ioduanlogs | How do You Solve a Problem like Meira?

Entry tags:

How do You Solve a Problem like Meira?

Characters: Valdis and some open
Date: August 2018 (ish)
Location: Around Aifaran
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: In Headers

Valdis was tired. Between the return of the Narrakra and the discovery she could return ruins to complete something would have been bad enough without the memory of the visions or what she had seen soul-walking inside that corpse. Aside from that, the knowledge that she could move the Void with more power than she believed had sparked a new determination to harness its power without fear. The events of the last week had been eventful, what with the short term Dreamfolk that had arrived only to vanish once the damage had been done. Admittedly most of them hadn’t left much of a mark, but some had. She hoped that things would calm down for a few weeks at least.

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X nodded in concession. "True. Still, for thousands of years, that's an unfair advantage."

Thousands of years. The most unfair part, X felt, was that he finally had an inkling of what it felt like to be Luci, and he didn't have Luci around to talk about that with.

The next thing Valdis said made X laugh, and he forgot his stance for a moment. "Yes," he agreed, "a little. But you've made me curious now. I still want to learn, if you're still willing to --"

Ah. She was. With another smile, X copied her block, as exactly as he could manage. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't the unsure and stiff movement of a beginner either.

"It's only an advantage if you sought to use it against me," she replied, moving through the block again and resetting.

Clearly he didn't, and barring some sort of personality shift, the chances of it were unlikely. When she next moved through the block, she added another step, a short counter, then paused for him to catch up.

"I know what it's like to lose yourself in the lives of others," she said, "Not to the extent that you do, and it isn't exactly the same, but close enough that I can...empathize to some extent."

Once he had joined her, she repeated the movement, adding a third step, then moved back a few paces to reset.

"And you'd be worried, if you didn't already know I'd never do that," X pointed out. He knew Valdis, now, inside and out, and he knew she was the kind of woman who could identify potential threats in any given circumstance. If X's knowledge was a threat, she would already be dealing with it.

Equally, though, she knew X would never use it against her. She didn't read universes, but she read souls, emotions. She felt safe, or she wouldn't be taking the time to teach X how to defend himself.

"I'm serious, though," he insisted, moving his way slowly through the counter and the block. "I know you don't have much experience with mutual honesty for honesty's sake, but if there's anything you want to know, I'll answer. The offer's open."

"I wouldn't be worried," she replied, grinning at him, "because I'd have already found a way to remove the threat."

A fact he must know considering she'd done it more times than worth counting in her history. Valdis considered the worth of putting aside training in favor of asking questions, but she didn't exactly know what kinds of questions to ask.

"You aren't afraid," she turned to face him, "You know everything, but you don't even flinch when I look at you."

Valdis wasn't the first person to ask that particular question. Silvanes, Szandor, Kassina -- all of them had trouble understanding why X could speak to them, understand them, help them, without running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. They all thought he'd only see the terrible choices, the cons, the murder, the anger. And all X ever saw was the hurt and the pain that drove and forced those choices.

He gave Valdis the same answer he gave them, returning her look, echoing her attention on the subject, but still practising the counter and the block she'd given him.

"I can't be," he said. "I can't be scared of you without also being scared of myself. It doesn't help." He smiled a little. "Besides, I don't think there's quite as much to be afraid of as you think. You're powerful, I know that, but I've also seen all the progress you made, all the people you helped in Keeliai and all the good you try to do here. I have the objectivity to know both sides of you, and I have the good fortune to know who you are now. Or -- at least who you were two months ago."

Valdis resumed showing him different steps, blocks, counters and resets, listening and considering his words, moving through nothing more than muscle memory.

"You are discounting one vital detail," she answered, "The Void. You know more than anyone about how dangerous it is, what it has done, and what it could still do. Even those who have seen it in action cannot comprehend the internal struggle. You know of Dante, Anton, and Wan, of how those feelings put everyone at risk, and yet here you are."

She turned, slashing down at him, more slowly than she was capable of and with the intent to pull it should he fail to block.

Still, X followed Valdis's examples, stumbling a little more now that he needed to concentrate on what he was saying.

"The Void isn't you," he said. "Of course I'm scared of the Void. You wanted to know how I don't flinch when I see you, and it's because I know who you are. If I know what the Void's capable of, then I also know --"

Too late, X reacted to Valdis's slash, blocking awkwardly with his own sword just enough to redirect her hit and get a glancing blow instead of the full strength behind it. It still hurt, and he didn't bother trying to hide that, grimacing and rubbing his bare arm.

"-- then I also know what you're capable of," he finished, checking under his hand to make sure skin hadn't broken. Valdis saw love as a weakness in her struggle, but X saw only the strength and raw potential of it.

He moved to block, so she followed through, though perhaps she should have pulled sooner since she still landed a blow, however slight. Valdis retreated several steps, setting position, still facing him.

"It's threatened Devin, you know," she replied, "He's far too stubborn to back off, and he has certain powers he can use, but you...you are far softer. If it leveled the same threats against you, what would you do?"

It was less a test than sheer curiosity, but she glanced at his arm when he rubbed it.

"I didn't hit hard enough to do more than bruise," she said, "If that."

"I don't bruise easily," X murmured. He hadn't even known what a bruise was before meeting his husband, and learning how humans from Earth could bruise off of something as simple as a stubbed toe terrified him. Sure enough, when he inspected his arm, there was absolutely nothing there, and the smarting pain had already subsided. He was fine.

"I don't know," he answered thoughtfully. His stance drifted further and further off-centre as he spoke. "If it threatened you, I'd trust you to know how to handle it, because you're here now when you don't have to be. If it threatened me, I'd... become you, I suppose. I could ask Devin for help, or any number of other people here." He smiled, and it was a smile less like his usual gentle ones and more like the tired, lightly sharp smile of someone who struggled a lot more than they let on. "I've been threatened by a god before," he said. "I'm not as soft as I look."

Valdis paused, considering his reply. Her sword tip dropped ever so slight.

"Become me?" she asked, not certain what he meant, "It's one thing to ask Devin or anyone else that knows, but I don't understand that part."

It was true she knew how to deal with any threats from the Void. It had never been successful before, as much as it had tried in the past.

"And you are as soft as you look," she added, "You are just also stronger."

Instantly, X became less sure of himself, to the point of his sword dropping all the way down to his side. "You know," he said, "borrow you, again, as soon as my life's in danger." He forgot, sometimes, that not everyone was as comfortable or familiar talking about it as he was. Knowing someone well didn't mean they knew you well.

At the last, however, X laughed, and raised his sword again. "I'll take that as a compliment," he said. "You're right, in any case. I don't have the same powers Devin does. I do have --"

He cut off, abruptly, and shook his head. "Never mind."

Right. She'd forgotten how he might interpret a threat from the Void. The creature used kindness and care against her, against everyone. Emotions were weakness...But the Void couldn't attack him, or anyone without her permission. She'd have to be pretty gone to allow that. Her eyes narrowed at the last, however.

The words had barely left his mouth when Valdis knocked the practice sword from X's hand with a sharp strike near the hilt, dropped to knock his feet out from under him and then pinned his sword hand beneath her boot, sword tip dropping to his throat.

"You want to try that sentence again?"

What in the --

With a yelp X hit the ground, and then he was pinned and had a wooden sword at his throat, and those three words were all he had time to think. Seeing Valdis's speed and skill from the other end was eye-opening at best, downright heart-stopping at worst.

But -- he still knew where he was and who he was. Of course he did; Valdis hadn't been aiming to kill, just to make a very dramatic point, and it was further testament to her skill that she could take by such surprise someone who'd read her thoughts. Once the shock left X's face, he exhaled a short laugh.

"Next time," he said, "you can just ask. I was going to say I do have my Dreaming talent, if all else fails. It's just that I... don't enjoy using it."

To be fair to X, chaos had a tendency to be unpredictable, and Valdis was no exception. The look of surprise on his face amused her, but in a friendly way, not in the way that she had treated Bobby. She shifted her weight to step off his wrist, flicking the tip aside and holding her hand out to help him up.

"I'm not aware of your talent, but developing such things can also help you defend yourself. Devin was quite panicked when he heard you had run into Bobby."

Perhaps if she hadn't ignored X, if she had thought to teach him sooner. But she wasn't the only one at fault, Devin could have helped.

"I can imagine," X said, less amused now and more solemn. He'd known the effect sending his message would have on Devin, but it needed to be done, and he hadn't thought at the time that Devin would have to rescue him from Bobby. She was nothing if not persistent.

X accepted Valdis's hand and pulled himself back to his feet, then bent to pick up the practice sword she'd knocked out of his hand. "My talent is from the Destruction tree," he admitted, albeit a little reluctantly. "I've been -- practising, a little, just in case. I can't shake the feeling the Dreaming gave them to us for a reason."

Valdis helped pull him up, then let him retrieve his sword, considering his solemn reply. Valdis would have been lying to herself if she denied her concerns when Devin had told her X had run into Bobby. But aside from Devin's overreactions to Bobby, it had ended just fine.

"Mine is Restoration," she replied, taking several steps back to reset. "It led to a very interesting time aboard the Narrakra. Pity I couldn't fix Bobby's face with it."

Not that she would, but the memory of that particular event did bring a small smirk with it.

"What does yours do?"

X meant to answer, he really did, fingering the sword in his hand like it was somehow causing him pain to hold it, but Valdis's casual declaration snagged his full attention.

"What do you mean?" he asked. He didn't know whether he should be amused or afraid. "What did you do to Bobby's face?"

Valdis looked at the tip of the wooden sword, considering it with an almost sly look in her eyes. "You know of Revelations. It was forged with holy light and responds to the strength of my soul. It will only allow certain people to hold it and even fewer to wield it in battle."

She flipped the wooden sword, catching it by the hilt again.

"It is also the only weapon I know of capable of killing me," she glanced at him, "But you know all that. You also know that the sword banishes darkness and Bobby is a demon. It didn't just slash through her flesh, it burned it."

She couldn't help but sound amused, "I would have killed her if Devin hadn't told me to leave her be. In the end, she owed me a life, but I never got to collect."

It wasn't an unexpected answer, but something about it surprised X nonetheless. Maybe it was his reaction; he felt both disgusted and vindictively satisfied, emotions that didn't exactly complement each other very nicely. Life as a reader could be an adventure.

Devin was wrong. Someone else did get hurt; and yet, X couldn't quite bring himself to care.

He lifted the wooden sword he carried, one fist wrapped around the hilt and the other tapped lightly on the side of the blade. A second later, the sword cracked -- once, twice, and then splintered altogether.

"That's my talent," X said with a wry smile. "Glass, and wood, so far."

Valdis shot a glance at X, one filled with confusion. The disgust, surprise and satisfaction didn't harmonize in any way. Perhaps that was the cost of being what he was, a constant battle to remember who he was. She watched him as he decided to change the subject back to his ability, her own surprise showing as the wooden blade splintered and fell to the ground in pieces.

"You know I need to return that, right?" she said dryly holding her hand out for the hilt, "I don't think the Dojo near my place will be impressed with splinters."

For one so gentle, it was an odd ability, but perhaps X had some sort of destructive nature that he himself didn't realize. Her own ability could restore the blade, maybe, but she needed that hilt and as much of the sword as she could get.

X froze. "I -- I'm so sorry, I didn't think --"

What did he think, that Valdis had carved the wooden practice swords herself? X knew better than that. The part of him encompassing Valdis's reactions knew better than that. Perhaps, even now, he was still that unaccustomed to having an entire community of people to rely on, even people he'd never met and didn't know.

He handed the hilt over to Valdis immediately and dropped to his knees to gather up the splinters. "I can help carve another one," he said mindlessly. "Or I can pay for -- I can help, I can do something to help."

Contrary to X's horror, Valdis laughed, taking the hilt and waving him away.

"Don't touch them," she scolded lightly, "You might lose some pieces."

She knelt down, dropping the hilt among the shards. The blade had broken so similarly to Genesis. Some large shards and some small, but none so tiny that they had vanished into the grass. She held out her hand, laying it on the largest shards like she had the bones on the Narrakra. Focus. Valdis closed her eyes, feeling the connections between the shards and picturing what it once looked like in her mind. The last was different from the events on board that ship, but perhaps it would help.

The wooden sword slowly began to reassemble itself.

X obeyed her instruction and gesture without objection, but with a great deal of confusion. Had she been joking, before? Did she actually carve the sword herself?

Then the confusion vanished, to be replaced with shock and awe. It looked like telekinesis, but X didn't remember anything about Valdis having that ability. Her talent, then? But no, it couldn't just be telekinesis, because there wouldn't be any point to this -- the sword would still be broken.

X dropped to his knees, the better to see what she was doing. "You can fix it?" he asked quietly.

The wooden pieces seemed to move as if time had reversed, just as with how she healed, the shards moved seamlessly together, until the blade looked as if it had never been broken.

"Yes," she replied when she was finished, "I think it will hold, but I haven't done this often."

Valdis picked up the sword and smiled when it didn't fall apart, "Looks like we are opposites in yet another facet of life," she commented, "Though this one is perhaps a bit unexpected."

"Restoration," X breathed, his gaze fixed on the repaired sword as he finally made the connection about the branch of talent Valdis possessed. He exhaled slowly, then smiled, small but fierce. "I think it suits you."

She was right about it being unexpected, but at least for Valdis, it made a poetic sort of sense. If that meant admitting it must make a poetic sort of sense for X to have a destruction talent, then... well, he wouldn't be averse to admitting that. Just mildly disappointed in himself.

How do You Solve a Problem like Meira?

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