@wildflvwcr //closed starter
Things were still laced with broken glass around campus, everyone still wrapped up tight and ready to snap. Was Val concerned? For himself; a little because he had too narrow a margin for error to screw up but there weren't too many fingers pointed his direction. For a few other people; that was where he really felt those ruffled feathers. People like Henrik, Erik, hell, most of Thoresby, caught in the crossfire? That bit a few sore spots. Nothing was going to tame down for a while, not with people so worked up, but he wasn't looking forward to the casualties that it left in that wake.
And when he could feel his rough edges grinding, not to mention a lack of wanting to see Barrel, he retreated to his comfortable little haven outside. Having a few moments to breathe, to stretch out in the place between thick branches of the tree he had claimed outside Thoresby; it kept Val from breaking someone's jaw. That wasn't a side he liked to play anymore if it was avoidable.
Settled in for a nice little nap once the sun had dipped down and the night had crested, his eyes were shut and his arm folded back behind the pillow he usually drug from his room to his roost. It suited him just fine doing nothing, relaxing, soaking up the darkness and purposely trying to ignore when he could hear the rustle of his retreat being encroached upon.
"Now," he drawled and didn't bother to dredge his eyelids upward, "there's only one person I let up here. So, if you ain't him you're about to regret it."
He chuckled though and shifted a bit to free up some space, because he knew who it was, "Hmn, hey Jackie. Barrel being a first class asshole again?"