Private Finished Family Secrets

"They were being served inside of the drinks instead of real ice," he explained with amusement and then cracked a couple against each other to turn on the colorful lights inside them. "Dont worry, these didnt all come from me drinking. I paid the bartender so I could get one of each color. Not sure why really."

He mulled it over while cutting a respectable slice of his pasta and scooping it into his mouth. It was very good- Felen had been assured that the pasta was homemade.

"I dont have a particular use for them though if you'd like a few?" He could see how her attention had been grabbed by them. Even if they were just cheap gimmicks. Hell, they could have done something even fancier with magic but apparently they were am amusing thing going around with the young, barely drinking age, crowd.

Felen alternated between taking small bites of his food and putting the ice cubes back in his pocket. The food was great, although he knew he was probably going to finish before her if he didnt space it out a little.

As the mention of his name he returned his gaze to Zoraida's face with calm alertness and he set the fork and knife he was using down. "Whether it is something I know or not, you might as well tell me either way. Does it have something to do with how uneasy and stressed you have been of late?"

Obviously he had noticed more than that, but he was professional enough to pretend he hadnt overheard too much.

Felen's gaze flicked from Zora's face to the desperate clutching of her wine glass and back to her face. And he winced as she explained the situation. Broen was already a terribly sore subject and a trigger for her distress, as he well knew. Add to that her son and... yep, the wine made a lot of sense. Although Felen was making a mental note to keep his own imbibing limited.

"Ms. Del Bosque. Zoraida, it's ok to be upset at something like this. I know you have a penchant for busying yourself and keeping a strong and confident appearance up even when you are facing crushingly emotional situations." He was trying to sound calm and confident himself, for her sake, but the truth was he was increasingly concerned that his employer was teetering on the edge a bit.

Felen moved his plate to the side and crossed his hands on the table, making a subtle point of displaying the demonic hand on top. "I can not begin to imagine the pain you are feeling, or the pain he is feeling as a result of this incident. But it sounds like he, misguided as it might have been, was doing it out of love for you. And if you try to blame yourself for this you'll only be twisting the knife deeper in your son's heart. Neither of you need, or deserve, that right now."

Felen paused to extend his demon arm across the room to retrieve a box of tissues for her. Which he set gently on the table in front of her.


"I would not presume to speak for the deceased, but I would have a difficult time understanding how someone could hate you. And if someone did hate youn they certainly wouldnt be striving to spend time around you unless they were trying to hurt you." He reasoned as he took stock of his options. She was feeling a deep despair and it was his job to protect her, even from herself. Ok, so maybe that wasnt really part of the job. In fact their dinner conversation was ostensibly off the clock but he still felt like he needed to help as best he could.

Felen took a sip of his wine and then looked back over to Zora. "Sometimes great mistakes can be made in pursuit of good things," he began as he held up his demonic hand. An ever present symbol of arguably a major mistake on his own part-accepting a dangerous offer to pull him from the clutches of Death itself. "But it's more important what happens afterwards. I would be willing to bet your son regrets the result of the attempt greatly but that means you need to be there for him now. Not just saying you still love him but showing it. Honestly I dont know how, but perhaps I could clear an afternoon for you to go for a walk with him?"

Felen casually left the box of tissues within Zoraida's reach and retracted his arm, adjusting his sleeve to sit properly again. There were a few moments of silence as he worked through how he wanted to explain what had happened during the most influential moment of his life so far. Well, arguably so anyways. The moment that deposited him on Manta Carlos was also pretty influential. But that hadn't been a mistake. This had.

He sighed and took another sip of the wine. A bit recklessly so, if he was to think more on his actions, but his focus was understandably a little off. "I wouldn't presume to say what i did was in service to good exactly. That's not quite what I meant. I referred more to making what I, at the time, considered to be a good choice. A decision for my own personal well-being, specifically. You already know I was a soldier Ms. Del Bosque, but I should have been dead. Would have too if not for an offer I received as I lay dying with my body... well, it wasn't pretty. In the moment I wanted nothing more than to go on living."

Felen paused for a moment to let that sink in. The desperation of the moment, and its sheer simplicity in the terms he'd so far used. Then slid his wine glass away from himself before he could sip more. Technically it was hard to move something out of his full reach given his abilities but it was symbolic. "I was offered the option to live by something I didn't fully understand. Without considerable help I would have done far more harm than I could have imagined. I also would have turned fully into..." he trailed off and holds up his demonic hand. "Something monstrous."