Private Finished Yeah, Candy's Overrated Anyway

@Saber

Violeta had been having a pretty good time in the Community Center. Hanging out with Shiro and a few others had been great, even though Officer Genovese had been called to come tell them to stop jumping off the beanbag chairs. Oops! Well at least no one had gotten seriously hurt. Then Eon had popped in and made things even better.

Aside from happily making plans for Founder's day with Shiro and Eon, and a more private date with Eon for the fireworks display the coming weekend, she was just feeding on all the very emotional people in the community center. All kinds of things were going down and a lot of it seemed to be centered around the various buglike children who seemed to be popping up a lot recently. For a lot of the evening Violeta was too distracted by all the emotions to notice Shiro being upset by something but eventually she realized the girl was pretty emotionally hurt about something. A portion of it had seemed to be related in some way to the little bee girl's candies that the other girl had said were mind-controlling.

When Shiro started texting Violeta to ask if she though she was a bad person Violeta knew she needed to have a little chat with Shiro. Just like she had said in her text. Violeta knew what bad people were like and Shiro was definitely not like them at all. When Shiro got up to leave Violeta quickly said her goodbye and also headed out.

Once outside the Community Center Violeta quickly ran to catch up with Shiro. "Shiro, let's go talk for a bit ok? I don't know why you think you are a bad person but you aren't. Not even close. Even just asking proves you aren't. The people I was with would-" She had to clamp her mouth shut suddenly. Why the heck had she been about to tell poor Shiro about the horrible people she had known during her life? No, no, no. That was a seriously bad thing to do.

Instead of talking any more she gestured towards a quieter section of the park where they wouldn't be disturbed. Violeta was pretty sure Shiro wouldn't want other people to accidentally overhead whatever she was about to bring up. The emotions she had felt from Shiro were very strong and indicated she was deeply unhappy. While Violeta wasn't exactly the greatest at helping people with these things she was going to at least give it a try for her friend's sake.

Thankfully Shiro actually agreed to go talk for a little bit in the park. The way the emotions were coming off of her Violeta wouldn't have been terribly surprised if she had declined or even just run off. Instead though the girl stayed with Violeta as they walked a way out so no one would bother them. The poor thing couldn't even come up with any words for the first little bit. The tears said plenty though.

They wouldn't be walking any further for at least a little bit. Shiro was trying to push away the tears but it was a losing battle. Violeta extended her arms as an offer to hug Shiro but she wasn't going to push for it. Shiro could decide for herself whether a hug would help or make things worse for her. "Shh shh, of course you're a good person. You care about other people and try to make them feel good. No one is perfect." She was trying to be as comforting as possible but the truth was she was pretty sure just telling Shiro she was a good person wasn't going to help much. Violeta was going to have to mention a few uncomfortable things to try to get through to her. To at least show that she could be a person to lean on to help her get through this mess.

"Remember, I know when people have strong emotions. I don't make a habit of telling people what type of emotions i'm tasting but I know what you were feeling with that bug girl around. If you were a bad person you would have just run off to be with the mosquito girl and not beat yourself up about being attracted to her." Violeta sighed and looked away from Shiro to give herself a chance to work up her own courage. What she was about to mention was something dangerous and unpleasant and for the most part she didn't like sharing it too much.

"Listen, do you think i'm a good person? Because i've been the one drawn to awful people before and I couldn't help it. My reason was because even the worst, most hateful emotions delight me and draw me in. It made me do bad things even though I knew I shouldn't have done them. If that is the kind of thing that makes you broken then I am also broken. I'm working on getting better though. I don't know that I have the answers you need but I'm pretty sure I can help you. At least be a shoulder to cry on and someone who knows what it's like to feel broken. Or maybe just a sleeve to dry your tears on?" She tried to end with a bit of a joke despite the heavy tone and she did actually offer for Shiro to use her sleeves. Violeta really didn't care if they got dirty. Heck if she hadn't been out there with Shiro she probably would have been climbing trees or running around doing stupid fun things with Eon. Her clothing's cleanliness wasn't a main concern.

Violeta was willing to hold Shiro in a comforting hug for as long as the girl wanted. She was never going to be the warmest of huggers since she was undead but she wasn't cold either and she knew how to comfort someone until they were ready to break the hug. Violeta just stood there holding Shiro and waited until the girl decided she was ready to speak more.

She couldn't help it but her eyes glazed over a little bit as Shiro's emotions continued to radiate out. Fortunately it was just them in the area or Violeta would have been likely to lose her focus on helping Shiro. As it stood she was feeling the effects of feeding on Shiros anguish. To the average person it would probably sound cold and heartless but Violeta felt warm and happy as her hunger was satisfied. Of course she knew which emotions she was feeding on and she hated that her friends pain was tasty to her. It was just part of her life, though she really wasn't hanging out with Shiro in order to feed- she really wanted to help her friend if she could.

"I didn't ask if you thought I was bad," she started off quietly and calmly, "I know I'm not a bad person any more. Why? Because I say so. Because I work very hard to control myself- to keep from slipping back into terrible old habits. I could run around manipulating people into feeling terrible emotions to feed off them. I could use what I know about peoples emotions to toy with them for my own amusement. I choose not to be that kind of person though." It was a very terrifying thing to know that not only was she quite capable of doing those sort of things but she had been a part of a group that had done exactly that for years and years. It was part of what made her broken even long before she had ever been turned into a vampire.

"I dont know if I'm a good person but maybe we can both settle on just being people. Neither always good nor always bad. People with ups and downs and as long as we struggle to resist doing the bad things we are drawn to maybe that will be ok." Violeta patted Shiro on the shoulder and then tried to gently guide them over to a nearby bench to sit down. She probably would have just had the two of them sit on the grass but it was starting to get damp and she didn't want Shiro to mess up her clothes.

Either way she was going to remain close to Shiro so the girl would keep having a shoulder to lean on. Both literally and figuratively. Violeta didn't even need to ask what things Shiro was referring to when she mentioned stuff she was too young for. Based on the emotions Shiro was giving off and her own memories of her younger self she had a pretty good idea. She was going to have to listen carefully in case she needed to get the police involved.

Violeta's voice remained calm and comforting though will all the emotions in the air she was sounding a little more... floaty. She wasn't smiling or laughing but anyone who knew her when she was feeding on a lot of emotions would probably recognize the effect. Violeta was trying to suppress it as much as possible so she didn't make Shiro uncomfortable but there was only so much she could do. "Are you talking to a professional about this? I can give you support and I'll sure as heck come bursting through a door or even a wall to help if you need me but I'm not an expert. I'm much better at being there for someone than actually helping them fix a problem." It sucked, but it was true and she wanted to be honest with Shiro. Violeta probably couldn't solve Shiro's problems but she damn sure could be with her to help as best she could.

Violeta did think she had one suggestion for Shiro. It was the thing that had been helping her quite a bit now that she had made closer friends on the island. "Actually the best advice I can give is to find people you trust and let them know what to look out for. Like I told Eon what to watch for and when to pull me out. It's not perfect but it does help me worry less." Technically she was never all that worried about the emotional overstimulation since it wouldn't kill her and it was extremely enjoyable. It was the fact that it left her mostly helpless that was the problem.

To shiro it probably just sounded like violeta was talking about being drawn to, and getting overwhelmed with, emotions and being unable to get herself out. Which was a thing that did happen, and in fact Eon had needed to pull her out a couple times so far, but she was also thinking about her curse as well. The one that terrified her with how dangerous it could be. Being all but forced to do the bidding of any god or angel could turn ugly real quick if the wrong people found out.