Valdis (
redlightgreenlight) wrote in
come_sailaway2022-11-01 02:32 pm
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I Was Looking for a Breath of Life
Who: Valdis and Open!
What: New Arrival tries to cope with being dropped into a new place after a massive bloodbath
When: November
Where: All over
Warnings: Headaches, grumpiness, will warn if it gets worse than that.
1) Arrival: Her head screamed at her, sharp pain cutting into her vision with every breath. Eyes closed tightly, Valdis does her best to breathe. The heavy death in the air, filled with lingering desperation and trauma tightened her chest. Of all the times to fall into a new world, it would be just after a massacre. With her head in her hands, her black hair hiding her face, she leaned against the railing of the walkway, trying to drown out the pain. This was definitely where it all happened. The pain was worse here.
"Haven't felt this bad since the last war," she muttered. "How many people died?"
2) Revelations: Valdis worked her way through the ship, avoiding her cabin as much as possible, seeking to memorize the layout of the ship and maximize her ability to move quickly should it be necessary. The Void is silent, a fact she should be grateful for, and in some ways, very much is. But now the silence is simply silence, and the feeling that the dead are around every corner sits in her gut. She can’t see them, except maybe flitting out of the corner of her eyes from time to time, but she can sense that they aren’t alone. Footsteps sounded from behind her, she’d been so focused on the dead that she hadn’t paid attention to the living. She turns around, hand on the hilt of the rather impressive sword hanging on her hip.
"Hello?"
3)Buffet: Without the ability to draw on the dead, Valdis must find something to soothe the very human feeling of hunger. She’d known the feeling from home, before her memories had begun to return, but now she found it highly annoying.
“What’s the best thing here?”
Second Week of November and Onwards
4) Library: Valdis has finally taken Erin's advice and found the black binder in the library. She is not thrilled with what she's reading and the tension is visible in her usually elegant jawline and the glowing red in her eyes. Fear isn't found anywhere in her demeanor or soul, but rather a thoughtful, yet tense, aura radiates from where she sits. She's so focused that almost anyone not touched by death could approach without her noticing. If they are touched by death, she may react poorly, so tread carefully.
5) Hurikane: She can't get drunk, but she sure is trying her best with pure vodka and whatever else she can find that's strong. She's not even really trying to taste it, just downing it as fast as the invisible bartender can deliver, and exhausting her healing abilities as she goes. It's still not enough to even give her a buzz though. Disappointing.
6)Wildcard round: Your turn!
What: New Arrival tries to cope with being dropped into a new place after a massive bloodbath
When: November
Where: All over
Warnings: Headaches, grumpiness, will warn if it gets worse than that.
1) Arrival: Her head screamed at her, sharp pain cutting into her vision with every breath. Eyes closed tightly, Valdis does her best to breathe. The heavy death in the air, filled with lingering desperation and trauma tightened her chest. Of all the times to fall into a new world, it would be just after a massacre. With her head in her hands, her black hair hiding her face, she leaned against the railing of the walkway, trying to drown out the pain. This was definitely where it all happened. The pain was worse here.
"Haven't felt this bad since the last war," she muttered. "How many people died?"
2) Revelations: Valdis worked her way through the ship, avoiding her cabin as much as possible, seeking to memorize the layout of the ship and maximize her ability to move quickly should it be necessary. The Void is silent, a fact she should be grateful for, and in some ways, very much is. But now the silence is simply silence, and the feeling that the dead are around every corner sits in her gut. She can’t see them, except maybe flitting out of the corner of her eyes from time to time, but she can sense that they aren’t alone. Footsteps sounded from behind her, she’d been so focused on the dead that she hadn’t paid attention to the living. She turns around, hand on the hilt of the rather impressive sword hanging on her hip.
"Hello?"
3)Buffet: Without the ability to draw on the dead, Valdis must find something to soothe the very human feeling of hunger. She’d known the feeling from home, before her memories had begun to return, but now she found it highly annoying.
“What’s the best thing here?”
Second Week of November and Onwards
4) Library: Valdis has finally taken Erin's advice and found the black binder in the library. She is not thrilled with what she's reading and the tension is visible in her usually elegant jawline and the glowing red in her eyes. Fear isn't found anywhere in her demeanor or soul, but rather a thoughtful, yet tense, aura radiates from where she sits. She's so focused that almost anyone not touched by death could approach without her noticing. If they are touched by death, she may react poorly, so tread carefully.
5) Hurikane: She can't get drunk, but she sure is trying her best with pure vodka and whatever else she can find that's strong. She's not even really trying to taste it, just downing it as fast as the invisible bartender can deliver, and exhausting her healing abilities as she goes. It's still not enough to even give her a buzz though. Disappointing.
6)Wildcard round: Your turn!
no subject
“Not exactly. Well, I have the ability to reanimate dead bodies, though skeletons are much more useful than full corpses. Flesh gets…mucky. As I’m sure you know, being the Angel of Death and all.” Honestly, that’s a hell of a title, not that anyone in the Nine Houses should go around making fun of other people’s titles, given some of the weird ones they’ve come up with. “But servitor skeletons are quite useful, actually. Perfect for conducting routine station maintenance in the vacuum of space, for example. Children of the Sixth House love watching them on the Library’s viewscreens. It’s very entertaining.”
(Spoiler alert: it isn’t actually that entertaining, except when the cords attaching the servitors to the station get tangled or, better yet, when one breaks and they go floating out into the blackness.)
“But as it happens, my abilities are a bit more expansive than that.”
no subject
"I wouldn't really know about that aspect of death." If she knew he thought it a title, she'd give him her actual title, it's far more wordy. No, Angel of Death is essentially a species of Angel, and besides they ferry souls to Heaven or Hell and serve Creation. Valdis serves no one.
"My kind are more on the ...soulfullness side of death. Souls and soul energy. The physical body is rather useless to us once it's empty. There's a religious aspect too I suppose..."
She eyes him, "I should hope you can do more than that. The way the aura around you feels, it would be a shame if it was simply puppeteering."
no subject
“Have you seen the room yet? I can show you, if you like.”
no subject
"I have notably been avoiding it...and you."
She's not afraid to say it.
"But I suppose I must sleep at some point, so please, lead the way."
no subject
And with that he turns on his heels. If she follows, she follows. If she doesn’t, that’s her affair.
no subject
"It had better be soft and warm, I've had a murderous headache since arriving."
no subject
Call it confidence or arrogance; the truth is that while Valdis might be the angel of death, she is far from being the most frightening thing on the ship. Besides, they’re going to be sharing a room; if she wants to murder him, she is going to have plenty more opportunities for doing so.
During October’s ghost invasion, Palamedes had painted a ward on the door to Cabin 105 to keep out the angry revenants, but it had been cleaned away at the beginning of the month. He lightly touches the doorframe as he reaches the door, considering the possibility of a more permanent solution. The ghosts might be gone for now, but Pal isn’t letting his guard down.
Inside, the cabin is cleanly divided between controlled chaos on one side and perfect cleanliness on the other. Pal has been without a roommate for a few weeks now, but he has continued to politely keep his messes to himself. His bed is made, but the pile of books on his side table is decidedly unruly; more dramatic still is the murderboard-style collection of post-it notes covering almost every inch of the wall above his bed, charting out every discovery, dead-end, and strange happening aboard the Serena Eterna since he arrived.
“Here we are. Home sweet home.”
no subject
The inside of the room is nearly a disaster with an oddly clear line between her side and his. Clearly the studious type based on the books and the map above his bed. Some sort of scholar perhaps? Palamedes doesn't seem like the paranoid or conspiracy theory type, so scholar perhaps made sense.
She breathes in, scenting him, and another. Someone she hasn't met yet but has clearly spent time in this room. She'll remember that scent for later.
"Cozy."
She's not excited to have a roommate, but she walks over to her side of the room, checking it, scenting it. The small closet has copies of what she is wear already inside, which is odd, she supposes she'll need to go find something else if she doesn't want to wear the same things every day. She unhooks the sword from her belt, places it on the bed and pulls off her leather vest.
"I have one rule for now," she says finishing her evaluation, "Don't touch the sword if I happen to leave it in here. I don't know what it will do to you, so just don't touch it."
She assumes the other usual roommate rules don't need to be said out loud.
no subject
“I wouldn’t dare touch someone’s sword without permission,” Palamedes says with a perfectly straight face. “Or anything else that’s yours, for that matter. I’ve had two roommates on the ship so far, and while, sadly, you cannot ask them for references, I like to think they would vouch for me.”
A couple of post-it notes have fallen to the ground, as they sometimes do, and he goes to collect them and return them to where they belong. “In the interest of full disclosure, I have a friend who has been spending a lot of time here whilst I was the room's only occupant,” he says, and let’s not think about the way he oh-so-briefly pauses before saying friend, “but I shall let her know that circumstances have changed and we will endeavor not to disturb you.”
no subject
"Just a 'friend'?" Distracted as she is, she still caught that pause and she's still half-heartedly thinking of how to get under his skin. "You're a scholar in addition to animating skeletons based on your books and that impressive map over there...Or at least you don't seem insane enough for the alternative."
no subject
He waves at his notes. “And as you can see, old habits die hard. We knew so little about the Serena Eterna when the first of us arrived for this particular journey, so gathering information was imperative—I would say it still is. Thankfully, that’s something I’m rather good at.”
no subject
She glances back at him, dropping the badge onto the bed and grabbing a fresh vest out of the closet. She'll change the blouse later. Valdis zips up the vest, and turns to examine the board from a distance.
"We used similar boards back home. They are quite useful for solving mysteries and murders."
Not that murders really needed solving here.
no subject
Pal would be inclined to disagree with Valdis’ assessment that murders don’t need solving on the Serena Eterna, but since mind-reading is not within his powers, he merely lifts an eyebrow. “Oh? Who is ‘we’?”
no subject
"I led a team back home. We investigated crimes and brought the perpetrators to justice. Or tried to. We had a decent record, but sometimes guilty parties still got their freedom."
no subject
He holds no particular judgement either way, but he suspects that the answer might tell him something about her character.
no subject
Not entirely true. Looking back that's what she wanted it to be, but that doesn't mean that's what drove her at the time.
"We were in the midst of hunting a serial killer, but he got to us first. And now I'll never know what happened next."
She shook her head, all vulnerability vanishing despite the ache in the previous statement.
"They are just humans. I suppose I would have lost them eventually anyway."
no subject
no subject
There's no emotion left, just a matter of fact. She's not sure what he's thinking, his focus appears very contemplative, like she's perhaps another puzzle to solve. Everyone on this ship is complex, so she's sure he's found plenty of other interesting people to analyze.
"Any other questions you wish to ask?"
no subject
no subject
"Ok, well, tell me a little more about yourself. I know you have a high rank amongst your people. You're a scholar. You can reanimate skeletons. Anything else I should know?"
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Perhaps he could tell her more about Revelations after all. But it's not worth the risk.
"Have you tried it on anything belonging to the Captain?"
no subject
Palamedes gestures to a region of his notes that he had taken during his early days on the Serena Eterna. On the post-its are written messages like, Bedsheets, Room 105, upon arrival: 400 years and Wine glass at welcoming reception: 2,000 years, and Milk, Windjammer, April 6: 5,000 years. “I have examined a number of items on the ship, but the data I’ve collected has been more irritating than illuminating. Almost everything aboard is absolutely ancient—including the food—which makes me think that the psychometric signature has been altered. It’s a wildly difficult thing to do, but I've seen it done before."
He shrugs. “But if you mean something kept a little more closely by the Captain, like an article of clothing, then no. I’m afraid I haven’t been able to acquire anything like that. Getting close enough to do so without his knowledge has proved nigh-on impossible.”
no subject
"Impressive nonetheless," she replies, taking a closer look at the whole board without encroaching on his space. "Have you tried doing it with his knowledge?"
She knows very little about him, but if he is the god of this world, surely there's not much that goes on without him knowing.