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 Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 2:04 pm
There was another person in the depths of this funhouse from hell with whom Persephone was acquainted. She and Valhalla had met only a few times, but he was still a connection to her life as an Order senshi. He was still someone she had once sort of looked up to (because he had stood so brave and so strong against Bischofite, and it was hard to get that image out of her head.)
And besides, the least she could do as offer a few minutes of relief to the people they were holding and interrogating. It wouldn't actually fix anything, of course, because she couldn't fix anything ever.
But it was all she could do.
His cell creeped her out, nearly as much as Hver's had. The juxtaposition of happy cheery funhouse paintings - dilapidated and crumbling as they were - with the proud Knight of Jupiter chained, bloody, and beaten in the center of the room was horrifying, in its special sort of way.
"Hello, Valhalla," she said, and her voice was soft. Just as she had with Kairatos, she took the time to memorize his injuries. She would remember each and every one of them, a tally of what she had allowed to happen.
Carefully, the green-haired Corrupt sat herself down, resting her flower in her lap and calling on its gentling power. "I don't have any questions, just a little relief," she said, because opening with it this time felt like a good idea.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:41 pm
He recognized her the moment she stepped into the room. Green hair and a kind expression, marred by the holes in her head and chest. This hadn’t been the first time he’d seen her, but it was just as horrifying. He felt his heart tighten, cursing himself for all the things he had no control over. Too many he knew had been taken by chaos. Was he to join them?
“Persephone…” he breathed as his heart ached, closing his eyes as she approached him. What was he supposed to say to her? How was he supposed to look her in the eye when she was forced to do horrible things? And yet…
Valhalla looked up at her as she spoke, and then down at the flower in her lap. “I don’t want you risking yourself for me,” he warned her, well aware of the presence of other officers close by. He feared what they would do to anyone who offered him, or any of the others, some kind of comfort.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 6:16 pm
Persephone shook her head. "How can you be worried about me?" She asked, and her voice was cut with pain. "You're the one here suffering -- if something happens to me..." She shook her head. She would deserve it, for having sold her soul and let the Negaverse bend and twist her into something she wasn't.
"If something happens to me, it's my own fault," she said, and she fanned her hands, as if that might somehow encourage more of the mist to flow Valhalla's way. "Besides, I'm ranked like a General. There's not a lot they can do to me. It does us no good if you all can't think to give answers because you're in so much pain, right? Or something." She shrugged her shoulders. Truly, she didn't care about what it cost her personally. Knowing she had done a little to help was enough.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 8:57 pm
Valhalla couldn’t help but let out an exasperated breath as Persephone fussed over his concern for her. She and Cyllene both… “I’m the one who surrendered,” he told her, not wanting her to think he was a completely innocent victim in all this. He had known what could happen the moment he gave himself up. The fact that he was still alive was surprising in itself.
He closed his eyes as he breathed in the sweet scent, a sudden calm and relief rushing over him. The effect had him relaxing more than it was probably meant to, and he swayed suddenly as if nodding off, the only thing keeping him upright were the chains binding him to the floor.
“Smells nice,” he mumbled almost incoherently, his eyelids fluttering lightly. Perhaps it was the pain that kept him conscious, and the lack of it had him ready to finally, finally sleep. But he couldn’t with her there, risking herself to relieve him of some of his pain. “Thank you…” his voice was almost inaudible, “But you… shouldn’t…” he argued lethargically, and rather pointlessly. He still feared someone catching her doing something like this for him, even if she was a General. Benitoite was risking his life as well. Cyllene... that mysterious woman who brought him there, but kept coming back to help him...
After everything the Negaverse had done, he still couldn't bring himself to hate the people forced to follow Chaos's orders.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:45 pm
"And I'm the one who willingly corrupted," Persephone said, as if that ought to silence any concern for her. As far as she was concerned, it ought to. She had done this, that was all.
Carefully, she scooted a little closer, moving her hands to rest on the sides of Valhalla's face. He was so badly hurt, covered in bandages, and it was obvious he was exhausted. "Have you slept?" She asked, gently. Likely not, not in the position they had him in. "You should try to get some, sleep deprivation can kill you as surely as anything else." Gently, she reached up to stroke his hair, a strangely sweet touch that she was pretty sure would only be well received because he was something approaching high off the smoke from her flower.
"Is there a message I can carry for you? Someone you'd like me to check on?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 10:05 am
His eyelids fluttered once more, a small, ironic laugh somehow managing to escape when she asked if he’d slept. While he went in and out of consciousness, he never had the opportunity to really rest. There wasn’t time for that. The screams of others and pain from his wounds kept him awake.
But with this sweet, fruity scent… There was a calm that rushed over him that he hadn’t felt since they’d been brought there. She took his face in her hands and he couldn’t help but rest heavily against them. They were soft and warm and kind, and he couldn’t help but seek solace in her touch. He didn’t feel bitter towards her, never had. Nor did he resent her for what she could not have known she’d be forced to do.
He felt that with her there, he could sleep, but didn’t know if it would be wise to put her in such a risky position. What would others say if they found out she’d let him rest?
“Mirrors…” he mumbled numbly, not seeming aware enough to really understand what he was even saying. “And Ganymede… ‘love her…” He wanted to say more of course, but whatever magic she was using was strong on him, and he soon couldn’t form the words he wanted to.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:08 pm
"Mirrors." Persephone's head jerked up, and she stared, directly, at the covered mirrors on the wall. s**t, there was a whole set of mirrors there, and surely there were more elsewhere. And she had friends in the Court. If she could smuggle Leto, or Tantalus, or Damocles in here, so they could learn the mirror...
Maybe she could actually do something useful for once.
But instead of voicing the slowly-forming plan in the back of her mind, Persephone just gave Valhalla a faint smile. "I'll go see Ganymede too, then. Rest now, Valhalla, at least for a few minutes. Please?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:49 pm
There wasn’t much that Valhalla could say to argue. His eyes were so heavy he couldn’t keep them open even if he wanted to. The sweet scent of the mist rising from the flower had lulled him into a daze. If this was death, he would happily welcome it.
He didn’t have a chance to respond. He swayed again, this time his head slipping out of her hands and landing heavy on her shoulder. Whether she allowed him to rest like that or moved away to let him lay on the floor, he didn’t know. Valhalla had already drifted off, his breathing deep from exhaustion. Whatever she did, it definitely allowed him to rest for a moment.
Perhaps he would live long enough to thank her one day. If not, he appreciated the show of kindness.
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