#valurent

[ruidusborne]

nimona starters / accepting

@valurent as ashton says, "i'm not brooding ! i'm just - i'm thinking."

one side of her mouth slants up.  even though she doesn’t look at them, she hopes the expression translates as she says, “riiight.  neither of us are.  never seen a less broody pair of folks, actually.” imogen leans heavily into playful sarcasm, one eyebrow arching up.  it’s around this time that she does cant her head slightly toward ashton.

“yanno, i don’t need to be in your head to know bullshit when i hear it, ash,” she takes the end of her thumbnail between her teeth and then thinks better of it, choosing to let both of her hands drop.  “wanna talk about it?” she thinks to ask before following up with a more appropriate suggestion of, “wanna punch somethin’ about it?”

[trinketh]

"your friend is ... are they a friend or ... ?"

rune has no idea how she'd ended up in any part of this situation. part one : being invited to stay for dinner at her parents' home, years after she's moved out and away. she's doing well, she thinks -- but even though she cannot directly lie to her parents, she thinks she has a fairly good poker face when she's skirting the line of semi-public respectability with them. she cannot lie, but they cannot read her. part two : @valurent trying to talk with her about vinlia, rune's closest companion and the woman that she loves.

she chokes a little on her wine when he asks, fighting through a cough or two as she places her glass down. does she want to tell him the truth? she's little surprised when her thoughts go there -- she doesn't know what her father wants with this information. he's never asked her about her life before, and not about vinlia either . . . she doesn't know what to do with it, at first. maybe she should try to be honest, just to see. "we are . . . exploring being more than friends," she says haltingly, staring at her wine for a second before dark eyes flash up to eadwulf's face. she doesn't know how to read him very well, but that isn't going to stop her from trying.

[fyrewalks]

let me just grab my things and i'll get out of here. // @valurent

Jemma rolls over, towards the center of the bed, suddenly more awake than she was a moment ago when empty sheets are the only thing that greets her. Confusion turns to a frown when Dalton speaks and she blinks at the dimness of the room, taking a second to find him there standing at the end of the bed.

"Don't," she starts, her voice thick with sleep. Jemma doesn't know where the sentence was going to end; she doesn't know what she can ask for. Pushing her up on one elbow, she tries again, "Don't leave. Not yet."

[fyrewalks]

it's easier said than done. // @valurent

Jemma sighs, more frustrated at the circumstances than Dalton's dismal assessment. Pushing back from her desk, overtaken by reports and Chinese takeout, it'd been her treat given the late hour and the lack of progress, she doesn't bother asking if he has a better idea. If he did, he would've shared it already.

"I need something stronger," she says crossing over to the small, well-stocked bar cart. Jemma hates her office, hates the posh properness of it, even if the sleek modernness matches the height of her position. She pours a glass for Dalton too, handing it to him as she drops into the seat next to him rather than her desk chair.

She doesn't savor the drink long.

"It'd work. It has to," Jemma says quietly. There's too much security, too little time for a strike team to move in just as her face is too visible for a proper undercover op. Instead, they're using that in their favor - if the auctioneers think Jemma's wealthy and interested only in the alien artifact they're selling, they won't care too much for her Shield connections or Dalton acting as a bodyguard beside her.

[artaemisia]

@valurent as cole says, “stop fussing— this isn’t my blood.”

“du bringst mich noch ins grab!” she exclaims, finally exhaling the breath she had been holding, one of her hands still grasping the fabric of cole’s left sleeve. that should be a comfort, but he is covered in blood. she does not want to imagine the scenario where this is the outcome.

angela licks her lips, eyes traveling over his form once, twice, a third time —

“let’s get you cleaned up,” while there is relief in her voice, the fatigue is there, too. she begins dabbing at him with a towel, checking beneath each bloodstain for any signs of a wound. “i have been in the lab all morning. what on earth has reyes gotten you into, now?”

[aquicksojourn]

‘ i don’t think i’m getting this. ’ from cassidy!

Well, that's obvious. Cassidy has the raw skill to accomplish this, but his discipline is lacking. She gets ready to show him again: powering down her leg thrusters, muting the strength of her cybernetic eyes; doing everything in her power to remember what it was like to have human strength.

She can't. The last time she was fully human was when she was four, on the cusp of her very first (but certainly not last) life-saving cybernetics procedure.

But she always had a keen eye. She knows what a basic human can and can't do. She knows how her body can function. Dampening her own cybernetics down to that level shouldn't be too hard with the right application of statistics.

❝ Let's try it one more time. Watch me. ❞

[artaemisia]

@valurent as cole says, ❝ When the dance floor calls, you gotta answer. ❞

ashe arches an eyebrow over her whiskey and finishes the little that remains. “that your way of askin’ me to dance?” she feigns disinterest, though the façade quickly falters by way of a subtle smirk. her glass clatters lightly against the countertop. “think you can keep up, @valurent ?”

[cathaedra]

      *      VALURENT      /      ft.   percy      —      “      are   you   really   sure   this   is   what   you   want?      you   won’t   regret   it   later?      ”

when   they   first   start   what   ends   them   up   here,   vax   cannot   understand   percy’s   doubts.         now,   he   better   empathizes   with   the   questions      —      better   spies   their   roots.      this   one   is   even   more   understandable   than   the   rest,   given   what’s   been   asked   .   .   .      what’s   been   offered:      a   place   in   whitestone;      a   place   with   @valurent​​,   fully   and   truly;      but   a   place   apart   from   vex’ahlia.      she   means   to   got   to   zephrah   with   keyleth      —      vax   knows   that   already.      but   it’s   one   thing   to   know   what   she   wants   than   to   know   what   he   wants   himself      —      than   to   choose   a   path   that   separates   them,   no   matter   how   temporarily.

“      i’ve   never   regretted   a   bit   of   time   we’ve   had   together,      ”            he   replies   softly,   looking   down   at   his   boots   instead   of   the   whitestone   sunset   they’re   watching   from   one   of   the   castle   balconies.            “      you’ll   likely   be   the   one   with   the   regrets      —      me,   here   as   the   lover   of   lord   percival   while   you   and   your   sister   rebuild   your   city?      ”            he   smirks,   self-deprecating   as   ever,   even   through   his   nerves.