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Mrs. Voidus

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About Mrs. Voidus

  • Birthday 02/07/1992

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  • Member Title
    Baker of the Dark Alley
  • Gender
    Female

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  1. Valeria, Lita's Rooms in the Grand Hotel, the Bindpoint For the brief amount of time that Valeria had begun to congratulate herself at her skills in putting her daughter at ease, an acheing sorrow had begun to burry in her gut. Whilst remembering the love filled moments of her life she was stuck with the severe disconnect that reminded her that it was a past life. Her intention had been to fill Laurelai's mind with intent and love and assertion that they were supposed to be together, but it had filled Valeria with a more pressient sense of the wrongness of this world. The heat of those feast nights was a different heat to the one here, the scent of the night flowers that drifted through the windows of her families home was one she had not sensed here at all. Even the way that the air landed on ones skin here was different. And the magic. But Valeria's subconscious unease was broken by Laurelai's admission. "I haven't... known that he was my father for very long. I don't really know that much about him personally. It's still very strange sometimes, I had... well I had given up on ever meeting either of you." A ghost of a whisper left Valeria's lips in response. "What, what do you mean puer meus?" Valeria had been so delighted upon finding Laurelai, and then Lucien so quickly after that she had assumed that he had fulfilled his protection, his duty. "Laurelai," Valeria forced through gritted teeth. "What do you mean by this? Are you saying you have been alone?" Rage filled her so swiftly then, that she did not allow Laurelai to speak the words that confirmed what her forlorn eyes already told. "Alone while he was here playing God? hoc est homo non accepit, quod monstrum vile tulit locum suum?" @Voidus Translations: Puer meus - My child; hoc est homo non accepit, quod monstrum vile tulit locum suum? - that is not the man I married, what monster has taken his place?
  2. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bind Point Valeria smiled to herself as she busied about the expansive wardrobe, listening whilst collecting pieces of Lita's clothing that she could best draw a parallel from. Laurelai had followed her as planned and spoke excitedly as she did so. "I Wanted to learn how to do it on purpose," she said, before cutting of the next sentence that even unfinished, spoke volumes. Unintended consequences. I See. A fear? Foisted on her? or Caused by her? She certainly seems mistrustful of herself. No. Later. Selecting two Silk blouses from the left most section, Valeria gave a quick smile of casual reassurance, and lay the pair down on the bed. Laurelai spoke again, "Parum Faba... you call me that often. I... remember it, I think. But not what it actually means." A small quirk of amusement came to Valeria as she noted the familiar gleam of excitement they all held when awaiting the answer to a puzzle. "Your father and I wanted children very badly. Well, we did and we didn't. We always knew we wanted them, but could never agree on when. He would have a project he would need to travel for, I would be moving my practice, or busy reaching to match his tenure. We argued about it constantly. He is a stubborn ass. Wonderful, but stubborn." The women sat in the moment of silent agreement. "He used to come home from his trips or his laboratory and bring me gifts, mostly they were fruits, and wines, and I would cook for him. I cooked most of our meals, but the ones after a fight? Those were special. The first time I made a feast like that, was a disaster. The soup was too salty, the Fish was to dry, I burned the cold pudding somehow, and the worst part of the meal was by far the six bean salad. Ask me how a person manages to rust up a salad." Valeria waited only a beat, before continuing. "Really, I would love the answer to how I did that. Another mystery for the ages. Anyway, I set the table, put on my nicest dress, lit a few candles, and hoped beyond hope that, maaaybe if I dimmed the lights low enough, we wouldn't notice the flaws. Silly, I know, but we were very young." Laurelai had sat on the edge of the bed, "what happened? What did he do?" Valeria folded the woven overcoat in half and added it to a pile, then sat down beside her daughter. She closed her eyes and took a long, soothing breath. "He ate every single thing on his plate and asked for seconds. Well, everything but the salad. He told me that he didn't realise that beans could be both hard, and squishy at the same time. Every dinner since then I would wait until it was finished and produce a plate with a single bean on it. It was our squishy bean. Always got a laugh, and it always brought us together. Then, a few years later, our arguments got weaker, and our debates more frequent, until one day it was not a bean I presented on a plate, but an ultrasound picture. You werent even shaped like a human yet, but exactly like... Well, a squishy little bean. And you, and the nickname stuck." @Voidus
  3. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bind Point Valeria smiled at Laurelai's ownership of her role as daughter, even as it was offered hesitatingly. In an ideal world, a mother would flinch at the thought of her daughter partaking of vices with her, but then, this woman was also just that. A woman with severe trauma, in need of some comfort, and Valeria was *not* about to ruin her best chance at connecting because of some false sense of prudence. A little humour in the situation cant hurt, she thought, as she opened liquor cabinet and searched for an amber liquid. Selecting a tear shaped bottle of cerulean blown glass, she pulled the stopper and hoped for a honeyed scent, then let out a sigh of slight disappointment. Lita said her good-byes and closed the door behind her. "Oh Laurelai," Valeria bemoaned. "It saddens me that you will never know the sweet burn of our ambrosia nectar." She took a second sniff and picked up two crystal cups, moving to the bedroom. "Come, come," she said over her shoulder. "You can't let me go out shopping in an outfit I have already worn. Perhaps you can show me that marvellous forging ability again. Oh, Parum Faba, the things I could tell you about the silks we had..." The rambling approach was a favourite tactic of hers to throw her clients out of their anxiety. So many people came to her for help, only to freeze up when the moment arrived. Expecting perhaps to be grilled about their life choices, the mistakes they had made, or to make yet more by revealing their worst nature. But Valeria was practiced enough to know that what mattered most in a session, was breathing. Being present, and building trust. And nothing had proven more effective so far, than getting a patient to try and impress, by way of listening, and finding opportunities to show their finest ability. All the better that this was not just a patient, but someone Valeria desperately needed to feel loved. Even if Vivica would be more of a challenge professionally. No. Valeria had found her daughter, and within moments of mutual acceptance, she had found her next challenge. inveniet eam, sana eam, ama eam. Translation: Little Bean; Find her, Heal her, Love her. @Voidus
  4. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bind Point Lucien left the apartment as suddenly as he had presumably arrived. Or, Voidus she supposed. That will take some getting used to. The subtle smile she had plastered on her face dropped almost as fast as she smacked her cup and saucer back to the table the very moment the door closed behind her once-husband. Rounding to face a slightly startled Laurelai, Valeria failed to moderate her voice to the harsh whisper she had intended. "Are you trying to kill me, daughter? No, don't answer that. And you," she vociferously spat at Lita. "Did you enjoy making me look like a complete idiot? These things take finesse, they take caution and planning, and above all, they require having the upper hand. You have set back my re-seduction scheme by a full week!" She exhaled slowly, with deliberate effort, forcing with it the peak of her somewhat poorly disguised disappointment that she had shrouded in indignation. "Meum paenitemus Lita, Laurelai." she held her hand consolingly on her daughters thigh for a brief, reassuring moment before slumping back into the couch and shrugging her shoulders. Valeria drummed her fingers onto the couch cushions and faced Lita again. "I don't suppose you have any more bad habits you would be willing to share?" Meum paenitemus = My apologies @Voidus@ZincAboutIt
  5. Valeria was simply too overjoyed to be offended at her long lost daughter visibly putting up walls. After all, had she not been so extatic, it would have been entirely logical for someone on their own from such a young age to be entirely open to a stranger. She smiled warmly and nodded to herself. "I hope to one day help you feel at ease with your own emotions my dear. But please, won't you sit? It's a long story." Valeria sat and took the tea towel that hung fom her apron string and cleared her hasty spill. Refreshing their cups she handed one to Laurelai to take if she sat on the sofa seat beside hers. @Voidus
  6. Before the words "I'm sorry" had left Laurelai's mouth, Valeria had crossed the distance between them and enveloped her daughter in a breath stealing embrace. "Sh, sh, sh, hush now it's alright. You aren't alone any more, and none of it is your fault." Valeria loosened her grip slightly, and tentatively began stroking the blond hair, and all shred of doubt fell from her mind. Not because of the marking, that she could indeed feel, but at the smell, the texture, the very hair line. It had changed of course in the years apart, but not enough to hide who she was. "Its alright to cry parum faba, its alright." Too many emotions swirled through Valeria, but none stood out stronger that success. She had done it. She had found her baby. And she knew she had done it because she no longer felt the need to look. When Laurelai's shoulders shook a little less, Valeria leaned back just enough to look into those familiar eyes. "Listen to me." She said with a seriousness that belied her immense happiness. "I am so, so sorry. I don't know what happened after that night. What I told you in the bar was my full recollection of it, I pressed my magic to you in a moment of panic." Valeria lifted her hand back to the covered spot on Laurelai's scalp. "I didn't know what else to do, I didn't know where you would go, only that your father would use his dying breath to send you some where safe." She stepped back a pace, to place her hands softly on the young woman's arms. "None of what happened after that could have possibly been your fault. OK? Whatever happened. You were a child. And I would spend another eternity in the Voidspace to save you from whatever suffering you experienced, excepting that in doing so would rip me from you again." She sniffed and a salty tear came up into her nostril. Valeria rubbed her nose and gave a weak smile. "My sweet baby girl. Just look at you. Why, how old are you now? I was 28 when you... When it happened. So, if your beautiful face is anything to go by, Its been. what? 20 years?" @Voidus
  7. Valeria, the Grand Hotel, The Bindpoint Her fury swapped to shock like a slap to an unready cheek. "What?" Valeria all but whispered, lowering the cup to hang limply at her side. She narrowed her eyes as she took a cautionary step towards the equally shaken woman. She certainly has the look. Could the "coincidences" be reality? She raised her free hand and felt all her chaotic energy flow to her fingertips. "There is only one mark in the world that could be hers. But I already spoke of it. If you have studied the Language as you say, then what is to make me believe that you did not falsify that too?" She took another step closer and had to sidestep the coffee table, now sodden. She wanted to be angry, to be scientific, to be, well, cautious. But she looks so afraid. At a nervous inhale from Laurelai, Valeria felt the magic leave her, and her voice betray her. "Squishy?" @Voidus
  8. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bind Point "One please." Said Laurelai. Valeria nodded as though it were a matter of fact and fulfilled the specification. Steady hand stirring against the porcelain with nary a hint of a clink. But her hand stilled entirely when Laurelai had said "My father is the one who takes his too sweet to drink." These strange coincidences must mean nothing logically. Valeria handed back the fresh cup and set her mind to enquiring about the man when she heard a phrase she had not heard in weeks. or centuries? Time here too seemed to slow to her, as she spoke through a throat that felt too dry, "What have you done with her?" A feral growl emanated from her then and she stood as her eyes glowed green and sparkling emerald trails flowed freely with her tears. "Was this some sick game to you cooked up to torture me? First you take a child's teddy bear from them, and then what?" Her desperate voice rose to a shriek and the till full tea painted the carpet when its cup was brandished angrily. "Quid facis cum infante mio?" Valeria took a step forward. "Perdam vestrum unumquemque, si vel capillus decerpitur pretioso capite." @Voidus
  9. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bindpoint "I'm sorry." Laurelai expressed in quick tones. "I... shouldn't have..." Valeria had come to realise all too quickly that in discussing her past she had completely neglected her guest's wellbeing. She had, without any filtering or prior knowledge of her, clearly triggered some sort of unresolved trauma. The younger of the blonde women rose in a way that told Valeria that her initial assessment of her was incorrect in more ways than one. Evidently, she had been raised in an environment where self control was very important. Be it because of an abusive relationship, or perhaps a well to do family circumstance that required performance. Regardless, Valeria saw a child of hurt, and it was a more urgent instinct than her professional one that made her adopt a most un-assuming and open position on the chaise. "Very impolite of me to simply show up unannounced." Said Laurelai between supressed hastened breaths. "I really should..." Valeria gave a gentle smile to the young woman. "It was so lovely of you to check in with me, it speaks volumes of your good intention. You strike me as a person who has worked hard to make people around her feel better, calmer. Talking to you does indeed have a calming effect on me, and it has been quite a while since I have spoken to anyone about anything unimportant." She sat forward again to pull her cup and saucer toward herself and began the motion with Laurelai's cup as she spoke. "You have given me much of your time already of course, and I am sure you are a very busy woman. But I fear I have no one else to discuss anything with, and I have so enjoyed your company, even if my histrionics would indicate otherwise." Valeria lifted the lid to the sugar pot and looked up at Laurelai. The girl did indeed have such a familiar quirk around the mouth when flustered, it was a wonder she thought she could hide it at all. "Si tibi placet?" Valeria asked in a tone that brooked little argument, and went about bringing the teaspoon to the pot. "was it one teaspoon or two?" @Voidus
  10. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bind Point When her blonde guest had asked if the cookies were store bought or pre-made, Valeria thought first that the girl had very poor manners. Or that maybe she had not lead a life of luxury, built around the etiquettes of visitation. Three offenses so far, in both arriving unannounced and empty handed, as well as implying that her host could not prepare a simple biscuit herself. The biscuits were simple, but Laurelai had already finished her first one, despite her initial hesitation. Valeria smiled then at the joy of creating something pleasing, and nodded along to help ease the tension behind whatever reason Laurelai seemed to have brought with her on this visit. "The Voidspace?" she answered. "From my world? No dear, of course not. I would expect it was quite the other way around. Everything comes from nothing does it not? or at least that was how it was told to me. In the old days, before even there were cookies, or tea," she sat forward to take the proffered cup and saucer. "Thank you. Two sugars if you please." She waited for the clinking to cease after Laurelai added the small cubes and stirred with a fine silver spoon. Very poor manners indeed. Eager to please though. "Perhaps that is not what it is called. It was never spoken of explicitly, only guessed at, and even then our best philosophers and physicists had written countless contradictory papers on the theories surrounding..." Valeria shook her head with a wry chuckle. "That was not what you asked, was it? Veniam mihi ramblins." She took a sip from her cup, pinched between thumb and forefinger and took a moment to collect her thoughts. "It all happened so fast you see. Or, that was how it felt. But in retrospect, it was a long time coming. When Lucien met Voidus, they seemed at first to be two normal scientists, obsessed with discovering new ways to develop the fields of transmutation, evolutionary biology, most things really. Which," she added with a nostalgic gleam to her eye, "if you know anything about science is a rather large faux pas. Specificity in ones field is key. But together it was like they had no one field at all. I did not know that he had begun to develop magic. He did not know that I had either. We," Valeria paused and looked to her cup, taking a sip and setting it back on its saucer mournfully before speaking again. "In marriage, you see, secrets are the ultimate death. I - don't need to be telling you this part of the story, you just have such a look about you, like I could tell you all I knew and still you would want to know more. He was like that too. We both were. We did not realise just how alike in that we were until the night Voidus came, and destroyed our world." Tears welled in her down cast eyes and Valeria's breath came and went unsteadily. "We did not know until that final moment. He was dying, and she was between us, perhaps too stunned to scream. I held her then, and the last thing my husband saw, before he sent her away, was my ritual of protection, flare against her scalp. Protect, my baby, with love. Did I make a mistake? I had never cast on another person before, I barely knew anything but what I felt. I had to save her mind, I had to stop her from being scared." A sob escaped her then, "I had to follow her, wherever she went." Tears flowed freely now, and her hands shook as she set the still full cup down to the table and stood. Hugging her arms about her self, and her flour dusted apron. "So I did, I suppose. Into nothing. The lack of anything and any time," her voice croaked, "devoid of everything, everything except Lucien, and her, and me. I could feel them, but, that was all. I call it Voidspace because that is what I experienced it to be." Her arms lowered to her sides and she contemplated sitting once more. "I would imagine you are unfamiliar with the term because I made it up. Eons ago I suppose it was. I don't suppose I will ever know." @Voidus
  11. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, the Bind Point As they walked to the soft leather couches and glass topped marble table Valeria wiped the last of her plentiful tears from beneath her eyes. She waited for her guest to sit before taking the opposite sofa and placing a cushion behind her own back. "You were a physician? How fortunate then. In what field did you specialise? " Valeria noted to her self the hint of sadness in the past tense phrasing Laurelai used. "I was a practising Psychiatrist myself, before..." She tried to shake the far away look from her face, then decided against it. This woman and her gifriend had done nothing but help, and Valeria was a believer of wearing one's emotions openly. She leaned forward to take a still warm cookie from the plate between them. "Before everything. So I suppose we have recent unemployment in common. I miss it, but perhaps I can find a suitable university to pick things up again after my Laurelai has been found." She took a not-ungenerous bite, and hastily collected a small handful of crumbs that had fallen to her bosom. "No luck yet," she said sadly through her mouthful. "But I felt the pull to this place, and spent time uncountable pressing, pressing, pressing to break out of the Voidspace because I knew she was here." Valeria lifted the cookie to her mouth again but hesitated. "But once I broke through, nothing. I couldn't feel her anymore. The magic here is strange. Everything is strange here." She lowered her hand fully and widened her eyes. "Dominus Supra! And I seem to have lost my manners as well. Please, help yourself to cookies, they are... were, Lucien's favourite. Would you like a coffee? Tea?" @Voidus
  12. Valeria, The Grand Hotel, The Bindpoint "Oh!" Valeria exclaimed as she greeted Laurelai at the door, looking much the same as she had a week prior. "I was wondering when you would come!" "Yes, I hope you've been doing well and you don't mind the intrusion." Laurelai began, smiling gently. "I do apologize I couldn't check in on you sooner. May I come in? I was wondering if you'd perhaps had any luck finding your family." Valeria stepped aside as she opened the door and gestured with her free arm to the spacious hallway and sitting room. "Veni initus, come come, how are you dear? That was quite a turn the other night, have you seen a physician?" Closing the door behind the blonde guest, Valeria noted the stable gait and somewhat rigid posture that could indicate recovering pain, or nervousness. But then, I am a stranger to her. Oughtn't I feel as a stranger to her? @Voidus
  13. Valeria, the Grand Hotel, the Bindpoint The rest of her trial shift was uneventful, for which Valeria grateful. Arge had quickly dismissed her suspicion of Valeria's involvement after the young pair had left abruptly, and indeed, had complimented Valeria for her dedication. "Your drink serving could be steadier, but I didn't think I'd be getting any one to volunteer for vomit cleaning duties." Arge quipped. They sat together on adjacent bar stools after the establishment had shooed its last patron out, and the lights dimmed for closing. Valeria smiled nostalgically. "My life took me elsewhere, but once upon a time I did it professionally." She leaned in conspiratorially to the woman with the stained apron across her lap. "The secret is baking soda," she stage whispered with a wink. Arge laughed. "Alright Valeria, you're on. We can't pay much but the perks are nice." Arge smiled and reached behind the counter to an open bottle of Elarial estate, and deftly plucked two clean glasses with her spare hand. She poured for herself and began to fill a glass for Valeria. "Stuff costs a pretty penny, and for good reason, but it tastes like rust after being opened for more than a day, and none of the fancy fop's would be caught dead ordering from a used bottle." It was indeed like no other wine Valeria had ever tasted, and she sighed in contentment. When the night was done she was given her wage, and she wandered then to the address given to her and turned the Golden key over in her hands. The district was grand, and the building itself modern and plush. Quite a change from the splintering wooden bench she had made her recent rest stop. Something about the unexpected generosity pulled at a nagging anxiety within herself. But the nights were cold, and she needed to look her best if... When, she mentally corrected herself. When I find her. A brief exchange with the concierge gave way to well lit hallways and soft carpeted doorways. The red headed woman, Lita, had said that the suite was spare, and that in itself told Valeria much about the other woman's wealth. But not much about how she had come about possessing it. "I am very grateful to miss Lita," she began to the bellhop. His blue uniform crisp, and freshly pressed, he nodded non-committedly. "It's right this way ma'am." Valeria smiled at the fresh faced young man and thanked him for his assistance. So, she thought with a creeping nervousness, the staff are trained in disgression. Terrifying. Once the bellhop, Kevin, had been dismissed (and given a chryst for his trouble), Valeria took in her surroundings. The sound of the closing door gave way to complete and eery silence. She hugged her arms to her chest and rubbed her biceps as she wandered to open a window over the bustling street below. A hawker cried out in the distance. Much better. she thought. The days passed quickly from then. Her days were spent inquiring at various schools and orphanages, and even several guilds. More than one seedy place actually tried to convince her some poor urchin was her Squishy. As though she would not know that it was some strangers child instead. She learned of Him too, The Stranger, and of The Lonely God. Voidus was apparently known by a different name here at times, and was known for other feats too. None sounded as evil as the destruction she knew he was capable of. She spent her time traveling between establishments pondering his existence here. Finding no success, she spent her evenings working at the bar, and would wander back to the suite on weary feet, to collapse on the voluminous bed a few hours before the next dawn. It pained her, but she chose to remain at the suite for a couple of days. She had earned enough money to buy a new outfit, and food to get by, but could not waste the day with idleness. And so it was that despite her aching soles, she spent her week's end in the kitchen of the suite, baking her love's chocolate chip cookies. Trying desperately to avoid spilling too many of her mournful tears into the mixture. It was a cathartic process, sperate bowl of Vanilla frosting included, but it was the first time she had allowed herself to feel the fullness of his loss. An abrupt knock at her door brought her out of her reverie, and she took the plate of fresh baked cookies through to the coffee table on her way to answer the door. "oh!" She exclaimed cheerfully, as she wiped away a tear. "I was wondering when you would come!" @Voidus @ZincAboutIt
  14. Valeria - Alley City, Karl's House, The Library In the eight or so hours since Valeria had landed on the dusty cobbled street she had learned much about her surroundings. First, people appeared very much like the people on her home world - barring these folk had far less pronounced ear tips that rounded at the top, unlike her own pointed ones. Second, not a single person spoke her language. And thirdly, food seemed to consist of similar make as what she was accustomed to, and had not as yet had any reactions. This last point was of an enormous relief to her, as while an eternity of experiencing neither hunger, nor satiety might have dimmed her understanding of such things, had she any capacity to think on this in her Void time, she did not. Though she did marvel briefly at having forgotten what hunger was entirely. It had taken an entire day in itself of pacing the busy streets for Valeria to even begin to notice the dull queasiness in her abdomen and the following desperate discomfort in her throat. Water was found easily enough. But food was something she was hesitant to try, even with the many food stalls and shops that were seemingly abandoned. Valeria was no thief, even had she possessed the surety that she would not die from eating something otherworldly. Other worldly? She pondered as she walked. There had been some debate at the university on the existence of other life supporting planets of course, but this? Utterly unheard of. Is this just my imagination? Am I dreaming of an easy path to her? Valeria slowed to a dawdle as a frightening new possibility dawned on her. I would not dream to be in pain. And yet my feet... Dejectedly then she sat upon a green painted bench that faced one of these abandoned fruit vendors, its open door contrasting the unlit interior. Why can I feel pain? My goal, my everything was to find her. But why do I know this now? WHY CAN I THINK?" "Deficit sum," she sighed quietly to herself at the exact moment her stomach gurgled traitorously and the sun had begun its decent below the horizon. Finding no other thing to do she began instead to worry beneath the braided leather straps of her sandals for blisters and cursed that she had neither pockets nor purse to carry money. Not that she believed for a second that these people used the same promissory notes of her homeland, even had she had any on her person on the night of the dinner party. The dinner party. The sensory overload that was that night came to her in discordant bursts. -The smell of rain against their treated Pine door, the silence between one chair and another crashing to the floor with a comical bounce, and the horrible brightness that came before endless black. - Valeria shook back with an unsubtle wince as a man in a blue collared shirt paused beside her, eyeing between her pained expression and now bared feet. Wordlessly he took from his pocket two translucent disks and placed them beside her before hurrying along. The Valeria from a week ago would have been hideously offended to be in such a state of disarray as to be mistaken for someone without means. Not that she considered herself to think less of those who were, having worked with many pro-bono. But, she thought I worked so hard to belong in high society. Though, she now realised as she considered involuntarily sleeping under the stars for the first time in her adult life, hard work alone had very little to do with success. After all, her dress WAS filthy now, initial preening or no. Her hair was not much better, as it seemed that an eternity of not considering ones appearance after effectively walking through a tornado would do nothing for an elaborately constructed coiffure, regardless of expensive clasp. Collecting the illuminated coins in one hand, confident that at least she would find sustenance enough to search another day she called into the crowd. "Gratias Tibi!" It seemed however that between her relatively underused voice, the numerous folk chattering worriedly around her and the rude delay of her thanks; her gratitude was rendered as lost as she was. It stung to slip her swollen feet back into the shoes so soon after removing them, but if this person had compassion enough to help her once, perhaps he could again. Or at least he could prove a good enough place to start the next leg of her journey. "Ignoscas domine?" She called when she leaped from the bench and swapped one of her new coins with a plump purple fruit from the stand across the way. He did not stop. Don't be allergic, she hoped as she took a tentative bite. The sweet juice was warm from the sun and she unglamorously licked stray drips from her chin as she followed him on his determined path. A flash of a sapphire tinted collar had her call out again, "Domine, salve?" At last he turned from his march with the mildly irritated expression people have when their determination is challenged. Valeria was VERY familiar with that look. "Look lady," he began. "I don't have any more to spare. I'm really sorry, but I have to keep moving. I've got a missus and an infant somewhere out there and Gods know I'm not about to find them by hanging around here." Valeria perked up at the one word she recognised. "Sic!" She cried joyously. "Infans! Mea infantem. Vidistine virginem sicut me?" The kind balding man shook his head sadly. "I don't know about any of that, boy someone must have done a number on you. Something awful I bet. People can be so cruel." It was clear to Valeria that while he did not understand her words, he did seem to want to help her. Awful? She knew that word too. "Sic, Awful. Interitus. Finis. Voidus." His eyes grew wide at her admission. "Voidus did this to you? Storms we've got to get inside." He took her arm in his and whisked her along road after road for what seemed like hours, and it took effort for Valeria to keep up. As all colour had faded from the sky into that inky grey that foreshadowed the night. The stranger apologised when she stumbled again, and let her walk beside him at a slower pace. At the fourth trip, Valeria removed her sandals entirely, having snapped the strap between toes and heel. He did not notice. When he finally stopped she had to limp to close the gap between them, but he was entirely transfixed at the broken latch and chipped yellow paint of the door before him. "Sunt tibi bene?" Valeria asked when a drunken couple brushed passed her and he had not flinched. He stirred from his revere and looked at her with such pain in his eyes that she felt she did not need words to understand. He opened and closed his mouth as though unsure he wanted to voice his fears. "What if she doesn't remember? What if, I don't know, she didn't want to come back? What if she did?" It was all Valeria could do to nod compassionately and place a warm hand on his shoulder with a quick pat. He looked between her hand and her before gingerly lifting her fingers from his person with a dry cough. "Let's just see shall we?" They found the home empty. It was not empty of furnishings, which Valeria quite liked the style of, unfamiliar as it was. But there was enough dust and spiderwebs to indicate that if anyone HAD been there, it was not for long, if at all in at least half a year. The man walked to a room that must have been a dining space, and pulled out a chair for her to sit before heading off again to return with two glasses of water. Valeria sipped at hers cautiously at first but the man seemed too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice, or indeed touch his own drink which he had placed beside the chair that he had turned to face the door. She recognised that he was waiting, and so did not wish to interrupt. But as time rolled on she grew tired and felt her eyelids become heavy. She gently coughed to gather his attention. "meum nomen est Valeria." she said as clearly as she could, tapping her chest. "Valeria." The man blinked in surprise before pointing to his own chest. "Karl. My name is Karl." "Gratias Tibi, Karl." she said with a small smile, but he had already turned back to the door and she let sleep take her. When she woke the next morning her neck ached. She stretched it and straitened her back from the slumped position she sat in, with her arms folded beneath her head on the table. She noticed she was alone and called out after seeing that the door had been closed and somewhat repaired. "Karl?" "I'm over here," he called back, though still she did not catch the meaning. As she stood to find him a soft rustling of fabric slipped from her shoulders in a subtle gust of lavender. The scent drew to her mind the reality that her own favoured "perfume", a cooling dab of buttercream behind her ears after a long day of baking cookies for her clients, was fading. It was odd, she knew, but she would never forget the excitable snuffling and licking up her neck Lucien undertook that first time, and the spectacular hour afterwards. With a sigh she collected the woollen shawl and folded it reverently over her arm as she walked toward the voice. "Valeria, you're awake." Karl said as he pressed a flashing button and hot water came in a steady stream into a mug. She watched the device with curiosity, but not as closely as she watched his face as she handed him the shawl. "hoc est tuxor tua? she asked as she pointed between the golden ring on his finger and the shawl. "Huh? Oh, that's my wife's. I'm sorry, you looked cold and all our blankets are gone for some reason. Maybe someone needed them? I don't know." He trailed off in both speech and attention. "Gratias tibi" she said again. "What?" He said, facing her again. "That concussion hasn't worn off huh? You don't look hurt?" Before she could understand what was happening he raised his fist up to his own head and mimicked punching it. "Someone hit you?" He shouted, perhaps hoping that volume would be the issue. But Valeria shook her head. "Habes Papyris?" she asked in amusement. But then she saw his fridge. So like her own. and on it was a single black marker. She grinned. Taking the pen she drew a rough drawing of her planet, a black circle with estimations of the continents within it. She pointed with the marker "domus meus." She then wrote the word "Voidus" above it, and franticly scribbled it out. Then she filled an entire square with the black and erased a stick figure of herself, and beside that was a smaller, identical figure to which she pointed "mea infantum," and drew a question mark beside it. He nodded in what seemed to be the beginnings of understanding and pointed worriedly at the scribbled world. "Voidus did this? THE Voidus?" She agreed with no small fraction of fear creeping into her heart at his apparent knowledge of the monster. But he moved on, "So you are an other worlder." He slapped his head abruptly. before wiping the fridge and scrawling a note himself. If she could have read it, she would have known it to be a letter to his wife, detailing his short departure and eminent return, and abundant love. "Come with me," he said. "We can go to the library. they have these medallion things, we use them at parties sometimes. Just, Its too hard to explain. Come on!" She followed him bemusedly as he gestured for her to follow. And within the hour they were at a counter, Karl presenting a pendant to her expectantly. Valeria eyed him suspiciously but took it none the less, and placed it over her hair. How she wished in that moment she had thought to fix it before going out again. "Well?" he said excitedly between her and the bored librarian. "Did it work?" Valeria's heart fluttered and a hope like she hadn't felt in years welled from her heart and warmed her every pore. Shock at the wonderous magic, and the sudden understanding in her ears. She smiled and drew herself into her typically perfect posture. "Thank you Karl, I believe it works rather well." He clapped and hooped but once before being cut off with an angry "SHH!" from their onlooker. "This is wonderous magic indeed. And perhaps now, you can help me, and I you." Karl nodded again with a smile. "I wonder perchance, as unlikely as is seems, if you have ever made the acquaintance of my dear husband Lucien Esserethel? I am seeking him, and our daughter Laurelai. I believe he has some magic, and I followed her here but my magic cannot sense her. She was but three years old when last I saw her, though that may have been a millennia ago." As Valeria spoke, Karl's face changed from excitement to pity. First at her predicament, then second at her presumable madness. "You've been looking for a millennia you say?" He looked around him for invisible support. "Yes," Valeria said. "The Void space is a timeless one, but my Will carried me through. I have seen everything and nothing, and not had the presence of mind to witness it." She paused. "But I will find her. She must be here somewhere. And if Voidus has come here too, she is in danger." Perhaps it should have been expected for this stranger to want to be rid of her. They had, after all, only met the day before. But it stung none the less as he began to back away from her, offering weak excuses. "I'm sorry." He said. "But I have to protect my family." He said. And "good luck." He offered before turning from the library without her. Well then. Perhaps there is not kindness in strangers. She thought as she gave her last coin to the librarian and walking off on her own.
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