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birthright_rpg2013-12-06 01:18 am
st_clare) wrote in birthright_rpg2013-12-06 01:18 am
Firmer Ground
She felt much better in the daylight.
Julianna felt much better altogether, really. She'd done the best she could to cleanse her office of the taint of Elfleda's presence. Her desk had been removed and was being replaced. There had been questions about the damage, but she'd deflected them with a set of careful half-truths. The school had asked her to compensate the institution for the expense of a new desk. The cost was an inconvenience, but a small one.
Nathan's calm demeanor had assisted immensely in restoring her equilibrium. When she left his apartment to retrieve her car, he'd given her a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek. She was certain he must have dozens of questions, but he had yet to ask them. If this was going to go on, she'd have to think of something to tell him.
December weather was crisp, even in Nevada, a cold front having come in. It made her smile with fondness, because it reminded her a tiny bit of home. Wisps of clouds dotted the blue sky. She'd left a note with one of Valerie's professors, asking the Slayer to meet her on the patio of a coffee shop near the campus. There was a mug of tea in front of the Watcher, one she'd been sipping from. The stone was in her messenger bag, wrapped in a scrap of cloth. She was glad she'd be rid of the filthy thing.
The sunlight was comforting. Natural light was best to ward of entities like the Corruptress, at least according to the new information she'd obtained. Julianna was still afraid. Only a fool wouldn't have been. But she was no longer scraped down to the bone by terror as she had been. The fear was manageable, and that was the first step towards being proactive.
Julianna felt much better altogether, really. She'd done the best she could to cleanse her office of the taint of Elfleda's presence. Her desk had been removed and was being replaced. There had been questions about the damage, but she'd deflected them with a set of careful half-truths. The school had asked her to compensate the institution for the expense of a new desk. The cost was an inconvenience, but a small one.
Nathan's calm demeanor had assisted immensely in restoring her equilibrium. When she left his apartment to retrieve her car, he'd given her a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek. She was certain he must have dozens of questions, but he had yet to ask them. If this was going to go on, she'd have to think of something to tell him.
December weather was crisp, even in Nevada, a cold front having come in. It made her smile with fondness, because it reminded her a tiny bit of home. Wisps of clouds dotted the blue sky. She'd left a note with one of Valerie's professors, asking the Slayer to meet her on the patio of a coffee shop near the campus. There was a mug of tea in front of the Watcher, one she'd been sipping from. The stone was in her messenger bag, wrapped in a scrap of cloth. She was glad she'd be rid of the filthy thing.
The sunlight was comforting. Natural light was best to ward of entities like the Corruptress, at least according to the new information she'd obtained. Julianna was still afraid. Only a fool wouldn't have been. But she was no longer scraped down to the bone by terror as she had been. The fear was manageable, and that was the first step towards being proactive.
no subject
So it was with great internal debate that she finally met the Watcher’s gaze, face blank and voice clear, a bluff that it didn’t matter one way or the other. “I want to swing back to the dreams and stuff but yeah, I want to speak about…” Valerie willed her foot to stop it’s incessant tapping, sat up straighter, and gripped her mug tightly. “Here’s the thing, I take my responsibilities very seriously, and for years I’ve wandered through life without people and that was fine, you know, no big deal.”
Green eyes found the sky, then the table, then Julianna as the blonde let out a breath. “Since coming here, attending school, the environment of camaraderie…” Slender shoulders lifted to convey the ambivalence she felt. “Living my life separate, without people in my life, friends, it’s not working for me anymore. I think… With the solitary years of sheer dedication… I… I…” Valerie’s teeth chewed the inside of her lips but she forced herself to continue. “I want to have that little slice of normality. To be able to go to the movies with a group of people and not worry that I’ll be reprimanded, to meet people and develop friendships, to hang out and talk about b-uh, s-stuff, like a normal girl. Student! I wouldn’t shirk my duties either.”
Valerie ran her thumbs across the warmth of the mug and finished with a simple sigh of, “I want to live while I still can without fear or guilt.”
no subject
"Hmm."
It was a thoughtful noise, and the Watcher ran one finger around the lip of her mug. "I know that it can be very difficult to maintain secrecy and form friendships at the same time. There's always the worry that you'll say too much, or that you'll tell something to the wrong person and the information will be used against you. Vampires gossip among their own kind, tell tales because they can't help themselves. They're worse than schoolchildren."
She said it with slight humor, but it was a serious subject and she knew it. As an academic, and then in the employ of the Council, she'd had less trouble carving out a slice of normality for herself, but most of her friends and close acquaintances were other Watchers, researchers with ties to the Council, or people interested in the supernatural. The others were colleagues at the schools she'd taught at, and she was never quite comfortable with them in social situations.
"The teenage years are such a difficult time," she offered carefully. "It's when most young people are being prepared to leave the nest. They're encouraged to socialize, engage in activities outside of school, possibly find employment. Being called disrupts that just when it's beginning to happen. All through training, girls are constantly told how important it is that they keep others at arm's length."
The older woman lifted her shoulders into a shrug. "I'm not planning to condemn you, if that's your concern. It's human instinct to want companionship, on whatever terms are agreeable to you. Being a Slayer only alters you physically, not emotionally."
Julianna paused long enough to drink some of her cooling tea, looked beyond the patio to the expanse of the street she could see. Weak afternoon sunlight glinted off of windshields of cars as they passed by. A minute passed. Then two more minutes.
"Is there...is there a...particular friend?" She asked it very carefully indeed, even cringing a little at the possibility that she was intruding. What if it was too soon for Valerie's comfort for her to ask that?
no subject
Silence lingered, though it was heavy it wasn’t uncomfortable. Several sips of hot cocoa sweetened her saliva more than it warmed her but she’d take what she could get. It was the tentative question that halted the mug on its way to her lips, Valerie looked towards Julianna, and quietly hoped her expression wasn’t startled. She took a gulp, an excuse to make a quick decision, since there were technically two people she could mention. Sabra however, she wasn’t ready to discuss. “There is.”
The soft way those two words were spoken said more than they intended as the blonde set her mug back down. She wasn’t asking permission to let people in, she was telling her that she was. There was no hostility. In a sense, strength, to stand for what she believed was right. For her.
“It’s... Tentative. We really don’t see each other very often. The first time we decided to hang out we were attacked by a vampire. I didn’t tell him what I was, but he didn’t run, either. In fact, he found out by himself, accidently. I did not take that well, like, at all.”
Valerie tried to choose her words carefully. On one hand it unnerved her that there was someone out there telling humans and vampires about the chosen ones and the Council. On the other she didn’t want to come off as looking down on Julianna because she didn’t know the ins and outs of how it came to be. Then again, it was Valerie’s life on the line, wasn’t it?
The tip of her index finger swiped through cream as she met Julianna’s gaze unflinchingly.
“I believe you’ve met him, with your shared acquaintance in common, at the Skylark opening.”
She offered a slight smile before licking the cream off her finger with a slight shrug. It was her way of saying everything without needing to delve into anything that might come off as judging.
no subject
The buggered Skylark opening again. Why did that keep coming back to haunt her?
Then again, it was her own fault. She'd allowed Holiday to get under her skin, and that had caused her to make a spectacle out of herself. She was going to have to discover a way to keep the girl from pushing her buttons.
Julianna allowed silence to take hold while she gathered her thoughts. Valerie hadn't demanded an explanation. She didn't even seem to be angry, just curious. The Watcher released her mug with one hand, rubbed the back of her neck. A rueful expression crossed her face.
"That shared acquaintance lacks discretion, or at least speaks before she thinks," she said, maintaining the eye contact with the Slayer, "She pried into matters for personal reasons, and as a result she discovered some things she's ill-equipped to cope with. I don't believe she grasps the concept of the damage she can do."
The older woman was a bit curious herself as to why Brian hadn't fled. There must be more to him than met the eye, but now was not the time to ask specific questions. It was enough that she knew that Valerie had allowed him to come close, close enough that she was beginning to question the way she'd always done things. Julianna was well aware that not everyone reacted to life changes in the same way.
"He seems like a nice young fellow," she said. "He was a bit scattered at the opening, but I doubt he's like that on a regular basis." She wasn't making an attempt to put her seal of approval on anything. She didn't even know Brian, and apparently Valerie was only starting to know him. But as she said, she wasn't going to condemn the Slayer for taking tentative steps towards something she wanted.
no subject
“Okay.”
One simple word and a slight shrug of shoulders and that was that. Evidently the situation was taken in the blonde’s stride. No reason to get upset, no sense of placing blame for the sake of it. The cocoa was raised to her lips and she took a liberal sip. Swished the liquid around her mouth as if that would take away the sticky residue it left behind, then swallowed knowing it wouldn’t.
Valerie quirked an eyebrow but didn’t ask the woman to elaborate on ‘scattered’. The chances that he might have swallowed some sort of pill were probably higher than the chances that he hadn’t. No mystery there, no need to put a spotlight on his recreational habits, no need to comment on it. Instead the blonde cast her gaze across the street as she let out a slight hum.
“He’s…” Green eyes narrowed in thought then sought out Julianna’s as she plucked what she considered the most appropriate word to describe Brian from her mind. “Sensitive.”
Then she sniffed, straightening up to wipe off imaginary fluff from her shirt absentmindedly. Whatever emotions may have tried to surface were pushed aside so Valerie could discuss more important matters.
“I was wondering if you had any kind of protection charms that I could give him, I’d buy them of course, but I have none of my own to share.”
The tip of her tongue pressed against her lower lip before she she added clearly though quietly.
“An elder vampire attacked him, save a splint on his wrist and a few good bruises he’s as fine as can be expected. The redhead though, she’s been around from at least the thirties, I don’t know her name. Since I keep myself to myself, I imagine she saw him as a way to get to me, without actually finding me. I know that she was staying at the Hart. I’m not reckless enough to try and get in there, though.”
no subject
"The thirties, you say?" the Watcher asked, sitting up straighter in her chair as her hands abandoned their stations on her mug. "I know that vampires can live for centuries, provided they avoid detection. They hide in plain sight more often than not, especially in the modern age. As cities grow and become more sprawling, they have more opportunities to conceal their presence."
She drummed her fingers on the tabletop, pondering her options. "The best I can suggest is a cross, or even a crucifix. Vampires fear religious symbols, or they're at least extremely wary of them. I don't know Brian, so I can't guess as to whether or not he'd agree to wear one, perhaps on a chain around his neck?"
The older woman paused, looked at the shop's parking lot. She could only see the fender of her BMW from here. "If he would agree to it, I can acquire one and have it blessed for extra protection. That goes for you too, by the way. And you're wise not to go to the Hart by yourself. That place has a certain...reputation. It's very likely that she expects you to do just that, and would likely plan an ambush."
no subject
Valerie wanted to roll her eyes at the idea of crosses since she had hoped there would be something else but hey, extra protection was a step up. So she nodded with a casual, “I can pick up a couple and get them blessed then, uhm do you…” She eyed the woman carefully, “Want one? I mean after Elfleda it wouldn’t hurt, right?” Did crosses even work on Leviathan's bride? While she pondered that idea she plucked the stone up and shoved it into her back pocket to get it out of the way.
“I’d considered the ambush too.”
Valerie tilted her head, let her mind wander for a few moments, until her eyes darkened and the emotion drained from her. When she looked back at Julianna she took a slow breath and nodded more to herself than the woman. From her pocket she grabbed a receipt for the cocoa and snagged a pen from the nearby tray that had been left on the next table. A few swirls of ink later and she slid the paper over to Julianna with a calm look.
“I don’t have much, there’s never really been room for anything else in my life, but there are things I hold onto. We both know things happen, sometimes in the blink of an eye. When my time runs out, let him know. Give him the choice to take what he wants of my possessions, if he wants any at all. As for my weapons, I don’t think you’ll need them but the other girl, she might, so pass them along if you’re able.”
There was no rush to her words, the tone held no fear, no sadness, as if the blonde were talking about the weather.
no subject
The piece of bluestone the Watcher had acquired made an appearance from her messenger bag, was place on the table next to the scrap of paper Valerie had just written on. The receipt was innocuous, but the words the Slayer had said made the older woman's stomach threaten to turn into a hard knot of dread. The subject of a death, another death, was precisely what she didn't want to think about. Losing Allison had been so hard, and she didn't want to know what it would do to her if Valerie died too. She was just on the cusp of trying to be a good Watcher again, and even though the blonde was right about things happening in a matter of seconds, she would rather not consider that right now.
"I'm glad that you've found someone who might matter to you," the older woman said as she reached for the piece of paper, and if her voice was a little thick because Valerie had just mentioned the idea of her own death as if she'd said her coca was getting cold, that couldn't be helped. There was a quiet crinkling noise as she tucked the receipt out of sight.
"You said you wanted to discuss the dreams as well." Yes, another subject change was necessary. "What have you been dreaming of?"
no subject
“Yeah… I’m sure she’ll show up unexpectedly to be cryptic and vague, you know, in that fun mindgame way that makes utterly no sense while she leaves me with questions scattered around like fallen sprinkles from a donut. Minus the, uh, sugar and stuff.”
Death hadn’t been a topic she’d planned to approach but it was better said now than later. Valerie picked up on the thick tone, almost felt sorry for causing the discomfort, so when the topic changed she didn’t bat an eyelid.
“I only remember fragments, purple flames, a shattered mirror, this sense of…” Valerie pressed her lips together and let out a small, thoughtful noise. “I can’t be sure if I’m being lead somewhere, or if I’m following, but when I wake I feel… Just, seriously restless, like it’s shifting inside me. I end up going back out to patrol, with success I might add. Not that I usually don’t have that, it’s just, I don’t know… Weird.”