Welcome to Gaia! ::

Valentein had finally managed to convince their older sibling to go do something that wasn't constantly annoying them. Blythe needed to make friends and with a quick toss of a flyer, the older hybrid had run off on their adventure. Valentein sighed as they walked briskly down the hall, glancing down at the paper in their hand and comparing it to the numbers on the doors. Finally, they reached the correct door. Giving a light knock before simply entering just to give whoever might be inside a heads up to their arrival. Val deeply hoped it was someone quiet, or rather nonexistent. "Hello?" they spoke as they pushed the door open.

Valentein stared at the other nightmare, inspecting her with their eyes. Black sceleras, tendrils. Obviously a geist and litch hybrid. Which meant they were more likely to be quiet and reserved like themselves, or the complete freaking opposite. Unhelpful information. Val determined that it would be difficult to tell by appearance alone whether they'd be annoying or tolerable. She was wearing lots of pink after all. Who knew. Valentein thought about what to say, their face deadpan as they then looked down at the paper in their hand. "Yes, I am Valen-... I'm Val, your new roommate. You must be Dahlia." their voice lacked any emotions as they spoke. Sighing, they moved to the empty bed and set down their satchel. "I'm quiet. I'm calm. I read a lot. I have a clingy older sibling who is not any of those things. If there is anything you'd like to know, I recommend asking now while I'm feeling talkative. Unless you are not much for conversation, then I can respect that." Val turned to Dahlia and looked around for a moment, trying to figure out how to make herself seem at least relatively friendly, but gave up caring and just stared at her. Valentein had never had to deal with people that weren't family, talking to others proved harder than they imagined.

Valentein nodded as she introduced herself. Val watched her actions carefully, their face not changing from its expressionless state. As the questions started, Val considered the first one. All they had? "Yes. My older sibling and I traveled quite far and we didn't have very many things to begin with. Blythe has a few things I could not fit in my satchel of mine. It wasn't necessary to bring more." they left her answer to that, not even acknowledging her story about her brother's friend. It was irrelevant to the conversation. Oh, but she noticed that she was getting off-topic. Good. "It's fine." she responded bluntly. Val listened to Dahlia talk about her siblings and then began to tune her out a bit. They didn't care all that much, but at least kept face so that they weren't rude about not listening. Val considered continuing the conversation with complimenting facts about their own family. Though, it would get pretty dark if they told the truth about their parents. "I have two moms. They went on vacation and they are never coming back. It's complicated." they replied with a twinge of annoyance but then Valentein looked to the floor, a hint of somber thought in their eyes. Even with all the lack of emotion, it was still hard for Valentein to talk about their parents. They took a deep breath and then looked to Dahlia, their expression returning to its normal bland look.

Valentein was mulling over how to further explain themselves, since their first statement was purposefully unclear. Then Dahlia revealed her situation with her father. Valentein stared at her, a glint of concern on their face. He said so. So her father purposefully left her. Somehow, they felt that was worse than a parent dying. At least Valentein had closure that they could never see their parents again, but surely Dahlia would have to live with knowing her father was out there and he didn't want her. Terrible. Valentein opened their mouth to speak but then Dahlia cried out and it seemed to startle Val a bit. They hadn't planned on this conversation getting so out of control. Valentein couldn't decide to explain or not now. "My parents are dead." they blurted out then shook their head. "Growing up, my mom was never there. She left us alone a lot, then she never came back. Then my mother got sick and died." they admitted, their eyes falling to the floor again as they felt their chest get tight. Val cursed under their breath, angry that they felt so much emotions about their parents. "Blythe doesn't know." they looked to Dahlia and narrowed their eyes. "So this stays between us." Valentein thought for a bit, she was right, adults that abandoned their children were awful. "You should make him pay." they spoke coldly, without emotion. Now was a good a time as any to gauge how Dahlia handled them as they truly were, who they would become.

Valentein was taken back by Dahlia's apology. It sounded so sincere. Not even their family around them had even sounded remotely that sincere, something that stung deep in their chest. It was the realization that their family didn't truly care about when their mother died from illness, they had only pretended to care. Something that made anger well up in Valentein, figuring this was the same anger Dahlia had been feeling. Mad that people that mattered didn't care for them. Valentein simply nodded, this time not with such a hard face, something just as sincere.

It seemed that Dahlia was on the same page of Valentein as the look on her face gave it away that that had been her plan. To make him pay. She seemed genuinely happy about it, something that felt comforting to Val. They began to smile, something that very rarely happened. "Deal." they nodded to further confirm the agreement. "You know, I was worried you would be someone that would annoy me... but you're not half-bad, kid. I think I could stand to tolerate you." they smirked. "If you need help... I'd be glad to help you exact your revenge." They had already made a mental note of the name, in case they ever came across it later. The idea of getting revenge started to stir up a bit of excitement in them, a feeling they had seemed to never feel before, or at least that they could remember. Then one day, Valentein would find a way back to their hometown and exact revenge on their family as well. It just seemed so natural.