Blood is Running Deep

[redlightgreenlight]

Characters: Valdis and closed with some open
Date: October
Location: Throughout Aifaran
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: In headers


After a somewhat traumatizing nightmare inflicted by the some aspect of the Dreaming, Valdis spent plenty of time looking over her shoulder. Much as she hated to admit it, her paranoia had increased and she still didn’t know how to deal with what she had seen or what she had almost done. She was lucky Miles had been nearby or she’d have made a mess of the sand. The rest of the month had been slow, though teasing Rutile from the shadows had been beyond entertaining, if unkind. Her meeting with Pepper had given her some direction, but she still had a long way to go.

Comments

[upshore]

Miles snorts. "I'm the Jesus figure for an entire weird-ass religion, which I guess is sort of blasphemous, because I hate the whole thing and I'd really rather not be."

When she says the last thing, though, he pauses, and suddenly looks deep in thought. "What if I go with you? I can get a little...well. You saw." Terrifying, Miles. The word is 'terrifying'.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis arched a brow, not thrilled with the idea of Miles coming along.

"The difference between me running around as a giant Hound and you walking the streets, is that my Hound form is still under my complete control. You...don't possess the same restraint."

She also couldn't find a way off the top of her head to add him into the narrative. Given more time, she might figure out something, but making it too complex heightened the risk of failure.

[upshore]

He frowned. Yeah, she had a point, but two 'demons' were better than one. Especially because he knew he looked scary when he was all Walrider-ed out.

"I'm okay when I haven't been drugged up to the gills with crazy juice and not out of my mind with fear," he said dryly. "I've even been getting all Zen on the daily to get better control. I've had this thing for a couple years now. I've had time to work on it."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I don't have any rumors to spread aside from hounds of death and none of them involve someone like you, and you are much better suited to helping spread the rumors than stalking the streets during the Night Parade."

Which is why she had decided to tell him about her tentative plan. One appearance might be enough, but it was still risky. She'd been careful about her shifting, but the incident in the park sever months ago could easily come back to bite again.

"I just need someone who can tell stories well."

[upshore]

"I don't tell stories, I tell the truth," Miles pointed out. "But I guess I can tell people about the big black scary helldog. Let them draw their own conclusions." After all, that's what journalism is, in the end. Reporting facts and people deciding what to do from there. Even if this skirted a little close to 'lying' for his tastes. Lying by omission was still lying. Even though it was for the greater good, of a sort.

He frowned. "What if I film you just a little? That might help. It'd definitely make rumors spread faster. People see what they want to see."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Not every story is false, Miles," Valdis pointed out, though she considered his suggestion. "If you do film, it need to be unclear, shaky, easy to almost dismiss. It needs to be clear enough to sew suspicion and rumor, but not enough to easily pick me out should someone glimpse me by accident."

The more she considered her plan, the riskier it seemed. She didn't know how many might connect the incident in the park to any video footage.

[upshore]

"Okay. I can do that. I'll put on my night vision and move quickly, Paul Greengrass style." He liked the guy's cinematography, but shakycam seemed like a good idea for this. "I can also stay far back, so when I zoom in it'll still be fuzzy."

He knew how to film properly, which meant that he knew how to film poorly.

[redlightgreenlight]

Miles seemed oddly enthusiastic about this, but he had said he disliked cultists, and considering what little she knew, it made sense. Valdis wasn't fond of them either, though for less 'homeworld' reasons and more Konryu reasons.

"Sounds good to me," she replied, "You up for walking the streets with the ghosts?"

The Night Parade was the perfect setting for this ruse.

[upshore]

Miles had been screwed by cultists back at home and in Konryu, so he was extra angry about them. If it drew out the source of the horrifying ritual on board the Narrakra, they'd done their jobs.

"I've palled around with worse," he said, "and the living are worse than ghosts any day of the week."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Only if the ghosts cannot affect the physical world," Valdis smirked, "Yet we have a plan, let us enact it in secret, and swiftly."

How they would distribute the information would have to come later. But hopefully it would work.

"I shall see then at the very least."