Her answer was not so much a disappointment as a chastisement of his own hopes for her, and the bard bowed his head in mute apology for his misassumption. Her curious new wings certainly looked real enough, but when she beat them against the air and no breeze resulted he blinked in surprise, then offered a rueful, lopsided smile. "Well, they're quite beautiful. And if they make you feel better then they're a boon, no matter what else they can or can't do." Since Caido didn't have the same iconography of celestial and infernal beings as his world, they hopefully wouldn't cause any misconceptions or expectations that would weigh the lovelorn woman down farther than Sunjata already had.
He chuckled at the notion that their conversations were lopsided, and his own smile turned wry. "Oh, it's not that I don't have problems, but many of them need time and patience to overcome, and rushing only makes things worse. I'm not great at reaching out for help, either," he admitted ruefully. "And I know I have a tendency to keep such problems close." He tilted his head at her, pushing damp tresses back behind his ears as his smile faded a bit. "Though no small part of that is knowing that people seem to look to me as a source of stability. Showing weakness by admitting I need help... well. If it causes distress for those that depend on me, it's better for everyone if I keep things discrete unless I have no other option." He took a last, grim look at the mirrored sky in the now-still birdbaths and then turned back to Maea with a sharper smile, more fox than man at the mention of LongNight.
"I'll be here," he promised. "Rory won't leave the Hollowed Grounds, so neither will I. But it will be a relief to know you're somewhere safer for the week. The monsters have a taste for Ascended technology and magical items, we've learned. And they'll stop at nothing to get them."
He chuckled at the notion that their conversations were lopsided, and his own smile turned wry. "Oh, it's not that I don't have problems, but many of them need time and patience to overcome, and rushing only makes things worse. I'm not great at reaching out for help, either," he admitted ruefully. "And I know I have a tendency to keep such problems close." He tilted his head at her, pushing damp tresses back behind his ears as his smile faded a bit. "Though no small part of that is knowing that people seem to look to me as a source of stability. Showing weakness by admitting I need help... well. If it causes distress for those that depend on me, it's better for everyone if I keep things discrete unless I have no other option." He took a last, grim look at the mirrored sky in the now-still birdbaths and then turned back to Maea with a sharper smile, more fox than man at the mention of LongNight.
"I'll be here," he promised. "Rory won't leave the Hollowed Grounds, so neither will I. But it will be a relief to know you're somewhere safer for the week. The monsters have a taste for Ascended technology and magical items, we've learned. And they'll stop at nothing to get them."
