[the rest, she chokes back like bitter tea, swallowing it back down inside herself. the shame, the shame - she'll just have to watch her tongue, and say milder things.
there's one flicker of protest in her, though, one aching, stinging thread, and it makes her speak before she can swallow that down too, another needle in her throat.]
You see... the way you spoke, it sounded like you thought less of me because I'm a doll.
( it began from the reassurance offered to her in something where she lacked no confidence, but really, the problem only began to get under maple's skin after the fact. )
When you asked me if I only loved Hiyori because he made me, and then when you asked if Hiyori had stopped loving me, even when I told you he did... I don't think you meant to hurt me, Helena, but you did. It sounded as if you were asking, "Why would he continue to love a machine?"
( she pauses here, only for a moment as she laces her fingers, looking down at them with an unhappy expression. )
I understand that my life may not mean as much to others as a human's, but I'm no less a person. To hear that coming from someone who I consider a friend...
That's not what I meant in the slightest. Not at all.
[and Maple will see on her face absolute honesty, coupled with the shame of speaking such to someone who was nothing but kind to her.]
I do not think less of you at all for you being a doll - there is no earthly reason in my mind why I should. You are a person whose kindness and care I greatly value, and in no way was that meant. I can only offer that there were no hidden intentions, that my questions came from curiosity, from wondering how you experience love, when I know nothing of it - how your lived experience varied from the accounts I read about. They were ill-spoken, though, and I cannot alter that.
I was...I am ignorant, and all I can do is sincerely apologize.
no subject
[the rest, she chokes back like bitter tea, swallowing it back down inside herself. the shame, the shame - she'll just have to watch her tongue, and say milder things.
there's one flicker of protest in her, though, one aching, stinging thread, and it makes her speak before she can swallow that down too, another needle in her throat.]
May I ask something about...what I was saying?
no subject
( it began from the reassurance offered to her in something where she lacked no confidence, but really, the problem only began to get under maple's skin after the fact. )
When you asked me if I only loved Hiyori because he made me, and then when you asked if Hiyori had stopped loving me, even when I told you he did... I don't think you meant to hurt me, Helena, but you did. It sounded as if you were asking, "Why would he continue to love a machine?"
( she pauses here, only for a moment as she laces her fingers, looking down at them with an unhappy expression. )
I understand that my life may not mean as much to others as a human's, but I'm no less a person. To hear that coming from someone who I consider a friend...
no subject
[she says her name softly, sadly, but heartfelt.]
That's not what I meant in the slightest. Not at all.
[and Maple will see on her face absolute honesty, coupled with the shame of speaking such to someone who was nothing but kind to her.]
I do not think less of you at all for you being a doll - there is no earthly reason in my mind why I should. You are a person whose kindness and care I greatly value, and in no way was that meant. I can only offer that there were no hidden intentions, that my questions came from curiosity, from wondering how you experience love, when I know nothing of it - how your lived experience varied from the accounts I read about. They were ill-spoken, though, and I cannot alter that.
I was...I am ignorant, and all I can do is sincerely apologize.