VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

Slowly, Vivilene started to zone out of the conversation again.

She was sad to see Azure go-- she quite liked her, she decided, but she didn't entirely grasp what The Adults were actually talking about. She waved, quietly, until the hybrid was out of sight.

And then the questioning began.

Never mind what mild anxiety her father might have been going through-- Vivilene was unaware of it. Attikias was the bravest person she knew and brave people don't put themselves into panic attacks just thinking about the possibilites that life might have to offer them, and speaking of which,

It wasn't twenty seconds before Vivilene had turned to her father again and bleated; which unfortunately was the only warning he got before fingertips of magicka touched his skull and Vivilene's gentle voice was in his head. "She said she didn't like being here," she said, airing out someone else's laundry. "Do you know why? She said people were bad to her. She said her family were bad to her and people didn't like her anymore. Do you like her?"

What should be noted is that over the last few days Vivilene had realised how rewarding it could be to get answers for asking about things she was curious about, rather than wondering about it for herself. Before this, she was quiet. As mutes usually are.

You'd almost mistake her for being a chatty child, if she weren't talking exclusively into Attikias's head. "Are all families bad? What makes them bad? Are we a bad family? Will something bad happen to us, and then everyone will hate us and we'll be sad and we won't want to go to nice places? Azure seems lonely but she doesn't want to stay here. Can we go visit her?"

@Attikias

Attikias watched the hybrid’s trailing feathers for as long as he could see- which wasn’t all that much, but the sentiment of making sure she was okay still hung over him. Vivilene certainly liked her, and he put his hands together as he turned to her when the familiar voice approached him from his mind.

When she explained why Azure was discomforted, Attikias turned back to the plants that have already returned to position from her departure. ”I like her,” he decided first, thumbs tapping against one another. He let her finish, though, the questions coming all at once in a myriad of thoughtlines. ”We aren’t a bad family,” he blurted out almost instantly as soon as that question came. ”We can visit her- but we aren’t bad. I think- Actually, wait- little lesson time?” That was his own warning as he squatted in front of her to come to her level.

”You don’t need to worry that you’re bad. We aren’t bad, either. Sometimes, people can be, but they’re bad for dumb reasons. Like, uh, sometimes people are just… Mean and nasty and they don’t realize how much they hurt people for doing that.” He wasn’t that mean, right? His tailtip flicked out that anxiety. ”If you’re like… If you’re worried about if you’re bad then usually you’re already fine. Bad people don’t think they’re bad.” That was a sound thought, right? He didn’t think he was bad, right? Like, was he bad for hunting? Was he bad for… Eating things that looked like Azizos’s father? Like her grandfather? Was it bad that he made a deal for a cursed knife?

Would it be bad if he killed someone?

He mentally cringed away from that thought, hands clasped together even stronger now. ”We can’t go back in time and change what happened, but the best thing we can do is comfort the hurt parts of ourselves and let it heal. She needs time to let herself heal, and if she doesn’t want to come here that’s okay of her.” He nodded gently with finality as if he were telling this to himself for the first time.

”We can visit her, definitely, if she wants us to. Or you can go by yourself, if you stay careful, okay?” He put a hand on her shoulder, bringing her close for a hug. ”I’m glad you’re okay, though. And don’t worry that you’re ever bad, okay? I won’t ever be bad to you,” he promised as he went to gently tap his head against her’s.

@Vivilene