Who: Nina and Max What: random encounter Where: Hinkels When: June 2nd Warnings: low Status: g-doc
Did Nina need to go get a milkshake from Hinkles? Probably not. But, a lack of need would not stop the Grisha from ordering a peanut butter chocolate milkshake. Like, at all. Paired with fries and chicken strips made her mouth water quite a bit, actually. The Grisha felt especially hungry because she’d used her powers the night before. One of the weird effects of using powers at Grisha. Raising the dead and controlling a zombie army made a Corpsewitch even hungrier than usual, like it did for any Grisha using their powers.
Finally her shift ended and Nina made her way to Hinkles. Why did everything smell so delicious? Really?
It felt weird to not have all the casts on her, but she still had the wheelchair to get around. While Max couldn’t depend on it cause she was building her strength back up in her body, it was still in use for the longer walks and even more so after PT when her body was sore and screaming for a break. Her body was slowly building back up to the way it used to be, but considering the damage that had been done, it was a still a long journey.
After PT, Max’s body was screaming more in her leg than her arm from all the work. Not wanting to worry Zari or show any weakness, Max had said about how she wanted to grab some food. After the time spent with her step-brother and step-father, Max really didn’t like showing anything other than toughness to people. While she had failed a few times in that, she still kept her head held high and refused to let anyone knock her down. Evident by how she refused to give up on building her strength back, wanting to get back on her skateboard. Right now, she had moved off her wheelchair to sit in the booth and regretting the choice to do that. Her body was on fire from the therapy today; however, she just didn’t want to sit in the wheelchair.
Leaving it at the front of the table, she got herself into her seat. Ordering herself a burger, some fries, and a milkshake, she planned to stay here for a bit until her leg wasn’t throbbing as much. She noticed a girl about her age who came in, giving her a small smile and nod as a form of hey before picking up another fry. Nina saw the girl in a wheelchair and wondered why, but wouldn’t ask, obviously. Given her life back home, the Grisha knew that it was sheer lucky, determination, and skill that hadn’t landed her or the Crows in a similar situation. At the smile and nod, Nina returned both. Maybe she could make a friend. “Hey! I still need to order, but is it okay if I join you? I’m Nina.” The Grisha liked to socialize.
Max was counting down the possible days until she didn’t need to worry about the wheelchair. It was useful right now, but oh, she couldn’t wait to be free of it and not need to use that or be in pain when moving too much. Then again, she was pretty sure that would be for a bit until she built her body strength back up to what it used to be. Vecna had done a number on her, but at least, she was better off here than what would be her situation had she never been grabbed again by the dome.
When the girl about her age spoke to her, she nodded at the question. “Yeah, that would be fine. I’m not expecting anyone, so be my guest. I’m Max, nice to meet you.” It would be good for her to meet people outside her friends who were also around her age. She knew a few people away from her world, but most were older so it’d be good to keep on expanding her social circle. Though she knew she could be picky on the people considering the life of hell that she had with her stepdad and stepbrother.
Nina never needed a wheelchair, but she’d seen what physical damage could do to those at home. Like Kaz. Grisha healers could do a lot, but they couldn’t solve everything, especially if not asked for help.
After Nina placed her order, she joined Max. “Nice to meet you, Max.” The teen could use a few non-Crows for friends, after all. “Have you been in town long?” Nina grew up in an orphanage, so she didn’t have family before the Crows. Not really.
Her phone buzzed, reminding her that in an hour she had an appointment of sorts. By which she meant going over the plans for an upcoming job. When it had been only her and Kaz, he started teaching her more sleight of hand tricks, which she liked learning. Her role went back to that of charmer, but Nina wanted to learn as many tricks as possible, in case Jes got sent back home or something.
She smiled at the other teen. “What do you think of this place?” The name clicked, finally. “Oh. I think you met my friend, Kaz?”
While Max wouldn’t trade any of her friends from her world in for anyone, she could use some her own age that wasn’t from their world. Not that she’d tell Dustin cause sometimes it was fun to screw with him, but he made it too easy sometimes. “Uh,” she thought for a quick moment, doing the math rather quick in her head since it was the one subject she loved and was good at. “Next month will be a year minus the week I was sent home,” and came back in very bad shape.
The dome couldn’t have pulled her before Vecna caught her in her safe memories. At least, she knew her best friend had tried to come in and save her. Plus the people who had been trying to do what they could to keep her safe, but she knew how that turned out in the end. “What about you? How long have you been in town?” When the girl’s phone buzzed, Max picked up a fry in case she had to reply or do something, letting her do whatever it was she needed.
Though it seemed she didn’t need to do anything cause she was asking some questions, but before she could answer, Nina mentioned her friend Kaz who Max had met. A nod at the name, “Yes, I did meet him. And now I get to meet you, so once again it’s nice to meet you. How’s he doing?” She asked before returning to the question before, making a slight face in thought. “I’m figuring you mean the town and not this business. It’s alright. Can be boring, especially when stuck with being limited on what one can do, but it’s not that bad. It’s a better option than what this place could be like, you know? I also wouldn’t have met some of the awesome people I have around here if it wasn’t for this place.” She was thinking about some of the bad ass people in her life, thanks to the dome. “What about you?”
“Oh wow! You’ve been here a while then.” Nina wondered what it would be like if she remained here that long. Not like she had anything waiting for her back home. She’d just watched the love of her life die and at least here? The Grisha could pretend it never happened. Plus, she had Inej, Kaz, and Jesper, so really it could be a lot worse.
“Kaz is fine.” Nina did not need to say anything else about the Dirty Hands. She did think he needed to get the fuck out of his shared house, though, because the one time she visited there felt like a fucking zoo.
She nodded. “Oh I know.” Here, at least, she didn’t have to watch Matthias die right in front of her, so that helped. “It’s nice to have the modern conveniences here,” the Corpsewitch offered.
“I don’t mind it. I like my guardian, so that helps.” Nina added, “And friends from home make it feel a little less daunting.” The Crows, of course, were more family than friends at this point, given everything they’d experienced together. And nobody else here would quite grasp her powers or how hard she worked to overcome her addiction…the addiction that happened when she’d taken Parem once to save the Crows.
For Max it hadn’t even felt like it’d been a year until she had done the math in her head. Time really did fly by around here. “Yeah, I guess so though it definitely does not feel like I’ve been here that long,” she admitted. Max was quite fine with still being here, knowing she had no plans on going back though she knew that decision wasn’t fully up to her. Her friends had informed her of what was waiting for her when she returned. It was hard to forget considering the nightmares that kept coming back, and the PT she was dealing with from only part of what she left behind. Max just hoped her best friend, El and her other friends would come to Madison.
“Glad to hear,” Max would probably reach out to him at some point, depending on how she felt would depend on whether it was sooner rather than later. “Yeah, I picked up from Kaz that there is a lot of things around here that you guys didn’t have. I’m from the past, but at least we had some of the conveniences that still exist.” And also a lot that didn’t. Max had been enjoying the fact she was able to catch up on movies that wouldn’t be out for years from her timeline and the same with video games. Also, the streaming services were freaking amazing!
“Who is your guardian?” She asked, wondering if she knew the person or not. “But yeah, it helps when you have a guardian you like along with friends. I have some of the ones from home around here though one was sent home recently, then my guardian and her boyfriend are awesome. Not to mention the friends that I have made around here.” And the fact some of them had superpowers only made it more awesome but also made her miss El. “What have you been enjoying to do for fun around here?” Curious to see if she had anything, especially with knowing that her world didn’t have a lot of the stuff that existed around here.
Nina wondered how she’d feel after living here for a year. Maybe the ache over losing Matthias would hurt less, or at least the acuteness might lessen. She still saw his face at the moment of his death and Nina missed him every day, multiple times a day. Would she make a life here? Maybe meet someone else? A tiny part of her wished he’d arrive and Wylan too, so the Crows could be together, the sixsome they should be.
“Thank you.” Nina knew better than to talk out of turn about her friend/boss/surrogate brother. Kaz shared very little, even with her. Probably Inej knew the most, but they loved each other, so Nina didn’t mind. Inej and Matthias knew her best after all. “Yes, we don’t have things like TVs, phones, the type of appliances for cooking. Thankfully we do enjoy indoor plumbing.” Streaming services still overwhelmed the brunette, although she rather enjoyed cooking shows, which she found ironic, given how terrible she was at cooking.
“Oh! Eve. Not the one who is sometimes a ghost, but the one who was the first woman.” The Grisha didn’t quite know how else to differentiate between the two. “Who is yours? Yes, it’s nice that my guardian and Jesper’s are friends, and then Inej’s and Kaz’s are friends.” Not that it would have mattered. The Crows would always find a way to be together.
“Oh, I’m sorry your friend got sent home, but having other friends here sounds nice.” Nina didn’t do fun. Not exactly. “Oh, hanging with my guardian. Trying to learn to bake. Spending time with my friends.” Running cons to save up money so they could get a place for the four of them as soon as possible. “How about you?”
Max was not the person to ask because even after a year, she was still haunted by Billy’s last few moments and about her feelings towards her step-brother who was more often than not an asshole to her. Then on top of that, the nightmares from Vecna using Billy to hurt her as a way to get to her, she was pretty sure no matter how long she was here, the nightmares would always haunt her.
“While I may not be an expert with all the appliances, I’m pretty good with most of the technology aspect of things and stuff like video games. There are other things, but most of those things I can’t do right now,” she couldn’t wait to get back on her skateboard. It was gathering dust in her closet since she hated looking at it and unable to get on it. Hopefully, she’d be back up to where she was in no time since if she was going to become a pro skateboarder, she needed to keep working on the newer tricks that she had been working on before the update to where she was hurt. “But if you ever need any help, I’m happy to show you some of the stuff,” she offered, knowing it had been a lot to see some of the newer things that now existed. The idea of not knowing any of this…she was sure that was a lot more to take in, and was happy to help.
Max had seen the woman she was talking about on the network but was pretty sure she hadn’t talked to or met her yet. “My guardian is a woman named Zari, and she’s awesome,” and had abilities which Max found super cool. Plus some of the friends she made around here had abilities and were superheroes another wicked cool part about this place! Max and her love of superheroes, especially female ones who kicked ass was her favorite in the comics, but living with one? Hell yes! Though she wasn’t sure if Zari was comfortable about her spilling about her abilities even if the woman was open about it. Definitely something she’d have to ask about for future knowledge.
“Thanks, but I know it happens around here, so I guess it’s something to think about for the what-if” she said, sadly. Hoping the rest of her friends were left alone, especially since it sounded like it was bad back home. Or in Eddie’s case here he was alive. “I can’t bake to save my life, so no help from me there,” she said with a small laugh. “Lately, hanging out with my guardian, chilling with my friends, reading comics, and catching up on shows. When I’m able to be more active, it’s playing video games and skateboarding, but that’s been a bit sideline while I was in casts,” she admitted, but now she could at least get back into video gaming. Noticing the woman at the counter, “I think your order is ready. You’re welcome to come join me if you were planning to eat here?” Max offered.
Nina wouldn’t be spilling hers or Jesper’s secrets anytime about their abilities. But she knew all about missing people and nightmares. She still couldn’t fathom that when she went back home, the Grisha would have to go through her grief all over again. Which might explain why she hadn’t really acknowledged it here yet.
“I could definitely use some help. A part of me wants to try a video game, but I’m not sure I should devote the time to it.” A sigh. Nina should instead practice her sleights of hand to better help the Crows pull off their cons. She didn’t need Kaz on her back because she’d devoted time to video games.
“Oh, I don’t think I know Zari, but I’m glad you like your guardian!” Nina vaguely recognized the name from the network.
“I don’t skateboard, and the only person in town I know who does is Kaz’s guardian, Alyssa.” Nina smiled. “I’d love to join you! Thank you.” She got up to get her food, grateful for the company.