"There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve

Emne: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Tors Jan 28, 2021 9:47 pm

Luke was standing on the sidewalk, gawking at the tall building in front of him. The sun, although present, had ben cut off by the skyscrapers hours ago. He doubted it ever found its way to the pavement during the long winter months. He never liked these parts of Aston and much preferred the more residential and quiet ones. That being said he himself had a small flat in central Aston and quite liked the vibrancy of the city life. In all fairness he was just allowing his thoughts to stall him, as he took in the glass facade with a slight frown, already dreading his spontaneous decision to seek out Maeve. Was it too soon? Should he have asked Cecilia whether or not it was suitable for him to do?
"Oh, God damn," he mumbled to himself, a low whistle finding its way though his tightened jaw. "Get on with it already, Hamilton."

As he entered the building, absolute confusion hit him. He had never been before and although he remembered when Maeve had gotten the job, didn't know whether or not she still had it. He didn't know anything about her at all, actually, and felt way out of his comfort-zone. He'd even put on a shirt just to feel a little bit presentable. He wandered into the nearest lift, following a random person who looked like they knew what they were doing, and squinted to read the labels next to the floors.
"Where to?" A young woman with fiery red hair asked, sending a dazzling smile his way. Lucas awkwardly smiled back. "Clover?" He tried, hopefully not sounding as lost as he felt. He woman gave a lighthearted chuckle and pressed the 12th floor. "You should consider linses," she said through a pearly-white smile of perfectly aligned teeth. He politely nodded, and patiently waited as the lift shot upwards. Lucas didn't like heights much. He preferred to be close to the ground, and as he shot his eyes he pretended to not go all the way to the -
Ding!
The doors slid open and he stepped onto the biggest reception area he had ever been in. That said a lot - Athenas entrance was massive after all. As he took in the reception, he pushed his glasses back on his nose, straightened his back and nodded ever so slightly. Now or never.
"Excuse me, miss?" His voice sounded way too perky compared to the absolute storm of doubt that was racing in his head. The secretary looked up, an unamused look plastered across her face. "I'm here to see Miss Poe?" Lucas smiled kindly, hoping that his warm eyes and confident face would lure a little smile out of the lady behind the desk, but to no hope.
"Do you have an appointment?"
He narrowed his eyes, slightly annoyed that it hadn't been that easy. "I do not," he stated, the smile slowly disappearing from his face. "But I'm pretty sure she's going to want to see me."

| Outfit |

Muted, yet colourful and fashionable skater dress with a busy pattern design

_____

Ding.
Arriving from just the floor above the metallic doors of the elevator next to the one having come all the way from the entrance hall, opened up and she stepped out with the confidence of someone with a mission. Chunky heels clicking rhythmically over the polished wooden flooring as well as gave the quite short human woman a bit more height to work with. Not that she needed it, per se. Maeve Poe wasn’t a model there at Clover and while she had been in front of the camera many times before, it had never been for a shoot that would end up in the magazine. Rather just to make sure everything worked. The lights hitting the target correctly. The camera setting put in as they should be. There wasn’t really any doubt that she belonged as she strolled towards the reception desk, although it might have more to do with the fact that most knew about her. And now how she carried herself, since it wasn’t as straight-backed and stereotypical of a woman in power as her boss did.

Maeve barely had the time to actually pay much notice to the figure, she joined at the desk, standing right next to him in fact. It really wasn’t that she was being purposely rude, she had simply had a bit of tunnel vision at that moment. A big, heart-warming smile quickly grew upon her lips. “Gloria, can you have these pictures sent off to mr. Beau? Thank you,” she asked the receptionist, who immediately ignored the shapeshifter’s request to turn her focus towards the brunette. Gloria even managed to brighten up her previously sour expression, which she had been kind enough to show to the unannounced guest. Maeve then reach over the desk to deliver the robust yellow envelope, she had been carrying close to her chest on the way down from the 13th floor. Carefully the receptionist took the envelope and placed it just as carefully beside her keyboard on the table.
“Of course, Ms. Poe. I’ll have it done first thing. Oh, but while I have you here.” Finally she acknowledged the original agenda again as she looked away from Maeve and up towards the seemingly misplaced young man. This making Maeve herself look to her side, surprising her slightly that she, for some reason, hadn’t really seen him there. And she felt a sudden flush of embarrassment. How long had he been standing there? Had she interrupted something? “This man is apparently here to see you. He said you’d want to see him even though he doesn’t have an appointment made. Do you, by chance, know him?”

At the first glance, she didn’t recognize him. Not at all. It had been, what, 3? 4 years? since the last time she had seen anything of him. A lot could happen to a person over such a long amount of time. Even she, had only been scraping her early twenties back then. And of course, she hadn’t been giving him much thought over the years. She had much more important things to do now then planning ways to make the life of this man in particular a living hell if she got the chance. Therefore as she turned her body a bit more towards him and looked more directly at him to figure out if she knew him, a polite ‘no’ laid ready for take-off on her tongue. But just as her lips had parted and just before she could answer, she saw it. Lucas.
It was almost instant; the change in her demeanour. How she had just been open and welcoming, even smiling and in an overall good mood that would rub off on people she talked to, disappeared right away and no one would be in doubt of how she felt about the man in front of her. Not pleased. Not one bit. “Lucas.” Her thick brows were visibly frowned and she was glaring at him in a way only a mother could glare at the boy who broke her child’s heart. Both her hands got placed stiffly on her hips. His towering high did not scare her. She was used to Ethan, after all. And really, how could she feel threatened by someone like him. “You have some nerving showing yourself in front of me.” Actually… why was he here? Not only in front of her, but here, at Clover. At her work. Asking about her. It made zero sense. “What are you doing here? And while you're at it, give me one good reason I shouldn’t call security and have you thrown out as we speak?” There were not much mercy reserved for this man.. Gloria had already lifted the telephone by the mentioning of security, if Maeve didn't like the excuse.

The sharp light of the reception made Lucas shuffle uncomfortably on the polished floor, his soft boots not making a sound at all in comparison to the people around them. He usually liked being in control of his environment and here he was, at a place he couldn't feel further from being in control of. The busy buzz of people around him made the place a little too noisy, at it seemed that the afternoon had people pick up their pace; a few men and women even running to get to their destinations. Colourful clothes and high pitched voices constantly dragged his eyes away from the secretary, and the spotlights above him, made his eyes squint even with his glasses on.
As he turned back to the secretary to explain the situation, her face changed on the spot, and had his whole body relax. Except is wasn't because of him at all. A short brunette strolled up, oozing of confidence, and took over the entire conversation in a casual and quick sweep. Lucas turned towards the woman next to him, surprise very evident on his face. It was her.
Maeve hadn't changed much at all really; much less than he had anyway. The same chestnut brown hair, catching the light in a most mesmerising way, now sporting a stylish fringe that very much framed her heart shaped face. Big chocolate coloured eyes made even bigger with the sharp eyeliner and as always wearing something colourful, her entire aura demanding people to stop, look and adore for a quick second. As she turned her head to look at him, her face puzzled clearly not recognising him, his lips parted slightly, unsure of what to say.

Lucas' body stiffened up as her entire face changed from curious to unpleased, taken aback by her hostile attitude. Shit.
A part of him had known but chosen not to acknowledge that Cecilia probably had come to the Academy yesterday without telling anyone. He had hoped though, that she had told Maeve, and in turn broken some of the ice from seeing the short brunette again. As she sneered his name and sent him a very disappointed glare, he attempted a mild smile, much like a child trying to get out of trouble with his parents.
"Maeve, you look fan-"
You have some nerve showing yourself in front of me.
The smile stiffened on his face. Lucas had a million excuses running through his head, trying to find the best one, that would captivate the angry human girl in front of him enough to spare him a few minutes. Slowly he realised that maybe an excuse wasn't going to do it. He, after all, didn't have any, and didn't even feel like what he had done could be excused. He looked down at the wooden floor, defeated. The former confidence stripped off him, he instead looked back at her with evident pain showing through his bright blue eyes.
"I heard what happened," he stated, furrowing his eyebrows. He had genuinely been happy to hear that Maeve and the rest were relatively safe, but also felt some sort of responsibility towards making sure that they were actually okay. "I'm here because I would like to talk to you, I suppose," he replied, opting for being a hundred percent transparent and honest with her. Cecilia wasn't telling him everything he knew. Actually she was keeping the painful details from him, and he knew that she did it out of some sort of respect for him, but he needed to know just what had happened that night. "And to apologise." As to underlign his point and the seriousness of it all, he let his eyes turn. The oceanblue melted into something resembling pure gold, the eyes of his Leopard shining through, hoping that that would be enough for her to drop whatever she was doing and at least consider talking to him.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Fre Jan 29, 2021 2:06 pm

Just how much time had passed since she had been, maybe not so gracefully as one would have likes, introduced to the vast new world of fairy tales and mythology coming to life? At the same time, it felt like it had been forever with it all suddenly coming on to her as naturally as she would guess it did for people actually born into the it all, but also, it felt very new and very foreign for her mind as if she had only just received her letter-invite – much like being an eleven-year-old muggle receiving her letter for Hogwarts. All in all, she still found herself very baffled by the hinting of Lucas not quite as he had seemed either. Unless the thing he had heard, was about her crashing her car into a lamp pole in the late months of last year. She doubted it. The two of them hadn’t been closer than her friends had been to her previous romantic relationships. Or maybe a tad bit closer, since she at the very least had liked Lucas and what he had been to her cousin. She hadn’t been quite as lucky in that regard..
However the short moment where she had had to pack away the frowning face to make room for the surprise didn’t last very long before it arrived right back to where it had been. Now only slightly more confused. “You heard what happened? From who?” It wasn’t exactly well-known news. Not for people outside the circle. Then turning her eyes away from him and letting out a heavy sigh, it was if a good bite of the animosity surrounding her got taken away, lightening the atmosphere to some degree. It was exhausting to upkeep the horrible dislike like that. Especially when he stood there looking like a hurt puppy. If she wasn’t already used to dealing with pleading eyes and pouting lips she would have probably cracked completely.

She looked back at him shortly thereafter, just in time to hear his apology, well, his proposal for her to give him to chance to do so. But before it could poke her the wrong way, she noticed the swift in his eyes and her own widened. Of course. The more and more time she spent without her rock-solid disbelief of anything supernatural, so more she started to believe she was the only ‘plain’ one left. Ungifted, plain human being.
Her jaw tightened for a second. “Fine,” she blurted out as if it had taken her quite the effort to think of good reasons to reject him but had ultimately failed. She turned her attention to the side again, locking eyes with the receptionist, now even with the phone lifted up and ready. “No need for security. It’s okay. If someone asks for me, tell them I’m showing an old friend around.” And by that a proper smile had once again sneaked its way onto her lips. And Gloria obediently put the phone down.

“Let’s go somewhere else and talk,” she then suggested as she looked back at Lucas. The smile gone but at least she didn’t try to cut him straight through with her eyes. She fleetingly drummed her fingers on the receptionsdesk, where her hand had been resting, before she took a step back and began leading him through the reception area into more of a hallway. It was still pretty open and spacious with a lot of light coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows and glass walls which separated the different rooms they passed. “Can I get you anything? Some coffee? Tea?” she asked, although without twisting much towards him. Eventually she lead him inside what looked like a nice break room, complete with a kitchenette and both a small couch set as well as a proper round table with chairs around.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Fre Jan 29, 2021 3:49 pm

Lucas somewhat ignored her question, his mind in chaos about how to explain to Maeve, that Cecilia had slept at his flat the night before without making it a big deal, sounding like an absolute jackass, but also didn't find it convenient to talk in front of a secretary that clearly didn't like unwanted guests or people to interrupt whatever schedule she'd probably worked very hard on.
Cecilia had told him that Maeve had been exposed to the supernatural world; Lucas just didn't know how much of it she had seen. It was always a gamble to push the human brain too far, and he sincerely hoped that his little trick with the eyes wasn't gonna have her stumble back in fear. Thankfully he didn't look threatening standing there like a lost puppy, and as the brunette's eyes widened, he was worried that she would have him kicked out on the street. Her jaw tightened as she pressed out a short, huffed 'fine'.
Lucas couldn't help shooting a triumphal smile at the secretary, as she slowly put down the phone. His eyes, now back to their normal blue colour, very clearly had a message for the lady. I told you so. As Maeves eyes turned back to him, he quickly lost the jubilant grimace and resumed a look of innocence, trying to not pay too much attention to the piercing chocolate brown eyes.
If someone asks for me, tell them I’m showing an old friend around.
He couldn't help a genuine, low chuckle. "You regard me that highly, Poe?" He asked, as he followed her through corridors of glass and bright light. The sound of her heels meant business, and the longer they walked the more nervous he felt.
"No thank you," he replied with a gentle smile, shining a bit of warmth and appreciation through his voice. "Although I appreciate you trying to play nice." He had seen the look of hatred back in the reception room, and he fully understood why. Mae had always been madly protective, which was also how he knew that the only way to get back on good terms with Cecilia's friend group was through her. And he desperately wanted to be on good terms with them this time around. Not like when they had been younger and he had felt utterly isolated and not made a great effort to get to know them.

Lucas stood back, entering the room after her and not spending long taking it in. "Is this where you have your Knights of the Round Table meetings?" He asked, clearly just small-talking because he didn't know how to start the tough conversation he was about to have. He purposefully ignored the window and the grand view, still a little uncomfortable with such heights, and instead fully turned towards her to give her his full attention.
"Cecilia," he said, breaking the ice with a very serious look on his face, replying to the question she had asked minutes before. "Cecilia told me what happened."

“Luke?” Maeve turned halfway around to look at him with a stone-serious face. “Don’t push you luck.” He clearly just wanted to lightened the atmosphere around them, but she still had a few walls that needed to be broken down before she would become to find the nervous humour from his side acceptable or welcome. But then with that on place, she turned around again to resume their short little walk through the 12th floor. While the reception area was plenty busy and with a have the image of having people stream through all the time, the rest of the floor wasn’t was crowded. So, while the break room was completely vacant when they had stepped inside, there wasn’t many by-passers in the hallway who would be sneaking a glance inside through the glass either.
“Hm,” was all she replied back to yet another one of his remarks. She wasn’t really ‘playing nice’ as he was described it. There was no doubt that she had mostly asked out of politeness and habit but she hadn’t had to actually strain herself to offer him a refreshment, like he almost had made it sound like. Luckily for him, it wasn’t an outright strike, so she did her utmost to brush it aside.

With both of the inside the break room, she made sure to close the door behind them. Not that it made much of a different visually but at the very least it made it clear for other people, that the room was occupied for the moment being. And surprisingly enough with the glass walls and such; the room was in that instance soundproof, so to eavesdrop on their conversation they either had to be with them in the room or be very good at reading lips.
Automatically, she directed her attention to the tables with innocent puzzlement, not having even more of the sorts coming from Lucas and while it would have made her chuckle in other instances, all he really got from her was a surrendering shake on the head. “Luke… Just get on wi-..” She didn’t even get to finish her sentence before he did just that: Got on with what he was there for.

Maeve froze on the spot only lifting her head to look at him in pure stupefaction. “Cecilia told you? You have been talking to Cecilia? When was that?” The question kind of just blurted out of her both with a bit of disbelief and amazement. Now that she thought about it…. It would make sense. Had the planets been aligned perfectly for the two of them to run into each other, Maeve would see how her cousin would have confided in this man simply by knowing how much the whole deal affected her. She needed somewhere safe. And she guessed, Lucas had been someone safe. Before he had broken her heart, that is. “How much do you know then?” A worried line formed in between her brows as she crossed her arms across her chest. “I can only assume that she must have told you the overall picture of it since you’re here.” Or he wouldn’t have known she was aware of the supernatural herself as well. “But I’m still having trouble understanding why you’re here to see me. I’m not even the one you should be apologising to! That’s something you should have done to Cecilia.” She sure hoped he had done so. She’s like to think he was a smart enough guy to have thought that up himself.

Lucas winced. Her walls were up, her face serious and so far his little chatter had seemed to do more harm than good. All in all not a good start to the afternoon.
Big, brown doe-eyes were one of the most prominent family features of Cecilia and Maeve's families, and as he was watching her hard eyes as they silently told him to stop faffing about, he couldn't help a weak smile forming on his lips. These humans were the most strong-willed creatures he knew and it was devastating to know, that they had been burst out of their little bubble.

You have been talking to Cecilia? When was that?
He pinched his lips together, looking rather like a guilty child. He felt bad for going behind Cecilia's back like this, but she had told him that Maeve was important to her, and he hadn't really had time to think about how to approach her. Also his curiosity couldn't help him from trying to figure out what really had happened and how bad it really was.
"I - uh - yesterday," he replied, his voice a bit weaker than before. "Turns out the guy who did all of this is a colleague of mine." The hatred and bitterness in his voice surprised him slightly. With Cecilia having been with him all morning and then a busy day at the Academy, it seemed the information of Joseph had only had time to properly sink in sometime later on. He still couldn't believe that Joe was capable of something this cunning and evil, and had no idea what he would do if he was faced with the Siphoner at work. If he had the nerve to show up, that was. The nerve and time, he thought. Joseph seemed to have been busy. All the emotions had him clench his fists to make sure the fleeting, blue electrical impulses that without a doubt shot from his palms wouldn't be visible.
Lucas breathed sharply through clenched teeth, his face softening up a bit, as he redirected his frustrated stare at Maeve. He cleared his throat. "I think she came because she worried that I wasn't safe." His eyebrows furrowed in disbelief as he said it. "Five years, Maeve," he whispered and finally lowered his head into his hands. "And she comes to me after all of this because she worries that I'll get hurt?" He looked back up at her, taking a deep breath. He slowly nodded, and managed a shy smile at her, as she crossed her arms, closing herself in.

"I know the basics I think," he replied, regarding her a little sadly. "Although I'm sure she's sparing me the details." He swallowed."I'm so sorry." He meant it. He was genuinely sad to hear about everything that had happened and he knew that of all the people, Maeve had stubbornly been a firm believer that nothing supernatural existed. It must've been quite the shock. He opened his mouth but she beat him to it.
"I did! Of course I did," he assured her quickly, his face reflecting her seriousness as his own eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Repeatedly." The meer thought of her doubting his capability to of course be a bit self aware in the situation, felt like nothing short of a stab in his heart. Then of course his earlier attempts of lighting the mood might've backfired a bit and simply made him seem unempathic and insincere. "I don't know, Poe," he admitted. It had been a very spontaneous choice to come here. "I think I just wanted to make sure you were okay. And to tell you that I'm here to help."

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Man Feb 01, 2021 6:01 pm

What? ”Yest-…” The pure perplexity succeeded in completely choking the words so not event he first time got a chance of leaving her mouth properly. Truthfully, she had been ready and set to give off somewhat of the same reaction no matter what answer he had given her. In a way, the one that had made its way through seemed like the best one at the moment. It kept Maeve from also feeling the hurt feeling of her cousin having kept it a secret for more than a day, which she really couldn’t be blaming anyone for. Not even Lucas, forever that was worth. She, at least, hadn’t any expectations for him regarding anything. She only blamed him now that he was there. Stomping his way back into the life of someone she cared deeply for with his big feet, tramping down all the warning signs, before anyone could see them… Ah yea. That was true. They weren’t just dealing with a magically maniac. The predator was also a teacher. “A colleague? So, you’re a teacher now too, then,” she commented, not having much memories of ever hearing about him being one before. Her voice had at that point gotten much softer then when she was snapping at him by the occasion. Something she was actually quite happy about seeing working.
Suddenly she felt a stab to the heart, hearing him talk with such disbelief about the care that his lost love still seemed to have for him. And had he been a complete stranger, sitting on a bench and telling her this story like some reinspired re-enactment version of Forest Gump, she would have probably felt it more. Been more sympathetic. Told him to go for it. But as he not long after would conclude himself, there was much he had yet to know about. Things that Maeve knew. Things that made the stab feel more of a stab made with a butter knife than a steak knife. “Of course. Cecilia is not a heartless person. Of course, she cares and worries about the people she knows,” she agreed with him, looking almost empathetic at him. The smile he presented was enough for her to relax her arms, although they still remained crossed.

This hadn’t been a situation she had thought she’d be dealing with that day. Many mornings now adays she would wake up and hope and pray for just an ordinary day as any other. She didn’t so much crave the normality of life before the veil having been lifted, though. She maybe just feared that she would never be able to go back, if she fully embraced the strange and new world. She listened to him. And she sighed yet again, lowering her gaze. It was getting harder to stay mad. Or at least to stay furious and uncooperative which her stubbornness had sat as the default setting from the moment she had recognised him.
“You’re really not making this easy for me to continue to hate you,” she declared, seemingly out of nowhere before lifting her head again. She discreetly licked her lips, tasting the familiar taste of lipstick on her tongue. “I’m okay. Really. Nothing happened to me that night. Or since.” At least not what had involved this Joseph character. “I don’t know idea about whether I’ve just been lucky, since Cecilia is convinced that we were somehow both targeted, or this colleague of yours just has it out for her.” She took a few steps closer to him while letting her arms fall back down the side. “And it really is… kind of you that you want to help. And I want to say that you keeping an eye on my cousin would help a lot but…” She bit down on her cheeks, not knowing where to even start. He had managed break down some of the walls surrounding her, yet he was far from forgiven for the past. “I’m positive that what has happened isn’t the only thing she has been sparing you from hearing about. I bet you don’t even know what happened after you just straight up left!.. Break-up happens all the time and you get through them, but it still hurts. You hurt her.“ Maeve made sure to keep the eye contact between them so he would see how this even affected her by talking about. “Cecilia had no idea if you’d come back or if you leaving just was a clean cut of your relationship. She spent weeks in that state. She looked like a lioness suddenly having turned back into a lost puppy. She wouldn’t want to get rid of what materialistic junk you had left behind so I had to be the one to remove it so she could heal.” The glare had returned in her eyes as well as the beginning of knitted brows. Nonetheless, she wasn’t shouting at him. So, there was that. She wanted him to understand fully what he had done.. before she wanted his help. Or before she helped him.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Fre Feb 05, 2021 4:29 pm

Lucas couldn't help a soft chuckle. "Oh," he mumbled, running a hand through his messy hair. "Yeah, teacher. Me. Who'd have thought," he said, raising an eyebrow. He still couldn't believe that that was where he'd ended up. With such a turbulent childhood and youth, finding somewhere like Athena had been an absolute blessing for him and had given him an opportunity to prevent such lifes from happening to others. His eyebrows furrowed, and he had to hold back an annoyed 'I know' from escaping his lips. "Suppose I thought that anger would've kept her from caring about me," he admitted, sending Maeve an apologetic look. He knew that that was a ridiculous thought, but it had been what had gone through his mind none the less. As if Cecilia could ever hate for so many years, he thought, feeling foolish.

"I suppose I can't ask for more than that," he said, a genuine smile making his face soften up. He was happy that nothing bad had come to her."Just for a chance at doing better." His blue eyes rested on her, a solemn seriousness in them, to make her understand that he meant it. He gave a slight nod with the head. "A lot better." He hoped his voice would reassure her that he wasn't here to mess around and that he was genuine in his intentions; also fully understanding if she couldn't accept it. He had spent most of the day trying to think of how he would have reacted if it had been his best friend's ex and had come to the conclusion that forgiving someone who hurt a person you cared about, definitely was more challenging than forgiving someone who hurt you. His eyes furrowed slightly as she insisted that she was lucky and couldn't help a sheepish smile. "I suppose a magic block like what you're walking around with counts as luck then, mh?" Lucas pursed his lips looking at her with light admiration. He'd never had use for trying his own powers on her back in the days, thank God, and so hadn't experienced her shield, but knew from Cecilia, that it was there.

As her voice lifted in volume he couldn't help but flinch as if being physically slapped across the face. He knew. He knew that all she told him was true, and the little stabs of pain in his heart continued and he had lowered his eyes towards the polished floor; ashamed of having ever done such harm to somebody else. Somebody he cared so deeply for. Something in her voice made it clear that she demanded presence and eye-contact and he hesitantly raised his eyes and met her hard gaze. His lips thinned as he took every single word, every single mental hit with a straight back. He couldn't help the sharp flare of anger
"You think I don't know that? You think I didn't regret every single second of all this crap?!" His own voice had built power and volume, and the frustration was painted across his face like an open book. Frustration and pain. "I was dangerous to her!" He snapped sharply as the thunderstorm in his eyes threatened to show itself. He knew he could've - no he should've - come up with some excuse back then; it would have made it easier for Cecilia to forget him, there was no doubt about that, but he hadn't had the courage to face it. He would have melted in front of her, he knew. Melted and stayed and risked to lose control in front of her and that would've been a disaster. Somehow knowing that a werewolf had done just that; lost control in front of Cecilia, had made him respect his own decision a little bit more. He knew he had had to leave. Back then it had been the only way. He also knew he should have done it very differently. "It was cowardly," he sneered, his voice defeated and much lower than before. He hated himself for what he did; how could he possibly not, and these past 24 hours had pushed the self-hatred over him like a big fog, forcing him to face it. "I know that. I can't change it though, Maeve, Jesus Christ. I can only try to make it right now, if she allows me."
Lucas finally let his eyes flicker and move away from her, feeling wildly exposed in the bright light of the office. He moved his hand to his forehead and couldn't help a loud sigh. "Sorry for shouting," he mumbled, giving his hairline a light scratch.

While his slow increase in volume didn’t affect her all that much, being ready to stand her ground completely even if he would try something pitiful as to attempt to intimidate her by yelling and shouting at her, the suddenly snap startled her enough for her to pull an inch back and a surprised look had went across her face for the moment. Dangerous. That was how he described himself to her. And it struck a silent cord at something in her. She had never seen Lucas as someone dangerous. Never! And especially to someone like Cecilia. Maeve would be very blind to not have understood the flowering love between those to back in the day. But now that she knew he wasn’t just another human being as herself and now that he claimed to be dangerous she felt an unease because of the mismatch. She looked a little closer at him then and she noticed the pain in his eyes which faded more and more into something pleading. Pleading for forgiveness. Her shoulders, which had shot up by the sudden outburst, calmed back down again and her shocked expression mellowed out. She really hadn’t been lying when she had said she found it hard to hate the man.
“No… No, it’s alright. I want to shout at you to, trust me!” she admitted, lowering her eyes from him. Sighing away some of the build-up tension in her body. “I wanted to give you a real piece of my mind the moment I recognised you but we’re adults now, right? We’re supposed to keep our composure.” She sounded almost annoyed by the last bit of the sentence. And she very well could be. Adulthood really had some restrictions. And the rationality that came with it made it so bloody hard to not feel ashamed after fighting like how she had wanted to fight…

Maeve then looked up, not at him though, but towards the glass wall out to the hallway. At least they didn’t have an actual audience, but she was sure people passing by had been glancing inside. And the dispute was clear as day to anyone even if they weren’t able to hear them. “Let us go somewhere else to talk,” she then said with a soft voice she had yet to use around Lucas. “The park is just next the building, that should be a better place. Less eyes and ears. And…” Another first then occurred, as she looked back at him and smiled. It wasn’t anything big. But it wasn’t fake either. “… I could use some fresh air.” And the smile disappeared again the moment her arms fell down her side and she turned to walk to the door. She suddenly had a lot of questions as well as a need to talk with him as much as he had seemed to want to talk to her.

A kind business smile was back on the moment she stepped out of the room and passed a greeting colleague. It was best not to let other people take too much notice. Clover was far from as bad as other stereotypical workplace which were like them but gossip did travel in the corners. Walking back down the hall way towards the reception and the elevators, she grabbed a seemingly random winter jacket from a rag, before looking back over her shoulder to check whether or not Lucas was following. The jacket wasn’t hers, it was a piece of clothing meant for a shoot, so as she pulled it on it was clearly not her size. A bit too big for her petit frame… but it wasn’t so bad. She wasn’t as vain as to be bothered, really. She only stopped again by the elevators, having pressed the call-button first thing.
The only sounds from her were the swishing of the waterproof material of the jacket. Until she thought to break the silence between then as they waited. "I didn’t throw your things away, by the way. I still have them. Stored in a storage unit. So if you want them back… I’ll make sure to have the unit transferred to your name instead,” she revealed, only glancing up at him after she had finished to then try and get an idea of his reaction from his face.

We’re adults now, right? We’re supposed to keep our composure.
Lucas lowered his gaze to the floor. He surely wasn't always good at keeping composure at all; though he had gotten better than when he was younger, his past still lay in the back of his mind, threatening to overtake him and allow all the anger out. He couldn't help a sheepish smile, pretty sure she would've liked to shout at him quite a lot - but then he knew her manners and how she carried herself with grace and suddenly couldn't picture her exploding at him. Maybe for Cecilia though, it would be a possible reaction. He nodded slowly, accepting her words and her annoyance, returning his eyes to hers.
"Do let me know if you feel like throwing a punch," he said, a soft smile playing on his face. "I wouldn't hold it against you." He knew it wouldn't be her style, but thought he should offer regardless.

He followed her eyes towards the hallway, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed that he had come to her work place. A little unprofessional of him, he thought meekly and furrowed his eyebrows in a thoughtful manner. "I'm sorry for showing up una-"
Let us go somewhere else to talk.
"Uh - Unannounced. Yeah," he nodded, agreeing with her words as he curiously studied what appeared to be a smile. And a soft tone in her voice. It made him light up in an almost boyish smile. "Fresh air sounds good," he agreed, pushing himself back up from the char he'd been sat on. She didn't look back to make sure he followed, the lack of gestures making him smile even more, as he couldn't help to feel strangely proud of how bossy she'd become. She was clearly doing well in this industry and that was very admirable to see. How she had grown into a woman.
As they passed the reception disk Lucas turned around to send the receptionist a warm, dazzling smile. He couldn't help himself. Childish, perhaps, but he wasn't used to the office-life and couldn't help but feeling triumphant at having somehow handled the afternoon without any slaps to his face or without being dragged away by which ever buff guards the building had hired. As he spun around on his heel to face Maeve, the triumphant smile faded quickly as though he'd been caught being his cheeky self, and was replaced by puzzled surprise at her words. I didn’t throw your things away. He tilted his head, regarding her with very genuine amazement. "You didn't?" He asked breathlessly. He had thought they had burned it together in some grand, girlish ritual - although in hindsight that didn't fit neither Maeve's nor Cecilia's personality. He couldn't help a mild chuckle. "I don't even remember what I left," he said, smiling apologetically to her. "But that would be lovely, thank you." He nodded warmly, appreciating what she had done for him. Going out of the way for someone you clearly didn't like. What a gesture.
As they entered the lift, he swallowed silently, clenching his jaw a little and turned to her. Anything to take his mind off the tiny room and the heavy walls around them. "I should've called," he said, trying to find anything to say that would shift his claustrophobic focus. "Thank you for nok kicking me out," he added softly, sucking his bottom lip in.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Man Mar 01, 2021 2:34 pm

Oh? Astonishment suddenly brightened up his face. In all honesty, she hadn’t really had a clear-cut idea of how he’d react and yet it hit a little differently to see him show such an expression. It was weird. She didn’t actually remember him like this, not before she now had the pleasure of re-experiencing the chummy guy and all his antics. The image she had kept of him had been all the negatives. For the past, what, four years he had been this gigantic asshole. Mean and selfish all the way to his bone. But that wasn’t reality, now was it? He hadn’t even been anything even resembling that before he had broken Cecilia’s heart. He’d been more like a puppy, just how he was now. “Yea. If I remember correctly, I was very close to send it all to the nearest garbage dump but... Yea.” She didn’t actually have an answer to just why she had decided to go the route of the good Samaritan and not stuck with her angered gut feeling. She hight doubted that she had had similar hope of him returning like her cousin had suffered with for so long back then.
She sighed, attempting to hold back a little giggle of her own – without much success since the sigh itself came out more like a huff of a laugh than anything – and she shook her head slightly as she looked away from him and towards the elevator doors again. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you either. I barely looked at what I was stuffing into the boxes before taping them up,” she admitted, finally being able to see the comical of it. She had simply taken whatever she knew wasn’t Cecilia’s, so she only then realized the possibility of properties of other people might also be locked up in the storage unit together with this man’s underwear collection or what not. And of course, all the things like pictures of the two together or other sentimental nick nags had been packed away too. She fleeting sent him another tame smile as a way of acknowledging his thanks just before…

Ding.
The elevator arrived and the doors opened for them. Lucky for them, that no one else was waiting for it. The atmosphere was already strained as it was and she wasn’t about to stand still and in complete awkward silence all the way down to the ground floor. Immediately as she stepped inside, she pushed the bottom, her limbs being so used to the panel that she’d be able to push her desired floor in her sleep if she wanted. Her eyes unconsciously rose up to look at the digital numbering displaying the floor the lift passed, counting down as they went but then like a moth to a flame, she turned her head towards Lucas the moment he broke the silence, a bit of an innocent ‘hm?’ expression painting her hamster-like face until she caught on to what he had said and the confusion faded into the act of her tongue discreetly wetting her lips, obviously careful not to lick of the lipstick. “No. It’s quite alright. I’m pretty sure you don’t have my number anyway so it would’ve been hard to get a hold of me. Especially at this time. We’re pretty busy with getting the February issue ready in time, it being the month of Valentine as well,” she openly explained still with the non-aggravated tone.
She might not come across as busy with the way, that she had offered him a stroll with her, but he had caught her in a very good time. Maybe whatever supernatural being he was had their hands in thing such as luck. She glanced more analysing at him Maybe he was a leprechaun? In the right light his hair could look kind of reddish.

While looking at him she, however noticed something else and her brows knitted while she leaned a little more forward as if it would give her a better view point. “You don’t like elevators?” she then asked with the hinting concern in her voice. He looked… pale. He had seemed uneasy the whole time, but she had guessed it was because of him being nervous to talk to her. Still, it was more promonent now.
Her eyes glanced back up to the count-down of floors – 5th floor. If it was the case, she was impressed how he had managed to go all the way up to the 12th floor and not just have her called down to the entrance. She looked back at him. At least he – once again – had been lucky Clover wasn’t stationed on the top floors of the building.

Lucas couldn't help another mild laugh. He didn't recall whether he had ever found Maeve funny, just that she had been kind and a very close friend of Cecilia back when they had been together all those years ago. She had been the one he'd liked the most, he knew. Zitora and Ethan had both been a tad too serious for him and he'd always felt slightly uncomfortable knowing with their professions. Now of course he had changed from the street-kid he had been when Cecilia somehow had taken him in, but he had always felt a connection to the lost souls of the streets and had in his youth encountered countless of people like the two of them. People that had only made life that much harder for him and his friends. Maeve had been Switzerland - a little neutral safe-haven - and a kind soul to him. The gentle smile on his face and the humor glistening in his blue eyes clearly testified to that. If he hadn't found her funny then, he definitely did now. "Very understandable," he noted with a slight nod trying to hide his smile. This wasn't supposed to be funny but it was hard not to feel at least a little happy when she had done such a nice thing for him. "Well in that case it'll surely be a trip down memory lane." He smiled, once again a little apologetically, not entirely sure how comfortable she was with him yet.

It nearly felt bubbly, this sudden lack of aggression in her. With other people he would've maybe thought them indifferent or simply polite but after her little outburst of anger and her skeptic little winces at him earlier, this calm and rather gallant side of hers seemed ... well. Vibrant. Vibrant and authentic. He was thankful that her presence somehow disrupted the panicky-feeling he had had as they stepped into the lift.
Maeve had always seemed an incredibly, admirably honest person. His eyebrows raised a little as she explained about her busy month, making him pull a face, conscience-stricken. He had had no intentions of taking up her precious time and interrupting more than strictly necessary.

As she mentioned Valentine's Day he shifted his gaze to the floor-number above the door, his jaw clenching slightly. A low grumble escaped him. "Mh. Let me know if there's anything in your Valentine's issue on how to beg for forgiveness," he mumbled, sounding a little dazed. Truthfully he had no idea of what kind of magazine Clover was - none in the slightest - or if that would be a slightly offensive comment. He moved a little to the left and towards the center of the elevator, shifting uncomfortably on his feet before she caught his attention again, her bright voice sounding somewhat concerned for him. He knitted his eyebrows. Was it really that obvious?
"Uh, it's more of a - yeah. No. I really don't," he mumbled and wrinkled his nose slightly, a little annoyed at himself for still feeling that bad just because of a small room. At least it was brightly lit; a little clinically perhaps, but not dark and that was always something, he thought. "Mh," he grunted unpleased at the turn of the conversation. "I think it's the lack of - eh. Of nature," he said, trying to nonchalantly shrug it off as though it wasn't actually something that bothered him more often that it should. He had never liked places that weren't connected with nature. Closed rooms without windows usually didn't and it made him feel trapped and unable to breathe. "It's not, you know, that bad though," he assured her with a sheepish smile, his voice a little too chippy to be entirely believable. "I'm working on it."

Maeve huffed a soundless chuckle, shaking her head a bit offhandedly at him. “I can’t say it does, but you’re also doing fine on your own. Don’t worry too much about it,” she replied. The problem really wasn’t that he didn’t do many of the right things to hopefully end up with forgiveness. It was her own lack of wanting for forgive what he had done, that kind of ruled over everything. It had been what made her to hostile towards him for the first while and wasn’t she as affected by her own conscious he would probably still have suffered heavily under it. Even more so if she didn’t own a lick of common sense either. “I still think you’re a coward.” Chicken.. “And a part of me is convinced that Cecilia can do much better but it’s not like I’m complete opposed to your return.” Compared to how she had talked to him earlier, this time her chopping words carried with them a more light hearted feel. As if she didn’t actually meant any of them with any strong seriousness. She had been young then, but not blind to just how happy the man beside her had made her cousin. More than many of her other suitors. Of course, she barely knew the man on more than the surface level but his goofy personality had been able to win her other before.

“Hm?” Surprise immediately painted her face even more as he decided to come clean and be honest with her about her wondering. Although she had been able to catch on to it from his face and fiddly behaviour on her own it still wasn’t something she had expected of him. Partly because she herself had never had a problem med things like that and couldn’t exactly relate. Nature? Her curious eyes observed him a bit more, leaning discreetly further forward again. He really did just look like any other human - his features were clearly attractive but still no pointy ears or scaly skin. The wolf had been a hairy man as to indicate his furry form. The Nephilim had a glow to her. All she recalled with him was the short change of eye colour. But except for that.. “It shouldn’t be much longer before we can get off again. And the elevators are sturdy and smooth. There shouldn’t happen anything,” she kindly explained as she straightened herself up again. Nature, huh. In that case her suggestion to go to the park was a pretty good one, she thought.

2nd floor..

Maeve eyes wondered a bit round the enclosed, metal box and found the security camera in the corner, watching over the interior. It should only be recording the visual, if she remembered correctly. So to not be overtly spying. “So, what are you, Lucas?” she asked already before moving her eyes from the camera and back to him. “Is it something I can ask? It feels weird to, if I’m going to be honest. But I mean, you’re not … human are you? Not entirely. I saw the thing with your eyes.” She pointed at waving index finger hintingly towards his face and his eyes. The shift wasn’t anything normal humans could do. Or maybe they could. It wasn’t that ordinary humans weren’t without supernatural abilities. Her entire current friend group was a good show of that.

Ding! Entrance floor..

The lift finally halted and the multi-layered doors opened for the large entrance all. It wasn’t nearly as busy as it would become an hour or so from then where people got off shift and it was time to return home. Maeve strolled out as naturally as any other time and started walking towards the rotating doors leading out of the building. Her heels sort of echoing in the tall-ceiling hall. However, she did remember to look to Lucas at a point. Making sure she hadn’t lost him by accident.

I still think you’re a coward.
Somehow her words seemed all the more heavy because they were said so lightly. It didn’t sound like she was snapping at him and had nowhere near the same power as her earlier words but they still hit close to home. Once again he could really only agree. He had called himself a coward countless times in the aftermath of his decision to leave as he did, and then again every time he had looked at his phone thinking about calling her. Or sitting in his car thinking about driving to her. It had actually driven him a little mad, the self hatred that had consumed him.
Lucas turned towards her with yet another apologetic smile, trying his best to hide the pain in his eyes. “Uh, well. It sounds like we’re in the same boat then Miss Poe. She can still change her mind about me though,” he added with lightly knitted eyebrows trying his best to not sound too bitter or hopeless. “It has only been 24 hours.”
The thought scared him incredibly much, as he said it out loud. He had told her last night that he didn’t want to rush anything or get overwhelmed with it all - she had been in a weak, pained position and he had been absolutely convinced that the only possible reason she would come back to him was in a moment of weakness to gain some sort of momentary comfort. He had had zero intentions of taking advantage to that and nothing but their kiss had happened. Physically of course. The butterflies in his stomach that started fluttering every time he even thought of her told him that his heart so very dearly hoped that he was wrong about it. He wanted nothing more than to be the very best man he could be and to help her through this time. And then maybe, just maybe, she would still want him back after everything would be over.

Her kind humming voice dragged him away from the hole of self-pity he had started digging. Lucas nodded slowly, but didn’t respond, as he watched the floor-numbers fall in a steady pace.
2nd floor.
Her question surprised him and he quickly turned his eyes to hers. He had forgotten that little flash of his golden eyes. Maeve’s pointy finger in his face broke whatever awkwardness he had momentarily felt and he huffed out a light chuckle as the elevator finally came to a halt. He followed her while carefully choosing his words.
“Of course you can ask,” he replied with a warm smile at her. She would obviously be curious having only recently been exposed to this whole new world of dangers. Just like Cecilia, he was unsure whether they had seen the beautiful and good part of it all or only encountered evil. “Well, I am human, I’d say, most of me anyway,” he started in a low, conversational tone to not drag attention from the passerbyers. He was grateful that she hadn’t freaked out already. “We’re called Shapeshifters.” As he spoke he curiously studied her face with an expectant smile. Would she burst out laughing? Would she be scared? It was always a bit of a gamble and he was always a little unsure of how much information to give. It wasn’t a history class after all. “We basically get to turn into an animal. Some people have a few; I have one; and no we’re not werewolves,” he added with a mild laugh. “The moon doesn’t affect us and we can control our transformations.” It did feel like a small lecture but he tried to make it sound normal to her; as if it wasn’t a major thing.
They finally reached the doors and as he followed her out into the fresh winter air he stopped for a second to close his eyes and take a solemn breath of fresh air. However fresh city air could be of course. The air already made him feel better and he casually placed his hands in the pockets of his jackets before turning his attention back to Maeve.
“My animal is a leopard,” he said softly. The warmth of his voice clearly stated how grateful and lucky he felt to have a connection to such an animal. Thinking too much about it always made him a little emotional. He smiled gently at her.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Fre Mar 12, 2021 1:31 pm

That was right. It was somewhat easy to forget that the reunion of Lucas and Cecilia hadn’t happened many weeks ago. Imagining the two of them together still felt strangely normal, even with the stuff between then and now. It didn’t help that he had come to her so soon afterwards like some guy coming to his love’s dad to ask for their daughter’s hand in marriage. That might actually have been the weirdest thing of all. If it hadn’t been for him knowing – partly – about the stuff that was going on at the moment and he seemingly wanted to help were ever he could, she’d feel more weirded out, for sure. Maeve simply nodded to it, more in a confirmation that he had successfully reminded her about the actual timeline. She didn’t say anything, not wanting to scare him off even more than she probably already had, but she feared this rebound had more to do with her cousin She glanced up at Lucas. Perhaps it was exactly the same fear he had, considering the doubt she could so clearly sense from him…

At least he didn’t take any offence to her questions!

She immediately felt a slight bit of relief, followed by a slight bit of embarrassment for even having felt the need to ask if it was alright to ask about. It just felt like a really personal question. Almost along the same lines as asking a person’s nationality, which she had witnessed to be just that; offensive. She had so far just blurted it out whenever she had run into any supernatural creature, but in those situations, she hadn’t been in as calm and familiar surroundings and circumstances as she was now. “Shapeshifter?” she repeated in a surprised tone as he started to explain. She couldn’t help but look at him with wide, baffled eyes and an expression that matched them. “And here I thought I had come across every kind out there, but also shapeshifters?” But of course. If demons and vampires and fairies existed, then why not also a subrace of humans who could turn into animals.

As he went on to make it clear to her, that it wasn’t the same as werewolves, a smile cracked open upon her lips and she shakingly turned her gaze away from him for a moment. “Not werewolves. Got it. I was about to ask actually. Sounds like werewolves got the short end of the stick if there’re another species like you,” she pointed out, still with the amusement – mostly caused by her own slow and ignorant mind – in her voice. It was just crazy. Even after so many months of knowing and getting used to it and getting to know it. She could barely wrap her head around her ordinary human friends had superpowers. Maybe she was the odd one out?

The reveal of that one animal he could transform into, caught her pretty much off guard and she was quick to turn her attention fully back to him with even wider eyes than before. And then suddenly she busted out laughing. A heart-warning laugh all the way from her stomach, although one would probably be able to see, that she was fighting to stop again as she quickly moved a hand up to cover her mouth. “I’m so sorry! I really don’t mean to be laughing. It’s just…” She lowered her hand to speak but had to move it back up on instinct as she almost fell right back into it. “I don’t know why, but for some reason a part of me had been convinced that you were some kind of leprechaun. And.. leopard and leprechaun just sounded awfully alike.” To properly calm herself down from that, she tried exhaling slowly through a tight O-shaped lip while carefully drying of a tear in the corner of her eye, so to not smudge her make up in the process. She had to admit, even if it was possibly the worst reaction, she could’ve had to him opening up to her, it had felt great to laugh. She liked laughing.

“So!.. Leopard,” she firmly restated, so to completely rebalance herself. She even did a firm nod. “I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a werewolf and he told me that the transformation is very painful. Is it the same for you shapeshifters?”

Lucas couldn't help a lighthearted laughter. Of course he was expecting her to be surprised but after hearing what other species she had encountered he thought Shapshifters at least wouldn't sound as threatening. He could only shrug and give a little confirmative hum. "Mh, yeah suppose they did a little," he agreed, thinking about it. He wrinkled his nose lightly. "I don't know actually. They're stronger than us and some of them control their transformations surprisingly well." His mind went to Rafael. No, he had never pitied his friend being a werewolf instead of a shapeshifter; it felt entirely different actually, even though it sounded rather similar. Shapeshifters didn't have ranks like wolves did and they weren't harmed by silver or wolfsbane. Maybe he did pity werewolves a little, come to think of it. At least a little bit. He liked her humorous voice as she was talking, having full empathy with her and how her entire world must've changed. It was a scary change as well, he knew, and he felt a flutter of proudness as she took it so lightheartedly. At least on the outside.

Lucas had studied her face after revealing his animal, expecting some sort of reaction as most humans had. Cecilia had been fascinated but Maeve looked shocked. Lightly parted lips and widened eyes. And then she burst into laughter.
He looked at her in confusion. Laughter was definitely a first, he thought. It was something he knew other Shapeshifters had experienced but only if their animals were somewhat a little less regal than a Leopard. Like a flea. Or a fly. Or a comodo-dragon. It had however never happened to him and he regarded her somewhat offended. Her laugh was contagious though and his passive grumpy face softened up in a confused smile. What in the world. The way she reached to cover her mouth had his smile widen a little. Part of me had been convinced that you were some kind of leprechaun.
Lucas couldn't help a surprised, spluttering laugh. A what!? His own eyes teared up a little and he had to halt the walk as he laughed again. "You what!?" He said through a gleeful chortle. "A leprechaun!? By God, Maeve I have been called many things but this is a new one," he wheezed dragging a hand through his hair. She dried her eyes and he mirrored the movement still with the warm chuckle, trying his best to control himself. "You mean to tell me that the authenticity of the leprechaun is more realistic than a Shapeshifter?"
At least this outburst properly broke the ice that might have been there before and Lucas immediately lowered his shoulder a little, much more comfortable with her presence. Oh my god, he thought as she tried to regain her posture, she was absolutely adorable. He remembered her as much more quiet, but maybe in fact he had just never paid that much attention to her in their very vibrant family life. The thought made him note down that he had to ask about her kids. A thought that was still a little shocking.
"Nope," he uttered, still a hint of amusement in his voice. "Not painful at all. Unless you overdo it of course, then it becomes a little less pleasant."

Oh, thank god!
A chunk of her had really been fearing how he’d react to her laughing at him like that. It was such an inappropriate thing to do. In no way was it professional and in no way had there been a similar humorous atmosphere building between when that wouldn’t make him feel offended. She wouldn’t have held it against him, if he had taken her laugh as an actual humiliating act, as if she in all seriousness had found the thought of his – of all people – animal was a leopard. But the moment he broke out laughing himself everything lightened up substantially. And actually, it only made it harder to keep her own laugh down as it all felt that much more silly, and thereby; hilarious.
However, she got her laugh under control and pressed all the way down to simply a few jumps in her breaths as the smile stayed big and prominent on her face. “I honestly don’t know why,” she truthfully answered as her brows wrinkled in a way that made her expression take both a gleeful fold but also a sorrowing. She moved her hand from her mouth up to her forehead instead over her one brow and stained herself to at least shut her lips together, although the smile didn’t fade away straight away. “My mind was just going everywhere, trying to figure out what kind of mystical creature you might be. And.. it must’ve just popped into my head. Now it just sounds absurd. But in my defence, whenever I think I’ve all the existing supernatural ticked off... new one show up. I might as well believe that everything exist, you know.” As she mentioned discovering new stuff she made sure to gesture in his direction.

Maeve Poe then finally just shook her head, surrendering to her embarrassment. One would think she’d be used to it but one really never did. Lucas had seen her in some good light in her work environment, straight-backed and respected by her co-workers, and that wasn’t anywhere near a lie. Just, most at work was also aware of her embarrassing herself from time to time. At least she’d like to think she good those moment like a champ.
Shortly, she glanced to him as he spoke, but then turned her eyes forward as she resumed there walk in the direction of the park. One of the entrances being just to the right, on the other side of the big intersection which the 25-floor tall skyscraper took up one of the corners. He probably hadn’t noticed the view down to the park from the 12th floor he’d been on. Despite the number of windows. She pulled the jacket closer to her body by folding the two unzipped flaps over each other and then pushing her hands, arms crossed, into each armpit. “Well, that’s probably something that’ll happen with anything when you overdo it,” she commented, taking a deep breath of the winter air, that was already prickling at her cheek. “It’s amazing, really. That people like you exist. And I don’t mean you as a person. We could surely do with less of those. But… supernaturals. Shapeshifting people. People who can fly. People who can knew the future. People who can… I don’t know.. change reality by the snap of their fingers.”
She still had a lot to process and she didn’t quite give herself the time of day to do it. So even then, talking about it so openly it was clear from the tone of her voice, that she was still distancing herself from it. As if she was talking about a universe in a fictional book. “Did Cecilia know about this? You know, back in the day?” she asked, looking partly in his direction. If there were magic that could do what it had done to her cousin, what stopped there for being a way to remove or cloud over memories? If she had to be honest, deep down, Maeve would probably like that…

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Man Mar 15, 2021 2:25 pm

Luke understood her well enough. He smiled a little apologetically as though it was his fault she hadn’t known of the supernatural world. It always felt strange to him that there was this idea of keeping humans in the dark about it but then again he did spend an awful lot of time around supernatural beings, teaching at the academy about them and their abilities. He had grown up in Moonlight Falls as well which saw the biggest concentration of supernatural beings - and also the least amount of humans. It was awfully easy to forget that they didn’t know about it all but also a little refreshing to talk someone through it. Besides, he felt sincerely relieved to not have to keep lying to her, just as he had felt relieved about Cecilia knowing. It lifted an enormous weight off his shoulder. He had always felt a little detached from their reality. Their perfect family life, amazing dinners and a hearty core that he hadn’t experienced before meeting Cecilia.
It was silly to him now, how he had sometimes reacted in it. Shut himself off no knowing how to play pretend or gotten flustered and ashamed when they had asked him questions about his life and he had had to lie.

Lucas couldn’t help another little laugh. “I think you’re wise to do that,” he said yet again a little apologetically. He had the same mindset himself. There were always strange new species to be discovered and he wouldn’t rule any out at this point. Especially not after the craze of the Muertos those few years ago. He wrinkled his nose by the thought before he shook it off him. “At least focusing on the good ones make it sound all magical and wonderful. Mermaids and fairies and all,” he tried optimistically with a soft smile. “Makes you wonder if Neverland exists!” He smiled a little wider. Peter Pan had always been his favourite fable.

He closed his eyes as they finally walked out of the shadows cast by the tall skyscraper behind them and thankfully caught onto the last few afternoon rays from the low hanging winter sun. He hummed softly i no agreement at her statement. Overdoing anything hurt indeed. Whether it be powers or not.
Lucas snorted at her little jab and had to control himself to not poke her in the sensitive skin under the side of her ribs, reminding himself that they weren’t close enough for him to do that. “Yep,” he agreed. “It must be overwhelming for you.” He regarded her a little curiously. “How’re you holding up? If you ever need anyone to ask questions to you know where to find me, mh?” He offered with a friendly smile. He meant it. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to walk with it alone and since the majority of her acquaintances were humans he didn’t know if she truly had anyone to talk to about it all. Except Cecilia, but she was also new in it all and apparently had most of her information from a book written by the Archangel Michael - a book he suspected might not be entirely unbiased by his personal view of good and evil.
There was a very evident hesitation in his step as she asked him about Cecilia and he pulled a pained face. He looked at the sky, thinking about all the times he had wanted to tell her; by God had there been many of those! Lucas clicked with his tongue and shook his head lightly. “No she didn’t. You have no idea how many times I wanted to tell her though,” he said, breathing in through his nose. “Instead I disconnected myself from it and from her. In the end that was probably my first big mistake.”
He faced forward again, staring straight ahead as he opened up to her. He had no idea why he would do that; this had in no way been the point of his little visit to her. There was something light and carefree about her that made it only too easy to spill your negative thoughts, he thought, and chuckled lightly. “Too much?” He asked and wrinkled his nose again.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Ons Mar 17, 2021 4:30 pm

There was something about hearing him - or not any other person for that matter - talk about mainly paying attention to the good parts and possibly not dwell too much on the monsters under the bed, that she had suddenly experienced to wander the same streets as her. Even in the day. She had felt selfish with how she actively didn’t let herself think of those aspects of what reality she had now come to know and live in. Felt that people judged her for being naïve and weak, since she found herself too scared to take it all serious. Well, she did take the dangers serious but only to a certain degree. But his words kind of helped her feel alright about coping with it in that way. However, his optimistic attempt only worked partly. What spoiled the other half still wasn’t enough to remove the smile from her face entirely though. She just kept herself from looking at him instead. “Now, I can’t say my experiences with fairies have been the most magical or wonderful,” she answered back, expecting Lucas to already be brought somewhat to light of what had happened to Cecilia. She sight, dismissively. “But you’re right.”
Wouldn’t it be amazing to fly? Or swim under the sea without the need for oxygen?.. All that was possible now. Not exactly for Maeve, but she still didn’t know this. She could still dream until then.

As he asked one more time if she was alright, they had just about reached the cross walk and barely reached for the button for green when the lights changed in their favour and they could cross without any actual wait time. Although, due to her having stopped up momentarily, she fell slightly behind as Lucas’ had a clear advantage to her with his long legs, so she had to jock a bit to position herself back by his side. Even with her in heels, everyone in her social group seemed to tower over her… She scoffed lightly. “Overwhelming is a big understatement, Lucas. I still didn’t believe it completely even after having seen the summoning of an actual arch angel with my own eyes. Or when I brought a talking cat into my home. My mind was ready with countless explanations that all were ready to debunk it as anything but ‘magic’ or what not,” she said, fighting a side of her that wanted to ask at herself for having reacted like that. Maeve was already a rather social person, someone who easily fell into conversations even with strangers, which Lucas, in some way, had reverted back into over the years of absents and still it felt a little strange how naturally she just… talked to him. Forgetting that this was their first conversation in, what, four years?
“Albeit, I’m holding up fine.” She raised her brows and send him a reassuring look before shaking her head slightly at his concern. “It’s overwhelming, yes, but it hasn’t been the end of the world. It’s just a bloody lot to unfold. I might not even live long enough as a human to properly get used to it,” she jokingly pointed out, firstly only taking a mental note of his generous offer without immediately giving him a verbal ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Instead she listened to him getting around and answering her questions, noticing the slight grimace on his face out of the corner of her eye. Ah.

It surprised her when he felt the need to ask if it was ‘too much’ and she instinctively shook her head in a response. “Not at all.” Some of the thing she had told him could’ve fitted better into the slot of ‘too much’ considering which gave him an automatic free-card. “I feel like I can say from experience that; yea. Big mistake.” She shuddered discretely. Hesitating to keep talking. Rethinking just how much she’d let this man in on. It wouldn’t hurt. She couldn’t say it to her friends, that was for sure. “You remember Ethan, right? And Zitora,” she asked firstly, turning her head to look at the shapeshifter. “After it was revealed that they’d kept their secret life from me, I was unsure if I even knew them anymore. And I've known that mountain of a man for close to 11 years, I might ass! So I can at the very least appreciate that you went with the method of leaving. Because… no matter how shitty that was, it was better than keeping her in the dark.” She smiled a strained, straight-lined smile that brought forward her dimples as the corners of her mouth pushed themselves into her cheeks rather than pushing them up towards her eyes. She then looked away and rose the speed of her walking. Just a bit. Just enough to be a step or two in front of him for short moment until he’d catch up to her.

Lucas sent her a mild smile, genuinely sad that she had had the unpleasure of seeing so many bad beings at the same little timespan. No time to ease into it or to experience the wonders.
"I suppose," he agreed, speaking softly to make his words seem less bizarre and more casual, "that just as humans can be both good and bad and all in between of that, so can the rest of us. Shame that the world isn't as black and white as we'd like, mh?" He asked, folding his hands behind his back as they walked. There were plenty of amazingly good demons and vampires and even fallen angels, just as there were bad fairies and mermaids and lots of other nuanced people around. In the end it hardly mattered what you were born as. "It gets tough focusing on the positives sometimes," he admitted, "but the Academy helps. There's something about young people that immediately makes me feel calmer about the future." He smiled a little wider, adding a bounce to his already rather energetic walk. He had built up all this energy from being nervous that made his fingers itch. Normally he would turn and run in the forest but today had been appointments and plans all aligned with each other. He would barely have time to do anything before running to pick up Cecilia from her evening shift. Luckily she had texted him an hour ago that she would be a little later than planned, so maybe he'd have a few minutes to run off some of the nervous energy in his body.

Overwhelming is a big understatement, Lucas.
He looked over his shoulder to see Maeve speed up a little and automatically fell back, walking a little slower to match her speed. He was a fast walker in general and usually forgot that not everyone had the same speed as he did. Especially not humans. Tiny humans with tiny legs.
Lucas tilted his head and looked at her, a little baffled at her words and slowly raised an eyebrow. "A talking cat?" He repeated a little skeptically and squinted his eyes at her before bursting out in a spluttered laugh. He nodded again, trying not to pull a face at her. "Tell you what though I think a talking cat would surprise me a little too," he admitted joyfully. "Don't get a lot of those."
Actually he had never met a talking cat, and he had to suppress a laugh at the fact that Maeve and Cecilia respectfully seemed to have met some pretty extraordinary creatures. Archangels and talking cats. Not a lot of people in this world would meet either and Maeve had met both. He agreed with a little hum.
I might not even live long enough as a human to properly get used to it.
Lucas' warm eyes found hers again and he smiled softly at the tiny framed human next to him. With another hum he shook his head at her. "Don't sell yourself short, Maeve," he mused before turning his eyes straight ahead again. "You're already doing great." He clicked with his tongue before turning his eyes back to her. "I hear you're pretty well equipped to deal with some of the more scary parts of this world," he added. Her mental shield or whatever it was she had around her would definitely help her acclimate to the supernatural faster than most. A lot of powers would be harmless to her. "So who knows. You might end up enjoying it all."

Lucas let out a grumble. He knew it had been a mistake and he was still trying to work his head around how on Earth he could have even been so stupid.
She surprised him. Once again. He regarded her with lightly parted lips for a second before closing his mouth. It was better than keeping her in the dark. The sentence echoed in his mind and had his response time delay a little. It was the first time anyone had understood why he had done what he did. Not that it couldn't have been handled better and that he definitely couldn't excuse it, but it was the first time someone seemed to at least empathise with it.
"I'm sorry it had to be broken to you this way," he replied with knitted eyebrows. He smiled apologetically and blew out air through his nose in a small huff. "There are better ways to get introduced to all of this. Maybe one day I can show you some of the fun parts."

Maeve’s attention got automatically pulled towards Lucas as he began to mention the academy. She had to be honest, that she certainly hadn’t seen it coming, that he’d take up a position as a teacher, however magical or ordinary the school was, but the moment she looked up at him and saw the light brighten his face as he talked about it, she couldn’t get herself to critic his choice. Of course, it had been quite a few years since the last time she had seen anything to the man and then he had felt so out of touch with the higher working class which she and her cousin was part of and which she remembering Cecilia trying to have him immigrate to. Something that hadn’t been a success then but it seemed to have happened through those years of absent. Huh. He had found himself. That was something. The short human woman hadn’t even noticed how she had left a slightly astonished expression on her face for some time. “Sounds like you’ve found your nest,” she gently commented, even sounding approving. She didn’t particularly judge people - or creatures - by what they were or what they did or where they came from, but Lucas being who he was she still held him under a much brighter light. So while it could easily sound like she was only approving of what he did because he now had a socially accepted occupation that wasn’t quite the case.

It was greatly appreciated how he adjusted his speed for her, although she could just surely could’ve done the same. She had matched his long legs until the cross section, after all. Still, she, by walking just a little slower, could strain her speech much less. She had kept on looking forward and not at him as well as kept her face as straight as possible when she had mentioned her more extravagant encounters. Attempting to just glide over them, so she didn’t have to think too much about them herself. Or just how bizarre they were. But Lucas still caught on to it. “Ye-”.. She barely managed to end the short worded-answer when he started laughing, reflectively making her turn her head at him. Surprised at first but then she took note of how she folded her lips in and pressed them together to not laugh herself or smile too widely.
She then shook her head and looked away from him at the ground instead, where the smile ultimately broke loose from the hold-back. “Well, it’s not like he’s a real cat that just happens has the ability to talk. He’s more in the sense of what you are, I guess.” She glanced back up at him with a bit of a smirk in one of the corners of her mouth. “Human. But transformed.” She then breathed out and adjusted her posture, not to walk all slouched. “Only he’s stuck as a cat. I’d actually have thought it was normal. Talking animals. Does that mean you can’t actually talk any human language when you’re in your… other form?” she lastly asked, showing the initial bafflement of even someone supernatural finding a talking cat weird.

“Hmm?” Innocent surprise then painted her face the moment he seemingly thought she had been belittling herself. But even more so by the following statement where her face changed into a visible grimace. Brows furrowed in confusion but her expression brought back. She unconsciously stopped in her tracks to better look at him. “Wait. Just how much have you and Cecilia had time to talk about me?” she asked rather confused. Surely they would have most of the spent the time talking about themselves.
She had understood she had been enough part of their reunion talk that he was now there with her in the park, but enough that she had told him about that? “I mean, yea, but what can a stun gun really do against any kind of supernatural danger? Aren’t most non-human being extra resilient?” She put her head to the side, standing still while awaiting his answer. She couldn’t help but think it was weird that he knew about what she carried with her - things that ever since the supernatural had been revealed to her, was starting to look a little silly. It wasn’t even things that got brought up on first dates or meetings.

Emne: Sv: "There's no Love without Forgiveness" - Maeve Ons Mar 31, 2021 9:44 pm

Lucas got a little flustered at her gentle approval. Approval always seemed more powerful when unexpected. He replied with a soft hum, lowering his eyes to the ground. Unexpected indeed. He had never really fitted in with her crowd; her and Cecilia's. Somehow Cecilia had still loved him and managed to survive many years by his side in spite of his awkward attempts - and lack thereof - of fitting in and conversing with various people in their friend and family group. The thought made him want to wince. Although it wasn't always genuine or authentic, at least now he knew how to play the part in front of people if he needed to.

"Yes. Right," he mumbled, nodding a little excessively, trying to not laugh at her again. He pinched his lips together, genuinely wanting to focus on her talking cat story, but ended up actually looking a little confused. Confused but curious. She wasn't joking! The cat actually talked? Lucas snorted and hastily covered his mouth with a hand. "I - What?!" He chuckled mildly, shaking his head more gently this time. "No. No, no, no. Not at all, no." It was genuinely not something he'd heard of. Witches had their familiars but they didn't exactly talk - it was more of a spirit than a transformed human. "No," he repeated; what a wild thought. It had never occurred to him that humans would assume that. Talking animals. "You wouldn't understand me; I'd sound like my animal to you. Shapeshifters can communicate by thoughts though," he explained, as though it was the most obvious fact in the universe and not at all as far fetched as a talking cat.

Luke couldn't help another little chuckle at her baffled expression. Maybe it hadn't been entirely proper of him to drop the bomb like that. It wasn't like Cecilia had outright gossiped about her cousin, but in their conversations it had been mentioned that Maeve had been a part of some of the rough storied and Lucas had obviously asked how she had handled it all; somewhere in the middle of this conversation it had been mentioned that she had some sort of immunity. His smug smile had him momentarily look away from her, and he had to take a step back as she halted her stride. "Mh?" He hummed innocently. "No, not that much," he assured her with a smile that softened up very quickly as he reminded himself to behave.
“Extra resilient?” He asked, mirroring her tilted head with a soft smile. “I wouldn’t say so. In some ways perhaps, but then there are many other weaknesses. Vampires and vervain or werewolves and wolfsbane - things that in no way affects you humans. And the biggest flaw is that we underestimate each other and get cocky with our powers, I’d say.” He couldn’t help a wider smile; he sounded quite a lot like he did in his martial arts classes, he noted. “We rely on them too much and forget that some people have the power to neutralise them. Then we get fucked,” he pointed out, winking playfully at her. He so deeply wished, he had gotten a passive power such as a shield instead of such active, aggressive ones. Having studied the brain quite intensely the thought of anyone simply accessing it scared the living hell out of him. It absolutely hadn’t helped hearing about Cecilia and whatever mind-connection she had been forced into. He could only admire and cherish that Maeve had whichever mental shield she did have. It was one of the best defences anyone could ever be gifted with.

Not that much. ”Hmm, ah hah,” Maeve mumbled in a beginning sense of disbelief, although it sounded very farfetched. Looking at him, she discreetly squinted her eyes as if that would suddenly give her the ability of truth seer. Of course, it didn’t. Not that she actually needed it. Not since this man barely tried to hide his mischievous demeanor and for a split-second she felt a fleeting wish to hit him. Not hard! Oh no. She would never. Just enough for him to pay for the misplaced joke he seemingly was playing her. Instead a heavy sigh exited her throat followed by yet another smiling shake on the head. Had he always been like that? Had Cecilia really held up with that for what? Five years? Bless her soul. And her patience. But one thing it did settle was how her hostile confusion might have been a tad overdone. She was indeed well-equipped for at least some of the more corner-pressing matters.

Getting her feet to resume the walking, she unfolded her tightly crossed arms and moved her hands into each of their own pocket. Not having zipped up the large jacket, gave the light breeze a chance to flurry it open, but even though it was freezing outside, for a short while, that cold was more refreshing than anything. “So, what you’re saying is that a stun-gun would actually work on something like an actual demon?” she asked, humoured by the sheer thought of it. The thought of a man-made defence mechanism, probably only designed with the measure of incapacitated a human being, would’ve a similar effect on a so-called ‘spawn from Hell’. Maeve still held on to her doubts about that. But now, she hadn’t read ‘The Big Bestiary’ which Cecilia had studied like an obsession, so she could very well be wrong. As they had gotten a good distance into the park, where the noisy road was somehow turned to muted background noise and the city buildings swopped out for well-kept trees and grass yards and a gravel path for pedestrians, her eyes automatically wandered to look more around them. There were quite a bit of people, not to anyone’s surprise. Even in the winter the park was popular. And people got out of school and off of work. She was still listening to Lucas, though, and she was quick to turn her gaze right back at him when he reached a certain part. Astonishment painted in her expression.
“There’re people like that too?" She let a light huff of a chuckle. "Imagine that! Showing off your strong and immense powers only for them to have little to no effect on someone.” She tried to do just that. Imagine how something like that would be. It, however, seemed strange. Not entirely sure why. She had heard of certain types of immunity. People with impenetrable mental walls. Elemental immunity. So why not something that negated it all? “It sounds like you’ve come across people like that, first-hand. Have you?” she asked while not having the self-control to not send the question off without a little sly curl in the corner of her smile. She had no idea what kind of abilities Lucas was in possession of, but from how he had just talked about ‘getting cocky with them’ she could guess that he at least had some. Some that he must have relied on. And then been ‘fucked’.

That he was referring to her never even crossed her mind. Why should it? She didn’t have any powers, let alone any way of neutralising other’s. The possibility covered too deep under a life-time of human disbelief.

She made him laugh. Again.
Lucas shook his head with a wide smile. Truthfully they hadn't gossiped about Maeve at all, but he realised how it must seem from her point of view. He had simply paid attention to it, shocked that Cecilia's friends had all of these amazing powers and hidden lives that he had known nothing of. Even Ethan, whom Luke had never seen eye to eye with at all, had had more of a connection to the supernatural than Cecilia had had. And to think he had felt such an outcast amongst them. Now it felt utterly silly. Maybe that came with simply accepting who he was and liking who he had become.
Luke's lips contorted into a quirky, wry smile. A stun-gun. That had to be the first time he'd heard anyone refer to immunity as a stun gun. Cecilia had used some great words as well. Superpowers. "Depends on the gun," he replied with a smirk. He regarded her a little curiously, wondering exactly what kind of immunity she possessed. There were so many, and the only way for him to know would be for him to use his powers on her. Not ideal at all, that. His powers were reserved for fighting and even though Maeve Poe was a feisty little thing, she was no enemy and he would have no use for his powers on her at all. "And the demon, probably," he quickly added. "And the demon's powers."

Lucas drew in a breath of fresh, beautiful winter air through his nose. A please hum escaped him as the smell and sounds of nature surrounded them. He rarely went to the parks during summer - they were always crowded with people and the nervous energy he would build up never seemed worth it. Rather go to the large forest outside of Gaia or join Rafael and his pack on their nature-territory. For now this would do and despite the few people, he didn't feel the usual jittery.
He turned to her a little puzzled at her exclamation. People like that? Luke's eyebrows furrowed lightly as he regarded her and the way the lowly hanging sun cast golden flickers of light in her deep-brown eyes making her seem almost childlike, bursting with Christmas lights in her eyes and excitable energy. He looked down trying to hide his smile. He hummed in agreement. Strong and immense powers. Strange, he thought, how he had stopped feeling excited about powers a long time ago. Once you'd seen a few, it stopped being as amazingly magical and it took a little more than someone simply knowing how to manipulate an element to surprise and excite you. It was nice, how she somehow unintentionally reminded him to appreciate the magic he was surrounded with. It truly was amazing and it was only too easy to forget when you saw it every day. "A few times," he admitted with a low chuckle. "It's truly very frustrating," he told her, wrinkling his nose at the thought before seeking out her eyes again. "But I'm lucky I don't use my powers that often."
He pursed his lips lightly tilting his head at her. He didn't want to intrude but she didn't seem to realise that he had been talking about her powers. "Cecilia didn't tell me exactly how she knew about your alleged immunity. How much do you know about it if you don't mind me asking?" He tried, perhaps a little too innocently. Immunity was so fascinating though, and he didn't know many people with it. A few student and an ex girlfriend didn't really count at this point.

» Maeve Poe's undervisningskema
» Forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace
» I don't really know a lot about love
» On another love
» I will always love you