Firmer Ground

[st_clare]

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.

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[valerie_vause]

Enthusiasm hadn’t been present during classes, perhaps it had shown, considering she’d been pulled aside by her professor at the end. The note he’d given her had been a surprise, but not unwelcome. Valerie had stopped by her dorm room to set her school things aside then immediately left to find the small cafe where Julianna would be waiting. It didn’t take that long to find it, the woman had left directions, but rather than find her straight away the blonde went to the counter.

Coffee, while she enjoyed it, wasn’t what she craved with the slight chill in the air. The nip to her skin as she’d walked over had felt appropriate, a slight numbness to the senses that had remained since yesterday. After meeting Brian in the park. She’d spent hours last night gathering things like a fevered squirrel expecting a terrible winter. In some ways, she was.

Valerie stepped outside a short while later, a mug of hot cocoa clasped between her hands. The towering display of cream wobbled slightly as she sat down, speckled with cinnamon at her request. “Good afternoon, Julianna, have you been here long?” It was a soft question as the blonde took in the cup of tea before her eyes moved to the elder’s face. “This is a nice place. I don’t think I’d have found it myself.”

Fingers tightened around the mug of scalding sweetness until the burn made her sigh. Valerie’s personality had been subdued all day, it wasn’t like her. So with effort she tried to smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes. Julianna’s presence held a vague comfort, but it evoked a lot of apprehension too. Only the blonde could fix that. “How have you been? Did you manage to find out the identity of Beth?”

[valerie_vause]

For someone so optimistic Valerie struggled with trust. A product of her training that had made her capable of building so many walls around herself. There was a downside to being so adept at it. Invisible barriers that kept everyone out, at arms length, where she could convince herself that they couldn’t touch her. Not the way she could potentially touch them. A fortress of protection that had, for many years, worked wonders. Recent events had been entirely different, whether it be human or demon, the blonde had began to let those walls slip ever so slightly. It wouldn’t take much effort to rebuild the parts that had been chipped away but that wasn’t the point. She didn’t want too.

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.”

[st_clare]

"Well, dreams are a part of initially being called," Julianna said, picking up her tea again. It had cooled quite a bit, but it wasn't actually cold yet. There was a muted sound when she put the mug back down. "The more intense the dreams, the more potent the Slayer will be. Supposedly, anyway. I have a personal theory that monitoring sleep habits while girls are still in the training program could be a help in deciding when they're ready to be in the field, but that's just a theory, not something that's in practice."

This second encounter was progressing smoothly, and the Watcher was heartened by how receptive Valerie was. It was going to take time to truly develop trust, but the important thing was that an effort was being made. Everything worthwhile required work and dedication, and those were concepts she wasn't afraid of.

"It's possible that your Slayer abilities are responding to the close proximity of Searchlight," she suggested. "It's a tiny place, but I've been doing some reading and it seems to have a...a pull, for lack of a better term. I haven't had the opportunity to actually study the town's records, but it is a subject of curiosity. Perhaps over the holidays while school isn't in session, I'll investigate further."

She was looking for other things to say, something relevant. She couldn't truly reassure Valerie that the dreams were harmless, she could only inform her about what her experiences told her. But sometimes even the most basic information could be of assistance. It was ignorance that caused the most harm, not discovering things.

"If there's anything else you'd like to speak about, I wouldn't mind hearing it."