tushanshu_logs | Sometimes the Only Pay-off for Having Any Faith

Entry tags:

Sometimes the Only Pay-off for Having Any Faith

Characters: Valdis and open
Date: The month of August 2015 (2016 in game)
Location: various
Situation: various
Warnings/Rating: In subject headers

The tempest that had struck in the previous month had culminated in the silencing of her dark magic, but she considered the whole thing worth it, because the turtle was alive. She had lost Wan, but Anton was recovering and she had found new friendships alongside strengthening older ones. The mystery that was Bakura still stood, but perhaps now that she and her employer had gotten the worst of it out of their systems, things could settle between them. The largest problem she faced was the lack of power she currently possessed. With the Void silent, she had no access to her regenerative powers, something she would find essential if the Chihuleans really did invade again. It would awaken eventually, but for now she would have to tread carefully. Once her magic returned, things would be back to normal, but she wasn't entirely certain if that would be a good thing.

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The dojo was one of the only places in Keeliai that Erskine had voluntarily visited, aside from his compulsory shopping trips for Anton. Of course he'd only been to the dojo two or three times, but that easily surpassed his visits to anyplace else in the city short of the market.

This time it wasn't necessarily because he felt the urge to keep fit. He needed a break. Needed to escape the growing influx of people staying in the Hotel for at least an hour or two.

He didn't even particularly feel like hitting something. It wasn't right.

Today was the first time he'd actually seen Valdis at the dojo. He knew, vaguely, that she spent time there, but somehow he'd never really associated her with the place. That didn't stop him from waiting nearby, leaning quietly against a wall, while she finished up with a student.

Valdis noticed Erskine enter, but she continued with her lesson, showing the kedan girl how to use the wooden staff. When it was time for the girl to leave, Valdis headed over to him, a smile lighting up her face.

"What brings you here?" She asked, placing her staff against the wall.

Erskine did his best to mimic Valdis's smile, though he spent more time staring at the ground than at Valdis as he spoke.

"Oh, you know. The chance to watch a pretty woman kick someone's arse. More of Bakura's witticisms. Trying to escape the kedan milling around every inch of the Hotel and filling up every bloody room in the place." He looked back up from where he'd been staring at the floor and took a deep breath. "But who's counting?

"Is your shift over, then?"

Her smile shifted, as if she was trying to hide her concern. The flattery was very like him, the annoyance was not. However, she was spending less time at the hotel as well, though that was mostly due to her increased training schedule at the Dojo.

"Yes," she replied, she could take off a bit early since she had been working overtime anyway. "What's wrong?"

Do you have a few hours for me to go into that?

He gave a brief shake of his head. "Nothing's wrong. No more than usual, at least. Just needed to get away for a bit." It suddenly struck him as mildly ridiculous that he'd come to the empath of all people, expecting her to ignore the erratic state he was in. The perils of having only two real friends in the city, he supposed. Not for the first time he felt a pang of loneliness for the others, Dexter and Rue and Ghastly, but like always it was fleeting. He'd closed that door on his own, even before being shunted across dimensions.

"Did you have plans? We could... do something." He chuckled, tired and self-deprecating. "Honestly I didn't even think that far ahead."

She didn't believe him, but if he wanted to pretend that he was fine, then she would let him. With more control than she could remember possessing, she pushed aside the foreign emotions and settled her own in their place.

"We could take a walk?" She suggested, "There's a small spark not far from here that people rarely frequent."

He rarely seemed to think ahead, but if he needed someone to talk to, then she would listen, after all, he had taken care of her when she had needed it and now she could return the favor.

A walk, a park. That seemed safe enough. Ravel nodded. "Okay. Let's do it."

With any luck Valdis wouldn't press him about his mental state. He was vaguely aware that friends were generally considered the people that one could talk to, if one needed to talk. Wasn't that what Skulduggery had suggested? Leaning on the people who actually thought he was worth giving a damn about?

He didn't want to talk, though. Not today. He'd spent a century not talking and that was a powerful sort of inertia. He wanted to escape and spend a few hours in pleasant company, without having to worry about cleaning or spare laundry or this or that. Calm. Peace.

"Do you need to grab anything, or check out with someone, or...?" On the chance that the answer to all of those was a 'no,' Erskine held out the crook of an arm for Valdis.

She wouldn't press for information, merely trusting that he would offer it if he needed to. The Dojo was mostly empty anyway and the remaining Kedan weren't her students, so she took his arm and led him out of the Dojo.

"No," she replied, "If Bakura has a problem with it, well," She smirked, "he'll just have to deal until I get back."

The park was small and still mostly green, with a few trees and a bench next to some wilted flowers.

"No doubt we'll catch some cutting remark if that's the case." The comment didn't come laden with his usual level of sarcasm... but then again it was probably true.

It was a nice day at least, if hot, although Erskine didn't worry much about the temperature despite his ubiquitous three-piece suit. It was only too easy to shift the air around himself and Valdis, bringing in cooler air to surround them and keep them comfortable despite the heat wave. It was something he'd been doing for so long he didn't even think about it anymore, at least not explicitly.

The sight of the wilted flowers made him frown though, just a little. He knew ostensibly why the kedan were invading the Hotel, but he hadn't had much cause to get out and see for himself the damage from the lack of rain.

Gently he withdrew his arm from Valdis's grip and moved toward the flower bed, holding a hand out, palm up. The quality of the air shifted, shimmered, and a light sprinkling of rain started to fall on the flowers from midair.

For some reason, the air around them didn't feel as hot as before, but considering what she knew of Skulduggery, perhaps Erskine could move air too, though she wondered if he could fly like the living Skeleton.

It was sweet of Erskine to try to save the flowers, but she knew that the heat would take them eventually. Sometimes things just couldn't be saved, but she supposed that didn't mean that one shouldn't try.

"Did you know," she said, watching him as he drew water from the air to water the flowers, "That some of the angels in my world could restore energy within living things?"

It was quite a miraculous feat to watch a wilted flower regain its life, but it was something that she could never do.

Edited (commas) 2015-08-12 04:27 (UTC)

"Angels?"

Erskine shot her a look from next to the flowers, without pulling most of his concentration from the little fall of rain. It wasn't necessarily an incredulous look--Valdis was some sort of goddess, after all. It was... whatever the next step down from incredulous was.

Interested, maybe.

Finally he ended the rainfall, because the soil was good and soaked and any more would risk drowning the flowers. "So how does that work, exactly?" he asked, turning his attention back to the air surrounding them as he moved toward the bench. Within the next few seconds it turned noticeably cooler again. "I mean, with angels and goddesses and such. Does everyone know about you? Do you hide from mortals?"

Like we've been forced to?

She moved to the bench and sat down, ignoring his look and watching the flowers as they began to perk up a bit. Flowers were so delicate and sensitive, but they also had a certain ability to recover and flourish. She looked back at him when he asked his question, thinking of how best to answer.

"The mortals of my world believe that we are myths and children's tales," she replied, "But it wasn't always so, we once had temples...although mine have long since been destroyed," She paused, "The truth of the matter is that there is only one God in my world,the rest of us just convinced the mortals that we were worthy of being called gods." she shrugged, "There was a time when none of us had to hide and walked among the mortals, but...things change, as they always do."

Progression, war, technology, the lack of belief in the old ways, gaining a soul when you weren't supposed to have one...

"Why?"

Sorcerers weren't angels or demons, but Ravel couldn't help but note the similarities with a slight frown, there and gone again in a moment.

How easy it would be to declare themselves gods, to set themselves above the mortals. Enslave them. It had been tried before. It's what Skulduggery and the others had assumed he was trying to do when they'd finally found out--and how badly that had hurt, to know that they would think him capable of such evil. Not that he hadn't proven himself capable of evil, of course.

"Just curious," he replied with a shrug. "I hardly know anything about your world, that's all. And as I recall the last time you tried to fill me in, you were also yelling at me. And tossing water at me." Erskine cracked a smile, however small, and moved to stand near Valdis with both hands in his pockets.

The next question wasn't related, except that it was about Valdis and it pertained more directly to where they'd just been. It made sense in Ravel's head, all right?

"Have you always worked at the dojo? I don't remember you working there... but that's not saying much, me not remembering."

"My world is...not a place you'd want to live," And she didn't want to go back, but with the recent disappearances and with no control over Eva's spell, it was a growing fear. "Unless you were blissfully ignorant of the war of course."

She looked up at him, one brow raised, "I've been teaching there a few months, more so lately due to the threat of the Chihuleans."

She was tempted to ask 'why', but she had a feeling that Erskine would answer that question in a moment.

Ravel didn't perk up at the mention of war. Perking up at the mention of war would be weird and kind of twisted, wouldn't it? So maybe his eyebrows lifted just a bit, out of mere curiosity. That didn't mean anything. He'd been a soldier. It was natural to be curious about someone else's war in someone else's world.

Wasn't it?

One thing at a time, though. He made a mental note (for what good those did him, these days) to ask about it later.

"Right, the...." He stopped just short of trying to pronounce the name. Stayed silent for another beat, then let out a humorless laugh. "Apparently I have no idea what's going on anymore. What's this threat now?"

"The Chihuelean Empire has threatened to invade Keeliai," She tipped her head, catching the slight raise of his brow when she mentioned the war in her world, "The kedan are preparing for war. My hours at the Dojo have increased because they wish to know how to defend themselves and so they can fight back."

She laughed softly, "I'm pretty sure that Bakura isn't paying me overtime though."

She was doing it because that was how she could best help the Kedan. She found meaning in the action, it gave her something to do and it helped someone else. That made it worthwhile.

An invasion? Good God, he really was out of the loop, wasn't he?

"Funny... it feels like all I've done for the past century is play at politics, and yet I have absolutely no idea what's going on here." Not that he had extenuating circumstances or anything. And not like Skulduggery (and possibly Anton) would have had an aneurysm had he tried getting back into politics in some form.

He was a janitor, here, and on most days that was more than enough to keep him busy. Unless Anton happened to be on a particular cleaning kick as he currently was.

The mention of Bakura did raise an eyebrow conspicuously. Ravel hadn't really set out to ask Valdis about the incident a while back, but...

"You're still working for him? After what happened? I mean, you are, but...."

Perhaps is was a good thing that Erskine had gotten out of politics, he was too blunt right now. Whoever he had been before his torture, he was no longer that person. He had been changed by circumstances beyond his control, not unlike her, but perhaps the changes could be for the better.

"But...what?"

Honestly, Erskine, she wasn't going to hold a grudge against Bakura for almost causing her death. After all, Gene hadn't held similar circumstances against her and Bakura had...kind of apologized.

Sorry Valdis, Erskine's pretty sure you're supposed to hold grudges over almost dying. Or actually dying. He certainly did. Which was partially why he was so grateful to Anton, that Anton didn't.

"But what the hell happened, that you two are killing each other in the streets one day and back to working together a week later?" Ravel's face twisted in utter confusion. "Bakura mentioned something about 're-negotiating a deal'? I mean, you don't have to tell me all the details, but what the hell? Is this normal?"

Valdis just stared at him for a moment, still and expressionless. No, it wasn't normal, but that was just Keeliai. Besides, she herself wasn't normal, she could die, but she would come back as long as she had another soul to offer in exchange for life. It was a terrible truth, but a truth nonetheless.

"I broke up with him," she said finally, a teasing glint in her eyes, "He didn't take kindly to that and so he challenged me to a duel to win me back."

In a manner of speaking, it was true, but it took quite a bit of effort to not burst out laughing at her own choice of words.

Well that stopped him short.

"Oh."

Wait, hadn't there been something with Raine and Bakura and Wreath? Admittedly Ravel had spent most of that conversation trying to melt into the woodwork and not punch Wreath, but he was pretty sure there had been something there. And he, Erskine, had taken Valdis dancing before the fight.

But Bakura had made some kind of cryptic remark about the kind of deal he'd had with Valdis...

Ugh. This was why Ravel preferred to avoid relationships, or at least the ones that didn't have the word 'benefits' at the end of them. Unless that was what-

No, you know what? Nope. Done.

"Well, that explains that."

The look on Erskine's face was enough to send her over the edge and she burst out laughing. She laughed for a few minutes, trying to bring herself to a point where she could regain control. She hadn't laughed like this for months. It was genuine amusement, something she hadn't felt since...no, she wasn't going there.

Once her laughter subsided, she took a deep breath. "Word choice is quite important, isn't it?" She mused, still smiling. "Don't worry Erskine," her tone became a bit more somber, "Our fight..it had to do with the fact that I made a choice that hurt him and he didn't want what I told him to be true." She sighed, "Bakura and I have a lot in common, but to him, I was more a problem to be solved than anything else. I believe he has now realized that that isn't the case. I apologized, he apologized," kind of, "And we got back to work."

She smiled again, "I do appreciate your anger on my behalf though, it's nice to know that my life is valued."

The laughter was... confusing, at first. He probably should have taken that as an immediate sign that Valdis had been joking, but ever since Darquesse he'd found it sometimes more difficult than it ought to be to read situations properly. Maybe it also had something to do with why his choice of words was frequently so blunt, his intentions so obvious, so unlike the subtlety he used to employ without even letting on to those closest to him.

...a joke. Okay.

Valdis's actual explanation didn't actually explain much, but it was slightly less cryptic than Bakura's comment had been at the party. And at least the two of them had apologized and were on ostensibly good terms again.

At that last bit he shrugged, looking away as he spoke. "Yeah, well. I don't have so many friends that I can afford for them to go dying in the streets, you know?"

Friends? Her smile turned soft, more sincere. It was nice to have friends again. After losing Dante and then Wan, she wasn't entirely certain that she would be able to find friends again. Raine was kind of a friend, but their relationship was more complicated and Anton was more of a father figure. Erskine was different from Wan and Dante, but it was a good different and he didn't need to replace anyone.

"I don't have many friends either," she replied, "But I'd do anything for the ones I do have."

Erskine smiled; it was tired, and small, but sincere.

"I'd like to say the same. There was a time I could. But we both know how that turned out, don't we?" Not that that particular situation could be applied to everyone, everywhere. And not that he still wouldn't have done anything for his friends, his brothers. Even after that he would have done almost anything for them--up to and including giving himself up, if they'd only given him a chance. If he'd only been able to see his plan through until the end.

"But that's the whole point of this second chance, I suppose," he continued. "Assuming that there is some point to it. And speaking of points, I think I've lost mine." He held a hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes, shrugging his shoulders. "It probably wasn't a very good one anyway."

Sometimes the Only Pay-off for Having Any Faith

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Have I mentioned SP spoilers yet? Because SPOILERS

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Did I mention spoilers? Cause spoilers

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