[Location: Osten, somewhere back behind Merlottes and the Magic Shop] [open]

[aesthetic_mojo]

After a few nights with no meaningful sleep to speak of, Charlotte had had enough. When she opened her eyes two dozen times to see if the man sleeping next to her was who he was supposed to be, she knew something had to change. She didn't watch him like a hawk while they were awake, but she did touch him periodically. Not with her body, but with

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[valaunbound]

Mitchell had arrived in Taxon a couple of days previously, and since then Vala hadn't really surfaced from the SGC to even see the light of day. As comforting as being in the mountain was, the presence of the Stargate was nothing more than an infuriating frustration, taunting her with its presence and refusal to lock on any of the chevrons. She needed to clear her head, and that need found her sauntering past the park that curiously enough was now emitting sparks.

That's not the kind of thing you leave uninvestigated, well Vala doesn't anyway. If she knew Charlotte was responsible, she probably wouldn't have approached armed, but who knew what was waiting just around that corner.

"Charlotte....?"

[aesthetic_mojo]

Although she'd been grateful Dean checked on her and young Sookie was sweet, Charlotte had been glad they ultimately left her to her own devices. She still hadn't done anything specific to ground the magical energy she'd raised. Without that, the sparks would continue to fly and she would still be a shaky mess. She couldn't go back to John like this. Hell, she probably couldn't safely cross the city this way.

When she heard Vala's voice, she groaned softly and hid her head against her arms. "Do you have any food?"

[valaunbound]

Vala's initial instincts told her someone else had done this to Charlotte, and although she was now crouching down next to her friend, she was acutely aware of and checking the surrounding area for evidence of the perpetrator.

At the not so oddly posed question though, given Charlotte's apparent weakened state, she did pull a chocolate bar from her jacket and placed it directly in Charlotte's hand.

"I hope you know I'd been saving that for later," she lightly jibed, offering a soft smile by way of questioning her.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte did not not grab the chocolate bar, rip open the package and have half of it in her mouth before answering Vala, but that was only because she was a woman of extraordinarily strong will. Instead she took it, neatly opened it and had one small square first. "You are an excellent friend and I will remember this." She took another square, making a small and happy noise as she chewed. "I will repay you with...something really good."

She closed her eyes for a moment, then shuddered as she felt the energy start to settle in her. It was a little like the pins and needles when a limb fell asleep. "I forgot to bring anything. Brought the stuff to make it all start, but not to stop it. I always forget that."

[valaunbound]

"I'll hold you to that," Vala said flippantly, in complete contrast to how she really felt. "I rarely forget a debt owed."

She wasn't an excellent friend at all, when was the last time she'd checked in with Charlotte? She just happened to be in the right place at the right time today.

"So this was you?" Vala quirked an eyebrow with interest, she had a vague idea about Charlotte's abilities, but she'd never actually seen her do anything.

[aesthetic_mojo]

If asked, Charlotte would have said that tone, the teasing and affection, was better than anything else. It showed a comfort level that meant they really were friends. Charlotte had precious few of those. She nodded slowly. "It was me. Just a little something I do." She looked a little sheepish. "You missed the really fancy stuff."

[valaunbound]

Still, she didn't object to being called an excellent friend, unwarranted or not. It was a compliment, and Vala could take one of them and make it last months. It was almost a double bluff situation with Vala, only she was bluffing herself into thinking she only ever did anything for the glory.

"I take it, this was all for a purpose. Unless you get some perverse masochistic pleasure from exhausting yourself to the point of near collapse just for a special effects extravaganza."

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte ate two more squares of chocolate before answering. There'd been a purpose, of course, but she had no idea if she'd actually accomplished anything. She had never felt so divorced from her skills. When she was younger she'd chosen to distance herself. This was different.

She sighed softly. "It was, is a protection spell. Something to keep from...from being switched around again."

[valaunbound]

"You really think that'll work?" A quiet sympathetic subtlety to her question, that Vala didn't often display. Vala just sprang back from whatever Taxon threw at her usually (eventually), but at moments like this she was forced to actually stop and think.

She placed a hand on Charlotte's shoulder gently, her skepticism for magic as a whole not convincing her that Charlotte's efforts would be worth it, but she just smiled at her friend. It wasn't her place to inject any cynicism.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte leaned shamelessly into the gentle touch, as grateful for it as she had been for the food. There was only the smallest sparks left after the chocolate, and those were only for show. She sighed weakly at the question. The answer she thought was right made her so damn sad. And scared. "I think it worked, as far as that goes." She shuddered. "I don't think it will keep this place from messing with me, though."

She put a hand over her eyes. "I can't do it again, Vala. I wake up next to the wrong guy again and I'm going to hurt him." If she could. She hadn't done well with the first one.

[valaunbound]

"I've spent a lifetime doing that. It never did me any harm." Vala offered with a smile, tentatively wrapping her other arm around Charlotte's back, in an awkward attempt at comforting her.

"Can't say the same for all those wrong guys though, but they survived at least," she added with a 'so sue me' shrug and a small smirk. It was just her way, make light of everything and it went away.

She wanted to add some pearl of wisdom, some way of helping Charlotte through this, but she was drawing a blank. Her time as Qetesh's host wasn't something she brought to mind very often, it was best buried, it never failed to pain her. But if it taught Vala anything, it taught her that "Even when someone else is controlling us, you have to hold on to who you are. Don't let them break you."

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte's hand went to her throat. The vampire's bites had long since healed away to nothing, but on really bad days she could still feel them. And when she did, she felt the gut wrenching ache between her legs, too. The wash of fear that came from them both made her shudder hard. "What if the next one--"

She couldn't say it. She hadn't said it out loud to anyone. Toby knew because he could read it. Ianto knew because he'd been there first. She hadn't every said the word 'rape' to anyone. "It has to work."

[valaunbound]

If Vala knew what she was referring to, she'd even say herself that she was the last person Charlotte should confide in. Vala, had from a very early age learned to use her sexuality as a weapon. What most would refer to as an 'abuse' situation, Vala had long ago interpreted as 'how she learned to manipulate men'.

"If the next one what...?" She knew something was wrong, and that Charlotte was frightened though.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte had learned the fine art of using her body and her face as a tool as well. Between her family and decades of being the only woman in the room, she knew just how to use it without anyone knowing she was using it. She understood it. It was a power she liked.

What she didn't like was having all her power stripped away in one movement by a man wearing the face of her lover. "The next time this place switches us, I will end up killing someone." She said it as an absolute certainty. If Eric hadn't gotten hurt as quickly as he had, she might have killed him.