Valkyrie had taken the time to invest some work into her appearance, tonight. She put on a calf-length, dark blue dress with long sleeves, all made from the same, thick but body-hugging material. After doing her make-up, she even rummaged around in some abandoned boxes for her hair-straightener. In the end, she was more than content with what she saw in the mirror.
If she was being honest, Valkyrie had no idea why she suddenly wanted to go out. She guessed, maybe this case had involved too much sitting and waiting around for her taste. Or maybe, this was another suppression tactic and she did not want to think about Nuce. Either way, she had decided to embrace the notion and ordered a cab to take her to the bar district of Roarhaven.
The area had developed beautifully. Surely, so had a lot of the rest of the city, over the years. There were the large stone statues of Anton and Ghastly on the Memorial Square, standing strong like stone guards, protecting the way into the Sanctuary. More elegant and modern buildings and some suburbs and some less pretty industrial areas had grown out from the center, the wall constantly growing along with them.
However, the party district was still Valkyrie's favorite new part. It had not been supported or pushed into growing. Simply, more and more mages had re-fashioned the lower floors of their houses around a pedestrian zone with wide streets, into bars, and clubs, and restaurants. Patios poked out into the street at regular intervals, sun umbrellas, flowerpots used as dividers, modern street lanterns and chain-link lights glowing in the gloomy night light.
It had just developed on its own, with only somewhat of a communal thought, and then polished with intent, when it had suddenly been realized. Like so many things in Valkyrie's life.
She picked out a place with a more private patio, hedges in planters construing the sight from outside but most importantly; it had an outside bar. Valkyrie let herself be seated on one of the bar seats and ordered something to drink. It did nottake long for her to fall into a periodical conversation with the bar tender, between him serving drinks and taking orders from other guests.
Valkyrie thought the night was going pretty well, so far, until she noticed the bar tender texting when he thought she wasn't looking. It was by no means a proof that he was texting about anything related to her, but she still ordered the bill and, done with flirting, she made her way to the small cinema nearby.
It was one of those that only showed older, classic movies and a handful of the more acclaimed current blockbusters. They also did not serve popcorn, just packaged snacks, which Valkyrie would never understand. She grabbed a soft drink and watched Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". It turned out to be surprisingly unsettling, in the best way.
After that, she just settled for strolling through the roads. Most people; giggling groups of girls, pairs of friends intently discussing something, groups of young guys trying to impress with their various outfits and hairstyles, were too engulfed in their own evenings, to pay attention to her. But there were some glances thrown her way, some whispers exchanged. Valkyrie returned the curious looks with a smile and ignored the sharp ones.
That was, until she reached the end of the district and noticed someone following her. She could feel them in her back, walking casually, but always out of sight. Instead of returning to the security of public life, she walked on, away from the last bar and into the darker suburban streets around.
The further away she got from the noise of people going out and the further she walked into alleyways, the clearer the sound of footsteps following her became. There were about four or five other people, Valkyrie guessed.
They stopped being inconspicuous now. She knew that they knew that she knew that they were there. In short, it was now a game of cats and mouse. When would she stop walking and accept that they were intent on facing her?
Valkyrie took a corner and walked into a dead end. She slowed and turned, walking backwards now.
Three men and a woman grinned at her, approaching as a wall, blocking off the way back through the alley. They were all sorcerers, tall and trained, hair slicked back or short, or in a bun, out of their faces. Energy crackling in one man's hand. A fireball floating on the woman's hand, illuminating her face red from below.
Valkyrie stopped, when her back touched the brick wall behind her.
"It's impressive, really," said one man; brown hair, brown beard, looking like a hundred other guys she had seen on the street. "If not surprising. That you dare to strut around here in public."
"Would you like me to go hide in my little chamber all day?" Valkyrie asked him.
He snorted, showing teeth with a malicious smile. "I would like you to go hide in a prison cell."
"Let's keep this simple, yeah," interrupted the woman. She sounded Scottish. "Darquesse killed my brother." She pointed at herself and then in a round at everyone else, one-by-one. "His sister, his friend, his boyfriend."
"We've been waiting for you to show your face around here," grinned the man that had spoken first. "And here you finally are."
"Do you want to kill me?" Valkyrie asked.
"Hah!" Laughed another guy, blonde trim-cut. "You would like that, wouldn't you? Nah." He shrugged. "We just want to have some fun with you."
"And then, you can go back to your miserable existence," the woman added.
"Preferably, with some gifts to remember us by," grinned trim-cut.
The last one just stood by and watched unimpressively. "How long do you want to talk about it? Let's fuck the bitch up."
"Ugh, totally," Valkyrie agreed. "Get on with it already, am I right?"
All four of them moved in at the same time, probably expecting her to react with some elaborate fight move, but she just stood there, as the fire ball hit her shoulder, a fist her face, a knee her stomach and, finally, her legs were pulled out from underneath her by a foot. She lost balance, screaming at the feeling of fire sizzling her skin through the dress sleeve and hit the pavement with her head. The world spun and she slackened on the ground.
For a moment, they hesitated surprisedly. Then, they grinned at each other and started beating and kicking her to a pulp.
A foot hit her stomach and Valkyrie gasped, curled up, but didn't move otherwise. Blows hit her on the head, until a kick in the back made her contort backwards again.
Suddenly, Diamond's words sprung to her mind. Justice not self-justice. Valkyrie balled her fist.
Another foot landed in her stomach and she heard herself gurgle. The fist slackened. The hits and kicks continued, and she watched them, as they came in, noted them, as they hit her body, bruised her muscles, split her skin, cracked her bones.
But Valkyrie did not care anymore. A mud bath and a secret visit with Synecdoche would take care of that. She just closed her eyes and waited to be alone. Alone, broken body, blood all around her, once again. Finally, not their bodies, not their blood. Her body, her blood. Pooling underneath her head, as it came from her mouth. Alone, just her and the pain.
Diamond blinked at the ceiling of her bedroom and took a deep, comfortable breath. The mornings after a successful job were, ironically, always her favorite part. The calm and quiet of having the house to herself, the alone-time to be smug about the accomplishment, without anyone watching…
She pushed back the blanket energetically and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom to take a shower, letting the hot water run over her, until her fingers started becoming wrinkly. Wrapped in a fluffy towel, Diamond picked out comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt from the wardrobe; the kind of clothes she would never wear, ever; except for mornings after a job. Calm and quiet and comfortable.
Afterwards, her usual battle with her hair commenced, where Diamond tried to dry and tame it enough to not hang into her face the entire day, but not much more. Not today. Today was calm and quiet.
When she was dressed and her hair was sitting comfortably in a bun, Diamond made her way to the kitchen and made herself a tea to wake up her belly for breakfast.
She sat down and had a sip of her tea, breathing out again.
Calm and quiet.
She stared at the empty kitchen before her, sipping again. The clock on the wall clicked in rhythm with the humming of expensive appliances.
Calm and quiet.
Diamond sighed. Her gaze fell on her phone, beside the tea cup that was resting loosely on the counter.
Calm. And quiet.
She grabbed for the phone, clicked around on it and raised it to her ear. The dial tone rang five times. In between, the clock clicked. The phone was picked up on the other end.
"Morning," said Nuce.
"Morning," Diamond replied cheerfully. "How are you?"
"Pretty ok. Went home yesterday evening. How about you?"
Diamond sighed and looked around. He waited on the other side and, that way, there was more calm and quiet.
"I'm alright..." she slowly replied.
"You sure?" Nuce's voice probed. "You sound a bit… down."
"Not down," Diamond said. "Just realizing something."
"What are you realizing?" He asked.
She bypassed the question, to ask a better one. "Hey, Nuce?"
"Yes?"
"Would you like to work with me?"
A break. More quiet. But probably not much calm.
"I… what?" Nuce confusedly said, then.
"Do you want to work with me?" Diamond repeated.
"But…" he continued to stutter. "But I barely know anything about smuggling, or personal protection, or… how to use my magic, for that matter."
"I can teach you." Diamond said.
Quiet again. The kind of quiet she had hoped for. "I… I would love to." Nuce finally replied.
She beamed. "Partners?"
There was a happy sniff on the other side of the line. "Partners."