[open-ish post!]

[ravkanwitch]

Nina's been wearing more modern clothing recently - especially after she figured out the solution to her bone knife dilemma, a holstered rigging that she can wear either on her upper arms or her legs. And after her encounter with The Darkling, she's been wearing them more blatantly and currently has them strapped to her upper arms, on top of her shirt.

She's found a couple of revolvers similar to what she was used to shooting with Jesper* and set up some empty bottles in a makeshift shooting range as far away from the mansion as she can. Yesterday, she sent both Janet and Laertes a note with the location and time, hoping they can easily find her.

Nina is frowning. She just fired a test bullet and it zipped right between two bottles.

*Instead of a Zemeni revolve with inlaid pearl, it's probably closest to a Colt Single Action revolver with six bullets, where you reload it with a cartridge rather than single bullets in the cylinder.

Comments

[sorrowandsorrow]

Honestly, Janet's embarrassingly thrilled to have heard from Nina, though you'd never get it out of her. She's been surrounded by drunk, obnoxious men. Even the man she likes the most needed drying out not long ago.

"Hey," she says, some palpable relief at seeing Nina in her voice as she walks up. "You look hot, by the way."

[timebethine]

Laertes, having also recently been beset by drunk men (or, perhaps more accurately, besetting them), is all too happy to be out in the fresh air with two focused and practical women. "Hallo," he calls as he jogs up to join them. "Those pistols are nothing like what I remember. You'll have to start from first principles, I fear."

[ravkanwitch]

"Oh, I learned it all from you, your highness," Nina says to Janet brightly, frown fading, then smiles at Laertes as well. "I'm glad both of you could join me."

"I have two for you over there -- be careful, they're loaded," she gestures to where she had carefully left two revolvers on top of a wooden crate, "but I'm afraid I just discovered that I'm not as good of a shot as I thought I was. Jesper Fahey, that idiot." She rolls her eyes a little.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet gives Laertes a little half-ironic finger wave. "Hi."

As for the guns: Janet strides over and inspects them, careful not to touch yet. "Why, what did this Jesper do? And don't worry, I haven't fired a gun in years. No bullets in Fillory."

[timebethine]

Laertes follows her, picking up a gun (careful to keep the barrel pointed away from either of them or the Mansion; this principle, at least, he's learned from handling pistolets) and studying it. There doesn't seem to be anywhere to seat a fuse. "Has this an internal mechanism for producing flame?" he asks, unthinking, then hastily adds, "--but I defer to Queen Janet's question."

[ravkanwitch]

"Both of you know I have control over these," Nina says, nodding at the knives on her arms. "Jesper has the same control over metal. He was the best gunslinger I've known - probably even without that control. I think every time he took me to the firing range, though, he was giving me a little assist. I hate him," she says, but there's only absolute fondness in her tone.

She turns to Laertes. "There's, um... a pin inside. It creates a spark that ignites the gunpowder and the bullet is pushed out that way. I think. The safety mechanism is on right now." She points it out for him.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"That sounds very convenient," Janet says. She picks up the other revolver, still with care. She's never been an incredible gunslinger or anything, but her dad wanted her to learn to shoot, so she did. "I could probably do something like that. With a lot of research. But not as tidily."

[timebethine]

Laertes makes note of the safety mechanism, flicking it off and then back on again (gun still trained on the ground) so that he has a sense of how easy it is to turn it off by accident. "May I watch you shoot first?" he asks. "You both have the advantage of me."

[ravkanwitch]

"I can show you," Nina volunteers. She stands with her feet a shoulders width apart and holds the revolver in her right hand, raises it, then stabilizes it with her left hand. "Jesper always said to straighten your elbows, look down the sights, place your finger gently on the trigger, and breathe."

She does so, and instinctively locks her wrists and elbows in place before she lightly squeezes the trigger. The bullet goes whizzing past a bottle, just barely to the side of it. "Better," she mutters.

[rememberettersberg]

The all-too-familar sound of gunfire draws Nightingale, cautiously, to discover its cause. He relaxes upon sighting the range, though one hand has risen reflexively to his shoulder, palm shielding a spot just below his collarbone. He notes Nina's mode of dress, raising an eyebrow at the knives, and waves the other hand, holding his cane as per usual, to encompass the situation in general.

"Are we preparing for war?" he asks mildly.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina turns at the sound of his voice but is careful to keep the revolver pointed at the ground. When she sees Nightingale, her expression brightens a little.

"Maybe," she says, and she isn't entirely joking. She's still a little shaken from her encounter with The Darkling. "How are you?"

[rememberettersberg]

"Ah, as well as ever, I suppose." He lets his hand drop, rolling the shoulder as though troubled by an old pain. "Spending much of my time in the library these days."

Eyeing the line of bottles, he flicks his fingers and sends a tiny, forceful ball of energy speeding towards them, shattering one. "As ever, I'm afraid to ask what I've missed around here. Are you all right?"

[ravkanwitch]

"Good aim," Nina says, impressed. She sighs. "You keep finding me when I've just gotten out of some sort of strange situation. I think it's okay. Someone from my... my world, I suppose, arrived. He was supposed to be dead. I don't trust him."

[rememberettersberg]

"Hm. Someone who'd be better off remaining dead?" Nightingale won't judge if the answer to that is yes. He gestures again and the bottle he'd smashed floats up and reforms, settling gently back in its spot atop the fence.

[ravkanwitch]

“Perhaps. He was a lot of trouble for a lot of people,” Nina says. With a flick of her hand, she sends one of her bone knives flying and smashes the same bottle that Nightingale just fixed. “I wish I could do what you did. Repair things.”

[rememberettersberg]

"Good aim," he echoes with a grin. "Where I come from, at least, most anyone can learn to do magic. I've been wondering if there's a way to pool our knowledge of different systems, see if any crossover of knowledge and abilities could happen. If this place would even allow that."

[ravkanwitch]

"That's smart," Nina says, bringing the knife back to her, slower than she sent it flying. "There are a lot of people here with different abilities. With the small sciences you're born with them... but you have to learn how to use them correctly."

[protagonisthalo]

Luo Binghe has been looking all over this damned mansion for Nina. He's finally resorted to stalking the grounds, briefly passing by a greenhouse where he caught a glimpse of Shen Qingqiu's form through a glass. He paused for a moment there, his heart in his throat—caught between the pleasure of seeing him and the agony of not being able to approach—before tearing himself away, leaving half his heart behind. So by the time he finds Nina on the grounds, doing—something loud—he is agitated. Still, the sight of her already settles him a little. "Beloved Nina. Please tell me you are well—I cannot take any more torment."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina carefully puts the safety on the gun and holds it to her side, noticing how tormented he looks and the anguish in his voice. "Luo Binghe," she says, slightly alarmed. "Are you alright?"

[protagonisthalo]

"I don't know." He was wretched, and then Sagramore told him Shen Qingqiu might desire him after all. Now everything within him is simply too much, as though he is entirely without protection, and any small hurt presses intimately against the raw tissue of his heart. "Shen Qingqiu—we kissed. I kissed him." It almost shocks him to hear it out loud, as if he's not the one who said it, much less the one who was there.

[ravkanwitch]

"Oh," is all she says at first, carefully setting the revolver down. She remembers her own conversations with Shen Qingqiu; his initial denial that she was not one of Luo Binghe's wives, his prodding stubbornness that clearly she also found herself pinned by Luo Binghe's gaze, unable to move or think, when it was clearly his perspective he was describing. "How did he take it?"

[protagonisthalo]

His breath spasms in a way that might be a laugh or a sob. "He pushed me away. We fought. I said I didn't want to see him again, and he argued, and—" He runs a hand over his face. "I thought everything was ruined, but—I spoke to someone else who thought he just needed time. I don't know. I feel—I don't think I wanted to know how deeply I felt, but now I cannot stop feeling it."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina winces a little, in sympathy, though she's not surprised considering his emotional state when he found her. "Take a deep breath," she tells him, hoping that it will calm him down a little. "What exactly did he say to you?"

[protagonisthalo]

Because it's Nina, he listens to her, breathing in deeply and holding it for several counts before exhaling. It doesn't calm the agitation in his mind, but it forces his pulse to slow a little. He casts back, trying to remember the conversation. He was so upset at the time that it's hard to even think of it and stay clearheaded. "He pushed me back and said"—his voice wavers—"'Don't.' I said that, in that case, we should not see each other anymore, and he was angry—he said I hadn't the right to decide that. So then I was angry, and said it was cruel of him to expect me to stay by his side, and he accused me of—of only wanting him for one thing. And I said that—it was something the other Shen Qingqiu would say, the one who hurt me. That upset him—he went back on that, he said it wasn't true and that I deserved better—and Nina, he was nearly in tears. I couldn't stay angry at that. But I begged him not to make me stay by his side and hopelessly look upon what I want so badly it's driving me mad. He agreed, and we haven't spoken a word since."

[ravkanwitch]

“It sounds like if both of you were angry and he was nearly in tears,” Nina says carefully, “then he was having some very strong emotions of his own. I don’t think it’s hopeless. But maybe these strong emotions should be approached again when you’re on more… level terms with each other?”

She puts a comforting hand on his arm. “You know, it’s also okay to be upset.”