redlightgreenlight: (Over shoulder 2)
Valdis ([personal profile] redlightgreenlight) wrote in [community profile] come_sailaway2022-11-01 02:32 pm

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!
astrogator: (pic#15928572)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-18 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Deal? Ari looks at her in bemusement, because there was no contract there. She just doesn't want to be negatively judged because of things done by humans who were very far removed from her and her people.

Maybe it's a figure of speech. Most people don't think like Tradeliners. She lets it go, focuses on the rest.]


If every living thing has a soul, and by soul you mean life force, then you couldn't have been without one. You'd have died, or at least not had the consciousness to observe your own qualities without a soul. [Seems logical enough to her. All the same, she doesn't want to be unkind.]

Look, I respect your right to have any sort of spiritual beliefs that are important to you. I have no problem with that. I just don't share them. [And she's not interested in evangelism, of any flavor.]
astrogator: (pic#15928586)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-18 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[This just sounds like more figurative talk to Ari. Valdis had acted amorally - perhaps immorally - and denied her emotions. Something traumatic had likely occurred to provoke it. It's an odd thing to confess to a new acquaintance, but Ari won't pass judgement without detail. The soul talk still sounds like a flowery excuse for negative behavior to Ari, but she can accept that Valdis believes in it sincerely.

She nods.]


Please, show me whatever you'd like to. Where is it?
astrogator: (pic#15928561)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-18 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
What?! [Ari's eyes go wide with shock, and she slides down from her bar stool, ready to make a quick exit if things get worse.]

You didn't say anything about a blood pact. [She's not letting Valdis cut her hand the way she just did her own. No. Not without a whole lot more explanation first. Digging in one of her pockets, she pulls out a folded square of fabric.] Let me wrap that? I'll take you to the infirmary.
astrogator: (pic#15928576)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-18 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[Her civilization? Ari wasn't the one who had just sliced her own palm open. Valdis' blood was still dripping onto the bar.

Despite everything, though, Ari's curious. Besides, there's a logical reason to go along with this. The sooner Valdis shows her whatever she intends to, the sooner she'll agree to get medical help.

There's no contract. On the Tradelines you couldn't trick someone into contract, unknowing, so she's certain about that. Ari takes a deep breath, then steps closer again, holding out her left hand to Valdis.]


Alright. Show me. [Boldly said, no trace of fear.]
astrogator: (pic#15819314)

hope this is okay, happy to edit if not right :)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-19 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[At first, Arilanna doesn't feel anything unusual. The sensation, when it begins, is a peculiar one. A tightness in her chest, a quickening of breath that under other circumstances would have been a warning to her to get whatever anxious feeling was troubling her under control.

This isn't unwanted nerves. There's none of the heightened awareness, the spike of adrenaline that accompanies them. Instead, Ari feels weary. As if she could easily fall asleep, right there by the bar.

It's an uncomfortable enough combination that she would have - quite possibly should have - pulled her hand away, under other circumstances. Why doesn't she? Even with the blood partially obscuring her view, Ari can see Valdis' wound closing up. She's far too fascinated by the process to want to stop it, even though it's taking a toll on her.

When the process is finished, Ari sits back down. An acknowledgement that she's no longer worried about what Valdis might do? Maybe. Or perhaps she's simply still a little unsteady on her feet.]


That's incredible. [Yes, she may be slightly in awe of it.] I felt physical effects - couldn't you say that you were taking the energy of my body, and using it to heal yours? [No need to get metaphysical about it at all.]
astrogator: (pic#15819313)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-20 02:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[She accepts very calmly the knowledge that in extremis this talent Valdis possessed could lead to death. She'd agreed to let her do it, after all, and-]

Don't worry. If it had started to feel dangerous to me, I'd have pulled away. [Presuming that Ari's danger point came before the energy drain made her too weak to do so, of course. But this doesn't occur to her, and Valdis has no reason to try to kill her, so she's unconcerned at present.

Then Valdis is telling her she's not in her galaxy and things are different, and Ari has to bite back a sarcastic oh really, I hadn't noticed. She focuses on Valdis' ability again instead.]


If you were wounded severely, could you draw from multiple people at once to heal yourself, instead of risking the life of a single person?
astrogator: (pic#15819314)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-22 02:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ari nods, although the concept of storing the energy is another strange one to her.] It's almost like a power cell, then. Keeping the energy for when you need it.

[The process had been uncomfortable for Ari, but not frightening. A few possibilities occur to her.]

I have a little lingering fatigue - do you know how long that's likely to last? And what's the shift? [None of them have work shifts here; it can't be that.]
astrogator: (pic#15928594)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-23 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that if you tell me something like that in this place, and it's untrue, it reflects badly on you, not on me for accepting it. [Overly honest? Possibly. Ari already knows there's a man who can transform into a - kipterya - cougar, and that he's dangerous for it. So she won't immediately dismiss Valdis' claim, but she won't be quick to believe it, either.]

I'll monitor it, then. I need to keep myself in good physical condition for the obvious reasons. If the effects are minor and clear up quickly? We might be able to come up with some arrangement. If you'd be interested.

[Not out of the kindness of Ari's heart, not for free, but 'running on empty' doesn't sound pleasant, and she'll help if she can.]
astrogator: (pic#15819321)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-23 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought that I might be able to call on you at need. To fight for me. It's good to have support, in this place.

[It's casually said. No need to alarm Valdis if she hasn't yet heard all the stories that Ari has.]

I'd insist on signed contract, for any arrangement. People have to know where they stand, and what to expect from one another.
astrogator: (pic#15928576)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-11-25 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
[Ari's hands clench into fists at her sides, as she tries to keep the frustrated anger under control. She had expected a negotiation. She wouldn't have been surprised if Valdis had told her she was uninterested in or unwilling to commit to that particular suggestion, and asked for another.

A flat refusal to have any contract at all? Then walking away without so much as parting pleasantries? That was deeply insulting, to a Tradeliner, and the offer that she'd given didn't lessen it any. Ari Tayrey didn't want charity. She wanted fair contract.

What she'd offered had been more than fair, because even in this place, conflict wasn't that frequent.

Well, let it not be said that she made the same mistake twice. If Valdis wanted nothing to do with her, she'd accept it, and keep her distance.]