far_beyond | Don't Get too Close, It's Dark Inside

Valdis sat in what appeared to be the security office, or at least, it was labeled as such. Being on a space station she supposed it wouldn’t be like back home. Far more automated and less paper, though by the records she had found not less paperwork. Convincing the computer to give her access had taken some time, and she could still only see a few things, but she got the gist of the plac, and the rules weren’t much different than at home, though…it seemed there was far less murder.

She sighed deeply, hating the fact she was forced to operate on so little information. In addition, the lack of people on this station made it too quiet. Allowing the whispers to be heard a little too loud, the emotions to be a little more sharp. She already knew every soul here, because, honestly there were so few it was easy. She picked up the padd again, trying to coax more information out of the computer.

"Um, excuse me? Sorry - but it looks like you could use some help? Could you?"

The voice is kind of soft, as if he was concerned about interrupting Valdis while she was working - and he was, but it was quiet in the halls, corridors? Too quiet for Peter's liking. Even in New York, in the tiny, dirty shoebox he had been trying to scrape up a life in - at night when he struggled to sleep because of the quiet, the feeling of loneliness - there were still the sounds of cars, sounds of the city outside. The soft hum of the systems keeping a space station from doing entirely dark? It made him feel worse. It wasn't a comfort like it probably should have been. If anything he kept jumping at what few sounds he could hear, his mind going to the time he watched Alien on the couch with May, even though he knew he was at least with some, not many, people who were... nowhere nearby?

Eventually, he stumbles upon the security office where he could hear the sounds of someone working and that's when he peeks into the office, wearing a uniform and his spidersuit under it - the neck covering visible, he felt a bit safer with it on, the mask hidden in a pocket - looking more like a lost trick or treater than anything. He had knocked quietly before asking the question.

Then he takes a quick room around. He was a sciences guy, he thinks, but that doesn't mean he can't help someone who is another division, right?

He really didn't want to be alone right now, maybe she would let him just hang out for a while if nothing else, but he can't help but want to feel useful. It was the one thing keeping him going these days.

"Um, I think I can help get some of those files open if they are locked with a password. I'm not super versed but a friend of mine taught me some things and maybe I can help?"

Valdis looks up as the boy speaks, so absorbed in her record reading that she doesn't even hear him approach. Perfect way to get herself killed again, not paying attention to her surroundings. She's probably the most beautiful woman Peter has ever seen, but he can definitely tell she is annoyed by something more than the documents being hidden behind passcodes by the furrow in her brow.

This boy, she thinks his name is Peter, is a soft, innocent and gentle soul, a bright light. Almost too bright. Annoying, you don't find many souls like that, it made her darkness shiver and draw back, followed by the intense urge to destroy it. She shrugs off the feeling quickly, turning back to her PADD so he couldn't see the brief scarlet in her eyes.

"Somehow I think these computers are more complex than either of us have ever seen, but you are welcome to take a crack at it." She points to another desk along the side of the room, not looking up from her 'paperwork'.

In the grand scheme of things, the time she had been on the station had been short, and with so few people, it was generally easy to avoid them. She had no interest in these people aside from what they could offer her, and being as they were in the same boat as her, there really wasn’t much they could offer. Q said they had at least a week before the ‘interested parties’ were able to make contact, but Valdis wasn’t so keen on their interference or even help, much as those trapped here might need it.

Though there was much need for more people, this station couldn’t run without more crew, even with the computer being so advanced. She left her solitary room, ensuring it was locked behind her and Revelations was safely stored away in a hidden spot. Not that anyone could take the sword without ill effects. Only she could wield it and she had no idea why. So much of her life had been some sort of mystery, with memories missing and only vague ideas of what had happened before she woke for the second time. And now she was here.

A small soul ahead of her drew her thoughts. It felt…off, not in a bad way, but in a way that reminded her of the girls she had once fallen in with so many years ago, back when necessity meant beauty could be bought and sold.

Edited 2022-02-11 21:52 (UTC)

Misa is exploring and she does not like it. She wants to go home, she wants to be forced out of bed by Jocko to practice with her knives, she wants Freema to scold her for taking the last of the Bothan peaches. She wants to play with Kik, Mina's baby.

She can feel someone behind her. She finds a corner to tuck herself into, just as Jocko taught her and waits for whoever it is to reveal herself. Misa is surprised at the woman who appears. She hadn't thought that the pretty woman with dark hair would be the one behind her.

She cocks her head to one side, wondering what this woman could want with her. "May I help you?" She asks, haughtily. She will not show how scared she is.

Uncertainty, and perhaps a bit of anger, accompanied the soul ahead. Not unusual in the current predicament, but the age of the girl around the corner, paired with the feelings of the soul, was.

"No," Valdis replies, sensing the attempt at hiding fear, "I'm simply headed from one place to another, as one generally does when in an unfamiliar place."

She doesn't linger on the girl's haughty demeanor, the young soul has been through much, though exactly what cannot be divined simply from feelings.

"Care to join me?"

She huffs, just as all teenagers do at one time or another. She keeps her arms crossed, knowing the Mistress would have already snapped at her. But, she's coming to find, the Mistress isn't here. Neither are the Inquisitors.

"Where are you going to?" She doesn't trust adults, save two, and they had to work very hard at gaining her trust. And this woman, whatever she is, isn't one of those two.

She suddenly wants Freema and Jocko and Hurog and... Well, all the other courtesans of the House. If that man could bring her here, why not all the rest? Except for Mistress Habani.

Young humans seemed to always carry so many emotions and silly defiance, though adult humans really weren't much better, except at outwardly hiding the same things.

"Well, the station is rather large and I haven't seen the whole thing yet. I feel it's important to be familiar with your surroundings, so I was going to explore the far side, but first I figured I should stop at the bar and get some food."

The tiny thing could probably use some food, but time would tell if the girl would even follow, though, Valdis didn't really see why she should care.

"That's not real food." She whines. She's hungry, but they don't have any of the things that she's used to. "It can't even give us Bothan Peaches." Which is a tragedy of epic proportions.

"Do you know how to cook?" She asks, suddenly. Maybe they can get raw materials and someone could make actual food. She's picky about her food. She's never touched protein cubes, unlike other people.

Bothan Peaches...Valdis has never heard of them, but she had never been into agriculture, so perhaps there was kind of peach named that.

"I can cook," She replies, arching an elegant brow, "But I don't know where to find fresh ingredients or even a kitchen in which to cook them."

Also, she doesn't know anything fancy, as she doesn't need to really eat. But as to where to cook, perhaps the holosuite could create a working kitchen.

Misa huffs. It figures. "My apologies. My name is Misa." No, it isn't, but it is? She will never forget the name her mother gave her, or the names she's earned from the people surrounding her.

"Do you know of Cantonica? Or the Core?" She asks, falling into step with the woman. Might as well get herself something to eat, too. Freema would be distraught that she's not eaten since arrival, really.

Misa. A strange name for a strange girl. A single name, like hers. But her lack of humanity didn't match this girl. Misa was young, human and felt older than her years, and not in a good way. It rarely was good when someone so young felt like this.

"I'm afraid I have not," she replies, not quite leading the way as the girl has fallen into step with her. "Can you tell me about those places?"

She shakes her head. "I don't know about the Core. I've never been there. I had hoped you had." She admits, softly. "The traders and others who come to the House talk about how full it is. I doubt I'll ever get to go there." She says, softly.

She walks along. "But Canto, Canto is filled with all sorts of people. Even the Wookiees and the Trandoshans don't fight there." Which is, apparently, a big deal.

Wookiees? Trandoshans? Valdis has no idea who these races are, but Canto sounds like quite the exotic place.

"Is that where you are from?"

Drawing this girl out of her shell might be easier that thought, it seemed she did desire to connect, but was perhaps afraid to.

"It's where I live." She confirms. Not where she's from. That's a more complex question and one that she's not going to answer, because that brings up things she doesn't want to remember. "I'm the future Mistress of the House." She says, proudly.

"Mistress will be cross that I've left. I know Q said that they wouldn't know, but there was trouble in the market, and I was with Jocko." She says softly. If Mistress is cross, then Jocko will get the laser whip. And make Misa watch.

Future Mistress... Nothing she hadn't seen thousands of times before, nothing she should really care about. Humans did immoral things all the time. In some times it could be considered normal. Who was she, a true monster, to judge the actions of other monsters. Humans were so undeserving of their dreams, but...Misa was a mere child and she had likely never been given a choice

"I'm sure your Mistress will accept an apology." She replies idly, thoughts churning in her head, "You may have to do extra chores though."

Misa shakes her head. "A Mistress does not apologize. It is for the lower classes." She says, reciting rules she'd been told. "And a courtesan does not do chores." She says, haughtily. No, instead, Jocko will get the whip and not just lose the tip of his lekku.

"Mistress will punish. That is certain." She says, softly. She knows it to be true.

"Tell me," she replies, inclining her head ever so slightly, "Why is being a courtesan so important to you?"

The girl is little more than a glorified slave really, at least by modern standards. But there was a time when courtesans were treated with respect, considered important to certain societies. To mistreat a courtesan was to court harsh repercussions. Though, whether or not that stood in Misa's world couldn't be known unless the girl chose to tell her.

She stops and looks at this woman, who is something different. "I need to be. The courtesans of the House need me." It's a simplistic explanation, but what else could she do? It's what her mother and Habani have trained her for.

"Besides, it's what I've been trained for, and Mistress has put a lot of money into it."

She stays in step with Misa, pausing when the girl stops. Misa seems surprised by the question, though Valdis is not necessarily surprised by her reply. Someone raised into a life rarely thinks of leaving it, unless they see something else, something new, and realize they can make their own choices.

"Ok, you need to be," she repeats, "If you could choose something else, what would you do?"

Raised to fulfill a fantasy, surely she has some of her own?

She frowns, cocking her head to the side. "Nothing." She says, shrugging. "I want to be a courtesan."

Really, fantasies like that will do her no good. At some point, she'd thought about it. She'd thought she'd wanted to be a great Jedi, but they were hunted and hurt and destroyed by the Empire.

She doesn't want that, nope.

"Well, you certainly seem to have it all figured out. And at such a young age too." She quipped, "It's not the worst life choice out there in my experience, a good mistress, a good house, good guards to protect you..."

Not so much in the modern age, but in the past.

She pauses. A good house, good guards... yes. Good mistress? Well, Habani is her Mistress, that's for sure. Is she good? She doesn't know. She doesn't get beaten, she eats regularly. Things could be worse.

"Yes, a good future." She says, softly, knowing that there are things that can and probably would go wrong.

Misa doesn't sound completely convinced, but the girl has an air of gumption about her. If she survives her world, perhaps she will indeed become a Mistress. It's not really a life Valdis considers appropriate for a child, but changing the mind of someone raised in a life isn't her goal or desire. Caring isn't up her alley.

"If that's what you want," she replies, continuing down the hall.

The inescapable quiet haunted her every breath, even as she went through the slow motions of swordsmanship in her quarters. Too few people, with not enough conflicting emotion to drown out the ever present voice laughing and whispering in the darkness. She hadn’t been this alone in years, not since she had awoken from her long sleep. But even that sleep hadn’t been like this. Frustrated, Valdis slashed downward and through a chair, wrending it in two with the sharp angelic blade tied to her soul. She dropped the sword in disgust, annoyed she had briefly allowed emotion to take over and guide her movement. The door slid open as someone passed.

“What?”

Valdis sat at her desk in security. The voles had been mostly taken care of, but she still tracked several throughout the station and Jaina was hunting them down. There weren't many individuals on the station, but they all seemed like interesting individuals, and she had notes on all the ones she had had more than one interaction with. First impressions meant a lot, yet she tried to give most of them a few chances.

She sighed, scrolling through more of Odo's notes, the public ones at least. The door made a sound as someone walked in, drawing her attention.

So, security, huh.

Guillermo had laughed when he'd seen his assignment. Absolutely on-brand for a vampire's bodyguard. What else was he going to be? Command? Science? There wasn't much that seemed to call for the skills of a familiar.

He'd dithered about putting on the uniform before splitting the difference and putting a cardigan over it. The yellow security identifier could still be seen, but he felt a little more like himself. The cardigans had been his own sort of uniform for the past decade-plus. After taking a look at the station map on his padd, he went to the Security Office to familiarize himself with the local security situation. He considered himself a bit of an expert on that, at least.

"Oh," he said when he saw the woman in the office. "Hi. You're, uh. Security, too?"

The stench of blood, rancid, sharp and recent flooded her senses. A flash of scarlet raced through her normally deep green eyes and if she had been a Hound, her hackles would have risen. The man who stood before her, so unassuming and harmless in appearance seemed as close to death as any murderer on death row. The people she hunted at home without mercy, using cleverness to catch and convict.

She shook her head, smiling brightly, no sign of anything wrong in her stature or on her face. "I suppose so. And you are?"

Her uniform turned into a yellow blouse under a dark brown vest, with her normal breeches and brown knee height boots. Far more comfortable than that one piece suit thing.

The scarlet flash was quick enough to escape his notice. If he'd noticed it, he'd have been much more alert, much more on edge, but he was putting on a bright, smiling face, too. One tinged with anxiety, at least. Which was totally normal for anyone in such a new and strange environment.

"Guillermo de la Cruz. Uh, Ensign, I guess, but we all are, so I don't really. Know if that matters." He laughed awkwardly. "You?"

Despite the bloody nature of this kid's soul, there was a weird lightness to it, the kind that accompanied the barely sane, the ones who didn't recognize the wrong they had done. A sociopath perhaps, but no murderous vibes emanated from the odd man, Guillermo, at the moment.

"Ah, yes, we don't really ascribe to Q's rules much when it comes to rank," she replied, folding her hands on the desk and giving him her full attention. "My name is Valdis."

She had given everyone her real name so far, so anything different now would be suspicious.

"What experience do you have with security?"

Edited 2022-03-20 00:49 (UTC)

The mononym didn't faze him one bit. Lots of vampires only went by one name. Also lots of people did. Like Cher.

"I'm a bodyguard back where I come from," he said. "I guess this was kind of the only logical place to put me. I've never been, like, a security guard or anything, but I can do surveillance, I can do, um, bodyguarding stuff...you know."

He looked rather too soft to be capable of guarding anyone, but darkness came in all forms, from ugly and unassuming to beautiful and delicate. Not that this kid was ugly, but he was definitely not someone a normal person would look twice at.

"I see, well, I'm sure we can work together just fine. With some luck, there won't be a lot of need for other skills."

Though Q might get bored now that the voles were under control and decide to throw something more at them.

"Tell me, Guillermo, have you ever killed someone?"

Guillermo swallowed hard. "I've killed vampires. O-only in self-defense, though," he said quickly, trying not to think of the accidents. "And to protect people." Okay, maybe he has gone a little overboard with the slaughtering in the past, but to be fair to him...

...yeah, he's got nothing.

"It's not like I make it a habit, though. Just, you know. Part of the job."

Vampires. Well, that explained part of it, though vampires and their particular functions and...status of their souls was under debate in her world. That they existed in another world, she took a breath.

"Well, that's understandable. I suspect Vampires are quite...dangerous."

Though it didn't explain everything, this kid carried ghosts, it explained enough for her to relax ever so slightly. The danger lingered, but he didn't look nearly fit enough to keep up with vampires. But, the vampires she read about weren't necessarily the ones Guillermo had experience with.

"So you have combat skills? If the Cardassians show up, we may need to actually fight."

"Yeah, I've got combat skills. I can hold my own in a fight." Against a vampire. "I've never used one of these phaser things though. Closest I've used before is a crossbow, and that's not really close at all. I'm more used to close-quarters stuff." Granted, a lot of that took advantage of vampire weaknesses, but even without garlic and crucifixes and holy water, you stab anything hard enough with a stake or a silver blade, and it's going to die.

"I see, well, Guillermo, nice to have you aboard. I've been doing this all on my own so far, so to have another set of eyes around here will be helpful."

She'd be watching her back though, just out of respect for the taint in his soul and the scent of blood on the air. Valdis stood, walking around the desk.

"Have you been able to familiarize yourself with the station yet?"

"I wish I could say it's good to be aboard, but...yeah." He shrugged, because hey-what-can-you-do-we're-all-stuck-here-maybe-we-can-go-kill-a-god-later. "But it's going to be nice to work with someone else for once." Guillermo gave her a small smile.

"I've done a little bit of wandering around and checking out the map, but this place is pretty big. At least it all seems pretty symmetrical. And the voles are getting me pretty well acquainted with the vents."

His attitude regarding being on the station matched most. Of all the people here, only Clarissa seemed happy about it. The rest of them were simply coping.

"I understand that. I'm not a huge fan of being kidnapped, I had people back home who count on me."

Though, they believed her to be dead...but such things were really minor details compared to the bigger picture that contained her history. And here, none of it mattered.

"Well, I'd tread carefully around those vents, there are...other things in there too."

She had definitely seen a tail that didn't belong to a vole slip into one while they were hunting the rodents.

"Yeah. I do, too." Nandor needed him. "I don't know what...that person...is going to do without me." Or what I'm going to do without him.

He's not unhealthily, toxically codependent. Shut up.

When she mentioned things in the vents, he nodded. "I think I saw a cat?" He wasn't about to question it. Hell, Sam could do an entire professional charcuterie spread. Whatever the vent-cat was on about, he was pretty sure that it knew what it was doing.

Valdis caught a sense of longing in his words, a sick sort of longing, an obsession. Unlike Guillermo, the people she left behind were perfectly capable of going on without her. Humans were resilient in that way.

"There aren't many of us here, but we are competent enough to keep this place running so far. I certainly hope you can add to that."

The outward appearance didn't match anything else she could sense. That saying 'don't judge a book by its cover' definitely applied here.

"Have you seen the...bar yet?"

Humans were resilient. Vampires - at least the ones Guillermo knew - were incompetent morons who couldn't keep a house running for a week without him around.

He laughed a little bit. "I'm pretty good at keeping a place running day-to-day. By myself. Obviously not a whole space station, but eh..."

When she mentioned the bar, though, he nodded. "I've been, yeah. Not spent a whole lot of time...it's not really my kind of scene. Even though it's just the few of us, I'm not really a going-to-bars kind of guy."

His cardigan certainly wouldn't fit in at a bar.

She smiled when he mentioned running a place by himself. "I suppose it's impressive that you've done so much as a bodyguard and an attendant to a facility."

She walked past him, the door sliding open to let her pass. Keeping an eye on him should be relatively simple since they were in the same division. He seemed like a bit of as pushover, but a slayer would be anything except that. Though, the quality of those he had killed may differ greatly from her own kills. No way of really knowing and no reason to find out.

"Well, it's not much of a bar, but there's food and drink. Plus the holosuites."

"You just pick up some skills along the way over a decade, I guess." Really, the best way to describe what his job was, to a normal person, would be 'caretaker for the elderly'. Which was strictly true. He did do that. And the vampires were very, very elderly. Even Colin Robinson, who could actually take care of himself, was a hundred years old.

Yeah.

Most caretakers didn't dismember corpses as part of the job, though.

"I haven't actually tried the holosuites yet, actually. The food's pretty good, though."

A decade. Enough time to pick up any number of skills, but not master the. Though perhaps if the focus settled on one particular area, it might be achievable.

"I have used them for simulations regarding the vole infestation, but I general believe that putting yourself in a dream is nothing more than a delusion."

Delusions are dangerous.

"But, yes, the food is decent enough."

Don't Get too Close, It's Dark Inside

Your eyes, they shine so bright | Valdis/Peter

Re: Your eyes, they shine so bright | Valdis/Peter

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It’s woven in my soul | Valdis/Misa | CW: Child Abuse/Courtesans

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I can’t escape this now | Valdis/Open

It's Where My Demons Hide | Guillermo

/fortnite dances into this thread

Re: /fortnite dances into this thread

valdis looks at this lil fella like The Vibes Are Off

Because his Vibes ARE off

no he is just a sweet boy, a marshmallow, a perfect little man

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Unless those things don't STAY dead

Well then you just stab it again!

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