#valryssa

...a man is surprised to find not one, but two people in his room awaiting his return.

Dominick: (Well, that sucked. Man, those Priory cells aren't nearly as good as the ones he-)

Dominick: (...this isn't good.)

Veronica & Valryssa: Dominick.

Dominick: Ladies.

Valryssa: ...

Veronica: ...

Dominick: ...

Dominick: (...and right about-)

Veronica: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!

Dominick: Ow!

Dominick: (Yep, there it is.)

Valryssa: Y-you just...LEFT me here! I was worried sick about you!

Dominick: Ow! Look I'm sorry-

Veronica: Shut up!

Valryssa: You-

Dominick: Ow!

Valryssa: -and Reeve-

Dominick: Ow!

Valryssa: -and Lady Blackburn-

Dominick: I said I'm-

Valryssa: -y-you all just LEFT me here, w-without a word!

Dominick: Enough, alright?!

Veronica: Val- hey. That's enough for now, sweetie.

Veronica: You did good. Let's at least let him try to explain so we have something else to get angry at him for.

Dominick: ...seriously?

Veronica: Yup.

Valryssa: ...fine.

Dominick: (And yet somehow *I'm* the one that's wanted throughout the city.)

Dominick: Alright, well...I went to find Ausra because I was pretty sure she was going off to kill her father.

Veronica: ...

Valryssa: ...

Veronica: ...you were "pretty sure"?

Dominick: Hey, don't give me that. Turns out I was right.

Veronica: ...what?

Dominick: It's a long story. Let's just...say we got there too late and leave it at that.

Valryssa: "We"? W-who came with you?

Dominick: Quentin, Dranthium...Reeve...

Dominick: You remember Dran, Veronica.

Veronica: Mm, I sure do...

Valryssa: S-so that's where Reeve went...?

Dominick: Unfortunately.

Veronica: So...what happened?

Dominick: Well, turns out Ausra was going to Orr to try and kill herself.

Veronica: ...

Valryssa: ...that's...

Dominick: Yeah.

Dominick: So after a lot of running around, a lot of yelling, and a lot of violence - some of which was misplaced - we managed to take her back to the Durmand Priory headquarters.

Veronica: And how'd that go?

Dominick: I don't really want to talk about it.

Veronica: ...

Valryssa: ...D-Dominick...

Dominick: (Oh gods damn it, is she-)

Valryssa: W-what happened? Please, we've been worried about you...

Dominick: (I can't tell if she's really this emotional about things or just a really good actress.)

Dominick: ...you wouldn't understand.

Valryssa: Y-yes we-

Dominick: No. You wouldn't.

Dominick: Trust me, I'm not...saying this lightly.

Veronica: ...she really rattled you with this, didn't she?

Dominick: ...who, Val?

Veronica: Of course not Val, you idiot! Ausra!

Dominick: ...yeah. I guess she did.

Dominick: (Not just her, but me...)

Veronica: ...

Valryssa: ...

Veronica: Fine. Another time then.

Dominick: ...thanks.

Dominick: Now, if you two don't mind...

Valryssa: W-what is it?

Dominick: I've had a *really* exhausting couple of days, and I'd sort of like my room back for a little while.

Valryssa: O-oh...okay...

Veronica: It's alright, Val. We can bother him again later.

Valryssa: Um...r-right...

Veronica: ...take care, Dom.

Theme song for Valryssa. Elegant, graceful, and well-meaning, but gullible, potentially misguided, and torn between wishes and duties.

Title: Condemnation Wings

Artist: Daisuke Ishiwatari

She went with Ausra briefly, and Ausra had left to go see her father. She went to see Dominick afterwards, and he had left to go find Ausra. She went to see Reeve after that, and he had left before she even arrived. Everyone who could light her path, everyone who could tell her what was going on had left, and wittingly or not, had left her in the dark in the process.

Perhaps Reeve had some other ideas of how to pull it from her chest, also he needed to tell them about Valyssa's intentions. 

When she fell back asleep, he quietly walked over to a desk and wrote a letter in his flawless hand.

Lord Reeve Blackburn,

He wrote the letter out as inoffensively as he could, merely informing him and Ausra of the letter from Dominick, and how it was not a bad letter, but that Valryssa's intent was not as she might have otherwise made it seem. 

Now, back to his mother...

...a man finds a familiar young woman crying into one of the pillows on his bed.

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: Hey...didn't expect you back here again. What's the matter?

Valryssa: D-Dominick...

Dominick: Hey, come on, don't cry.

Valryssa: ...t-thank you...

Dominick: What's up?

Valryssa: I-I...I can't fulfill your promise...

Dominick: Something happen?

Valryssa: I...I talked to a man earlier...a friend of Lady Blackburn's... Xanadar.

Dominick: (...son of a bitch, I know where this is going...)

Valryssa: I-I told him...about the letter, and about how I was going to give it to her when the time was right...and...

Dominick: ...he went on a self-righteous tirade about deception and me using you to help with my relationship troubles?

Valryssa: ...h-how did you know...?

Dominick: (Lucky guess.)

Dominick: We've met before. He's...not overly fond of me.

Dominick: So...what happened from there?

Valryssa: H-he's...going to tell them... He's going to tell them about the letter.

Dominick: ...well, that makes things difficult...

Valryssa: I-I'm so sorry...!

Dominick: (Girl sure is emotional.)

Dominick: (At least she's not threatening me with a hammer this time.)

Dominick: Hey, relax. "Difficult" is my specialty.

Dominick: Just...calm down, alright?

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: ...

Valryssa: I-I can't...hold onto this for you any more.

Dominick: ...alright. Consider your promise rescinded.

Dominick: So...what will you do now?

Valryssa: I...I still wish to meet Lady Blackburn.

Dominick: You think Reeve will let you after he tells them?

Valryssa: I-I don't know...I hope so.

Valryssa: I think...I can talk to him.

Valryssa: But...

Dominick: ...yeah.

Dominick: I'll...hold onto this.

Valryssa: I'm...I'm sorry.

Dominick: ...don't be.

Dominick: It's better this way. I think.

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: I've been...pushing you too hard to try and do what I want you to do in this whole mess.

Dominick: I haven't been dishonest with you, but...from the moment we met, all I've told you has been self-serving.

Dominick: So...I'm sorry.

Dominick: I don't know that that's enough to untangle you from this whole thing, or to get you to think of what you want in this rather than what I want, but...

Dominick: I'm sorry.

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: ...

Dominick: (Is she...going to hit me, or...)

Dominick: (Nothing?)

Valryssa: I-I...accept your apology.

Valryssa: I...may not be able to distance myself from your wishes completely...

Valryssa: But...still...I wish to help you...b-because I feel it's the right thing to do.

Dominick: !

Dominick: (Am I going to have to get used to this girl kissing me?)

Dominick: (I mean, not that she's bad at it, but...)

Dominick: ...

Valryssa: ...w-what's the matter?

Dominick: You're way too nice for me.

Valryssa: W-what does that mean?

Dominick: It...means you're too nice for me.

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: You know...compassionate? Caring? Forgiving? All that stuff?

Valryssa: Y-you and Reeve are...the only men I've felt comfortable around.

Dominick: (Wow, I'm on the same tier as Reeve. Great.)

Dominick: How many other men have you been around, though, is the question.

Valryssa: I-I...

Valryssa: ...y-you remember how my mother called for me when you visited.

Dominick: ...right.

Dominick: They're all that bad, huh?

Valryssa: T-they all...want me for something.

Valryssa: Status...wealth...pleasure...

Dominick: And...how's that different from what I've been doing, exactly?

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: (...might have been a bad question to ask.)

Valryssa: The difference is...t-they all pretend not to want anything.

Dominick: ...again, how's that different from when we met?

Valryssa: I-I...

Valryssa: ...

Valryssa: I don't know, actually...

Valryssa: Something just seemed...d-different, about you...

Dominick: Have you ever considered that you might just have a weakness to roguish charms?

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: (Why do I keep saying these thi-)

Dominick: !

Dominick: (She keeps doing this.)

Valryssa: ...I-I've considered it now.

Dominick: Mm. And what's the verdict?

Valryssa: ...

Dominick: ...

...a young woman considers the words of a strange visitor.

There's...somebody who I think may need your help.

It wasn't much to go on, but it was more than Dominick gave me when he came to me about Velinae, and this new girl had given me the same look he had; how could I not at least hear her out? She had a lot to say; she talked about Dominick, about herself, about a man named Reeve, and the woman that connected them all.

Ausra.

I'll admit I wasn't enthused. This was the same Ausra that had kicked Velinae out of the house, right? Velinae didn't talk much about her, but I got the sense that Ausra wasn't the friendliest person to be around. But now, here was this woman desperately telling me that she might need my help. She didn't seem to know what with; she said that Dominick was in love with her, and even though I rolled my eyes at it, the way she spoke of the two of them gave me the sense that this was more serious than I was giving it credit for. She said there was something...wrong about the whole thing, even though she confessed she'd only met Ausra for a few moments. And...she seemed set on helping Dominick, somehow, though I'm not really sure where I'd fit into it.

Still...I helped Dominick out with less to go off of than this, and I guess I kind of owe him - and this Ausra lady, in a weird way - for bringing Velinae into my life. And even though Velinae's told me about her...I can't in good conscience judge her on that alone. I can at least meet with her, maybe...see where it goes. I'd like some more information, though; maybe I'll pay this girl Valryssa a visit sometime and ask her more about it. It all sounds...complicated. And I'm not exactly a romance expert.

...this is what they'd sound like.

Aria Sirtova - Julie Ann Taylor or Kari Wahlgren

Dominick Hayes - Reuben Langdon,  Quinton Flynn, or Johnny Bosch

Valryssa the Radiant - Cristina Valenzuela

Gravij Slateclaw - Jamieson Price

He found himself dreaming of her. Not Ausra, whom he frequently thought about; and not Valryssa, whom he'd just shared the night with; it was Aria. He dreamed of memories, of the way she used to smile at him, the way she would reprimand him when he did something foolish, the way she never lost her cheer even on the nights they had nothing to eat. He dreamed of the gift he'd gotten her for her thirteenth birthday, how many times she'd hugged him for it and told him she loved it, and the play on words he'd had inscribed on it.

The most beautiful Aria ever heard.

He dreamed of the night he found her body, broken and bloodied and so diametrically opposed to how beautiful she normally was. He dreamed of the pain, the indescribable anger he had felt, not just at her killers, but at himself. He dreamed of his revenge, of the way he'd walked into their hideout wearing a blue coat and walked out wearing a red one. He dreamed of her funeral, of how surprised yet not surprised he had been at how many people showed up, how many people cared. He dreamed of how lost he'd become afterwards, how his standards all but vanished, and how ashamed he knew she'd have been of him for it.

He dreamed of the letter he'd wrote about her the day before; what it said, what it meant to him, and what it might mean to Ausra.