Haze [AOT Female Reader Insert]

Chapter 2: Caged Bird

"I still think it would be better if Adette went instead."

"Mom, we've been over this," you sighed, wringing your hands on the apron you wore, "Adette is too fat and lazy and makes people angry. I'm the obvious choice."

Said girl scowled in your direction, barely holding back a hiss, "Keep it up, you little imp, and I'll make sure you won't set foot outside ever again."

Your mother looked down disapprovingly at your crude attempt at a joke, and you sighed genuinely. "I know you're worried, but I'll be fine. I'll have Dedrich with me. Don't forget that Milo is coming with us there."

She gave a sigh of her own, rubbing the side of her temple as she stirred the vegetables in the pan.

"You worry me sometimes, [Name]," she said with a shake of her head, "You're far too eager to go places where you shouldn't, and you get into all sorts of trouble. Maybe I need to reevaluate my parenting..."

You frowned, grabbed hold of her arm, and slumped against her so your face would press against it. "No, don't do that. Come on, it's not like I've never been outside the zone. You make it seem like I'm going to die if I do."

She rolled her eyes at your behavior but let you cling on to her a little longer.

"You know why I don't like either of you going out into the city," she said quietly, fixing her eyes back on lunch. "When we were young—your father—"

"Got beat by a couple of low-lives," Adette finished for her, having completed the bookkeeping for the shop. "We know, but you have to let us go anyway. Do you really want to make us reliant on you forever? Then [Name] will just be mooching off you forever without any sense of independence."

You let the slander pass this once in return for having done the same earlier in the conversation, and pulled away from your mother so she could finish cooking.

"When are you going to stop mooching off our mother, Adette?" You muttered quiet enough so she couldn't hear, untying the back of your apron. The vegetables had been cut so that meant your job was done. Shop would be closed for another hour or so for your lunch break, so that gave you enough free time to do one last inspection of your work before Yvo came to pick up his sheath.

You hung the apron back on its hook, and headed to your room, closing the door behind you so Adette wouldn't do any peeping.

It was once shared between you and your older sister, but ever since your father's absence Adette had moved in with your mother. She would probably never admit it out loud, but she sorely missed his presence. Adette had slept with her in their room for a few days which turned into a permanent stay. That left you with more room than you sometimes knew what to do with. Most of it was just occupied with boxes and furniture to fill in the extra space, on top of Adette's old bed which you sometimes threw your clothes on to get out of folding them.

After seating yourself at your small worktable, you pulled out the top drawer and grabbed the item, also fetching the sketches you referenced for the designs as well as the original sheath. It was as close as you could get, you told yourself after looking over the groves and edges. It was still missing something however, and you couldn't quite put your finger on it.

You sighed and poked your needle tool into the wood of your table, dreading the itch in your brain you couldn't scratch. It wasn't until your eyes fell back on the script that was on the side of the leather that did it click.

Discarding the tool, you pushed out your chair and walked over to the nightstand beside your bed, pulling out the last drawer and feeling around for the envelope you bad shoved in there. After a few seconds you found it and sat yourself down on the edge of your bed to tug it out and unfold the paper it had housed.