come_sailaway | Whatever it Takes

Entry tags:

Whatever it Takes

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

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"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.

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

"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."

"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."

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."

“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.

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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.

Valdis notices that look.

"What?"

"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?

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."

"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."

"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."

"Even when the system's breaking down?" He gestures around them loosely. There's almost a pouting expression on his face.

"Sometimes death is the better option, Bash."

"Death, maybe. The Nothing, abso-fucking-lutely not. If this realm goes, will everyone be caught between worlds, in the metaphysical ocean the ship is actually sailing in?" There's a sharpness there, a fierceness he doesn't often let show.

"Bash, if something happens to the Captain and Sparkles, then the Nothing won't exist any more than this place does. Sparkles was the core of the Nothing, he can't exist without the Captain and the Captain can't exist without him."

Much like how she cannot exist without Tiamat and vice versa.

"It was the entire point of him trying to kill the Captain and all of us."

From what she understood of the situation at least.

"The Captain said we would cease to exist without this place, there is no reason to think he was lying."

"I don't want to cease! I don't want that for anyone I love, either. It's not good enough, damnit. I don't care if it's impossible or fucked up or...I just. Can't let this be the end for everyone here. For anyone here."

"Even gods must die, Bash. It's the natural order of things."

Unless you are her, and therefore cursed to linger while everyone you love dies around you. She would not deny rest if it were offered, even now, surrounded by people she loves.

"This is not natural. Nothing about this is natural." He huffs. "C'mon, you're using this cold attitude so you don't panic, is that it? Trying to be content with it because you don't know how to fight it?"

"No, I've simply lived long enough to not fear death."

It sounds more depressing than it is.

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