tushanshu_logs | Those Who are Dead are not Dead (Catch All)

Valdis was sitting cross-legged on the ground, hands resting on her knees with the palms facing up and her eyes closed as she focused inward. The Void twisted and turned in the shadows, staying well out of sight, almost hesitant to come near where she waited. Perhaps it was afraid, that was good, but she needed to speak with it. Part of her was afraid to offer it any in, to call out to it or reach for it in any way not related to using it's power. It was a dangerous creature, one that she had recently begun to see more as a parasite than an actual part of her being.

Raine's approach did not go unnoticed, but it wasn't until the woman said her name that she withdrew from her inner consciousness and opened her eyes.

"Bakura told me about what happened to him," She said quietly, not looking up at the healer.

That rang a great deal of alarm bells. Raine stilled, all extraneous movement ceasing abruptly, and her eyes narrowed a little.

There were many things Valdis could be referring to, it was true. However, the weight she put on those few words struck Raine as a little concerning.

"A lot of things have happened to Bakura," Raine said finally, carefully neutral. "What specifically are you referring to?"

Despite the fact that she hadn't seen the light mage in awhile, the woman hadn't changed one bit. Raine was still wary of her, but in a cold manner, so the name she had given the woman so long ago still stuck quite well.

She inclined her head in agreement of Raine's observation, Bakura had been through quite a bit, "His deal with Zorc and the reasons for it."

Bakura's last words led her to believe that Raine knew of Zorc at the very least, so she was giving nothing away.

At the least, Valdis spoke as though she knew that Raine knew what she was speaking of; breaking Bakura's confidence would have raised a whole new host of problems. Raine sighed at the name, and sat on one of the other benches, setting down her jacket and staff. "I can only assume you wished to speak to me about something related," Raine said. The temptation was to let herself relax, let the worry show through, but Raine knew neither Valdis' motives nor what she wanted, and so she kept herself still and cool. In a moment she turned one hand over, palm-up, inviting Valdis to elaborate.

Raine didn't seem surprised by the name, so Valdis knew that she had been correct in her assumption.

"I am concerned," she said as she uncrossed her legs and finally lifted her eyes to look at Raine. "Though both entities were silent during the time I was in possession of the Ring, now that I know the nature of Bakura's bond with the demon, I worry that Zorc and the Void might be aware of each other."

Ah. That was... troubling, to put it lightly. Raine recalled that the Void, though she knew little of it beyond its parasitic nature, definitely had something of sentience, to judge by how it had acted when the group of them were trying to save Valdis from it.

"Start from the beginning, then," Raine directed her. The worry was impossible to hide completely now, showed in the way she pressed her mouth into a thin line, laced her fingers together in her lap. "What makes you think they are, and what are the likely repercussions for you regarding the Void?"

"I cannot be certain," Her eyes narrowed as she noted Raine's tense posture. "But it seems that the Shadow Realm makes those things which exist on the same plane as the soul almost tangible." And since Zorc was tied to Bakura's soul, then it was possible that the demon knew. However, from what Bakura had said, Zorc had almost been destroyed in that duel and had been silent since Bakura's return to Keeliai.

"I could not tell you exactly what the repercussions of their mutual awareness might be, but I can tell you that as long as Zorc is inactive, the Void will do nothing." She sighed, half in relief and half in frustration, "It has been somewhat skittish since it reawakened."

Raine nodded. "I'm hardly well versed in it myself, but that would seem to be at least broadly accurate."

The rest of what Valdis said was not reassuring. Raine bit her lip. Bakura had asked her to keep what she had witnessed to herself, and he had the right to that privacy so long as it didn't threaten to harm anyone. She could argue it already threatened to harm him, but for now she had to trust him to keep things under control.

"Skittish," she repeated thoughtfully. "I'd be inclined to think that was a positive thing, since it means the intervention holds and it isn't about to try to consume you again, but if Zorc does come into the mix..." Raine shook her head. "It's wiser to prepare for the worst. Assume that he will. I wonder... how sentient is the Void? It spoke to us, back then, but I don't know much about it, save that its nature is apparently to consume. There's a reasonable comparison to be made to something in my world, but not nearly on that scale."

There was something Raine wasn't saying, but Valdis respected the healer enough to not press. The woman wouldn't withhold information that put anyone in danger, she trusted that aspect of Raine's personality.

"The Void's current state has more to do with my fight with Bakura than anything else," she replied, contemplating Raine's question. "The Void is...complex," she continued slowly, "I don't entirely understand it myself, but I shall do my best to explain."

She took a deep breath, "I used to say that the Void was simply a hole in the lining between the spiritual and death planes, I suppose that one could also call it an artificial pathway into the death realm, but it is much more than that. Before coming here, I never would have thought that the Void was anything more than the source of my power, but it has proven otherwise. I have come to believe that my species once possessed souls, but they were somehow torn from us and that emptiness is what allowed the Void to move in.

"As to sentience, it has spoken to me as if it knows my mind when my will is weak or compromised. But it speaks only of my fears or failures, so I do not know how aware it is of all my thoughts. This leads me to believe that the Void is a separate entity from myself, a parasite that cannot survive without a host body." She hesitates for a moment, "Hence I don't think that the Void sought my destruction when it tried to take my soul, I think it was simply trying to contain what it perceived as a threat to itself.

"After my fight with Bakura, when I turned Revelations on myself to stop it, the Void went silent until my life was threatened. If I die, then it dies, so I think it has a stake in my survival."

Ordinarily, Raine's approach to something so unpredictable and unknown would be to study it. However, that was... somewhat less than a viable solution in this case. Still, as Valdis went on, it looked rather like Raine wanted to be taking notes.

"Regardless of what it sought, that would have been the end result, would it not?" Raine wanted to know. She tapped her fingers against each other, thinking the rest over. "You're atypical for -- your kind -- in having a soul, by what you've said. That may alter the Void's behavior, correct? But if it doesn't desire your destruction, then why does it prey on your fears and failures, as you've mentioned? Unless it's in a bid to control you somehow... hm." Not enough information to theorize much further, though she was still struck by the resemblance, at least superficially, to the Devil's Arms.

"I suppose the next question is, would it judge Zorc's presence or activity as a threat to your survival?" Raine grimaced even as she said it. Zorc could never not be a threat, as far as she was concerned. Only a temporarily restrained one.

Raine was asking a lot of questions, but she had come here knowing that the healer would be curious and willing to answer as best she could.

"Yes, my soul would affect the Void's behavior. The Void is what allows me to take souls, for it to have one so near and be unable to act according to its nature..." She fell silent, the Void was a monstrous thing, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that perhaps it wasn't acting out of an inherent sense of evil. "I think it sees itself as the solution to my problems and is trying to convince me of that...Perhaps, in a very twisted way, it thinks it is protecting me."

That was a worrisome thought.

"Zorc's very existence is a threat," she continued, think that last question to be very stupid, "Not just to me, but to everyone."

"And it would prefer you worked together, as you originally did, rather than continue with your own determination as you have been," Raine concluded thoughtfully. "What does it gain from partnership with you?"

At Valdis' answer, Raine shook her head. "My apologies-- my phrasing was unclear. Of course Zorc is a threat, and should be approached accordingly, but will the Void judge him as present enough to spur action on your part or its part, even should his activity have nothing to do with you personally? Ah-- in other words, what threshold will make it impossible for the Void to do nothing? A guess, if nothing more."

She really didn't know what the Void wanted from her, it wasn't as if she knew how to destroy it. "Right now, it gets to exist."

The problem with Zorc was that the demon was tied to Bakura, as far as she knew there was no way to separate them, just as she could not separate herself from the Void.

"I don't know," she replied, "But if Zorc becomes a threat in my eyes, then the Void will likely respond in the same manner. It seems to be more reactive than anything."

"For most beings, living or lifeless, only existing isn't enough, or can't be forever," Raine noted. But it didn't sound like censure, only a passing mention. Something to keep in mind.

Raine was quiet for a few moments, her eyes distant. Thinking over what to say, over where the boundary between Bakura's requested privacy and the safety of others, Valdis and himself included, lay. Did she trust Bakura to manage things himself; did she trust Valdis to not overreact; did she want to rely on the status quo remaining as it was long enough that something could be done to counter Zorc or the Void or both.

"I'd ask your forbearance, as much as possible," Raine said at last. "The situation is tenuous all around, I'm aware, but as you're the only person truly capable of keeping the Void in check, I'll rely on you to do so until something can be changed. Is there anything you'd request from me? Something that can be done to help?"

She knew that eventually she and the Void would have to figure things out, but today was not that day. She lifted a brow, "I'm not going to preemptively do anything if that is what you are wondering. Bakura and I may not be friends, but we are allies."

She paused to think about Raine's offer, "He trusts you, and I trust your judgement concerning this matter, but I would hope that you would tell me if something changes. The more time I have to prepare, the better off everyone will be."

In other words, getting caught off guard was more likely to trigger a problem than anything else.

Of course it was what Raine had been wondering. She nodded, though, accepting Valdis' assurance for now simply at face value. "All right," she said. "Then let me be blunt: start preparing."

It skirted the edges; it was a promise that things were changing and would change, without outright divulging any sensitive knowledge. And, at any rate, even if the flicker Raine had felt from the Ring that little time ago was nothing, was subsiding, she couldn't think that any positive intervention would go unchallenged or unnoticed, either.

"I appreciate the warning," Raine added, in a moment or two.

That wasn't what Valdis wanted to hear, especially so soon, but as long as Bakura wasn't acting like a threat, she wouldn't act against him. Though, she admitted, even if he was, she wasn't sure she would do anything, she was not eager to pit the Void against Zorc.

"You're the light mage," she replied, "It is simply prudent to inform the one person capable of moving against both Zorc and the Void of what is going on."

A bleak outlook, but they had had a pact before and Valdis saw no reason to not have one again.

It might not be what she'd been hoping for, but at least it was a warning. "Regardless," Raine said, levelly. "Not everyone exhibits that level of practicality." What she left unsaid was that she knew people who would have tried to handle it themselves, without troubling her, or because they thought they could. For all the troubled water between them, it's genuine thanks.

"If it comes to a point that I can warn you more precisely, I will."

"That's all I ask," she replied, sensing the sincerity behind Raine's words. Perhaps she and the woman had a chance at some sort of friendship, or at least a better understanding. "Thank you for listening."

Hopefully nothing would happen, Bakura seemed to be in control of himself and the man wasn't likely to give Zorc full reign.

Raine inclined her head briefly, and for everything that had come between them, it was a respectful gesture. "Sometimes it's all I can do," she admitted, not entirely happy about it. "But if you need someone to do so, in future, I'm willing."

For once, they were in perfect agreement. How odd, that such things should only happen when danger was imminent.

"Was that everything you needed to speak to me about?"

"Yes," she replied, giving a respectful nod of her own in return, "I hope that everything will be fine, but hope has never gotten me far before."

She stood. wondering how she and Raine had managed to have a civil conversation, but then again, it hadn't been about Solomon Wreath.

"Still," Raine said, reflectively, "hope can be a powerful thing, in concert with determination." Then she shook her head, bringing herself back to the present moment, and stood in turn. "You know where to find me, should you need my help for anything else."

They'd had their differences, but this... it was important. And Raine would hardly refuse to help when so many factors that could affect the entire city were in play.

"Perhaps," she replied, wondering where Raine's mind had gone to. "And yes, thank you."

Hopefully nothing would go wrong and she was worrying about nothing. Without another glance, she headed out of the gardens.

Those Who are Dead are not Dead (Catch All)

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