VALENTINA DELGADO
Werecreature
snow leopard
Posts: 36
Age:
19
Occupation:
Salvatore College Sophomore
Status:
Single
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Apr 29, 2024 19:24:50 GMT
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Post by VALENTINA DELGADO on Feb 29, 2024 0:17:58 GMT
This wasn’t really how Valentina had thought that her day would end up going but if she was honest that wasn’t really a bad thing. She liked it at the Salvatore School and she felt like she had finally found a place where she belonged but the idea of staying at the school over Christmas again was just depressing. She knew that she and Lorena probably could have gone back to their foster parents’ place but they lived on the other side of the country and Valentina knew they had already done so much by taking the two of them in and then sending them to the school when she struggled to control her shifts so they had done more than enough. It wasn’t so bad being around her friends over the holidays but most of them lived in town with their families so it could get a little lonely and every time they had to disappear to go and do things with their families she was reminded even more of the fact that her parents were gone. They had died a long time ago and she always tried to be strong for her sister but it wasn’t always easy and now and then she needed to get away for a bit, just like she had that day. “That wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Valentina laughed as Rhys said that they would have to chase him out of the store. It was clear just how much it meant to him and she really hoped that he would stick with it. It seemed like a great place to escape and she knew that she was definitely going to end up spending time there more often. She hadn’t known the store was there until Rhys drew her in but now she knew she could already tell that it was going to be one of her go to places. “You’re doing a great job. You’re going to be seeing a lot more of me around here, that’s for sure,” she nodded. If she could then she knew that she would get some of her friends there as well, she could already think of a few who would love it and if there were going to be things like competitions going on then she knew that others would love it too. “Hey! What was that for?” Valentina laughed as Rhys elbowed her, rubbing her arm playfully as though he had hurt her. She really hadn’t meant to tell him as much as she had but she hadn’t been in the mood to lie about what she had been through either. When she first arrived at the school she had been able to tell the other students whatever she’d wanted to but the pack knew the truth and it had actually come as a relief to get it off her chest. It wasn’t something that she talked about too often and she knew that she probably should have told Rhys something else instead but once she’d made up her mind to tell him the truth it had started spilling out of her before she could stop it. There was more that she hadn’t told him but she had said more than she’d wanted to already. “Thanks, I appreciate it,” she said sincerely. “Honestly though, it hasn’t been all bad. I’ve had my sister through everything so it could have been worse,” she added with a shrug, knowing that she really would have been lost without Lorena by her side. Keeping one eye on her own health bar, Valentina kept up the relentless assault as much as she could. She had played the game so many times that she knew the moves in her sleep but Rhys was proving to be a better opponent than she’d had in a long time and he was definitely keeping her on her toes. As he asked how she was at sweeping up, Valentina felt a smile touch her lips. “Pretty good apparently, I’m wiping the floor with you right now,” she teased, her smile turning to a laugh as the winner was announced. “I thought you said you were good at that game?” she asked, nudging his arm playfully with her own as she set the controller down on her lap and sat back. “Looks like it. Let’s see how long I can stay up there,” she grinned. “I spent a lot of time playing games in arcades when I was younger so there are a few others as well.”RHYS MCEVOY
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen May 12, 2024 19:47:11 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Apr 3, 2024 20:00:52 GMT
What had made coming to the store so difficult for his dad had made the place a haven for him. Rhys glanced up now, searching out the spots where his mom’s handwriting was still scattered up on those boards. A lot of the records had been broken over the years, but where he’d found a part of her that was still here, he’d tried to preserve it like a national monument. ”Maybe you’ll be one of the ones doing the chasing then,” he said with a grin. He was sure his parents had imagined themselves here, old, grey, still talking people into the latest run of Batman or buying one of those classic Christmas story leg lamps they’d turned up at a yard sale. There was a chance he wouldn’t make it past his dad’s current age, but there was no point in cutting your future short in your head. It felt like his dad had done that for years and he’d seen the light in him almost flicker out before he’d finally started to come around. ”For apologising when you didn’t have to,” he told Valentina honestly. ”I meant it when I said I didn’t mind. My parents meant for this be a place where people could come when they needed support or a place to belong. I’m holding it to that, no matter what sort of support it is that’s needed.” His mom had probably helped dozens in town before things had been cut so brutally short. He couldn’t remember much about her funeral, but the soft voices of those who’d come had stuck with him, the tears that’d sparkled in his dad’s eyes as some happy memory was brought up. Rhys was sure he’d heard the stories a hundred times since, but every time he listened like it was the first time. One corner of his mouth lifted into a soft smile. ”Having someone there makes a world of difference. I don’t know what I would’ve done without my dad all this years, I imagine you feel the same way about your sister.” Mandy might’ve argued about how that felt, considering her brothers were the sort who hovered continually, but right now, he imagined all three of them needed one another to get through what had happened.
Later, he’d tell his dad about the girl who’d kicked his ass at video games over dinner, taking the tale home the same way he did so many others. His dad would laugh about him falling off of the high road he’d hopped up on to as he’d tried to distract her. She was grinning and laughing again, the mood that had temporarily slipped in like a dark cloud melting away with the ass whooping she was giving him. Rhys groaned, dipping his head as he tried to rally. In the end he dropped the controller next to himself. ”Funny,” he snarked, laughing all the same. He lifted his chin towards the score board for the game on the wall. ”That’s me in second up there. I guess I’m a little rusty, I’ll have to practice before you come in the next time.” Not that he imagined it would do him much good. She seemed just that bit faster with every move, even when he hadn’t been taking it easy on her. ”I guess they were a good distraction. You want to play another round, or switch out for something else?” Rhys gestured towards the rack of games next to the console. With business so slow it felt a little like one of those days where he could play almost non-stop until he had to close up.
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VALENTINA DELGADO
Werecreature
snow leopard
Posts: 36
Age:
19
Occupation:
Salvatore College Sophomore
Status:
Single
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Apr 29, 2024 19:24:50 GMT
|
Post by VALENTINA DELGADO on Apr 29, 2024 19:24:01 GMT
As Rhys said that she might end up being one of the ones chasing him out of the store, Valentina couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t tempt me. I’m not someone you want to cross,” she grinned. Even without being a werecreature she was a fighter and she more than knew how to hold her own. It was something that she had found liberating during the time she had spent in witness protection and afterwards training and learning how to defend herself had become a way of channelling her frustration into something productive. Now she knew about the store she could definitely see herself spending more time there and if Rhys needed someone to look out for him then Valentina knew that she could do that. She had her pack that she could count on and her twin sister was always there for her but she knew that she needed a few people outside the school that she could turn to as well and something told her that Rhys could become one of those so she was more than happy to return the favour. She knew that most shopping had gone online now but the truth was that Valentina had always liked going into a shop and seeing what they had or ordering something in if they didn’t have it. She knew that a lot of people her age probably didn’t share that mentality but it had always been an excuse for her to get out of the house when she’d needed it and that was something that she knew she wasn’t ready to let go of. Valentina looked over at Rhys as he spoke again and she nodded. “What can I say, I’m not used to opening up,” Valentina shrugged as he said that he had elbowed her when he didn’t have to. She honestly didn’t know why she had told him as much as she had done already, she had always been the kind of person who preferred to keep what she was going through to herself rather than offloading on someone else. Her sister was the exception to that rule because she knew that she could always talk to Lorena when she needed to but otherwise she was the kind of person who bottled things up. She knew that wasn’t particularly healthy especially considering it meant that she lost her temper more often than she should but it was the way she lived her life and she wasn’t sure that she was ever going to be ready. “I will keep that in mind though. I’ll still stop by so I can kick your ass at this though,” she added, an amused smile forming on her face as she nodded towards the screen. “I’m glad you had your dad there,” she admitted even though just saying those words was enough to make her heart ache. She hadn’t had her dad around for a long time and she still missed him now. “Oh I would have been lost without her, we helped each other through it all,” she explained. “She’s not just my sister, she’s my best friend.” Valentina knew that it never would have been any other way after everything they had been through together and she wouldn’t want it any different either. As Rhys said it was funny when she pointed out that he was the one who’d called himself a champion gamer, Valentina couldn’t help but laugh. “You shouldn’t have said it if you can’t back it up,” she teased. It had been a while since she had last played, too long in fact, but it really was like riding a bike as far as she was concerned. She knew that she could move her thumbs over the controller faster, being a werecreature had its advantages after all, but she was reigning it in to make it as fair as she could. She still knew that she wasn’t going to take it easy on him, though, and Rhys seemed to have realised it as well. Looking over at the score board, Valentina let out a low whistle. “That’s a pretty good score, you must be rusty,” she said, nudging his arm playfully with her own. “Maybe I should stick around and try and knock you off that spot,” she added, a grin forming on her face as she turned her attention back to Rhys. As he asked whether she wanted to play another round or go for something different, her expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll let you decide. Depends on whether you want your ass handed to you again or whether you want to try something else,” she teased. RHYS MCEVOY
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 42
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen May 12, 2024 19:47:11 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on May 12, 2024 19:45:02 GMT
As he’d hoped Valentina would, she ended up laughing at his comment. Rhys’s grin broadened, his hands coming up for a moment to ward off the threat. He’d already seen just how much of an ass kicking she could offer – even if it had only been on the screen for now. She didn’t seem to be afraid to go right ahead and do what she thought was right, even if it took the sort of guts most didn’t have. In that way she reminded him of the mom he’d mostly heard about through the stories he’d been told about her. If what had happened in Mandy’s brothers’ store was proof of anything it was that he’d certainly taken after his dad more than his mom in a lot of ways. He was happier to scramble away from the trouble his mind and this unexplained abilities dragged him into. Maybe it was cowardly, but he was happier here, hidden away from the world behind the large windows and the stacks of geeky stuff that filled the place.
Rhys met her eye, smiling softly. ”That makes two of us. Surprisingly, I’m not usually one for talking about myself.” The store, yes, his parents, always. What made him tick was harder to discuss, especially since the weird stuff had started. Mandy’s brothers had tried to get the truth about it out of him, but he still didn’t know the truth about it. The older one had accused him of being some sort of a warlock – as though Harry Potter was anything but a bedtime story – but from what he could tell, he wasn’t pulling off magic tricks. Maybe there were answers out there, for now though, he definitely preferred not to know them. ”The door’ll always be open,” Rhys promised as Valentina accepted his offer of the store being a place she could always come to. ”I’ll have to put some practice in before the next time.” As though he needed to spend more time here. He was already here more than he was at home. His gaze went back to the screen, the faint ache for how it would’ve been if his mom had lived pushing its way into his chest. ”I am too,” he said softly. ”I guess we both lucked out that way. Everybody deserves someone like that around.” Alone, neither him or his dad would’ve likely made it through the loss of the most important in the world to them.
”Woah, woah, woah,” Rhys said on a chuckle. His hands came up like he was warding off her words. Maybe he had overblown his skills a little. ”I didn’t know I’d found myself a ringer here. I can probably beat 99 percent of the people in this town.” And, of course, the girl he’d brought in off the street had been the one that he couldn’t. Next time he’d have to dial the ego down until he really had something to crow about. He plastered his hand against his chest before he let it drop away. ”My ego appreciates the compliment,” he snorted, nudging Valentina right back. ”You should. The afternoon’s still young after all.” He had a feeling there were still plenty of layers to Valentina to slowly pull back too. Rhys wiggled back on the couch, shaking his head at her. ”I pretty much picked the game last time. This is your choice. Maybe I’ll do better at a game I’m not bragging about before we even start it up. This is all on you pal.” He spread his hands in the air, opening up the floor to Valentina. If he didn’t sharpen up he was likely to lose whatever she came up with anyway.
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