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

[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!]]

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Tally giggles, both at what Janet said and in victory at Gideon's flustered response. Luckily, her room is looking a little nicer these days, after she'd learned how to do laundry. Claudius had also showed her how to store clothes she wants to wear again, and she'd dragged in a dresser for them. She's still accidentally totally hoarding mugs and plates in her room, but she's working on it.

"That's totally on you, by the way," she points out. "The room looks like what you want it to."

"Yeah, I guess I don't really know what I want it to look like," Gideon admits. "I don't really understand the point of having one, other than a place to keep my stuff. And I have no stuff."

"I kind of agree. Being at home is totally boring and not bubbly. It would be better with wallscreens, though. Oh! Speaking of stuff, I got this for you." Tally pulls one of the rainbow beaded pride bracelets out of her pocket. "It's for like a Rusty festival? I know it's not totally your style, but I don't know. It's pretty."

Gideon takes it from her, turning it over in her hands. She snorts. "It's like a rosary for clowns."

"I'm not really sure what either of those things are, but if you don't like it-"

"I didn't say that." Gideon immediately slips the bracelet over her wrist, then stretches her hand out toward the lawns to look at it. The rainbow looks odd against her brown skin, against the green beyond. She's not sure she's ever worn a color this bright in her life. "Does it mean something?"

"They're for pride," Tally says. "So, like, on Earth, in Rusty times, people who weren't straight were oppressed. So they had flags and bracelets and stuff to be rebellious and tricky against the oppressors. That's what Apollo told me, at least."

Gideon grins at her, and raises the hand wearing the bracelet to thumb over the place on her chin where she'd hit it on the floor in their first self-defense lesson. There's a little scar there, now, like a tiny sliver of moon. "So I wear this, and cute girls will know I like them?"

Tally smiles, feeling her heart rate pick up in response to the touch. She doesn't understand how Gideon can go on being so funny after what she's been through, but it always makes everything else seem so much less dire and mood-ruining.

"Hopefully not too many girls," she teases.

Gideon raises her eyebrows. "You jealous, Whirlybird?"

"Maybe." Tally scans her face, trying to figure out how Gideon feels about that. "I got one of those bracelets for Georgia too, since Apollo said it could be used to show her support for, um, not oppressing people. So maybe girls will just think you're an ally."

Gideon cracks up. "If girls think I'm an ally I'm doing basically everything wrong." She slings an arm around Tally and pulls her agains her side. "S'flattering, if you are jealous. Wait, is that why you asked about me and Nina?"

Tally tries not to physically tense up. "Um. I mean, yeah. Obviously, I like you. And I've never been that good at, um, chilling." She gives a little self-conscious laugh. "I thought all that would go away when I was pretty, but maybe not so much."

Gideon keeps her close, arm hooked around her. "I'm glad it didn't. Means there's a lot of you still in there that the brainwashing can't touch."

Tally's head shoots up, almost hitting Gideon's.

"You like that about me?" she repeats. Even back in her ugly days, Peris had always laughed and told her to calm down when she'd gotten too clingy. Obviously, Tally wants to be bubbly, but she'd always thought of it as a trade off with having to be her old ugly self again, the one who was desperate for connection and a clique of her own. It strikes Tally all over again that Gideon actually likes her, and really isn't just hypnotized by her pretty face.

"Like I said, it's flattering," says Gideon. She grins. "You know how to make a girl feel special. Lower-case."

Tally laughs and puts her head back on Gideon's shoulder, trying to hide her burning cheeks.

"You are special," she says. "That's why you're not allowed to get murdered."

Gideon takes a breath and releases it into Tally's hair, pressing a tiny, almost absent kiss to her forehead. She lets her eyes close. She doesn't want to think, but she also doesn't want to move. She wants to be frozen in amber like a bug. Locked in the Tomb just like this, before anyone else dies, to have this moment protected and eternal.

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

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