Whatever it Takes

[redlightgreenlight]

Who: Valdis and Open with Some Closed
What: Valdis does stuff around the Serena Eterna, feel free to join her
When: November
Where: All over
Warnings: In each starter



I’m a Product of the System | Open | CW: None

She’s mostly been forgiven for Tiamat’s actions, but it’s still all out there for people to look at on the photo wall. Valdis remembers some of these, but thankfully Ash’s death isn’t on there. There are other photos since the last time she was here, with other passengers, which is of course why she is here, to see what everyone else has been up to. She’s not the only murderer on the ship, they all play their parts when needed.

“When was the last time you killed someone,” she asks absently to the next approaching person.

A Catastrophe | Open | CW: None

Part of her no longer cares about dying, and with the daggers out of the way and the important people having their names to protect them, Tiamat has no more power. Or at least not enough to scare her. She has the twin blades out and practices with them, slashing with a speed that would terrify most. Valdis isn’t afraid to show off her power and skill, they are necessary to survival. With a single, swift slash one of the dummies falls into two pieces and she turns on the other, prepared to ruin that one as well.

And Yet a Masterpiece | Max and Ash | CW: Probably gonna be NSFW

Being in love with three people isn’t fair, but it is wonderful that she has found them all at the same time. Valdis had gone from no one, to so many she doesn’t want to ever leave the Eterna and lose them, but that might not be something that is up to any of them, and all good things eventually end. Still Ash’s emotions upon hearing that she knows when he and Max are together shows her a very missed opportunity. So she will text both.

Max, I still haven’t properly made it up to you after Tiamat and I think we need to talk to Ash about how all this is going to work. Dinner at 8?

Ash, we’ve been dating for a bit now, and I know you are also dating Max, and I am also dating Max. We should discuss this, don’t you think? Dinner at 8?

But I’m Half-diseased | Open | CW: Blood

Valdis sits in Sand Dollar, sketching scene after scene, person after person. Some are passengers and others people from her past. One might be familiar to those who went on the excursion, Fenrir. Occasionally she’ll close her eyes and hold her breath until something passes, other moments she is paler than usual, and some of the drawings have red splatters on them. She has several empty cups of coffee on the table and several red stained napkins. Anyone looking at her would know she is clearly unwell, but she’ll greet anyone who approaches with a smile and a polite greeting.

Wildcard | PM or just go for it

Comments

[redlightgreenlight]

She can feel that little hesitation, knowing he means it, but also remembering what he had told her the last time they saw each other. He was afraid of becoming a monster.

"No, you don't need to apologize, Bash." She finally turns to face him, "At least we can support each other now. My monster might think twice knowing there's another on board who can take her on."

Valdis glances back at the photo wall.

"I just need to stop dwelling, but yeah, coffee is always welcome. I've greatly missed your brew, no one else can get it quite right."

[midnightroads]

"Walk back to Sand Dollars with me? You can fill me in on anything else I been missing. Anything else gonna bite my head off."

Her monster, huh? Well, she's not wrong that he's willing to take her on, that he'll put in the same effort he did against Lord Vile.

[redlightgreenlight]

"I'm not sure there is much left to bite your head off. Daisy has chilled out quite a bit. Erin hasn't."

She turns in the direction of Sand Dollars, expecting he will follow.

"I'm not sure if you met Erik, he was here shortly before you vanished, but he's gone now too. I can't really think of any other threats."

But it's notably hard for her to consider most passengers a threat.

"Have you met Sparkles?"

[midnightroads]

"I met Erik. Actually, yeah, no, he's my most recent murder. But. I went, too. I went too, to keep him away, but I'm back. So he might someday be back, fuck."

Look, that was a weird TDM time.

[redlightgreenlight]

"Max faced him, told him to leave him alone. I was so proud of him. I was afraid Erik would win him back over, but it needed to be Max's choice."

Though she might not hold back should Erik return.

[midnightroads]

"Yeah. Being able to choose is real fucking important. Proud of him." Bash nods slightly, glad that that confrontation ended in something good, something affirming.

[redlightgreenlight]

"Choice is something that we should be thankful for, not everyone gets that."

And the ship isn't a choice, the Eterna is a gilded cage that they cannot leave, and yet she doesn't want to leave it if it means leaving people behind.

"Have you run into anyone else?"

[midnightroads]

"Yeah, good few people know I'm back already. Oh, Jeff's also back, so you got the package deal."

Which, honestly, is a good thing. Does her empathic ass want to deal with him alone and bemoaning that fact?

"I've also met some folks who've arrived since I got here, too. Darcy came out to me. Okie's my roommate. Chick named Fever got a coffee infodump. I found the pillow pit with Max and the new guy, Ash."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I'm glad Jeff is back too, I always wanted to know him better."

She does hesitate a moment when he mentions Ash, but all the rest get a smile and a nod.

"I have not yet been properly introduced to Fever, she seems...like an embodiment of chaos that may not mix well with my own abilities. We may be explosive, or we may get along, there's really no knowing."

Darcy is...Darcy, and she only really knows of Okie.

"Ash is a nice guy, I'm sure you'll get along."

Just don't give her another lecture on being too dominant with someone she's already in a relationship with.

[midnightroads]

"Ash seems very..." He trails off, and then lets out a bit of a chuckle. "You and I have similar tastes, huh."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Tall, sensitive men who make the rest of the world fade away when they hold you. The kind who make you forget the pain of loss and allow you to hope again. The ones who give you a sense of safety you haven't felt in a very long time...I think it would be hard to not have a taste for that."

She shakes her head.

"And then there is Erin, whom I love just as deeply, but for her brilliance, fire and complete and total acceptance of chaos."

Valdis stops at looks back at Bash.

"There is no shortage of amazing people on this ship."

[midnightroads]

"You should get to know Jeff." He laughs brightly. "Meanwhile, Erin and I aren't sexually compatible, and the way we met sure was a thing. But I am glad to have her for a friend. Which reminds me, if Ossie's still here I oughta chase him down."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis laughs and shakes her head again.

"You'll have to introduce us, I suppose. I spoke to him briefly at the winter lodge."

She's not sure about his interest in Ossie though, that oddball doesn't seem attractive to her at all.

"Ossie is still here, but we haven't spoken in ages."

[midnightroads]

“He and Giles spend more time in their secret cottage than on the ship. It was one of the best and worst things about when I was Giles’ roommate.”

More worst than best, but don’t tell Giles that.

[redlightgreenlight]

"Secret cottage? Is that like Erin's hollow?"

Max might have visited there, she can't remember.

[midnightroads]

A bit of a nod. "Giles reaches it through the bathroom door in our--his now, I guess--cabin."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Pocket dimensions within pocket dimensions..."

A shake of her head and then a sigh.

"A lot has changed since you left, it was hard not having someone who understands the power of death."

[midnightroads]

"Well. I'm back, and I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon. Though part of me's a little worried; us both being back, might mean something somewhere is losing its grasp."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I've been worried about this place for some time, I just haven't voiced it. Things have felt wrong for months, I wrote it off as just the ghosts being freed but...The Captain has changed a lot, Bash, I wouldn't be surprised if he is losing his grip on this reality, or his will to keep it going."

[midnightroads]

"I wish we had a way to...like. Make a safety net. A place to at least catch people if the bubble pops. I dunno I got the power to sustain anything permanent, but something would be better than nothing."

He sort of gestures the idea with his hands, then looks at her thoughtfully.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis notices that look.

"What?"

[midnightroads]

"I'm sure we have the power, I just know I don't have the skill to make the thing."

He'd failed before, probably was the reason Sparkles was loose. But. Perhaps with help?

[redlightgreenlight]

Oh no, Valdis has no desire to maintain any realm like this one and just because Yato thought she was a goddess doesn't mean she is.

"I can't resurrect anyone with how I am now, the power is too corrupted, and preserving life isn't exactly what I was designed to do."

[midnightroads]

"Mm. And I'm a demigod tied only to death and darkness, myself. An underworld, not a worldly realm, perhaps? I'm grasping at straws, you know."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I think the best thing we can do is continue to play within the system the Captain has created until we can come up with a better plan than two psychopomps trying to maintain an underworld."