Room 507, Saturday afternoon/evening

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia was still lying on her back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. She'd made some progress, though. She'd made some calls.

Was she looking forward to the conversations that would likely come from them?

Well, no, not really. But that just meant she should get them over with.

After a while, she sat up, grabbed her guitar, and started idly playing scales.

[ooc: open or whatever.]

Comments

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

After getting fairly well skunked repeatedly, Walter came up to see what dream Nadia had called him about.

"It's Walter," he said after knocking loudly enough to be heard over the faint guitar chords coming from the other side of the door.

[nadiathesaint]

"It's open," Nadia called. Normally, she might have put the guitar away, but she figured having something to do with her hands might be a bonus with this conversation.

She did stop playing, though.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter closed the door behind himself and grabbed a spot on Nadia's former roommate's empty bed. "So. More dreams?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Yeah." Nadia folded her arms across the top of her guitar, watching Walter's expression very carefully. "This time it was about you and Victor."

There. No details. Not yet. See what he knows, first.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Walter's face closed down completely. "What did you dream?"

[nadiathesaint]

Damn. He either knew something, or he thought she was trying to break him up again.

"I'm not . . . entirely sure. It wasn't really like some of the others. There was Victor, and this purple kid. I guess someone from home? And . . . a key being taken off a key ring, and . . . ." and this was where it started getting really weird. Saying 'and you as the angel of death dropping Victor off a cliff' probably wasn't the best way to describe it.

Of course, she had no idea how else to describe it.

". . . and you let him go. Sort of."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Well there was a sucker punch. Walter sucked in a surprised breath and swallowed hard around the lump in his throat.

He looked down at his hands and nodded, not trusting himself to speak yet.

[nadiathesaint]

The surprise she expected. The nodding, not so much. She set the guitar aside, and stood. "Walter? Are you okay?"

Stupid question. The answer was obvious. "What happened?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

What was it Pippi had said the other night? I'm a leaf on the wind. Right.

Or not.

"I broke up with him last night. Gave back his key," he answered almost inaudibly.

[nadiathesaint]

Aw crap.

. . .

Yeah, that was about all she had.

"What happened?" she asked again, because it seemed a valid question. Where had that relationship gone wrong?

No, she was not mentally squeeing yet. Because Walter's body language pretty much eliminated any possible squee that might have been in her.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"The thing with Phoebe and the Nazis and..." Walter shook his head and leaned back against the wall. "...and I hurt him too often and I don't want to do that." Better to give him one big hurt and get it over with?

[nadiathesaint]

Angel of Death, dropping him off a cliff. . . .

"Oh."

Would it help if she said she probably thought it was supposed to happen? Would it help if she agreed with his reasoning, or said he had it all wrong, or what the hell was she supposed to do to help with this?!

"I'm sorry."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Walter fought to keep his expression neutral. It was part of the training, right? Then why was it so damned hard to do it?

"It's for the best." And that was what he was going to keep telling himself.

[nadiathesaint]

Now what? Nadia had never had to try to comfort the one who had done the breaking up before. The one who'd been broken up with was easier. You aimed for angry, and usually drunk, and they felt better after awhile.

She felt like she should try to hug him, or something. Or possibly hit him, just to get rid of that damned neutral expression. Because that, frankly, was scaring her a little. But he probably wasn't going to let her do that. He hadn't been terribly receptive last time she'd tried to physically comfort him.

"Walter," she said softly. "You don't have to be a butler with me. You know that, right?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." He scrubbed his face with his hands and took a shaky breath. "Did you dream say anything about how Victor is going to be? Or did you just get the psychic first look, since I haven't told anyone yet?"

[nadiathesaint]

droppedoffacliffdroppedoffacliffdropped--

"I don't remember," she lied.

The purple kid had been there in the end, too. Maybe he was the one that was supposed to catch Victor?

"I think he'll be okay, though. Not right away, but eventually, you know?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter probably should have twigged to the fact that Nadia was lying; that he didn't was a good measure of his upset and distraction.

"He'll be okay." Said more for his own benefit than anything else. "He'll be better off once he has time to understand."

Damn. Denial ain't pretty.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia let out a very soft sigh, then sat down on the bed next to Walter. She held out a hand, hoping he'd at least take that much, if not an actual hug. "He will. He'll be very upset for a long time, but I really think he'll come out of it okay. The dream . . . well, I think he's been through worse."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter looked up sharply. "I thought you said you didn't remember?"

[nadiathesaint]

Oops.

"I said I didn't remember if I saw him come out okay. I saw other things, too."

Nadia glanced down at her hand, but didn't pull it back. "These dreams aren't exactly as clear as the Fandom Radio is. Which isn't very clear at all, so there you go."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I guess so." He followed her look and finally took her hand. "What other things did you see?"

[nadiathesaint]

There. Was that so hard? Dumbass.

"It was weird. Like I said, it wasn't anything like any of the others. There was a man with wounds," she gestured to either side of her chest. "And the purple kid and Victor kept walking away from each other or toward each other, and then the key, and this heart thing with a crown and a green hand and a purple hand and--"

And the frickin' Angel of Death. Nadia was just Catholic enough to recognize that when she saw it, even if it had been wearing a waistcoat.

No way was she bringing that part up.

"--that was it."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Did the hands hold the heart sort of like this?" Walter let go of her hand to hold his up to make a sort of heart shape with his thumbs together at the top and his fingertips coming together at the bottom.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia blinked. "Yeah. How did you know that?"

Oh god, it wasn't some secret Walter/Victor thing, was it?

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"It's the crown on top that makes the difference." He relaxed a little and took Nadia's hand again. "I guess the purple guy might be someone Victor knows from school. If it's a purple hand and a green hand holding the heart, maybe they'll be together." He tightened his hold for a moment. "He'd better treat him well."

[nadiathesaint]

Crown . . . "Okay, but what is it? Because it was pretty big in the dream, and I'd kind of like to know what my head is throwing at me."

Nadia squeezed back without even really thinking about it. Yes, she agreed silently, he'd better.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"It's called a claddagh. It's a symbol you see on rings. It's supposed to mean friendship or love." And that wince was Walter imagining Victor in love with someone else. But that's what he wanted, right?

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia saw the wince, and thought she might have an idea of the why, so she squeezed his hand again.

"He'll understand." she said. "Eventually."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter nodded and swallowed again. He wanted to let Nadia reassure him he'd made the right choice, but really, he knew she wasn't an impartial party.

But the dream...

He believed he'd made the right choice. But it hurt. "I'm tired, Nadia. I'm really tired."

[nadiathesaint]

"Makes sense. You've been dealing with a lot, lately."

Herself, included.

"If you ever need somewhere to stay, you can stay up here. I can take the couch in the attic, so you don't have to deal with people. Okay?"

Really, that was the least she could do.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Okay." He probably wouldn't. He wasn't going to be chased out of his room. He'd made a choice, he'd live with it.

"Thanks. And Thanks for telling me about the dream, I guess." Victor with someone else? That's how things worked when you broke up.

Shit.

"I think I need some sleep now."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia nodded, wishing there was more she could do to help him.

Screw it. If he stiffened or got mad then he was just a moron. She hugged him. Kind of hard.

"If you need to talk about anything, I'm here. You don't have to be a butler with me."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

That's Victor's line.

Walter didn't stiffen or get mad. He hugged her and rested his chin on her shoulder while he tried to get a breath that didn't catch in his throat. It was harder than he thought it should be.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia had no idea that Victor had said that. If it were pointed out to her, she'd probably just shrug and say, well, it was true. Butlerness didn't have to be a full time thing, as far as she was concerned. Especially not when you were still just a kid.

She just stayed quiet and held on until it seemed like Walter was ready to let go.

droppedoffa--shut up, you.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter finally pulled away and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Thanks. I hope your dream is right this time. Thanks for telling me."

[nadiathesaint]

"Of course." Nadia sat back and gave Walter a sad smile. "I hope it is, too. Sleep well, Walter."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"I will. I'm too tired not to. Being a little pink pony is tiring." He smiled weakly and slid off the bed. "There's nothing like detention at Fandom High."

[nadiathesaint]

Wait, what? "Pink pony. Skeeter wasn't running detention, was she?" She shook her head. "Nevermind. I probably don't want to know. Go. We can always talk later."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"No, not Skeeter. I'll tell you about it later, but I will have to change some names to keep someone from killing me for revealing she wore pink.

"I'll see you." He left, debating a cigarette or sleep. Sleep was probably winning.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia let herself fall over backwards on the spare bed, letting out a breath.

That went . . . well, not well, of course. But about as well as could be expected, really. One down, one to go.

Assuming Victor ever answered her voicemail.

That one, she suspected, would . . . not go so well.

She would really be happy if/when this whole dreaming thing was over.