// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //
She nodded with an understanding hum, watching the dark liquid swill in the glass as she twisted it between her palms. "It's hard to break free from old patterns," she acknowledged softly. "The flip side of being raised to put others first is that when you can't do anything to help them, you're not worth much. Even if I'm told to do things for myself... I don't know what that means. Or how to stop caring what anything I do will mean in the grand scheme of things. Seems like we're pretty much polar opposites, there." In the best of worlds, they would have a lot to learn from the other. Maea thought she might enjoy comparing notes with Danta if they were less emotionally fraught, and felt less like live or die, decide now kind of arguments.
Though when he thanked her for staying, she had to bend her head down. A tangle of salty white hair half obscured the complicated expression ghosting across her face; bittersweet and far too soft, grateful yet resigned at the same time.
"Mmnm.." she murmured quietly, shaking her head. "Thank you for wanting me around. It'd be far easier for you to just kick me out. But you're not." Somehow, for some incredulous reason she didn't entirely understand. But as she apparently didn't want to be anywhere else, Maea was not about to question it.
Falling into a contemplative silence, she lingered until the glass was empty. When she left the office it was to look for someplace to sleep. It would be a lie to say that she felt better after their talk, but at the very least she wouldn't be fleeing into the night. Still at an impasse, there would be many sleepless nights to come, weighing pros and cons and options and agonizing over the meaning of making friends with monsters... and the significance of being one herself.
[Fin]
Though when he thanked her for staying, she had to bend her head down. A tangle of salty white hair half obscured the complicated expression ghosting across her face; bittersweet and far too soft, grateful yet resigned at the same time.
"Mmnm.." she murmured quietly, shaking her head. "Thank you for wanting me around. It'd be far easier for you to just kick me out. But you're not." Somehow, for some incredulous reason she didn't entirely understand. But as she apparently didn't want to be anywhere else, Maea was not about to question it.
Falling into a contemplative silence, she lingered until the glass was empty. When she left the office it was to look for someplace to sleep. It would be a lie to say that she felt better after their talk, but at the very least she wouldn't be fleeing into the night. Still at an impasse, there would be many sleepless nights to come, weighing pros and cons and options and agonizing over the meaning of making friends with monsters... and the significance of being one herself.
[Fin]
Maea
// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //
