Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"I don't think so," Kallista slips the bag off the table and tucks it back in her pocket. "You don't have to be nice to me you know... I saw how you all reacted on the Kite."

 Aelar feels a little irritation building.  How many times did they have to cover this ground?  "How, exactly, did we react on the kite, Kallista?"  He starts at Lazlo's outburst.  "Goodnight, Lazlo.  See you tomorrow."

(( not an outburst, spoken calmly at a normal octave))  Lazlo grunts a goodnight to Aelar. He was starting to think that language was overrated.

"Kina Barna, and Hyre were scared. Geoffery thought I was a monster, you thought I was different. You all assumed the worst just mom and dad and all their friends did so forgive me for not believing that all of you still think that I'm normal..." she stares down at the table. "I want to believe... I just can't."

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"Kina Barna, and Hyre were scared. Geoffery thought I was a monster, you thought I was different. You all assumed the worst just mom and dad and all their friends did so forgive me for not believing that all of you still think that I'm normal..." she stares down at the table. "I want to believe... I just can't."

"Kallista, think for a minute.  If you'd been in our place, with all the weird stuff happening, and I suddenly transformed into something that looked like that, what would you do?  Run up and give me a hug?  Of course people were scared.  That's normal.  No one was thinking the worst...people were just thinking normal stuff.  Did we know if you'd been taken over by something?  Of course not.  You were different, so of course people reacted.  As soon as we knew it was still you, what happened?  Instant acceptance.  Kallista, sister, I know your so-called family treated you badly but that's them, not us.  We love you and take you as you are.  So...why can't you believe?"  Aelar waits patiently for Kallista to answer.

"Because if I do," Kallista doesn't look up from the table, "then it means that they were right."

"Um...how's that?  What do you want to believe?"  Aelar's feeling a little confused and glances at Hyre.

"That the only people in the world who would care about a freak like me are lying or people who use freaks for their own person gain."

"Those jerks!  Well, if that's not the lowest, most despicable thing I've ever heard of...trying to keep you down with lies like that!"  Aelar is truly angry now, for perhaps the first time in all the time that Kallista has known him.  "Now you listen to me, sister, and you listen good.  First, you're not a freak.  You're tiefling, like I'm an elf.  That makes us different.  It doesn't make either of us a freak.  Second, since neither I nor Hyre nor Lazlo nor Balgrim nor Leon nor Mr. Grimbuld are using you for our personal gain, and since none of us are lying to you and well all care about you, that should tell you those jerks were the liars.  Unless," and he pauses to give her a firm look, "you think we're all lying...do you?"

Kallista doesn't answer at first, just staring at the wood grain of the table. Finally she says, "Who'd love someone when everything about them just reminds others what they really are, Devilspawn." From the way she says it, it sounds like something she'd heard many times before.

"Um...who said you're devilspawn?  What is that anyway?" Aelar sounds genuinely confused.

"My parents, and my grandparents. The priests they brought in to try and fix me. All their friends. A hunter I met on the way to Hon. Devilspawn is what it is. The spawn of devils... even if it's indirectly."

"Hmm...ignorant idiots.  What's a devil, anyway?  Did they ever explain that?" Aelar asks.

((Sorry folks, my back went out pretty bad on me today and I've been strung out on painkillers. Spinal stenosis is a bitter *****. Good interactions while I've been gone though! Also, to answer your question Bacon, no, all the proficiencies you earned in the prologue stick, whether they're part of your class kit or not.))

"They're really evil," Kallista trails off, not really wanting to say more.

Raia...what can you tell me about the real origin of tieflings?  Kallista's disgusting 'family' have made her feel ashamed of who she is, judging her entirely on her appearance, the shitheads.  Something tells me they didn't know a whole lot themselves.

"'They're really evil'...that's it?  That's a load of shit.  Tieflings aren't devils, Kallista, no matter what they look like.  Sister-mine, you've been sold some silver-plated tin, as my dad would've said...right before he punched your so-called family, the priest, the hunter, their useless friends.  I don't know much, that's true, but I know this...AND SO DO YOU...evil, good, that's what you do, not who your parents are, or your grandparents, or your 10,000 years ago ancestors.  What've you done, Kallista?  I've known you for years and I've never seen you do a single evil thing.  Those jerks who raised you?  They did evil...you haven't and you know you haven't.  All I've ever seen you do is good.  You are good."  Aelar's doing all he can to control his anger but it's getting harder by the second.

Hyre was silent for a while, organising his thoughts, but now he stands up, walks to Aelar and puts a hand over his shoulder. "Calm down, no need to lose your temper." He then turns to Kallista and plainly says: "Yes, I was scared of you back on the Kite. I've come to realise fear is the rational response to the unknown. That's why many of us Humans fear the dark, sometimes even at older ages. We don't know what might or might not be lurking there. Similarly, the Kallista that stood on the Kite back then didn't look like the Kallista I knew before. The reason I feared her was that I didn't know. I didn't know if it was still Kallista or not. That's the same question Sir Geoffrey asked you. We didn't fear a different Kallista, we feared someone who might not be Kallista." He walks back to his seat and slowly sits down in it. "You're not normal, that's true. I'm not normal either, and my parents had a hard time with me for many years. Yes, I can work on my abnormality, possibly hide it from others, but it also doesn't really provide any benefits. You can't change yourself, but you can accept yourself. Accept that you're not normal. Accept that instead, you're awsome. I haven't met even one other person who could fly, but you can."

Aelar flinches a little in surprise as Hyre places his hand on his shoulder, but understands the gesture.  "If this isn't the time to get angry, I don't know when is," he mutters but takes a few deep breaths to calm himself.  Looking back at Kallista, he hooks a thumb at Hyre, "Yeah...what he said."  He smiles.

Raia is silent for a moment and then speaks up.
"She's... not wrong." Raia states.
"When humanity was still a young race after the titans fell, there were other creatures who sought to take advantage of these primitive peoples. Dragons had no such interest in humanity... many believed that they wouldn't survive more than a couple centuries, but others, whose blood bore thicker ties to the strength of the titans, wanted to be worshipped. These days, they are known as demons. The oldest of them exist outside of this world, having carved open the means to thrive unrivaled in a whole different plane of existence." she says.
"When humanity and the other mortal races advanced culturally and discovered spellcasting disciplines, they lost their fear and willingness to worship blindly. As punishment, the demons sought to sew chaos into humanity's ranks by creating half-breeds. It didn't go as planned." Raia explains.
She takes a moment to look at Kallista.
"While there was a portion who embraced their purpose, the demons underestimated the mortal capacity for compassion. Over the years and generations, tieflings gained their own identity, some scholars even question whether any demon blood still remains, or doubt that there ever were any to begin with."
Raia's gaze turns softer, sympathetic.
"The fact that the titan beneath Guiston manifested itself into Kallista, however, means that her bloodline is... thicker. I suspected as such but... I didn't want to say anything until I was certain. Wherever she goes, if there is a powerful enough presence, it may attempt to enter her, whether she wills it or not. Her blood makes her a conduit. Some tieflings, like lady Ashwa, are barely more than humans with horns and tails... Kallista is different. You all need to understand this. It isn't her fault... but it is her burden, one she may have to carry her whole life."
Raia's expression changes again.
"Which is why it's all the more important you all take care of one another. You've endured tests that others your age have only read about when the deepest of your worries should be on being embarrassed or having skin blemishes. Some were meant to live an ordinary life... it seems fate decided something different for you all."

Aelar cocks his head at Raia.  Remember how I asked you about this silently?  Was there a reason you chose to answer out loud?  Doesn't matter.  Doesn't change a thing.

"What's your point, Raia?  That Kallista has some measure of titan blood in her?  That makes sense but so what?  My point was that evil is what a person does not what a person's blood is.  And, you," he says turning to Kallista, "are NOT evil.  You've never done an evil thing in your life.  And, just so you know, when I look at you I'm reminded of how wonderful you are and how much I love you, sister."  And he reaches to give her a hug.

Kallista's face falls, then seems to perk up, only to fall again as Raia talks. "So that could happen again?" She asks quietly.

She listens to Aelar speak, and accepts his hug. She does ask one quiet question though. "Then why dont they?"