Lessons In Living

[valerie_vause]

Sleep hadn’t come easy when she finally returned home at six in the morning. A lengthy patrol had seen that four of the undead returned to the earth as nothing more than ashes. Classes went by in a blur, her mind had been elsewhere, lunch had been skipped. Though she returned to her room to change, leave her books behind, then left again. Wandered, preoccupied, through shops. Picking up a few things of interest then off in search of something new to fill her mind. By the time she showed up outside Sabra’s door it was seven.

Bags sat at her feet so that she could knock while the other arm clutched several to her chest. The same routine had been needed at the desk, another month paid for. She either had to sell a few pieces of art or get a job soon. The prospect didn’t feel pleasant so she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

“Sabra, it’s me. Are you in?”

Valerie bent to pick the other bags up. They weren’t heavy to her, just awkward to manage all at once. A couple filled with clothes, others with books, one with toiletries, and one with food. At first it had been odd, bringing things to the woman, but over the weeks it gradually felt less peculiar. Perhaps slowly becoming a new normal, that only applied to the situation.

If she didn’t answer the blonde would have to walk back to her dorm with everything. The thought made her cringe and she sighed at the door.

Comments

[primordial_visitation]

Cuddles and hugs? Fortunately, Sabra's silence made it ambiguous. Perhaps she was aware of the gesture, but even if she was, it didn't sound like the kind of thing she had personally experienced or tried to elicit. If she had demanded a demonstration, it would have been awkward, to say the least. A cynic might be tempted to say this was Valerie's lucky day.

"Dangerous," she replied, answering the girl's initial query. "How do I know?" A fleeting smile... Slight, but it was there. But that indicated fondness. Pleasant nostalgia.

What did a demon find enjoyable to remember?

"I witnessed its exile."

[valerie_vause]

Silent was the sigh of relief when the topic of affection simply dropped off the proverbial path to be replaced with something honestly sinister. Well, the smile wasn’t entirely bad. Sabra clearly enjoyed the fact that she had watched a demon being banished to this world. Perhaps even found a sense of satisfaction in the things demise, but couldn’t the same be said for her? Every fight Valerie won, every kill she had to make, they granted a fleeting sense of satisfaction. They evoked a form of pleasure because ultimately she had survived. Grim perhaps to find enjoyment from anothers demise, but when it was a fight to the death anyone that didn’t enjoy the fact that they still breathed must have a death wish. Frankly the blonde didn’t, even when the odds were stacked against her Valerie survived because of one thing. She wanted to live and had nothing to lose. Did that make her ruthless in combat or simply tactical? Both, perhaps, a creation of all that she was.

“Oh, well that sounds fun, in a Roman-Gladiator-spectator way.”

Though the tone was light it was hard to tell whether sarcasm had been involved. Valerie shrugged lightly. The mystery now solved. “So these bones.” She began breezily, stepping into the hallway so that Sabra could follow. “You want them for decoration, right, or to learn something about your past? Not for some kind of ritual to unleash…”

Valerie’s left hand raised to wave between them like a snake as they walked down the corridor and out of the front exit. She held off from finishing until they stepped onto the street, after purposefully ignoring the curious glance from the woman at the front desk. “Well, anything, actually. Decoration I’m fine with but I’m not helping you if it’s to do some kind of hocus pocus spell to cause havoc. I have a test next week, I’d like to have slept at some point before it. You know, rather than spend every waking hour hunting it, or whatever, down.”

Digging up bones in the desert would cause any normal person to frown disapprovingly at the very least yet the blonde was looking forward to it. It spoke to that child inside that had wanted to go off in search of buried treasures. Skeletons weren’t quite what she’d hoped for when she was five but right now it didn’t seem so bad. Curiosity to discover what exactly the thing looked like, how big it would be, these were as good as gold to Valerie. Thirst for knowledge, you either had it or you didn’t, and if you did you knew it would never truly be quenched.

“What did it do?”

The question came from seemingly nowhere as the blonde side stepped a guy on a bike to glance up at Sabra. “To get exiled. What did it do?” Valerie held no remorse for it, if Sabra claimed it to be dangerous then she was quite glad it had met its demise rather than it roaming the earth.

[primordial_visitation]

"It will be a gift... You will like the reason."

Sabra's walking posture had improved from the relatively primtive gait of before. Still, though, she gave the impression of being both watchful and... Entitled might not be the most accurate term, but someone self-assured. Confident. Looking left and right as she came to corners; looking for threats, but not in the least afraid of the potential challenge.

"It..."

But the question made her falter. Gaze trailing down until it hit the ground, searching for answers and ultimately finding none.

"It was disagreeable," she settled upon and continued on. "It is difficult to know of things, but... Not remember. To only have stirrings. I should have eaten their minds... Those who summoned me. Perhaps they would know."

At that, Sabra halted her step and turned suddenly the Slayer's way. Yeah... She was considering it. Thinking about eating Valerie's brain. Wondering if it might help. Then recalled the girl hadn't been at the ceremony.

"You have..." A look somewhere between distaste and confusion. This was a concept Sabra still didn't understand and wasn't sure if she wanted to. "Compassion. What would you do to help me remember?"