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[@Silvan Haven][@Crimmy][@Write][@Plank Sinatra][/center]

[b]"That's the idea, isn't it?"[/b] came my rhetorical response.

It'd have been pretty foolish to expect her to open up much more than that, anyway. She simply wasn't the type. Dropping the stoicism wasn't happening with that sort of declaration.

I mean, it wasn't like I'd even explained the how or the why, either, you know? Just saying I wanted to get better's honestly pretty run-of-the-mill on it's own. Without the context behind it, it didn't mean half as much. Everybody here wanted to prove themselves, didn't they? Of course they did.

What really gave that wish the weight it had for me were the circumstances surrounding it, those that bred it, and those I would need to create to make it happen. I could expect her to suddenly have a grand epiphany only if she learned about all of those that were behind it.

But, then we would be here all night, wouldn't we? She seemed satisfied enough with the answer anyway...

Wait.

I glanced back over to her.

She just asked that question in the first place.

Could it be that Gratia Mindaro actually had a modicum of interest in what kind of person I was? It wasn't like she was one for small talk, so "just keeping the conversation going" wasn't a valid answer...

As far as I could tell, there was always a purpose behind what she did.

So what was the reason for asking me that, then?

...You know, I feel like I should feel ashamed for my line of thought skewing itself in this direction, rather than just accepting that she could be social every once in a while.

S-Sorry, Gratia!