Come Sail Away IC Inbox

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's voice mail message is in a weary voice: "Erin Peters. If you called in the middle of the night and I didn't answer, I'm dying. If I pick up and someone on your end isn't dying, they will be shortly. Text otherwise."

Comments

[crushed_pearls]

Erin blushes like a schoolgirl, her heart fluttering. She takes Valdis's hand in her own and squeezes, smiling a goofy little half-smile. "This a night where I should pop over to mine real quick and grab my toothbrush, love?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Unfortunately no, I did not arrange somewhere else for Grace to sleep tonight and I try to be understanding of her awkwardness."

Valdis shoves the door open.

"I do have a gift for you though."

She'd given Malachi's ring to Max, and had wanted to give Erin someone nice as well. The Erda has seen fit to give her something perfect.

[crushed_pearls]

(Has Valdis tried putting her in a salmon cannon?)

It is all Erin has to not burst out laughing; give her a minute Valdis, maybe you've come to recognize the inward-directed emotions of Erin arguing with the head voice or, in this case, getting taken the fuck out by her. Erin slips inside, at last, tucking her wings to avoid them getting taken the fuck out by the door. The London-in-a-bottle in the room gets her attention for a moment but not in the way things she can 'see' can; Erin tilts her head at it, her ear twitches, and then she shrugs. If the clockwork sounds are important, Valdis will bring them up.

"I'm all yours. And dying of curiosity, honestly."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis hasn't seen fit to interrogate her strange roommate about any of her belongings, so she's not going to mention any of it to Erin anyway.

"I..." Valdis goes to her bedside stand, picking up something on a small chain. It almost has a life of its own, or it once did, so Erin should be able to see it with her magic. Or so Valdis hopes.

"I gave Max something from my past. Malachi's ring. He needed something to remind himself of me and the love I have for him and I wanted you to have something too."

She takes Erin's hand and drops a golden locket into it. The locket isn't jeweled or fancy, but it seems to hum with a destiny.

"It was given to me by my mother. I don't remember much of her, she wasn't able to be around as much as she wanted, but she poured her love for me into this locket."

Valdis gently pops the locket open and the scent of roses fills the air with a tiny glow from the necklace. A tiny feather and a dried rose petal rest in the middle of the pendant.

"I want you to have it, as a symbol of my love for you. The feather is mine, the rose petal was my mothers."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's breath catches in her throat. Her heart stops; for a moment, the world fades away. The greatness of this gesture is not lost on her, the act itself speaking volumes more than Valdis's words can. Automatic words - 'are you sure', 'I can't accept this', 'it's too much for me', are wrestled down and gently put to bed in her mind.

Still, her voice is a bare whisper: "...Will you...would you put it on me, my love?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis smiles, closing the locket and lifting it from Erin's hand so she can slip behind her. She drops the necklace over her neck and locks the clasp, letting the pendant settle on Erin's chest.

"I wish all of this could be sweetness and light, but there's something else I need to tell you," she's loathe to change the mood, especially when Erin is humming with happiness, but Siffleur is right. "About the melee."

[crushed_pearls]

"Christ on a bike...alright. Actually, wait."

Deep breath, to center. Erin drifts towards the bed and opens a wing in invitation. She knows she can't offer her soul to Valdis, as much as she wants to, but she can at least hold her lover through what promises to be deeply bad news.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis takes a breath and sits next to Erin.

"I didn't sign up for the melee, you know that. You also know that dying in the melee could give the Void an opportunity to take over, but..." She pauses. "I think it already did. I don't remember killing Peter, Erin, but his blood was dripping from my jaws and the bites on his body were from my teeth."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's quiet with that, for awhile. Thinking. Processing. It's not that her heart closes off, but that her emotions shift into...problem solving. She wants to help, immediately, and she's trying to think of ways to do that.

Her wing squeezes tight.

[redlightgreenlight]

"I wasn't going to tell you, but Siffleur said you needed to know."

[crushed_pearls]

That throws a wrench in Erin Peters, Problem Solver.

"...Why the fuck not?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Because, my love," Valdis touches Erin's hand gently, "You have have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later."

If her name hadn't been on the list, she wouldn't have been in a place for the Void to take over and she wouldn't have died giving the Void an opportunity to do it again.

"And I figured out who put my name on the list."

[crushed_pearls]

"I resemble that remark," Erin grumbles, Very Much Not Consciously. The news gets her attention, but she forces down her immediate reaction, which is to gut that person and turn their bones into wind chimes that have cocks carved into them.

Instead she says, very softly: "You got a plan?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Yes, but it will take time."

Hopefully she has that time.

"I don't want you to worry about it. I've got plenty of people to support me with soul energy right now."

She smiles softly at the thought of Ashley.

"All five are insane, but...it helps."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin sighs, deeply, a weight in her stomach. "...It kills me that I can't help there. I know why, I even agree with why, which makes it worse, but...you need help most and I feel like I'm on the sidelines. Which. Might be insane? That whole shoot-first problem again, wanting my bloody hands on the rudder."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Erin, we agreed that it was too risky. I've taken Angels and Demons without side effects, but you aren't of my world and the powers you wield are different. Siffleur is still more human than magic, and Klaus, Nobunaga and Max are all solidly human. Ashley is a werewolf and doesn't have magic or contracts and I'm still wary of siphoning off him."

He's sweet though and she is curious enough to take the chance. She likes him, a lot.

"We just don't know what will and won't cause issues and if you think it would be dangerous, then I believe you."

[crushed_pearls]

"...I know. And I appreciate you believin' me a lot more than I would getting to try because you didn't, but...mostly I'm trying to be heard rather than get a solution." There's a twinge in her chest; admitting it feels childish somehow, an emotion Erin is trying to push into a toilet because the feeling itself is childish. You're supposed! To talk! To your lovers!

Wait a minute.

"...How exactly did the new guy end up on the lunch menu?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"He's hot."

And kind, and careful, and sweet, and playful and flirty. All things that she likes and appreciates. He also relates to her in a way Erin and Max can't, he doesn't dwell and sometimes she just wants to move on.

[crushed_pearls]

"Since when do you care about hot?" Erin can't help but laugh, the idea is absurd, especially not with the way their near but not completely identical troubles with being perceived had complicated her early relationship to Valdis. "Love, c'mon, spill the tea."

[redlightgreenlight]

"He's just...I feel things. Different from you or Max. He's forward, yes, but his feelings aren't lustful or entitled. He learns quickly about what I need and adjusts like I've known him far longer than I have. He listens. He doesn't dwell on the past or become worked up over what he learns. He said he'd rather live in the moment with me than worry about everything that came before."

She softens as she speaks, the anxiety over Harvey and the Void fading into the distance.

"He's steady, like you, but in a more gentle way. Like water instead of rock. He's fun to speak to and play with. He doesn't make me feel like I need to hide parts of myself in order to protect him. He's also crazy enough to not be concerned about the fact I could kill him if I wanted to, but you and Max are also like that."

[crushed_pearls]

There's a stab of initial jealousy, an echo from Erin's own insecurities, but her hand comes up to the locket, and it dissipates. It's not just the sheer hypocrisy of the feeling, though yes, that. It's that...

...These are words Erin's said before. Words she understands, about how every love is different, and none are interchangeable. The memory of how Valdis does struggle with those lustful feelings, but if she was entirely against them she certainly wouldn't be with Erin or, more to the point, Max, who loves fiercely and truly and so very sexually. The taste of the Glamour in the air, steady and fond, like Valdis is when the two of them are just relaxing with each other.

There's nothing to envy, and nothing to guard. The pain dies before it can truly live.

"...It sounds almost like you've got it kinda bad for this boy," Erin murmurs. "I suppose I'll have to give him the traditional warning."

Max had gotten it when Erin gave her encouragement to woo Crabb and Ylva: requests for threesomes will be met with immediate violence.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis senses the spike of jealousy, but she lets Erin work through it without comment, simply squeezing her hand until she speaks again.

"I don't know...I want to...I'm definitely more open to things than I once was. Partially thanks to you."

Though she hasn't heard of this 'traditional warning.'

"Don't scare him off, Erin."

[crushed_pearls]

"Pssh, I didn't scare Max off, Ash will be fine." Erin flashes a feral grin. "Just marking out a personal boundary, I know full well you can handle your own pushy suitors. What would I even threaten in a shovel talk that's scarier?'

[redlightgreenlight]

"You threatened Max?"

Clearly it didn't bother him, but still. Though Erin's right that Valdis can take care of her own boundaries.

"Ash is very respectful, if you place a boundary, he will honor it."

[crushed_pearls]

"Not about you," Erin reassures, Mysteriously. "Ask him about it sometime if you like, mention the carnival, oughta jog his memory. Honestly though...I like what I've seen of Ash, little enough that it is. He's kinda got rich boy energy but the ship will grind that down soon enough."