Vaeltia Glimpses

[Vae]

It was something Vaeltia was working on in her spare time, Something she hadn’t told West about, even if it was in his Stables. On the upside the most she got out of the two horses were small giggles and the occasional curious look as she put them out to pasture. But the days were getting cooler, although not cold enough to freeze the paint in an airbrush.

She had already moved anything that would have gotten ruined by the paint and thrown down white painter’s tarps over anything she couldn’t move as she prepared an area of wall in the stable.

First a cleaning with air, making sure that all the little bits of dust were free of the panel before the white wash was painted on smooth.

Like a blank canvas -- full of possibility.

Then as the white was drying she prepared her colors for the first step. Blues, Greens, and Purples of many shades, and at the top the red and yellows to mix into others. She started low on the canvas bringing a subtle earthy feel to it. Like grass and the sea as one. Moving the paint across the slatted wood in a motion of undulation, slowly growing fainter and fainter towards the horizon line she could see in her own mind.

Occasionally she would place sprays of the cool colors on the ‘land’ and frosted foam on the ‘sea’ but it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between the two.

Then she moved to the upper levels of the paint and used the pastel versions to begin the clouds. Fluffy and thin, wispy and even the dark stormy ones. In blue to show the purity of their white, as only the illusion of their presence was painted.

And so the Stage was set.

She took a sip of hot chocolate and pause to wash off her palette as the ground work dried. Her eyes turned towards Souxsie and Robert, and smiled. West liked his music, enough to name his horses after artists.

The Obrimos giggled as she returned to the painting, this time filling the palette with the colors of metal and stone. She added in the faint illusion of a distant city, her city. And further away His. They were the same but changed. They were faint, but one newer and the other older. The change of a few buildings and the memories placed within them.

His city was further distant and declared sharper contrast, that could be seen through even the fog of location. Where as her’s had contrast, but much more of a smooth flow. Between the two and all around Vaeltia’s paint brush grew trees of twisted metal like sculptures from the land and sea. Their branches reached to the sky and pierced the clouds

With the third change of palette she was almost done. She placed a stalwart figure in the image. Deeply contrasted, nearly at attention. And then she added a flicker of flame, a small dance of bright yellow, red, and orange around the contrasted figure.

She stepped back for a moment, absently tapping the brush against her lips until she realized the paint that was getting on her face.

  10 suxx, 3 hours

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-11-27 09:03:54		[06] Vaeltia rolls 6 to Art (10 Again)		5, 7, 2, 5, 7, 2		failure
2012-11-27 09:03:54		[05] Vaeltia rolls 6 to Art (10 Again)		9, 8, 1, 2, 7, 1		2 successes
2012-11-27 09:03:54		[04] Vaeltia rolls 6 to Art (10 Again)		10, 2, 1, 9, 4, 9, 5		3 successes
2012-11-27 09:03:54		[03] Vaeltia rolls 6 to Art (10 Again)		1, 2, 4, 3, 8, 6		1 success
2012-11-27 09:03:54		[02] Vaeltia rolls 6 to Art (10 Again)		10, 1, 7, 9, 6, 5, 3		2 successes
2012-11-27 09:03:54		[01] Vaeltia rolls 6 to Art (10 Again)		4, 10, 5, 10, 2, 4, 6, 6		2 successes

[Vae]

It wasn’t the usual.

Usually Sergeant Gideon was home, and his daughter would show up around half to noon with some form of Oriental food after an early morning Mass.

This year was different.

Instead of the Sergeant being at home waiting for his daughter, he was in the precinct, and his daughter with him, working the Christmas shift. There were only a few other officers there, and it looked like it was going to be an easy day and a late night.

The Police Mage was grinning, the small family she had, was slowly growing in the office. Uniforms, badges, and guns -- it was like an entirely different world. Almost like a cabal of Arrows, but with different skills.

A variety.

But everyone did the same type of paperwork.

There was that small consolation that with her taking the shift, others were able to spend time with their families.

[Vae]

She was still a city kid.

There was probably nothing that would change that, but at least the horses were warming up to her. Which was ironic considering the time of year. She looked out of the stable, beyond the tack she was cleaning to the pink fence. She hadn’t lost it completely in a while, there were times when she had come close but hadn’t actually tipped over the edge.

That got her thinking.

Vaeltia rubbed the polish into the saddle, stroking the leather back to life. The motions were methodical, but not nearly as frustrating as the paint.

It was always there, when she was at West’s house.

It made sense, she guessed. It was something of the first time she had been there as his apprentice. And that horrible pink was duplicated elsewhere. She had taken to keeping a piece of the color in her wallet.

A reminder to keep an even temper.

It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

“You know, I wonder if he noticed the painting.”

Only the horses could hear her voice as she cleaned, and their only answer was a harrumph and a small whinny. She shrugged and continued, she probably wouldn’t know until he brought it up.

[Vae]

clic-clic-clic-clic-clic-clic

A test of endurance -- of luck -- of resolve.

She was breathing hard as it was, sweating. She could taste it, soft pats of blood from where she had bit her cheek. Her lips were trembling as reached for the monster on the table.

She tried to steady her breath, it came out shaky as the thoughts began to run through her mind. Her eyes were glued downward, she couldn’t even see him. His hands were there, rough in contrast to the polished of the metal table and the shine of the weapon.

“Calm yourself.”

That evoked a response, her eyes jumped to his. She was pale from the feeling of of her heart being squeezed. He had given her every way out, every chance to leave, but now with the actual end point in the distance she could feel each bead of sweat running down her face -- collecting on her nose.

She reached forward, it was like a monster, something she had used and had been used around her. She was a cop, but revolvers were revolvers.

They were his speciality.

It was like moving through molasses. Her hands were shaking in the presence of the gun and the hard blue-grey -- gunmetal -- of his eyes.

She felt all to small before him, sitting across a table the weight of the revolver now in her own hand. Going against all feelings of self preservation. Her mind was spiraling now.

This wasn’t a game out of boredom, this wasn’t a suicidal tendency. This was different.

She forgot how to breathe -- would she see the sun in an hour, or never again?

“Close your eyes.”

His words were barely whispered, but in the silence of the room they were as loud as thunder.

“Sometimes it helps.”

The words struck home. He’d done this before. She didn’t know if it was hope she felt, or another wave of fear that surpassed the others.

And then she raised the gun.



And you can see my heart beating
Oh, you can see it through my chest
Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving, no
Know that I must pass this test.
- Rihanna, “Russian Roulette”

[Vae]

Vaeltia stood before the candle racks.

The glowing form was a memorial, a remembrance, and light to guide the path. Each light, a prayer for the departed.

She shook for a moment as she looked over the lights, the weight of knowledge hanging above her head, on her soul. It had been like that for years, the touch of death still lingering on her hands -- imaginary bloodstains like a modern Lady Macbeth. Bloodstains that couldn’t wash off because they were on the soul and in the mind.

She dropped a handful of coins into the collection box before picking the long tapered candle she preferred for her personal annual ceremony. With quick knife work she began.

The thin candle was placed among others on the lighted altar, her lips moving in a prayer for the soul of the name she had carved into the white wax. She hadn’t forgiven him, but that sin was hers and hand no bearing on what he had done.

In the midst of her chanting she struck a match then lit the taper. Her words continued as she waved the flame out. Thoughts of her Awakening came to her mind -- the candles, the flame, the memorial altar.

To think that without his involvement, she wouldn’t be the mage she was today.

[Vae]

It was a weekend or so off, she had left a small note for West and she knew he would be fine with it. After all this was a tempering of her soul; and this was a chance for her to grab hold as tight as she truly wanted to.

This was her, and this was what she wanted.

She grasped the second letter with a white knuckle grip. It was a leap of faith, a testing. But then, what part of her life wasn’t testing? West was always testing her, whether she actively knew it or not.

Her job was always testing her in the same way, the life of a police woman was interesting; with both boring days and the overly exciting one. How much different could this be?

---

How different was right, she was looking at the line, she would need a clean shot, maybe more than one. It took breath, focus. She could do it. She taught the bow, she knew how it would work. Vaeltia focused her mind, one breath than another.

Breathe

Breathe

It wasn’t life altering, it wasn’t going to make her die if she missed this.

No, yes it will.

She strung the arrow the slight push of fear, that fear that she held onto as a weapon, sharp edged and vicious. It was as much a part of her as the rest of her skills.

Song had taught her that, own and know your fear, face it head on. It will make you stronger.

And with a stretch she drew the long bow, and in a flash the arrow was gone.

---

Tyger Tyger

She could hear the sound echoing in her ears as she walked -- blinded and cold. She had stumbled but in the darkness she sought one thing the burning flame. It was there she could feel the heat. Darkness was meant to consume, it was the deepening of the soul, the dark of the abyss.

It only made sense, and in the darkness she could feel it -- the rumble of another, the faint purr of something hunting her in the dark.

Fear shocked through the Obrimos’ body and mind like a spike. She wrestled with her own instincts to run, before finally giving in. She couldn’t see, and even in the darkness the ground was only just starting to reveal the reverberations that would give her the sight to see.

To the left there was nothing, not even the echo of stone, she scrambled forward relying on her extra-senses and on the senses she could still hold onto.

It would crush her.

---

In the last moment she threw herself with all of her strength, the push of fear and need throwing her further than anything she could have managed on her own; even in the darkness. And there in the darkness light blossomed.

A figure wreathed in light and carrying a torch approached her, one hand out held; his pale skin glowing in his nimbus as she felt the warmth of his hand fill her, though it did not erase her fear.

“Welcome”

He led her to the fire and sat her shaking form down.

“Let me explain, Vaeltia.” The man began as he handed her a plate.

[Vae]

It had taking more time than the painting she worked on for the Avalon did, but that was probably because of the completely randomness of realizing she was going to a Strip Club and had to figure out how to paint something that matched the atmosphere and looked artistically pleasing.

Well, without being fully pornographic.

The canvas was different this time, instead of one huge image she was going for something more series; It would probably fit better, at least that was what she thought.

Eight canvasses: four feet by two feet.

Vaeltia had them lined up to create one image with a two inch break from canvas to canvas. It was something slightly different, but there was something slightly edgy about the pre-sketch she had done that she liked and thought would work well with the slight dulling of the senses she had felt in the Ember.

Aside from being one of the only chicks there who wasn’t dancing.

She worked her way across the canvasses, paint flowing well enough from one end to the other; the focuses of the lights not standing on any one object depicted. Most of the ‘things’ actually held a more aura-esque glow. As she flicked the paint across the canvasses occasionally she would stop to make sure that it was all coming together.

Too much work on one part would ruin it in the end.

Still it was rather slow compared to the burst of inspiration that normally flooded through her. And then there was the fact that she spent an entire hour deepening the shades of everything by two steps, except for the lighting effect in the left most canvas; which had to be lightened by one.

Four hours later and she could feel the fatigue of work weighing on her, the image was good; and she knew that, but four hours of straight painting could make a girl go a little crazy after wards; especially when she knew there was paint in her hair. On the upside, Vaeltia also knew she didn’t have work. In the down side, she didn't know if he'd like it.

  10 suxx, 4 hrs of work

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[08] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		1, 9, 1, 4, 6, 9, 4, 3		2 successes
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[07] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		9, 6, 2, 9, 2, 5, 3, 5		2 successes
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[06] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		2, 6, 6, 7, 3, 9, 3, 5		1 success
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[05] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		8, 4, 4, 5, 2, 10, 4, 6, 5		2 successes
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[04] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		6, 6, 2, 1, 6, 7, 3, 6		failure
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[03] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		1, 1, 1, 7, 1, 5, 7, 4		failure
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[02] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		7, 7, 2, 5, 6, 1, 8, 10, 4		2 successes
2013-06-10 08:22:04		[01] Vaeltia rolls 8 to Commision 2.0 (Int+Crafts+Workshop-size) (10 Again)		7, 6, 1, 7, 9, 6, 7, 4		1 success

[Vae]

Vae sat in the small office of the gallery she had finally saved enough to actually buy. It had been the first gallery she had m

The Sunhawk Gallery was hers.

It had taken time and effort and days. The name had given her the hardest trouble, but Song deserved to be remembered somehow. And considering she had been renting one of the studios above the gallery for over a year and a half and the owner was fine with her actually buying it...

Now that the paperwork had been more than done and all of the time spent changing things and making it more ‘friendly’ she really just needed to turn it over to someone who actually knew how to buy art or set up shows when she was dealing with the work things.

That was the down side of actually working.

But at least one dream had been finished.

With a quick scratch of her pen she completed the first draft for the job request for the Bee.

There. Done.