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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Meira woke very confused. This place held no resemblance to anywhere she had been before, but there were no accompanying feelings of concern. Odd, but not really a reason to be troubled. The paws and tail were interesting, but Dreams often were, might as well have fun with it. The streets of the city were offered few worries at this early hour, she could sense the sun on the horizon, even if the buildings blocked the colors from view. She had followed the cat all the way to this street. The fluffy, white one that looked very much like her own back home. The building looked familiar, like she’d been here, but she didn’t know exactly where to go, so she scrambled up the stairs after the cat, too large paws and gangly legs carrying her easily. Meira followed him up, up, up the stairs and down the hallway until he stopped outside a door. She tipped her head, trotted over to him and sniffed his ear, which he flicked patiently.

Where are we, Mr. Cat.

The place looked familiar, the lock looked easy enough, and there was a scent which paired with multiple emotions. Care, annoyance, protectiveness, pack. The cat tapped the door with a paw and she tipped her head again, tail waving. It looked at her, at the door, then took a breath and yowled like the world was ending.

Food was very much on Meira’s mind, and this place had the best smells, or maybe it was the best memories? Or maybe it was just the familiarity that she liked. No matter what it was, Meira trotted through the streets without a care in the world. As long as she went exactly where she had said and had one of the Dreamfolk at the cafe inform him that she had arrived, the stuffy vampire had agreed to let her go without him. She sat down and scratched at the collar with his contact information tied to it, biting at it briefly until she almost fell over from leaning too far. She righted herself with a huff before trotting over to the closest Dreamfolk.

Can you please inform Mr. Parker than I am here? she asked, I’d do it, but I currently lack thumbs…

Valdis’ many feelings regarding Bobby’s attack created certain feelings that she very much wished to ignore. The problem with ignoring them was that the issues wouldn’t just go away. X’s inability to defend himself despite having the necessary knowledge of skill, meant that it was his body that lacked the coordination and range of movement, not to mention the attitude required. Acquiring two wooden practice blades had been easy enough, and the message Valdis left on his yimo indicated he should meet her here, in the park they had first fought.

She sat on the newly built bench, wooden blades leaning against the arm, waiting for the Mirror to arrive. Valdis had plenty of experience with beginners, yet someone with the body of a beginner and the potential mind of an experienced sword user might be a unique sort of challenge. She’d have to find out just how it functioned and the quickest route would be a spar.

Edited 2018-08-05 04:15 (UTC)

The merchant refusing to sell her a pearly necklace might have been more cause for anger if it hadn’t been for what he had called her, Storm Bringer, a destroying of ships and coastal communities. Valdis had not been hailed as a Harbinger of Destruction in many years, but the idea greatly amused her.

“If I am this ‘Storm Bringer’,” she replied with a smile, “Have you considered what might happen should you refuse me this necklace?”

The merchant paled and shoved the necklace at her, insisting it was free and to just leave and not come back. Her smile remained as she set the payment down on the counter, scooping up the necklace and walking outside. The rain had stopped, for the moment at least, so Valdis decided to continue on her walk. It was not to be, however, as the rain returned suddenly and with a vengeance, forcing her to duck inside a small covered alley for cover.

“A Storm Bringer would have enough sense to not soak herself,” she complained absently, pulling out the necklace to look it over again.

The crystal unicorn had been on her bedside table when she woke from a dreamless sleep. The fair creature was similar to the one Anton had given her, but that figurine had been made of glass and this one was clearly higher quality in everything but sentiment. Valdis had held the figurine in her hands, trying to decide where it had come from.

Careful, Meira. You don’t want to drop it by accident.

The voice came unbidden, so faint in her mind that it lacked any remembered image to accompany it. A sound, so soft, so filled with care, that it couldn’t belong to the man she had killed. The man who had tried to kill her. Valdis almost did drop the unicorn as recognition struck her hard in the chest. She set the statue on her nightstand, snatched her sketchbook from the drawer and fled to the shore.

She sketched madly until the sun hit its peak, page after page of half visions and faceless figures, trying to reconcile that voice with what she knew. It was like snatching at air, nothing to hold and yet you still could breathe. With a frustrated shriek, she tossed the sketchbook into the sand, letting the wind turn the pages as it wished.

Leo was still kind of confused and sad that his little sister wasn't there to play with him, but he got a sort of sense that this was a place he'd been before. Also, Mr. Klaus had said he was a friend and been very nice to him, even if a little protective. Still, Leo was a curious child and when he spotted a large black animal outside the cafe, he immediately bolted over to stare with wide eyes.

They were a normal blue color, Leo having been shrunk back to a little kid. He nudged the door open, shouting, "PUPPY!!!" before attempting to pet the dog on the head.

Meira scrambled backward as the young boy lunged at her, her green eyes wide with confusion and bewilderment.

I'm not a puppy, she yipped, I'm a girl/

Except she was currently a black puppy, and while she hadn't forgotten, it took some getting used to.

Ask first, she demanded, keeping out of his reach.

Leo stopped when the dog talked to him, since that was something that didn't happen all the time. Did he scare the dog? She said she was a girl, so that meant she was a girl dog?

"You're a girl dog? Can I pet you, please? You're really fluffy!!" Leo was looking at her with his own large puppy eyes.

Trahearne was lately visiting the beach more often than he ever had before, but he still enjoyed taking walks near the water when he needed to occupy himself. The heat was hardly a bother to him considering his home city was on the edge of a jungle; in fact, Trahearne was visibly a more healthy green than he had been when he first arrived here.

It did feel more comfortable near the ocean, with the welcoming breeze there to chase away some of the heat. Trahearne had stopped for a moment on one of the walkways leading down to the beach when he heard that cry. He jogged over without a second thought, not realizing until he was much closer that the dark head of hair he'd seen belonged to Valdis.

"What's this? Is there some kind of trouble?" he asked, leaning over to pick up the discarded sketchbook.

...That was adorable.

And then there was a voice in his head. Zephyr twitched. It was definitely a female voice -- sounded like a girl, honestly -- but he still wasn't a huge fan of sudden voices in his head. He glanced around for a source, spotted no immediately evident girls, and returned his attention to the puppy. "That you?" he wanted to know, hunkering down and tilting his head at her. "Who's Mr. Parker?"

He didn't actually remember Devin's surname.

No, she yipped, I just look like a dog, I'm a girl.

It was hard to explain and dreams were weird and Meira didn't know why or how, but she dropped her head so the boy could reach.

Just don't pull my fur.

Yes, Meira lifted a paw and tapped his knee. He was a handsome one, just like her brother. Older though. She tipped her head, tail waving.

Mr. Parker, she repeated, her rear dropping to the ground as she tried to remember the first name. It was generally polite to refer to your elders with a title, so she'd put the first name out of mind.

Mr. Parker...

This was annoying, she turned away to itch at the collar again and then she remembered.

His information is on the collar!

Valdis started when she heard Trahearne's voice, his approach lost somewhere between reality and memory. She eyed the sketchbook, covered in sand and tossed by the wind.

"It's nothing," she replied, "Just some drawings that I can't finish."

Not for lack of trying, the ability to complete them just didn't exist. Not beyond skill, but beyond imagination. That was the problem with trying to unseal memories that wanted to stay dead.

The little rabbit birds were all over the place, Some small, some large. Some with a little bit of color and some without a single spot to mar their snow white coats. Meira's fascination had led to a bit of ruckus as she followed one with different colored eyes across the grass.

Come back, she whined as she followed at a slow walk, I just want to pet you!

Her tiny whimpers went unheeded by the bibiru, for it continued to hop away from her, chittering madly. Her stubborn nature made her follow it. If it really wanted to get away, it would move faster, right?

Please?

Devin hadn't been sleeping well lately; the past two or three months have been tumultuous at best, and Beelzebub's brief presence had exposed things he was not prepared to deal with. The sudden yowling outside his door woke him from a doze rather than proper sleep. Only one creature in Aifaran would make that noise, and Anani's cries could be anything from purely wishing to annoy him or something genuinely serious.

He rubbed weariness from his eyes as he walked to the living room, straightening his rumpled shirt. The sight that greeted him when he opened the door made him wonder, at first, if he was still asleep - or worse hallucinating. Valdis was... miniature. Still large, to be sure, but not the full-sized Hound that he was used to. Repeated blinking proved the odd pair weren't going away.

"Good morning," Devin said dryly, stepping back to let her in. Luthien trotted past his feet to greet Anani and the young Hound in turn. "Did you take a shrinking potion or something?"

Meira backpedaled when the cat yowled, but it seemed to have the desired effect as she soon heard movement beyond the door. She stepped back to it, sniffing the door to pick up who was beyond. Familiar still, but no idea why. The door opened to a very pretty man who simply stared at them, blinking, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. In the end, however, he stepped aside to let them in. She sniffed noses with the small creature who greeted them and then followed the white cat into the apartment.

Good morning, she replied, looking around, ears flicking back and forth. I found your cat.

At least, she assumed it was his cat, it had brought her here after all. She looked over her back at him, wondering why it all felt so familiar.

...Oh dear. Devin instantly knew that something was deeply awry if Valdis didn't recognize Anani as hers. And more concerning still, she didn't sound like Valdis. She sounded like a child in his head.

"He's not mine," Devin began carefully, shutting the door behind them. Luthien rubbed up against the Hound's legs, trilling like she was asking a question. How careful would he have to be with this? "Anani has a mind of his own; he goes where he wants. That's here today, apparently." Beat. "Are you alright?"

Meira dropped her head to sniff Luthien, recognition flitting briefly through her eyes.

Anani? My cat is named...oh.

What a strange dream, her cat seemed to have followed her into it, and this little creature and the man who spoke so carefully, almost as if skirting a question he very much wanted an answer to. But it wasn't the one he asked, she knew that for certain. She turned around, head tipping from side to side, evaluating. A name came to mind, a name that matched. She dropped into a play bow, tail not quite wagging, then bounced around in a circle.

I know you, she yipped, So yes, yes I'm fine. This is fun!

This is not at all Flekk's idea of a good time.

Mind you, Flekk is a very simple creature, with very simple wants, and therefore a very simple concept of what constitutes a Good Time. It involves food, a warm lap, and not being chased across the park by a dog.

His little wings are flapping with ineffectual desperation as he hop-hop-hops away from his pursuer and back towards the silhouette of a certain dwarf who is standing, hands on his hips, whistling. "Flekk? Shit, where'd he get off to--" he starts to say, only to wobble forward a pace when the bibiru in question bumps right into the back of his calf.

"Ancestors, duster, you scared me," he grouses--before he spots the approaching puppy and quickly scoops Flekk up off the ground. "Hey now, this one's not for you," he warns her, backing up a few paces.

It was jarring, avoiding Valdis for so long -- however unconsciously -- and then finding a direct message from her asking if they could meet. It wasn't something X could have predicted, which meant -- what? Maybe something happened. Maybe she had a sincere change of heart. Maybe she heard about what happened with Bobby. Maybe she met Bobby.

Either way, refusing to meet didn't even occur to X as a viable option.

When he arrived, he definitely hadn't dressed for a spar, though it would do in a pinch; and his hair, at least, was braided back. He took one look at the wooden blades Valdis had brought, and his expression morphed into bemusement. "You can't be serious," he said, knowing full well that she was. "What did Devin tell you?"

So focused on the little rabbit bird, Meira almost doesn't notice the short man until he scoops the creature from the ground. She drops to her belly when he scolds her, flattening herself against the grass, ears just as flat against her head, green eyes wide.

I'm sorry, she whines, still looking at the bibiru, I just want to be friends.

With this particular one for some reason. There were several others in the immediate vicinity, but this one is special and she isn't inclined to question why.

Well that's new.

Kit had a limited number of encounters with demons and the Fade during his life in Thedas, and so the sensation of something speaking to him in his head is not foreign, precisely. It's sure as hell not welcome, though, and if it weren't for those sodding precious green eyes gazing up at him with all the contrition and crushing disappointment of, well, an overenthusiastic puppy, he'd be beating pavement in the opposite direction right now.

But the Dreaming has a way of forcing him to not only make peace with the shit that scares him senseless, but to actively make friends with it, too, and this moment appears to be no exception. So in spite of that initial jolt of shock, the negative associations don't sink their claws in as they might have months ago.

He cracks a crooked grin and looks from the pup to Flekk, then back again. He raises his eyebrows some. "Friends, huh? You promise to be nice?"

Meira felt the man calming down, a sense of indescribable emotions associated with cute things but also a small amount of something like fear. She blinks slowly, eyes moving from the bunny-bird to the man. The next moment, she rolls over, tail tucking, and paws at the air with a front paw, trying to make that smile as big as she can possibly manage.

I promise! she chirped, bringing her other paw up and tucking the first one, looking up with those big eyes. Her father could never resist them and she had a feeling that not many people would try.

Trahearne gave the sketchbook a shake to loosen some of the sand, then flipped through the pages, more out of curiosity than any desire to pry. That so many of the drawings were incomplete was a little bit eerie, all the moreso because of the few details that had made it into the drawings were right alongside the vague, incomplete sections.

"They're very good for not being finished," he said, holding the sketchbook back out to her. "But... those pages, many of them looked like they were similar figures. Are you having trouble with finding inspiration?" Trahearne admittedly wasn't too familiar with how artists worked. He had just never been very deeply involved with the work of the handful he'd known, mostly because he'd been busy with his own studies.

Valdis could care less about how prepared X was for combat. If he were attacked, the problem wouldn't wait for him to prepare himself. Valdis rose from the bench, plucking both swords from the ground.

"Devin hasn't told me anything," Valdis said, tossing one of the blades at X, "Aside from the fact you met Bobby. Quite the piece of work, isn't she?"

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How do You Solve a Problem like Meira?

Devin | 8th of August | Devin’s Apartment | CW: Fluff and a Confused Vampire

Open | Anytime between the 9th and 14th | Klaus’ Cafe | CW: More Fluff

X | Before the 8th | The Park near the Shore | CW: None

Open | Faith 2 | A Street Near the Market | CW: None

Open | Meta 4 | The Shore | CW: Feels

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Kit | After the 8th | A park near the Dreaming Bridge | CW: none

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