[[open post and announcement: no mourners, no funerals]]

[ravkanwitch]

[cw: discussion of death!]

Nina knows that word of Shen Yuan's death has been slowly spreading. She tried to put out a general warning of danger right after it happened... but she's not sure how many people were warned by it. She wasn't in the right mind at the time, after all. This time, she's more careful and collected. With SecUnit's help, she's alerted and gathered everyone who's interested for an important announcement in the lobby of the mansion. Despite all appearances of bossiness and stubbornness - all quite true - Nina has never been in charge of anything so serious. Kaz, Zoya, and the King himself; she followed their lead. As people slowly begin to gather and she attempts to compose herself, she wonders why she decided to put herself up to this.

Deep breath, Zenik. Pretend that - well, that this is pretend. She's back in the orphanage as the official greeter, making an important announcement to all the other children. She's the governor of a small town, making sure that all the citizens are aware and prepared. It does have to be her, after all. She's playing a crucial role in everything. She also doesn't want anyone else to carry the emotional load.

"Hi," she tells everyone gathered, trying to paste on a somber but not-too-morose expression. "Thanks for coming. I'm sure some of you have heard part of this announcement already and I'm sorry that it took so long to pass this information onto everyone else... but there was an incident not too long ago. We're not sure what caused it, whether it was the house or whether it was an individual, but... Shen Yuan is dead." There's most likely a reaction at this point and Nina forges onwards as confidently as she can, pitching her voice above the hubbub.

"But there is a way that he can return. We're sure of it. We're just trying to figure out the details, which might take a while. If you want to know more about that, you can ask Magnus, but I'm not sure how much he can tell you. Also, if you encounter any signs of Shen Yuan's spirit, you can talk to--" Here she meets Aleksander's eyes almost instinctively; this line of conversation is something she's purposefully kept from him. "You can talk to myself. Or... to Lan Wangji. ...That's all. Thank you."

A confident start but slightly deflated by her last few sentences, Nina steps back and allows for conversation to happen. If anyone would like to speak to her, she's looking much less strained and grim than she has in a while.

[[Feel free to post a single comment reaction and/or start a thread with Nina in the comments!]]

Comments

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon hangs back while others approach Nina for answers. Sagramore looks terrible; he must have been close with the poor dead stiff. She wants to catch up with him, too, but he's not the one holding together the house of cards right now.

Once there's a break in the receiving line, she jogs up to stand next to Nina and knock their shoulders together. "Yo," she says quietly. "You okay?"

[ravkanwitch]

It's been a lot and it's all been very heavy. Navigating Luo Binghe's grief with him, the intensity of the argument with Lan Wangji, trying to do the right thing, trying to find her own answers, and trying to give others answers. Nina looks at Gideon with something close to relief.

"Can't you tell? I'm in my element," she replies, making a very weak attempt at a joke.

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon gives the joke the smile it deserves–small and grim. "Sure," she says. "Of course." She stays close enough that their shoulders are still brushing, just a steady point of contact, arms crossed, staring out at the assembled scared, confused people. "So this fucking blows, huh."

[ravkanwitch]

"Mm," Nina agrees, rather miserably. "It does, indeed, blow. I thought I'd seen enough of death before I came here. You missed the undead but they were more like... entertainment than a threat."

[ninth_cavalier]

"The undead can be super fun. Some of my best friends are skeletons," says Gideon, like someone who hasn't been spending most of her free time idly sketching defense plans for the Mansion in case said undead ever come back. This, though... "You think it was the house itself?"

[ravkanwitch]

"Magnus said he saw a glimpse of a floating gun when he was trying to heal Luo Binghe," quietly. "The chandelier fell by itself, too."

[ninth_cavalier]

"There's benefits to that," Gideon offers, because obviously Nina's well aware of the downsides. She jerks her chin at the assembled people. "Means we don't have to suspect each other."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina doesn't say something glib like oh, I don't think anyone here would ever do that, anyway -- because if it isn't the house itself, both of them know very well what people are capable of when they're desperate. "I think it could tear us apart," she says instead. "We're so used to working together and trusting each other."

[ninth_cavalier]

"That might be the point," suggests Gideon. "Maybe we've been presenting a too-united front for whatever did this."

[ravkanwitch]

"Sabotage?" She asks, not entirely sure what she's suggesting. A person? The house itself?

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon shrugs. "Maybe, working together, we were getting close to something the house doesn't want us to know. So it takes one of us out, trying to make us drop the investigation and turn on each other."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina thinks through this line of reasoning. "Do you think Shen Yuan was targeted because he was investigating something forbidden? Or-- close to finding something?" The way out, perhaps?

[ninth_cavalier]

"Could be," says Gideon. "I didn't know him at all. But—it's a theory." She looks at Nina more closely, her voice getting a little gentler. "Not one we have to follow up on right now, though."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina deflates slightly at this, shoulders slumping. "It's been a lot," she admits.

[ninth_cavalier]

"Yeah," says Gideon. She's not naive enough to think you get your shit together automatically when you get older, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of adult men have been coming up to Nina, objectively much younger than them, demanding answers and reassurances and guidance that it seems like she barely really has. "That's what happens when you're so competent and knowledgeable, boss, not to mention beautiful." The waves of petitioners have slacked, some, though; everyone seems to be engaged in conversation with each other. She jerks her chin at the door. "You wanna get out of here?"

[ravkanwitch]

At this, Nina finally gives Gideon a small smile and a half-hearted toss of her hair. "This place wouldn't run half as smoothly without me." She also nods. "I could use some fresh air."

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon offers her her arm like Lancelot had done to her when they were preparing to crash the post-Dark party dressed as clowns: half-joking, half-solemn.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina takes it, hooking her own arm through it snugly. "Where to?"

[ninth_cavalier]

Gideon leads them outside, into the gardens. She finds them a little overwhelming, still—so many growing things, and so much of it just for beauty, rather than utility. But—

"People grew all this, right?" she asks, meaning the first spring blooms around them. "Like—the people here, intentionally. It wasn't here when everyone got here?"

[ravkanwitch]

"Not all of it. I think some of it was here, but I know a bunch of people have been working really hard on it." She looks around, thinking about the grounds around the Little Palace. "Did you not have a lot of greenery, where you come from?"

[ninth_cavalier]

"Basically none," admits Gideon. "The soil on the Ninth is shit. We had snow-leek fields, but I wouldn't really describe those as green. They were kind of... snot-colored."

[ravkanwitch]

"What did you eat?" Nina asks, curious. "There wasn't much of a growing season in Ravka or space to grow crops near Ketterdam -- but both imported produce from Shu Han and Zovyi Zem and there was plenty of game and fish."

[ninth_cavalier]

"Soup, mostly, and porridge, both usually 'enhanced'—" she does heavily sarcastic finger-quotes, "—with nutrient paste we got shipped in from other planets. Bland as fuck. Blew my mind when I got here and there was so many kinds of food, and it all tasted so, like. Much."

[ravkanwitch]

Being outside feels freeing after the stifling atmosphere of the meeting -- and the no stakes conversation with Gideon is comforting as well, weaving in and out of conversations about death and their previous lives. "Gideon," Nina says suddenly and solemnly, with a dramatic hand on her arm for good measure. "Have you ever had waffles?"

[ninth_cavalier]

"Nope," says Gideon. "What's waffles?"