[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

[rememberettersberg]

"The one with the talking sword, I expect?" Nightingale has made some sense of the things Magnus talked about since encountering him. "I've spent time with many goddesses and gods. I don't think I've found any here thus far."

[ravkanwitch]

"Hmm. No Saints either." She says, adding, "Those are who we worship in our world."

She's unaware that at the very moment she left, her King was dealing with a very ambitious young man who wanted to declare The Darkling a canonized Saint.

[rememberettersberg]

"We have saints too," Nightingale replies. "Though the tangled mess of pantheons and religions known to the vast majority in my world doesn't bear describing. The deities I know, the genii locorum, they belong to the rivers. Or the rivers belong to them. It's less about worshipping them, more acknowledging their power. And bringing them offerings. They do love a good offering."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina nods a little. "The Saints in Ravka... to me, they're more a part of our history than our religion. Most of them were martyrs... and personally, I don't see the celebration or worship in that."

[rememberettersberg]

"Hm, sounds familiar." Nightingale shakes his head ruefully. "Two worlds so far apart, and yet some oddities of culture persist."

[ravkanwitch]

"I've met many people from many different worlds here and religion is the common thread," Nina says, with a little laugh. "It's... a leverage point." A point where a small amount of pressure can create a lot of change. She would know.

[rememberettersberg]

"It's odd, isn't it?" he replies. "Here we have a demon and an angel walking amongst us who seem more human than anyone."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina isn't familiar with Christianity but after Magnus said the word 'gods', she did some research (and it is true that religion is something that's different yet the same across all the worlds).

"I only know of the the demon. An angel?" She asks, curiously.

[rememberettersberg]

"Oh yes! Aziraphale. Crowley had mentioned him to me previously as a colleague. They have some sort of Arrangement." The capital A is evident.

[ravkanwitch]

“Oh,” Nina says, starting to laugh, though it isn’t unkind at all. “The man who performed magic for me! He’s an angel? That explains a lot.”

[rememberettersberg]

Nightingale's eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline. "Performed magic? Actual magic or the top hat and wand kind of magic?" He shakes his head, laughing. "Sorry, I expect that's a useless reference to you."

[ravkanwitch]

“He called it stage magic, produced a top hat and rabbit out of thin air, and then proceeded to poorly produce the rabbit out of the hat,” Nina says with another little giggle. “It all makes sense now. I told him it was great and he gave me the absolute happiest smile I’ve seen anyone here smile.”

[rememberettersberg]

Nightingale truly, properly laughs at this, delighted by the mental image. "That's absolutely wonderful. I hope he'll do some repeat performances."

[ravkanwitch]

"I'm sure he would if he was asked," Nina replies. "We could all do with a little more levity and fun around here."

[rememberettersberg]

It's at this moment that Nightingale says something so unlike himself that he tries to take a step back from his own words in pantomimed horror immediately afterwards. "Perhaps we could organise a talent show."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina's eyes light up a little. In the mess of discovering the jurda parem and being too aware of the Darkling's presence, it's been so easy to forget that she does love a fun event.

"I think we should! You said you've been keeping to yourself too much," Nina reminds him. "What a better way to meet people than when they're potentially at their most embarrassing?"

[rememberettersberg]

He wants to say no, he really does, but she looks so hopeful, and really, the potential for a more benign sort of chaos is appealing... "Let's do it," he says. "Why not?"

[ravkanwitch]

“Great! Consider it done,” Nina says, already thinking about signup lists and which room to host it in.