to her sister, apparently. Still, her ruffled feathers are significantly smoothed by now, the calmness in her voice less cold and her manner less stiff. "Do me a favor, and if you see him around my sisters or near the tavern, let me know." His acquiescence is already assumed, she's turning her gaze first to Valenia, then on to K'aus.
June might be quick to be smooth but K'aus is holding a grudge as well and he is not so easy. "So let me see if I have this straight," he says as soon as there's a clear space in which to speak into. His arms have since folded and he looks down at the ground or not while he sums up. "So this really fucking dangerous guy just happens to show up one day and you meet up with him and have a little talk, sorry for interrupting that by the way it looked like you were really hitting it off, and you neglect to tell anyone? Does anyone know?" A glance is given Skinner upwards, his chin tipped down. Then on to June, then lastly onto Valenia, who unfortunately seems to be the target for what he says next. "He's a killer." On to Skinner again, "Wow you really dropped the ball on this one."
Skinner's eyebrow goes up the longer K'aus keeps on talking, but before he responds he shoots Valenia a look. Like, can you believe this? "Don't be so damn dramatic. Kozec beat me up when it was his job to beat me up. I don't go screaming my head off about business as usual. You're the one who says he killed somebody, so if you want people to know, go tell them." His eyes flick towards June, who gets a humorless twist of his lips. "I don't know what to make of you right now, June," he tells her, dropping into conversational tones.
K'aus is still just a little bit too scary for Valenia, with his dark talk and recent violent brawls, so she pulls a Danta and drops her eyes meekly to the ground when K'aus pins her with his. June doesn't involve herself in this particular line of questioning, she merely observes from the sidelines until Skinner decides to address her directly. "Oh? And why is that?" she wonders as if she were pleasantly asking about the weather, though the arch of her eyebrow indicates more interest than that.
Skinner's reaction actually pleases K'aus if the tilt of his head to accompany the little smile he's wearing again is any indication. Apparently he doesn't ruffle easily past ruffled, which he obviously is or he wouldn't be here, would he. "Maybe it's because you're not humoring him. You're not laughing this off. Maybe he's a little worried about this guy, and he /should/ be. C'mon, June." Imploringly, his dark eyes find her green. In a lower voice, "Kozec is capable of more than just harrassing your girls." Also read: please believe me. Valenia's reaction to him is noted and he reaches his hand out but maybe too fast for skittish females. "Hey."
Skinner nonchalantly twists Valenia back from K'aus's fast-reaching hand, because hey, he's got her now. Chill. "Because you know what K'aus thinks of Kozec." No nickname this time. Apparently he does know the brownrider's name. "And I know why I don't care, but you I can't figure out. You seem to care. I know I'd like Val to be safe." She gets a squeeze and a smile at the mention of her name, the smile used as an excuse to peek at her expression and see how she's doing over there. "But what, you couldn't get a better watchdog than K'aus? Can you even walk without limping yet?" he asks the man directly, his eyes sparkling with amusement at the sudden thought.
Normally, Valenia might be all a-giggle with two men vying for her attention, but right now she just glances back and forth between them, expression apologetic when she gets to K'aus, since she really doesn't mean to snub him, really really. It doesn't stop her from finding a smile to meet Skinner's when he looks back down at her, though. June spares a glance for her limping watchdog and begins her answer before she's even turned back to face Skinner. "Kozec and I go way back, too," she reveals matter-of-factly, as long as they're sharing. "Way back to when he came into my old tavern and decided a beating was payment enough for a quick lay." K'aus can defend himself, so she lets him do that.
"I think it's cute you try so hard to rile me, I have loads of other tricks" says the watchdog, who then puts on a broad, wolfish smile. That was almost an undertone, since it sort of precedes June's admittance, which leaves K'aus in quite the quiet state of shock and staring at her. Apparently he hadn't heard that part before.
Except it was an explanation from June, not a defense from K'aus, Skinner was waiting on. He gives the brownrider a short glance for trying to offer said defense and doesn't comment on it. "Well, he /is/ a bastard," Skinner agrees after June's revelation, but he doesn't sound surprised. "And that'd be a good reason to take precautions." His gaze fixes flatly on the tavern owner.
June inclines her head in a slow nod at Skinner. Which is why she is. "So like I said," she prefaces, uncrossing her arms and giving Valenia a little gesture of curled fingers. "If you see anything. Let me know." Val leaves Skinner's side with a parting pat to his back and gravitates toward June like a gathered chick. Danta, in her subtler, more silent way, steps around behind June as well as they prepare to take their leave of the trader.
The girls are preparing to leave; K'aus simply hugs his arms and watches the flock gather together. Eventually he does say, "This was fun. We should all get together more often." Which might sound a little ominous, and that might be unintentional. Maybe. The brownrider assumes a direction for his own exit that the girls might not take and uses it. As he limps away he gruffly yells, "Shut up." In case Skinner wants to make any snarky comments about his wellbeing.
Skinner had fixed a look, complete with lifted brow and mischievously sparkling eyes, on K'aus's limp, so when the brownrider cuts him off he can't help but bark laughter. That would be all, except he calls after June, "Let me know if you decide you want that instrument!" Then he's slipping back into the crowd, headed in a different direction, to check up on sales near a different stall.
Location: Skinner's Market, Ista Weyr
Date: 8-31-09
Skinner's done his work today, luring the members of a recently arrived tithe train over to his market. As a result, the place is bustling, the shopkeepers busy talking up their wares and roping in customer after customer. So what's left for Skinner to do? Apparently not much, because he's just strolling the periphery, pausing here and there to listen in on a sales pitch without comment. He looks pretty pleased with himself, though.
The girls of The Lucky Seven have been keeping to themselves a lot more lately. Midday outings are rarer and when they're taken, they're taken in tight groups, so when June appears in the bustle, her sisters aren't far behind. They lag, just now, because Valenia has been snagged by a particularly convincing peddler hawking lovely little trinkets and knick knacks he's carved from wood himself. Danta hauls on the younger girl's arm, but lacks the firmness it takes to break that kind of absorption, so she just hovers, keeping one eye on each of her sisters. June notices the distance her wandering has put between her and the others, so pulls her pace to a stop at the last stall on that edge, people-watching while she waits. When Skinner falls under her idle gaze, she smiles warmly and inclines her head to persuade him to come closer.
The lucky girls aren't the only ones laying low. If for nothing else, K'aus has been trying to avoid people asking him questions. Questions are annoying. As for how he's found himself to be here, in the market's vicinity, for the first time since he came to get his cards read, well. It's no secret he keeps close to the Lucky Seven, there's been some speculation about his relationship with the female proprietors; they might not realize it, but he's trailing after /them/ today. Trailing, limping-- same thing. His face looks better. Valenia's preoccupation brings the group to a slow stop and he struggles to compensate and look like he isn't stalking them all. Look at that thing there, it's so interesting. He painfully tries to let himself be engaged by someone trying to sell something and watches June and her brood out of the corner of his eye.
The lucky girls aren't the only ones laying low. If for nothing else, K'aus has been trying to avoid people asking him questions. Questions are annoying. As for how he's found himself to be here, in the market's vicinity, for the first time since he came to get his cards read, well. It's no secret he keeps close to the Lucky Seven, there's been some speculation about his relationship with the female proprietors; they might not realize it, but he's trailing after /them/ today. Trailing, limping-- same thing. His face looks better. Valenia's preoccupation brings the group to a slow stop and he struggles to compensate and look like he isn't stalking them all. Look at that thing there, it's so interesting. He painfully tries to let himself be engaged by someone trying to sell something and watches June and her brood out of the corner of his eye.
Surveying his own handiwork gets a little dull after a time, so Skinner's perfectly happy to take that smile from June as an invitation. Putting on a bright smile of his own, he waves as he walks towards her. "Good afternoon, lovely ladies." His smile extends over the sisters hovering nearby, even the distracted Valenia. "Finding things you like, I hope."
The watchful shadow that is K'aus seems to go unnoticed during all of their wanderings through the stalls. But in the lull provided to Danta by Valenia's overdose of curiosity, her observant glances become searching ones that stop and drop as soon as she's scouted out the brownrider's new location. The two younger sisters take no heed of Skinner, thanks to their distractions, but June gives him the attention due to the proprietor of the market. "Finding nothing, I'm afraid," June answers him, removing her gaze long enough to exchange a look with Danta. "When are you going to bring someone who can make a decent instrument?" And she passes another quick inspection over each of the stalls, including the one K'aus busies himself with. Returning to Skinner, she adds cheerfully, "The harpers here want an arm and a leg for one."
Fact: K'aus is not sneaky today. It isn't even necessarily for lack of skills, but it probably is, but mostly he just gives up. Can you blame him, after several minutes being pitched a sale he isn't even the slightest bit interested in? After another minute or two he finally lets his eyes do the walking. They're on June so the rest of him turns in her, and Skinner's, direction. Which means he leaves that poor vendor without a word. Luckily there's still Valenia, on which he preys next. Poor Val. "Hey," the brownrider says when he approaches.
Skinner's eyebrows go up in a show of sympathy for June's inability to find the things she needs. "As soon as I can convince someone who makes a decent instrument to come out here. Or, as soon as you tell me what instrument you're looking for and commission me to find it for you." Cue the sparkling teeth. His eyes flicked towards K'aus somewhere in that conversation, making note of the beat-up brownrider's approach, but it doesn't keep his attention long.
Valenia, so focused on the clever brainteaser puzzle the vendor is demonstrating for her, starts at K'aus' simple greeting. Her eyes fly up to him and a second later she's calming herself with a smile and a breathed, "Oh, hi." Danta greets him, too, in her own way, with a glance that lingers to catch a moment of eye contact and a curt smile when it's caught. "What are you doing out here?" Valenia wonders innocently at the brownrider. "I mean, there's no reason you shouldn't, it's a nice day, I don't blame you. Just, are you looking for anything?" The peddler perks too; wooden brainteaser anyone? Danta takes advantage of her sister's break from the sales pitch to tug on Valenia's arm again, which does it's job in getting her to meander a few steps in the correct direction. June meanwhile chuckles softly at Skinner's response. "It's not urgent," she tells him, "I'd rather your cut come from them and not from me." She inclines her head at the nearest stall, in the process casting a glance at her sisters plus one, finally joining up with her again.
K'aus stares at Valenia while she speaks as if she is a very mysterious little sprite creature. His hand has come up right before she stops speaking to perhaps use a finger or two on her lips; squeeze them together, take them off, something. But she's done, his hand pauses. "I'm always looking for something," is his super helpful answer. His eyes move past her to the older redhead and he adds, "Excuse me please," before he wades through sisters in order to get to June. He addresses her thusly, "You're harder to keep track of when you aren't seven people. Skinner." There isn't a lot of mystery in who that last part is for.
Skinner stretches his arm up the inside of the stand next to him, leaning his weight against it. The merchant's on the other side of the stall, trying to sell wooden brainteasers to K'aus and Valenia, so he's too busy to mind. "Hey, I get good prices, June. And good quality. Just think about it," he ends with a wink, because his pitch has been cut short. "Hey," is for K'aus. One of those words piqued his interest, though, and his gaze shifts to June with an arched brow. "Keep track of?"
Valenia stares at K'aus as he walks on, confusion distracting her while Danta guides them along after him. Poor Skinner's sale is on the edge of being sealed when K'aus comes and June's consideration and her reply are both cut short. She turns instead to pass a quick assessment over the brownrider's feature, responding dryly, "I'll work on getting some chains, lock us all together, how's that? It's nothing." She returns to Skinner without so much as a transition. "A certain... unsavory guy is hanging around the tavern. K'aus is keeping an eye out for us, is all." Simple as that, though the way Valenia's eyes skitter around the group is telling. There might be more to it than that.
June has a way with words. 'Keeping an eye out' instead of 'blatantly stalking', for example. K'aus looks from Skinner to the redheaded sister and back again, a bland smile in place for her lovely explanation. It means he doesn't have to say anything, and he likes it that way. Except he /does/ have something to say, still, to add to that. In the usual flat voice, "Strange coincidence, this guy causing all this trouble. See now I would've thought a businessman would have more keeping him busy than harrassing women. In a bar." His eyebrows knit and he turns to June without looking at her. Playing the forgetful sort, "What was his name again, June, wasn't it like-- Kochek or... Korev, help me out here."
"Miss? Miss?" The woodcarver tries to get Valenia's attention back on his puzzle boxes, and Skinner glances that way. Now that this little group has stopped to talk instead of buy, they're blocking business for his merchant. "Let's mosey on," he suggests brightly, unwrapping his arm from the stall and stepping back. He takes himself out of the flow of traffic entirely, in fact, leaving the little circle of his market stalls. His attention moves to K'aus. "No offense, man, but you don't look like you're up to the part of the whole hulking bodyguard thing. What happened to your little girl?" Skinner asks June, holding his hand up to indicate yea high. "Piper."
Valenia and Danta's heads are both turned by the peddler's address, but June's eyes are stuck in the mild confusion brought on by K'aus' feigned forgetfulness. She answers eventually, with a low and wary, "Kozec." She's quick enough to return to Skinner, though, especially when he's inquiring about her girl. "She's still around," she replies while she moseys on. Even Valenia, after a tossed apology to the stall vendor, follows suit. "I've been letting her stay at the Weyr, lately, if it's going to be a slow night. But she's still around."
Snap of fingers. "Right." Glance at Skinner. "Kozec." And consider K'aus swept up with the rest of their little group to walk close at June's side with his hands in his pockets. Just never you mind the last phases of the limp he has yet to completely shake and the calm little smile he gives Skinner for his comment will be calm and confident instead of just calm and accepting. "I do what I can. Say there Skinner," all feigned innocence, "don't... /you/ know Kozec?" Because let's not change the subject here.
"Sure do!" Skinner replies, all brightness and cheer. If K'aus is going to fake dumb, Skinner's going to act like he really is. After looking around at the girls, he lands on Valenia and beckons her closer. "If somebody's bothering you, June, then it doesn't sound like you're having slow nights. Why not put Piper on high alert so Bruises here can rest easy?" A wink goes to K'aus for his new nickname.
Eyebrows startled upward are drawn right back down again when June turns to catch Skinner's response, when it turns out to be a cheery affirmation. The other two are visibly baffled by this revelation, too, suggesting at least partial knowledge of the villain of the day. Valenia just blinks blank surprise at Skinner's beckon. "Because that somebody happens to get his kicks from hurting girls like her," June answers, tone still serene, though her eyes snap. "How exactly do you know this Kozec?" she demands, still not moving her burning gaze away from Skinner for a second.
All smugness, K'aus tilts his chin up and purses his lips. Well, maybe not /all/ smugness, there's some trouble in his expression when Valenia is brought into the light of the issue, is used as an example. An example that perhaps hits a nerve. His dry, "Oh they're just business associates," is aimed up.
Skinner reaches out for Valenia's hand, to cure her confusion by giving her a little tug towards him. Given the new nature of this conversation, though, he doesn't insist, if she holds back. June's hard stare demands an answer first. "Kozec and I go way back. Not pleasantly. But I knew him in Bitra, well enough not to be surprised when Bruises told me about his girl. Don't tell me he came after Val?" An arched brow travels from younger redhead to the older one, his fingers giving another little twitch to keep calling Valenia towards him.
The fact that Skinner admits to rather unpleasant terms with the man called Kozec does much to dull the sharpness of June's stare; he even shakes the stare off for a second when he refers to 'his girl' and she shoots a glance Bruises' way. Valenia is won over by the familiar tug and, comforted far more than her two sisters by the explanation Skinner gives, she even has a small smile for him when she sidles away from Danta and toward him. "He bought me a few drinks, yeah," the younger redhead gives her own account of things. "I thought he was really nice until June told me, well..." A glance for her older sister as she allows herself to be drawn right up next to Skinner and lets her arm idly fall to his waist. "... what happened. And what he said. I felt horrible. He just didn't seem like the sort, you know?" June herself doesn't have much to add; she silently crosses her arms and keeps up her study of Skinner's expression.
Silently receiving June's glance, and returning it, K'aus holds her gaze steadily while he addresses the answer from a second ago. "If there's a-- history with you two, I think you'd see it as like a good decision if you elaborated a little. Considering your current company and the fact that this guy's a fucking fiend." He's watching Skinner now, his eyebrow up all expectant-like.
Skinner lifts his arm so Valenia can fit herself in at his side, then wraps it around her shoulders. His expression is all for her, listening to her uncertain account of meeting Kozec and offering a squeeze when she's finished. "Devils never do," he tells her. Keeping Valenia under his arm, he finally checks back on K'aus and June. The show of sympathy was just for Val, and there's none left over. "You mean, did I go around attacking women with him? No. I owed his boss money, and Kozec was the guy who tracked me down to show me why I'd better pay it back. That -" he tilts his head, focus retreating into the distance, "was painful. Never default on a loan, sweets," he advises Valenia, returning to the here and now to impart this sage advice.
Valenia greets his sage advice and the silly idea that she would have loans to default on with a single chuckle to hesitant to develop into a true laugh. June, after all, is still very soberly conversing with him. "But you're still doing business with him," June says, guiding him to the next elaboration she wants to hear from him.
Just consider K'aus another interested party. June's just asked the right question so he keeps his mouth shut and waits for the answer.
Hesitant though she is, Valenia gets a wink just for being a sport and laughing along. "I don't carry grudges," Skinner answers her sister, with a shrug. "I've still got business with his bosses, and I'm out of debt. Mind you, I hadn't seen Kozec again until just recently, even though he's been here a while. He must be bored."
June doesn't even try to fault him for his easy forgiveness, she just goes on to say, "Well, I do hold a grudge." For the offense of talking to her sister, apparently. Still, her ruffled feathers are significantly smoothed by now, the calmness in her voice less cold and her manner less stiff. "Do me a favor, and if you see him around my sisters or near the tavern, let me know." His acquiescence is already assumed, she's turning her gaze first to Valenia, then on to K'aus.
June might be quick to be smooth but K'aus is holding a grudge as well and he is not so easy. "So let me see if I have this straight," he says as soon as there's a clear space in which to speak into. His arms have since folded and he looks down at the ground or not while he sums up. "So this really fucking dangerous guy just happens to show up one day and you meet up with him and have a little talk, sorry for interrupting that by the way it looked like you were really hitting it off, and you neglect to tell anyone? Does anyone know?" A glance is given Skinner upwards, his chin tipped down. Then on to June, then lastly onto Valenia, who unfortunately seems to be the target for what he says next. "He's a killer." On to Skinner again, "Wow you really dropped the ball on this one."
Skinner's eyebrow goes up the longer K'aus keeps on talking, but before he responds he shoots Valenia a look. Like, can you believe this? "Don't be so damn dramatic. Kozec beat me up when it was his job to beat me up. I don't go screaming my head off about business as usual. You're the one who says he killed somebody, so if you want people to know, go tell them." His eyes flick towards June, who gets a humorless twist of his lips. "I don't know what to make of you right now, June," he tells her, dropping into conversational tones.
K'aus is still just a little bit too scary for Valenia, with his dark talk and recent violent brawls, so she pulls a Danta and drops her eyes meekly to the ground when K'aus pins her with his. June doesn't involve herself in this particular line of questioning, she merely observes from the sidelines until Skinner decides to address her directly. "Oh? And why is that?" she wonders as if she were pleasantly asking about the weather, though the arch of her eyebrow indicates more interest than that.
Skinner's reaction actually pleases K'aus if the tilt of his head to accompany the little smile he's wearing again is any indication. Apparently he doesn't ruffle easily past ruffled, which he obviously is or he wouldn't be here, would he. "Maybe it's because you're not humoring him. You're not laughing this off. Maybe he's a little worried about this guy, and he /should/ be. C'mon, June." Imploringly, his dark eyes find her green. In a lower voice, "Kozec is capable of more than just harrassing your girls." Also read: please believe me. Valenia's reaction to him is noted and he reaches his hand out but maybe too fast for skittish females. "Hey."
Skinner nonchalantly twists Valenia back from K'aus's fast-reaching hand, because hey, he's got her now. Chill. "Because you know what K'aus thinks of Kozec." No nickname this time. Apparently he does know the brownrider's name. "And I know why I don't care, but you I can't figure out. You seem to care. I know I'd like Val to be safe." She gets a squeeze and a smile at the mention of her name, the smile used as an excuse to peek at her expression and see how she's doing over there. "But what, you couldn't get a better watchdog than K'aus? Can you even walk without limping yet?" he asks the man directly, his eyes sparkling with amusement at the sudden thought.
Normally, Valenia might be all a-giggle with two men vying for her attention, but right now she just glances back and forth between them, expression apologetic when she gets to K'aus, since she really doesn't mean to snub him, really really. It doesn't stop her from finding a smile to meet Skinner's when he looks back down at her, though. June spares a glance for her limping watchdog and begins her answer before she's even turned back to face Skinner. "Kozec and I go way back, too," she reveals matter-of-factly, as long as they're sharing. "Way back to when he came into my old tavern and decided a beating was payment enough for a quick lay." K'aus can defend himself, so she lets him do that.
"I think it's cute you try so hard to rile me, I have loads of other tricks" says the watchdog, who then puts on a broad, wolfish smile. That was almost an undertone, since it sort of precedes June's admittance, which leaves K'aus in quite the quiet state of shock and staring at her. Apparently he hadn't heard that part before.
Except it was an explanation from June, not a defense from K'aus, Skinner was waiting on. He gives the brownrider a short glance for trying to offer said defense and doesn't comment on it. "Well, he /is/ a bastard," Skinner agrees after June's revelation, but he doesn't sound surprised. "And that'd be a good reason to take precautions." His gaze fixes flatly on the tavern owner.
June inclines her head in a slow nod at Skinner. Which is why she is. "So like I said," she prefaces, uncrossing her arms and giving Valenia a little gesture of curled fingers. "If you see anything. Let me know." Val leaves Skinner's side with a parting pat to his back and gravitates toward June like a gathered chick. Danta, in her subtler, more silent way, steps around behind June as well as they prepare to take their leave of the trader.
The girls are preparing to leave; K'aus simply hugs his arms and watches the flock gather together. Eventually he does say, "This was fun. We should all get together more often." Which might sound a little ominous, and that might be unintentional. Maybe. The brownrider assumes a direction for his own exit that the girls might not take and uses it. As he limps away he gruffly yells, "Shut up." In case Skinner wants to make any snarky comments about his wellbeing.
Skinner had fixed a look, complete with lifted brow and mischievously sparkling eyes, on K'aus's limp, so when the brownrider cuts him off he can't help but bark laughter. That would be all, except he calls after June, "Let me know if you decide you want that instrument!" Then he's slipping back into the crowd, headed in a different direction, to check up on sales near a different stall.