Kaz Brekker

Nina understood that, apparently, Kaz had turned over a new leaf. And she understood that, apparently, he was trying to be a better person. Or actually was one. But the fact remained that she still remembered the Bastard of the Barrel - the one who had offered neither thanks nor apology to her, and probably never would at this rate.

She'd told him that she would give him a chance. She'd never said she would make it easy on him.

Even being invited to dinner was met with a weird sort of trepidation. She wouldn't put it past Kaz to poison a girl's stroopwaffels or syrup. And she was sure he could do it without hurting Inej - all that sleight of hand had to be good for something, after all. But she kept her paranoia to herself, and she arrived at the apartment that Kaz and Inej were sharing with a bottle of wine, because she was a civilized person.

Unlike some gloved boys.

Inej had let her in and now Nina was watching Kaz move around the kitchen, without his gloves, slightly dubious and unwilling to confess how good everything smelled. How much it reminded her of Ketterdam.

From:

Inej appreciates the wine, maybe more than she wants to let on, because it's a social nicety that is almost entirely made up of Nina's world, and neither Kaz or Inej's. It's dear, and sweet, and wonderful, and Inej has ever intention of drinking a third of it tonight while Kaz fusses in the kitchen to make them food.

So she gets herself and Nina glasses and lets her boy do his cooking, giving him peace and keeping Nina from boring holes into the side of his head. Inej won't admit that she thinks it's a little silly that she's still so obviously upset with him. She knows all the reasons why. Kaz has earned that Nina Zenik grudge, time and again, back in Ketterdam.

"I want to paint your nails," she proclaims, handing her glass with a properly inappropriate amount of wine in it. "What color do you want?"

From:

"Red, naturally. Or maybe a nice dark brown if you have it."

Her nails were nicely manicured, but they weren't painted at all. Nina hadn't had the inclination lately, but a little bit of pampering sounded nice.

She'd decided that Inej could think her resistance was silly all she wanted: Kaz was the one that had to prove himself. Nina accepted her rather full glass of wine, content to split the bottle between herself in Inej at this rate. Kaz deserved drunk cackling.

Nina peered in the kitchen at him.

From:

Inej opens a drawer in the coffee table, pulling out an array of nail polishes that she keeps there. She finds a shiny dark brown that has a lovely copper sheen to it, and a beautiful, bloody red, and decides she wants to use both. She also sets out a vividly dark purple for herself.

"Drink your wine," Inej says tenderly, "it's not like he's going to poison anything over there."

From:

Nina rolled her eyes and focused on Inej instead, for now.

"Not that you know of," she insisted, sounding prim indeed. "Kaz Brekker never tells anyone his whole plan. In case he needs to improvise."

She narrowed her eyes in the general direction of the kitchen as she set her right hand out for Inej to start on. Nina sipped her wine.

From:

Inej supports Nina's hand and begins to dutifully work on her nails. Because she keeps them in good condition, Inej doesn't need to do any sort of keeping to them, though that doesn't stop her from rubbing at Nina's knuckles and palms a little bit, humming softly.

"No benefit to him," she points out. "Where's the profit to Kaz Brekker in poisoning his favorite Grisha? And besides, I would be terribly cross with him if he tried."

She picks up the red polish, holding it in the bowl of her palm. "Tell me how things are going in your corner of the world, instead. Ignore him until he's ready to feed us."

From:

Nina shrugged a bit. "I'm sure he could find a reason. No longer useful, after all. Nothing to keep me cowed." She sipped her wine, watching as Inej started on her nails.

She was quiet for a moment, considering her answer.

"I've been having bad dreams," she said quietly. "Something's wrong with Geralt. And looking for work has been... something."

From:

"Nina Zenik, not useful?" Inej makes a face, absolutely comical, fit for the stage. She does not point out the latter half--that, if nothing else, Kaz won't do anything to Nina that might upset Inej, and so she's safe. It's hardly altruism. That's almost approaching a gain, for Kaz.

"Wrong like how?" Inej asks softly, juggling polish brush for a moment so she can sip her wine. "What sort of bad dreams?"

From:

"Something with his body. Something with his mutations. They're-- more," she said a bit helplessly, frowning. "I've done what I can, but it's-- it's not something I can fix."

She could ease symptoms but she couldn't get to the problem. Even if she was as good as Zoya, she couldn't have done that.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair a little, looking down at her nails. "Dreams about the pyre," she murmured. "About the bodies in Fjerda. But I could feel the fire."

From:

Inej frowns a little bit, because she has nothing to offer that, except solace and comfort. If even Nina wasn't sure how to deal with whatever was happening, Inej wasn't sure it was something to be dealt with.

"Darrow can do odd things, sometimes," Inej says, because it's the only answer she has. "I hope everything settles."

From:

"I wouldn't trust too many things to hope," says Kaz, coming to the table with a plate of waffles, syrup, a dish of fried potatoes balanced in the bend of one arm. "Take these. There's more."

From:

"Sorry Kaz, my nails are wet. You'll have to rely on Inej's good graces." Nina said as she wiggled her colored nails at him. The food smelled good and she tried to take comfort in that.

"Well, if this is Darrow's doing, I would rather it finish it's nonsense sooner than later. The last thing anyone wants is a cranky Grisha running around." Or whatever was happening to Geralt. She felt for him; she knew he didn't like how much he stood out. The way his mutations were behaving right now only made it worse, and painful.

Edited Date: 2017-10-27 07:04 pm (UTC)

From:

Inej rises to help Kaz with the plates, leaning up to give him a brief kiss on the cheek as well. Rather teasingly, she asks, "Would you like me to paint your nails next?" Nina's are half done, after all, even with breaks to drink the wine.

"All the static I've been hearing is about this Purge nonsense," Inej admits, and shakes her head. She finds it distasteful. "Nothing about Grisha--or other magical types, really. If there's something going on, it's something even I can't track down."

From:

Kaz's nails are neat, clean and clipped, and he shoots her a very dubious look, though the corner of his mouth lifts in a smile. "My nails are fine how they are, Wraith. Thank you." He sets down the plates in the middle of the table and then goes back to the kitchen for a couple more. Once the table is laden, he sits, reaching for a glass of wine.

"I've got faith we can withstand it," he says. "Wouldn't put money on a lot of these people, though."

From:

"I'm sure the magic-types that are being affected are trying to keep it under wraps."

Nina frowned, cradling her wine glass close as she just sort of stared at the food. She should eat, but it seemed like-- it seemed big, and she couldn't see a cause. What would happen if it somehow got to her next?

"I'll be spending this Purge night locked in my apartment, I think. Given my mood, I dare anyone to try." She was pretty sure if she killed someone in self-defense, she was clear by the law.

Edited Date: 2017-10-29 10:29 pm (UTC)

From:

Inej looks back at Kaz evenly, because she thinks he could look quite charming with his neat, tidy nails painted a neat, tidy color, but she won't push it. When he's finished bringing everything in, Inej shifts everything from couch to table, nodding along as Nina speaks.

"And no one's half as mad as I am, to go up that high," Inej points out, "so you ought to have a pleasantly boring evening all around. Which will be very good."

Inej loads a plate with a bit of everything, though she does it slowly, her mind elsewhere. It keeps circling back, concernedly, to the idea of Nina's powers and dreams being erratic. She thinks of asking about the parem. She's not sure she ought to.

From:

"I figured we'd do much the same thing," he says, shooting Inej a glance. He hopes that they're thinking along the same lines, the same lines as Nina apparently, holing up and up riding it out. He doesn't see any particular profit to be made, in this kind of chaos. He reaches for a spoonful of fried potatoes, pours himself a little beer. "Don't let it go cold."

From:

"Don't insult me," Nina sniffed when Kaz warned her not to let anything go cold. As if to prove a point, she piled her plate high and then settled back. She'd pace herself, but she wasn't about to pass up anything that smelled this good.

Especially if she wasn't going to end up dead by the end of the meal.

From:

Inej has already tucked in, warm, savory potatoes and sweet, sticky pancakes and the sharp bite of the wine. She looks between Nina and Kaz, and rolls her eyes, just a little bit, because she understands Nina's frustrations with him, she does, but nobody's going to get anywhere if it's just a bunch of digging in of heels.

It isn't her place, though. They'll come to their points and make their peace. They always have. And she does love them both dearly, for all their stubborn grudges they can both keep.

"It's good," she says to Kaz, and leans over to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for cooking."

From: