lurk.
@cxutela / kisae and jaehwan. near the barracks.
kisae slithers the alleyways and beaten down roads of ba sing se with all the loyalty of a snake. this identity doesn’t fit him quite right. but there’s no room for him here, the real him. with the fury of a dying nation locked under the cage of his ribs, his heart bird-beating like wings on wire. here, he’s not a bender. just a student, lost among the many that swarm the sprawling university. it’s a good place to hide. tucked away in the middle of an expansive auditorium, pretending to listen into the sort of scholastic rhetoric that sounds more egotistic than it does enlightening. but kisae doesn’t argue that point. it’s not why he’s here.
he’s after a different sort of information. it’s lost in the dai li. he wonders what plans are stuffed up like wadded cotton in the heads of those generals and elite. it seems to have the same consistency, with how entirely useless kisae sees them as. or maybe detrimental. he just knows his own people trust them so little that he finds himself here. it’s hard to drag useful information free, though. a slow build to establish a persona, something balanced on the tip of political history. a nameless student on a quest to fill the pages of a dissertation, but it’s been hard finding anyone to give him the time of day.
except for jaehwan. only, it feels like his time may as well be spent kicking rocks for all that jaehwan gives him. it’d be frustrating if kisae didn’t find him agreeable. and so it isn’t frustrating. or, not entirely.
that’s why he’s here. for him. he’d say it like the truth anyway, if someone asked. kisae’s eyes are peeled open wide and thirsty, like he’s trying to drink in his immediate surroundings. imprint them to memory. it could be useful. maybe there’s a way in. a way to fit his body skinny behind the cracks of a wall and eavesdrop. he’s done it before, just not here. jaehwan interrupts his scouring. kisae blinks slowly, like he’s pulling himself out of a daydream.
“can i steal you or will they notice you’re gone?” he reaches out to tug at the edge of his shirt. he’d been trying to flirt from the moment it seemed like jaehwan was staring too long at his mouth one day. he still can’t tell if it’s working.
“you should tell me yes,” his lips curl like he already knows jaehwan will.