[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]

"That's fair." He knocks his pepper against Nina's in a twisted facsimile of a toast and takes a giant bite of it.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina does wait one second - but only one second - and then takes a bite of hers as well.

[futaille]

The spice hits almost immediately and it belatedly occurs to Grantaire that maybe they should have had something to drink on standby. Nevertheless, he presses on, chewing rapidly in hopes of getting the pepper broken down quickly so he can swallow and get it out of his mouth.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina feels like her tongue is on fire. She's eaten spicy foods before, mostly in Ketterdam (Ravkan and Fjerdan foods lack spice, for the most part) and she's taken a tiny bite of the grilled version of this pepper when Jesper had bought one from a vendor -- but she's never eaten a fresh hot pepper before. Why are they doing this again? "S'hot," she says, quite obviously, breathing in through her teeth.

[futaille]

It is almost impressive how something can be burning and numb at the same time, but his tongue has achieved this rare feat. "Uh-huh," he manages by way of agreement. He swallows the pepper in one gigantic gulp and as his esophagus starts to protest, he looks around frantically, grabs a nearby watering can, opens his mouth, and starts to pour water over his face. Hopefully some might even make it inside.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina briefly wonders, if she could still heal, would she be able to heal what feels like burning in her mouth? It’s tingling! As Grantaire waterboards himself, she swallows the rest of the bits of pepper in her mouth and closes her eyes, thinking about ice cream and sugared ice and even the Ice Court, trying to will her mouth cool again.

[futaille]

Grantaire straightens pretty quickly, spluttering with his hair and flushed face both soaked. "That... didn't help much."

[ravkanwitch]

The cold thoughts also aren't helping much either. Nina starts coughing, laughing as she's coughing at Grantaire standing there dripping wet and similarly struggling. "Wh--" She cough-giggles again. "Why did we do this?"

[futaille]

Grantaire works on scraping his tongue with his teeth. "Adventure." He pauses. "Dare me to have another one?"

[ravkanwitch]

"I dare you tohaveanother," Nina manages to choke out. She's not going to, but he most certainly can.

[futaille]

He promptly plucks another from the plant and has a big bite. He doesn't regret it, but judging from his expression as he chews, he kind of also regrets it.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina just mouths why at him. The spice is finally starting to recede from her mouth and tongue.

[futaille]

Grantaire sniffles, his eyes watering. He shrugs at the question, poking at his cheeks.

[ravkanwitch]

The worst of it has faded for Nina. "Saints, I don't think I'll ever do that again. Though maybe the next time I eat something spicy, I'll find that my tolerance has gone up," she says, with a little laugh. "How... are you?"

[futaille]

He is at least somewhat recovering. "It could be worse. I think that it would actually be quite good in conjunction with other flavors. But it's difficult when alone and concentrated."

[ravkanwitch]

"What kind of dish would you put it in? Oh, maybe a soup! That would actually be delicious in the depths of winter."

[futaille]

"Oh, yes, perfect. Something rich and hearty."

[ravkanwitch]

"We'll ask Luo Binghe or Laertes to make us something with these peppers once cold weather rolls around again." If she remembers!

[futaille]

"Or Lan Wangji. I know from experience he's well-seasoned when it comes to cooking spicy food."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina giggles. "Well-seasoned."

[futaille]

He grins. "Precisely."

[ravkanwitch]

She picks a couple of peppers, carefully wrapping them in a handkerchief and placing them into her pocket. "I'll see if he or Luo Binghe want to do anything with these." It still feels strange to mention them both in one breath but there's no getting around it; Nina can't help that they both have the same similar interests.

[futaille]

"They probably will." He pauses. "It probably won't be anything like what we did with them."

[ravkanwitch]

She shouldn't say it. She really should not say it. Not when they've just repaired their friendship¹ -- but Grantaire would also find it funny. "No, it's not really the kind of spiciness that Lan Wangji enjoys," Nina says, flippantly.

¹Please assume the timey wimey-ness works out.

[futaille]

Grantaire lets out a short burst of laughter. "I certainly can't argue that one."