RP:I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

Part of the The Dust Up In Cenril Arc

Part of the Larketian Fault Lines Arc

Summary: Hudson gives Valrae money for the resistance and tells her that he ran into Irenic, who watched him "comfort her". They are briefly disturbed by the knowledge that visibility into the second story of the nail salon is apparently quite good. Valrae then reveals that she is being followed. Hudson tries to press her for more information, for example whether it's related to mob blow back or her recent political activities. Valrae refuses his help.

The Witch-Run Nail Salon in Larket

Hudson's passed on a message to Valrae through Joanie to stay at the end of the day, after close. He's upstairs cleaning up the lab when she joins him. There's a small duffel bag on the counter, with gold inside, and a half finished beer. He looks up at the sound of her footsteps on the stairs, going instinctively to an ice box that holds important reagents but also booze. He wordlessly plucks a beer loose and slides it across the counter with the opener (can't slide an open beer). He waits for her to have the bottle in hand before following with the duffel. "I don't wanna know what you spend it on," he says, a beat passing before he adds, "I saw Irenic."

Valrae eventually hangs her apron for the day and dutifully clicks her way up the stairs after closing. Her heels are especially high today, her dress a little tighter than usual, and boldly red. Her golden hair was half pinned to one side, half not, so that curls tumbled over her her shoulder carelessly, as they might if she'd just rolled out of a particularly comfortable bed. Her eyes were smoky and heavy-lashed, her lips the same screaming red. The witch snagged the beer with a mumbled thanks and after opening it takes a small drink. Then she eyes Hudson but nods. "The less you know, the better," Her golden brows arch, her dark eyes moving away from him to inspect her suddenly interesting beer. "Guess you know I got dumped then, huh?" The woman laughs now, humorlessly. "I spend all this time thinking I've been dumped, only to find out I wasn't yet but definitely am now. I think I almost liked not knowing better." With that she shrugs.

Hudson had been puttering along and certainly not anticipated the hot girl outfit and does a double take. His attempt to discuss business and Irenic flags in the face of her getup. Because Oh HOLY GODS she's hot, is that for him, he hopes that is not for him, also what if it's not for him!??!! "Uh," he says, looking at her with his mouth slightly agape. She seems in a bad mood (it's not for him). This Irenic business. Right. He clears his throat and reaches for his beer. He drinks, eyeballing her, as if she were a horned bull casually staring him down. "Yeah, how did he..." Hudson gestures at the windows, rubs at his face. "And, how long do you think he..." Better not. He shuts his mouth, drags his gaze between the windows and Valrae. "You know what, that guy ghosted you without a word and wants to get mad about," he gestures vaguely around them, "I don't know, not cool, and not only did he ghost on you, he spied on you." A beat. "Were we even that close to the window!? Also if he was just lurking out there on the street looking in, that's going to attract - so what, did all of Larket just stop and .. I can't even finish that sentence."

Valrae is rebounding and decided to land on prettily heeled feet. Maybe it was a little for him, on the off chance he'd see it, but mostly her hot girl outfit was for her self-esteem. This whole business was like being dumped twice and it somehow managed to suck just as much when it was coming from one man. The little half-smirk that appeared on her stained lips had vanished quickly. For the first time since Irenic had dropped her, she was thinking of the logistics of him seeing them... In action. Her cheeks flamed. Her eyes darted to the window, to where they had been... The distance between. Suddenly, she was imagining the avian's face pressed against the glass watching them. A strangled whine escaped her throat. "Huds, no!" The witch said, pulling a long drink from her beer. "Please, for the love of everything just - no." Val sat her beer aside and pressed the heels of her palms on her temples. "That didn't happen, surely. There is no way you could see that from down there... Right?" She had moved to the window, looked over his shoulder and searched his face desperately for confirmation. "I mean, he had to have been... Like," She turned back to him and mimed pressing her face to the glass. "I mean he had to have, right?" Her stomach was starting to hurt. "It wouldn't be the first time he's kept an eye on me," She admitted. "The whole time he was gone I had felt like someone was watching me and when I finally saw him again he admitted it was him. Said he had been watching over me."

"MAN I don't know, Val," says Hudson, wincing and laughing awkwardly though Valrae's pantomiming someone pressing their face against the glass, presumably in an effort to make them both feel better about potentially all of Larket's evening promenade being treated to a Show. It's not like anyone will tell them that they observed them having an intimate moment, that's not a thing you say to people. 'Oh hey, were you the guy getting it on at the nail salon,' said no one ever. ....But if there were no risk that this extracurricular moment with Valrae could leak to Alvina, would he really be all that disturbed (or....)? He is trying not to think about that dress she has on, as she tells him about how Irenic is a repeat offender when it comes to watching her. "Yeah..." he helps himself to a swig off his beer. "I think we would have noticed someone looking right in the window like that. Would have blocked moonlight and cast a shadow or something. Uuuhh, well anyway." Yeah, he might not have actually noticed. "I'm sorry about him, anyway. He seems crushed, of course he is, I mean." He drinks again, and then clears his throat. "This whole....." He gestures with his beer at her. "Wow, FYI."

Valrae is frowning now. She crosses her arms, poutily, and leans against the wall next to the window. "I mean, I don't think he meant it in a creepy way," She added, sulkily. What he said made a little sense and it annoyed her. She would much rather it have only been Irenic seeing them, if it had to have been seen at all. Her cheeks were blooming with color again. She made another frustrated noise when he mentions Irenic and his seeming to be upset. "Doubtful, when he left me it was like... It was like I was a stranger to him, like he didn't even know me." Her voice carried the hurt she was feeling. "And he seemed to be convinced that I'm still madly in love with you and we need to... What? I don't know." She moved across the room to her much needed beer. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I love you, I do, but I know what this is," She waves her free hand between them and pauses long enough to take a drink. "I think, anyway, and it's not whatever he seems to think it is." A quiet moment passed. She was thinking of Larket witnessing the whole by the window fiasco again but thankfully he changed the topic. The witch smiles. "Thanks!" She chirps, pushing her hair back and looking down, suddenly shy. "It's my new single look. Anyway, someone has still been following me. If it's not Irenic I'm having more problems than I thought," Which was exactly what she didn't need... But the sensation of being watched had returned. "Really, I'm pretty sure it's not him this time..." Valrae leans across the table that separates her from Hudson, blonde hair slipping over her shoulder, and she whispers, "Huds, I think I saw a guy following me home after Irenic left me in the square and again when I came into work."

Hudson leans against a segment of the counter and takes cover behind his beer, which may not be really... a thing. Mostly it's so that he has something to do rather than want to console Valrae, over some other dude. He lifts his eyebrows at the words 'still madly in love with you.' Ouch, even though she's right, some things shouldn't be said aloud. He'd destroyed his life over her, and still manages to break things here and there, for good measure. But it is getting better, yes, feelings are like fires and die if you don't feed them. Now they're bonded by their shared experience but are now smarter for it (..sometimes). It just feels blasphemous to talk like she had, like however right she is he thinks of what they had like it's an insect trapped in amber. Stupid as hell, and dead, but forever preserved in all its vitality as of that moment. He is silent, drains the last of his beer as Valrae changes gears into preening. Yeah, single Val about town..... awkward. He sighs. And then suddenly the smell of her hot girl shampoo is invading his space and she's whispering about being followed. "What?" he asks, genuinely confused. "Is that a joke?" he wants to know. It's not, of course it's not. And like that, the bad feelings descend. He straightens his posture, his mind immediately paging through his slow negotiation with the Larket mob. "It's not one of Blut's guys? What does he look like? Mob? Val ... How long has this been going on?"

Valrae is oblivious to Hudson's inner monologue as she continues to plow through the conversation. She wasn't actually arguing the fact that she still loved him, only that she'd never had any thought in her mind of a monogamous or serious romantic relationship with him. What Irenic seemed to think she was searching for. For a woman like Valrae, one who was practically paralyzed by fear at the thought of any true commitment, that made whatever strange but serious loyalty she shared with Hudson more precious. In her mind, nothing she said was outrageous or possibly insulting so she missed all cues that they might have been. The witch frowns now, as Hudson asks her if she's joking about her very serious admission, "No, I'm not joking! Why would I joke ab-" She pushes back off of the counter a few seconds after him. "No, it's not one of- I don't know! I don't know, honest." Valrae pushes her hair back. "Maybe it started yesterday? I could have started after the... The riot, maybe? The man I saw didn't look like a part of the mob... I mean, you don't look like part of the mob either but..." She crosses her arms now. "It's fine, Hudson. I wasn't telling you because I need you to swoop in and handle it."

Hudson for the record is not outraged, just has the sensation of Valrae pressing on a bruise. Which is to say he is also over it now and focused on the issue of Valrae being followed. He frowns as Valrae can't tell him anything more about who's following her. Of course she can't, it's not like she's used to being followed, and the people following her are probably pros. If those mob guys are double crossing him... He is thinking about Alvina, and his children, and his mum, and trying not to look alarmed. (He looks a little alarmed.) At least nothing's happened to her, they're just trying to intimidate him, maybe because they can't get at Alvina they're going after the most accessible 'other woman' in his life. It's working if that's what it is. "Gods damn it," he exhales, with feeling. "Try not to go anywhere alone. I'm going to ask Blut to look into it and put one of his guys on you. Is where you're staying safe?"

Valrae is shaking her head. "You seriously aren't listening to me." She says, frustration edging her tone. "I wasn't asking you to fix this for me," She tosses her hands up. "But please, by all means, have someone else follow me around. By the time this is finished I'll just have a crowd of people walking around behind me and I really wont have to be alone. Half of Larket will be with me!" The witch rolls her eyes and finishes off her beer. "Look, I seriously doubt this has anything to do with.. Work. I mean, as far as anyone knows I'm just a nail salon worker here, right?" Unless they really had been too close to window. Augh. "There is no reason to put your back up about this. I'm a witch in Larket, the one responsible for a lot of what happened at the new youth center and the protests that are still happening, and someone who probably ranks pretty high on the queen's persons of interest list... And I'm still a fugitive in Cenril." Honestly, anyone could be following her for any number of those reasons. Which really only served to further unnerve her but she wasn't going to let Hudson know that. She was going to handle it, whatever it was. "I don't know if you know this about me, Huds, but I'm in the deep end of more than one muddy pond." As punctuation, her lips tilted into a mischievous smile.

"Well I don't want anything to happen! That's all, Sven's sake!" Hudson interrupts, exclaiming with frustration when Valrae comes back on him for trying to get involved. There's a tense silence for a second, and they look at one another, hackles raised, until Valrae continues with her own theories as to why she's being followed. A bit of a cold comfort, to believe that his family's not in danger because it's just ordinary Witch Persecution, but he sets his jaw and says nothing until she's finished speaking. He crosses his arms and they look at one another. Her smile isn't dispelling his doubts about security. "Fine, about the tail. But I'm still going to have Blut look into it, and I'm going to look into it," he says, already picturing himself, in his minds eye, racing to Alvina's on his metal-winged horse. Literally as soon as this conversation is over. "And don't walk alone, late at night, especially if you're ... " he gestures at her, meaning, her hot girl getup. "I'm serious. If you feel 1% unsafe, you tell me, or one of the muscle. You don't have to stay here, and you don't have to go back to Cenril, or somewhere crappy... I have a friend in Rynvale whom I trust and whom I could ask about you staying if you wanted to get out of town. She lives on the beach. You could go there until all of this calms down."

It was frustrating for Valrae to be lectured on safety. She was a damned witch for gods sakes. Lately, she'd like to think of herself as a powerful one too. But she'd gotten him to agree not to add another tail and she knew how to pick her battles. "I am being safe." She answered vaguely. "Hudson, you have to understand why I can't come running to you every second of the day, which is about as often as I realize I'm not safe," The witch sighed, busied herself with collecting the empty beer bottles and tossing them. "The things I've gotten myself into aren't exactly making me very many friends... But I know what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and that what it's worth to me. I think you, of all people, can understand this. Understand that I'm not backing down, I'm not running away to be safe. I just can't, it's not in me." The gold he'd given her was deposited carefully in her oversized canvas bag. "I appreciate everything," The witch shouldered the bag, untucked her hair and moved across the room to stand in front of him. She had to tilt her a little to look him in the eyes. "You're the best man I know," She leaned up, would give him a quick peck on the cheek if he didn't move away. Valrae walked to the door, called over shoulder, "If I start to feel like I'm drowning, you'll be the first to know." and then clicked her way down the stairs and out of the salon.