I don't Wanna Battle from Beginning to End

[redlightgreenlight]

Characters: Valdis and Open
Date: Month of November
Location: Various
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: In headers


It felt like the walls were closing in. As if the sporadic mixing of the planes meant that the end was near. Valdis supposed it wasn’t strange for her to be there at the end, she’d just hoped she would find an end before everyone else did. There was nothing she could do to stop it, all she could do was live until it was over, one way or another.

Comments

Devin | Valdis’ House | CW: Minor violence and lots of sarcasm

[redlightgreenlight]

Sleep was dreamless and Valdis might have slept far past dawn if Anani’s yowl hadn’t torn her from the darkness. She moved without thinking, rolling away from the flashing steel and tumbling onto the floor on the opposite side of the bed, where she quickly untangled herself from her sheets. She caught a glimpse of the specter, eyes widening at the sight of him as his now intangible hand slid through Revelations’ hilt when he tried to pull it from the mattress.

“Dad?”

Anani jumped onto the bed, hissing at the ghost of Raphael.

“You are no daughter of mine,” the ghost replied as it dissipated, leaving her sword still sticking out of the mattress.

For several seconds, Valdis didn’t move, but the realization that her arm was bleeding drew a string of swear words in various languages from her lips. She tore a strip off one of her sheets and carefully tied it around the deep cut, seeing that an injury from the Holy blade wouldn’t heal with help from Void, she’d have to visit Raine later.

She reached for her radio and texted the second person she thought of.

Devin, is it possible to ward the house against Ghosts? They seem to be able to move things now.

Valdis looked back at the bed, glaring at the sword, “I’m going to need a new mattress…”

[annihilist]

While Devin was not strictly nocturnal, he didn't need as much sleep as most people and was often up half the night. Whether he was already conscious or the notification from the handset had woken him, his reply came within minutes.

I haven't had much luck with trying; whatever keeps them away from the Hotel is different magic than what I know. If they're getting physical, though, that changes things. It could make them more susceptible.

She hadn't seemed all that bothered by the ghost Hounds, but if they were becoming tangible... that was a problem for all of them.

Is this a request for a house call?

[redlightgreenlight]

The reply came far more quickly than anticipated, not that Valdis held any complaints over it. She started typing 'no', which would have been a lie, but she couldn't risk Raphael returning to finish what he had started, and if the moody vampire could help, well...

I suppose it is.

Anani mewed at her, sounding oddly concerned.

"I'm fine, cat." She returned, reaching down to stroke him, wincing in pain when the cloth rubbed against the cut. She rolled her eyes, determined to wait until morning to bother the Healers Guild about this. She quickly added to the message:

Bring one of the first aid kits from the KPD if you can.

Open | KPD | CW: None Yet

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis wouldn’t be found in her office today, nor would she be in any of her regular haunts. If one were to look in the record’s room, however, Valdis would be sitting cross-legged, on the ground, surrounded by old papers and research. She sighed heavily as she flipped through a book, trying to match the written notes to actual case notes. A fluffy white cat lay sleeping next to a particularly tall stack of papers, its tail covering its nose. Looking up for a moment, Valdis pulled a pen out from behind her ear to make a few notes in her book, ignoring the bandage that crinkled around her upper arm, then replaced the pen and continued going through the notes.

[spoilsfun]

"Are you working on something?" Conan had headed straight for the KPD today. Between the dreams and the ghosts, he wanted nothing more than a good disraction.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis didn't look up when Conan entered, "Just going through old cases and comparing them to current ones. Cross referencing names and locations with what I've heard from some of the ghosts."

Open | Gardens | CW: None

[redlightgreenlight]

Avoiding ghosts was exceedingly difficult when they were your own, luckily, Valdis seemed to have her own little guard, as Anani now refused to leave her side. The small white cat even tolerated Hila being nearby. Valdis sat on a bench in the gardens, ignoring the fog as she redid the bandages on her arm. It was eerie, but Hila assured her that none of her ghosts were nearby, though the ka still seemed on alert. Anani slept next to her, quiet but for the rise and fall of his side, sleeping as cats did. Revelations was nowhere to be seen, purposefully left behind, just in case a certain party showed up again.

[iseeall]

All seeing eyes were really helpful for not only avoiding ghosts, but also a very overprotective Klaus, who had been hovering over him since the blood breed ghost had attacked him.

Really, now that Leo knew to avoid them, he wasn't going to take any second chances. What he did find was someone he'd met before. Leo's eyes had long since healed from that instance, but he still hesitated in case whatever that was was still floating around.

The death serpent didn't appear, but the wolf and a new white cat did next to her on the bench. "Oh, hello again. Are you all right?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis looked up when Leo approached, silently cursing herself for not noticing him sooner. Hila didn't look at him, but Anani stirred, yawning and uncurling himself so he could sit up and look at the newcomer.

"I'm fine," Valdis replied, dropping her sleeve to cover the new bandages, "Just changing the dressings. You seem better."

Better than last time at least.

[jinzhong]

Even though the eternal creepy fog sucked a big one, Jackie was willing to put up with it for the sake of his own ghosts. It was nice, seeing some friends he'd thought he'd never see again, and feeling like he was at home.

Not everyone was quite as happy with their visitors. Jackie was walking through the gardens, taking a break from the semi-permanent reunion of the Water Street Boys for a while to breathe. He wasn't back home, he had to keep reminding himself. He was in Keeliai, he wasn't a gangster anymore. He'd gone...legit? Weird to think about, and his friends were teasing him, but none of them could really criticize him for it, especially after what he'd told them had happened to him.

He hadn't told them about Wei. They didn't need to know.

While he was busy remembering that he was in Keeliai, not North Point, he spotted Valdis in the gardens, fiddling with her arm. "Hey! ...you okay?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis, Hila and Anani looked up in unison at the sound of Jackie's voice. Like so many others, she hadn't seen him in awhile.

"Jackie." She smiled at him, "One of my ghosts got a little out of hand, but I'm fine now. Hopefully he won't be coming back anytime soon."

She finished wrapping the gauze around her arm and then patted the seat next to her on the bench.

"How have you been?"

[upshore]

Yay. Yay. Fog. Fucking yay.

Miles hated a lot of things now, but being constantly haunted by the Ghosts of Douchebags Past and surrounded by fog which made everything twilit and terrible was giving him some awful fucking flashbacks to Mount Massive, which he didn't like, to put it mildly. He wouldn't like it even if being constantly anxious didn't mean that the Walrider was always boiling under his skin, and he had to practice meditative breathing exercises before he went out in public so he wouldn't juice some innocent bystander for startling him.

Fuck all of this, basically.

At least he wasn't alone in the gardens. Maybe his spectral 'buddies' (oh, Jesus) would think twice about visiting with Valdis and her menagerie around. "Uh, hey."

[redlightgreenlight]

Hila growled as Miles approached, but Valdis signaled her to stop. The ka grumbled, but fell silent, turning her head aside so she didn't have to look at him. Valdis looked at her ka, a slightly confused expression on her face. Hila didn't react like that to anyone aside from Bakura.

"Don't mind her," Valdis told Miles, "She's protective."

Gene | House Spicy Iron Dragon| CW: None

[redlightgreenlight]

With all the strange fog, vengeful ghosts and panic, Valdis realized she hadn’t spoken to Gene in some time. The Dojo didn’t seem like the right place, so she headed to his house, Hila by her side, Anani close behind. The cat still insisted on following her around. She knocked lightly on the door, she knew he was inside, so hopefully he would answer.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene's been spending time inside, away from people. Brooding, a habit he'd been out of for a while, but recent events had slapped him back into it.

It was half a surprise to see Valdis at the door. "Oh. Hey, Valdis. Something up?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Hello Gene, I know it's been awhile since we talked."

Hila shoved her large head under Valdis' hand, looking at Gene with curiosity in her eyes. Anani, on the other hand, trotted right inside as if he owned the place. Valdis watched the cat leap up onto the couch and settle down.

"Sorry about him."

Bakura | The Dojo | CW: ????

[redlightgreenlight]

Despite the cold and the general grim atmosphere, Valdis made it to the Dojo for every one of her classes, handing Kaliel more responsibilities as she began to withdraw a bit more from the KPD. Cleaning up after her last class of the day, Valdis seemed just as subdued as her students had been. Her arm still hadn't healed, concerning only because she still saw her father from time to time, though she didn't acknowledge the specter.

She had leaned Revelations against the wall across the room as she cleaned, keeping an eye on the blade, which continued to glow softly. Hila lay near the door, head on her paws, watching her while Anani slept next to the ka. Valdis hummed some old church hymn softly while she put the practice swords away, jumping when Revelations suddenly shifted and fell to the ground with a clatter.

"I told you to go away," Valdis growled, thinking Raphael had come back.

[denyamenti]

Bakura had been frankly impressed by the continued diligence of both his instructors, especially given everything that had been going on over the last two months. He never inquired as to their availability directly; when they showed, he acknowledged it, and when something came up and they didn't, he simply adapted without judgment.

He'd come over to speak with Valdis about something, and had been about to ask why her sword was glowing that way -- he had less than fond experiences with it, but nothing overtly seemed to be setting it off at this exact moment -- when it tipped over and she issued a cross remark.

"Oh, did you now?" he asked lightly, knowing well enough that he likely wasn't the remark's intended target. "How rude, khapshemet."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis turned sharply, relieved to see that it was Bakura and not one of the ghosts haunting her.

"Not you," she sighed, putting the sword she held gently onto the rack, "You might have noticed some of the ghosts are getting a bit...out of hand."

She glanced over at her sword, which had stopped glowing, even the red gem had gone dark. Valdis walked over to it, hesitating as Hila stood up, a growl in her throat, but the ka vanished from sight and Valdis picked up the blade and set it back against the wall.

"One of them took a shot at me, it was him I was referring to."

Raine/Kratos | Valdis' house | CW: the Void

[redlightgreenlight]

The accursed injury from the holy blade still hadn't healed properly. It had been weeks since that ghost had attacked Valdis, those strange stitches had been removed, but the location still hurt, something that the Void disliked intensely. Valdis examined her arm, poking the spot experimentally. She had been going through the motions of life with ease, KPD, Dojo, Home, shopping, acting as normally as possible, ignoring the memory lapses. Time seemed to be flowing differently anyhow, and with the fog and ghosts, well, Valdis didn't see the point in worrying anyone. She hadn't even noticed the fact that she was avoiding certain parties.

[ruinsprofessor]

These days, with the numbers of Foreigners relatively small and the planes behaving as strangely as they were, Raine liked to try to keep an eye on everyone.

And there was a marked lack of Valdis. It was especially odd not to see Valdis for more than a few days.

Consequently, Raine ventured by Valdis's house instead of her own after work, the day after she noticed the troubling pattern, and came to tap on the door. "Valdis? If you're there, do you have a moment?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis sensed the healer before she even knocked on the door, she hadn't seen Raine in awhile, she realized, though it was unusual for the woman to come by without prompting. For several breaths, she stayed silent, wondering if the woman would leave if she was ignored. That thought didn't last long.

"I'm here," she called, walking down the stairs from her room, "Just a second."

Despite the wards, she had taken to locking the door, didn't want the Healer or the Vampire wandering in, or suspecting anything. Valdis unlocked and opened the door, a small smile on her face.

"Hello, Raine, what's the occasion?"

mid-month ish because Kratos is more responsible than Pur is

[simulsimul]

Between one thing and another, it is very simple for Kratos to forget that he had any intention to speak to Valdis. Leaving aside that it is probably wise to check in on such a powerful person under the circumstances, there is ... something Kratos would like to chase up.

Or at least, something he feels obliged to chase up. The thought is still niggling, no matter what he tries.

He hadn't seen her much lately, either. It's a novel thing, surveying a house so warded that Kratos would be disinlined to attempt to lightstep in, even in an emergency. Instead, he for once does what everyone else does: he knocks on the door.

Zelos | A Bar in the Fire Sectorl | CW: The Void

[redlightgreenlight]

Staying out of trouble was becoming boring, as was keeping the peace and getting along with the inferior lifeforms in this world. But maintaining control demanded subtlety and precision. Though fun could still be had. On this particular evening, Valdis ended up at a particularly fancy bar, she had left the cursed blade in the closest of her home, no reason to bring it and risk someone noticing that it had gone dark.

"I need something really strong, with olives, lots of olives," she said to the bartender. He nodded and got to work while she slipped into a seat in the corner, watching the door.

I love how the void needs a content warning

[choiced]

Look, sometimes you missed going to bars and not having to serve anyone. Zelos didn't go out on the town as often as he used to, partly because work at the Hotel soured it for him, and partly because bad things kept happening to him whenever he did. Like heart-to-hearts with Sheena.

But he'd been in a better mood lately, despite the life and death and dream planes all smashing into each other like runaway carts at a fair. So he decided to splurge a little.

He noticed Valdis watching the door mere seconds after going inside, and grinned at her. She was always an interesting conversation. She was even more interesting ever since he found out about her views on public porn reading. And hey, would you look at that, there was an empty chair next to her.

"Tell me you're here for fun," Zelos asked her while he slipped into that chair, "and not on some boring undercover stakeout."

It should be noted that, if it were some boring undercover stakeout, Zelos made no attempt whatsoever to keep his voice down.