Maea
It's not a demon at your door
Picking up her pen to have something to fiddle with, Maea twirled it around her fingers, unaware of the ink stains freckling her clothes. "Thank you. I hope so too. And I hope you'll keep being interested in people – a lot of things are easier when you care enough to ask questions." Perhaps that was part of her problem? That she had stopped caring about people's reasons? A disturbing idea, given how her supposed overabundance of care was at the core of her struggles, but a plausible one. It lent credit to Thalassa's claims that she didn't care, explained why she could dismiss Asta as a monster, why she wasn't hounding Charlie for explanations to all the things she ruminated over. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she traced that lack of interest back in search of a source, and found... fear. Grief. Empty chairs where people had once been. People she had been interested in, people she had invested time, effort and emotion into... and for what? To lose them again, and be forced to start over.
Teetering on the threshold of a rather painful realization, Nova's curiosity gained only slow reactions from the overwhelmed scholar. "Well... they answered my prayers," she repeated slowly, dredging her mind out of the depths like it was weighed down by lead. "Understand, I was born abandoned, in the Hollowed Grounds. The Heralds were the only ones who ever responded to any of us, and I prayed for over twenty years before any bothered answering at all. To finally be seen, after all that time... I would have done anything for Ludo for that small kindness. And, it can't be denied, I had a certain leaning towards the dark and macabre as a child. I liked scary things. I liked the idea of ghosts and spirits and things I couldn't see being everywhere around me, just out of reach. And after my family were killed... Ludo became a source of comfort. Almost a substitute - someone I could always turn to when I felt lost, or lonely. They accepted me, it seemed - even attuned me, allowing me to be what you are now. A hybrid." A smile ghosted past her lips, fleeting and sad. It was a long time ago now, yet Maea still considered it the peak of her achievements. Everything that happened afterwards... had really only gone downhill from there.
Teetering on the threshold of a rather painful realization, Nova's curiosity gained only slow reactions from the overwhelmed scholar. "Well... they answered my prayers," she repeated slowly, dredging her mind out of the depths like it was weighed down by lead. "Understand, I was born abandoned, in the Hollowed Grounds. The Heralds were the only ones who ever responded to any of us, and I prayed for over twenty years before any bothered answering at all. To finally be seen, after all that time... I would have done anything for Ludo for that small kindness. And, it can't be denied, I had a certain leaning towards the dark and macabre as a child. I liked scary things. I liked the idea of ghosts and spirits and things I couldn't see being everywhere around me, just out of reach. And after my family were killed... Ludo became a source of comfort. Almost a substitute - someone I could always turn to when I felt lost, or lonely. They accepted me, it seemed - even attuned me, allowing me to be what you are now. A hybrid." A smile ghosted past her lips, fleeting and sad. It was a long time ago now, yet Maea still considered it the peak of her achievements. Everything that happened afterwards... had really only gone downhill from there.
It's just your shadow on the floor
