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[magnetite_plz]

A trail of strange, unidentifiable red petals winds through the plaza this cold day in the Nexus. Not a heap of them, but enough small bits of brilliant red to pop out amid the snow and dreary ground to leave a distinct marking of something or someone passing through.

The trail leads anyone following it to Nike, currently brushing more of those petals out of her impossibly long golden tresses, her brow furrowed in concentration. It's more of an emotion than her countenance normally belies. She startles to see anyone approaching her and drops her hands from her hair quickly. Scrambles for a long piece of red and white cloth she's got folded into her pack.

"Apologies. I did have queries for the populace today." Her fingers grip and cinch the fabric between them, slowly working their ways down the length of the cloth. She fidgets with it while she addresses anyone who will listen.

"Why do people choose partners based on mere attraction? Out of dozens of qualifying attributes, why should something so unimportant have a disproportionate weight to the equation? The choice could be made based on compatibility of skills, or a mutually sought after goal or..." Nike trails off and with a sudden forceful flick of her wrist bunches up the fabric in her hands to flop against her thighs in clear frustration. The demon clearly does not understand and it's eating at her.

"Why do you do this?"

Comments

[tryingitall]

It may be meaningless in the Nexus, but it helps him to wrap his mind around things, and he breaks into a wry smile. It's a little like something he said before, that in his world angels are effectively just another monster, no different from a vampire or a demon, save in what drives them. No one wants to hear that, of course, and he won't get into that discussion with her just now, either, because it has nothing to do with her original question, but to hear her perspective amuses him.

"Hard pass on the wrath and Judgement, if you don't mind," he tells her. "I can get plenty of that in my own world."

Folding his arms across his chest, he hums at the question. "That's the real puzzle, isn't it? From what I can tell, many of them feel it's fundamentally unfair. That a person can't necessarily help being physically unattractive, or socially awkward, and that it's cruel to single such a person out as unworthy of romantic attachment."

"It's bizarre, I know, but in a way it says something good about humanity. Many of them seem to want to be better than what they are. They really try. They fail as often as not, but they do try, and I sort of enjoy that about them."

"There may be more to it than that; human psychology is very complicated, and so are other sentient species. It's a start at understanding though, I hope?"

[magnetite_plz]

"You do not seem like an enemy to humanity, so I see no reason we should ever have to come to blows." Not with how fondly he speaks of the humans she is so perplexed by. Blathazar may be many things but he definitely isn't anyone Nike would consider a threat to the people she looks after. To herself, possibly. He could probably destroy her without much effort even with her best training and efforts these meager few years she has been connected with her host.

Her instincts warn her to never drop her guard entirely, but she does her best to ignore this urge.

At the end of the day she is not so different from these people she fails to understand. She too is trying to be more than what she is. Be worthy of more than what she was born to be. Will she fail, as they so often do? It's the first time Nike has ever thought about it much at all.

"I...also find that admirable. To want to be More. To not simply be satisfied with the way things have always Been." It's something she can relate to more than she would have first thought. "Perhaps I was too quick to judge...even though I still don't understand it. I sort of understand why."