As it turns out, the psychological trauma was stronger than Ale had expected. As it turns out, she was indeed silently crying at the re idea that soone would want to help her and not only help Alexa. No one else had ever said or thought sothing to that effect.
After embarrassingly crying again, Ale took a few minutes to recenter herself. All the while, Miriam Eversoul rely stood around, patting Ale's back while giving her an... honestly, too comfortable hug, embarrassingly comfortable hug.
Was Ale this weak emotionally? She was not sure what to think about that, that would ruin her reputation. Alexa was the one who should be like this, act cute, and whatnot. Ale was the mature one, she was the one that needed to fix and deal with the darker sides of humanity, she didn't have ti for this...
Or well, perhaps she needed to really deal with this at a later date? That was an option; she would check on her own feelings whenever she got around to asking Alexanders to give her the address or permission to visit Alexandra's... body.
Yet, that was not now.
"Are you okay now?" Miriam Eversoul's voice ca as Ale opened her eyes and wiped the last dregs of tears from her face.
"Yes," And so Ale answered after taking a deep breath of air, raising her hands she pushed at Miriam Eversoul's arms and made so distance between them.
The woman smiled at Ale's antics, making Ale feel even more self-conscious about it. Was it because she was now the target of care?
Either way, Ale decided to discard the train of thought that was blooming within her for later perusal, she had too much things to deal with at the mont as it was.
"Thank you for that," Ale said, bowing slightly to Miriam Eversoul, "And sorry about the shaful show."
"No," Miriam Eversoul raised a finger and said as much.
"No?" Ale asked confused, was this woman refusing her apology? Why?
"Nothing shaful about crying when you are sad," Miriam Eversoul stated, "You have no idea how much I hate that whole 'Gotta be mature' and 'Be aware of where you are in the totem pole'."
Ale... saw no problem with those statents though?
"You are a child, a precocious child as far as I have seen, but a child still." Miriam Eversoul continued on, "Really, your only worries should be what to spend your afternoon playing, reading or eating. And here you are dealing with all these complicated matters. Correct if I am wrong. But your current plan of action is finding a way to get yourself and Alexa back to your apartnt, is it not?"
It was indeed that, but who could bla Ale for that?
"Alexa is probably thinking the sa too you know..." Alexa was most certainly not thinking about that.
"That makes it even worse," Miriam Eversoul said at once, "Neither you or Alexa should even be worrying about that. You are children, so be children."
"... So then..." Ale wasn't sure how she should even process this, what was she supposed to say at these tis? "You want to help us because..."
"It is the right thing to do," Miriam Eversoul finished for Ale, "Lena... I an, Eleanore tried to help you too didn't she?"
"... If she did, then she did a crap job at doing it." Ale answered before thinking, she had forgotten that these won were friends, grimacing at the thought, "I am aware that she probably ant well, but her ddling only caused more issues than solutions. Also, I am not one to point this out, but her over-reliance on her [Core Power] may be the cause of why she screwed herself and us that hard."
Miriam Eversoul nodded as Ale spoke, she had half expected the older woman to rise to defend [Eleanore], so it was a surprise that she had heard her this calmly and not say anything about her points.
"Fair points," Miriam Eversoul said, nodding, "I'll ask her later about these things. I had already planned to check on her later. But I can ask about this in a more private setting, when she is more rested and more stable from a psychological point of view."
... That was... actually a mature answer... Funny, Ale had forgotten that people could be responsible adults.
"Why are you different from the rest?" Ale couldn't help but ask, "I an, most of the people that we have t are... different."
"Different how?" Miriam Eversoul quickly asked, "Do you an to say that most of the adults around you ask you and Alexa to do things you don't want?"
Ale was surprised yet again, "What? No...?" And answered half confused, "I an that, even Vivian Kellet noticed it, how people seed to quickly jump to conclusions. And yet, here you are making the correct questions and not being influenced by our status or the answer we give."
Like how Ale had expected people to actually move and react, "Is it because this place is devoid of mana?" Ale didn't know what else to think was the reason.
"Of course not," Miriam Eversoul said shaking her head, "The first ti I interacted with you and Alexa we were in a mana-rich environnt, or well, not rich but there was Mana there."
Right... Now it was Ale the one who let herself be influenced by her own preconditioning about how people reacted around her, which was hilarious... if not for the fact that she had made herself look stupid.
"But it was a good idea," Miriam Eversoul nodded and patted Ale's head, it was comfortable, "Always think about why things are the way they are, but we need more information about that. Perhaps we can go to check on with Aunty Viv and see what she thinks?"
"I already have her opinion on that." Ale answered before Miriam Eversoul could continue planning whatever she had thought about; Ale would assu that she wanted her to have an amicable relationship with the blue-haired woman. "It's part of the reason why I asked you why you are doing so much for us."
"... Whatever she said to you, she ans well too." Miriam Eversoul said sighing, "Both my friends are a little blunt, but they are good people, they want the best for you too, even if it doesn't look like that."
That was sothing that Ale would take under advisent.
"So, any other questions you want to ask ?" Miriam Eversoul smiled at her, it was a warm smile.
Did Ale have questions? Yes, many questions.
Thinking about it, seriously thinking about it, Ale could see from where the question stemd from. Insecurity, fear, pain, grief... guilt.
But were these things she could ask? Should she? Ale knew not, she dearly wished there was soone else she could confide, but then again, there was soone like that right?
There was a woman in front of her who dearly wished for Ale to confide in her, but could she? Could Ale actually allow herself to do so? Ale was not sure.
"... Will you be okay?" So Ale decided to ask the second thing she could, the second thing she could allow herself to ask. "... If... And I am saying this is a very big if. If I decide to stay with you... a couple of days... Till Alexa settles down and we have ti to process where we are and what to do."
Of course, Ale didn't think Alexa would need that much ti to process, not really. Was Alexa sad? Of course she was, but... She had noticed it, as soon as Sapphire said that she was a victim as much as Ale was. As soon as she noticed how she had reacted at the ntion of Alexa.
She had looked at it, Alexa's sadness... and Ale's sadness were not the sa type.
Perhaps it was because their own emotional developnt, as Ale's own emotional developnt was at different stage from Alexa's own. Ale decided to believe that was the case, the alternative was...
It would an that Ale was fundantally different from Alexa, nay. It would an that Alexa was fundantally different from everyone around her, and that would include Ale.
"Of course I will be okay with you both living with ." Miriam Eversoul answered with a smile that seed to want to infect everyone around her, "I even managed to get a promise out of the blonde asshole to spend ti with you both, that was harder than usual since the bastard didn't seem keen on doing that."
...Why?
"Why would you do that?" Ale asked confused, "Don't you both hate him? I got that impression anyway."
Ale had noticed that, like most, Miriam Eversoul and Vivian Kellet seed to hold so hostility towards Alexanders. Well, now that she had spoken more to Vivian Kellet, the more likely reason was that Miriam Eversoul hated him, and in turn, Vivian Kellet did too.
"My personal belief and grievances with the blond... With Alexanders are not yours to bear," Miriam Eversoul sighed in defeat after saying that, "I do think he shouldn't be allowed as much power and freedom as he has. But he is still your family... I will convince him to get a DNA test to prove it, and then we can move forward from there."
... Why did that matter?
"Even like that, he is your family." Miriam Eversoul elaborated, probably because Ale's face showed confusion, "And while so families don't treat each other as such, you should still try to connect with yours, or you will regret it later in life."
...Assuming she had a later in life... Too dark?
Ale couldn't help but mock herself, she would save that joke for whenever she started streaming again... Actually she probably would need to ask about that.
"So, if... And this is a big if again, we go to live with you... What about our belongings?" Ale didn't have that many things to her na, neither did Alexa... But she still wanted to get her things, mostly so she could save Alexandra's stuff. Perhaps take a few things as ntos.
She would need to check what was the usual way to deal with the deceased family mbers, neither Alexandra nor Ale had ever spoken about that, which was weird if one took into consideration their own workplace environnt.
It was not the safest work type out there after all. But then again, their own take into mortality was not the sa as other people so that was that.
"I can ask Eleanore to send your stuff here, I assu you lived in one of their apartnt buildings?" Miriam Eversoul said pulling a phone and texting sothing there, "Can I take it that you are accepting?"
Ale grimaced at that, was she really doing this? Against her better instincts, she was indeed doing it.
"... Yes." Ale sighed as she answered as such, Alexa... would probably accept it either way. Besides this would an that she wouldn't need to bother [Big Sister] or [Golem] with nanny duty. "Yes we will live with you for a certain period of ti."
Miriam Eversoul's face blood into a smile and the woman moved forward to hug Ale. That was still a surprise to her, but she nevertheless followed what her instincts told her and returned the hug.
It was... comfortable.
Ale couldn't help but let herself be lost in the feelings of comfort and peace that she got from this, it was... weird, but in a good way.
"Okay, so... anything that you absolutely need today?" Miriam Eversoul said as she separated herself from Ale, her tone a little more serious than before. "dicine, paperwork or the like. Also are you allergic to sothing? Be it food or dicines? Is Alexa allergic to sothing? Anything I need to know?"
That was one too many questions to be honest.
"I wouldn't mind getting my personal computer." Ale answered without thinking, "And no, we aren't allergic to anything, be it food or dicine. If we had sothing like that, we would accommodate our body functions to compensate for that."
That was the main take they had towards that type of reaction, Ale didn't rember having to compensate for anything so far, but that may be part because as P4 they had been exposed to almost all kinds of damage, both physical and biological.
So their way of living tended to compensate for things as soon as they beca an issue, at least Ale did that while she was outside. Alexa... probably did sothing similar to a lesser degree, Ale knew of course, that the way they moved their body was inherently different.
Ale was conscious about what was happening within her body and reacted accordingly. She ordered the nanites as it was needed and made parts and modifications as she went about her daily life.
Alexa, however, was not like that; she let the nanites run rampant within her body, fixing and moving things here and there. Alexa's control of their body was more akin to instinct compared to the perfectly curated way that Ale moved herself.
"So no known allergies..." Miriam Eversoul said nodding, "As for your belongings I will send a ssage to Eleanore to check on that..."
And as she was saying that, Ale noticed Miriam Eversoul push the send button on her phone and quickly start writing sothing else, all she needed was to think about it, and the local AI would probably tell her what that was.
Usually Ale would have done that without thinking about it too, but... She couldn't get herself to do that, not now. Not here. It felt wrong for so reason.
Either because she wanted to continue basking in this new sensation, or because she didn't want the feelings she had at the mont to be tainted, be it by deception or from disappointnt. She wanted this to last as long as possible.
"There, she says that she can send your stuff within a couple of days." Miriam Eversoul said turning to Ale and looking away from the phone, "She already filled a vacation period for you... I will scold her later for letting you work as a minor, but I doubt sothing will co out of it as they are a super villain organization."
"I an... We need money to survive." Ale pointed out, "And Alexa needed a place to mix with the populace while we were running away."
"... There were at least five orphanages within the recruitnt office that Eleanore was staying at." Miriam Eversoul said, shaking her head, "I know your personal circumstances probably didn't allow you to think about those sites, but she should have sent you there. Not giving you a dangerous job such as the one you had."
... Ale would not ntion the fact that [Eleanore] had indeed attempted to send them to an orphanage, but since Alexa had not known what that was, they had decided to find work and fulfill the requirents to be employed.
Well, even if she had known what that was, chances were she would still have decided to find employnt within [Haephestus' Forge] anyway.
But that was also besides the point at the mont.
"So, ready to go ho?" Miriam Eversoul said, extending a hand towards Ale.
Was she ready?
...No.
"Before that, would you mind coming with sowhere else?" Ale said steeling her resolve, "There is sothing I need to do before that."
She would go and say goodbye to soone first.
Ale would go and say goodbye to Alexandra... Towards the woman who gave everything so she could survive, even though the logical thing to do would have been to let her fade away.
...Oh god, that would suck so much... and she was going to cry more... dang it.
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