What the Rain Said [Valence]

[VANESSA FERRE]

Water, water, more water. It would’ve been beautiful, it would have been serene, it would’ve been absolutely majestic ... save for the giant bleeding hydra gurgling out its last breath. Vanessa sighed as it would be a messy clean up for the Zoras; she had tried her best to keep it clean, but it seemed that her comrades became a tad too excited. It was cheaper work to hire mercenaries, but they hardly cared about the tastefulness of a job, perfectly contented to have money clinking within their satchels. She would have a word with her superiors about giving her a band of thugs to command.

“You are dismissed, thank you for your assistance.” She waved them off, impatient with their lack of delicacy about the order, and turned curtly as they left. But who was she to complain? After all, the Knights were short-handed -- she kept track of the rosters and there weren’t many within the ranks or even the barracks. Your world... A certain man’s words rung in her head and she smirked. Her world, certainly, but it seemed that even her world had given up on making things good. Even the Knight herself had -- Vanessa only existed to keep order. And it just so happened that the hydra on this morning had disrupted it with it’s hatchlings.

And it wasn’t all. Vanessa gripped her temple and massaged it -- perhaps sight was running into a type of hiccup or perhaps it was her irritation eating at her brow. But the day didn’t exactly call for a visit. “Valence Nightingale,” she said seemingly into the wind. Again he follows her, and she wonders what this man was so interested in, “You know, you don’t have to hide from me.” Her senses honed onto his aura and pinpointed his location.

She proceeded to circle the dying hydra, watching it -- it was certainly an unfortunate thing; wrong place, wrong time. But all in all, she would have to deal with the clean up alone and it would be the day’s work fit for an Errant. What else was new? Perfection to one is done only by the self, she mused.

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[Valence Nightingale]

"Hmm." A half-smile curled around the man's lips.

It had been some time since he'd revealed himself to her.

Though a few months had passed since Val had last had a conversation with this knight, he hadn't forgotten about her or what she'd told him. Unbeknownst to her, Val had kept tabs on her whereabouts and actions, and had, once or twice, followed her around without her knowing. But now-- and she did so easily pick up on it-- he had chosen to make his presence known once more, and she readily picked up on it. Val sighed. She did have a knack for that.

The young man was perched with his knees apart upon the edge of a building far off, a good distance from Vanessa's location. Under normal circumstances, Val wouldn't have chosen to even make an appearance in the daylight; however, with the hydra show being put on, as well as his favorite enemy present, Val knew he had little voluntary choice in the matter. Or perhaps he did. Either way, he didn't regret his decision. He rarely regretted anything.

At one point, he had considered helping the group fight. At another point, he had considered helping the hydra fight. Val had stayed perched on the corner edge of the roof where he was for the entire duration of the fight, and had as good a front row seat as one could have. He was not hidden, with the sun being out-- though clouds did seem to be rolling in ominously-- and regardless, he'd stayed relatively well hidden. While the young hunter knew his presence was known to Vanessa, he also knew that her companions hadn't known that he was there.

For if they had, he would sure be a dead man.

Unable to suppress the smile from his lips any longer, Val stood, breaking his perch, and remained solid standing on the corner edge. His toned, refined agility gave him the ability to keep balance almost anywhere. When his name was called into the wind, he happy turned around slowly and dove backwards into the water, partially showing off as he twisted his frame back around. He always had more fun than he intended to; after all, it was Vanessa he was dealing with, and the months he'd spent out of her presence lead him to desire her cunning and wit more so than he normally did.

Swimming over to meet her, Val popped his head out of the water, then back under, then back up. Not for air, nor to check his path-- he was toying with her, being silly, and for whatever his reason was, ignoring the seriousness that would surely ensue if he made a wrong move. Eventually he made it to her, and hoisted himself back up onto land from the dock, shook his hair partially dry of the water, and walked to meet her, still chuckling, ever amused.

"Well, well," Said he, with an upwards inflection in his voice, his tone light as it had always been. "Quite a pleasure seeing you out here... Thought I'd come enjoy the sun for a change. Seems to me as though you needed a day off too, hm?" He joked. The young man glanced at the hydra, and couldn't help but be mildly impressed.

[VANESSA FERRE]

There was just something about this man that was so irritatingly contagious that Vanessa couldn’t help but smile back. “Show-off. You do know how to make an entrance, dear Valence.” She brushed a fleck of water away as it landed upon her sweat-marred cheek with a chuckle, “Ah, and here I thought you were some nocturnal creature that would burn in the sun.” A feigned sigh of exasperation and surrender left her lips almost too delicately with a tinge of teasing, “I suppose I am safe from you nowhere, then..”

His little antics were of the amusing sort, wavering between ones of a jester and one of the thief, and she could enjoy them for now, she decided. But over indulgence would be a sin in this case, so there must be wariness in the air as there always should be, and it was disappointing. It had been quite awhile since she had contact with the assassin -- she didn’t keep track, but he was enthusiastic as ever, and that was refreshing. Vanessa found herself thinking upon the night of wishes, remembering the laxness of it all, the wit and sharpness that also came with it.

It was hard to find an equal tongue and mind these days -- or perhaps it was true, there was merely one for one. She would laugh at herself for the fairytale later, but now she would merely entertain the man’s presence. “Oh yes, there isn’t anything more relaxing than almost getting eaten by giant, eight-headed, water-serpent.”

She laughed it off -- they were far form town and her smile was much more generous -- while she took inventory of the parts of the river that needed some repairing for optimal water flow to the castle. “So, what brings you to appear before me like a magical genie?” A sly look thrown in his direction was tinged with nothing short of mirth, “You wouldn’t be here to chat again, would you?”

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[Valence Nightingale]

Val involuntarily offered a toothy smile, looking down to his feet with a chuckle, then out to the vast lake with the remains of the great beast. He himself had never seen such a spectacular display of finesse, but that might have been only because Val's targets never had much chance to prove themselves in battle-- he was rarely seen. Even more so in the daylight; Val only came into the light when he was purposefully trying to be found, or to make daily trips, as all people had to do time to time.

"Ah," Val teased, a laugh thrown in, "You cannot be safe from me, my dear. I am a creature that knows neither fear... nor wisdom." The young hunter joked, adding a quaint inflection at the end of his statement. "Though I must admit, the sun does quite burn; those of us without hearts and souls are often creatures of the dark." He was considerably amused, having bidden his time in coming to Vanessa again. She was his intellectual counterpart as he saw it, and an enemy, which of course, made it all the more amusing.

At the same time, however, Val also considered the fact that Vanessa could, at any time, turn in an accurate description, last location, and manner of travel on him to any of the other officials, and quickly, Val would be caught. Perhaps, the young man mused, that was why he kept coming back; the challenge was too much to bear, too much to stay away from. It wasn't a game of cat and mouse, it was a game of temptation. Val enjoyed the rush and the excitement that came with building a relationship with his biggest enemy, and moreover, a significant member of the Order that likely had the biggest bounty on his head.

And one of their members was indulging his desires.

Val smirked, happy with his situation. "You know, during that fight, I was so tempted to bring your numbers down myself, to examine just how well the great Vanessa would fare against such a dangerous beast." Val strolled to the water's edge, and watched as the waves lapped gently at the rocky shore before him. The lake had always been such a peaceful place, and it took Val back to the days when he was a child, and he would come to the lake to play for the day...

He wasn't a wanted man in those days. And, noteworthy, he also wasn't as happy as he was now. Not a day went by in which Val regretted his choices. He was very happy were he was. His life was fun, which was his desire from the start. Regardless of the fact he couldn't find his caretaker, he was pleased with the world and those in it. Specifically, with his enemy behind him. It gave him hope that the world was not entirely closed-minded.

Staring down at the water, Val gave another light chuckle. "No," He said, equally feigned a sense of distaste, "though I can't say I would dislike such an opportunity. But I must say, my debt is beginning to get to me. What if I skip town and you never see me again? How will I pay it then, hm? I do so hate being in debt, sweet." He turned back to her from the water for a moment, met her eyes, then came back down with a laugh. The clouds high in the sky were rolling closer together, and it seemed as if they desired to weep.

[VANESSA FERRE]

As soon as he spoke, she realized how much she missed the man’s wit and quick tongue, and it was what drew her to him even if they were on so different ends of the world. “No wisdom? Aye, then I truly am doomed. I heard lack of wisdom was contagious -- I seem to feel its effects almost instantly as you draw near.” And it was true; against better judgement, she was speaking to him again while she could so easily apprehend him -- perhaps she also enjoyed the thrill of the outside, something that wasn’t so confined to order. Her forced life.

She looked upon the sun, glimmering against her dusted armor, against the blood-dyed lake, and against the scales of the hydra to feel its warmth against the cool breeze. “My, then must you have part of a heart or perhaps a soul? You haven’t disintegrated yet.” Silver eyes took to scrutinizing the his lithe form with deliberate joking -- and it was funny, like many things with this man, how she could joke and take things with a bit of lightness and laughter. It had been awhile since her last laugh of honesty.

At his next statement, she feigned a look of hurt, exasperation, and irritation, “Well, why didn’t you?! Oh, it would have saved me a good share of coin and some dignity.” She gestured to their messy job -- Vanessa would have made it a cleaner kill and a more tasteful one at that if she had her way. And how messiness was a hassle! There would be extra rupees to pay for repairs, and it would be coming out of her paycheck; not that she needed money, but it was a blemish upon her beautifully clean record in the most literal of senses.

“So, you have come to ask me what I ask of you?” She chuckled at his eagerness to know, but unfortunately for him, she didn’t really have one in mind as of yet. “You may run if you wish, but I’ll reach you eventually. Unfortunately, I have nothing in mind as of now -- or moreso, I have many things in mind, but a favor from Sir Valence Nightingale is much to valuable to squander.” She waved away the professional air with her characteristic nonchalance and a laugh, “Besides, if I keep you hanging, you’ll be ever so curious as to come back and visit again."

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[Valence Nightingale]

At her joke, Val could do little more than laugh. He sat down at the water's edge, removed his soft-soled leather boots, and rested his feet in the water. He leaned back, rested his weight on his arms, and looked out towards the lake, being ever darkened by the oncoming overcast. "Oh, indeed," The young man said, suddenly curious as to why he was able to break down her Knightlike wall when it seemed, before he'd met there, that it was impenetrable. There had, of course, been tales of Vanessa that he had heard for years-- being the diligent, efficient, justice machine, but in her presence, he couldn't quite sense it. He smiled, though she would have been unable to see it with him no longer facing her.

"Ahh," Val began, like a grandfather would begin telling a story to a small, eager child, "perhaps I stole one. It wouldn't be the first invaluable thing I've stolen... And, if I do have a heart and soul-- which, of course--" he held up a finger, making a point that was emphasized, "--is merely stolen, at the very least, it allows me some daytime leisure. Even scum need days off, you know." Val's tone was light, his following quiet laughter equal. "And I thought the show that was being put on was far too entertaining to interfere."

Damn her, Val thought to himself. He sighed aloud, but his thoughts were to himself. She was far to clever for her own good; most people, Val could read like open books. Oftentimes, he didn't even have to try to tell what someone was thinking or planning, but this woman was different. She was unable to be read, or at least, extremely hard to read. It was irritating to say the least, but Val couldn't ignore the fact that it was exceedingly attractive. Never before had he had to concentrate so hard on every word to even begin the process of deducing a real meaning or intent. This Vanessa was a curious type, and Val both hated and loved it.

Analyzing his current situation, Val was both pleased and dissatisfied. "Hmmmm," Val mused, placing one of his hands on his chin as he leaned forward. "Many things indeed. Ah, yes, a favor from me is both valuable and hard to come by. If my life hadn't been in danger, you would have never gotten one." The man's tone was ever light, but there was a hint of seriousness in it. He meant what he said. He hated favors, hated debt, and was drawn to this woman, giving her exactly what he never gave anyone. In his mind, Val found it ridiculous; but, realistically, nothing could be done, and he wasn't exactly miserable in her company.

All he could do was laugh, slightly louder than he had been. He was amused, as he always was. "That I will. I guess until it's paid, I'll stalk you like a lost puppy. Only a more clever, more amused, less dependent lost puppy. And I can kill you at any given time and escape my favor. What say you to that, sweet?" Val turned his head in her direction, his orange eyes meeting hers for a spark or a second, then turned back, the smile still plastered on his face.

[VANESSA FERRE]

Again with the death -- then again, it always came to death: it was the end. She was no believer of an afterlife; certainly there were the goddesses to believe in, but it was all fine and dandy until she had to solve a problem. A blond eyebrow arced as she smirked, “Ah, then I suppose Fortune has taken to favor me?” A hand came up to play with the ends of a lock of waved hair, absent was her expression as she thought for a moment about nothing about everything. Ordered chaos.

And another smile that was too bright for the current topic pulled at the corner of her lips as she replied with enthusiasm, “Then I’d prefer if you’d make it clean,” drawing a familiar “x” upon a familiar jugular with an arc of a languid neck, she laughed out the next sentence. “Right here, if you will. I would hate to have a tasteless death.” She unsheathed Claymore and thrusted the tip into the earth, sitting herself against the blade next to him -- she didn’t dip her feet into the water; it was much too lax for her, improper for her. But it didn’t really matter and perhaps it was just force of habit at this point.

There wasn’t very much to say, and there weren’t many things she was curious about -- care simply eluded the Knight. But what was always curious was the way this man followed her before he even claimed to be the lost puppy, always curious was the way he came to her when he could’ve left, as he said, and disappeared. “A stolen heart, you say. What does it feel like, pray tell, to have a heart that isn’t your own?”

An innocent question, but inherent and initial meaning was lost within her words. Her careful construction of the Knight musn’t be broken. What does it feel like to have a heart? “Does it pound against your chest in efforts to jump out and return to its owner? Or has it given up and pounds in compliance? Or perhaps it likes you better and works your blood at your command?” Vanessa brought a hand to touch her own heart, or where it was said to be, and felt the light throbbing. So obedient.

Her expression was a sort of half-emptiness, not the mirthful, playful one she had dawned for the previous visit -- it was daytime after all, and she was a Knight after all. Stoicism would remain until nightfall, until her sword allowed for a breath above water. It was back to tallying damages, estimating the weight of flesh, the weight of death. A faint smile returned to her lips, but only her lips as her eyes did not match his -- not this time. In the sun, her mercury orbs were devoid of liquid shine; they were merely cold. “Since you failed to receive an answer, shall you return to the shadows to follow me? Or would you indulge yourself a tad more sunlight?” What would he do now, what was his purpose? She was always curious of that.

ooc: claymore reference ftw!![/size][/justify]

[Valence Nightingale]

Val laughed, watching her as she drew the shape on her neck. It was curious indeed how they were both so lax when Val knew that either had the real potential and ability to kill the other. Moreover, with them being enemies, Val asserted that his respect and reverence towards this woman could not have been one-sided; if it was, Val would have long been a dead man. And here he was, alive, and enjoying the company of his most vicious enemy. The man laughed as she drew, playing with the thought of hunting Vanessa like prey.

"Mm, we are people of taste." Val chimed lightly, chuckling as the woman sat down beside him, her large sword in the ground. Val couldn't help but gaze at it for a moment; the shining blade almost glaring at him menacingly. He thought about what it would be like to have such a weapon driven into him... then realized that it was too cumbersome a weapon to do him harm. Smirking a bit, he turned back towards Vanessa.

The young hunter studied the Knight carefully before offering his reply. His gaze was fixated on her for a moment, his orange orbs studying her brilliantly silver ones. She was a woman of class, of elegance, almost demanding his respect. She almost made him feel like he should sit up, stop slouching, and use proper manners. Almost.

With his eyes drifting back again towards the lake, Val contemplated. "Hmm..." He began pensively, deciding whether or not his stolen heart acted in his favor or out of it. "Perhaps it is as clever as I am, playing tricks on me, fooling me, into acting on instinct. And my dear, I am not a man of instinct; I am a man of reason. This heart, whomever it may belong to, keeps the sun from burning my skin, and probably would keep my logic from destroying my emotions... If I had any, of course." As joking as he had on their night meeting, Val winked at her. He appreciated the fact that he had someone to wit back and forth with, someone who indulged his silly conversations with a clever mind much like his own.

Val waited a long moment before answering her final question. Truly, they both had to have known he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Even Val knew he had a real reason for showing back up, and knew he would address that later, but Vanessa's questions always seemed to stir in him questions of his own that he so desperately desired to know about the Knight. She was different from most people he'd come into contact with, and wished desperately to gauge her intelligence as well as break down her wall.

"My dear Vanessa, I simply couldn't leave you alone. Nor could you leave me! And that's how it is. But I must ask, with you devoting your time to exacting justice on all but me... Have you ever been free?"

[VANESSA FERRE]

She continued to watch the swirls of red in the pool of once-clarity -- the hydra’s blood began to settle and undulate back and forth with the water’s bottom. It was merely as it should be: things were clear, and then things were not just as this peculiar little back-and-forth which wavered upon the line of favor and disfavor. “A clever heart? It sounds more of a mischievous heart -- if it were so clever, it would do what was most favorable.” She threw a half-smirk back to match his wink, “Or perhaps it is true. It is like you, mischievous, and doesn’t know what’s good for itself.” Her tone was playful and light as it ever was.

But his next question had her thinking: freedom was a potentially difficult answer -- in one case, one may never be free as the cycle of cause and effect would have it, but on the other hand, people choose. And the question would be -- if there was such a thing as freedom -- if she chose; and she had. She had chosen Claymore just as Claymore had chosen her -- she had chosen the Knights as the Knights had chosen her. And in the sense of the law, she was free in the strictest sense. Vanessa brushed her hand over the grass as if smoothing out some unknown wrinkles upon a green carpet and answered with just as much lightness as before, “Ah, that is certainly problematic. We might end up killing one another at this rate, which, then, Lady Fortune is on neither of our sides and would have played us both as fools.”

The faint smile returned to her lips; it was only fair to indulge him with an answer as she seemed to have asked more than what was necessary of his tongue. “Why, I’ve always been as free as a bird,” she looked up at the sky, reveling in the sun’s warmth. She was allowed the light as she was its guardian. “As a bird that never had wings.” And it really didn’t matter in the end; there wasn’t much that she desired, and there wasn’t much that she hated. At his comment upon justice, she laughed, a light bell of a tone, and clear-cutting against the wind.

“Justice? I haven’t been exacting Justice, Valence; I have been exacting order.” Justice was merely the friend that her mind goes to when it feels particularly lonesome. And although she does work for the good and cares for people, she does not believe in vengeance, nor does she believe is punishment for a crime done unto others -- she believes in punishment for disrupting order. And unfortunately for her, such a thing of ego exists, pride, or perhaps it merely is herself -- honor. That was it.

“But why so curious all of a sudden?” She grinned. “It couldn’t be so interesting to scrape upon the books of order.”

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[Valence Nightingale]

"Ahhhhh, yes... Mischief. That must be." Val laughed, conceding that perhaps indeed it was mischief. He knew that to some degree it was a mischievous mindset that had landed him in the trouble he had been in. Mischief, combined with interest, curiosity, and a daring spirit, had been the sole reason he was who he was, and was currently in the trouble he was in. "Lady Luck smiles upon the wicked, you see, because Lady Justice favors those with moral hearts. Luck and Justice are not friends, you see, but sworn enemies." Val looked in her direction, meeting her eye momentarily, then looked back out to the water with a pensive look in his eye.

But Val knew better than to assume that he was being played by Lady Fortune. It was his wit and cunning that had kept him alive, albeit by the skin of his teeth. He smiled. "Hmm. Well, I suppose if either of us is being played, it would be me." The young man said with a chuckle, his tone as light and carefree as Vanessa's.

There was, of course, something else Val knew without having to ask: the woman was not truly free. Her Order had confined her by chains of obedience, bending the Knight to their will. Surely she knew that, else she would have not willingly taken up the sword. Placing a hand under his chin, Val thought for a moment before giving his answer.

He was free. He had no rules, no order, no justice exacted upon him. He did what he wanted, when he wanted. He wasn't just a bird that could fly; he was a hawk that could soar. And yet, this Vanessa, he mused, certainly once had the wings of an eagle before they were cut from her by the most oppressive thing in the world, according to Val: the law. The law stopped the individual from using whatever means he saw fit to achieve his goal. The law also was paranoid, accusing innocents; The law was also stupid, unable to catch Val when he put himself into the light of day; The law was also as careless as he, acting prideful and full of skill when they could often not keep the peace they claimed to desire.

Val assumed, by his thinking, that Vanessa was likely trying to convince herself that she didn't have, nor ever have, wings with which to fly. Freedom was, of course, unknown to her; she had wanted her life that way. Val's question was why, and so after moments of silence, he asked, "No, my dear," He said lightly but carefully. "We all have wings-- it is just to what degree they are clipped and maintained. If you way of life wasn't restricting you, you could be free. You could be as free as I am. But, Vanessa, you are not. I believe you know that you're not. You aren't happy, you're content. You have wings, but you've allowed them to be clipped...

"Order, though... that, sweet, is a condition of life. Life can be order, or it can be chaos. They are the extremes. You exact justice to obtain order, I exact malice to obtain chaos. The constant fight, the attempt to rout the other out; that is what creates balance in this world. Chaos strives for freedom, and order strives for peace. Peace and freedom often do not coincide... Not in a world so torn by evil, so torn by paranoia, so torn by... Mischief.

"I'm curious because you could be something greater than you are, my dear." Val stood up, stretching his limbs out. "But don't think me to be attempting to dissuade you from your silly Order... I would simply like to show you the world as I see it, and as those who are above or below the law see it. For you must understand... there are those above and below the law."

Val's orange eyes sparkled with a peculiar mirth, his tirade coming to an end. "And I am far above it."