Regrets Collect like old Friends

[redlightgreenlight]

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



And all of the ghouls come out to play | Erin | CW: Discussion of the Village

The one person she hasn’t seen since early on is the one person she’s most ashamed to see. With a small knock on her lover’s door, Valdis almost hopes she doesn’t answer, it would give her more time to actually figure out what to say, but she’d apparently been avoiding everyone for three days, and Erin deserves better than that.

“Erin?”

And every demon wants his pound of flesh | Pool | Open | CW: Discussion of the Village

It’s quiet under the water. No one to bother her. No feelings to overtake her own. She can be alone with her thoughts and how her actions at the village had hurt others. For a time it had been fun, and in the end they had won by killing him, but she still feels like she lost. She lost because she stopped paying attention to what mattered.

She releases bubbles from her mouth, watching them rise up to the surface. She’s lost count of the minutes she’s been sitting on the bottom of the pool, but she can see a figure looking down. Probably time to go up for actual air. She pushes off the bottom and swims up to the edge. It’s not that far.

“Hey,” she says after she breaks the surface. “The water is pretty nice.”

But I like to keep some things to myself | Pillow Pit | Open | CW: None

Valdis sits in the pillow pit, leaning on one hip with her feet curled up next to her. She’s reading Sherlock Holmes again, the books she always goes back to. The books she’s read three or four times since she first arrived over a year ago. It’s funny how finding comfort in the small things helps so much.

“You are welcome to come join me,” she says without looking up from her book when someone walks in. “Just no pillow fights.”

I like to keep my issues drawn | Sand Dollar | Open | CW: None
Behind the counter at Sand Dollar, Valdis is perfecting the art of foam. Like actually trying to create hearts and flowers from the foam in the espresso machine.

“Drawing is so much easier than this,” she signs, setting aside something that looks more like a skull than a heart.

“Here,” She shoves it across the counter to whoever happens to walk in. “I promise it tastes better than it looks.”


It's always darkest before the dawn | Wildcard | CW: None
Pm to discuss or just go for it

After the Launch

And I’m Damned if I do, and I’m Damned if I don’t | The Library | CW: None

The Bible, a book of demonology and some script covered in runes lie on one of the tables in the otherwise empty library. Valdis mutters to herself as she reads from another version of the bible, leaning over the other and comparing the two versions before making more notes in some sort of dead language. More pages, absolutely covered in runes and sketches cover every single surface.

“No need to stare,” she says, not looking up to see who has entered.

So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road | Stan the Man | CW: None

Unlike the last several times she’s been in this particular mood, the only thing in her glass is water. The water glass is the only thing she’s even made use of, the bottles of alcohol on the shelves and behind the bar are untouched.

Revelations hangs on her hip, the first time she’s seen fit to carry the sword in months. Somehow it seems the better weapon to use should an attacker show up, a weapon tied to her and her soul in a way no one could possibly understand. Maybe she needs to lean more into who she should be instead of who she wants to be.

With a long sigh, she takes a drink of water, then picks up a small knife and flings it at the mirror behind the bar sink. It shatters into hundreds of shining, reflective pieces, but the tip of the knife stays buried in the wall about half an inch deep.

“Wasn’t even trying that hard.” She says to herself, taking another drink from the glass.

Looking for Heaven, Found the Devil In Me | Wildcard
PM to Discuss or just go for it.

Comments

[redlightgreenlight]

Damn. The last person on the ship she wants to see. If she weren't wearing the ring she would have been alerted by the acrid taste of his soul, but no. At least he doesn't smell as rancid as he feels. But maybe they can have a real conversation if she can't sense his angry vibes.

"Careful," she says, not looking over at him. "The place is a disaster."

[theotherright]

Thanks Valdis, he loves you too.

"Yes," he says, bland as a grey rock. "I've not been able to find anything specific."

Presumably she didn't see his impulsive attempt to order a shelf, which turned into more... shoving books randomly onto the shelf so that they at least wouldn't be on the floor. He wishes he could tidy with any kind of efficiency, without needing someone to waste their time standing there giving directions. But he keeps that thought to himself. He's sure Valdis would find some way to tell him it's selfish.

"What would I be staring at, anyway?"

[redlightgreenlight]

If he had voiced his thoughts, she wouldn't have found them selfish in the slightest, maybe the constant assumptions, paired with the unfair murder of Crichton, are why these two don't get along.

"Just research."

No need to tell him that she feels like she's going insane.

"Have you been...well?"

[theotherright]

"Oh." Arthur's immediately interested, but keeps his expression schooled into 'casually curious'. She doesn't seem to be raring to talk about it, but he's very tempted to ask anyway: the topics one can research in a library without a nonfiction section are few and specific.

Anyway, his choices seem to be between being nosy and walking away, until Valdis throws off his calculations with the secret third option of a forced but friendly question.

"Er," he says, and thinks of the Village, of what it did to Steve, of the fight with Cassandra, of the launch, of getting laid out by Siffleur, of becoming fully cognisant of the double-edged sword with which they've hit several fellow passengers, of the hope that Tayrey will take the offer to hide in his cabin and the equal hope that she won't have to (the faint sound of the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays in the distance here).

"Fairly well, thank you. Have you?"

Actually he can't resist something genuine here: "I heard you gave 2 a well-deserved send-off."

[redlightgreenlight]

For a moment she thinks she's broken him, because it takes him more time to answer than she expected. Though that could be considered reasonable, a lot happened in a fairly short period of time. His answer is likely as much of a lie as hers.

"I've certainly been better, but it's nothing that can't be taken care of."

She releases a short laugh when he mentions Kevin.

"Yes, I don't often eat the hearts of men, but he pissed me off in the way that merited that kind of satisfaction."

[theotherright]

As an Englishman born and bred, Arthur knows a courtesy lie about the well-being of one's interlocutor when he hears it. He only nods in answer, though. He doesn't really care enough about Valdis's well-being to pry.

He smiles a little, thinly, and doesn't make the joke he wants to make: that he's glad she was able to move on and have quarrels with new people, now that they've somewhat broken up as enemies.

"People's hearts are a once-in-a-while treat, huh?"

(He has no moral problems with talking like this about an actual guy who got his actual heart eaten. Kevin was a monster who deserved everything he got and more.)

[redlightgreenlight]

Broken up as enemies or perhaps she simply lacks the energy to bite at him. Either way, they are at least getting along.

"Usually I steal their hearts and then their money." She replies. "Haven't actually eaten a heart in a few thousand years. Kevin was a unique case."

[theotherright]

He gets it. Heart's not really the best part, too chewy.

"What prompted it the last time?" Damn it he's kind of actually curious.

[redlightgreenlight]

He sounds curious in a strange way, but since they aren't at each other's throats, she might as well humor him.

"The need to strike terror into the hearts of my enemies."

As if the pack of horse sized Hellhounds ravaging the battlefield didn't already do that.

[theotherright]

"Oh, come on," he says, as if what she just said was a perfectly normal sentence, "that could mean anything. Was it someone specific, or did you just- just wake up one day, grab somebody, and decide to strike fear?"

[redlightgreenlight]

It seems impossible that Arthur would not know that she can become a giant wolf, but he seems to assume she did it as a human.

"It was in the middle of a fight between the Angels and Demons. My pack got involved. No idea what his name was, just ripped his heart out and swallowed it whole. They seemed to get the message."

[theotherright]

He's assuming no such thing. Wolves are perfectly capable of grabbing.

"Must have been a hell of a ripping. I would have thought demons were used to that sort of thing." As impassive as if they were discussing the weather. Arthur has, at some point, decided to deal with conversations like this by refusing to acknowledge them as either impressive or horrific, on the off-chance that a reaction is what the storyteller is looking for. Valdis probably isn't, since he did ask, but habits die hard.

[redlightgreenlight]

"I don't think most individuals, human or divine, tend to walk away unscathed by the sight of someone being torn apart by wolves."

She doesn't expect him to be shocked or surprised, it's all matter-of-fact. He had asked.

"I don't kill like that anymore," she continues. "As I said. Kevin was an exception."

[theotherright]

"A well-deserved one." He doesn't like the kind of person it makes him, but he can't pretend to dislike Kevin's comeuppance.

There's another thing he's been wondering, though, before and beyond this conversation or even Valdis specifically -- and he poses it after a few moments' pause.

"...Would you do the same thing here? Given the chance?"

Not to suddenly dive into the deep questions or anything.

[redlightgreenlight]

She blinks and finally sets aside her work to turn her full attention on Arthur. The fact they are getting along, the fact he's been asking these questions...

"What do you mean by 'same thing?'"

[theotherright]

Perhaps asking is a mistake, but in for a penny, in for a pound...

"Would you kill the Captain," he says, and he's not entirely furtive, but his voice does drop in volume. No, it wasn't Valdis who killed 2, but... follow him on this journey here. "Or do you think there is, or... or should be a way for him to walk away from all this alive."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis falls silent, her breathing so quiet he might think she is no longer there as she considers his question. She can't say she wouldn't kill him if the alternative would be him being enslaved again, but she's not sure she could kill him for the sake of revenge in the same way. Tiamat would. She can feel that for certain. The Goddess would happily go after the Captain if it enabled her to be free. She shakes her head, even though she knows he can't see her.

"I think it would depend on what happens next."

[theotherright]

"In a hypothetical situation, where we escape whether he lives or not."

He knows what some people think, but others, Valdis among them, not so much. Does the Captain deserve to die for his actions like Kevin did, like Faust did, like Arthur does? He isn't sure whether he trusts himself to know any more.

[redlightgreenlight]

"I would hope there is a scenario where we all can live and go our own way. Including the Captain."

She looks back at her work.

"I think he deserves a second chance just as much as the rest of us."