Art Gallery and Fall Runway 2016

Logan froze when Anthia tugged at his coat, emotional state swirling confusingly. He looked at her cute little face. He couldn't bring himself to turn it down, not when he was vulnerable, even if he mentally chided himself for it. This wasn't proper behavior, none of this was, he was too weak. He was usually perfect at acting and lies, but he knew he'd gotten too cocky and invested. Too bold. He knew Dorian was out of his league, but he'd went ahead with this anyway, and was getting hurt because he couldn't keep up. A burden. It was unfair to the man. His hands trembled.

He smiled at Anthia. "Sure. Follow me." He gently took her hand and led her away to a back room. It was just storage. There wasn't much here. Logan was silent for a moment before sinking down to the floor, knees to his chest, eyes bleary. "Hey… um, how good are you at keeping secrets?" he asked softly, voice sounding near to crying. He couldn't believe he was being this daring again. How did he know he could trust this girl? He didn't. He just needed to be able to. He needed to.

Valanice could feel the emotions of the room. She sensed a tonal shift that bothered her greatly. She found it hard to keep the smirk when she knew tension existed between her co-workers. The exact reasoning was unknown, but she was sure with a little investigation and context she could figure it out. Her fingers tapped nervously on her hip. She didn't like this at all. They continued on with normal conversation, but she was having a hard time keeping up her facade.

"I....well, perhaps I'm a bit nervous."

That nervousness was really directed at something else, but it would be better not to share.

Meanwhile Anthia followed Logan into a back room. She paid no attention to the things inside of the storage space. Her eyes were focused on the unicorn. When he suddenly changed emotions outwardly, she knew that her instincts were correct. Something was wrong. Her smile dropped as she scurried over to his side. She sat down and touched his shoulder. Her golden eyes stared at him.

"I can be quiet about anything."

This was true. She could hide secrets rather well, even if they hurt. She hated doing it, but she knew that sometimes things needed to be kept shut.....it was terrible, but that was how things were.

Logan didn't know why he trusted Anthia. Maybe it was her demeanor. Maybe it was still just because he had to. Either way, it was there, and it looked like he was going to be talking to her. It was a surreal feeling, talking to anyone. There was something solemn in her tone, he thought, something relatable within that.

He sighed and scrubbed at his face, taking a deep breath. "I'm--" his voice cracked, and he swallowed, trying to start again. "I'm dating Dorian. A-and. It's a secret, because my family would k-kill me if they found out. They're very, um, conservative. You know what that means? Some people here don't, because the majority is so progressive. Girls kissing girls, boys kissing boys, the demons I'm friends with, none of that is okay. I'm not okay."

The waterworks were here now, tears streaming down his cheeks, too much distress bottled up. "I can barely touch my boyfriend in public. Just a few days ago my little brother c-called me things I can't repeat to a nice girl like you. I can barely keep up. I can't be like her. S-she's so beautiful and they can flirt so forwardly in public and she's so much more mature and attractive and I don't know how to--" A choked sob. "Why wasn't I born a girl? At least, then, we could hold hands, even if I'm not very adult. I hate this. I can't do anything about it and I hate it."

"I'm s-so jealous of everyone born into the accepting families that let you just d-do whatever you want. I don't want to see the disappointment in my boyfriend's eyes because of this, I hate myself for it, I'm so fed up, and everyone else is fed up with me, too. All I do is make pointless drama that doesn't weigh anything to anyone else, so they think I'm a shitty teenager. I wish I was different. I wish I was better. I don't really deserve to be here."

Once he was done ranting, he just slumped, curling into himself a bit, not bothering to touch his wet eyes when he knew he wouldn't be stopping crying anytime soon. He felt bad for dumping this on Anthia already. She didn't need this. She was just a kid too.

Nope, casual conversation was not working. This needed to be addressed now. Dorian requested for Valanice to take his place. On one hand, she felt obligated to assist as an empath and someone who cared about her co-workers. On the other hand, she felt relieved for she was facing far too much stress to be juggling problems among other people. Besides, this did seem like something that had to be discussed between the people involved. She had no business nosing around. The dragon nodded and sat down after he got up and walked away from the booth. She put on a smile and crossed her legs. Hopefully she'd be able to answer questions if any were aimed her way.

Meanwhile Anthia was hit with an avalanche of emotions, yet she maintained a calm expression throughout. She did her best not to cry on Logan's behalf, but hearing all of that was painful. She just didn't want him to think that he was burdening her with too much. She desired to help; the girl thought carefully about what to say to all of this. It was a terrible situation of familial interests clashing with personal interests. The elf was far from sheltered; she was aware of discrimination towards homosexuals and demons. His family was painfully traditional and, quite frankly, bigoted.

While she couldn't relate on the discrimination front (Daddy didn't really care who his girls banged so long as he got money for it), she could understand the jealousy of everyone else having great families. While she was apart of an amazing family now, that wasn't always the case. There was a point in time where she was living under a father who was controlling and prone to snapping at any point of time. He also cared more about money than her and would gladly sacrifice her comfort in order to earn some extra dollars. So she had to approach this carefully without offending the unicorn.

"You're wrong. You do deserve to be here. You're a good person. Just because you have different views doesn't mean that you're shitty. It's your choice, but I think you should go with your heart. If you feel love for Dorian, then you shouldn't feel ashamed about it. If your family doesn't support you, then well...they're being jerks. I know it's not easy to stand up to your family, especially not parents, but you're an individual. You need to carve your own path and figure out what's right for you. Worst case scenario, I'm sure the school would gladly back you up. The scouts and counselors have been extremely kind to me ever since they found me hooking on the streets. They're avoided judgement and have done their best to accommodate me. Dorian also is a good person, and I think he would do his best to help too if you just opened up to him. I've ran across a bit of luck and have gotten into one of those good families you mentioned earlier, so if you need help, then I will do my best to use what I have to help you too. You're my friend. I'm not leaving my friend in a bad situation."

The tiny elf reached her arms out to hug the crying unicorn. Her cheek nuzzled against his shoulder. Her eyes closed.

"If you want to improve, then you're going to have to make the choice. After that, you take things one step at a time. A huge fallout might happen, and a lot of bad things may pile up. But if you take it slow and also reach out for help, then I'm sure you can work through this. It won't be fixed overnight, but sooner or later you'll feel better. You're a good person that's learning more about your heart. Please don't think less of yourself."