(no subject)

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina held her phone tight and leaned against the brick exterior of the Crow Club as she listened to the ring. "Pick up, pick up," she breathed, praying to every saint she knew that Geralt was in a place that had service. What had she ever done without a phone?

Her breath caught when she heard his voice on the other end. "Thank the saints," she breathed. "It's Nina, I need your help to get rid of a body. If you must know the details I will explain everything, but I would rather do it while we're disposing of it."

Comments

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina rolled her eyes but she was still smiling. "Well, I'm sure there are people that would warn you that I'm more trouble than I'm worth," she said.

She rose from her seat now that all that had been sorted out and she crossed the small distance between them. She liked that he was taller than her and she leaned up to kiss the corner of his mouth.

"I think I'll decide if you deserve me or not," she quips, her smile warm and soft in her voice. Saints he smelled good. That wasn't fair.

[worstsin]

"That's your prerogative," Geralt said, pulling into a mock courtly bow. His baggy white blouse hung low away from his neck, and the tail of his hair fell over one shoulder.

He reached for his glass again, and drained a great deal from it. The sea water had been salty, and he felt he wanted the alcohol, after that night.

[every_blossom_blooming]

Once he'd drained his glass, Nina curled her fingers in the front of Geralt's shirt and kissed him, pulling him toward her even as she pressed against him. The kiss on the beach had been nice, but she liked the lack of armor between them. Especially since he was nice and dry and warm now.

Dry and warm and alive, and he tasted like sweet wine and mulling spices.

[worstsin]

Her mouth on his came as a surprise, but Geralt accepted it gracefully, kissing back, moving against her. He backed them up toward the edge of the table by the window, until he could rest both palms against it, fingers curling in pleasure.

"Glad we got that talked through," he murmured, around the kiss. He broke off eventually, not because he needed the breath, but because he wanted to see her, stare into her eyes from that close.

The light of the kitchen caught her skin, making it look powdery, glowing.

"You staying here or should I think about putting dry boots on and walking you home?"

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina made a soft, pleased sound against Geralt's mouth as he guided her back, until she felt the table bump against her. When they parted she was smiling; the kitchen light revealed the vivid green of her eyes.

"You're only walking me home if you plan on staying there with me." She lifted her eyebrows, fingers still loosely curled in Geralt's shirt.

His eyes were so different but they didn't frighten her. Being this close gave an excuse to stare.

[worstsin]

"Seems like a waste of a half an hour walk, then." He tilted his head to the side in amusement, before moving away again, just long enough to pour himself another glass of the wine. His stomach made a rude noise, and he frowned.

He'd offered Nina something to eat earlier, because he'd known he wanted something himself.

"I'm going to grab dinner. Missed it earlier today. That okay with you?"

As if in apology, he reached out to stroke his thumb across her shoulder.

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina blinked, and then she laughed. "I can order something and have it delivered," she offered. "Save you another walk."

She supposed she couldn't blame him. The fact that she hadn't torn into the nearest cake was a small miracle. She was feeling better now, at least, and she supposed food wasn't the worst idea.

Especially if Geralt hadn't eaten earlier - possibly her fault. She could well imagine the kind of energy it took to do what he did to his body.

"I sort of owe you, after all."

[worstsin]

"Got some stuff here." He turned to the refrigerator to pull out a loaf of bread and bags of deli meat and cheese. There were conveniences Geralt was getting used to, and appreciating, despite his old-fashioned nature.

He dug into the bag and pulled out four slices of bread, which he buttered generously, watching Nina with a look of reserved fondness. Her company was infinitely pleasing.

"And I don't think you owe me. If I could help avoid more trouble in the future, something even worse ... why else is something like me even here?"

[every_blossom_blooming]

She supposed Geralt had a point and she saw no reason to argue it. She was still grateful, but he knew that. She hoped he knew that.

Nina just grinned and picked up her wine again while Geralt fixed himself something to eat. The way he prepared his bread tugged at her homesickness and made her think of the Little Palace, the meals served there.

"Do one for me?" she asked.

[worstsin]

He looked at her a little surprised, but soon enough, his smile tugged at the corner of his mouth again. Before he made his sandwich, he pulled another piece of the bread out and buttered it just as thickly, before sliding it over. He appreciated that Nina had a healthy appetite.

There'd been too many times in his life, outside of Kaer Morhen, away from Coen, Eskel and Lambert, that Geralt had felt the urge to eat far less than he ought to. He hadn't wanted to seem strange, to remind his host that there were fundamental differences between them.

His sins, his differences.

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina hummed happily when he passed her the slice and ate it while Geralt made his sandwich. "This is how I ate my bread at the Little Palace," she explained after she had swallowed a mouthful.

"I think it was one of my favorite snacks. I miss the food I had there," she sighed. "Ketterdam had fine variety, but I always went to Little Ravka to find tastes of home."

She hadn't gone too often, not wanting the Dregs to invade that part of her life.

Nina blushed a bit when she realized she had just devoured the buttered bread and there was an apology on the tip of her tongue. She held it in. She had promised herself long ago she would never apologize for enjoying food.

"I keep meaning to look through cookbooks here. See if I can't find anything familiar I can start making myself."

[worstsin]

"You're a good cook," Geralt said, one of his usual compliments. Freely given, simple, without artifice.

He finished assembling the sandwich and tucked in, without self-consciousness. The food tasted better on an empty stomach. He let himself enjoy, the saltiness of the cured meat, the creaminess of the butter. It was a welcome treat, for his hard work earlier.

"Didn't get fresh bread often. Usually had to soak the tack I ended up with in a hunter's stew. Especially at the beginning of winter. We all traveled back to Kaer Morhen when the weather set in. The dead of winter is a poor time for witchering. Hard to hear, hard to see, hard to smell when the snow is coming down thick."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"I have nightmares of an entire country like that," she said with a shudder. "They burn Grisha there, or if they happen to make it to a city of some kind they're given a mock trial and then executed... Either way, they want to kill us all."

Nina frowned a little at herself; she hadn't meant to bring up Fjerda when they were both enjoying food and relative peace. But the winter conditions Geralt had just described brought her own memories screaming back. She had been there before appearing here.

[worstsin]

"Sounds like Radovid, King of Redania."

Geralt chewed thoughtfully, before taking another large bite of his food. He ate the way that men did when no one was watching, having grown up surrounded only by other witchers. Kaer Morhen hd been a rough place, lacking the touch of any women, at least until Ciri had arrived.

"Radovid the Stern. Radovid the Mad. I'm not a political man, but he was evil, thoroughly, to his bones. Started with burning mages, and soon, when that wasn't enough, moved on to elves and dwarves, dopplers and any other deviant they thought they could find."

It hadn't yet included witchers, because they still killed other monsters, but Geralt knew that times were changing swiftly.

[every_blossom_blooming]

"We broke into the Ice Court in Djerholm, the capital of Fjerda. I thought killing Grisha was the worst they could do, but I was wrong. They were using them, like-- like tools. Like things. Enslaving them with a drug and using their enhanced powers until the Grisha themselves wasted away. They would have one it to me."

She shivered, remembering how it felt to be in that prison, unable to find a way out. A prison for Grisha, made by other Grisha. It was sick.

Nina tried to shake it off. "But if we're going to talk about that, I need a lot more wine and a more foul mood, and I'd rather not dissolve into that."

[worstsin]

Geralt gave a few more chews, before wiping his face on the back of his arm and nodding toward the counter.

There was more mulled wine in the pot, but beside the stovetop also were a variety of bottles of varying sizes, colors, and dubiousness of provenance. Many were normal wine and liquor, but a few others were the incredibly strong spirits that a witcher needed to brew decoctions, amongst other things, like get absolutely shit-faced with an inhuman metabolism.

"Help yourself. Laws of hospitality say my home is yours, honored guest."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"Maybe we just talk about something nicer than mad kings and terrible governments," she said. Even so, she moved toward the pot of mulled wine to refill her glass.

"I like pleasant distractions. I've had enough death and darkness tonight." She lifted her glass in a toast to that before she drank from it.

[worstsin]

Geralt toasted back, readily and naturally, before finishing his own glass.

Having made short work of the sandwich, he dusted his hands off and put the leftovers back in the refrigerator, before stalking back toward Nina again. He resumed where he had left off.

Cupping her face in his hands, he brought their mouths together again for a long and supple kiss, before moving on. He scraped his teeth along the line of her soft jaw, nipping with barely-pointed canines, before working down to the column of her pale neck and wrapping his mouth around the thrill there, pressing his hot tongue against her skin.

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina had resigned herself, more or less contentedly, to an evening of snacking and mental recovery after Geralt had interrupted a kiss to make a sandwich.

Silly her.

She had enough presence of mind to put her glass of wine down as he kissed her like that. The soft, surprised sound that had risen in her throat left her mouth in a breathy sigh as Geralt's mouth teased down her neck. The gentle bite and scrape of his teeth made her shiver; Nina's hands slid down Geralt's sides, stopping to grip his shirt tightly as his tongue teased over her pulse.

"Saints," she whispered, pinned between Geralt and the table and not at all displeased. "Here I got worried that food rated higher than me," she laughed. She slid one hand up to tangle in his pale hair.

[worstsin]

"That was just an appetizer."

He followed the column of her neck with the straight line of his nose, nudging against the sensitive skin behind the shell of her ear. Geralt pressed into her hair, taking in the scent of sandalwood and wild rose. It was a lovely distraction from the grim work they'd left behind them. Nina smelled too good there, and he growled softly, the sound low in his chest.

His hand smoothed up her thigh, enjoying the slip and slide of the loose fabric of her dress over warm skin, until it found her hip. He pressed his fingers gently into it, eager to feel the gentle give of a woman's shape.

"Gonna gobble you up if you give me the chance."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"I like a man with a good appetite."

Shivers raced over her skin at the caress of his warm breath and her fingers tighten briefly in his hair. She felt drunk in a way that she was almost certain had nothing to do with the mulled wine, though that certainly didn't hurt. It felt so good to be with a man that didn't hesitate to touch her.

Nina sat on the edge of the table and kept Geralt close against her; if he kept up like this, she didn't trust her knees to continue cooperating. She loved the way he dug his fingers against her hip. Even the slide of her own dress felt like a tease knowing that it was the only thing between the warmth of his hand and her skin.

[worstsin]

He laughed, very soft and very slow, because the words on both ends were ridiculous, but that was fine. Two people, against one another, enjoying having bodies -- it deserved a little ridiculousness. It shouldn't be too serious.

He reached behind his head and slipped his hair out of the tail it was held in. Where the leather band had been, it was still damp, and smelled like salt seawater. It fell over his shoulder, around Nina's hand, silvery in the yellow kitchen lights.

Geralt leaned over her, pressing their foreheads together. Hers was smooth and unlined and wide. He was quiet, but for deep breathing.

He joined the hand on her hip with the other then, on the free side that looked empty without it, and pulled her forward suddenly until he was seated flush between her firm legs.

"Just like this for a while?"

[every_blossom_blooming]

Even his laugh was good, low and gravelly and perfect. Nina grinned because there was no reason not to. As Geralt's hair came loose she combed her fingers through it, pushing it back from his face as he leaned over her.

She took the moment to catch her breath and to appreciate the way Geralt's hands felt on her hips as he pulled her against him. He was warm between her thighs and that, and the masculine scent of him, was exciting.

"Yes," she answered, soft between them. "Until it's not enough." A smile crept across her face and she tipped her head up to kiss him again. "Though I wouldn't be opposed to somewhere other than the table."

[worstsin]

"No rush." He murmured against her collarbone, having found with his mouth the place where the neckline of her shirt revealed the pale skin there, more delicate than her shoulders or neck. He licked a hot line from there to the hollow of her throat before hefting her against his hips and lifting her off of the table.

He carried them to the couch, with its great many pillows and rustic-looking quilts, and dropped them both onto it, scattering pillow and paper as he landed gently on top of her.

It was dark in the living room. The light from the kitchen caught on Geralt's eyes, reflective. The pupils gave an odd shiver of excitement, the way a cat's did when it watched a bird through a window. But Geralt was watching only Nina, drinking in the look of her on the sofa below him, thinking of what he most wanted to do with her next.

[every_blossom_blooming]

"Mmhm," she hummed her approval, or at least her acknowledgement, as Geralt's tongue traced a line across her collar bone. Nina's fingers tightened in his hair and she kissed the top of his head.

An amused squeak of a sound escaped her when Geralt lifted her up; her thighs squeezed against his sides but she trusted him to carry her. She landed with a huffed laugh and she looked, trying to see what papers had gone flying when they hit the couch. She stopped thinking about it when she caught Geralt's gaze, distracted by the change in his pupils. The shape of them made it more interesting, more captivating.

Nina drank him in and she shifted her hips, pressing up against him while he looked at her like a cat that had caught its prey. She found herself wondering how he'd toy with her. Well, surely he could ponder it while he kissed her. She pulled Geralt down to her, one hand holding the front of his shirt while the other remained tangled up in his silver-white hair. She kissed him, eager and supple.