Valentine spent a night out with Vince for the first time in a long while. Probably not as long as it'd felt, but with school and life, time had been dragging out to the point of insanity. They'd talked, and gossiped, like the best girlfriends they were. Despite their handholding and Val's nearly blurting out an 'I love you' and a 'I wish we could be together' at an inappropriate moment, it'd filled her with the fuzziest feeling of friendship. That was helpful, to go along with the being really fucking drained. Emotions were such messy, frustrating, confusing things. She'd cried on Vin, after chattering brightly about terrible romantic and sexual partners she could pursue.
She'd told Vin how Jack still slept with his abusive, literal devil of an ex, still talked about him, still drew him. How she didn't understand, didn't know what to do. That it'd only be fair to go fuck Baltimore too, just to be a little more in the loop, getting firmer on it as she went, tears drying at the corners of her eyes foreign confusing emotions swimming in her chest and making her sick.
Then, when she and Vin had to part, after a lovely dinner at Russo's and stroll through the city, Val chose to go home to Jack's apartment rather than the mansion. She had a key, now, and dropped by occasionally. It was late, and she made sure to be quiet, very quiet and careful until getting to Jack's room and passing out there. The room was empty, but his bed always felt warmer.
He was there when she woke up again in the morning. She took one look at his idiot teddybear face and lost every bit of nerve she'd built up. She did like him way too damn much. Jesus. She knew. Love was such a scary, exciting thing. Made you loopy, made you better. So Val kissed Jack all over and adjusted her plans.
***
Crowther Mansion, early July, Valentine threw a party. She dolled herself up, dress perfect, lips appearing wine kissed. She'd done this a few times now, playing the game carefully, establishing herself as magical heir and her plans for it with diligence. She attracted a decently older crowd for these more intimate little get togethers, often the youngest in attendance and an interesting host. When focusing on talk of magic, passion, old family traditions, and her drive and respect of it all, she could easily speak and interact with her guests. They were mainly dark leaning families, those neutral but looking to ally themselves with what breathed power, and curious or benefitting outsiders.
The scenery and surroundings here were all very magical. It was evening, and glowing, floating lanterns drifted over the Crowther Gardens, where the party was being held. Guests practiced magic and whispered to each other in intrigued, bright tones, and all the food and drink being served was of the more odd delicacy variety-- with Val sipping a bubbling, sparkling beverage that tasted of liquid gold, and having eaten quite a lot of quirky finger foods.
This time around, she'd extended an invitation to Gabriel Baltimore. There were no complaints from the other VIPs, as they'd either had positive dealings with the man, or were too afraid to show discomfort. This worked just fine for Val. Now. Even though she was absolutely not going to be sleeping with Baltimore, under any circumstances, meeting him was still all around useful to her. In her own goals, and in making sense of Jack's situation more vividly.
Val greeted and made conversation with all the guests, though kept a special eye out for Baltimore. Death and the Devil made for a rather amusing pair, in her opinion, and she was very curious as to how this would turn out. She'd been curious for months, though wouldn't allow it to corrupt her choices. She still had to hold her own, or else be eaten alive, and a proper Grim Reaper could hardly stand for that.
