Utterly Incorrrigible

Writer (non-practicing), Seamstress (mostly practicing), Collector of Little Hobbies

[maidenofcrows]

Fanfic Masterlist: Six of Crows

A little collection of the SoC fics I’ve written so far

i’d never want once from the cherry tree // cause my baby’s sweet as can be // she'd give me toothaches just from kissin' me

Post-Canon. Recently married kanej on an idyllic little holiday

I think I'll take my whiskey neat (my coffee black and my bed at three)

Modern AU. Established wesper and helnik. Accidentally secret kanej. Shenanigans. Marked as finished (it’s not really), but I’m actually just too lazy to fix it

we will grieve not, rather find // strength in what remains behind

Post-Canon. Inej grapples with who she was vs. who she has become

i'm shattered porcelain, glued back together again, invincible like i've never been

Post-Canon. Kaz and Inej learning to navigate their relationship. Every moment they fought for was for the promise that they could eventually stop fighting.

I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself

Post-Canon. In the end, Dirtyhands was a myth. He was only Kaz Reitveld. He told her everything.

[nameinprint]

*SOC DARKER SHORE SPOILERS*

this seemed small but the moment in the new book where they suspected the captain of the wraith may be a previous dregs member, but ruled that out because she didnt have the tattoo and they know that kaz without fail makes 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 get the tattoo is so special to me as a kanej moment

[woodwool]

severely deficient in whatever vitamin makes u a person

[aconfusedspoon]

While working on a bigger post that is low-key tuning into a Kanej essay on this that I said about Inej Ghafa's trauma, I found myself thinking... for all the (very valid) "Inej's trauma isn't talked about enough" I've seen around in the brief time I've spent in the fandom so far, I think that an even truer assessment might be that at least from what I've been able to see her trauma can at times be "oversimplified" (I don't know what other word to use) in a lot of discussion- though I'm pretty sure that it isn't being done on purpose.

it's more than understandable people will focus primarily on the objectification and physical aspects of her trauma; at the same time though there are so many other elements to discuss alongside them too:

Let's not forget that Inej herself claims perhaps the worse part of her time at the Menagerie wasn't the physical part of it, rather it was was Heleen's capacity for kindness and consequent benefit of the doubt that she'd use for emotional abuse.

Let's not forget that Inej was sold as a sex slave in a country she didn't know, with a language she didn't speak and a religion she did not practice to a brothel that specialized in cultural fetish, where she couldn't use her own fucking name for a whole year and was referred to with the name of a literal animal and one that didn't make sense to associate with her Suli origins at that.

Let's not forget that Inej's natural defense mechanism isn't fight (which she had to learn) but freeze, that dissociation was what got her through her work and the one time she couldn't manage to separate herself from what was being done to her was with a man that recognized her from her prior happier life.

Let's not forget that her freeze response carried through time even after she left and it was so bad she couldn't walk the street in front of The House Of Exotics and the one time she succeeds she runs into Heleen who taunts her and she freezes again.

Let's not forget that on that day and on the one she first arrived on Ketterdam at age 14, Inej thought of killing herself.

Let's not forget that to Suli people have no land and the capacity to rely on others and find shelter in community is how you survive, and Inej was blocked in Ketterdam of all fucking places, where everyone operates for their own interest and on their own if not for family or gangs and not even these could be trusted- and Inej had to learn that with the Dregs, to be ready to defend herself even from those she thinks are her friends. In fact-

Let's not forget that when she was being hostage by Van Heck the only person she trusted would've come for her is the only unapologetically openly devoted member of the crew (i.e. Nina) and literally everyone else was some variation of 'I don't know if they'd come for me', not just Kaz (she assumes Matthias might out of honor more than anything, Wylan doesn't seem to register as an option and she didn't trust Jesper would prioritize her over the needed money).

Let's not forget that Inej called every single one of her knives after the Saints she'd pray to after using them, that her faith isn't just an anchor of hope but also near the only bit of her identity she had left to clung onto.

A key component of Inej's story is about overcoming layers of emotional destabilization, and I think it's important to not... reduce (for lack of a better term) the effects of all of this to "whether or not she's okay with being touched".

[aconfusedspoon]

Very new to the Six Of Crows fandom so I gotta dip my toe in the water:

Am I allowed to say that a widely undiscussed side of Inej's trauma is the absence of emotional safety she quickly had to adapt to and that in order to discuss it one has to acknowledge a more ambiguous and somewhat likely uglier side of how Kaz's behavior affects her and Inej's dynamic with him in a way that doesn't revolve solely around her feelings for the guy or am I going to be eaten up alive?

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Kaz: Im starting a polycule but we don’t do anything sexual we just mobilise for mischievous reasons

[blueisconfused]

wesper shared playlist where jesper physically cannot stop adding terrible songs from the 2010s and wylan keeps taking them off because he knows jesper is just adding them for the bit

one day jesper adds one back and wylan doesn’t notice until later. that night jesper is in the kitchen and he hears someone go, “jes,” in an extremely calm voice.

he looks up to see wylan in the hallway. “yes, wy?” he says.

wylan doesn’t say anything, just presses a button and fixes jesper with a very pissed-off glare as “raining tacos” starts blasting over a speaker.

jesper wants to laugh so badly but he’s a little terrified because wylan is genuinely fuming at this.

and then the song ends and wylan just turns around and leaves and jesper’s like “???”

(wylan, meanwhile, has added several songs that he’s thought a lot on. he has explanations for each, saying stuff like “the percussion here reminds me of you, and when the strings add onto it that’s like the time we…” etc etc.

jesper thinks it’s lovely. he then proceeds to add 20 copies of the gummy bear song)

[heypax]

the deleted inej and jesper scene is deeply personal to me.

[thefishiswriting]

wylan at 23 learning how after 7 years all your cells are officially regenerated. him realizing he now lives with a body his father never touched. him telling inej about it. inej quitely weeping that night because even if the memories are still there this body is entirely hers. idk if it makes sense and it is very badly worded but i'm at work and it's driving me insane.

[lyralows]

Kaz, after realizing these hands never touched Jordie, neither in life or death, and feelings strangely numb at the thought.

[the-fish-is-alive]

well, it just keeps getting worse. May I also offer you: Nina, years after Matthias's death, sobbing because all remnants of his touch are gone.

[lyralows]

Just say you hate me.

Jesper, realizing that one day, his body will forget the day he took a spin at the Makker's Wheel- and now he only has to get his mind to do the same.

[thefishiswriting]

well, how am i supposed to sleep in peace now?

Jesper, holding his mother's clothes, hoping to get a semblance of the touch that his body forgot

[lyralows]

Sigh 💔

Matthias, drifting in and out of consciousness, thinking how lovely life must be, for Nina to be the last thing his body remembers.

[thefishiswriting]

screaming crying throwing UP oh my GOD

[thrilm]

[privateerandking]

My farm boy Kaz headcannons (because we don’t talk enough about how at his core he is a farm boy and is bound to have tendencies and habits that linger):

He loves wide open spaces. He’ll tell you about how winding streets and towering buildings and tight alleys make for easier criminal acts and strategic getaways and how open fields are for fools and just leave you as a sitting duck. But despite this you’ll never find him more relaxed and at ease (imperceptible and subtle as it may be) in a wide open space where the sky stretches out above him and the horizon before him.

Speaking of horizons, he is ridiculously fond of sunrises and sunsets. He’ll “coincidentally” wind up at the docks or on a rooftop or somewhere he can view the horizon in the city during those times of day.

He’s averse to the stench of the city. Though he’s of course learned to hide it very well, you’d never know he had a problem with it until you witness him outside it. The first time Inej and Jesper venture outside the city with him they’re surprised to see how he takes a deep breath of the country air and almost immediately and imperceptibly improves his mood and relaxes. He also loves the smell of stables.

He loves birdsong. At some point he takes on an incredibly risky mission and though the pay was good, it’s not a coincidence that this person also happened to own a singing clockwork bird automaton that is missing after his visit.

He loves wind. If you brought it up to him he’d say that it’s good for making sure people don’t overhear you and for masking your footsteps, but in truth he loves the feeling of a breeze. There are always windows open at the Slat to create a cross breeze.

He’s very good with animals. For as much as he hates people and can’t stand touching them he is very affectionate with animals (though he tries to hide it) particularly large animals/farm animals naturally (big dogs, horses, cows, chickens, etc. see Crooked Kingdom chapter 2 when he indulges Smeet’s dogs in belly rubs) He’s charitable to them too, random bowls of water and table scraps can be found around the outside of the Slat and people know better than to call attention to it or question it.

In this vein he actually prefers riding a horse to sitting in a carriage and is very proficient in tacking up horses (to everyone’s surprise)

Like Jesper he has some of that hidden farm boy strength to him (see Six of Crows chapter 23) He’s stronger than people think both because of his leg and cane making people underestimate him but also because he has that farm boy build.

He can sew and mend surprisingly well

He of course knows farm terminology like the names of tools and pieces of equipment and stuff that no one would expect someone bred in the barrel to know

@polycrowtruther on my other post said Kaz spits and for no good reason, it's just a habit because when he was a kid he wanted to be like his dad (who chewed jurda) and I concur completely.

This may be a little unrealistic but I like to believe he has a little tiny bit of a country accent that he hides or that only comes out when he’s very tired or drunk

That’s all I’ve got for now! Leave yours in the notes!

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Jesper: *Flirting* Would you like to come over sometime and make a list?

Wylan: I love you

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Jesper: Do you want to meet the baby?

Kaz: Not even slightly

Jesper: The baby is a puppy

Kaz: Yes, I will meet the baby

[cryptidstealingyourcreditcard]

do you think jesper ever instinctually and/or absentmindedly calls a kid “little rabbit” and then has to take a good five minutes to process the crushing grief that is immediately catapulted onto him?

[rosieethor]

being a writer is wild cause you'll get a crushing professional rejection and then five minutes later someone on AO3 with a username like destieltrashfire will tell you your work is holding their mental health together singlehandedly and you just gotta roll with that whiplash

[ekjohnston]

Ngl, sometimes AO3 is all that gets me through.

[maidenofcrows]

Inej who gets a few little premature signs of aging

Inej who, by the time she’s in her twenties, has a permanent crease between her eyebrows from already a lifetime of furrowing them

Inej with the beginnings of laugh lines in the corners of her eyes before she’s 30. She hears theyre called crows feet, which only serves to make her laugh again

Inej taking all signs of aging in stride and with pride because to her it shows that she made it out of a place that chews children up and spits out the bones, and has lived in spite of it all

[privateerandking]

We actually don’t talk enough about how at his roots Kaz is a farm boy. Like he moved to Ketterdam when he was 9? He spent a not insignificant amount of formative years growing up on a farm. I need all the headcannons about the ways his farm boy upbringing still shows through despite his best efforts to put up the facade that ‘his mother is Ketterdam. She birthed him in the harbor’

You can take the boy out of the farm but you can’t take the farm out of the boy.