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]

Sabra had countered the accusation with a puzzled, "It should matter?" The bottle, however, remained caught in hand. Sabra seeming to react to it like just another tool. Her expression, however? It was ridden with confusion, as if the very notion of her appointed guide getting cold feet, just because the monstrosity still lived, was insanity personified.

And from the darkness, the beast did step. An ancient from the shadows, a creature from the maw... A draconian tyrant from the primordial age, bones propelling it forth without reliance upon muscle or sinew as it roared. Sabra momentarily unhinging jaws to spew verbal fury, right back.

Two titans from a time long past.

"Remove its head!"

The display would have been impressive, were Valerie's new opponent taller than mere waist-height...

[valerie_vause]

“Ffft.” Was the only response Sabra got as Valerie lifted her hand to motion towards the thing. Waist height for Sabra meant it stood on all fours and reached the blonde’s ribcage. If it were a dog, she’d have barely blinked. However, a dog it was not, and dead it already was. It could do a lot of damage with those bones and she took a step back as it let out an ungodly roar that shouldn’t have been possible. While Sabra distracted it with one of her own in retaliation, like a pair of bickering rivals, her fingers scraped at the dirt until she found the shovel.

One thing was for sure, Sabra didn’t have to tell her twice.

Valerie swung the shovel above her head and leapt across the hole, bringing it solidly down at the back of it’s neck as she landed. The sound as metal cleaved bone made her ears want to bleed, or maybe that was the things last shriek as it’s jaw fell off, the skull dropping the next second to bounce once while the body crumbled like a house of cards. Bones clattered together into a jumbled pile and the blonde wiped a dirty hand across her forehead.

“Okay.” She breathed, turning her attention back to the brunette. “Who is getting this gift, and what’s the reason I’ll be pleased about?”

[primordial_visitation]

From a casual visit to an ancient demon's motel room to dispatching a prehistoric horror in the Nevada desert... Not a bad evening's start.

"Good," Sabra simply replied in approval, moving to collect fallen remains into bags. Nothing ceremonial about it. No respect or delicacy. Just a look given to the bottled water of before when she was complete, uncapping it to liberally spray over the elderly-looking sarcophagus. Nothing but pure, clean water... But because of that, it had an instantaneous effect upon what had been housing the creature. The moment the liquid came into contact with it, the container began to hiss, crack and act like it had come under attack from pouring acid. Sabra watching on at the stoney remains which were rapidly crumbling to dust. Soon, there would be no evidence it had existed.

"You..."

A direct answer and probably a surprising one, too. Sabra eyeing the girl expectantly, perhaps with a view to some sort of gratitude. Perhaps not. Ultimately, it didn't really matter. She was still machine-like and registered the need to clarify matters a few moments later.

"A museum... Their historians make false assumptions. They will call this a 'dinosaur'. They will reward you with payment. A great deal of it... This one was rare."

A beat.

"We could steal money, if you prefer it?"

[valerie_vause]

Valerie had been too engrossed in watching the crude coffin disintegrate from nothing more than bottled water to really pay attention to what Sabra said . Momentarily she paused, as if to check that her internal organs weren’t currently liquefying, and sighed with relief when she concluded she felt just fine. She flashed a grin towards the brunette as she helped collect the bones into the bags they’d brought. Other than the surprise of being faced with the moving skeleton of a beast she was glad didn’t have flesh, Valerie was actually enjoying herself. It showed, in the way she went about doing things without any hint of frustration, occasionally humming to herself.

“Me?”

The blonde stood up after tying a bag shut to blink at Sabra, taken aback by the revelation. Eyebrows arched ever so slightly as if silently asking why, and the brunette gave an answer that stunned. Valerie wasn’t sure why she moved, just that one minute she’d been standing there, wide eyed and the next she’d invaded Sabra’s space to wrap her arms around the brunette. Silly perhaps, and in hindsight frankly embarrassing, but she was so caught up in the moment that words failed her. Gifts of any kind weren’t something she was accustomed to, especially of such magnitude. “Thank you.” She mumbled against Sabra’s shoulder, then promptly took a step back as rich laughter escaped her throat.

“No stealing, even though I’m pretty sure between us we’d be able to pull it off with ease.”

Valerie couldn’t help it, for the first time in a long time the world didn’t feel like it was crushing down on her shoulders. Whether Sabra understood friendship or wanted it was too bad, the blonde gave her a look that said they were, even if it happened to be one sided. Though from the gift, Valerie suspected it was a two way street, no matter how tentative.

[primordial_visitation]

One of the best methods for confronting demonic activity was said to be by using love. It didn't always work, of course, but it was a valid countermeasure for anyone. Perhaps partially because of that, the infernal entity just stood there with a wide-eyed expression of surprise etched upon her face, like Valerie had just told her she had been pissing in her morning cereal.

For all the world, if someone had taken a feral cat and dunked it in water, the result was not unlike what showed now. No matter how many ways it was spun, this was something which was born of primal hatreds and spite. Giving it a hug was the last possible thing expected.

Sabra had half a mind to query if this was about mating, again.

"Yes," she replied, succinct and confused. How was she... Meant to react to such an unnatural-feeling gesture? Mouth opened and she took in a breath to say something, but while mouth parted, no words emerged. Sabra repeating the attempt a second time, only to end up with the same result.

She looked back in the direction they had walked, then back to the Slayer. Back and forth, again. Just as suspiciously. Cautious. Hugging was... Strange.

"We should go back," she said and began, with unsure footing, to make off in their worn direction.