#team rood

But imagining and actually seeing are two different things. He may have been correct in his assumptions, but nothing could have prepared him for the silence. He steps out from the tree Faylen had managed to find a connection to, and the crunch of his boots on the dead grass was loud as thunder. His heart hammers in his chest and he swears that he can hear it echo across the fields. 

Not even a breeze seems to blow by. It was a world gone still. A world gone quiet. A world gone dead.

Grisha’s words echo in the back of his head. “There’s nothing, you know,” he had said about death. “Just black. As if you never existed.”

Valko has died before. Multiple times. He’s experienced the never-ending void of darkness that Grisha must have been referring to. Truthfully, he never really minded it. It was comforting that, for at least a moment, nothing mattered anymore.

But this is different. This is scarier, and so much closer to what Grisha had described. There’s nothing anymore. Just black skies, black earth, brought about by a black heart. As if life never existed. 

How many people perished here? How many lives and livelihoods did he take away with a single, careless decision? How dare he call himself a champion of Pelor? How can he possibly make things right?

The rest of the party emerges from the tree behind him, and they all take a moment to take in the bleak surroundings. Shock. Sorrow. Anger. Fear. A series of emotions flash across their faces. This was Ovak’s home. As was it Eryk’s. It isn’t easy to return only to find the place you grew up and loved so dearly in charred ruins, ghosts of what they used to be. Memories threatening to crumble into dust.  

Valko waits, watching each of them carefully, studying their expressions. He waits for acceptance. For hopelessness. For defeat. For all the same doubt that he churns violently in his stomach. But instead he watches as, one by one, each of his companions steel themselves, standing up straighter and setting their jaws. They all face him, determined and expectant. He doesn’t feel worthy of their trust, worthy of their support. But they give it anyway, just as he gave his to them when they needed it.

Valko nods, and everyone else nods in return. “Let’s go,” he says, a whisper that feels like a shout, and he hopes that he sounds more sure of himself than he actually is.

The group heads south, to the graveyard where Bane’s companions are supposed to be buried. They travel in silence, flinching every time so much as a twig snaps underfoot. Dusk falls and the skies darken more than Valko had thought possible, plunging them into a menacing and cold darkness. They push onward. Time is something they can’t afford to waste. 

Faylen gasps suddenly, and everyone goes on high alert, eyes scanning the horizon, trying to find the threat. “Look!” Faylen cries. “Fireflies!”

The unbridled joy in her voice makes Valko’s heart ache. He wants to tell her that she was just imagining things. That there’s no way there could be fireflies buzzing around when the land is like this. But one lands right in the center of the sun brand on his hand and lights up. His breath catches in his throat. He looks out into the field of wilted grass and sees that Faylen is right. 

There aren’t many. Not nearly as many as there would be if the land weren’t dead. But they’re still there. Still alive. These creatures don’t understand how brave their existence is. Little specks of life and light shining through the death and darkness.

That’s all you need, says a voice in Valko’s head that sounds too much like, yet couldn’t possibly be his own. Darkness wins only if you let it. Verina hasn’t given up. 

alright so valko as a tattoo artist who is relatively well known for being able to do pretty intricate and detailed designs 

he’s got forearm tats that are cosmetic and then a couple of other tattoos covering/hiding the old ones he has from his shady past

ovak works in a mechanic’s shop a couple buildings down

faylen works at the flower shop across the street. it’s unclear whether or not she actually owns the place, but she’s always there, so she might as well own it.

thanos still has his little shop of oddities but it’s across town. 

and eryk works as the head cook in his mom’s bar/grill on main street.

now that everything’s all set up….

faylen and ovak both got their tats done by valko in this au (he was trained by seraphina (i think that was her name???) tho)

faylen’s got her thumb on the pulse of p much everyone’s business in town

or at least the business pertaining to the flowers they purchase from her.

she knows who has a family member who’s sick; she knows who’s celebrating; she knows who’s trying to woo another person

likewise, valko ends up the listening to ear to whoever decides to get chatty while he’s working on them, so he ends up privy to the latest gossip

he and faylen meet up once or twice a week for drinks and they talk and hang out

faylen makes sure it’s at his place so he has reason to keep his place clean (and also so she can see fortune, who faylen claims is part wolf dog, but the vet says she’s just a very large alaskan (skueg strar-an?) husky)

recently eryk has been the subject of their gossip

faylen says that he’s in her shop almost every day asking about flower meanings and trying to pick which flowers he wants to send to someone

valko had him walk into the tattoo parlor a couple days ago and browse some of the pre-made designs hanging up, but got too flustered when valko tried to help him out

they both know he’s been making heart eyes at ovak, he isn’t subtle about it.

fury is a regular at athena’s bar/grill and valko drinks with her sometimes and the two of them help poor eryk work up the courage to talk to ovak about what exactly is going on between the two of them.

valko also frequents faylen’s shop and purchases flowers that he uses to decorate the parlor

lau came into town for a few months because he was looking for kian and had thought that kian had stopped in for a bit (even though he hadn’t)

he and faylen got along really well and he visited the flower shop a lot….like a lot….

ultimately he had to move on to keep looking for his friend, but before he left, he bought flowers from faylen and then immediately gave them back to her to thank her for being so kind to him while he was there. 

there was a point during the time between valko’s Shady Past™ and the present where his belief in pelor was revived

and oddly enough he’s pretty familiar with certain passages of whatever the pelorian holy text is because he gets a fair number of people coming in wanting those quotes as tattoos

same thing with pelor’s holy symbol (idk how sacrilegious this is in aremor, but…u kno….like how people get tattoos of the cross on them?)

he’s done other holy symbols and scripture quotes 

but despite this, he’s yet to actually step foot inside a temple of pelor….he’s afraid and…hasn’t worked up the courage to do so

even though he knows it’d be so easy to just accompany his parents to a service that’s literally all he’d have to do but he’s too nervous to do that….feels like his presence would just…dirty the temple or something

ANYWAY 

because i’m in a shippy mood and want valko to get some

so let’s say that the local temple of pelor gets mmmmm a new youth pastor or something like that

who’s big and beefy and a total sweetheart

just in time for whatever holiday is happening soon

and he comes in to pick up his special order for the holiday service while valko was there picking up his own usual order of flowers 👀👀👀

and idk they just keep bumping into each other everywhere and idk where it goes from there but it goes somewhere

….hopefully

ideally with valko receiving flowers he absolutely did not order himself and faylen being mischievously tight-lipped about it for some reason

and also with said new pastor taking notice in valko’s interest in pelorism and helping him overcome his hesitance towards attending services

i’m not saying one-on-one scripture studies but….