[closed post: a task]

[ravkanwitch]

Nina has been feeling more like herself recently. It's taken a few weeks of self care, a failed waffle experiment, many naps with Khitka, a history lesson from Kade, quality time with friends, and a few mildly distressing conversations with alternate versions of people that she knows – but she's okay. She'll be much better once Shen Yuan is back of course, but for now, she'll do what she does best and weather the storm.

There are few things she's considering in her mind but right now, she's flipping through some language books with Khitka curled around the back of her neck, dozing.

Comments

[futaille]

Grantaire shrugs. "I'm still probably one of the luckiest people here, so I can't really complain."

[ravkanwitch]

"I meant Shen Yuan," she says, gently. "The fact that it's possible for us to die here."

[futaille]

He shrugs. "It's possible to die anywhere. I wasn't really expecting this place to be any different. At least there's a way to bring him back, so that's a benefit over not being here."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina looks at him for a moment. Although she's (quite literally) acquainted with death, she'll never forget SecUnit's harrowing announcement. She wishes she could breeze through life like Grantaire does, but that's not who she is.

Also, it's perhaps not the time for this conversation. They're at the library; she smiles at him. "I think the book is over here!"

[futaille]

He's not all that far removed from dying himself, so the less actual reckoning with the subject he engages in, the more he prefers it. Shen Yuan is coming back, that's clearly the important part.

"All right. Let me see this future Paris."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina grabs one of the books of Paris that she remembers having a lot of photographs -- a travel book of some sort -- and flips through it. It's easy to find a photograph of the Eiffel Tower. "There!" She says, landing on one and pointing to the structure.

[futaille]

He looks at the picture. "Huh."

[ravkanwitch]

"Huh?" She asks, prompting.

[futaille]

"It looks like a plucked chicken."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina giggles. "Apparently, that entire structure is made out of metal." They don't have anything like it in Ravka; to her, it seems like a waste of good metal for no purpose.

[futaille]

"Ah. A plucked metal chicken, then."

[ravkanwitch]

"I'm sure that's the exact aesthetic the designer was aiming for," she says, a little wryly.

[futaille]

"Of course! In that case, remarkable execution."

[ravkanwitch]

She flips to the next page, with a photograph showing the Arc de Triomphe. "Oh, now this is beautiful. Was this built during your time?"

[futaille]

He looks at the picture. "Oh, it's finished!"

[ravkanwitch]

"So this one was being built... but not the plucked chicken."

[futaille]

"Yes, no metal poultry to be seen. Does the book say when it was built?"

[ravkanwitch]

Nina squints at the caption. "The foundations were finished in 1810.... 1836? When are you from again?" It does also state that the body of Victor Hugo was laid beneath it before he was laid to rest in the Panthéon but Nina does not think that's an important detail to note.

[futaille]

"1832. Just missed it! But sorry, I meant the chicken, I'm curious as to when that was built."

[ravkanwitch]

"Oh!" She flips back to the Eiffel Tower. "1887 until 1889. Saints, that went up comparatively quickly."

[futaille]

He whistles. "That is quick. Although it's a bit unfair to compare the two directly as the arch was halted for years after Napoleon fell. And it also isn't mostly air."

[ravkanwitch]

"Napoleon?" Nina asks with a slight head tilt. She's read that name, but she doesn't know much about it.

[futaille]

"The emperor who commissioned it. Died in exile a bit over a decade ago. Well, a bit over a decade ago for me, I suppose. Not for either building."

[ravkanwitch]

"An emperor commissioned it? And he died in exile... Is that how France became a republic?" She's a bit confused but she's trying.

[futaille]

"Not exactly. Almost the reverse. Briefly, France was a monarchy. And then in '89 there was a revolution, leading into the republic which was founded in '92. Then along comes Napoleon who seizes power and France became an empire. He does a lot of conquering because obviously an empire must earn the title, the rest of Europe bands together against him, he gets exiled, he comes back briefly, and then gets exiled again, and that brings back the monarchy. So then there's another revolution a couple years ago, but all that changes is who's on the throne, instead of bringing back the republic, which of course the republicans see as a betrayal, hence trying at it again and Enjolras and I being here now."