I don't Wanna Battle from Beginning to End

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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

[simulsimul]

"Valdis." Kratos gives her a nod, doing a quick once-over. Nothing immediately stands out as odd, either in her demeanour or her mana. It's a bit difficult to tell, with so much occurring in the city reeking of darkness.

But for his part, his emotions are far less dulled than they would have felt to her the last time they spoke. His face still shows nothing; but his feelings approach normal -- or even more so. Four thousand years of emotionlessness tends to make them overcompensate once unleashed.

"I haven't seen you in a while. Given the state of the city, I felt the need to see how you were."

Which is true; her soul is bonded to darkness.

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"You mean you felt the need to see if my little friend has been causing problems?" Valdis replied, her tone light enough to be joking, "Aside from a little hiccup earlier in the month, things have been fine."

He felt strange to her senses, less subdued than normal. His state fluctuated slightly, as if he was out of practice with finding a center, but it never wavered too much in one direction or another.

[simulsimul]

Well, this is ... going well. Kratos had thought, at one time, they were on better terms than they were, so the friendliness is a bit unexpected given ... other events. Even at the party, things had become more about the business of their pasts.

To be fair, it's possible things really are fine. Except that Kratos only remembers Valdis being friendly and light-hearted when she'd been about to flirt with him, and that hadn't been her. Still ... no mana discrepency ... hm. His head tips. "What kind of hiccup is that?"

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In hindsight, Valdis should have realized that Kratos might actually ask about the 'hiccup'. The conversation with Devin and the Aspect had to remain private, that information belonged to Devin alone, but she couldn't exactly lie or Kratos would remain suspicious.

"I went soul-walking." she hesitated to continue, but setting suspicions to rest was more important than anything else, "I stayed a bit longer than I should have and the Void tried to take over in my absence."

[simulsimul]

"Soul-walking?"

Like she had implied doing with him, when the Void attacked him? Could she do that to herself? Or had it been to another?

"With whom?" he asks before he can consider otherwise, curiosity overcoming most other things -- and though he doesn't expect an answer, he leaves the question out there, just to see how she would respond.

Someone who could handle the Void, obviously. Raine, maybe; she's as likely to mention it as not, balancing threat with privacy. Zelos would have mentioned it. Devin, possibly. Bakura seems powerful enough, but Kratos doesn't know whether they know each other.

There aren't many options. "I take it they were able to -- resolve the problem."

So to speak.