Time Warp: Give up Gravity to Feel (Mai)

[Valentia de la Torres]

Canon: 2009

---

Valentia spent much of her excess time at the Odarennyĭ Institute. She had students of her own now, and would rotate through training them when she wasn't on assignment. But for the time being, she had been back. And while the halls had a familiar sense of home to them, they also offered a distant nostalgia. Over a decade ago - when Valentia was younger - she wandered the place with another. Not often by choice, but she didn't always mind the company. She grew to accept it.

It had been years.

On her own, Valentia would admit to herself that there were times where she regretted turning her back without the security of a phone number.

But to Manya and those in the military, she was glad to be rid of that which seemed to hold her back.

Word passed through the halls like clockwork of another death within the faction of the Odarennyĭ Institute. In the faculty meeting, Valentia stares at a distant place. She's used to hearing of people passing. The words of the report fade in and out, like white noise. She fiddles with a pen in her hand and feels the energy rise as the story reaches the purposeful point; the point of knowing.

"...ally recovered, Erik Shalamar was pronounced dead aft..."

Manya looks to Valentia with a stern gaze as the pen ceases to exist in her hand - it burns with an electrical current and falls to ash.

The rest of the meeting dragged almost endlessly, but the end was signified and Valentia left her seat quickly while others chose to stay and converse over the recent, unfortunate casualty. Daring to pass the line of disrespect, Valentia went into the fallen's office. Because it had to be there. Sure enough, tacked to the board was the number in question. But it wasn't something to just... Converse on over the phone. It came with an awful feeling - one of much more than disrespect - but as she rifled through his papers and assorted files, she found letters. Recent ones that gave her the location in question.

Mumbai? Maiella picked the strangest place to reform, but Valentia wasn't one to openly judge on that. It wasn't important.

What was important was getting there. Despite how difficult it would seem, she dragged herself to the airport and flew there The cost didn't matter. Manya's disapproval barely mattered. If the situation were reversed, Maiella would do the same for her. She re-read the letters on the trip over, guilt wracking her system as she did so. Everything - where she was, what she was doing - it was all offered in printed for. And military contacts made the concept of tracking someone down a simple feat. They had their own power-based trackers stationed sporadically.

But her absolute exact location? It wasn't so easy. She had no choice in the end but to call her. Standing in the torn street, she brought the phone to her ear and shuffled her free hand into her pocket.

The signifying click had her breath in her throat, briefly.

"Maiella," She exhaled the simple greeting, "It's Valentia."

[Mai Adaire]

Maiella's journey of reformation after leaving Odarennyĭ Institute had been chronicled nicely in the container, letters from a few places: India, Java, Nepal, Indonesia, Sicily even at one point in time soon after her departure. It may have been far from surprising, given the woman’s lofty dreams of wandering the world. The late trainer’s habit of order made it easier to track; the letters were arranged by date.

The place Valentia had to find in this place of fast pacing and crowds was called Aum-Mum Center, which had been so cheerfully exhaustively explained in letters, a center for disadvantaged youths with budding abilities. And despite being one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India, also had a large amount of its population living in the slums and shantytowns. The lights and fervor of the modernized city could be seen at night in the distance, something that Mai had noted with a melancholy. Dreams and reality; the reality is where Valentia stood now. She certainly was in the right place, but there seemed to be no indication of where the center was among the many corrugated iron shacks with walls that were far from permanent. It was far from quiet, people would be dwelling around the slums hurrying about their day, and three children would run past Valentia and into one of the tight alleyways as she made the most important call.

“Meimei!” One of them would be shouting among dizzying vocals of the Hindi language.

The children that come to the center are so sweet! They really seem to like me and I'm impressed how quickly they learn. They call me Meimei-

The phone rang three times before a click and cheerful voice answers: “Hello~?”

No, the voice had not changed in years, still brimming with cheer that it could radiate through the phone if it was possible. Normally the woman would have picked up in two rings, there may have been a small hesitation at the number.

"Maiella. It's Valentia."

Silence and a sound of something falling to the ground. It would be brief, of course.

“Oh-ohmigod Velli!” The woman’s surprised voice was laced with warm familiarity, as if nothing had changed since the day she left, despite the obviously contradiction in what had happened and the terms they parted on.

“Hold on a moment okay?” There were small, curious voices in the background, Maiella’s apologetic and very broken Hindi to whomever company she happened to be in. Movement, a creak of a door and then she returned.

“Sorry about that! This is such a surprise to hear from you, sweetie! That number that came up gave me a bit of a scare, you know! What’s the occasion? Ah! Is everything okay?”

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia's surroundings were not unfamiliar. But she took little time to stop and really focus on the people in her midst. This - all of this - she'd seen before. She'd lived before, at a very young age. In a different place, the loneliness would still feel the same. She couldn't dwell on the thought for too long, for fear of where it might take her.

So she mentally shook it off. It was foolish to think of such trivial memories.

Maiella's tone of voice hadn't changed. Despite the things she'd been privy to, and the eventual undoing of their friendship, she still found a way to capture sunlight in her tone even through a disjointed device with difficult reception.

The silence on the other end was short lived. As she expected.

But surprise coloured her features nonetheless. Maiella really didn't sound like she'd changed, and nor had her warmth towards the Chilean-born soldier. It was as if nothing ever happened. And for some reason, that irked her. She reasoned that she'd rather have a frustrated Maiella than a happy one, given the news she'd come to bare.

"Maiella." She repeated, feeling her eyebrow twitch at the onslaught of words offered to her. Somehow this felt like a mistake. She should have let the Institute take care of her. "Mumbai. Really?" Valentia asked, adding a sliver of sarcasm to her tone. Like nothing happened.

Except it did. And that would never change. "It is not a peaceful place." She pointed out, trailing the broken down road to find solitude against a nearby building wall. The dust didn't bother her. "At least, not where I am standing."

[Mai Adaire]

"Maiella."

A tone from her friend that stopped her from firing more questions, this was time to listen. Oh but she so wanted to ask a million questions: how was Manya? What had she been up to all this time? Seriously, was everything okay? But Mai had to zip her lip a moment.

"Mumbai. Really?"

Mai must've pouted then, she always did when faced with Velli's sarcasm.

"It is not a peaceful place. At least, not where I am standing."

"Oh hush you, I wanted peace of my mind. That did not extend to the condition of wherever I would go. You know, Java was pretty peaceful, but the wind ended up taking me here. Honestly, you and your snarki-"

Part of her missed Java, at this point there was some civil unrest in parts of Mumbai, thankfully not close to this area-HOLDEVERYTHING. Her mind screeched to a stop all to re-examine exactly what Valentia had said.

Silence over the phone.
It's not a peaceful place.
Not at all!
Where she was standing.
STANDING?!

"OMIGODYOU'REHERE?!" Maiella shouted, completely forgetting in her surprising revelation that she was on the phone with her friend. Oh and there was a very distinct echo of her voice that came from behind the shanty block where Valentia happened to be. There was a fiddling sound,Mai must have nearly dropped the phone.

"Why are you-oh nevermind! Where are you? I'll come get you!"

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia all but held the phone from her ear. If she were honest, she might admit that while she found it annoying, part of her missed the rapid onslaught of explanations that often came from Maiella. But she was hardly an honest woman when it came to missing anything or anyone.

So she simple waited it out. As always.

When the pieces finally fell into place and Maiella picked up her cue, Valentia couldn't help the small breath of a chuckle that escaped her. This was almost intensified by the sounds she heard - at one point she could have sworn Maiella was fumbling to keep hold of the device they spoke through.

"Would I call you if I knew?" Valentia asked, folding her free arm to her chest. "Where are you?"

Such joy. She almost forgot why she came all this way.

[Mai Adaire]

Lips pursed certainly: Good point.

Why else would she call if she knew exactly where to go? Addresses here worked differently, especially when it came to the slums – it was hard to discern the many small, tightly packed shacks if one was not used to the area’s location. Mai spun around, a soft bell chimed attuned with her motion. Signs, where could she point out to Vel?

Ah! The woman wanted to slap her own cheek, of course! The building that served as the center was concrete with exception to the top floor, which was partially crumbling due to the lack of building materials. A green tarp covered the exposed holes, fluttering in the breeze. Hopefully her friend was close enough to see it, otherwise she was going to have to flip the entire slum town upside down to find her!

“Ah right! Do you see a three story concrete building with a green tarp near you at all? If you go towards that and find a building with a mural on the left side, that's the center. I'm right out front!”

Fingers crossed! A trio of young and quizzical voices were audible. Vel would hear the woman speaking her broken Hindi with a cheerfully maternal tone: “Dōsta kā daurā!”

Back to phone. “I know it’s a little dizzying around here, there's just so many buildings stacked atop one another! But you kinda adjust and find different points of orientation after a while. Oh, but enough about that! I'm so happy to hear your sardonic voice again!”

[Valentia de la Torres]

Raising her hand, Valentia blocked the excess sun from her eyes and glanced outward in different directions. She never used to have issue finding Maiella - her energy flow was enough of a signal for the woman to follow. But it was frustrating to realise she was just out of reach. Maybe a moment of aimless wandering would end up helping her. But the energy of this whole place felt unstable.

"Yes, I see it." She announced, glancing over it for a moment or so before she pushed off the wall and set off in its direction. With her attention drawn away, she almost missed the small altercation heard over the phone.

How to explain it once she got there? What were the right words for all this? She pursed her lips at the thought. It was different to the usual announcement. IT was someone important to her.

"I do not need to adjust." She pointed out. "I knew your proximity, I just-" She paused suddenly, her eyes flaring slightly at the small rush of a trio of children breeze past her. A small smile crossed her features briefly. They weren't what caught her attention. "I am closer than you think." Valentia replied finally, feeling the faint warmth of familiar energy. Even from this distance, it stood out as others weren't, as if flagged into her memory. "You know... You sound exactly the same too. Upbeat is a difficult tone to miss."

In truth, she did miss her. But she wouldn't accept it. The more steps she took, the closer she became.

[Mai Adaire]

“Pssh, why wouldn’t I sound the same? I’m still my same, silly self even trampling around the world like I have!”

Maiella would be hard to miss in the grays and browns of the slums. All it took was following the green tarp fluttering in the wind, the painted mural of bright colors and images of hope scrawled along the side. That was where she stood now waiting, a hands clutched to a phone in her ear. A small ring of a bell was a signal to her presence and a glimmer in the sunlight that could not help but to shine through this part of the slum just to reach her.

The brunette dressed the part well, having dove into the customs of the world she had hidden in thus far. The tunic she wore was a bright blue with touches of gold patterns, only partially hidden by a scarf around her neck that and paired with trousers that more reflected the grays and browns that pervades the slums. Her hair was tied back in a long braid with a small bell tied to the end, probably by the children nearby her. They’d see Valentia first, a stranger in their world, before a young girl tugged on Mai’s scarf.

“Seriously, I mean it Vel. I can come get you if you get los-eh?”

A glance down at the young girl tugging at her before looking up in Valentia’s direction. A part of that sunniness had set the day she had to leave the Academy, having to be released of so many dearly held ties – the brunette had been certain it was going to be much harder to keep a smile with so much falling away behind her.

And yet at that moment, she’d smile, just the same as always. “Velli~!”With that sing-sing cadence of those early days and easily breaking into that same run to engulf the girl in a hug.

“My god lookit you~You got all gorgeous and taller than I remembered. Or did I get shorter? Oh whatever, it’s so good to see you! It's been so long already! I really thought..." Finally a slow reign of that massive energy of happy and she lets Valentia go from the superhug.

"That...ahaha, you know?" Oh, Maiella still smiled and scratched her cheek, but it was the words she didn't want to say aloud. Maybe she wanted to enjoy the moment of finally being able to see a friendly, familiar face again.

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia wanted to question what she'd said; to ask why she bothered leaving if she had no intention of changing. Hadn't she wanted to figure something out? to be something different? To find a purpose?

Maiella's energy was always likened to that of a child. Given that she'd almost known the other woman for fifteen years, it was hard to miss once the eccentric pattern had graced her senses. No longer did she need to follow the simple directions of; look for that colour! She trusted her ability more than she trusted her own eyes at the best of times.

"I am not los-"

She hung up the phone as soon as she saw her, sliding it into her pocket and noticing the offered differences with ease. She wasn't surprised, and she assumed Maiella would not be surprised to note how little Valentia had changed. She was everything she had been, and everything those around her had wanted to be. Valentia allowed herself to be engulfed in the hug, freezing for a simple moment or two before embracing her back. The simplest flicker that she may have missed her to some capacity.

"It is good to see you." She offered, glad that lying was a very substantial forte of hers.

But as she withdrew from the embrace, her folded her arms before her chest and glanced at the other woman curiously; "That what?"

[Mai Adaire]

Maiella was outwardly the same, but who could say what was going underneath the blues and bright smiles. The woman looked uncomfortable for just a blink – if it wasn’t happy and sunshine then it was nothing to bother dwelling on. But Velli DID ask! “We…didn’t leave on the best of terms.” She’d wave her hands in a mess of direction, yes she meant it was messy.

“So I really was surprised you actually came around this part of the world, see? Not that I'm not happy to see you! Just-oop, time to get out of the street!”

Whatever she had seen sent the brunette immediately on alert; Odarennyĭ habits were hard to shake. Time for the usual arm grab of pullings, follow her! Preferably into the center. The three children had been studying Valentia immediately filed into the building as soon as they saw Maiella’s movement.

The center was a dingy place, but attempts at cleanliness was at least visible to the naked eye. There were beds and seats made of different pillows and blankets stitched together. Much was out in the open as there were no actual cabinets. There were at least rooms, but with very little decoration. Most of the walls became perfect canvases for the children’s art scribbles. The room they all gathered in now had only plastic furniture, bins taped together to form a table and a bookcase filled with raggedy books in Hindi.

“Best to get out of the street at this time, there have been people snooping around lately. Honestly, I don’t know what they expect to find around here." She waves her hand off, it was nothing to be concerned about anyhow.

"Anyways Velli, have a seat! Did you want anything to snack on?”

Maiella chirped cheerfully, fluttering to the kitchen. One of the boys was concentrating on sand in his hand, creating pikes and shapes with just a stare. The second boy and the girl had taken to sitting at the table, allowing Valentia to have a chair.

[Valentia de la Torres]

"We did not." Valentia confirmed the statement with a simple stint of words. It was true, and she wouldn't deny it. She also wouldn't admit that it was her fault. She still didn't believe it, and the thought still infuriated her on some level. But it simmered underneath the surface, covered by a wave of nostalgia.

Valentia went to open her mouth, to reveal the importance of her visit but she was physically dragged away from her spot. It was probably better that way. But the thought of speaking in private hadn't crossed her mind as it should have. She didn't know anyone here; what would it have mattered?

"There is always something to find." Valentia uttered quietly, under her breath. And yet she knew she'd be heard.

She sat down as requested, clasping her hands together and wringing her fingers together. Nervous energy was not a forte of hers, and the techniques to calm herself were fleeting. "No, I am fine." She said, releasing her hands to offer a small wave. "I wondered if I could speak to you." Her voice lingered for a moment, and she turned her dark eyes away; "Privately."

[Mai Adaire]

Maiella rolled her eyes in humor at her friend’s comment, recalling a shade of her terrifying trainer in her words. Speaking of, that was something she wanted to know! It had been a little under a month since she wrote to Erik last and yet there hasn’t been a response. Maiella returned from the kitchen area with small snacks for the children, speaking cheerfully to them in her broken Hindi – certainly something about practicing their abilities. One of the boys nodded at her and began to turn entirely translucent while the girl levitated a pair of dice.

Finally having the moment to spare, Maiella studied her friend. The way she wrung her hands…she knew that movement and only the very few reasons where it would happen. And one of the usual causes was not present. The brunette offered a gentle smile and patted Valentia on the shoulder.

“Sure! Come along~”

And naturally a drag away from the living area into one of the unoccupied rooms left in the house. Thankfully it was the only room with an actual door, the cheerful one would even shut the door with a small wave of her hand. Maiella turned to her friend, trying to dial down the expectant and quizzical gaze in her eyes. It wasn’t working; she was always the one to want to know everything and anything!

“Everything okay Velli? You’re all wringly…” Her blue eyes lit up suddenly! Reasons! What reasons would she be here for?

“Omigod! Did you finally confess your feelings-” GASP! The girl grasped her friend’s shoulders. “Waitaminute, did Manya say it was okay for you to visit? Odd, I always thought she hated my guts.”

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia stood up, placing her hands back in her pockets to be rid of the telltale sign that something was amiss with her. She followed along through the rooms, turning to look at Maiella briefly as she closed the door behind them.

"I know." She admitted, rarely willing to admit to such a thing. Though, it was a fact. It calmed the senses and energy constructs she was usually so accustomed too. Most just assumed she did it because she was in a foreign place. But most didn't know she was always living in a foreign place - not a single mark of land signified home.

She raised her eyebrow when Maiella spoke again, allowing her thought to drop away. Her hands in her pockets balled into fists. Because wow, she could stand to hit Maiella at times.

"Shut up and listen to me." Valentia breathed, taking a step back and freeing herself from her former friend's hands. "This is important. You and I have no time for petty squabbles or games."

Pausing, Valentia allowed a single hand to leave the safety of her jacket. She ran her fingers over her mouth and down across the line of her jaw. She'd never been good with expressing bad news. It was never really her job. The more empathetic families cried at her for being so cold. She recalled the encounters where she'd been beaten on the chest by disheveled lovers having lost the light of their life.

And she wouldn't hug them. She never would reach out. Contact was a severe breach of protocol.

"Erik's gone, Maiella." Valentia faced her, her dark eyes as blank and distant as they ever were. "He died."

[Mai Adaire]

"Shut up and listen to me."

All notion of talking ceased. Sometimes that’s really all it had to take; Maiella misjudges when her capacity to talk was far too much for one to handle, especially if there was something needing to be said behind closed doors. The cheerful brunette watched her friend as quietly as she could manage; what had been the whole reason to bring her all the way here?

"Erik's gone, Maiella."

The words didn’t fall into place right then, none of those words made sense, but the world around her was slowly coming to a stop. It might as well have, the slums of Mumbai was simply just a painted backdrop now. The only things that felt grounded here were herself and Valentia. The sensation that clutched at her now, that familiar erratic coldness that gripped her the day she received the letter from the Adaire estate, the day of the suggestion, the day she parted with Odarennyĭ –

"He died."

All Maiella could manage was a brief shake of her head, the bell at the end of her braid sings with a muted little ting.

“No. That’s…no, Velli, that’s not...”

Possible was what she wanted to say with every ounce of confidence. She’d look to her friend’s eyes for something, any indication to support her thoughts. Wasn’t it impossible? One look to Velli’s distant gaze gave her no such solace.

But it had to be impossible! Erik was that kind of person, the strongest she knew, and the one figure in her life that had managed to remain a constant anchor. He commanded structure and order, he demanded the best out of her and applauded her when she met those expectations. So many people respected him, respected his body of work - he was indestructible. Nothing but an army could take him down, she knew that from the bottom of her heart, but he also had a kind heart beneath the layers of discipline and rigidity. Maiella loved him for it. She absolutely loved him.

It didn't make sense to her…that he was gone.

“That’s just…impossible.”

Maiella stepped away twice to press her back to the wall. Something stable, something stable to keep her up. There were still questions, but she fought to stop those futile words from sinking in, from becoming integrated with reality. She had just sent him a letter a few weeks back and that would explain the delay in his usually prompt responses. The last letter she had, her mind scanning ghosts of mentions of Bosnia, that it was nothing to worry about.

But that no longer mattered.
Because he was no longer here.
The one person that had made the painful transition into civilian life bearable, that had made dark points of her life bearable was no longer present in this world.

Maiella looked up at Valentia, having realized in the numbing shock of the news, she had sunk to the floor and drew her knees up to her chest.

"They were not going to tell me." She stated her voice, a cold hard truth. That's why Velli was here, right? She bowed her head; she wasn't next of kin, and in her mind, not of any importance to the academy, so there would have been no reason to reach out to her. How painful...but at least there had been someone with enough kindness to inform her of her mentor's passing.

Mai wanted speak of her gratefulness to Valentia to have pushed herself to do this, but fighting back against the sorrow obscured her thanks. She could not cry, not in front of her junior, never wanting to show that she was anything but living sunshine.

The only person who had seen the weakest of her, seen the many tears she shed was now gone.

"You...you should head back Velli. M-Manya might get...upset otherwise, right?"

Maiella said, though she wanted to take it back the moment she said it. She knew her friend's discomfort with this sort of thing, why not give her the option to leave while she still could? It was understandable. The brunette was trying to smile, trying to remain sunny but the pain of loss, the shiver of her shoulders was hard to hide any longer. Her hand moved quick, whipping the scarf around her face but it was not enough to hide Maiella's breakdown into sobbing tears.

The world could fall apart now for all she cared, for her wonderful, indestructible mentor was dead.

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia remained stagnant in the room. She didn't break to argue or dispel anything that was said. Maiella would find the truth in her own time. And she'd never been one for comforting others, anyway. Maiella wouldn't expect her to. She stared back at her, dark eyes offering a steely expression. Distant and vague.

She was there, in that moment. But she was not.

Ignoring the insistent urge to wring her hands again, Valentia mapped the flicker in energy as things slowly fell into place. Simply, she looked to the floor. No, they weren't going to tell her. And now didn't seem to be the time to argue that they had no obligation to a deserter.

Her eyebrows raised at the mention of her former trainer, Manya - an individual who believed the aforementioned statement that Maiella deserved no knowledge. Valentia had taken leave was to make this trip. She had the time. For the first time in her military career, she'd taken the time as opposed to having it forced onto her. But that fact didn't seem worth mentioning anymore. If ever.

And now she was crying.

Valentia's eyes tracked the door instead. "If that is what you wish." She said, opting to believe the lie despite it's obvious deceitful intentions. "I simply thought you should know. In person. This news is... Better delivered in person."