tushanshu_logs | Do You Walk in the Shadow of Men...

Entry tags:

Do You Walk in the Shadow of Men...

Characters: Valdis and open
Date: The Month of May
Location: Throughout Keeliai
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: In Headers

Moving out of the hotel didn’t take long. Valdis hired a few kedan to help her move her things to the small house near the former palace gardens. It was a comfortable enough space, moreso because Wan had built it. She wasn’t entirely certain why she had waited so long to move here, but perhaps she had just needed time to let go of Anton. The house needed a bit of work after having sat empty for so long, but not much and nothing she wasn’t willing to do. Valdis was capable of creating things, not just destroying them.

The KPD hasn’t let up on patrols and she’s renewed the watches on the water sources. She now had thirty-seven officers and the support of the Justice Guild, a far cry from where she had started almost a year ago. The addition of four Kirin to the KPD resources had been a bright spot, but now Valdis had to find a caretaker for them. She hoped that the four mounts could help reduce response times to crisis as well as aid in crowd control should something arise. Allying with the Guild of Justice and Arbitration had been a wise move as it seemed to calm things down a bit and give both parties a more stabilizing structure. Now she could hunt...

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Devin's expression hardened. He didn't want to change, if the change intended was to dig into his deepest secret and bare it to the world; expose him. He wanted to be left alone to do his work. None of this was said aloud.

He made a dryly amused noise at her last remark. "'Relatively non-evil'. I'll have to borrow that one. I suppose that is something to be faintly, grudgingly grateful for, although it's made me a target for the absolutely evil beings." The vampire tilted his head slightly, studying her. "You're speaking of your own demons, though, aren't you? This 'Void', as you called it?"

She smiled bitterly, he wasn't happy about the circumstances and she didn't exactly blame him for it.

"In a way." Valdis signaled the server for more tea before continuing, "The Void manifests as a seven-headed serpent, it is essentially the embodiment of sin. It moved in when my soul was shattered by the Archdemon Amos, except it didn't exactly move out when my soul was restored. The combination apparently makes me either very dangerous or very precious, depending on who you ask."

"It sounds positively charming," Devin replied sarcastically. "And here I thought my hanger-on was aggravating."

He still did, but Valdis' situation was comparatively worse. They were both targets, but Devin had the advantage of a god on his side, even with a demon on his tail.

"I should think it makes you both, not one or the other. Unless you have a preference."

That comment was oddly nice for him.

"I'd prefer neither," she said, "On one side, I have the angels trying to destroy me, and on the other, an Archdemon hell-bent on figuring out what makes me tick. That doesn't even count the plans of my own kind."

Her only ally was her brother and she wouldn't even remember him if she was sent back.

Devin laughed, something low and humorless. "What a pair we make," he remarked without particular context. They had far more in common than he realized before.

The vampire looked down again, at the remnants of his meal and took another sip of tea. "You said Keeliai has a way of changing people. What did you mean?"

Valdis arched a brow at his comment, but without context, she couldn't discern what he meant.

"Keeliai is a place of second chances," she said, taking the new cup of tea from the server as the kedan took the old one away. "When I got here, I wasn't exactly as...invested in helping others. I didn't believe in emotions, or relationships. Those things were all human weakness."

The vampire has zero interest in changing, and he deserves no second chance. Maybe this place will leave him be, since it seems to be having an excellent time throwing irony in his face left, right, and center.

Not likely, Devin.

"They are weaknesses. They're also strengths, in the right circumstances," he conceded. "But that's all a part of being human, is it not?"

This last was wry, seeing as neither of them were human.

"Funny," she replied, though her tone did not actually suggest that she found it funny, "No, though they weren't quite prey anymore, humans were inferior. Relationships were nothing more than a means to an end. Why should I care about anyone when none of them truly cared about me. Who would even want to care about me? I was a monster, but a monster that cared about her own survival and little more."

Then there had been Wan. Followed by Anton and then Dante.

"But here, I met people who changed all that and while those people are all gone now, I can't go back to what I was, even if I wanted to."

Using relationships as tools was familiar to Devin. It was something he did often, though not through forming any of his own. Other people could be used as leverage, which was why he didn't allow for that leverage to exist in his own life.

"It seems this city has been good for you," he commented idly, keeping his gaze away from hers. "And it's quite powerful, if it can change such a formidable creature as yourself." He sighed. "I think I'm beginning to like being here even less."

"I don't know if I would call the city powerful," she replied, "But the foreigners I've met? They seem to be very stubborn and determined to trust and care about others. I suppose it has simply rubbed off."

Much to the chagrin of the Void.

"And I'm starting to think that you don't like much at all."

"People make a city what it is. A city without people is simply buildings and the slow crawl of entropy wearing them away," he said idly, looking out a window. "You're not wrong, but it's less that I like very little and more that I have limited opinions on most things. I neither like nor dislike - it's simpler."

"That is true," Valdis said, "But I was referring to the Foreigners, not the kedan and Keeliai was their city first. And your definition of 'simpler' sounds rather lonely."

"It can be," Devin allowed, and shrugged lightly. "There's nothing wrong with that. I have more than enough complications in my life; no need to invite more."

"Do you like being alone?"

Because he didn't exactly seem like the happiest person around. It seemed more like a selfish defense mechanism than anything else.

"It's better than the alternative," Devin replied, which strictly speaking was not an answer to her question. He smiled coldly. "I am, at the very least, not accustomed to living in such close proximity to others for any great length of time. There is a kind of peace in the solitude of one's own choosing."

Valdis definitely felt that the man had large amounts of denial, willingly blinding himself for who knew what possible end. It seemed their similarites departed with personality. Valdis no longer enjoyed being alone, in fact, being alone could be dangerous considering her only companion would be the Void. Him on the other hand, didn't seem to possess that danger.

"I suppose." Valdis replied, "Choice is what makes us all free, isn't it?"

There are times when Devin genuinely likes being alone, and certainly it outweighs spending time with his own kind. Companionship was simply not allowed.

"Sometimes choice is just an illusion, when we're slaves to purpose," he returned. "There's freedom in having choices, to determine your actions in a given moment, but having choices does not necessarily make you free. A gilded cage is still a cage."

"Freedom isn't free either," Valdis commented.

She didn't disagree with him, they all had their own personal cages. Cages that they themselves created by the choices they had made and the choices that others had made.

"At least the cage is larger in one scenario, there's more room to run."

And sometimes, the very fabric of the universe was your cage, and no amount of running could change that. Not even being here.

"That's a pale comfort. Someday, you're still going to run out of space. Better you choose when you face what's chasing you than let it decide the battleground."

"That's like choosing the day you are going to die," Valdis replied, "Perhaps it's different for you on your world, but Keeliai is my second chance and I'm going to make the best of it."

She finished the last of the tea before standing up, leaving a few juulan on the table.

"I'd best get back to work."

"And that exact choice may be the greatest freedom of all," Devin said quietly, not looking at her.

He mustered up another smile - cold and almost certainly not genuine.

"Very well. Get some rest, Valdis. You look tired."

Valdis heard that quiet comment and though there was no trace of sadness in his voice, it was a sad one all the same.

She glared at him when he mentioned rest. "Eventually, yes."

She really should go back to her home now, but her office was still a mess and she needed to at least clean it before leaving for the night.

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Do You Walk in the Shadow of Men...

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