Told Myself I Wouldn't Go There

Mmm, Ella murmured an agreement, as her wife declared herself perceptive, but also an idiot. In another time, she might have attempted to dissuade the woman from negative statements. Ella rolled onto her back, as the child scrambled to her other parent. One arm behind her head, she watched the little girl, the moment the child's back was to her, her smile had drifted away.

If I put my mask back on. You liked my mask, right? Her gaze was on the ceiling, now, decorated with little stars and glow-in-the-dark constellations. Happy housewife and mother. Trophy wife on display. It was a nice mask. She murmured, thinking about how the master bedroom was flooded with various hobbies, started and stopped.

She'd never taken anyone seriously when they said they'd needed to find themselves. Perhaps she should have. She'd know what they'd done. Would solve our problems. But you'd notice. No resentment in her tone, just matter-of-fact. As of late, she hadn't even attended meetings with their rebel group. She'd effectively disappeared from the public eye, save for when her wife dragged her out of residence.

Today, though, despite avoiding dinner, Ella had gone out on her own. She'd pinned a note to the fridge that morning, though it hadn't told where she had gone. Went to see the Calidus Lord today. She sat up, offering a ghost of a smile. He shut the door in my face, or... he tried to. She rolled her eyes, as Annie reached to grapple with her mapa's hair.

But all he'd tell me is, I was a curse. Her gaze had flitted to the ceiling again. The morning paper would warn people in their high-end neighborhood of a murderer on the loose. She clicked her tongue. He told me that, I was a sniveling brat. That he was grateful when the Academy took me, though he hoped I'd die in action. She shrugged, as if it hadn't hurt some part of her hoping to hear that her family had wanted her.

But on my way out, one of the maids thanked me. Her grin is genuine, here. That felt good. And she gave me the name of my mother's lady maid, from the staff roster. She didn't know much about her mother; she didn't even really know much about her father, except that he'd let scientist, healer and mage, tear at her to attempt to remove the curse or the wings and horns.

@Kaczor Tilani