ph_logs | No We Didn't Light It

No We Didn't Light It

Who: Valdis (

redlightgreenlight) and Open
What: Valdis doing things
When: The Month of August
Where: Around Marrow Isle
Warning(s):Will be in threads

Look What the Cat Dragged In | Valdis and Max’s House | Max

In the early morning after the break in at the Leeds Manor, Shasta wakes Max by digging at the sheets next to him and poking him insistently. When he wakes she leads him to the front door, which when he opens, Valdis lies outside the door, still a little groggy and barely awake. Clearly this is a very convenient place to wake up.

Someone Cast Circle of Truth | Valdis and Max’s House | (limited to 3 characters, only lasts 24 hours)

Blast. She should have known that waking up on her own doorstep was too convenient. Her talk with Erik had proven that it was not nearly as good as she hoped. She locks the door behind him and retreats away from it, worried that others will come to call while she can’t lie.

And of course there’s already someone walking up the front steps.

“Dammit.”

I’ve Picked a Side | Library, Enforcer’s Precinct and The Streets | Open

TBD

Wildcard | Anywhere

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And that person is Erin, hands in her pockets and jauntily whistling Hot N Cold. Sue her, she's still dealing with breakup emotions, but despite it all she's more happy than anything else.

Well, most anything else, there's a layer of irritation on top of everything because she's fucking molting god DAMN it -

Knock-knock, your majesty.

It's been...weird, with Valdis. Not bad-weird, not good-weird, just weird. And Miles, hating being left in limbo, has handed Terry over to Lady's care (Lady being the Hattrem who is thwacking him less often, which he considers a win), and gone down to Valdis' place.

"Ding-dong, candygram," he says cheerfully as he knocks on the door.

Valdis freezes. She can't turn Erin away, the woman knows her far too well and she couldn't come up with a good excuse even if she wanted to.

"Now's not a good time."

She knows the waver in her voice means that Erin is not going to leave though. They may not be together, but she knows Erin still loves her.

It's just one after another! Mortanne must be having a good laugh right about now, but Valdis blows out a breath as she tries, and fails, to avoid answering the door. It's Miles and not for the first time she feels that weird feeling, a flutter she can't resist. Especially not now.

She opens the door and can't resist teasing.

"I don't see any candy."

"I must have left it behind," he says with a cheeky grin. "As long as I'm here, can I come in?"

He's expecting her to say no, which is totally valid - he's the one who came sauntering up out of the blue, and he hates when people do that. But he really, really wants her to say yes.

Oh, she should say no, but she doesn't want to say no, therefore she is unfortunately compelled to say:

"Yes, please come in, don't mind Shasta or Anani, they are both very friendly."

As if on cue, the nine tailed white fox appears, sniffing his hand as the white kitten wraps himself around Miles' legs.

"Hey, sweeties," Miles says, crouching down for Anani and Shasta to sniff at him. He's got a soft spot for animals, what can he say?

Once they've gotten a good sniff of him, he stands up and steps over the threshold. "Thanks. How're you doing, by the way?"

Both her pets seem to like him, which is nice, because she does too.

"Better, now that you're here."

Wait.

Valdis turns away taking a very deep breath as if trying to gather herself. The thoughts and feelings she's been having since He first arrived are now openly on the table, and that's not good.

Miles grins at her when she says that. "Oh yeah? Well, likewise, angel. Never thought I was gonna be the one to brighten anyone's day. Usually I'm a little black raincloud."

More literally than figuratively these days.

"Never," she says firmly. "You've never been a raincloud."

The absolute indignation in her voice at the very idea surprises even her. Along with her word choice, as if she's known him longer than she's known him. She almost feels confident in it. It's a very strange feeling and everything with Erik seems to be getting worse.

"Don't say things like that."

That was a little more vehement than he'd expected. And he hadn't even expected a defense against that self-deprecating joke.

Weird, but okay!

"Really...you okay? Seems like something's on your mind."

She tries very hard to deflect the questions, but no matter how many times she tries to get the words out, they won't come.

"I died and Mortanne, or whoever is in charge of this, seems to think that they're very funny."

"You died? And you give me crap about not being careful," Miles says, playfully tutting at her. Still, something does twist in his stomach when she says it. He doesn't want to think about it, even if she does come back.

"Don't tell me you slipped in the tub."

"Look, I..." It had been incredibly useful, but she's not sure it's something that should leave her head.

"Please don't ask. I can't...currently lie to anyone and I'd prefer to not have to discuss it."

She gets the feeling it would upset him just as much as it had Max.

"Okay, angel," he says, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "If you want to talk about it, I won't stop you, but I'm not going to pry, either. See, some people might think journalists would take full advantage of this kind of thing. I wouldn't. I'm not gonna take away someone's free will like that."

Then, softer: "I wasn't trying to get a scoop, you know. I was just asking as a friend. I wouldn't try and trick anything out of you."

She softens a little more at the sound of her nickname.

"I know you wouldn't, and I know you weren't, I just don't think you want to hear it. I...needed to accomplish something and I knew I could play the system to do it."

She holds out her hand, do you want to come in and sit down? I can make tea."

"See, all you're doing is making me more intrigued," he says.

Tea, though...tea fixes all problems and makes all difficult conversations easier. He grew up learning that.

"Uh, sure," Miles says, and, not knowing what else to do, takes her hand.

She supposes that as a reporter, even one that doesn't want to pry, would be interested in what she was saying. But, she still can't tell him what they found or what she was doing, it could jeopardize her plans moving forward.

Valdis pulls him into the house and releases his hand when they are by the couch, then she walks into the kitchen to put the water on.

"What kind of tea do you like?"

It's strange, but he doesn't quite want to let go of her hand. He does, though, and sits on the couch.

"I'll take mint, if you have it. One thing I learned growing up is that strong mint tea with frankly inadvisable amounts of sugar is pretty much a panacea."

Anani jumps onto the couch and crawls onto Miles' lap as Valdis tries to busy herself with making tea.

"I think we have mint."

She opens the tea cupboard and does indeed find the mint, which she puts into a strainer and sets into the teapot while she waits for the water.

"So what actually brings you to my doorstep?"

"Candygram," Miles says promptly, the lie utterly shameless.

"Really, though, I wanted to ask if you had any more info on the death of Linette Brenning that you wanted to share - this is not me asking right now," he says, trying to forestall whatever truth-serum-thingy is happening with her. "Since you've got this thing going on, though, I can come back to ask tomorrow. But you've already put the tea on, so you're stuck with me for now."

It doesn't take much encouragement to get Max out of bed; he slept fitfully anyway without Valdis there beside him. He only pauses long enough to throw on a pair of shorts and a robe before he rushes to the door, hoping it's her back in the flesh. His prayers are answered, but the moment he gets a good look at her he's right back to worrying.

"Valdis! Here, let me help you inside. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Valdis rolls her eyes, but a smile crosses her face and stays there as she busies herself making the tea.

"No, it's ok. Overall I have nothing new on Linette, I have other information that I am still processing and I want to make sure I have it straight before sharing it further. It could be dangerous to share and I don't wish for people to end up ostracized or dead on my behalf."

"No, I'm not hurt." She mumbles, reaching for his arm so she can drag herself upright,

It really does feel like when she returns on her own, weak and tired.

"It's ok, just tired and a little sore."

She hadn't told him how she had done it, and she doesn't plan to. He knew enough to be worried, but he hadn't stopped her. Still, the look in his eyes tells her plenty. He hadn't been happy about her decision, even if he was relived she was back.

"I can take you to the bed," his tone is caught somewhere between that being a question and a strong suggestion. As she tries to pull herself up, he dips to shoulder her weight intending to help her walk to the bed.

"We can both sleep in more if you want?"

He wants to ask so badly, but he's terrified to know. Terrified that it would spark terrible visions in his mind of her dying. But if he's being honest with himself, he'll realize he's already imagined so many possibilities, enough to fill his nightmares for weeks. Nothing can dull the pain of losing her, but having her back in his arms does finally make the world feel like it's right side up again.

Valdis takes a breath and shakes her head as he helps her stand.

"No, just the couch is fine. I feel like I've been asleep for ages."

She can feel his fears and worries still swirling in his soul and she kisses him softly, letting him take her weight to help her inside.

"I'm ok, Max. I promise."

"Okay, if you're sure." He'll help her to the sofa and sit down beside her, one knee bouncing nervously.

"I know. I know, I just can't help it." He can't force the worry away no matter how hard he tries.

"Did... it work?"

Valdis reaches out and sets her hand on the knee that bounces. She almost hates herself for making him worry, and she's sure he will never understand why she's making certain choices, even if he's chosen to support her. Perhaps she really does need therapy from Neil.

"I think so. I still need to process what I learned, but it was important that I do this. It keeps you and others safe."

His knee goes still under her touch. "I know it is. I know you wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't important. I won't ask you to stop, but I... still don't like it."

"I'm sorry, I know it hurts you and I don't want that."

Especially after the pain she had just gone through with him during the blight.

"I just...this is who I am and I need to keep going. I can't stop now, not after what I learned."

His knee finally relaxes beneath her hand and he blows out a long breath. He looks at her with his big soft eyes and cracks a wan smile.

"I know. That's why, even if it hurts sometimes, I'm never going to tell you to stop. I love who you are and I can handle a little pain. This is about more than just us. You're doing something important and I can't help you with it so... my job is to be here waiting for when you get back." Just like now.

Valdis leans over and kisses him one the cheek.

"I promise to always return to you, no matter what might separate us."

"You know," says Miles, "I'm good at making sure information is legit before moving forward with it. It's kind of my job."

He grimaces. "Even, and especially, dangerous information. How do you think I ended up here, anyway?"

Yes. He had gotten into trouble several times. He'd died twice here already, but he had been horribly injured before even arriving.

She sets the teacups on the counter, not making eye contact.

"I know I can't really ask you this, but do you trust me?"

Ah, the eternal question. Does he trust her? He likes her - a lot - but she is a cop. But she's shared information with him when she didn't have to, and she can actually stand being around him for more than ten minutes without wanting to punch his lights out...

...and yeah, there's something deep in him that says yes and he's not quite sure why. His gut hasn't led him wrong yet. Damn thing saved his life over and over during his time at Mount Massive, after all.

"Yeah," he says, totally serious for once. "I trust you."

Edited 2024-09-07 05:22 (UTC)

Visual relief passes over her, she's not sure what she would have done, or felt, if he had said otherwise.

"Dahlia Leeds is a tiefling, part human and part demon. I don't know who her demonic parent is, but her family has ties to Aster so it must be one of his. I...think she was behind your death."

She takes a sudden breath.

"You can't tell anyone, it will only lead to trouble. I'm not ready to defend my people against the blowback."

She doesn't have the proof and Dahlia is too well respected to insult in such a manner.

His smile grows, lifting his eyes with it.

"I promise to be patient. And to always be here waiting."

She leans in to kiss him, long and deep.

There's a long pause. Then Miles says "...huh," and looks pensive. There was the secret he'd been looking for.

"Well, well. Miss Leeds has a darker side. Any particular reason she singled me out, do you think, or was I just lucky?"

When she asks him not to spread it around, he nods. He knows the need to verify before moving forward. "I won't go telling tales outside of class, I promise. Just...out of everything I was expecting her secret to be, it wasn't that. Good thing I didn't put money on that."

"We all have a darker side, I just happen to have a grudge against hers."

why? She's not entirely sure.

"And I think you just got 'lucky.'"

Edited 2024-09-15 03:13 (UTC)

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No We Didn't Light It

Someone Cast Circle of Truth

["policy of truth" by depeche mode plays softly in the distance]

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CW: Implied suicide

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Look What the Cat Dragged In

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Wrap?

Wrap

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