tushanshu_logs | February Catch All

Entry tags:

February Catch All

Characters: Valdis and you!
Date: The Month of February
Location: Noted in the starters
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: None yet

A) Before the 5th, Keeliai's Markets: After acquiring the angelic sword, Revelations, Valdis has found herself in need of some supplies in order to make a sheath worthy of the blade. She has enough coin to obtain what she needs and it helps that the Kedan are currently trying to put on a good face for the Ambassadors. She is quickly evaluating the attitude of the store owners and either purchasing or moving on, aware that this window of niceties might be quite narrow.

B) Midnight Hotel: When she isn't out in the city or exploring the surrounding areas, Valdis can be found in the common area, reading up on the history of Keeliai or going over her extensive, hand-written notes on the current issues the foreigners are facing in the city. If one is lucky, they may catch her in the lobby of the hotel, or if someone is ambitious and unafraid, they may find her in her room, though if she is sleeping, wake her at your own risk

C) Before the 5th, Turtle's Head: The cold didn't bother her much and she sat near the turtles head, looking out over the water at Khatronma, marveling at the dome from a distance. Revelations is at her hip, glowing softly in the early morning light. The last time she had been here it had been to possess the turtle in an attempt to help Wan oust Malicant from the ancient entity. It had also been where she had used the Void to kill four of the cultists attacking her and her friends. So many memories and none of the peace that had once been attached to this place.

D) Start your Own: Please give a location and a setup.

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Once Vergil and Valdis had been taken off of his hands, Gene dismissed the armor, glad that the blood wasn't transferring from the armor onto him. Small mercies.

"I have no idea what happened. Nelo - Vergil - apparently decided that the thing to do was go and stab Valdis, and she returned the favor." He sounded a little resigned, and a little agitated. There would be time for a more in-depth explanation later. You know. When everyone wasn't in imminent danger of bleeding out.

Edited 2015-02-13 04:00 (UTC)

Vergil stayed silent at least at first, his main goal was to keep his hand over the chest wound as he still stared down at the floor. Pressure didn't do much with a holy blade having pierced his heart, what color he had regained was fading. Hearing the question he finally looked up through his bangs, the now blue eyes looking at Raine. "Normally yes." This should have been nothing. "I am weak to holy items." He knew he had taken a chance trying to take the sword. Nelo's sword finally dropped as he couldn't hold the heavy weight any more.

Though he was trying to conserve his energy, he expected to be locked up for attacking her and he was more then through being a prisoner. Injured badly or not, he planned to try to escape as soon as he could concentrate.

She heard Raine's voice, but it took a few moments to register what the woman was saying. The haze started to fade and her vision cleared somewhat when the basic healing arte began to take affect, but the pain was still sharp.

"It isn't that simple," she murmered, "Revelations is," she paused, struggling to put together a coherent thought, "Please...see to Vergil first, don't let it kill him. Dante would never forgive me."

Edited 2015-02-13 04:30 (UTC)

Raine blinked only once at Gene. "I swear," she muttered, "we're more of a threat to each other than the faction conflicts are." But that was all the aside she would allow herself for now, with people to save, and -- as Valdis requested -- nodded, and turned her attention fully to Vergil.

The same white circle spun beneath her, for longer this time. "My artes are based in light, but should not qualify as holy," she said absently, in case he had a sense for magic; then a blue-white glow flared around Vergil in time with the disappearance of the circle, speeding his healing to close a wound that ought have taken weeks or months to properly heal. "Cure." It was not a complete job, would leave notable tenderness and visible marks, but it would have firmly taken him out of danger. Raine made a faintly disapproving sound when she noted that, but there was not much more she could do other than cast another arte, and now Valdis needed her attention more than Vergil did.

What did Dante have to do with it, though? Presume Vergil was his family, working off that half-noted resemblance. That didn't explain why Valdis would care, until, quite suddenly, Raine pieced two previously independent occurrences together into one chain of dependent events, and it did.

Okay, but for real, Raine, are you even surprised? Gene made a little grunt of agreeement, watching her work, and once he was certain both of his rather unwilling charges were out of immediate danger, he let his shoulders relax, just a bit.

Of course, there was still the matter that this was brought about b his doing, and--

No. Dante asked me to get involved. Nelo wanted to do it. This is Vergil's fault, and his fault alone. He snorted. Who knew removing someone from demonic control would make them more violent?

Edited 2015-02-13 13:18 (UTC)

He would have protested if he had not been lost in his own thoughts. It was unbecoming to be treated before the vicitim even if his injury was pretty bad he had said nothing. When the cure hit him he felt the magic work its power on his ruined flesh, he could tell that he was not perfectly healed but it was enough to not worry about bleeding out. He figured his demonic healing would kick back in sooner or later now that the danger was out of the way.

Listening to them he nodded, as he finally spoke once more. "Yes, it is my fault. No one elses." He bent to pull the sword up just keeping it in hand once more gathering his energy so he can teleport out soon. He just wanted to see that she gets healed first then he will vanish on them in a shocking blue light, not the purple smoke Nelo had used.

The blood flow was waning as Raine's arte did it's work, she felt less in shock and more in pain now. Valdis knew that she needed to separate herself from Revelations if she wanted her own power to kick in, but she hesitated, not knowing if Vergil would try to take the sword and thus re-injure himself, so she gripped it more tightly. She was aware that holding on made her entirely dependent upon Raine for healing, but she wasn't going to risk Vergil's safety any more than she already had.

Raine was not as surprised as she'd like to be by inter-Foreigner violence, honestly. She gave Vergil a sharp look. He'd started the fight? She'd have thought Valdis. Either way: "Next time, find a way to settle your differences that doesn't involve attempted murder," she said, in a tone that brooked no argument. She wouldn't find a way to make him regret it; she'd just point the people who would at him. As much as she wasn't fond of Valdis, infighting of this magnitude was not acceptable now.

That was all she was going to give Vergil for now. "I'm glad you brought them, Gene," she said, shaking her head, and knelt to deal with Valdis.

A brief look at the wound, then Raine lowered her staff over Valdis, and began to cast, very deliberately choosing an arte of slightly lower magnitude. "Heal," she ordered, and while the resulting drift of light would help close Valdis' wounds, she would certainly not be all the way healed, and her range of motion would likely be somewhat restricted. Quietly, for Valdis alone, she added, "I won't let you die, but we need to speak, and this is the only opportunity I am likely to get."

"Right, well," Gene says, clearly uncomfortable with the...not quite compliment, but kindly word, from Raine. Partially because he caused the problem in the first place, sort of. Dante had provided the gunpowder, but he had lit the fuse.

With the best of intentions, but.

"Now that everyone's not at death's door anymore, I'll just go, then, shall I?" And he slips out of the clinic, nodding at Raine.

"She's not dead, it's not murder." he spoke in a dry tone. "Either way, thank you for the healing." He spared Valdis a look before listening to Gene speak and head off. That guy had the right idea, so Vergil poofed out again. He's so not going back to the hotel, nor waiting for permission, time to go into hiding.

"How kind of you," Valdis replied dryly. All she had to do was release Revelations and she would heal on her own, but if Raine was too threatened to confront her uninjured, then she would wait. She didn't want the woman as her enemy and since the first step would be to talk, then the light mage needed to feel comfortable talking.

The light settled over the injury and the bleeding finally stopped. Valdis was actually surprised that she had survived long enough for Raine to even stop the bleeding, she wasn't used to losing so much blood and her body felt incredibly weak and drained of energy. She would have thanked Gene, but the boy was gone before she could say a word and then Vergil disappeared in a flash of light.

Now that they were alone, Valdis looked up at the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact just yet, "What exactly do you want to know?"

It was, as ceilings went, a fairly nice ceiling, and hadn't even been marked by blood spray. Yet.

Raine sat back on her heels, her staff across her lap, and let her gaze drift across the room, not watching Valdis directly. "You'll forgive me, perhaps, if I'm a little wary of you right now," she said, quiet, remote. "But Anton evidently has faith in you, and him I trust. I'd like to say that's enough for me, but I need to understand what happened." And why, from what rationale, was murdering an entire city in any way a reasonable response. "I'm assuming the impetus was Dante, in some manner. How did things go awry, and what can prevent it from happening again, if anything?"

Valdis sighed, trying to ignore the pain, both mental and physical. For awhile she didn't answer, trying to think through how exactly she could help Raine understand.

"Imagine if Solomon suddenly vanished. No warning, no goodbye, just gone. How would you feel if such a thing happened?" Knowing how the woman had reacted when Valdis had threatened Sol, she had an idea that this might be the best way to explain, "Then imagine that you have little experience with those feelings. Panic, sorrow, confusion, pain, perhaps a bit of anger...all hitting you at once in a magnitude that your balance cannot handle. It's like a volcano, slowly building up pressure until it just can't take it anymore and explodes."

Raine was silent for some time once Valdis had said this, but the distance of her gaze had turned contemplative; she was thinking, not simply observing the walls. "I imagine I would grieve," she said, still quiet, "but I suppose I am not new to such things."

It was still strange. "Some of the things you've said make you sound very old," Raine noted next. "And yet, in this respect, you seem contradictorily young." There was nothing derogatory about the way she said it, simple observation of fact. When they had first spoken of love Raine had assumed it simply a product of inexperience with romance, not an inability to cope with strong emotion in general; she'd said herself she knew negative emotions well enough. "Why is that?"

She would have laughed if the movement wouldn't have caused pain, not at the question, but because the answer was agonizingly simple and yet incredibly complex at the same time.

"Odd as it may sound," she said, "The two are not exclusive. I have been alive for over two-thousand and five-hundred years, but my soul is only just over three hundred."

"My soulless kin can sense emotions, can use them to their advantage, but I actually feel them. I suppose that Iroh put it the best when we discussed the Kedan. Sometimes, after having lived without something for so long, it takes time to realize that you possess it, time to figure out how to cope."

"So while I am old considering the mortal timeline, my soul is incredibly young and inexperienced in comparison. Does that make sense?"

Edited (muse) 2015-02-14 16:32 (UTC)

Putting aside for the moment that three hundred, too, was not an inconsiderable amount of time. "It does," Raine said, wishing a little bit that it didn't. "I believe I understand the cause a little better, now. However, that's not an excuse. But you know that, don't you?"

She shook her head just a little, and looked down at Valdis directly. "Two things, then. The first: How will you... no. How do we prevent this from happening again?" Because it couldn't be allowed to. There was no guarantee that talking her down would work again; there was no guarantee, Raine had learned, that she'd be able to kill Valdis.

"There is no excuse for what I almost did," Valdis replied, "But now that I have experienced such a thing and have gotten through it, the chances of it happening again are slim. But the fact of the matter is that as long as my soul and the Void are in conflict, then balance is difficult."

She sighed heavily, hissing slightly at the sharp pain, but she couldn't release the sword yet, not until Raine understood. "Being around Dante brought a sense of balance, and losing him threw off the balance so badly and so suddenly that I didn't know what to do. Horrible as it may sound, in the moment, the only thing I sought was to regain that balance by destroying the cause of those emotions. An act of idiotic desperation."

"I don't believe it will happen again, but should it," She released Revelations and instantly the pain began to lessen as the Void took over healing, repairing the internal damage and restoring her strength. She slowly sat up and turned to look at Raine, "Revelations is the key."

Raine's eyes narrowed at that last. She didn't back off, but she was stiller than she had been, focusing intently. "I suppose I should thank you for humoring me," she said, tone bitingly dry. "Revelations-- your sword? All right."

Raine took a deep breath, flexed her hands on her staff, and instead of standing and leaving like she wanted to, leaned in a fraction. "The last thing, then," she said, meeting Valdis' eyes squarely, without flinching. "Let me make this clear. I am not your first resort. Hurt though you are, don't make the mistake of forgetting there are people who care about you, who would mourn if you died. I doubt we will ever be anything like friends, but we may be allies, perhaps. As such, I will serve only as your last resort, should all else fail. I will protect my friends, and the people of this city, but I would prefer not to have to kill you to do it, if at all possible."

Now Raine did stand in one smooth moment, not giving Valdis a chance to answer before she had turned away. It might have been a gesture of trust, showing the woman her back; it might have been dismissal.

Though Raine didn't flinch as she spoke, Valdis did, the words cutting deeper than perhaps the light mage knew.

"Raine," She said quietly, "Perhaps I give the Void more credit that it deserves, but I truly believed that I was going to lose it. No matter what I thought in those few moments, do you think I really wanted to die?"

She let the question hang in the air for a few breaths, "Thank you though," she continued, "Sometimes I forget that in this world, I actually have people who want me to live. Everyone in my own world would happily see me die for simply existing in the first place."

"Did you?" Raine crossed the room, heading for the door, but she didn't leave, rather turned, and leaned against the wall beside it. "I'm familiar with what it looks like when someone desperate tries to force another's hand. You know what I can do with light, and you know I bear you no great love. I'm not saying you still think the same way, but in those moments, I would have trouble believing you wanted to live."

Improbably, the last sentence sparked a faint, wry smile from Raine, and she looked aside for a moment. "No life should be born for the sole purpose of dying," she said quietly, and it sounded rather like she was quoting something or someone. "Every person, once born into this world, has the right to live in it, simply by virtue of being alive." With one hand she touched the space over her heart, a gesture that wasn't wholly conscious. "A friend of mine told me that, once. Sometimes it's hard to believe it myself, but I believe in him."

She shook off nostalgia after a few seconds, looked back to Valdis. "You might try believing in your friends," she added, gently. And then, moving on: "Is there anything else I should know?"

"In those few moments," she admitted, "I didn't...but it seems that my friends had other ideas," After all, Anton had put himself between her and Raine. "Your friend sounds like an idealist, if only the world could be so beautiful that such a thing would be common practice. But you yourself saw how dangerous I could be, do you truly blame the factions of my world for wanting me destroyed?" No matter that the three factions had very different reasons and some had different motives.

She shook her head and stooped to pick up Revelations once more, "There is one more thing," she said, sheathing the sword, "Revelations is tied to my soul through a complex magic that not even its creators understand. It may reject your touch, but I believe that Anton and Wan would be able to use its power."

The description of Lloyd was spot-on, and Raine laughed, very briefly. "He is," she said. Added, quite bluntly, "And I cannot blame them, as you say, but neither will I agree that they are right." Much the outlook she had on the kedan's attitude toward them, of late.

She tracked Valdis' movement as she retrieved the sword, and nodded, filing the information away. Interesting. That might merit study, if she thought Valdis would let her; she'd never heard of such an effect. Discounting the Devil's Arms, which were of an entirely different ilk. "Understood. ...I believe you should tell them that yourself, however."

Valdis nodded, the woman's answer wasn't unexpected, but she was still somewhat surprised by how well the whole conversation had gone.

"I suppose I can't hide from them forever," she said, heading toward the exit, she slowed when she neared the light mage, "I suppose that I must also thank you for giving me a chance to explain, I didn't and don't deserve it, but I do appreciate it and even if we aren't parting as friends, at least it isn't as enemies."

She nodded once again and then slipped past Raine and out the door, heading back toward the Midnight Hotel.

"Whether you do or don't is immaterial." What Raine markedly did not say was that, on reflection, she had known too many other people with similarly destructive capabilities to not at least try to give Valdis a chance. "This community, such as it is, is too small to allow the perpetuation of enmity among us if it can be avoided. I'm glad we could reach an understanding. Good day, Valdis." She returned the nod, and went to do something about the mess that remained.

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February Catch All

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