ioduanlogs | Because Darling, I’m a Nightmare

Valdis hadn’t considered the fact that her sketch of the Fool’s attacker would garner as much attention as it had. A few requests later and someone had used that dumb social media thing to promote her style. That was all fine and dandy, until the flowers and letters started to arrive. Valdis had gone to the market to tell the overexcited Erol’a to leave her alone, yet instead, she found herself hiding behind a wooden sculpture that some other artist was trying to sell outside a cafe. Anani trotted down the street, tail high, notably dry considering the recent weather, a small fish in his mouth.

“Did you steal that?” Valdis asked him as he came closer. He purred around his fish, then settled next to her to eat it.

Valdis had wandered into the designer’s shop just to look. It would be some time before she could afford such clothes, but the designer saw otherwise. Two hours later, Valdis has once again, a little more than she bargained for, but perhaps in a good way. The designer suit was sharp,not suitable for everyday of course, but it would make a good impression and it set off her eyes quite nicely. In some ways, the following offer was quite amusing, though Valdis suspected that modeling in Aifaran would be a bit less cutthroat than on her world.

She had only made it a few yards from the shop when she sighted Pepper. She was about to wave when Anani appeared, yet another stolen fish in his mouth, and launched himself into her arms, making her drop her bags, though thankfully not in a puddle.

The rumors over the last three days were making her insane. It seemed as if everywhere she went, natives and dreamfolk alike were surprised to see her ‘again’, and Valdis was beyond certain she hadn’t been to that shop, or that restaurant, or spoken to that person yet today, or the day before. Her frustration only grew as the distance between herself and her imposter grew shorter, but she still hadn’t managed to catch up. Valdis had alerted Devin to the issue, and had been obsessing over it until she heard a rumor of a large black wolf headed to a small park on the outskirts of the city. The rumor of the hound was far more pressing than that of her doppelganger, the description far too close to that of her enemies for comfort.

The park was fairly small, she had been there once before. It had been well maintained, with a lovely pier and gardens, plus a small grassy area with a wooden play structure for children. She approached from downwind, hoping to catch sight of the potential threat before it saw her. She definitely scented Hound in the air, and every muscle in her body tensed, scarlet seeping into her eyes. With the dreams she’d been having, the voices whose sound she would never forget, fear rose easily, though she tried to crush it with rationality.

Thus far the attention garnered by Valdis' sketch hasn't brought any negative consequences down upon the Fool's head, but he has nevertheless been hyper-vigilant in the weeks since his assault in the alleyway. And a bit of a ghost; he's been markedly absent from the Dreaming Bridge for weeks.

The wooden sculpture is less a sculpture and more a pillar holding an awning in place. Artful renderings have been engraved into it; wolves at the hunt, birds in flight. A nature motif. Sitting at a low table nearby with a cup of tea clasped between his hands, the Fool regards Valdis with carefully inscrutable amber eyes, his smile light and revealing nothing.

"He did not steal it from me, if that is your concern," he tells her mildly.

Valdis sighs heavily, of all the people to run into, it would have to be the Fool. She peeks around the pillar, and, not seeing her admirer, relaxes a bit and returns her gaze to the delicate looking man.

"I'm less concerned about him stealing from someone like you," she replies, "You'll at least forgive him. Meanwhile, if his thefts are discovered, I could get in trouble with my boss."

Back when she was her own boss, things would have been very different.

"This is beautiful by the way," Valdis adds, tapping her hiding place, "Yours?"

In reality, Keeliai had been long ago, but for her, it had only been a few months since she had promised to teach Leo and Aly how to defend themselves. Leo needed the basics, Aly was more advanced, so she had set aside time for each. She wasn’t concerned about Leo showing up, Aly might be hit or miss, the teen always seemed to be moody and her determination to be independent might make teaching her difficult. But Aly also seemed driven.

She would meet with Leo in the morning before she went to work. No weapons, just basic self defense, he wouldn’t need anything more. Valdis refused to teach him how to kill, it wasn’t a skill he would ever need and she wouldn’t ruin him like that. Valdis waited for him on a large rock that sat halfway in the water.

Aly, on the other hand, needed to be able to kill. Valdis would guess that the girl already had, but she had never discussed it with her and probably never would. She waited on the beach in the early evening, sitting cross legged, meditating without conversing with the serpent inside her head. It had been oddly silent, not that she was complaining.

Unsurprisingly, Pepper was window shopping. The rains had let up for the moment, and the streets were wet, but the brief glimmers of sunlight made it a nice spring day. Being both white and the only cat in Aifaran, Anani has a way of standing out. If Pepper had somehow missed Valdis, the feline's leap would most certainly have caught her attention.

She couldn't help but giggle at the sight, either. "Why am I not surprised he's a trouble-maker?" Pepper remarked, joining her friend and stooping to collect the bags from the ground. "Looks like you've got a nice haul. Splurging on clothes?"

'Man' might be a bit of a stretch, regarding the Fool. He may adopt some masculine terms to describe himself, but the person seated at this table could easily be mistaken for a particularly androgynous woman in a different light; there's a length of beaded jewelry around his neck, at his wrists, and his choice of clothing today more closely resembles a dress with how it drapes him.

He lifts his eyebrows some at her words. "Where is it that you work?" he inquires, then shifts his eyes to the engraving in front of her. There, his smile warms a touch, and he nods. "Yes, it is--and thank you."

"I'm a member of the Verdant Sentry," Valdis replies, though she sounds less than enthusiastic, "You know, the people who put thieves and muggers in prison."

Perhaps the last is a bit harsh, and she instantly regrets adding it, it's definitely not fair of her. Not everyone is a warrior forged in fire. She has to be strong and unyielding, but not every does.

"I'm sorry we haven't caught yours yet," she adds, trying to apologize for everything in a single sentence. New subject, she needs a new subject. "The animals are...almost lifelike."

Anani dropped the fish as he turned in Valdis' arms, then he mewed pitifully and stared sadly down at it. Valdis made a short, disgusted noise.

"I think the only one still surprised by what he does is me," she said, "One day he's going to get himself into a spot he can't get out of."

The cat purred, rubbing his cheek against her chin. He was so lucky that he was cute.

"Not really splurging," she replied, "The designer basically threw them at me."

Like a door slamming shut, the Fool's expression grows predictably cool and closed off at those words. The evidence of the beating he took in the alleyway is still present on his features; the bruises have faded, but the cut above his eyebrow is going to leave a scar that will be present for years.

He doesn't respond to her apology immediately, instead taking a sip from his tea. It's easier to allow the subject to change as Valdis wills it. "Yes," he agrees at last, tone still mild... though perhaps not friendly. He looks down at one of his hands, which sports a soft leather glove, and gives his fingers an idle flex. "I suppose I have a peculiar knack for the art."

A moment later and he looks up at Valdis. His brows draw together into a slight frown; he must ask. "What you saw in my memories... Have you spoken to anyone else about it?" Beyond Devin.

Even without the coolness of the Fool's expression, the chill that accompanies his words is evident in the aura she picks up through her empathy. It takes some effort to not roll her eyes, as if his approval, or anyone of these newcomer's approval matters to her at all.

"Those memories aren't mine," Valdis replies, turning her gaze to her cat as he continues to eat his stolen fish. "Why would I speak of them to anyone? I don't generally tell things that aren't mine to tell."

Truth be told, she isn't interested in discussing them anyway, they are a trauma for the Fool and she doesn't have enough context to judge him, no matter how disgusted she had been at the time. At least she realizes that her disgust is more a reflection on her life than who the Fool is.

Aly didn't like to talk about what she'd done Otherside. It wasn't something to boast about, saving her own skin and the skin of her friends. She didn't go out hunting faeries on purpose (well...except for what she was about to do, but that was a completely different situation).

She'd brought her mace with her, and wasn't surprised to see Valdis meditating. She probably ought to do that too, in order to quiet her mind and the swirling emotions she'd been experiencing. Brigid, the werewolf, the only person she'd considered something like a fellow wolf, was gone, and even though they hadn't had a line she'd felt like they might have, if things were different, and they'd been together longer. Losing people so close reminded her of what she was going to do, and that made her hands itch.

The antler knife was still in her belt pouch; she couldn't bear to leave it anywhere else, but she couldn't bear to have it directly on her person. It hurt to hold.

Once she got close enough, she sat down cross-legged, too, and took a deep breath. She'd need to be on top of her game for this.

X, purely coincidentally, was out for a walk. It wasn't something he usually did, and not something he'd ever really seen the point of before. But Aifaran wasn't Alard, and despite the criminal element, it was safe. Over two months, and X hadn't seen any evidence of anyone acting against their character. It was subtle, his paranoia tried to claim; he might not see it yet, but it was there.

And that was why the walk. Harder to be cautious and afraid when you were faced with the natural beauty of a small, well-maintained park. After about ten minutes of peace and fresh air, nothing to be done and nothing to worry about, X could feel the tension rolling off his limbs. This was what he'd always wanted, wasn't it? This sort of atmosphere, this sort of peace, for himself and his family.

That was why the black wolf caught X completely off guard.

It was big, first of all, bigger than X was. It didn't even remotely resemble any of the creatures he'd seen in Aifaran or on the archipelago so far. What it did resemble was a werewolf, and although X tried once again to tell himself this was a different world with different rules, he couldn't help but be keenly aware that they were in a park. Children were playing in the playground over there.

X swallowed and shifted his weight ever so slightly backwards, towards the pier and away from everyone else. "Good dog," he said, echoing Liz's words the first time she'd been cornered by an angry hound. "Nice dog. Please stay a good dog. I'm not very tasty, and I'd make a pretty terrible werewolf. Keep your eyes on me, though, right here. No one else. Just me."

Valdis continued to creep forward, still fighting the panic in her mind. The scent was stronger now, mixed with the scents of children. She could hear them laughing as they played. Perhaps if the Hound didn't know she was here, then it would simply ignore the easy prey that surrounded it.

***

The Hound's head dropped as its hackles rise, lips curling back in a snarl, eyes so brightly scarlet they might have glowed had it been dark enough. It snapped at the air, clearly furious. As X shifted backward, it snarled and lunged, jaws wide open, ready to kill.

***

The sound of snarling launched Valdis into action, the shift couldn't happen quickly enough and she forced more energy into it, ignoring the painful rearrangement of her limbs as she always did. The Hound was going to attack, she had to stop it, had to kill it, at least temporarily until she could figure out what to do. It was difficult to focus on logic, fear mixed with fury at how the Hound had come here, but the fear was stronger than the anger.

Edited 2018-04-08 02:05 (UTC)

Those glinting red eyes were the last thing X registered before the wolf lunged. Well, he thought as the world slowed down around him, damn it.

The wolf's jaws closed on nothing. X had leapt aside at a speed rivalled only by his attacker. Valdis's panic and fury flooded his mind, her drive, her skill; by the time X landed and spun to face the wolf, he was a wolf himself, large and black with a set of glinting red eyes of his own. He snarled once, audible frustration at not being able to read the phantom figment his opponent turned out to be, then flexed his claws into the dirt of the park and sprang.

Everything about the form of the wolf and the powers it possessed was built to kill. Valdis was built to kill. Without X's morality to hold any choices back, claws were out and teeth were bared -- something was damn well going to die in that park before X could be safe again.

"I am glad to hear it," the Fool replies, though little about his expression looks genuinely glad about anything, much less about how this conversation is going.

He sets his tea down and folds his hands neatly in his lap. "As for why you might speak of what you saw to someone else, how am I to know what you would or would not choose to share? You and I hardly know each other, and yet you have seen a part of my past I would not willingly disclose even to the closest companions of my heart." A pause as he considers her, his expression as difficult to read as the tumult of emotions roiling behind his calm mask; fear and anger, violation, concern for Valdis over what she experienced through him--they all vie for dominance. "I am a Fool," he allows, a knowing quirk at the corners of his mouth, "but I am not naive."

Valdis listens, mostly to be polite, though he has plenty to stand on. She's less affected by what she saw now than she had been immediately after.

"I never considered you naive, and while I don't know you either," Valdis replies, "I do know trauma, and I know death. Both are experiences that I wouldn't wish others to know about. So I will say nothing of your memories, not even to Devin."

The mixture of emotions isn't a surprise, but while she can't know the direction of the concern, it's not hard to guess.

"Don't worry yourself with me," she continues, "I have lived among wolves, and wolves do not allow sheep to live."

Anani licks his lips, and, leaving the fish half eaten, turns to leap up on the table and investigate the Fool's tea.

Edited (rewording) 2018-04-08 22:16 (UTC)

For an instant, Valdis could've sworn that she saw two Hounds in the park, but the moment she tried to focus on them, one shimmered out of existence, leaving her far more confused than before.

Run, she hissed, projecting her voice to all those present.

Luckily many of the people in the park were already fleeing, unwilling to stick around when such creatures were ready to fight each other. Valdis lunged at the other Hound, crossing the distance in two strides, jaws agape, a roar tearing from her throat, meeting her enemy as he sprang. The idea that the park wasn't the best place for this kind of fight didn't even cross her mind, nor did the fact that she didn't recognize this Hound. Fenrir must have created more and figured out how to send them here. She'd need to end this as quickly as she could.

Valdis seemed to have remembered her promise to help Leo learn how to defend himself, and he was honestly happy about it. His need of her advice/assistance was important enough it survived even the time they'd been back to their own worlds. Of course, it might have come after a rather embarrassing meeting with him crying all over her (again), but he was determined to not let that happen this time.

And of course, brought a couple treats along in case Anani was here. Otherwise, he showed up on the beach on time-much easier than when you had to worry about whole city blocks being destroyed-waving his hand at her. "Hey! Ms. Valdis, I'm here!"

Briefly, the Fool shifts his attention back to his reflection in his teacup. That she won't speak of what she saw to Devin brings him some comfort, though it disquiets him for different reasons to mull over just why it would upset him for his new friend to see him in his memories that way. Already, he had seen how it all would end for the Fool in Aslevjal; his mind's projection of his dead body against the wall would not leave him anytime soon.

"...I have lived among wolves, and wolves do not allow sheep to live."

At those words he looks up, and there's an odd smile quirking up the corners of his lips now. "An interesting choice of words," he remarks and touches his chin with his gloved fingertips. "I lived among them myself, after a fashion. Perhaps," he adds, "you simply haven't met many kind wolves."

Pack, Nighteyes had called them together.

Valdis catches different emotions now, funny how complex the Fool was, and how quickly he moves from feeling to feeling, never lingering on one for too long, almost picking and choosing which ones to hold. Only the wise, and the insane, could do such things, though she doubts the Fool was in the latter category.

She leans back against the pillar, eyes drifting upward to look at nothing, recalling memories of the pack. Memories of hunting, of killing, of always knowing, until all that had been cut away by a holy blade. In the light of that, even the angels were a breed of wolf.

"My world has never been kind," Valdis replies, "Of the four races, only one holds safety. Yet I have seen the worst of their kind, and if they knew what I was, they would turn as well." She sighs, still staring at the awning, "I learned long ago that weakness cannot be in my nature."

Edited 2018-04-09 20:57 (UTC)

X's enemy was gone before his claws could sink in, shimmered out of existence like it hadn't been anything more than a heat mirage. That might have been the end of things, but as it turned out, the life-threatening danger hadn't ended yet.

His -- her? -- vicious attack became a last-second dodge, scrabbling at the ground to regain purchase and not be exactly where the new enemy was aiming. A light rake of claws across his fur suggested he'd been mostly successful. But this wolf wouldn't vanish like so much moisture in a desert, so X spun and squared his stance, ready to change that outcome.

Stand down! he screamed into Valdis's mind. Panic, this was just panic, she was just panicking out of fear and --

Jaws locked, claws slashed, and suddenly staying alive was the only thing his mind had room for.

Valdis spun, jaws still agape, still ready to tear the flesh of her opponent. The sound of the voice was lost in the rage and fear. She could use the Void to tear the souls from her enemy, just as she had done twice before. But she couldn't unleash that kind of power here, in a flourishing city, it would be disastrous if she was unable to control it. She snapped her jaws in the air, throwing her weight almost recklessly as she tried to unbalance the other Hound and knock it to the ground.

I'm not your enemy!

It wouldn't work, but there was no reason not to try. Instead -- the Void, of course, why didn't he think of that, but he couldn't access it even though he was supposed to be able to, so it wouldn't have a place in this furious fight. There were some older buried powers, so old he only just remembered they even existed, like life magic. He could pull himself back from the brink of death if things went badly enough.

The other wolf slammed him against a tree. He immediately got up and responded in kind, throwing his full weight forward at where the wolf would be in a fraction of a second. Large clumps of grass ripped up under their paws, and the groaning of the tree he'd slammed into signalled that the integrity of the trunk had been threatened.

Because Darling, I’m a Nightmare

The Fool | Outside a Cafe | Arts 4 | CW: None

Pepper | Outside a Designer Clothing Shop | Commerce 4 | CW: none

First X, Later Devin | At a waterfront park | Meta 1| CW: Violence

no subject

no subject

Leo, Aly | The Beach | CW: none

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Here comes trouble

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

here comes a lot less trouble maybe

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject