HOME FIRES MISTS LIFEBLOOD SPOKES
Valentines mourns Amanda, and sits at home, alone, drinking...
Val's Room(#9342R) This is Val's room. It has a oak king size 4 poster bed on the far wall, with matching dresser. The room is lightly decorated with a few awards, and some promotion posters highlighting his shows in Vegas and on Broadway. In the corner of the room is a door to the bathroom, which contains a large shower encased in glass doors. The showerheads are high up on the wall, and there is one on each wall, pointing down intot he shower from all sides. Contents: Valentine(#8634PUcq) Obvious exits: OutValentine is most likely sitting in his bed crying, holding the necklace he took from around Amanda's neck close to his heart The rock crystal is warm in your hands now. The copper wire is likely digging into your palms, but it still has her scent. For now. Unbidden, that train of thought leads you to a thought of the time she tried to sneak up on you but tripped on her phone cord...which plugged into her computer... Valentine lowers his head, a small smile coming to his lips at the memory.. She was a Glass Walker. Her computer. Valentine arches a brow, and climbs off the bed, heading for the computer in her room, wiping his eyes on the way Amanda's Room(#9344R) Amanda's room is clearly the domain of a not-much-above teenage girl. There are posters over much of the available wall surface, depicting kittens, puppies, and (rather incongruously) a volcano scene from Hawaii. A large vanity stands across from the dresser, but there is no mirror in the room. The bed is a large waterbed, the comforter and bedclothes in multicolored geometric patterns. There are no family pictures, and one corner is dominated by a late-model PC. The phone line trails across the floor, a major tripping hazard in the dark. Every so often clothes are strewn across the floor, and towels draped over the door to the bathroom. Except for the total lack of mirrors, this room is like many other girls' rooms. Contents: Valentine(#8634PUcq) Obvious exits: Out This room still smells strongly of her. All her clothes..she left the place a wreck. Valentine hasn't touched a thing in here..ever..for the first time he does so...he turns on her computer It hums to life smoothly, booting right up to a prompt. Linux or Windows 95? Valentine hrms...and selects windows 95 The background is a shot of the earth from the Apollo spacecraft. The desktop has various icons: Netscape, Ewan telnet, mIRC, Eudora, Hot Dog Pro...the Start icon at the bottom has the same under programs, plus more. Under documents, you see a few things that look interesting: BoS, Diary, Wolves...and Pack. Valentine bites his lip. He shouldn't abuse her privacy...but his curiosity gets the better of him. He fist seltects BoS Chime! A sampled female voice..not hers, one from a CD she often played...says "You have selected the beautiful experience." A louder siren goes off: "That file is encrypted, Captain. I will attempt to decipher it." Data, from Star Trek..and a password prompt appears and blinks at you. Valentine blinks.. "Oh wonderful.." Valentine hrms, and types in for lack of anything else his name "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." The prompt reappears. Valentine types in her rite name "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." Once more, the prompt blinks at you. Valentine hrms again..and tries the anme she called herself at the handfasting The female voice first sampled says softly "Enjoy your experience." The screen comes up as a Word document directory. Valentine chuckles slightly, allowing himself a brief moment of humor before looking athte files You can select from Sabbats, Esbats, Rites, Mirror, Passages. Valentine starts form the beginging of the list. Valentine then works his way down It appears to be a fairly standard Book of Shadows. There are about thirty different rituals under Sabbats, ranging from those designed for small groups to those that seem solitary. Some have notes at the bottom for what worked and didn't work. Esbats holds one ritual, seemingly a moon rite..but held on a gibbous rather than full moon. Valentine continues downt he list, looking at the other documents Rites is a verbal description of what looks like Garou rites, but with no reference to form or anything litany-breaking. Mirror looks like a list of meditations. Passages...has a birth rite, a death rite..and the handfasting rite. The date on the rite is the day after yours. Valentine sighs and closes the files, moving to the next icon which i believe was the diary Another password prompt: "This experience will cover courtship, love, sex, birth, death..." Valentine tries her pagan name again Enya starts playing softly on the speakers. You note this has called up a cd program, and apparently Enya's what's in the drive. Another directory, this time by date. Valentine starts from the begining The beginning, she's about fifteen. You can scan through it quickly. None of the entries make much sense to you. She's apparently in high school in OKC. Her mother is using drugs, but not so heavily as you know she does later. Valentine continues to skim through Suddenly, everything changes. Her style of writing is different, her demanor is different. She's just turned sixteen, and all that demarks the possible cause is: "Went to CAW gathering. Met Tam and Jay. I'm never going to be the same." Valentine hrms, and continues. She starts mentioning going to "the building" and doing things, but they're never specified. And then she mentions Frances..and having him over for pizza. Valentine continues reading.. She mentions buying gloves for him. This seemed to have great significance for her. She mentions going out with a couple of people. Then the next entry: "Life SUCKS! I HATE them, I HATE them, I HATE them!" Valentine keeps reading, interested...getting to know about his wife the things she will never be able to tell him.. Valentine starts crying softly as he reads, memories coming to him The next entry is long and ranting. Her father's been transferred to some hick town in Appalachia, and it's all her fault. (She doesn't say how.) Someone has been yelling at her..and then: "We're kids! Dammit, I'm supposed to be out fucking and being scared of getting pregnant! I love the world, I always have, but dammit, what good does it do that evil poisons can't touch me if I'm some mutant monster who can't even go to the prom?!? I didn't ASK for this. I didn't ASK for my friends to avoid me as creepy. Why can't I just fucking recycle like every civilized human being? Noooooo, I have to decline to go out to a movie because I've gotta go out and beat up on toxic waste dumpers!" Valentine chuckles slightly.. "We were more alike than youknew, Love.." And continues reading. There's a pause of a few days. Maybe the computer was packed. Soon enough, you hear references to "the parkway" instead of "the building." Valentine continues reading quietly She seems to have gotten quite depressed for a while. She missed her friends in Oklahoma deeply, and everyone here seems to have bought her space-cadet routine. She comments in one entry, about a year ago, "I hate being so..blonde to people. But if I don't act blonde, they wonder what I know. It's easier to be spacy than to not be when you want to keep a secret. But I wish I could let someone in." Valentine continues reading quietly, wiping the tears from his eyes The cubs are born, and she comments "Julian left. Took his baby with him. I want one..I wonder if I'll ever have one...I've got a funny feeling that when Julian got that song, it meant my life would never be the same." Valentine arches a brow and keeps reading. Next entry is some days later. "Been cubwatching. I think I'm starting to pack up with a couple of the others. (See "pack" file.) Thom I've liked since the beginning. Laura's silly. Gray just knows too much. And Val's lonely, and makes a great souffle. They're all cool...and they seem to care about the cubs." Valentine continues reading.. Next entry: "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. He kissed me. We are SO fucked." Valentine continues reading.. Next day "It wasn't a dream. He did. I don't know whether to laugh, or cry! (PS: the cubs are fine.)" Valentine reads a bit faster. Next: "Laugh! Definitely Laugh! :):):) Hooray! Now, if I can just keep it SECRET this time...he's much more with-it than Frances." Next, several days later: "Thom knows. He figured it out. He won't say anything. Apparently, Jules's sister knows too. :/ Hope SHE won't say anything either. Mom is being a screaming bitch." Valentine reads more. "How can I save him from himself???????? Valentine continues reading. "He's gone. He went to Atlanta. I tried...I really did....now I don't know what to do...all I can do is love him and pray it's enough. Lady, please..I need strength. Valentine continues reading, wiping at tears again "Shit is hitting the fan. I can feel it. THom's leaving for Home, and I have to scrape Val out of the house with a spatula. At least he's alive, still. If I can just keep him that way..if I can just love him harder...Reading this, it sounds so stupid. I can't save him if he won't let me. But I can't give up either. Dammit." Valentine sighs, and whimpers a bit, knowing he was being a pain.. Next entry: "Thom's gone. I'm about to take Val up to the parkway...and try to save him. Gaia. It's not fair. If this doesn't work...." a few lines of returns, then: "The Beautiful Ones, you always seem to lose." Then a few lines down: "I've got to try." Valentine snifss, and keeps reading the final entries. The doorbell rings, but Val ignores it. Next entry is simple: "I'm a bride. Thank you, Lady. Thank you." Valentine reads the last few entries tearfully. Valentine glances back at the hallway as someone yells about breaking down the door. He again ignores it. Last entry: "Thom's back. The cubs are for real. My babies! Off to watch again tonight. Tomorrow I think I'll surprise Val by doing the cooking for a change. I might actually feel more like a real wife then! ;)" Valentine lowers his head and sobs quietly, getting off the chair to actually go answer the door, shutting off the monitor. Valentine opens the door and enters the Main Room. Main Room(#9346RA) This is the main room of the house. It is a large room, decorated in wood panneling. On one side of the room is a large leather couch and loveseat combination, facing a large entertainment unit. The unit holds a bigscreen TV, stero, cd player, and DVD disk player. To the side of the unit is a rack of DVD disk movies, as well as CD's. The room is lit by two hallogen lamps, one in opposite corners of the room. There is a hallway that leads down to the rest of the house. To the side is a small dining room, complete with furniture. Off the dining room is a large kitchen area. Contents: Valentine(#8634PUcq) Helena(#8497Pce3) Obvious exits: Out Rec Room Amanda's Room Val's Room Valentine glances at you as he walks out..tears in his eyes.. "Breaking and entering. I hope you have a warrent, officer." No humor, no anger...simply monotone without emotion Helena stands there with her hand beneath the lapel of her coat, and she almost jumps when she spots Valentine. She clamps her hand against her heart, then lets out something like a sob of relief. "I've done the crime for lesser reasons." Valentine says "What do you want Helena.." Helena looks red-eyed, like she hasn't slept much and what time she's spent awake has been spent crying. She answers in a low, toneless voice, as if that's the only timbre she can rely on to stay steady. "I wanted to make sure you were all right." "When I got here and you didn't answer, I got worried." That you had done something to yourself. Valentine says "I thought about it..." Helena stands mute for a long moment, looking at him. "But you didn't." Valentine says "Not yet anyway." Helena looks at the floor, drawing the inside of her lower lip against her teeth till it puckers and whitens. "What have you been doing?" Valentine says "I was reading her diary." Valentine says "And crying. And debating weither to go be with her." Helena draws a breath through her nose and lets it out, as if trying to conquer words. She steps up a little closer to him and offers her embrace. "Don't," she whispers. "It gets better. I swear. Life goes on." Valentine shrugs...he looks at the offerend embrace..but doesn't take it.. "Does it, Helena? Everyone I have ever cared for..romantically anyway..leaves.. With the exception of you, who married someone else, Julia disappered, and Amanda died. I watched her die...horribly... I couldn't DO anything.. Valentine brings up the bottle of scotch he has been carrying with him and takes a swig Valentine says "I finally found someone who loved me..for who and what I was...and she is taken away from me.." Helena drops her arms, then folds them tightly across her chest. It's like drawing back into a ball of her own hurt, putting up a wall to the world. Or at least, to him. "You and me, we're more alike than anyone else I can think of." Her gaze rests on the scotch bottle. Helena says "And . . ." Her lips pull into a small, tight, grim, and even angry frown. ". . . shit happens." Valentine growls lightly and swigs more of the scotch. "Oh...that makes me feel so much better. Thanks for dropping by." Helena looks up at him. "If you survive this--if you make it a week, a month, a year--it'll still hurt. I promise you that. It'll hurt like hell, and it won't ever really go away." Helena nods toward the bottle. "And you'll drink yourself into a stupor, as much as possible, as often as possible. And you might do some really stupid self-destructive shit while you're drinking." Helena pulls back the sleeve on her left arm to show a series of little round scars, like burn marks. There's even a long scar that runs parallel to the vein in her wrist. "And you might try to kill yourself, yeah. If so, best of luck to you. It means you don't care anymore about the people around you, about whoever . . . loves you. In whatever way." Wilson enters the Main Room. Wilson lopes into view The Flash as nothing on Looks-Twice. One second, there's a small whistle, the next, there he is, standing in the room as if Copperfield did a flashy magic trick without the flashiness. Helena stands there, giving Valentine a grim look and showing him something on her left wrist. Burnmarks, most likely. Wilson knows she has them there, along with a long scar that runs parallel to her carotid. Valentine sighs and slumps against the wall Helena almost says it angrily, "Do you get what I'm saying, Val? Go ahead and kill yourself, but I'm telling you now, if you don't give a damn who you hurt by it, then don't expect me to mourn you. I don't have it in me anymore." Wilson watches the arm, then the man, with curiosity. Oddly, he's more quiet than usual. Indeed, since the attack, he's barely said two words at all. He does, though, find himself a glass of water, as well as something to munch on. Helena takes a step back. Her voice sounds choked. "There's too much grief for the innocent." Valentine says "I care.. I do.. I just...I don't know.." Wilson reaches a hand out for Helena, perhaps to steady her, and kneads her shoulder thoughtfully. "Valentine? Stand up, Fang." His voice is quiet, soft, evengentle. But with a latent, powerful affect, like the Voice From Yon High Mountain. Valentine looks at Wilson, his eyes red, and wet with tears..and uses the wall for support as he stands back up. Helena looks back at Wilson. He's there. She hadn't noticed him, so intent was she on the mirror she saw in Valentine's eyes. Wilson coaxes Helena to sit down, somewhere nearby where histail, as he shifts, can be her security blanket. His eyes are always red, but he's got a job to do. The lookhe gives Helena is rather loudin tone. Don't Worry. If anything, he's got his own stories to tell, but. Getting him to sya them is another matter. Helena sits there, finding comfort in the mute but communicative look. Phantoms may flit behind her eyes. Padraig . . . Amanda . . . Valentine . . . Valentine says "Helena.. I have nothing left in me.." Eyes of Anubis turns his head up, locking eyes withthe other male. "I have a story for you, young Fang. It's not the best story in the world. It certainly doesn't rival my brother-in-law, nor our esteemed Singer, but it's an old, old story." Helena tries to meet Valentine's eyes, if only for a painful second. Neither did I. Neither do I, sometimes, but sometimes I'm alive again, and it feels good. Valentine sighs and sets the bottle down. Eyes of Anubis snaps his fingers. "Pay attention. I dislike being verbose, and prefer to do it only when I have to." Like now. "The story is older than mankind, or than you, me, or even some of the trees out in California which live for thousands of years." His tone is level, forcibly so. Whatever emotional response he may have to the sight and experience of greif in the eyes of the two of you, he keeps it to himself for the time being. Valentine does his best to pay attention.. Helena seems to get lost in her own thoughts. Eyes of Anubis growls softly, indicating his .. well, something. "Pay very close attention, young man. They say that in the beginning, all Garou were Silver Fangs, descended from the Progenitor Wolf. As time grew and the sands of Egypt birthed the yramids, other Tribes developed and yet the Fangs stayed loyal to their blodo and maintained their breeding, their stature. It is the Silver Fangs which held the other Tribes together whenthe Time of Troubles came, and even myTribe reveres their past." And that's saying a lot. Eyes of Anubis goes on, his fingers steelping together in front of him like Spock on steriods. "The proud Fangs often refuse to ask for help, even from each other. When it is thrust on them, they accept it with no thanks, no word of acknowledgement, but they remember. Good leaders always do. Allof the best attributes of our race as chosen show in their blood. Noble in bearing, magnificent, mostly well-mannered, and regal." His respect is almost infectuous, likely stirring up the blood of the listener into a 'yeah, YEAH!' sort of mood. Valentine listens quietly, head lowered slightly.. Eyes of Anubis snaps, "Raise your head, damn you. Your breeding calls to you, your destiny runs through your veins. Raise your head and be proud, Gaia damn you, especially before a mule and his mate." His tone is still soft, almosta whisper. "To continue, The Silver Fangs are also, and I can attest to this, among the most ferocious in battle when their anger is stirred. Their breeding, their origins? Rival the fury and ferocity of the Dire Wolf, even. But don;t tella Fianna that. especially my brother-in-law, hmm?" "Whena Fang governs, he is noble and strong. He lives, breathes, and is power. He has to be, fo rhis race depeends onhim. Gaia depend son him to be. In battle, they're supreme predators, rivalling even the Fenris Wolf's cubs." "However--" here hsi tone grows grave. "--They also face a rash of eccentricities these days. Throuhgout the Tribe's long and distinguished history, inbreeding and Harano have weakend their blood, their numbers. Gaia loses Her bravest, Her smartest, Her best before they're ever even aware of the blood that runs in their veins." Valentine looks up quickly.. Helena draws herself out of her contemplation, looking at Wilson. Where the heck are you going with this? Valentine seems to wear the same expression on his face as Helena Eyes of Anubis grows a bit more terse in tone, and it's hard to mask the sorrow and rage mixing in even his calm heart. "Lord Stonewall Jackson was a Fang. He said, quote the words heard by an ancestor of mine, 'Byt the bloodof my forebears, no one will pass through or harm my lands. NO one will walk where my cubs would play and poison the ground with their steps." " Looks-twice says simply, his analysis, "Namely, he fought overwhelming odds. He did it, and burned his lands to make a point. Tepes was a Fang. He alone forced the Huns to withdraw. One man, against an armythat sent the Striders packing for the New World." Helena's grief breaks just enough, just a tad, that she starts to sniffle. It's a jerky sniffling that sounds like weeping, but one corner of her mouth is plucking upward, twitchily, and she's suddenly looking down at the floor, letting her hair hang over her face. If he notices the looks, he doesn;t give any indication. He concludes his tale, "Now, then. Now, the Wyrm grows. eater-of-Souls returns to the world, a cancer on Gaia's very nose. The Wyrm is old, and heis wise in His own way. He strikes our leaders, and our potential leaders. He rapes our children, poisoning their wombs and their hearts. He burns out fields, he poisons the air. Our children, Prince Valentine, die without ever being allowed to be born. Our loved ones, murdered. And we sit, drinking, and we run to Australia in our grief." He pauses, adding, "Yes, I ran, too. But I came back. The Wyrm wants us to run. He shatters our spirits, and we crumble like castles made of cards. He murders our loved ones,and we lament our losses and feel pity. We are shattered by our grief, and Gaia cries silently as the Wyrm laughs, another notch towards the Apocalypse being his gained." "So I ask you, young Fang. Will you grieve and die? Willyou let Amanda walk the Elysian Fields, your beloved Amanda, hangingher head ins hame at her chosen love who died withher? Or will you live? Will you prevail, and willyou at least go down fighting, taking the Wyrm's children, His loved ones, and His glory from him as best you can? Hear my words, Prince. Listen with not your heart or mind, but the power of your breeding and the hearts of your forebearers. Listen, and hear. Learn. And make Amanda proud to see oyuwhen you go to her and Gaia's arms. Make the life I, Helena, and others lived, wasted for our grief and self-pity, make thos elives not yours. Use thegrief, your man, and use it well. I said yestereve the time would come. It has." Eyes of Anubis quotes, softly, from the record, "And as our acrid air hangs heavy withthe Wyrm's Taint, and our children die in the scores, and Gaia weeps for Her lost children, only one thing hangs in the balance, one heart to shift the scales towards Her glory." He reaches out, gripping the younger man's face in hsi claws tenderly, finding his eyes, nose to nose. "When will you Rage, Valentine?" Helena sits up again, and her expression is placid, even happy, or at least fondly, tenderly amused, with just a touch of deep grief--for every face she remembers and will never see again. Wilson, you silly man. Will this work for Val? Possibly not. Probably not, but you're my anchor in this, my safety line as I plunge into the abyss after the past and the future, both. Eyes of Anubis shoops hsi tail over to whack at Helena's face withthe furry tip. Well,w hat fur there is on a scrawny little tail like that. He's no Singer, but damn, what a story. Valentine growls.. "Oh..don't worry, rhya.. I wasn't planning on going down like a whelp if I was going to do myself in. I was going to take a few of them with me. Clawing and biting my way as far down to Whipporwhil as my will and strength would take me, until I succumbed to their tooth and claw. Helena turns aside from the tail whap, and it catches her in the cheek. Well, maybe she deserved that for whatever expression she was wearing, but at the moment, she studies Valentine with a neutral one. This, too, shall pass. Valentine says "They are going to pay for her death..I swear that. They killed my wife, Rhya..and though we never mated physically, we were mated spititually. Call me a fucking Charach if you wish, for tto me it does not matter anymore, but I will not allow the one who killed her to keep living. That bitches horns are going to be my klaive." Helena speaks. Her voice is hoarse and low. "Not alone, Val." Valentine slumps again against the wall, the strength he has spent for now. "Your not going, Hel." Helena rests a gaze, smooth as unscarred ice, on him. "Why not?" Eyes of Anubis smiles thinly. "You don't have to be Garou to rage, either." he shoots a pointed, tender lok Helena's way. "You just have to give a damn about the earth, and about people." He mulls somethingover, then nods. "Show them. Show Nadia what a Fang REALLY is. Have your klaive. And live to use it. You're not good to me, to Gaia, to Amamnda, to the Garou, to those little metis cubs you looked after like your own, or even the bum down the street you give wuarters to every weekend.. if you're dead." Eyes of Anubis poinks Valentine in the chest. "And YOU, Prince, wil not go alone. Your Tribal sister is First Claw. Go to her. Plan. Organize. Fight." Valentine glances at Helena.. "Because, I am not going to see another I care for die that way." Valentine scoffs.. "My tribal sister would rather see me dead. She has no love for me." Eyes of Anubis says smoothly. "Many will die. many willlive. Gaia will welcome those who do not return, and I hardly thinkit your place to tell a woman who she willand will not fight. Chivalry went out of style with jerkins." Valentine glances at Anubis and mutters "I still have my jekin in the closet. Want me to wear it?" Helena lets out a breath, as if she's going to argue, then keeps quiet, looking at the ceiling and flushing an angry red. How can you argue with that? But in the end, she'll go. Helena Handbasket shows the way. Eyes of Anubis extends a claw to Helena, shrugging softly. "I highly recommend going to the Caern and telling your Tribal sister your intent, Valentine. And letting the Sept see the purity and breeding you're just now coming to see through my eyes." He thinks a second, squatting beside his wife, andmutters, "Poor bastard." Hey, even the Strider has to get a good quip in every now and again. Valentine shakes his head and sighs, squatting down to both your level.. Valentine sighs.. "You don't have to tell me that Helena.. I know first hand." Helena lets go, at last, looking at the floor and mocking herself with wry humor. "I was saying it for my own comfort. Kind of." Valentine smiles despite himself, and ruffles her hair. Valentine says "You were really worried about me?" Eyes of Anubis stands, his job done, and shifts, readjusting his Ray Bans. You said your speech, Looks-twice. Now fade out quietly, and they'll never notice you leaving. Helena almost sounds pissed, low-energy pissed, though, as if it lies over something else. "Fuck, yes. You didn't answer the phone. You didn't answer the door. I thought either you'd been attacked, or I'd find you . . ." She can't finish that thought. Valentine says "Dead.. (he smiles slightly) Face it Helena...you always liked me more than you admitted..even when you hated me." Helena lets out a noiseless laugh. "Did I ever hate you?" She shakes her head. Helena adds, wryly, "I hated myself, and I couldn't let you be a part of that. So." Valentine says "Why not? I wanted to be part of it. I was asking for it.." Helena says "And if I'd hated you, I would have let you." She exhales; it's almost a sigh; and sets brushes the backs of her fingers against his face. "That's in the past." Valentine sighs.. "Yeah..and unofrtunatly there is no future..at least not for us." Valentine glances back to where Wilson was, and has since gone. Helena follows his gaze. A line jags between her eyebrows. "He does that. He's my international man of mystery." Valentine looks back to you.. "Well, at least your happy. That is what matters.." He cuts himself off at that. Helena rolls her eyes faintly, trying to sort out her thoughts. "Val . . . what are you going to do now?" Valentine shrugs. "Avenge her, or die trying. Helena looks him in the eye and says it gently. "I'm going, too." Valentine says "Helena.. I don't want too. I don't want to see someone else I love die in front of me. I can't take it twice." Helena says "And I'm supposed to stay back with the women, children, and Kinfolk? Not a chance. I'm not good for much, but I have a gun, and silver, and I'm a good shot." Helena says "I can't let her death . . ." She strives to express it. "They took her from me, too. She was one of mine. One of my . . ." She rolls her eyes upward and says the first thing that presents itself. ". . . kids." Helena says "This has nothing to do with you, except that I don't want to see you do something really stupid in the spirit of martyrdom. If you want revenge, we get revenge. And then we come back." Valentine nods slightly.. "I know I can't stop you from going, Helena. I just dont want you to end up like her." Helena closes her eyes. "Well, Val, I'm getting pretty old." Her self-mocking smile returns. "And I never want to see the day I have to wear dentures, anyway." She shakes her head, dismissing the sardonic humor. Valentine says "I still... you know... My feeling for you never really have changed." Helena says "We go, and we come back. And don't even think we're going alone. Even I'm not that stupid." Helena pauses, at that. "Val . . ." She sounds pained. Valentine says "Forget it. My bad.. I should just sew my mouth shut." Valentine stands from where he is and retrieves the bottle..taking another swig. Helena looks around the house. "Do you want to stay here? You can go to the caern. Or we can set up a cot at my place." Valentine shakes his head.. "No...I can't stay eaither of those places forever... I tihnk I will be alright here." Helena rises to her feet. "Okay." She studies him a long while as if checking him over for visual signs of his internal hurt. "If you need anything, just to talk, whatever, call. I'll be here like a shot." Valentine nods.. "I might take you up on that Helena." Valentine curls his knees up to his chest while sliding down the wall. he is trying to be strong..to be garou..but internally he is torn apart as much as Amanda was Helena watches this. She takes a cushion from the couch and sets it beside him, then pulls off her sweater, worn over a blouse, and sort of covers him with it--more a symbolic gesture than any kind of warmth. She bends and plants a kiss on his forehead. "It'll get better. Life does go on, even when you don't want it to." Valentine says "You know...the last ting..inher diary.. She was going to cook for me..to make her feel more like a wife..when we got home from....." Valentine he chokes up, lowering his head to his knees Helena strokes his hair. "My mother used to say . . . this, too, shall pass. It does. I promise." Valentine nods once.. "Sometime.." The sound of Enya comes faintly from Amanda's room. Valentine takes the necklace that he reomved from Amanda from his pocket, and stares at it silently. He places it around his neck and heads back to Amanda's room to continue searching for things of importance. Valentine opens the door and enters Amanda's room. The computer hums quietly under the music. Valentine sighs, and moves back to the computer, cosing the diary, and moving to the next file. Once more, the prompt comes up when you click on "Pack". Valentine types in the name that was used the last 2 time "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." Valentine hrms Valentine tries her rite name "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. Valentine tries his name "Do you wish to access another experience? *BEEP* Very well. Enjoy your experience." The screen lights up again, this time a hypertext page. With pictures of you and Laura, and icons for Gray and Thom. Valentine smiles slightly at some inner thought, and click on the picture of him It's a small dossier. "Valentine St. Cloud, Rite-named Laughs-At-Danger. Ragabash." And so on, at the top of the page. There is a link highlighted on the page reading simply "Notes." Valentine clicks on the notes Another password prompt comes up. Valentine says "not this again.." and goes through the passwords he has tried again" "Access..denied. Please try again." Valentine hrms.. and tries the sept name "Access...denied. Please try again." You realize this time that the voice is hers in this sample, because you can hear her trying not to giggle. Valentine says "Very funny, Mandy.."" Valentine tries a few select words like Love, Charach, Cilath, Mothers name Nothing. It's gotta be something you know, doesn't it? Valentine sighs, and thinks.. and tries her old lovers name Not that. Valentine goes through a list, ragabash, glasswalker, thurge, galliard, philodox, ahroun, tribe names.. At "Croatan," the screen flickers. "Access....confirmed. Please stand by." Valentine starts making a list of all these passowrds The hard drive spins, and RealAudio starts up...and so do the speakers. "Heya, love." Valentine arches a brow. "How in hell did she know I was going to look this up?" "The date is January 5, 2005. If you're hearing this, you got through my passwords and are here." You remember her buying a 9 gig hard drive..now you have a clue why. "It either means I'm playing this for you, or I'm dead." Valentine bites his lip. "If I'm dead...the way things go with us, chances are I didn't get to say goodbye. So this is the only way I can think of." "I belive in reincarnation, hon. I believe I'll come back. I believed it even before I found out it was an important part of the Garou mythos." Valentine says "Yea..maybe..but you wont know me.." "Even so...I want you to know this. I love you. Depend on it. Love doesn't die with the body. It goes on. I need you to be strong, Val. Believe it or not, I always have." "Whatever happens, remember you're more than Garou. More than a comedian whose life got kicked out from under him. You're my love. Egotistical, but I honestly think that makes a difference in the universe. "Can we make the universe a little better place because we touched? I hope so. I really do. I hope that's one of the things you loved in me..the stupid helpless idealism I've got. Revenge...yeah, if I'm dead, it'd be nice to have a force of karma. But more..I want the world to be a little better than I found it." Valentine sighs.. "I miss you Amanda.. I don't know what I am going to do without you. "Remember me. Find a nice Kinfolk and have scads of kids, and raise them better than we were raised. Maybe I'll come back this time around and let you be my sugar daddy in your old age." There's laughter there. "Who knows? But regardless, love...I'm in every branch, every wind, every rock. Oh, and take care of Lump for me?" Valentine touches the screen lovingly, as it was a part of her.. "I'll do what I can for your dreams. And I don't know if you can hear me..but I have Lump around my neck." "Thanks. I love you, Valentine. Blessed be." The audio file ends, leaving Reaal Audio on the screen. Valentine says "I love you too, Amanda.." The computer sits, silent. Valentine closes out the file. You are taken back to the main pack screen. Valentine closes out of there as well. Back to the documents screen. Valentine takes a look at the rest of the files.. Some of them look a little interesting...poetry and so on. Nothing as imtimately revealing, though. Valentine shuts down the machine. Valentine picks up the rock from his chest, and looks at it.. "Well, it's just you and mme kid." Nothing else looks that interesting in the room, on first inspection. Lump kinda of...lies there like a rock. Valentine sighs, and starts to clean up the room, placing her clothes in drawers..etc. How did she ever expect to fit into that bathing suit? Valentine cleans up everything, making the room as imaculate as possible Some of her clothes...you could wear. The bigger t-shirts. Valentine takes those shirts to wear...something of hers.. Stuffed behind the mattress, you find a small sketchbook with Garou glyphs in it..looks like a practice pad. Valentine flips through the pad.. Yep. She was learning the writing. She used a brush to practice. It'd make the elders nuts, you bet. Valentine chuckles, placing it aside.. Valentine cleans up the rest of the room, placing things in clostes..etc Nothing else interesting. With everything put away, her scent has faded some from the room. Valentine sighs, and walks out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.. "I love you Amanda. I always will. I hope sometime to see you again...here...or on the other side.
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