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 Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 8:20 pm
The past couple week had been difficult for Valhalla to move past, reminding himself over and over that no matter how hard he tried, there were some things he just couldn’t prevent. The death of the young man at the hands of Obsidian had weighed heavy on his mind, despite the fact that he knew he couldn’t have done anything to prevent it.
There was not blood on his hands, and he intended for them to remain clean. Although his heart was heavy, it wasn’t guilt and regret that wore him down. He’d learned long ago that he could only do what he could, and try to prevent it from happening to someone else.
A text from Danika had been something of a surprise, but not an unwanted one. Getting up with her to meet another knight was definitely something he looked forward to. He had enjoyed their previous interactions and hoped she was doing well, and not getting too caught up in obsessing over her Wonder!
“Hey,” Valhalla greeted with a smile as she approached, having been waiting for her on the roof of one of the buildings on the DCU campus, moving forward to reach out and embrace her in a friendly hug. It was open with plenty of escape routes should they need it, as well as a good vantage point to spot anyone approaching them.
“Valhalla,” he introduced himself as he pulled away from Themiscrya, holding out a hand to the other knight she'd brought with her. “It’s nice to meet you.”
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:52 pm
It'd been spur of the moment. Just texted Dominic to see if he'd be up for meeting Valhalla. Just texted Chris to see if he'd be up for meeting a new Page she'd met. No real thought was put into anything. No real consideration for what she was doing, or why.
In her defense, she'd mentioned Valhalla to Ashur a half-dozen--ok, probably a few more....--times when she'd first attempted to give him a knight crash course. It'd just made sense to her. Valhalla was the closest thing she'd gotten to a mentor. Hell.... he was it in her mind. It made sense to her that a friend should meet a friend. Especially one who actually knew the ropes. Guy with the cape was better than the girl with the earring.
"He's a nice guy! You two'll get along," she'd said as they'd made their way towards DCU. Really, they were... similar. Of sorts. Easy to talk to. Easy to laugh with. Themiscyra only felt it was natural the two should meet.
It was with a grin and a laugh she met the brunet Knight moment she was on the rooftop, waving in her own greeting. The hug was taken without hesitation of her own, arms wrapping around Valhalla tight with a laugh. "'Sup? Been a while!"
She pulled back without issue, stepping back, and closer to Ashur as she moved back towards him. They could make their own introductions. She'd done her part. Felt nice to just.... be on the side. Sort of. The last few weeks had been disturbing enough in her head. Comic limelight be damned. Ever super heroes needed social down-time.
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Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:26 pm
There was no way he could pinpoint a specific reason for it, but since his birthday -- and even a little before that -- Dominic had not been in the greatest of mental states. Or physical states. Or emotional states. Or any state, really, though he was more or less able to glaze over all his problems with the usual smile and friendly disposition whenever he was put in a social setting. And truth be told, it hadn't all been bad, especially when it involved certain people he'd grown rather fond of in a rather short amount of time. A rarity for someone who preferred being detached, but hey. It wasn't really a bad thing either.
So getting a text from one of these certain people, even a ridiculously random one involving powered life and meeting the knight she'd mentioned a lot at their initial meeting, was a pleasant sort of...uh, surprise. Dom had buried himself in a project again -- it'd been his current focus as of late, to avoid all his family problems as best he could, the most productive way being to work on another contraption -- but powering up was also about as far away from family life as he could get. Even if it wasn't his favorite pastime, it'd be a nice change of pace. So it wasn't long before he found himself in the company of a certain Martian knight, smiling as he walked just slightly behind her and listened to her gush about Valhalla. Well, not really gush, but she was always so full of compliments when it came to the guy.
But it wasn't at all awkward, though, when the two of them finally met up with the caped figure he'd spotted while they were still a way's away. Ashur simply watched the two exchange friendly hugs and greetings, then he blinked a bit when Valhalla extended a hand and introduced himself. He took it, of course, and replied after clearing his throat. "Ah. Ashur, good to finally meet you. She," and he jabbed his free thumb in Themi's direction, smirking, "always has something good to say about you, so I was getting pretty curious myself."
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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 8:03 am
Valhalla’s smile grew a bit more anxious as it was mentioned how Themiscrya had been talking about him, and even though Ashur said it was good things, he couldn’t help but shoot an awkward glance her way, as if to ask ‘what the hell are you telling people about me??’ Either way, he let out a small laugh, now a bit self-conscious.
“Hopefully she hasn’t said too much about me. False expectations and such,” he started off strong and dropped to almost a mumble, glancing at Themi once more. He wasn’t anyone all that important to talk about, and certainly not as well known as other knights in the vicinity who deserved more recognition and compliments than a college student/baseball kid.
“Everything okay? How’s your arm?” he asked Themiscrya before he would turn his attention to Ashur. He wanted to make sure she had managed to heal from the incident with the Shade Queen, and while he couldn’t see anything ailing her, he figured it was good to ask. She seemed to be a rather reckless type, and he didn’t want to see her putting herself in danger.
“Have you been doing this for very long?” Valhalla turned to Ashur, curious about the other young man despite not knowing exactly what Themiscrya had said about him. He was at least able to push aside his anxiety in order to try and learn more about this other knight. “Do you go to DCU, too?” he added, thinking that he looked a bit older than high school, so it wasn’t a completely ridiculous assumption. “I pitch for the baseball team. Chris Gallo,” he added, figuring why the hell not? It wasn’t as though Themi didn’t already know him, and she obviously had a high opinion of Ashur.
If anything, he hoped it would help the other to realize that he wasn’t as alone as he might think. Or at least that was something he’d run into with others in the past.
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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:42 pm
Haha. Oops. Themiscyra gave an innocent grin to Valhalla when the glance was sent her way. False expectations her a**. "Only the truth, I promise." Like how he'd been a huge help to her within her first week or two of awakening. That's all. "You don't give yourself enough credit!" Clearly she had to do it for him.
The question back on her made her blink before looking to the wrist that had been broken. Holding it up--knowing her silver bracer covered it--she rotated her hand the best she could in the air with the accessory on. "Told ya I'd be fine, and I am. No more cast. Everything healed fine." She paused before scowling. "Trying to make impromptu splints while I was patrolling was a b***h though." Yes she'd gone out as Themiscyra while trying to heal. Oops? Ah well, past was the past at that point. Still, she scanned him in turn, lips pursing slightly. "How about you and Ganymede? How've you guys been?"
Then the question went to Ashur, and again Themiscyra didn't see the need to answer for him. The mention of his civilian identity did raise a brow, but she smiled nonetheless. Yes, yes she did know whom Valhalla was out of uniform. Even knew his adorable wife. "I'm still waiting to see if we'll have a class together," she teased the brunet, before glancing at Ashur and scowling. "You too." Though. Should she mention another of her classmates was a knight, too? Erebus was going to have to get dragged in on a meeting at some point with both guys.
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Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:32 am
Ashur laughed lightly and lifted a hand, waving it as if to say that she really hadn't set any false expectations or anything in his mind. "Nah, nothing like that, don't worry," the page reassured, then dropped his hands and went quiet for a moment as the two friends went on to exchange about Themi's broken wrist. Now that it came up, Ash flashed back to their conversation and how she'd displayed the the scars almost proudly while at the same time warning him about...something. He forgot the finer points, since it'd been a while since that encounter. Still, he got the gist.
When finally Valhalla shot a question his way, Ash snapped to and let out an embarrassed sort of laugh. "You could say that..." he started slowly, glancing over at Themi before bringing a hand through hair. "Nearly a year now, I think?" and not wanting to let that hang in the air for too long, he was happy to jump on the DCU question with a little more energy. "Freshman, yeah. Mostly doing general ed. 'til I have an epiphany about what my major's supposed to be." Themiscyra's input and subsequent scowl got a genuine laugh to bubble out of him and Ash felt himself relax a bit, even more so when the Valhalla casually just shared his civilian identity.
His cerulean blues caught Themi's eyes for a second, a curious and rather intrigued look flashing through them however briefly. "Dominic Styles," came a comfortable reply. Then, smirking, he added, "and I pity any teacher that has to put up with the two of us for an entire semester, so I'm trying to avoid it." The page narrowed his eyes, more in her direction than Valhalla's, before regarding the more experienced knight again.
"Seriously, though. I was a little surprised when she texted about a meeting. She introduce you to other knights the same way?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:20 pm
”She’s fine,” Valhalla assured Themiscrya, not wanting her to worry about Ganymede. “If anything, I think she’d rather fight another Shade Queen than have to host Thanksgiving again,” he said with a small laugh, but seemed to figure it wasn’t very funny afterall. He glanced over to Ashur with a sheepish grin. “My, uh… better half. One year in March,” he explained, feeling like it was only fair to explain to the one person who didn’t know what was going on.
He nodded lightly to Ashur when he told him more about himself, laughing lightly about the text. “You’re the first one, but I don’t mind. It leaves the guess work out of aura hunting,” he explained, thinking it was much more convenient to make introductions this way than just running into others out on the street. “But really, you have good ideas, Themiscrya,” he complimented, swelling with something like pride of knowing her.
“You’ll think of something,” he promised. “As long as you don’t get too caught up in all… this,” he said, indicating to their current outfits. “Don’t get me wrong, I think what we do is very important, but… if we forget how we want to live without any of the war going on around us… what’s the point? We fight a war, grow with it, and once it’s over… what do we do then…?”
It made him sad to think about how many have lost themselves to the war, whether it be because of Chaos, or because they felt like it was the right thing to do and just… forgot how to live.
“Don’t feel bad for who you are,” he added, glancing up at Ashur in particular. It was difficult not to notice the hesitation when at one point he’d felt the same way. “Seriously… I know everyone has big ideas about how great it must be to have more… whatever this is… Magic? Energy? Cosmic presence? But you’ll know you’re ready when the time comes. It took me a long… long time to get used to this, and even still… I’m really not the best suited for it. So… don’t feel bad. Besides, you’ll regret ruining your GPA down the road if you let this distract you.”
Maybe he said too much or jumped to conclusions about things, but after watching everyone else but him grow in power, despite being around for just as long… he definitely could relate to someone who might feel self conscious about that.
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Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 12:20 am
Eyes were rolled at how quickly Valhalla responded like that about how Ganymede was, but his continuation got a quick laugh out of her. "Tell her I'll join her in that one." The holidays were always.... hectic for her family. Oh to skip it for another battle... Even if it meant getting more broken bones. Worth it, if it got her out of more petty arguments over the table between whichever of her siblings were around for it, or her cousins, or... ugh. Anyone. Besides. Leftovers were the best part about Thanksgiving anyways. She wasn't missing that.
When Ashur had glanced her way before giving the time frame he'd been around for, she shot him a quizzical look, unsure where the pause came from. Oh sure, it confused the hell out of her that hew as only just now starting to get some lessons in everything--but if anything, it only confirmed her reasoning to introduce the two. Never mind find other knights out there, see who else was wandering without a clue for so long. It was kinda scary, that concept. How much could she have wandered into, unaware, with how quickly she'd jumped at the chances to power up every chance she got? Newbies needed a crash course asap when they woke up to being a knight. Period. Pulling herself from her thoughts, she snerked and wrinkled her nose a little towards the Uranian knight. "Oh please. We'd just be testing their capabilities as instructors. Also their sanity. It'd be fun." Though she wondered, who would be mooching from whom in terms of notes? Hm.
Huh? Good ideas? She blinked at Valhalla a few times, glancing between him and Ashur before giving a helpless shrug. "It's more logic than anything. You helped me out big when we met, so you're a way better resource than I am. And you know more people." It seemed so obvious to her. Knights should be helping knights. Not that senshi weren't good sources of info too, of course--allies were allies. But knights... seemed a little more disconnected. Or at least that was how it looked to her, peering in. "But uh... I do know another newbie. So uh. You might be getting another text at some point." Good ideas were the obvious ones? She wasn't sure how else to consider it. A frown marred her features for a moment. Was she missing something there that he was seeing?
Maybe there was a lot she wasn't seeing from his point of view.
As Valhalla began to speak about.... balancing it all, Themiscyra grew quiet, watching the Jovian knight. Perhaps it was the faint irony of a knight of Mars to hear talk of "beyond the war," or perhaps it was that lingering sense of comic book fascination with the turn her life was taking. There were times when Danika felt like a completely separate person from Themiscyra, and other times... impossible to tell the difference, wondering how the rest of the world couldn't see it regardless of what outfit she wore. The idea of Themiscyra bending over bolts of cloth and materials, sewing and stitching together pieces, coordinating outfits... was laughable. Yet it was a dream come true for Danika. "You're better at this than you think," she pointed out simply as he finished, nudging Valhalla with an elbow. Smile soft, she shrugged, "It's hell trying to balance classes, work, and all this knight stuff but... I donno. Don't want to lose any of it. I like making clothes and doing advertising designs. Besides. Killing youma doesn't exactly give a paycheck." Too bad, really. They could all be making big bucks if the city'd do something like that.
"But if I'm conveniently in the hospital with horrible injuries during finals or when a huge project's due I'm not done with... uh. I swear. It's just magical timing."
Looking to Ashur, her head cocked to the side as she thought about the time he'd spent before they'd met. "What'd you even been up to, before we met? I mean, did you meet other people, ask about stuff?" She could have sworn she'd asked him before, but considering the topic, clarification was nice.
Guine So Pandora started playing "Waiting for Superman" when I re-read Val's points about keeping up with non-powered life in order to respond in this post. I diiiiied. And then put it on repeat on grooveshark. Dani's choking @ timing. _ p a o cx Ashur just don't keep falling into dumpsters and bby that's a huge step you're doing great <33333 Also it'll keep Dani from giving you body washes and on the go perfume for Christmas.
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Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 11:57 am
Despite himself, his eyes widened at Valhalla's admission to being married at… well, he still didn't know his age. Ash kept whatever little questions about marriage that suddenly bubbled up in his brain just as Themiscyra popped in with a little retort to his class assignment comment. A smirk played at his features but he held his tongue in favor of listening, for once. He nodded or tilted his head a little in thought and/or consideration as she explained her reason for having them meet this way, and about midway through he ran a hand through his hair.
Thankfully Valhalla had started speaking before he could comment about still being a newbie and wishing he'd taken advantage of whatever chances he'd gotten before meeting Themi and asked questions. Normally he would have, but for a while he'd just been enamored with the idea of having what may be considered super powers so he completely missed those chances. Mercifully, and rather literally so considering she did save him from an unfortunate plummet that night, he met Themiscyra and was suddenly on the right path in terms of being a knight.
He was still confused and more or less clueless, but at least he had his head on straight now.
As Valhalla spoke, Ash, in much the same way he'd acted while Themi spoke, just nodded along, "mm"-ing when he agreed on a point that was being made or narrowing his eyes when a question popped in his head, but otherwise he stayed silent and considered. Absorbed. When Valhalla finished speaking he finally spoke, a smile suddenly somewhat brightening his otherwise serious expression.
"She's right, y'know," he said, his head bobbing lightly. "You're pretty good at this whole guiding thing."
And again he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up slightly, and sighed. "Gotta be honest, though, getting caught up in all of this is kinda why I'm still basically a beginner even if it's been a year since I uh.. inherited this…" he grinned. "'Cosmic presence'."
He fought down a snicker at the term, suddenly realizing that he really didn't know what word would actually fit for their nighttime occupation. "And yeah. I…probably don't need the extra help ruining my GPA, but at the same time I don't think I'd wanna lose this side of my life either."
Sure, he hadn't technically done much as Ashur, but it didn't seem like it mattered whether he started right off or lagged behind a little, so long as he started.
He quieted, thoughts lingering on how slow a start he'd really had as Themi spoke, but still he snorted when she finished speaking, amused more than anything else. "Magical timing, huh?" and he let the question hang, brow raised in their usual quizzical fashion before she shot him a question that had his brows knit together instead. "Uhh…" he started, then shrugged after a beat. "Nothing? I powered up and wandered, I guess. Wondered if I'd run into youma, spent some time trying to figure out that these sticks really don't do a damned thing…"
Ashur frowned then, and turned a bit more toward Valhalla. "What's that about, anyway? I've got sticks that don't do anything," and he paused and gestured toward the Martian Page beside him. "She's got an earring, not even a pair of earrings." He smiled at the little jab at her weapon, eyes briefly glancing over at Themi before going back to the more experienced knight between the three of them.
"She told me they're supposed to get better, but so far nothing." He held out the sticks in question so Valhalla could have a look himself.Guine I'm sorry this post is so grrr, Kailey Koreco but we must move along.. *o*a
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