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As poor Tsetsiliya sat in within the relative safety and comfort of the darkened alley, a small creature approached. For a long moment, it lingered near the opening of the alley, sniffing the air, as if unsure if what it was looking for was within. Alas, after a few beats, pink hued eyes settled directly on the small demoness and the creature padded right on over to her. Once it reached her side, it mewled softly, nosing the hand she was using to dig into the earth, taking the time to n** softly at her. Now, minipets had no way to comunicate with students, nor did they really understand what students told them. But at the same time, they were far more wellversed in body language than most people gave them credit for. Clearly this ghoul needed comforting, and if his senses weren't failing him, she had a secret; he was good with secrets. Still mewling slowly, the creature continued to nuzzle the demoness and only stopped to look away, down towards the end of the alley and male voice could be heard calling out.

"Belle!" Gabrian wasn't sure why his wishing secret had chosen to run away; after all, the small creature rarely left his side when they went out for walks, much preferring to be carried over actually walking. Something had called the creature's attention though, and it'd jumped out of the demon's arms, running off into the near distance. From what the nix had been able to see, his pet had entered a small alley between buildings, and though Gabrian hesitated just a moment, he soon enough followed, "Belle?" a mewl sounded from deep within the alley and the demon peeked inside; the scene that greeted him was not what he'd been expecting to find. In all honesty, he'd just figured his pet had found someone else's pet and had seen it fit to go after them. He'd not been expecting to find Tsetsiliya, curled up on the ground, her knees pressed against her chest, almost as if she were trying to make herself vanish from sight.

There was a pause, as if Gabrian were not entirely sure if he should intrude, for no other reason than the fact he could smell water, even from this distance (Tears?). However, after a beat, he slowly made his way to where the wishing secret sat, nuzzling and pawing at the ghoul for attention, "Tsetsiliya..." he looked around, almost expecting her to be with someone, anyone, not alone and looking like she was worth no more than the dirt she sat on, "What are you doing here all alone?" he knelt down on the ground before her, scooping up the pet into his arms as he did so. He did not rise up after grabbing the Secret though, instead choosing to remain before her, an attempt to catch her gaze, "I shan't ask if you're fine, because you're clearly not," a pause as he reached out with his free hand, attempting to touch her chin and tilt her head up to meet his gaze, "What happened?"

There was hesitation in her voice and for once, Gabrian understood where it was coming from. After all, he'd not really known the ghoul long and he was asking her to confide something potentially embarrassing; had he been in her place, looking up at a ghoul he barely even knew that demanded to know his secrets... well, he wouldn't have told her either. that knowledge didn't make him feel any better when the ghoul looked away, refusing to meet his gaze, instead choosing to observe the ground, as if it might save her from the situation on a whole. His arm curled a notch tighter against his pet and he'd been just about ready to stand up and tell the poor ghoul he'd not meant to disturb her when her soft words reached his ears.

"Are you ever feeling as though.. you are not good enough?"

And there it was; the opening he'd been looking for just moments ago. He'd been asking her to confide in him without actually giving back a bit of himself, which was in no way a fair trade. For a long moment, the demon remain silent, his eyes lowering from Tsetsiliya's face in order to scan the ground she seemed so intent on inspecting. almost as if he, too, were searching for the answer to the question he'd been presented with. He still vaguely considered getting up and excusing himself, but if anything, his obvious hesitation seemed to indicate the ghoul had hit a sore spot. The moment dragged out for a few more seconds, and then the demon let out a long, weary sigh, still crouching on the ground, "Don't we all?" the words were murmured softly, and had Tsetsiliya not been sitting so close, it's probable she would have missed them.

Any other time... any other person, he wouldn't have said that, but the poor demoness looked so vulnerable at that moment in time that he couldn't bring himself to lie. He had as much trouble trusting other as she probably had, and if he wanted her to confide in him, it was only fair he confide in her first. That in mind, he shifted his position, turning so that he too could sit on the ground, his back pressed against the wall the ghoul had been using to lean on, "You know... I'm not a particularly adequate demon," he told her suddenly, the pet in his arms shifting around so it could reach out and nose the demoness' shoulder as it's master spoke, "My family hoped that sending me here would aaah... reeducate me into a prosperous member of society," he seemed to pause here, his brows knitting together, his gaze fixed on a far off point in front of them, "And by prosperous I mean backstabbing, traitorous jerk that wouldn't mind stepping on others to climb up ranks in the social ladder," the sneer that ripped across his features seemed to indicate what he thought about that, "I have no interest in climbing ranks, and while I favor elegance... there's more to life and death than what they've been trying to hammer into my skull all this time."

His hand stroked the small per in his arms, whom had calmed down enough to close it's eyes, purring softly, "My best friends are monsters. My parents would not approve," he scowled, "My ghoul friend is a monster. They would also not approve. One can't help but be what one... is," he finally turned his head to look at her, "Don't let anyone... not even your family, tell you you're not good enough. It's not true, and there's always people willing to prove that they think you're just fine the way you are, if you look for them."

Gabrian honestly wasn't sure what he'd been expecting her to do, but it was surely not to cry as openly as she did as soon as he spoke. It was almost as if his words had cause whatever dam it was she'd constructed within her, to break, making all her repressed emotion leak of her in the form of tears. It wasn't the first time he'd seen someone cry, but it was the first time he was at a loss of what to do. With his more closer friends, he knew how to react to them crying, but with Tsetsiliya, he didn't think he had much of a right to do anything, and as such, he hesitated.

He watched as the poor ghoul raised her hands up, rushing the tears away from her own eyes, as if crying were in some way shameful. Her headscarf had also fallen off her head and it was probably that small movement of fabric that snapped the nix's mind back into some resemblance of order, "Don't be sorry. I don't think you have any reason to be sorry, Tse. Not for yourself, and not for whatever it is you think you've done," after another small bit of hesitation, his hand finally stretched out and landed on top of her head, granting her a small pat and... the only real comforting contact he thought he was allowed to give her at the current moment, "And I'm not sure what you mean; I think your horns are just fine. They're lovely, now that I'm finally getting a good look at them. Besides..." he offered her another pat before retreating his hand away from her head, "Don't they say that size doesn't matter? Besides... isn't that what you're here for? I don't think any of us have particularly good skills. I'm sure that by the end of the year you'll have done just fine; you raided Christmas, didn't you?" he tilted his head for a moment, then paused and dug a hand into one of his pant pockets, retrieving a clean handkerchief which he offered her, "How many demons you know are able to state they've gone to Christmas, raided it and come back not only whole, but mildly victorious?"

Granted, that raid had been chaos, and the most prominent memory Gabrian had, was that he'd been horribly, horribly cold. He'd decided he hated snow and really, he didn't want to see a snowman for as long as he lived, but that was beside the point, "You'd be surprised," he murmured, a small smile tugging at his lips, "Just how many of them feel the same way I or you do. But then, just like you or I keep it hidden, so do they, probably out of fear," he let out a sigh and then pushed himself up to his feet, one hand curling around the Wishing secret, which he pressed against his chest, "You are most certainly forgiven for crying, my dear, but I don't really think that you need to excuse yourself," he extended his free hand towards the ghoul on the ground, apparently expecting her to take it so he could pull her to her feet, "Now, how about we go get you freshened up and cheered up?" after all, wasn't comfort the first step towards friendship?