tooprettytodie | (no subject)

It was time to stop hiding. That didn't mean she was going to fully integrate herself into island society again. She still wasn't going to go to her dance classes, especially not with Percy there, but she had decided to go ahead and live in her own place again. As grateful as she was to Charlie and Edmund for letting her crash at their place, she wanted to be back home.

She had left notes in the mailboxes of everyone that had gone home with everyone. They simply said I'm sorry. -Valkyrie

She wasn't sure what could be said beyond that. She hated herself for what she had done to them, even if becoming Darquesse had been to save them. In the end, she hadn't been strong enough to save her friends, not from herself. Not only that, but each time she became Darquesse, it was harder and harder to find her way back. If it hadn't been for the ending of the dream, she wasn't sure if she would have come back from that.

Then there was the fact that all of her closest friends now knew her secret. It wouldn't have been so bad except that her secret was that she had the potential to become some sort of crazy-powerful nut job without any conscience. Go her.

Sighing, Valkyrie curled up on her couch and hugged her knees to her chest. She'd just sit here for a while and try not to obsess over what happened. Later, much, much later tonight she would head to the ring and take out some anger on one of the bags and maybe go for a run along the beach.

[This can be set for any time between the 1st of June and now.]

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I struggled for a moment to think of something to say to that. Like, 'what do you mean, you're running away?' or 'I thought we were just backing off!' but I realized that what Valkyrie wanted most to do, right now, was to get what she wanted to say off her chest, and the best thing I could do was respect that and listen.

"Okay," I said. "I understand that. Why are you 'running', then?" And couldn't you maybe just jog a few paces away and stay?

"No, no, that's now what I meant!" she said. "I meant I'm not running away despite all that's happened. I mean, yeah, that confession is going to change things. But we're not going to stop being friends, or stop being close. But our feelings for each other are on two different levels and there needs to be some balancing out before anything major happens. But that doesn't mean I'm not open to things balancing out."

Of course that would most likely mean she was in love with Percy, or closer to being in love with him than she was. She couldn't guarantee that would happen but she wasn't going to just outright deny that it was a possibility.

"Okay," I said, then added, "Sorry." I had to admit that Valkyrie looked rather cute when she was flipping out, but I knew enough to at least try to avoid this. This was very much in dangerous territory.

I took her hands and held them in mine, as long as she let me. "I understand. And I'm really glad we're not going to stop being friends. I guess I just want to know, after all that's happened, what happens now?"

"I- I really don't know," she admitted. She wished that she did because that would make things so much easier. Usually she had an answer for things and she hated when she didn't.

"At the very least I'd like to start going back to dance class if I haven't already been kicked out for not showing up."

"I'd like that," I said. "And it shouldn't be a problem. We might have a lot of catching up to do, but Alcuin seems like an understanding guy."

"Good, I'm glad. And I promise I won't be such a stranger anymore."

Now that they had talked, there was a sense of relief. Sure things were up in the air a bit and the "I love you thing" still made her freak out a bit but it wasn't all that bad.

"I'd like that," I said. Seeing the relief on her face made me feel better. Whatever Darquesse had done, we had managed to salvage things.

I opened my arms a bit. "Hug?"

Valkyrie didn't hesitate before wrapping her arms around Percy and hugging him tight. She wasn't the type of person to say that she couldn't do this without him, but it definitely made things easier to deal with when he was around.

"You can always have hugs from me," she said, pulling away just a bit to smile at him before reaching up to brush his hair out of his face. "Always."

The hug felt good. Having her brush a strand of hair from my face also felt good. Maybe a little awkward.

Fortunately, before things got too awkward, Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of the woods and ran past us into the water.

"Uh, oh," I said, looking past Valkyrie as Mrs. O'Leary frolicked in the waves. "When she comes out and shakes herself..."

"Yeah, you're going to get really wet, aren't you?" she said with a grin, laughing a bit.

"Yes--" I said, before I realized what she said. I jerked my gaze from Mrs. O'Leary to her with a look that clearly said what I was thinking, which was, 'what do you mean, just me?'

"Obviously I'm going to use your body to shield me from the worst of it," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Valkyrie was fairly sure that she could hide behind him enough to keep mostly dry.

"What?!" I exclaimed, then, "Hey!" I tried to pull Valkyrie in front of me, but nothing doing. And Mrs. O'Leary was coming up the beach, making a beeline towards us, dripping. "Aw, man! No fair!"

True to her world, Valkyrie grabbed Percy and pushed him in front of her to protect herself from the majority of Mrs. O"Leary's attempt at drying off.

She was Percy's dog, there was no reason Valkyrie should get soaked by her.

Yup, Valkyrie pulled me in front of her and, yes, I appeared to be a pretty effective shield when Mrs O'Leary shook herself dry. I stood there, sopping wet, spitting water. I glared at Valkyrie, even though I knew it wouldn't stop her laughing. "Thanks," I said. Then I started to laugh.

"You're welcome," she said, giving him a sweet smile. Judging by how soaked Percy looked, she had definitely taken the right course of action to shield herself from the onslaught.

"So why don't I play fetch with Mrs. O'Leary while you go get dried off?"