IC Inbox: Empatheias

[young_oldman]

[Your birds might get a little plump on bird seeds. Just saying.]

Comments

[miraculo]

I... [ She looks at her hands before settling them down by her sides. ] I suppose it is incredible, isn't it? [ She agrees only half-heartedly. Because she remembers receiving this same sort of praise in the outside world and in Gensokyo. ]

They'll be okay now. They won't have to suffer anymore. [ But why didn't she take the initiative to help and heal them completely before? She only moved her hand when Lu Meng urged her to, helping someone else on his behalf. It's not only these victims that she's favored with her miracles, she favors him. ]

Ooops I thought I replied to this!!!

[young_oldman]

That's right. So you did this incredible miracle. You might have needed my help but the hands that brought their eyes back were yours. That's something no one else has been able to do here.

Don't disregard what you just accomplished. You've given them more than just their sight back, you've given them and their families their hope back. And now that you know you can assist in this manner, you'll be better prepared for it in the future.

[He takes a step closer to her and gently, carefully places a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.]

So don't beat yourself up for not seeing this sooner. I hadn't thought about it either until we met at the cafeteria. You might argue that you're a god, that you should know better. But you're still 22 years old. And I don't intend to blow my horn here, but between us I'm the supposed far-sighted general with far more experience organizing the recovery effort after disasters and tragedies. If it didn't occur to me, and it hasn't occurred to anyone else, not the Enforcers or the Representatives, then it's alright, Sanae. There's no harm done here.

They may have spent a few days in darkness, but please remember that you've given them the light for the rest of their lives.

[miraculo]

[ It's a moment where she forgets herself-- a moment where she knows she shouldn't but does anyway. A moment where she foregoes a simple hand on her shoulder to hug reach out to him instead, pulling him close and burying her face in his chest.

Kind words, compassionate words make her tear up, and she really doesn't know why because they're sweet words, not words that tear her down. They're words to make her happy and not sad, to make her not think that she doesn't deserve such kind words. She doesn't know why it's so difficult for her to accept this sort of kindness or praise, but it is. And all she can think about is that she wants to keep them and not dismiss them in her mind as something she could have made up for earlier. She wants to believe in those words-- they are her praise, her thanks, the faith that warms her heart. Her heart swells within her chest. ] Th... Thank you, Lu Meng.

[ Her voice seems small. She feels small, in his arms, which is an ironic thought considering that she's always felt she had to be the one to so carefully protect him this entire time, from what she did to what she's said to him. ] Thank you.