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bookishdream · 1 year

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Something he wants

kaz brekker x fem!reader word count: 2k CW: a bit of unpleasant touching, but nothing further than that

If one peered carefully into the dark, they would see a pair of young adults walking down the cobblestone street. One of them – a man – limping and clicking his cane. The other one – a woman – with long hair and a magnificent dress, its colors conveying the moonlight. And they were arguing.

“I said no,” the man’s voice was hoarse, loud enough for his companion’s ears but quiet enough so that no one else could hear. “Your complaining won’t help change my mind.”

“You’re unbearable, Brekker,” she remarked, crossing her arms on her chest. The gown had puffy, tulle sleeves. The pattern of roses with thorns was woven into the fabric, cleverly covering her crow tattoo. “I told you I would go no matter what you’d say, so here I am. And you know we have a better chance of obtaining information using me as bait.” She let her arms loose, playing with the cuffs of her dress. It was cold in Ketterdam and her dress had a wide opening that showed her entire back.

“I don’t care,” Kaz rolled his eyes. The crow on his cane blinked mischievously, sending shivers down the woman’s spine.

“Kaz, no offense, but you’re as pretty as Pim’s rear,” she looked into his eyes. Obviously she lied. However, she would never admit that to anyone. “I am your best shot at getting whatever you need. And it will be a lot easier than breaking into his house.”

“You’re a stubborn thing, aren’t you?” he sent a smirk her way. Only later that night will he realize that a bit of red on her cheeks wasn’t from the freezing temperatures, but from the way he looked at her. And did he look at her, all right. Kaz didn’t pay attention to anything unless it looked like a stack of kruge on his desk. But when she had entered the Crow Club, demanding an audience with him, he had been stunned to say at least. Her hair had flown when she’d darted past Jesper, straight into Kaz’s cane.

“Pardon?” she’d asked, eyeing the crow on his walking stick. “Are you Kaz Brekker? If not, get out of my way”

“Saints,” Jesper had whispered behind her, his palms loosely on his revolvers.

“Why are you seeking him?” Brekker had said casually, the cane still in between the fierce creature and the staircase.

“Unless you’re Brekker, I won’t be speaking with you,” she had crossed her arms on her chest, eyeing Kaz. “But you are him, aren’t you? The cane, the gloves, Nina said you’d be unusual.”

“Un–” Jesper had started, but one look from the Dirtyhands had made him stop. “I’ll go guard the door”

“Good idea,” Kaz had finally let his cane drop, leaning his body on it. His eyes focused on the woman. “What do you want?”

“I need your help,” she breathed. He’d only raised his eyebrows. “I need you to kill my father.”

Since then, they had been working together. Y/n with her striking beauty would seduce merchants, when Kaz was robbing their pockets. In more or less legal ways – depending on their mood. Not a single soul was aware that Brekker had such a compelling ace up his sleeve.

“Kaz, please,” she whispered, her dress swooshing on the wind. “I dressed up, you can’t let my efforts go to waste.”

Brekker rolled his eyes, but he must have admitted that the dress, in fact, looked magnificent on the woman. The color lit up her eyes and the brocade corset was making her skin glow. Yet, he didn’t speak another word, pointing his cane in the direction of the perpendicular street. Y/n tilted her head. “Which house?”

“The one with the green door.”

“Give me twenty minutes,” she nodded her head in acknowledgment. “No mourners.”

“No funerals,” Kaz replied.

Y/n went down the street. The lamps were dimmed, not giving much light, yet she could see the path clearly. When she was younger, she would wander around this district, dreaming about being an important persona herself. She would pretend that she was a grisha. One day she would be an Inferni and the other she’d be a Heartrender. She would have to be careful so as not to get caught by stadwatch or worse – her father. He despised grisha, the littlest mention about their kind got his blood boiling. He would murder them. And he would make her watch.

When she got close to the door, she took a breath in. Her body tensed and her heart beating so fast, she could swear people down the street were able to hear it. She knocked, once, twice. No one answered at first, but a moment later she noticed a loud noise of someone making their way to the door.

“Who’s there?!” a man’s voice echoed from behind the entrance.

“Please, I need your help,” she strived to make her voice sound as desperate as she could. She forced her palms to tremble and she bit her lower lip. She promised twenty minutes and she needed to be a bit faster than that. “I-i got lost,” she stammered.

The door opened with a wide swing, the man’s face was wrinkled and he didn’t look as pleasant as she remembered from the photo. When his eyes laid on her body, she knew exactly when he thought about taking advantage of her. She knew what he saw. A broken girl, who looked like a doll, with her big, princess-looking dress, smeared make-up and a trembling lip. She couldn’t look longer than a few seconds at him, which he also took notice of. She was nothing but a broken piece to him. And she made him believe in whatever he wanted.

He helped her get up and while still touching her arms, he led her to the office or a living room, she didn’t know. His breath reeked of whatever alcohol he was drinking prior to her interruption. She wanted to grimace but kept her face straight, Kaz trusted her to get this work done and she didn’t plan on doing otherwise.

“So, darling, what are you doing in this neighborhood?” He forced her to sit in one of the armchairs standing opposite to the big, oak desk. “Such a fine, little thing getting lost in the night? You never know what can get from behind the corner.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She suppressed a shudder and only smiled, hoping she looked as coy as she wanted to convey. She wanted to punch him.

“My father was playing cards in one of the clubs,” she started, her fingers were trembling so she intertwined them. “I just wanted to take a breath, but I went too far and I got lost. I don’t know what to do…” she forced her voice to break. The old man’s face was focused on her lips the entire time she was talking, her heart beat with a new dose of uneasiness. Where the hell was Kaz?

“It’s okay, doll” he placed his fingers under her chin, lifting her head. She could smell a cigar smoke somewhere in the room. She didn’t notice that the lamps were dimmed and the heavy, dark curtains were blocking out the light from the street lamps. She discreetly scanned the room, looking out for any possible exits, but the merchant wasn’t as stupid as she originally had thought. There was only one way in and only one way out. Right behind her.

The merchant was looking into her eyes, searching for something. “You think you are so clever huh?” his hold on her chin started growing stronger, soon he moved his palm to her throat, squeezing it, cutting her airways. She sucked in a breath but couldn’t do much about her situation. “Do you think I haven’t seen you around this bastard Brekker?” He squeezed her neck harder, she could feel her eyes water. “Do you think I wasn’t aware you would be coming here tonight?”

She tried speaking, but her efforts came out fruitless. She saw in his eyes that he had no intention to let her go. She was happy she would die in a gorgeous dress, at least.

“Oh, no, no, no,” he tsked. “You won’t die tonight, doll, not until I get my answers.” The merchant let go of her neck, just so she could utter a sentence.

“I will never betray Kaz,” she spat on his face, clawing at his palm.

‘You bitch,” he let her go. Y/n saw an opening and kicked him into his stomach. She turned on her heel and made her way to the door, but the man managed to grab her waist and kept her in one place. “I wonder if Brekker cares enough for you to come here,” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers along her spine. She felt the hairs on the nape of her neck rising. She tried wiggling out of his hold, but to no avail.

“Actually, I’ve been here for quite some time now,” came a voice from behind the desk. This husky voice, whose owner she wanted to murder with her bare hands at that moment. “You have something I want, Marcus.”

Y/n saw Jesper on the threshold, pointing both of his guns in their direction. When she looked up, Zemeni winked at her, letting her body relax. She forced herself free out of the merchant’s arms and made her way towards the exit. She was trembling. She saw Kaz motioning for Marcus to sit on the armchair she was previously on. The merchant was making his way to this direction slowly, never letting Brekker out of his sight. How clever.

“I must admit, your bitch is a feisty one,” he put his ankle onto his other knee, resting his hands on the armrests. In a second his head flew to the right and blood was leaking from his cheekbone.

“Call her a bitch one more time and I will break every single one of your fingers,” Kaz remarked calmly, his demeanor still the same. “I came for the money.”

“I don’t have your money,” Marcus countered, clutching a handkerchief to his face. “I have never stolen from you.”

“You are mistaken,” he got up, pulling a paper out of his pocket. “You were about to steal from me, Marcus. That’s what you wrote to your acquaintance, isn’t it?”

The merchant sat there, wordlessly, his eyes wide. Y/n smirked into his direction, whistling. “You’re a naughty boy, Marcus, a naughty boy.”

The man only snarled at her, she rolled her eyes in response.

“Well, since you wanted to steal from me, all I want is a percentage of your shares in one of the clubs in the Harbor,” Kaz looked at Marcus, his eyes still locked on the merchant.

“You are crazy,” he yelled.

“And you are a dead man unless you agree. It doesn’t have to be a big part, just a small one would be enough.”

After some time, Kaz had his shares and she had a bruise around your neck. She could still feel the phantom of Marcus’s hands on her throat. Until it heals, she won’t make it go away.

“So now what?” Jesper asked, his revolvers back in his belt and a smirk on his lips. “You’re going to sabotage the rest of his clubs?”

She was looking at the pavement, but not hearing Kaz’s response, she lifted her head and sent him a look. “Saints, you really want to do that.”

“Why else would I want shares from only one club? It wouldn’t be much if there were five others now, would it?”

Jesper whistled at his words and resumed his vigorous steps towards the Crow Club. Y/n stayed behind, her legs heavy.

“Kaz?” she whispered. She saw him lifting his eyebrow. “Why didn’t you help me when you saw him strangling me?”

“I didn’t see it,” he replied.

“What?”

“I only saw him holding you and you were trying to elbow him. And y/n I wanted to smash his skull so hard that his brain would leak out of his ears,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

“That’s disgusting,” she breathed a light laugh. Her brows knitted together. “How did you get in?”

“A magician never tells his secrets,” he smirked, leaving her behind him.

#kaz brekker x you #kaz brekker x reader #kaz brekker imagine #kaz brekker one shot #kaz brekker #jesper fahey #shadow and bone #six of crows one shot #six of crows #crooked kingdom #grishasworld #girshaverse

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is-today-tomorrow-in-nz · 2 months

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Why I cannot accept Alina Starkov as a protagonist

I have a love-hate relationship with Alina's character. Mostly hate though. I loved the few bright moments she had but I absolutely loathed the moments where she was came off as an utterly selfish, unsympatheic, sanctimonious brat which dried up the any pity I had for her.

When I think of Alina, the analogy that comes to my mind is elephants. When elephants are tamed their handlers use an interesting strategy. The handlers use the heaviest iron chains that are too strong for the young calves to break away to tether them. The young calves try as they might to break free, soon realise that the chains are stronger than them and give up. They slowly start to live within the limits of the chain. However as the elephants reach adulthood, the trainers switch to normal, lightweight chains to tie them up because, by now the elephants have been fully trained to believe that they are too weak to breakaway. So the elephants rarely ever attempt to test the strength of the chains or even attempt to escape. The elephants having forgotten the strength they posses, learn to live within the limits of the chains.

Alina is just like those elephants. She has the power of the Sun coursing through her veins and yet instead of raising up to the situation, she actively chooses to remain stagnant. She remains tethered with her one-sided affection for Mal, her crippling self esteem issues, her shame of having 'impure thoughts' and, her fear of becoming something more than she had imagined. Eventhough the chains does not help her realise her true potential or even give her room to breathe, she is unable to comprehend anything beyond it and remain fearful to breakfree.

Had she been a side character, then, all of these flaws would not have mattered. But she is the protagonist and the entire triology moves forward through her. I'm not belittling her fears but the problem with the Chosen One trope is that at one point, the Chosen One is supposed to break away from their shackles and overcome these fears as the story progresses. Because, the story is not about the Chosen One, it is about the cause they are representing. But with Alina we never see that growth and so the cause she represents remains unfulfiled. Rather than becoming the one moving the story forward, she becomes an elephant in the hands of her handlers- Nikolai, Mal, Zoya, Apparat etc. She goes where they direct her to.

We see her passiveness cause actual detriment to the story as she is directed to side with the 'good guys' instead of representing the suppressed people who sees her as a beacon of hope. And in the end her life or death did not impact the cause she represented.

People may say that she suceeded in killing the Darkling and took down the Fold. But neither was her true purpose. She was supposed to be the one who bridged the gap between the otkazats'ya and the Grisha. And so, her victory in the final battle does not satisfy the end goal as the person she killed also wanted the same.

By defeating the Darkling, she no longer becomes the Chosen One. Instead she becomes an instrument of the oppressor who actively wants to maintain the status of the monarchy which in turn thrived on the Grisha serfdom. From a passive protagonist she becomes a passive antagonist. And in the end of it all she serves no purpose to herself or the people she was supposed to uplift and goes back to her chained elephant life with Mal as her new handler.

And this is why I could never accept Alina as the protagonist.

#alina starkov #alina critical #shadow and bone analysis #anti shadow and bone #anti leigh bardugo #grishanalyticritical #girshaverse #anti alina starkov

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disabled-characters-showdown · 8 months

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Disabled Characters Showdown Semifinals

Propaganda/Who is this:

Amaya- From The Dragon Prince. She’s a general, she’s very cool, she just got proposed to in the fourth season and is now wedding planning in the fifth. She’s also an aunt, and is the sister of the former queen of Katolis.

Kaz Brekker- Check out this awesome propaganda by @hopelessromanticaromantic here.

Check out the other polls in this round here.

#polls #disability #poll #fandom polls #disabled characters #toph beifong #atla toph #avatar: tla #avatar: the last airbender #atla #a:tla #the dragon prince #aunt amaya #tdp amaya #general amaya #kaz brekker #six of crows #shadow and bone #girshaverse

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fatherless-stuff · 1 year

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Me and my husband we're sticking together...

Me and my husband we're doing better...

#darklina #the darkling #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #girshaverse #the grisha trilogy #me and my husband #mitski

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maverey · 11 months

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SHADOWN & BONE S2 CHARACTER RANKING TIER LIST

This is my personal, subjective list, im sorry if u don't agree with it. I'm so tired I've an exam tomorrow

Also note, I've not read ANY of Leigh Bardugo's book

LEMME EXPLAIN!!!

1st tier - THE GOAT - genya & baghra were PHENOMENAL. And jesper & inej are my absolute favs, I'll love them no matter what.

2nd tier - solid 💯💯 - kaz is the most likable 'villian' in this show. And i wanted to put wylan in the first tier but, decided to practice restraint :")

3rd tier - 7/10 - these are all the characters I didn't expect to like as much as I did. Its probably because of the actors playing them. Also mal suddenly deciding that he didn't love Alina anymore was so funny to me idk why XD XD XD

4th tier - could be better - I had high hopes for them, I was disappointed :(

5th tier - mixed feelings. Wasted potential. Ig they got lost in the sea of characters and storylines and plot twists. Ugh I wish the producers had a more clear vision for these characters.

6th tier - I did not like The Darkling this season. Period. I also don't think that killing him off was the right choice. Nadia & Adrik were not given enough screentime or personality. Not enough thought was put into them.

Here's the link if yall wanna make ur own rankings

#shadow and bone #six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthais helvar #alina starkov #the darkling #mal oretsev #girshaverse

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helniksdaughter · 1 year

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Kanej // Museum Date AU

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woodchuckhills · 11 months

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Alina here asking the important questions

#But could he swim #Could your magic outpower my logic?#Probably not #Alina #Shadow and bone #Darling #Girshaverse #leigh bardugo

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randommnerdd · 1 year

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When (if) SoC 3 comes out, I will absolutely refuse to read it until someone TELLS ME WITH 100% CERTAINTY none of the crows dies.

#soc3 #six of crows #leigh bardugo #girshaverse #i dont know how to tag help #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #mathias helvar #netflix shadow and bone #shadow and bone

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lilisouless · 1 year

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#nina zenik #kaz brekker #six of crows #six of crows duology #netflix shadow and bone #girshaverse #leigh bardugo

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clownycat · 1 year

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in honor of the sab season 2 trailer, heres malina and darklina as a taylor swift song each

Malina

Message In A Bottle

/And I became hypnotized/By freckles and bright eyes/Tongue tied/

thats so alina to mal in the beginning when they're stationed at the fold <3

/But now/You're so far away and I'm down/Feelin' like a face in the crowd/I'm reachin' for you/terrified/

mal when alina gets taken to the little palace

/Message in a bottle is all I can do/ Standin' here/ hopin' it gets to you/

mal and alina writing letters to each other, just hoping the other will get them😭💔

/You could be the one that I keep, and I/

lil ol over protective mal 😒

/Could be the reason you can't sleep at night/

alina not being able to sleep bc shes thinking of mal </3

/These days I'm restless/Work days are endless/

could be alina, learning at the little palace, or mal, tracking the stag

/How is it in London? (London)/Where are you while I'm wonderin' (wonderin')/If I'll ever see you again?/

both of them to each other<33

Darklina

Would've, Could've, Should've

/If you tasted poison, you could've/Spit me out at the first chance/

if the darkling had known how much alina would fight back, would he have manipulated her from the start? i think not

/If I was some paint, did it splatter/On a promising grown man?/

the grisha that think alina got in the way of the darkling (ugh)🙄

/And if I was a child, did it matter/If you got to wash your hands?/

AND! HE! GOT! AWAY! WITH! IT!!!!!

/And I damn sure never would've danced with the devil,/At nineteen/

darkling = devil (also john mayor). also also, SHE WAS ONLY 17!!

/And the God's honest truth is that the pain was heaven/

and GODDAMIT SHE STILL FEELS LIKE HE FILLS A HOLE IN HER

/If I never blushed, then they could've/Never whispered about this/

the rumors at the little palace😒

/But, Lord, you made me feel important"

THIS!!! alina was an orphan, her entire life she felt unimportant, AND HE USED THAT.

/God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be/

look, i didnt want to be a halfblood grisha

/I regret you all the time/

do i really need to explain?

/The wound won't close/

the darkling just wont leave her alone man

/If clarity's in death, then why won't this die?/

same as above ^

/Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts/Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first/

GIVE ALINA BACK HER GIRLHOOD!!!!

*its also good to note all the religious themes throughout the song, and with people seeing alina as a saint

#shadow and bone #sab #malina #taylor swift #alina starkov #malyen oretsev #mal oretsev #girshaverse #darkling #the darkling #general kirigan #message in a bottle #would've could've should've

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ihavenohotcocoa · 1 year

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hi soc fandom whats up have some wesper/goldengun

#girshaverse #shadow and bone #six of crows #crooked kingdom #wesper #jesper x wylan #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #coco's art dump

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sapphicclaw · 1 year

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I AM GOING TO FAINT

#shadow and bone #six of crows #crooked kingdom #soc kaz #soc wylan #soc jesper #soc inej #girshaverse #i’m on the floor #oh fuck oh shit

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skiiyoomin · 11 months

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GRISHAVERSE MASTERLIST

RULES!!

DO NOT COPY MY WORK OR REPOST PLEASE!!

REQUESTS: OPEN

I write SFW and NSFW!

I don't take requests which cover anything dark, I don't want to trigger anyone!! (ex. su!cide, sh, ed, etc.)

MOST IMPORTANTLY, ENJOY!!

GUIDE

smut/suggestive: (m)

angst: (a)

fluff: (f)

NAVIGATION

WHO DO I WRITE FOR?

---------------------------------------

REACTIONS

-nothing here yet-

MTL

-nothing here yet-

HEADCANONS

What I think the Crows listen to

ONESHOTS

NIKOLAI LANTSOV

The Mercenary (f)

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retvenkos · 2 years

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i have never spent so long deciding who i should ask this for only to revert to my single most predictable answer asjdbdisks. anyhow, ⚡ + nina zenik my beloved, please? 💜

1-3 random headcanons i have about them:

nina absolutely lives and breathes for gossip. blame it on her collecting gossip as part of being a spy. blame it on her growing up in the clique-y little palace. blame it on whatever you please, but know that nina zenik knows every rumor about you and has no qualms starting some herself if need be. but also know that she hears everything about her friends... and she will not hesitate to track the rumor all the way back to it's source...

idk and idc if this directly contradicts canon, but nina doesn't like tea. there, i said it. she just.... doesn't understand the hype. it's just sad water, and literally everyone has Opinions on how to make it correctly. the kaelish put an ungodly amount of milk in their tea yet it always tastes stronger than everywhere else, the ravkans have strict rules about when to use jam or honey or sugar to sweeten it and saints forbid you get it wrong, the shu make tea making a very lengthy process but also manage to put nothing of interest in it to make it taste substanial, and the kerch are always complaining that their tea is too cold while the zemeni don't like it hot. why does tea need to be so complicated???? who decided to make a beverage wherein everyone is upset at the quality, and everyone is displeased??? you would think it would be some kind of relief to her that the fjerdans don't really bother with tea much, but it's 10x worse, actually, because they're constantly saying how their traditional beverages are better, when nina actually thinks it's worse.

an au or fanfiction trope i think the character would do well in:

a fake dating scenario would actually be so fun with her. you could either spin it so that it's your average "oh, no, i'm visiting my (grisha) family for the holidays and they're so annoying about my still being single after a really bad breakup, so will you just do me a favor and pretend? i'll make you coffee and buy you gifts??" of course, on the way to ravka, nina picks up the rest of the crows, and half of the battle is convincing jesper and wylan to not say a single word about this fake dating situation - nina is dangerous and will gladly take revenge. the other half of the battle, of course, is when nina starts to fall for you (which both kaz and inej can sense - no doubt they even placed a bet on whether or not nina will confess by the end of the trip), and she can sense you're falling for her too. but (*dramatic rom com voice*) is she ready to fall in love again???? or, lol, you could add some spice to the trope and make the fake dating also an undercover au wherein nina needs to infiltrate a group of really influential people for ravkan buisiness, and you just so happen to be a lowkey ravkan supporter. of course, you and nina no doubt have political differences or some kind of moral clash, creating friction between the two of you - maybe she thinks your quiet support isn't enough and brands you a coward, while you think her self-importance is annoying. the issue, then, is when the only way for nina get her to reasonably rub elbows with these people without garnering suspicion is to pretend to be your fiancee. you get to bicker like a married couple, and gossip about people while infiltrating their inner circle, and you end up learning so much about each other that oh no.... your feelings have moved past respect now, haven't they? and wouldn't you like it if nina just... stayed?

where they should be taken on a date or relaxing day off:

honestly, give nina something classy and relaxing! take her to a nice dinner and then go to the opera! be a little fancy! she will make scathing remarks about the rich, but will enjoy getting to dress in style and pretend to be anything other than struggling for just a little while. afterward, you can walk down to the Geldcanal and look out at the water. have a meaningful chat, wallow for a bit in your mutual self-pity, and then tell raucous jokes that aren't even really that funny, but somehow your laughing anyway.

a song, book, or poem that reminds me of them:

still i rise by maya angelou.

#sunday asks #nina zenik #nina zenik headcanons #girshaverse #long post #it physically pained me to write ill of tea but i just KNOW that nina had to learn how each nation takes their tea #and how to serve it properly before she went undercover and i can see her absolutely HATING every moment of it #anytime she's asked to make tea while undercover she is physically holding herself back from making scathing remarks about the #asinine differences between tea customs #you know what wylan probably agrees. he thinks tea is boring. kuwei is personally offended and so is inej #(no one tell inej kaz also agrees with nina asdfghjhsdfgh)#and OMG when matthias hears her rant about tea he's like !!!!! yes!!!!!! exactly !!!!!! it's not even that good !!!!!!!#and then she absolutely destroys him by stating that the fjerdan drink of choice is actually abysmal in comparison #sdfghjkjhgfdsdfghj i just want the crows to fight about something as mundane as tea asdfghjsdfghjhgfd

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