[[open post: a new friend!]]

[ravkanwitch]

After speaking with Sagramore at the dance, Nina now has her heart set on finding a pet of some sort. She isn't necessarily lonely, not with so many friends, but sometimes when she lays in bed alone at night and thinks about her past, her memories, and her worries, it all feels... a little too quiet and empty-- alright, maybe she's slightly lonely. But only at night. And only when her mind gets away from her. That's why after her morning walk, she's planning on going to ask Aziraphale about producing a rabbit for her.

Is a rabbit right for her, though? She considers this as she takes one of her favorite routes through the forest; it eventually leads to a small waterfall and she's enjoyed watching it slowly freeze into ice and then slowly start melting again. She doesn't mind the cold too much, not with her Ravkan blood and Fjerdan tendencies, and this forest is starting to feel like home. Only on short, ambling walks, though. She enjoys her solitary walks and the feel of the wind and sun on her face -- but at the end of the night, she wants to be in a soft bed with silk sheets.¹

Perhaps rabbits are too skittish, too terrified of loud noises, Nina thinks to herself. She is a loud talker. She does like to talk to herself and sing terribly. Right as she considers these thoughts and as she makes her way past a large pile of rocks, she hears a low wuffling sound emerge from it. She pauses. A rabbit?? A small squeak emerges that is distinctly not rabbit-like. She walks towards the tumble of rocks as it squeaks again, and she stoops down to peer into a crevice followed by another. On the third try, small beady eyes stare back at her. She offers her hand to it, tentatively. In a flash, a small furry blur streaks out and up her arm, ending up on her shoulder. She screams -- stifling it and feeling slightly silly when she realizes that the definitely-not-rabbit is just sitting on her shoulder and not attacking her. She slowly turns her head, meeting eyes with a very self-satisfied, mischievous little face.

"Hi," she says, cautiously reaching up to touch it. The ferret makes a soft dooking noise. "Aww," she says, petting its head, at which point the ferret gently nips her and then makes a dash for her jacket pocket, making a huffing laughing sound. "Ow! You rascal." Nina's already gone. Head over heels. What a perfect little creature. As she makes her way back out of the forest and indoors, anyone is welcome to meet the newest resident of the mansion.

¹Nina Zenik, you would love glamping.

Comments

[summerdude]

"Oh, fun!" Magnus has... a vague idea about what slumber parties are about.

[ravkanwitch]

"Gu Xiang stole Szarka. And I found out who... George Clooney is? It was an exciting evening."

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah, he's a total hott-- Gu Xiang did what?" Magnus asks, fully, deeply, blatantly impressed.

[ravkanwitch]

"We played truth or dare and I dared her to steal something from Laertes. Apparently, she stole Szarka from right under Sagramore's nose!" It was the second most impressive thing that night. She's not sure how much Tress wants the midnight spores to be common knowledge (and part of her would still hate for that information to get to a certain someone).

[summerdude]

"Damn, okay," Magnus says, in tones of deepest respect.

[ravkanwitch]

"We were all really impressed," Nina agrees. She levels Magnus a considering look. They've skirted around his history and had a conversation about their friends, but there's so much about everyone else here that she still doesn't know. "What's the most outrageous thing you've ever done?"

[summerdude]

Magnus considers this question with all the gravity it deserves — which is to say, a lot. "Depends," he decides. "Outrageous in what sense?"

[ravkanwitch]

"Outrageous in a good way," Nina says after some consideration. She's done many outrageous things but only some of them were impressive without being slightly depressing to talk about. "You were extra skillful or good or brave."

[summerdude]

"I think I've only done outrageous in stupid ways," Magnus says, thoughtfully.

[ravkanwitch]

"What's the most outrageously stupid thing you've done then?"

[summerdude]

"Do you want the list alphabetically or chronologically?" Magnus laughs, but he's already decided to go chronologically. "This one time? Really early into my time as an einherji. I fished up Jormungand -- the World Snake; if he'd woken up the whole way it probably would have flooded every coast on Earth -- specifically so that I could piss the goddess Ran off enough that she'd show up for a conversation so I could negotiate-slash-threaten to get my sword back. She still has a bounty on my head. Her husband and all their daughters have specifically tried to kill me."

[ravkanwitch]

"Ooh, a bounty. That's exciting!" Nina tells him. "I'm assuming you got your sword back and Earth didn't flood..."

[summerdude]

"Oh, yeah. She was pissed that I was successful." Essentially.

[ravkanwitch]

"In that case, I don't think it was too stupid."

[summerdude]

Magnus gives Nina a surprised look. "Really? What's yours?"

[ravkanwitch]

Nina hesitates for a moment. "I took something that enhances Grisha abilities because I knew it would let me knock out an entire harbor of armed men with a wave of my hand to save my friends. Unfortunately, the trade-off for the user is usually death..."

[summerdude]

"Ah, yes. A classic," Magnus says, only half-joking.

[ravkanwitch]

"A classic," Nina sighs. "I'll never willingly go through that again."

[summerdude]

"I think that's maybe one of the rules of outrageously dumb/brave things," Magnus says, thoughtfully. "In retrospect you're like, what the heck did I just do?"

[ravkanwitch]

"A lot of things I've done would qualify, then," Nina says, agreeing quite solemnly. She has the personality to lead people but not the constitution; she's very much an 'act first and then think about it' kind of gal.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, same. Pro tip: fighting gods? ...actually, never mind, sometimes it is worth it."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina snorts a little, unladylike. "At least your gods are real. Our Saints are... mostly stories. Mostly martyrs. Probably Grisha who did something outrageously stupid and got themselves killed."

[summerdude]

"I mean, my gods also do outrageously stupid things and are all going to get killed sooner or later," Magnus says.

[ravkanwitch]

"What sort of things?" Nina asks, curious. She can't imagine a world where those that are worshipped exist among those at worship, as much as Inej believes that Sankta Alina is a true Saint.

[summerdude]

"Rely on some dumb kid like me to save the world, for one," Magnus offers.