Promt: stairs
The stairs that curved gracefully to link the two floors of the Annex weren't very steep, but with her visual field entirely occupied by a stack of empty cardboard boxes, Cassandra was finding each step rather challenging.
Raise left foot. Feel the step before shifting weight forward. Then…
«Uh… Cass? What are you doing?»
Cassandra almost yelped when Ezekiel's voice came from somewhere close behind her, somewhere she was pretty sure was Ezekiel-less one second ago.
Stealthy thief she reminded herself Scarily-almost-ninja-level stealthy thief.
«Nothing. Just… just taking these upstairs» she replied with studied levity, before reprising her raise-feel-shift routine and conquering another step.
Twenty-one done, five to go counted mentally Cassandra.
«I can see that. Let me rephrase: why are you doing it in a way that will probably end in a nasty fall and bodily damage?» pressed Ezekiel, as usual managing to lay the snark thick enough to almost cover his sincere concern.
«Oh, that. Uhm, see, it's that…» she started tripping on her tongue.
This is so stupid.
«Yeeeeeeees?»
«It's just… after that thing with the Birch Witch in Russia» she continued, trying and failing to keep her voice light «I thought that it'd be a good idea for me to learn how to move without being able to see, since apparently magical wolves don't stop chasing people just because they're having mathematical hallucinations»
Behind her, Ezekiel snorted lightly.
«No, they don't. Which I've found terribly rude, by the way» he said «So this is you… practicing?»
«Yeah, I though about using a blindfold but it felt kind of silly»
«But Cass.. you do realize that I'm a world-class thief, right?»
Cassandra frowned in confusion; Ezekiel bragging was nothing new, but usually it had at least some kind of relation to the context.
«So?» she asked.
«A thief. You know, someone who moves in the dark a lot because it's not very smart to turn the lights on while you're swiping a Monet?»
Twenty-four, two to go.
«You stole a Mon… wait. Are you offering to teach me?» asked Cassandra, turning around in disbelief and almost falling in the process.
Ezekiel's hand flew to her upper arm, steadying her with a firm grip.
«Whoa there» he said releasing her once she had regained her footing «Yeah, well. I would not like an encore of what happened in Russia. And you could call me sensei. Or master, yeah, master sounds good.» he added with a smirk that she couldn't see but could picture effortlessly.
And while his tone was perfectly tuned on "smug and complacent", Cassandra remembered all too well how he had grabbed her hand the instant he realized she couldn't see the real world anymore, almost hauling her with him as they fled through the forest, wolves hot on their trail.
Twenty-five, one to go.
With a grin so wide that she was glad the cardboard boxes where hiding her face, she took the last step.
«Ah, well, I can't really refuse if a world-class thief is offering, can I?»