And The Waltz Goes On - A "Dark Pictures Anthology" Fanfiction

And the waltz goes on

And The Waltz Goes On

What gives meaning to life gives meaning to death (Cit. Antoine de St. Exupéry)

There is no life without death and there could be no Curator without her who replenished both his repository and a fairly important part of his thoughts.

Whereas the Curator was the guardian of any story ever written, Livvy Valadi was the guardian of any event that had yet to be told; just like him, she didn't remember for how long she had been fulfilling her task or if someone else had been fulfilling it before she had. She only knew that she travelled almost more than he did in order to obtain fresh material for him and to what extent it kept her busy: she was a tireless explorer, an adventurer, even an archeologist or anthropologist time granting. However, in between her trips she always found an opportunity to pay a visit to her colleague.

Today the Curator was actually expecting her. Only to himself he would admit that he was impatient: no point in confessing it to Livvy who would figure it out for herself. He'd swear that a long time had passed since they had met last, although an exact estimate was impossible considering the relativity of the days or even years that elapsed inside the repository.

When he heard her vigorous footsteps coming down the corridor, his eyes turned to the door.

-There she is- he whispered to his precious volumes while putting some of them in better order on their shelves. He was uncertain of how to decipher the tone of his own voice: did it hide a note of fidgeting? Of anxiety? In the dusty grey cocooned atmosphere of his repository Livvy represented a blast of fresh air and a spot of bright colour. On the other hand it took time to adjust to her explosive energy.

When neither the rich carpets nor the notes of Mozart's Requiem could muffle the sounds of her steps any longer, the Curator knew she was right behind the double doors. They were opened wide, clashing against the coat rack and a wall.

-Curator!- Livvy's voice rang out through the hall -You old dude! Come here and hug me! It's been a lifetime since we last met! Well now, of all people is it me saying this?! Hahaha!-

And here she was in all her exquisite eternally blooming beauty: skin coloured golden brown by the sun, fleshy lips and pinky cheeks, thick wheat-blond hair usually tied into a long dishevelled braid, an athletic body whose outstanding features were the large hips and abundant bosom. A portrait of fertility and perfect health.

She stayed on the threshold for just a few seconds before starting to move frantically around the room.

-I saw what happened in Little Hope and I've come to celebrate! First of all more important issues though! I mean, what's all this wimpiness? Open those windows, some oxygen will be good for you!-

After unlocking the hooks on the windows, she dropped her bulky backpack in the cold fireplace. As she was forever on her way her personal belongings were only a few, but the backpack, a tent and a laptop of mysterious capacity represented her must-haves.

Livvy now placed the latter on the mahogany desk. Although her movements were all but dainty, this particular piece of technology didn't seem to suffer from it no matter how often it was being pushed around.

-I've brought you the incipit of five, nay, six! Magnificent new stories!- she anticipated with fervour, then shrugged -Not among the best we've ever run into, but first-rate anyway-

The Curator who had continued to rearrange the leather-bound volumes turned his head when all of a sudden the music coming from the recordplayer was interrupted. He noticed that the girl who quite frequently went to concerts and discos was changing his LP with one she obviously wanted him to listen to. The live performance of "High hopes" by Panic! At the Disco started to reverberate in the room.