Hidden Breath Beneath The Floor

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The Six Kingdom's most prestigious university and the de facto cultural capital of Anaxas.

The Stacks | Ghost Town | Muffey

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Lars
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:04 pm
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Race: Passive
: nil igitur mors est ad nos
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Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:37 pm

Laboratory Beta
Dentis 28, 2718 ✽ Evening
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For a brief moment, Lars was expecting her to pull away; to push his arms off as her brother had done in his last attempt at comfort. He had decided back then that comforting the upset was rather useless; he had never had an instance in which his attempts had been well-received or appreciated and most of the time, things only ended up worse. Like with Fionn - he'd just picked his hands off of him, stood up, and retreated back to his own bed.

He shouldn't have ever expected anything else. There were those in his life who had taken an interest in him, those who grew obsessed in continuous frustration, but none of them had ever treated him like a person. Bennett never took him seriously until the end; Clover took small interactions too seriously, and easily Lars had figured out that even those who wanted him in some form still didn't really want him. Not really.

Perhaps they just liked the idea and found the reality of his comforts and affections - hugs, gentle touches of the hand - underwhelming.

So when Niamh reciprocated the gesture, wrapping her arms around his slender, injured form, he could do little with the silence in his mind. It hadn't occurred to him that it might actually do well; that this girl might return the comforting embrace he had always been denied.

Why was it so important? Why was it something he lingered on so? It had always been that way and he should have accepted it as truth from the very start - why he even tried to hug this girl was a mystery in itself, but the greater one by far was why she didn't leave. It brought a discomfort to steely eyes, an almost tingling sensation that led him to blink rapidly for a few seconds in protest. Still it came; a redness painting the skin beneath his eyes and gliding up his high cheekbones, a liquid shimmer filling his faraway gaze that, for the moment, was oh so present. He swallowed the lump in his throat, ignoring remnants of blood-soaked pain and sputtering, his hold firm around the girl's shoulders.

"Um," was all the passive managed at first, voice coarse before he cleared his throat. Why was it that her words affected him? Professor Moore had said similar things, had made clear many times how distasteful he found the mistreatment and abuse of passives, had proven to Lars that he was truthful in his compassion... but this was different somehow; more personal. Whereas the professor had made clear his sympathy for all passives, his want for all passives to have equal treatment, his desire to help and assist all passives, Lars hadn't felt singled out in a word of it.

Why he wanted to be singled out was beyond his current mind, why the fact that the professor was representative of all of his kind disappointed him, but perhaps that was what finally let glimmering tears fall from the passive's eyes.

"No, um," he started again, voice cracking, "it - it's nothing to be sorry for," Lars was careful not to jostle the girl as he reached up to his face and wiped his tears, afterwards returning his arm to its position around her, "it's just th - the way things are, it's um,"

The servant took a deep breath, one of his hands absentmindedly moving to pet Niamh's hair, as if the strands were somehow curious to the Hessean and a good distraction from the situation, "why are you being so kind?" he inquired quietly, a genuine wonder in his voice. Gone was any hint of annoyance or frustration he might've felt for the girl, and replaced they were with confusion.

"Y-you don't even know me, I don't - I don't know why you're being s-so kind. It... it feels l-like some kind of joke."

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Maximus
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Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:21 am

Dentis 28, 2718 | Evening
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Niamh was a real crier. Well, in truth, she did many things to an extreme. Lars hadn't seen it, perhaps couldn't imagine it but the girl had a temper as fiery as her brother's. Oh not as violent as Fionn's, certainly, but she was more than ready to fly off the handle at the littlest thing, to scream and insult. She was the sort to get upset at the slightest thing but that one he'd definitely seen. Niamh was also a great lover, ready to gather up everyone in her arms and squeeze the life out of them. Right now, the only person she had to focus on was the blond passive before her and he was plenty for her right now, her empathy and concern seeming to expand so that she was almost drowning him in it, the young woman giving him her all. Maybe it was the sheer volume of genuine warmth and concern that she was exuding or maybe it was the reciprocated contact but he started to cry and the redhead's own misery and tears dropped off as she switched everything over to him, bouncing from one extreme to another.

"Hey, it's okay, don't cry, sweetheart," she cooed, leaning back so that she could see his face, her own bearing a worried frown as she scanned his features, hands moving to rub at his back, voice quietly soothing. "I'm so sorry! I've gone and gotten the handkerchief all wet so it's no use to you."

That she'd soaked the linen thoroughly seemed to bother her immensely and she was obviously more concerned about the lack for Lars than anything to do with her own person in that moment. It was why she was quite willing to pull the sleeve of her uniform down over her hand before reaching up to dab gently at the moisture, her smile an apologetic one because it was all that she could offer him. She still kept an arm around him, the student able to see that he needed it although there was something more than simple upset here; the passive appeared to be bewildered.

His question about kindness explained the puzzlement. He couldn't comprehend her kindness and frankly, she couldn't comprehend his question. Why wouldn't she be kind? He was a person with feelings, wasn't he? Was it that wrong or that strange to acknowledge that? Well, yes perhaps because other galdori wouldn't do it, wouldn't concern themselves with a passive. Hell, plenty of them didn't concern themselves with each other either. The eldest Madden was just a sensitive girl, attuned to others when she wasn't in the midst of losing her temper. After such anger, she was always sorry. She always regretted what she might have said or done because of the harm it caused. But she was sorry for Lars. It wasn't a simple pity because he was a passive but an understanding that the young man wasn't quite all right but how could he be? And she could truly empathise with him because they had things in common. She understood what it was like to deal with the cruelty of others.

But a joke?

Hazel eyes stared, wide as she tried to fathom his words, tried to work out how to explain her own actions. She blinked rapidly, giving her head a little shake as if to clear it. She brought both of her hands up to his shoulders and gave them a firm but gentle squeeze.

"Do you think you should only be kind to someone because you know them? Just because someone's a stranger doesn't mean you can't show them basic decency. I'm sorry that that's... something difficult for you to understand but it's not a joke, Lars. I don't know you but I know enough," she explained, biting her lip as she considered how to make him believe her. She had a funny feeling that he wasn't going to believe what she'd just said as if it was so incredible. From her perspective, it really wasn't something that beggared belief.

"You're a person so... of course I'm going to be kind. I don't find being cruel very funny," she murmured, reaching up a hand to smooth strands of his hair, neatening him up but also providing some small measure of comfort - she hoped. "You've every reason to be upset, you have feelings and you've obviously been through a lot and I know what it's like to have people be cruel so... if you want to talk about anything, well, I'm here to listen. But maybe not on the floor," Niamh added with a smile.

She gave him a final gentle pat before she carefully extricated herself, getting her feet under her so she could stand, unthinkingly brushing at her skirt.

"Now, I'm going to make some more tea. I'd recommend some nice sugary tea and maybe something sweet to eat, what do you think?"

Her smile was bright but it dimmed a little as a thought seemed to occur to her, brows pulling together. "Actually... how long have you been here? Have you eaten? Did Professor Moore just leave you here without anything? I certainly hope not! He means well but sometimes he's a bit... forgetful. He doesn't always see things through," she explained, feeling the treacherous creep of a blush, which only intensified the more that she thought about it and the fact that Lars would see it. There was no reason why he'd put it and talk of Moore together but she was suddenly very self-conscious as she busied herself with tea things.

She had to be busy in the hopes that it'd distract her.
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Lars
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:04 pm
Topics: 44
Race: Passive
: nil igitur mors est ad nos
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
Plot Notes: Plot Notes
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Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:48 pm

Laboratory Beta
Dentis 28, 2718 ✽ Evening
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It was only slightly jostling for the blonde when the younger pulled back a bit to observe him, inspect his teary eyes and the glimmering trails left behind on his cheeks. He sniffed, eyes falling from her face in favor of losing focus; feeling the delicate hand against his back but not truly registering the touch.

Then her hand was reaching towards his face, the fabric of her sleeve wiping away the tears that strayed, and Lars could only nod in response. Steely eyes closed, dark lashes wet with the salty moisture of tears, the passive attempting silently to reign in his emotions and his thoughts while the girl collected her own. It wasn't until he felt her hands slip over his shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze, that Lars opened his eyes again, focused for the moment on Niamh's face.

It was easy to listen, harder to understand.

He of course could understand what she meant, what she was trying to say - still it was nonsense, nonsense, he knew her words to be true but how? How were they?

How did someone exist that believed them?

It only served to worsen his condition, the passive biting the inside of his cheek in order to keep himself from disagreeing. She said it herself, she didn't know him - how did she know enough? How did she know that he deserved kindness just because he was a person? How did she know?

She didn't, that's how.

He felt her fingers smooth against his hair, fixing the mess of wavy blonde locks as much as possible at the moment, and the feeling wasn't unpleasant. It was a small comfort in contrast to the cold ground below, and Lars took a deep breath, steeling himself in the sight of the young woman. It did no good to weaken himself further, now did it? This girl was kind... she was understanding, so completely empathetic, but no. This would not serve him, not as it stood now.

It was impossible for the servant to return the woman's smile, but he appreciated the gesture, offering another little nod as she removed herself from his hold and moved to stand. He did the same, pushing himself from the floor and going to lean against the kindly professor's desk again, gaze following Niamh as she spoke of tea again.

"I - that would be nice, yes, alright," finally the passive relented, arms crossing lightly over his chest, careful not to put pressure on his injured ribs beneath.

As the student brought up the matter of Professor Moore again, Lars' expression shifted ever-so-slightly. She had mentioned him more than once since she'd arrived; had went immediately to look for his handkerchiefs rather than searching out anything of Professor Devlin's. Her tone lightened when she spoke of him, both to her brother and now to Lars - that was unfortunate. Very... unfortunate.

"Oh, no," began the passive, "it's alright. He was fine, I wasn't hungry," full lips curved subtly upwards, tears for the moment abandoned, "he mentioned you, I hadn't realized you were Fionn's sister. The professor told me not to be afraid of you if you showed up, that you were very kind and compassionate."

Fuck it all.

"He's right. I'm sorry for my rude words before, Niamh," reaching upwards, long fingers wiped away the remnants of tears on his skin, "you've been so kind."
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