A Perfectly Normal Conversation [Minerva, Abalia]

"The door! Mum! Mama! There's a knock at the door!!"

A chorus erupted when the door was knocked on, it was always like that though. Anytime anyone was at the door the whole house knew with those three descending into a chorus to all relay the last bit.

"Yes, yes. It's fine. I can handle it, can you all go help Airi and Renate so I can answer it?"

The biggest but also one of the more younger ones puffed out his chest proudly. Nodding like a little invincible trooper while leading the gang to go help the girls and leaving Minerva with a small grin. First obstacle cleared, now to actually answer the door and hopefully not have a bunch of kids hanging from her while doing it.

"Who is- Oh, Abalia! I wasn't expecting you today- Ah, don't sneak up on me like that Rena."

An interruption in the form of a small little girl who still had traces of her hard life in the Rukongai came up behind her and wrapped her arms around Minerva's waist while staring at Abalia intently with caution. Rena didn't like new people, though she settled when she realised it was just Abalia.

"I'm sorry, if I knew you were coming I'd have organised help. Come in though, please. You must be hungry or thirsty, hmm?

Rena was the first to act, giving Abalia a curt nod before running off to go do her own thing now that the visitor had been verified. Minerva took the chance to refocus back onto Abalia though and smile, ushering her in while nodding to both Abalia and herself. Just to try and not forget the tea and food with everything else she carried in her head from a day to day routine.

"We can go upstairs in the study. I just need to ask Yuri if she could watch the children for me while we're busy."

Yuri was her little trump card, the oldest child who was more a teenager than child but Minerva would never try and lump the other children on her too often but for Abalia, it was a special circumstance. Letting Abalia make her way up there herself, the lady of the house made it her business to prepare some tea and some little snacks to eat before bringing them up and joining her.

The study though was quite large and featured a couch, she still hosted members of the former Coalition and her own not so little network at times. It was definitely furnished with that in mind with a bit of a more classic taste bleeding through, very distinct from the Eastern setting of the Rukongai. Besides the basic looking katana left on the desk nothing about it seemed to really evoke the same feeling of the world outside.

"Alright, it's already now."

Minerva chimed, putting the tea and snacks on the table while taking a seat on the couch and inviting Abalia to sit. She wasn't a fool, her intuition was deceptively keen and Abalia wasn't the type to make visits without organising them which told her all she needed to know. Something wasn't right though she trusted that it would eventually come to light. Minerva had a knack for people feeling comfortabl to tell her things.

"You're not wasting my time. You know it's so nice having people visit. Especially you."

That was the first thing she wanted to address and the first thing that stood out to her, well it had stood out to her the moment she met Abalia really but at the same time she didn't like hearing the woman think she was just wasting people's time that was spent on her.

"Has something happened, dear? You seem very reserved, more than usual."

Minerva asked while pretending to be distracted with pouring tea but her senses were very focused on Abalia. The tone of her voice, the way her body spoke its hidden little lingo and finally what she said. The tea was served and offerred to the captain commander who at this point was more just a woman in need, Minerva might not know how to handle a Captain Commander but friends and women who needed help. That was a talent she had and never boasted about.

Minerva sips away at her tea while listening, nodding to acknowledge that she heard what she was saying. It was a dilemma and a pain that she could only say she had never felt. If Julian would die her world would feel empty, a hollow monochrome existence and while she would never find herself able to throw her own life away in despair. She'd live for the sake of those that she cared about but it would feel much emptier.

That's why she couldn't empathise.

She put her arm around Abalia's waist and pulled her in for a small hug and a bit of comfort.

"It's okay. We all deal with grief different, it's entirely possible the way you try to deal with grief is by depriving it of being able to take root in the first place. When I was a prostitute, it was always easier to detach myself from the things I was doing. I didn't think about the men or women I was with Abalia. I didn't feel attached to them with what I was doing, I was thinking about the greater reason for doing it."

Trying to be vague with the details but get the point across, Minerva was doing her best to find some common ground and allieviate the feelings for her. She didn't want to ask the question of if she actually loved him, that would be very rude.

She tried to avoid grimacing when she heard Abalia's rationale for her decision, for a couple of reasons. On one hand it was just very depressing for her to hear and on the other she disagreed with it. To make such a commitment because you think that's how it should be in your head, not because you desire it.

"You don't really sound like you're being true to yourself or your feelings, Abalia. You keep talking about this is how you should be, this is how you think it would be. You don't sound like a person who's living for themselves. You don't sound like you're happy as the person you are and you're running away from it."

The hand that was on Abalia's waist for their small hug made a reassuring caress to try and comfort her while Minerva explained her observations, especially the part she was biting her tongue over.

"Abalia dear.. Are you happy, despite these things you loathe about yourself?"