Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"What the fuck"

Cole looked over to Kai to see him staring at the women's health section of the store they where in, looking absolutely furious. "what the actual fuck"

"You OK man?"

"Look at this shit"

Cole Pushed the shopping trolley over to Kai to try see what he was so upset about. It was a rule with the Ninja that the whenever Kai or Nya went shopping, someone would have to come with them. They tended to always buy the cheapest stuff they could find, and Kai particularly was very picky with how much money he spent, so if they wanted to get any decent quality supplies another person would have to follow them and remind them that they had plenty of money to spare. When he looked over to what Kai was looking at though, he was very confused as to what he was yelling at.

"I mean, I get that these companies need to make money, but how the FUCK are none of these pads even slightly affordable?"

Kai was ranting at the period product's, likely trying to buy some for Nya, but when Cole looked at the prices, he couldn't help but feel like he was being a little dramatic.

"Hey man, I know that you're a bit of a cheapskate but these aren't that bad." He gulped when Kai snapped his head up to glare at him "I mean, six dollars every five months isn't all that bad..."

Cole immediately felt rather small under Kai's gaze, which was ridiculous considering he was a fair amount taller then him.

"Cole..." oh he definitely made a mistake somewhere here "how often do you think women have periods?"

He gulped "well I mean... my mom had pretty light periods once every 2-3 months so I was assuming it was the the same for Nya?" Silence. "I mean, she was pretty sick, so it was probably kinda skewed, but the product's still seem pretty cheap if you ask me."

Kai stared at him for a while before opening his mouth "Cole. Periods happen monthly. Nya needs one or two of these packs a month. If we buy the cheapest ones here, that's 72 dollars a year at least."

Well. Cole wasn't expecting that. "...is that why she gets so angry so often? I thought she just hated everything..."

Kai shook his head "no Cole, her insides are literally squeezing eggs out of her body once a month. Which is why this is so fucked up, because if we can't afford pads then she's going to end up bleeding everywhere, which is fucking uncomfortable."

Cole blinked, wincing at how Kai described it. It wasn't too weird for him probably, with how he grew up with Nya and her woman stuff, but Cole has always been raised to 'never ask a lady about shark week'. Looking at the price tags again though, he frowned. "I mean, this is bad, but it's still not awful. If you cut back on snacks and more unnecessary stuff it's perfectly affordable if you have a little less money, right?" He looked back at Kai and immediately felt more anger then he had facing Viana's dad.

Oh dear

"Cole. Cole. I get that you grew up with your fancy dancer dad, and your private school, but please understand."

Cole nodded, feeling tears threatening to spill down his face.

Kai grabbed his shoulders, bringing him close and growling "it wasn't less cake. It wasn't less Teddy bears, we literally had to eat less when Nya was on her period. If we couldn't afford food or pads, we had to use toilet roll. Being poor isn't an inconvenience, or a downer, it was literally choosing which basic necessities where more important then others."

Cole stared at him with wide eyes, waiting for Kai to break into a grin or to shake his head and giggle about how fun it was to mess with 'rich people' but he didn't. He just turned around, grabbed a small pack of six dollar pads, and carried on down the aisle, looking more exhausted then Cole had seen him in a while.

He knew Kai and Nya had struggled with money- that was the whole reason Cole was here today, to stop Kai from messing up their shopping with those past struggles. But that was the first time Cole realised just how difficult it had been for them. The first time he realised how young Kai was when he started looking after Nya.

The first time he realised that maybe, his loud, funny, bold friend Kai wasn't as happy as he seemed.

Chapter Text

"OK, just let me grab my bag and we can go."

Lloyd was ecstatic. He had come to Kai feeling shy and a bit silly, asking if it was OK for the two of them to go to the arcade together, but Kai accepted immediately.

It wasn't all that shocking, he was somehow always free, no matter the day or how tired he was, but Lloyd was still nervous at the risk of Kai lecturing him about responsibility like Wu would. He fixed his hoodie, and looked around Kai's bed. There were messy drawings pinned up all over the wall from a young Nya that almost made Kai seem like a parent. Lloyd chuffed under his breath at the thought. Kai did act quite parental at times, always checking the cupboards and making sure everyone else was eating before he started to eat.

"Ok Lloyd, are we ready to go?"

Lloyd turned around and saw Kai jogging over to the door, Fanny Pack strapped around his waist and a jacket over his shoulders. Lloyd grinned, and followed.
____

Lloyd was grinning as he hiked up the stairs to the monastery, new dragon plushie in hand. Kai was following close behind, smiling at Lloyd with a bubble tea in hand- Lloyd had insisted they both get one. They opened the door to the monastery, taking off their shoes and going their separate ways. Lloyd watched Kai shuffle to his room, before slipping into the living area to hang out with the other Ninja.
Zane looked up as he entered, and greeted him with his normal tone.

"Hello Lloyd. I see you have a new plushie! May I ask where you got it?"

"I went to the arcade with Kai" He said, feeling too giddy to be embarrassed. He hadn't felt like this in months, too stressed out with his duties as the green ninja, and it was nice being able to relax for a bit.

"Kai?" Jay cut in "I thought he was off doing reading stuff, learning about similes and junk, like in school?"

Lloyd blinked- that was the first he was hearing about it. He glanced at Nya, seeing if she knew what Jay was talking about. She met his eyes and shook her head.

"Nah, Kai probably put in on hold to hang out with you."

"What?" Jay looked back at her, confused. "Why? He made it sound super important."

She shrugged "Kai's always done that. He always put anything I wanted to do before himself, if it wasn't too important. Like, eating and chores came first, but what I wanted always came before him. It's stupid, but I didn't realise the pattern till I was a teenager, so I just assumed we were just super in sync all the time."

Lloyd stared at her, shocked. He knew Kai was probably a bit too generous, always putting others first, but that was on the battlefield. He had never thought it might happen at home, but he had said it himself- Kai was always free. It made Lloyd wonder, how often was he available really? How many times did Kai accept his invitations in his free time, and how many times did he accept them over his own plans?

In fact, how many hobbies did Kai even have? He enjoyed reading, though he was only ever able to read kids books, struggling with longer ones. He was on his phone a lot, did that count as a hobby? The more Lloyd thought about it, the more shocked he was to discover that Kai only ever really did things that other people liked, that other people wanted to do with him.

He was OK at arcade games, but never really got into them the same way Lloyd did. He listened to Zane reading, but it was obvious that the more complex words and metaphors were lots on him. He baked sure, but he always seemed a little too stressed at the ingredients Cole wasted to really have fun. And Lloyd didn't even need to think about Jay's maths tangents that made all of them a little confused to know that Kai didn't really understand them.

Did Kai even have a life outside of the other ninja? He had quite a big social media presence, but other then that, Lloyd realised that Kai never did anything.

He looked back at the bedroom, thinking of how much study time he had taken from Kai at the arcade. Of how Kai, even though he could barely read better then an elementary schooler, had immediately given up his important private time to make Lloyd happier.

It honestly made Lloyd feel a little worse then he had at the start of the day

Chapter Text

"Hey, uh, Zane?"

Zane looked up from his maps to see Kai looking embarrassed as he fumbled with his leaflet.

The leaflets had been made by Zane to prepare for a big mission him and the other Ninja were getting ready for, and he had put all the important information he could think of on them. Each Ninja had gotten one each, and most of them were still flicking through them. Kai, however, had come to Zane far too soon for him to have finished reading it, and he was clearly trying to talk to him privately.

"Is there a problem Kai?"

He watched as Kai stumbled, eyes flitting back and forth to make sure the other Ninja weren't listening, before looking back at Zane.

"I can't read it." He mumbled.

Zane blinked, taking Kai's leaflet and scanning through it. "Hm?"

"I can't read it. The leaflet."

Zane frowned, seeing no stains or smudges that might make the words illegible, and when he looked around the room he saw that no-one else was having the same problem. Glancing back up at Kai, he saw his face heating up, and he was clearly avoiding eye contact.

"I'm afraid I don't understand. There are no misprints in the book and everyone else seems to understand my wording, so could you explain the problem you are having?"

It quickly became clear that this was the wrong thing to say, as Kai's face darkened and he snarled. He snatched his leaflet back, before grabbing Nya's, which had been left on a nearby desk for her, and turned away.

"Whatever. I'll get Nya to help. She's working on something downstairs right?"

Not waiting for an answer, he stormed through the door, slamming it shut. By this point, all of the other Ninja had taken notice, staring at Zane for an explanation.

Waving them off with his hand, Zane got up from his work and followed behind Kai. If he had gotten something wrong in their interaction, he wanted to know what it was to avoid making the same mistake in the future. As he made it to the basement, he heard Kai and Nya's voices in the distance.

"Sorry sis, I know you're busy but could you read this for me? I got your leaflet too."

"Oh yeah, sure! Lemme guess, Zane made it? He has a tendancy to use complicated words for everything."

"Yeah. I didn't want to ask any of the others, cause they were all finding it pretty easy, but I have no idea whats in this thing."

"That's fine. I think I've got the gist off what's in here already."

"Thanks."
Zane's eyes widened as he heard the two siblings talk about his leaflet. He was aware that Kai found reading difficult at times, but he had always chalked it up to disinterest, or maybe an unchecked eyesight problem.

Listening to him talking to his sister, however, it made it seem like he struggled with reading itself! Zane thought back to all the times Kai and Nya talked about their childhood, every funny memory or school story before frowning.

Nya always had stories about her school days, from playground fights, to tales about her teachers, but Kai never offered up his own stories.

In fact, whenever the other Ninja were discussing their time at school, Kai only ever offered up stories about Nya, or talked about how smart she was in school, but never what he was like. At first, Zane had thought he was bullied, but now a new thought was worming its way into his head.

Kai never had any stories from school, struggled with reading- and most school subjects actually, he struggled with maths, history and science as well- and didn't seem to have any friends from Ignacia. In fact, Kai didn't seem to have had a life outside of Nya before becoming a Ninja.

Had Kai not gone to school?

Peering his head round into the room Kai and Nya were in, Zane watched as Nya read out Kai's leaflet, pointing out different words and explaining what they meant, while Kai grinned in a way Zane hardly saw, memorising the words Nya was teaching him.

Backing away, Zane made his way back up to the rest of the Ninja, thinking about Kai, desperately trying to recall any school stories or interesting memories he had shared from playgrounds like everyone else.

He couldn't think of any.

Chapter Text

"Shit"

Jay looked up from the stall he was skimming through, and was immediately shoved forward by Kai

"Shit shit shit shit-"

"Um- Kai? Could you stop shoving me, or maybe tell me what you're shoving me away from?"

Kai didn't even answer, much to Jay's annoyance, and instead just grabbed his hand and started pulling him away from the stall he was looking through.

"Kai! C'mon, we need to talk to some of the people here! I know it's annoying but-"

"Shut it Jay!" Kai hissed, eyes scanning the market as if he was looking for someone.

Realising how stressed he was, Jay ducked down a little, checking the market for anything that might have gotten Kai so on edge. "Crap, what is it? Evil warlords? Oni? Some kind of angry fish-"

"KAI SMITH!"

Kai immediately yanked Jay hard, and started speeding through the market faster then Jay ever thought possible with such a big crowd. He was almost embarrassed, with how he crashed into so many people, but all he could focus on was the way Kai slid through the crowd with the grace of someone who had done this their whole life.
He didn't get to watch Kai for long however, as he suddenly felt a strong hand around his hoodie, and came face-to-face with a furious, red faced man.

"Ah, h-hello?"

And his breath absolutely stunk.

"You friends with that brat?"

"A-ah, well, it really depends on how you define friendship, I mean-"

"Answer the damn question."

Jay gulped, debating on whether or not this man was being violent enough to resort to spinjitzu, and silently begging for Kai to come back, and maybe explain who the hell this guy was, when a woman came from behind him and grabbed his arm.

"Oh Cameron please, does this young man really look like he knows what's going on? Smith's a ninja now, and I doubt he's told anyone about his thieving habits."

Blinking, Jay glanced over at her. She looked to be in her early 50's, and she had a rolling pin in her hand covered in flour. "Thieving habits?"

He just got a pitying look in return, as the man, still red-faced, put him down.

"Yes, thieving habits. I imagine he hasn't told you this, but Smith is quite the well known thief. Always grabbing anything his fingers could reach, and running off before anyone could grab him." She held up her rolling pin with a smile, as if she was proud "still managed to get a few good hits in though, made sure the kid knew he couldn't steal from old Jenny!"

Jay stared at her, shocked, before looking back in the direction Kai had run in. Had Kai stolen stuff before? Really stolen stuff, not just grabbed something for a mission, or gotten framed, or even nicked something from one of the Ninja.

Before his thoughts managed to spiral any longer however, a shout came from behind them: "Hey! You get away from Jennifer's stand!"

As the three turned, they saw a group of teens kicking over what Jay assumed to be 'Jenny's' stall- or maybe Jennifer was a popular name here. He wasn't quite sure, he'd never been here before unlike Kai apparently. However, based on the fact that 'Jenny' started screeching like a raptor of some kind and running to the stall with the red-faced man, the stall probably was hers.

This is the type of thing a ninja would help with, right?
...
Nah.

"I hate those kids with a burning passion, but I could kiss them right now. Not in a weird way though."

Jay gave an extremely dignified scream as he spun around to see Kai's tense face directly behind him.

"Wha- You- Stealing!?"

"Shut up Jay, we're attracting too much attention. We need to go."

Before Jay could even say anything, he was being dragged off again by Kai.
Luckily, the two managed to get out of the market without any interruptions. Well, other then Jay's quiet protests that is.
As soon as they were reasonably far away from other people, Jay immediately swiped his hand away from Kai and glared.

"What the HELL Kai? You used to steal stuff here!? That lady said you were a well known thief- when were you going to tell us this?!"

"Jay-"

"Cause if you ask me, this seems like a pretty important thing to tell us. I mean, if I was a well known thief in my teen years, you guys would have heard of it ages ago!"

"Jay-"

"Does anyone on the team know about this? Does Nya know about this!?"

"JAY!"

He looked up at Kai, taking in his shaking hands, clenched teeth and wobbling lip, and realised that now might not be the time for lecturing.

Kai took a breath, clearly trying to compose himself, and put his head in his hands. The silence between them stretched on to almost awkward lengths, but knowing Kai's not so great talking skills, Jay understood that he was probably just putting his thoughts together.

He was just taking an unbearably long time to do so.

Eventually, Kai spoke again.

"I didn't want to tell you guys this because we're ninja, and ninja don't steal. Also 'cause its none of your business.".

Jay nodded along, prompting Kai to keep talking (and also trying not to be slightly offended by his words- I mean, Kai knew he was adopted, and that wasn't exactly his business)

"And no, Nya does not know about this. And I know you guys tell each other everything, lovers and all that, but you can't tell Nya about this."
"Wha- why not? This is like, SUPER important Kai, Nya definitely needs to know about this! Actually, how doesn't she know about this? She's your sister!"

"Because she doesn't realise how bad it was!"

Kai was barely holding back tears now, and his hair gel was starting to smell a little burnt from his temper. "She doesn't know how difficult it was getting, and she doesn't need to know. Now, if we want to continue the mission that's fine, but your going to have to go back to the market on your own. I'll figure something out here, okay?"

The two were quiet for a few minutes, staring at each other. After a while, Kai looked away and started scrolling through his phone, presumably looking for maps in Ignacia.

"Hey-"

"Conversation over Jay. Just go and try find out where we can go, okay?"

"... I- okay."

As Jay walked away, back to the market where is entire perception of Kai had been flipped on its head as he thought about everything he had learnt.

If Kai kept things like this from Nya, his own sister, how many things did he keep from the rest of the Ninja? From him?

Did any of them truly know Kai?

Chapter Text

"You had a job at 14!?"

"Yup! It wasn't super difficult, and it didn't pay much, but it looked brilliant on my college resume!"

Jay opened the door for Nya as they returned from their arcade date, and she giggled a little as he bowed. They had been talking about first jobs, and apparently the idea that she'd started working as a young teen was shocking to him.

"I don't know why you're surprised, didn't you technically start working when you were a kid?"

"Pushing tires around a dump at eight years old hardly counts as a job Nya. I mean, I only got my first paid job at 17! I mean, wow! You and Kai-"

"What about me?" Nya barely concealed a horrified gasp as Kai poked his head round the door, whisk in hand. 

"Oh, Nya was just telling me about when she was 14 and-"

"Kept going on all those sleepovers!" She yelled, her cursed voice cracking a little in the lie. Jay spun around, confusion painting his face as Kai frowned, clearly realising Jay was about to say something else.

What could she say, how could avert suspicion!? Say something, say something, nothing could be worse then Kai finding out about the truth!

"Don't tell him about my old girlfriend!"

OK, maybe some things were worse.

Face bright red, Nya grabbed a shocked and confused Jay and marched right past and frozen Kai. Cole had started to try see what all the commotion was about and Nya was so embarrassed.

"Just- just come on."

She dragged him into the main bedroom of the Monastery and they stood in silence for a while as Nya hung her head in her hands. Eventually Jay spoke up.

"So... you were meeting up with your girlfriend..?"

"No Jay, I wasn't. I didn't even go on my first date until college- that was so Kai didn't ask questions. You can't tell him about my old job, OK?"

God, now this was going to be a whole thing. She could already see the questions building up behind Jay's eyes, and he was awful at keeping quiet when he wanted to know something.

"Soo... Kai doesn't know about your old job?" He looked concerned "What was it?"

"Don't look at me like that, it was just as a cleaner for one of the ladies in Ignacia. He doesn't know because Kai had this weird idea that he had to do everything by himself, and he thought I would let him!" She sighed. Kai was always so stressed when they were younger, but he never let her do anything to help!

"You've seen how Kai gets when he's upset. I don't know how a guy with such a massive Ego gets crushed so easily, but he's always been that way. If he finds out that I spent my time after school working instead of hanging out with my friends, he's going to feel like some kind of failure."

The news finally started to sink in, apparently, as in that moment Jay deflated.

"Man, you and Kai had rough lives, huh?"

She frowned. Pity was absolutely not the response she wanted.

"No, we had normal lives. For us anyway. I know lots of people would consider being adopted and living in a junkyard 'pretty rough'"

Cringing, Jay held his hands up "Hey, hey, you know I didn't mean it like that. Also, ouch- that was too far."

"Right, right. Sorry. Just- urgh, sorry."

"No no, it's fine. So... I can't tell Kai about the early start to your career?"

"I cleaned up after an old lady who paid me in pennies Jay, not exactly a 'career'. And please don't- don't tell any of the others either."

"Do not worry m'lady. Besides, I wouldn't trust Cole with a secret even if my life depended on it."

Nya giggled at that, finally allowing the tension in the room to leak out. Her boyfriend was amazing.

She looked away, brushing her hair behind her ear. She just missed the smile dropping of Jay's face- and turned around before she could see the concern wrapping his body

Chapter Text

Today was mother's day.

And contrary to most assumptions, Nya loved mothers and fathers day.

However...

"Hello Nya. I am assuming that you and Kai will be travelling to your parents house for mothers day?"

It was a little awkward when you were surrounded by Ninjas that didn't know your traditions. (And made rude assumptions)

"If that is the case, then you should probably prepare to leave now. Jay is going to his parents just now, and Cole is almost ready to visit his mother's grave, and I believe Lloyd is also going to see if he can arrange a meeting with Misako."

She sighed. Had Zane talked to Kai yet? It felt a bit selfish but she hoped not. She- as bad as she felt about it- really didn't want to see her parents. She looked over the the robot, and took note of his awkward stance. 

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going anywhere for mothers day?"

"Ah" He clearly hadn't expected that "no, as I have no mother I shall just be staying at the Monastery."

Nya smiled, a little awkwardly. "Then maybe you can stay here with me and Kai..?"

He blinked, processing her words before tilting his head in the way he always did when was confused. "You're not going to Maya and Ray's house?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

Shrugging, she broke eye contact. "It's just weird, y'know? Kai remembers them, so he's obviously trying to connect with them again but..."

She sighed. Other than Kai, she hadn't talked to any of the Ninja about her parents- not even Jay! But Zane had always been a good listener.. and he was good at keeping things private..

"They just feel like strangers to me. Kai says I was 3 when they left, so it makes sense that I wouldn't... and I'm a fully grown adult now! When I was hungry, it was Kai that cooked for me. When I had a bad day at school, It was Kai who disappeared into the market and got a pastry for me somehow. When I graduated college, it was Kai who travelled all the way from Ignacia to celebrate with me. Maya doesn't even know what degrees I have- it just feels wrong to celebrate mother's day with her."

She gasped for air- that mortifying rant had lasted far longer then she had expected it to. And to Zane as well, who hadn't even grown up with a mum or an older brother! Urgh, Nya really needed to learn to have more tact. 

Zane sat thoughtfully for another few seconds, before nodding "I suppose that does make sense. I imagine then that mother's day isn't exactly your favourite day of the year?"

She chuffed "you'd be surprised."

He just stared at her so she continued "Sure I couldn't give anything to Maya, but making cards and stuff was compulsory in my school. So I talked to my friends about the kinda stuff their mums did, like cooking them food, cleaning the dishes, patching up their cuts and scrapes and I figured, well, Kai does all that stuff, so I guess he must be my mum! And ever since then, it's become a bit of a tradition for me and Kai to spend mother and fathers day together- with a few gifts sprinkled in of course."

And with that, she produced a newly-built handheld radio from a hidden pocket in her jacket- grinning at Zane's gasp. Her flair for the dramatics truly hadn't died from her days as Samurai X, had they?

"Incredible. So you do something like this every year?"

"More or less. Obviously when I was a kid my creations were much cheaper and not the most delicately made, but Kai's kept all my presents, and he has each and every single card I've made hung up- even the ones I made when I was 6, which is honestly embarrassing." She laughed nervously 

"Not at all! I think it's rather sweet. I myself was never a particularly creative child, so my father never had anything of mine to hang up. It's lovely that you and Kai have that bond!"

The two sat in blissful silence, reflecting. Then, out of nowhere Nya turned around and lunged at Zane, hugging him tight.

"Ah- Nya?"

"Shhh. We're hugging now. Not the most comfortable hug I've ever had, metalhead, but I've had worse."

Zane chuckled, before responding with his own arms around Nya.

They sat together like that for a few seconds before untangling themselves- She hadn't been lying when she said he was uncomfortable to hug.

They stared at each other for a little while longer, before Nya stood up, grabbing Kai's gift.

"Anyway, on that note I should probably-"

And right on cue, Kai walked in.

"Hey sis, that's Lloyd just left so we have the house to our- oh Zane! I, ah, kinda forgot you were here.."

"Oh no, I was just leaving."

"Really?"

"Wait, really!?"

"Yes! I understand that you two probably have plans for the day, and I was hoping to do some browsing at an antique market down in Ninjago City!"

Kai blinked, frowning "dude, you really don't have to go if you don't want to-"

But Zane shook his head. "I promise, I am in no way forcing this upon myself. I understand that today is an important day for the two of you, and I was already planning on going antiquing! Unless you'd like to join me?"

Nya giggled as Kai immediately stopped his protests to grimace at the thought of antiquing. As Zane brushed past them, he glanced at Nya, who respond with a grin. Talking to Zane felt... Well, nice! She hadn't realised how closed off she'd been to the Ninja outside of Jay and Kai, but this whole experience has honestly made her want to hang out with them more! 

Huh... Lloyd was probably free tomorrow...

Chapter Text

Lloyd was a sweet kid.

An absolute little shit, but a sweet one.

After the whole Mother's Day chat with Zane, Nya had done some self reflecting- and had realised that she kinda sucked at hanging out with the Ninja outside of Jay and Kai. So to fix this, she'd decided to spend more time with her friends. More specifically, Lloyd. 

And who was she to deny Lloyd's suggestion of pranking poor strangers?

The two of them giggled together as they sat, perched on the top of a small arch. They were hooded up, obviously- The green ninja could never be seen doing this, and despite the fact that Kai found Lloyd's pranks hilarious, Nya would probably get into trouble too. Jerk. 

"Oh, I can't hit that guy, he's too old. He'd probably die of pneumonia, or whatever old human men die of."

Nya flicked her eyes over in mild curiosity, trying to see who Lloyd was being hilariously stupid to... oh Hell no.

"Ok, that's fine, I can soak that fucker. Bitch deserves pneumonia- Lloyd you are 18, you're the green ninja, you can handle me cursing a little."

Lloyd slowly removed his hands from his ears, frowning at Nya as she reached over the side of the arch, water balloon in hand. He was judging her so hard it was almost funny. She stuck her tongue out in concentration, aimed, and-

"Ok but what you said implies that he might actually get pneumonia Nya. I don't want to be the Ninja famous for being complicit in the murder of an old man!"

Urgh. What happened to the Lloyd who took joy in bumping elders down a bit?

"Listen, it's fine. Mr Carcary has survived the worst winters Ignacia has to offer, and he's also a misogynistic prick who used to come into our shop to make sexist jokes with Kai. In fact, he could do with a bit of humiliation- bring down his ego a bit, y'know?"

Lloyd frowned "wait- with Kai? That implies that Kai was also making jokes.."

She snorted- right, Lloyd was a kid when Kai was still making those jokes, wasn't he? "Oh boy, do I have something to tell you bud."

"But Kai wouldn't do something like that, would he?"

"He would. Kai was quite the little misogynist when we were younger. Ignacia is like, super traditional- when I was in school I learned sewing and cookery with all the other girls, and the boys learned smithing and physics. It was a whole thing."

"... what?!"

Ah yes, the classic 'I-grew-up-in-ninjago-and-thought-the-rest-of-the-world-was-as-up-to-date-as-us' response. Lloyd's stuttering and gaping mouth was making her feel nostalgic to her college days. "Yup. I used to hide in cupboards and underneath the floorboards when I wanted to learn a bit more in physics and maths. They taught us the bare bones, but nothing else."

"Wait, the floorboards- no, we're getting off topic here. So that guy... used to go into your blacksmith? And make sexist jokes with Kai? Really?"

"Yup. Mr Carcary would come in all 'Did you hear the new math teacher's a woman? What's she teaching them, how many ounces of sugar do you put in a sponge?' And then Kai would be like 'Well based on how grumpy her husband looked last time he was in here, I can't imagine she'd know' and then they'd both laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world, and Kai would assure me that they weren't talking about me, and I was the exception, despite the fact that Mr Carcary always complained about smart women."

Lloyd looked... actually Lloyd looked a little upset now. Oh shit, this was his big brother she was talking about right now- not that she was gonna let Kai off easy on this, absolutely not, but maybe telling Lloyd just how shitty Kai was then they were younger in the middle of their fun day out was a little unfair... urgh.

"Obviously this all stopped when I got accepted into college."

"Wait, really? What changed?"

"Well, Mr Carcary made a joke about me. And Kai hated it when people made jokes about me."

She could remember the day well. Her and Kai had been celebrating her scholarship- and by celebrating she meant celebrating, Kai had been hugging her all day- when Mr Carcary stepped in to order up a new bracelet for his wife- something that Kai was actually good at. While they were talking, Kai had broken the news and... Well...

"Ah, now that's a shame. A woman filling her head up with all that 'new age' nonsense will take up the space for cooking and cleaning- I was really hoping for a new sweet girlfriend y'see? The missus is getting to the Bitching age now!"

He'd laughed about it like it was the funniest joke in the world, and Kai had hummed a bit in response- before suddenly 'remembering' he was planning on closing up early that day, and hustling Mr Carcary out of the shop.

"Oh my Master.. He really said that!?" 

"Yup." Nya gave an awkward chuckle, talking to Lloyd about this and his reaction had just reminded her of how awful the joke had made her feel. "Easy to say that Mr Carcary never stayed in the shop for long at all after that- and Kai started charging him more too. Said it was the cost of rice going up, but I think we both knew what the real reason was."

Lloyd hummed, and looked away, frowning. Nya sighed- being such a... curious child wasn't easy in Ignacia. When she wasn't asking about maths equations and engineering, she was asking why girls and boys was so different. And since the only one willing to put up with her questioning was Kai, who had even less education then she did, she never really got ant answers.

College had been amazing in that sense- she'd just wished Kai had gotten the opportunity too, even if only to get him to take his head out of his ass sooner. 

She turned back to Lloyd, who perked his head up at the borderline feral grin spreading across her face. 

"Hey, how would you feel about some stories from Ignacia after I came back from college? There's a reason Kai wasn't such a raging misogynist when you two met~"