Thalassa
Hands getting cold
The sound of approaching footsteps doesn't immediately rouse her, and Thal takes a moment to keep her hand pressed against her forehead, trying to push away the weak emotions before raising it. When she does, she blinks a few times to clear her vision in the reddish glow of lava so she might see Asta clearly. At first, she thinks it's the blurriness of her eyes that obscures the lower half of his face - her eyes having been closed for quite some time now - but then he very clearly raises his hands to remove the muzzle. Her blood runs cold for a moment, wondering if this would be his reality if Maea spreads his secret, if people would force him to be caged or muzzled to 'protect themselves.' Just the thought disgusts her, and Thal looks away as bile coats her tongue, swallowing back the fear she holds for him.
At his words, her face lifts in a self-deprecating sort of smile as she pulls her head back to rest against the stone. "Sorry. Per usual, I just couldn't leave it alone." She couldn't go on pretending to not know, pretending that everything hadn't shifted between her and Maea, pretending that she wasn't hurt or furious. And more than anything, she'd needed to know if she'd made a mistake - which was now achingly obvious.
Laughing through the bite of painful embarrassment, she shrugs her shoulders. "It was actually going better than expected, like she actually regretted things, like it was a genuine mistake, but then she kept talking..." Thal pulls her other knee close, settling both elbows on top as she remembers realizing why she sounded so remorseful and her face falls to something more somber and serious. She doesn't look at Asta, her eyes fixed on some point across the expanse of rock like it might as well be her. "Asta, she may say she's sorry, but Maea" her mouth sneers around the name, tasting bitter and necrotic, "will never change. She just wants to clean away the blemish on her consciousness." Unless he wants to hear all the repeated notions of her dislike for cannibalism, Thal won't make him suffer through Maea's misguided opinions all over again.
Her eyes find his, hoping he might understand why she'd struggled to salvage the relationship even if she couldn't fathom it. "Despite that, I thought perhaps we'd reached a point of mutual understand at one point - that you would be an off-limits topic, that we would just never see eye to eye on that even if we remained friends; but then she got up on her high horse again and said she should just avoid the entire race to keep from compromising her morals..." Ones she still can't understand. Ones that Maea is willing to push everything else away to protect. Ones that make her wonder if anyone can live up to.
Ashamed of how much the next part hurts, she gives him an empty smile, unable to help the glimmer of pain in her eyes. "And I'm very much a source of 'compromise.'" She flicks the igneous black of her horns like she'd seen Maea do, feeling the vibration run into her skull like a death knell on their friendship - or whatever they'd had. It silences her, the smile on her face melting away when remembering all the ways the pale Ancient seemed to misjudge her despite so much time spent together, and to so easily dismiss her when she'd tried to leave the door slightly ajar... Thal bites her cheek against the flood of emotions, wondering why she'd even bothered with it all.
At his words, her face lifts in a self-deprecating sort of smile as she pulls her head back to rest against the stone. "Sorry. Per usual, I just couldn't leave it alone." She couldn't go on pretending to not know, pretending that everything hadn't shifted between her and Maea, pretending that she wasn't hurt or furious. And more than anything, she'd needed to know if she'd made a mistake - which was now achingly obvious.
Laughing through the bite of painful embarrassment, she shrugs her shoulders. "It was actually going better than expected, like she actually regretted things, like it was a genuine mistake, but then she kept talking..." Thal pulls her other knee close, settling both elbows on top as she remembers realizing why she sounded so remorseful and her face falls to something more somber and serious. She doesn't look at Asta, her eyes fixed on some point across the expanse of rock like it might as well be her. "Asta, she may say she's sorry, but Maea" her mouth sneers around the name, tasting bitter and necrotic, "will never change. She just wants to clean away the blemish on her consciousness." Unless he wants to hear all the repeated notions of her dislike for cannibalism, Thal won't make him suffer through Maea's misguided opinions all over again.
Her eyes find his, hoping he might understand why she'd struggled to salvage the relationship even if she couldn't fathom it. "Despite that, I thought perhaps we'd reached a point of mutual understand at one point - that you would be an off-limits topic, that we would just never see eye to eye on that even if we remained friends; but then she got up on her high horse again and said she should just avoid the entire race to keep from compromising her morals..." Ones she still can't understand. Ones that Maea is willing to push everything else away to protect. Ones that make her wonder if anyone can live up to.
Ashamed of how much the next part hurts, she gives him an empty smile, unable to help the glimmer of pain in her eyes. "And I'm very much a source of 'compromise.'" She flicks the igneous black of her horns like she'd seen Maea do, feeling the vibration run into her skull like a death knell on their friendship - or whatever they'd had. It silences her, the smile on her face melting away when remembering all the ways the pale Ancient seemed to misjudge her despite so much time spent together, and to so easily dismiss her when she'd tried to leave the door slightly ajar... Thal bites her cheek against the flood of emotions, wondering why she'd even bothered with it all.
Losing feeling is getting old
Was I made from a broken mold?
Was I made from a broken mold?
