Disclaimer.: here it is.
Ch 4. A new perspective. "Pets?"
She'd left a message with soul. Hopefully if she could stand the sight of him in the next few days without crying he would still be around for her to confess her thoughts later. But for now she had work to do. Work mila was more than happy to assist with apparently "so you decided to stay. Guess this means you do want the help." The odd woman chuckled.
"M-maybe" her Stern face was indication of her simi return to normalcy. "What do I have to do..."
"It isn't like training for a fight maka." She sighed "that's why I had to make some phone calls."
"Wait how did you know my..." She was cut off,
"Stein... He and I have a love hate relationship. Trust me I made him swear he wouldn't tell your father. Or any of your friends for that matter. We both agreed that's best if you deal with it at your own pace. But he has made it so you have a week off." She smirked "so now we get down to it. Like I said this isn't like an exam. You can't just memorize the answers and study it into perfection. You have to learn to feel it. Learn to read yourself as well as others. Your issue isn't with understanding body language. It's having the confidence enough to use your own."
"I-I'm plenty confident" she huffed indignantly,
"Said the girl who was too afraid to share her name with a stranger" the woman countered effectively "look I get it. I've seen enough sobbing in my life to know when someone has a few daddy issues." Her words from anyone else's mouth might have made her angry but for some reason she couldn't detect any insult to her tongue. "That and deathscythe is kinda a big deal you know. Every woman with an ass to shake has been hit on by that moron."
Regardless the fact that she now felt like someone had intentionally put her up to spying on her life she chuckled at the witty humor, "y-yeah"
"And I gather that he's a large amount of the problem." She sighed noting the girls now more defensive posture. "Look... You know that lovely double standard that gets pulled? A guy dates all the women he's a stud but a girl with all the guys is a slut? Yeah it's bull shit. You're only a slut when you do it out of spite. You can't help who you find attractive no but you can pick who you sleep with. That being stated there's no reason not to test the waters and be selective on who gets to play around on treasure island."
"I know that was an innuendo but I've missed at what..." She played dumb for the sake of sounding responsive and not like a third grader attending morning classes.
"It means your dads a horn dog but not every guy who looks at another woman is. We're sensual creatures maka. Who do you think has all the pull in a relationship." Her views on a 'relationship' were rather askew for makas liking but she nodded regardless. "That's the reason guys are always staring at our asses. They know if they got half the chance they'd bend over and kiss it just for the chance to have us on their arms. Now the issue here is you're afraid of a certain someone not looking. And now that I know who I'm dealing with. Oh and yeah you're oddly popular. I think I have a good idea who."
"Y-you might be mistaken" she tried to defend her obvious intentions but failed.
"Sweetheart you live with your partner... How many guys even remotely get that close to you?" She huffed "I may not be college professor but I'm no idiot either. You've got a crush on your own weapon." And so it was out. Someone other than herself knew the truth. For a moment she felt the world would crush her but at the same time it felt like a tremendous weight being lifted from her ever so tired shoulders. "I'll take it I'm right."
"M-maybe" her retaliations were all feeble, who was this woman? Was she some sort of weird extracurricular test from lord death?
"Figured. Now here's where I need you to be honest... About yesterday..." The dreaded topic came up something she had hoped to leave behind never to be mentioned again. "I want you to tell me what it made you feel. Don't just give me some cookie cutter answer you've heard from victims on the television or some super cliche novel mess that you read about. I don't want to know what they felt. I want to know your story."
"I-it's like I couldn't fight back" she mumbled at first trying to process the event "or like... I didn't want to... I just felt so... Untouchable before you know... Like no one would ever look at me like they do tsubaki... And there he was... H-he called me pretty... I mean... I knew what he wanted... What he'd try to do... But I was a victim... There wouldn't be a reason for him to lie right? I-if I was ugly why would he have wanted me?"
"Go on sweetie you're doing fine" she pushed her gently into a seated position on the couch. "No ones judging you."
"It felt like... Like he was proving that I was at least worth the look... I knew I didn't want it... I knew I was being used... Being mistreated on a level so wrong... But a part of me felt like it wasn't any worse than what I've already had done to me... Like having my body used knowing I was desirable was better than having my heart broken and being pure." Tears forced their way to her eyes now. "I wanted to fight back... I wanted to want to at any rate... But... I couldn't... All I could do was think 'why is this happening to me? What did I do?' I'm not a bad person... At least I don't think so... But why doesn't anyone notice me? Why doesn't 'he' notice me? I guess I just... I felt like if I couldn't be acknowledged by anyone else... What was the harm in letting him do it?"
"Shhhhhhh" she wrapped her arms around the girl gently "you're alright ,milas here now." She cooed her gently allowing the blond to ride out the few tears that had worked themselves free. "We'll get him maka... You just need a little boost."
"What am I kidding... Mama was the same way... She fell for papa and then... Yeah" she found herself pulled into the other woman's shoulder gently
"Spirit is a philanderous ass yes... But he was also a lot younger when your mother and him were playing around. I was there trust me" she chuckled.
"W-what? Just how old are you?" She blinked dumbfoundedly
"A lot older than I look trust me... You wouldn't believe me if I elaborated so I'll just leave it at that for now." She chuckled. "Like I was saying, he's a horn dog. But most younger men are. Hormones and whatnot. They'll chase anything with a rear end. You're mom was a lot like you. Rough around the edges but with a certain girlish charm. How do you think she managed to get your dad to buy a ring?"
"Not your advice I think" maka finally managed to find a small amount of humor in this situation.
"Well you're sharp after all. Nope it wasn't Me. You father cared. Even I saw that. But they were kids. It was never going to work. But she got further than any other woman has to date. They had a connection back then or it wouldn't have happened at all. And 'we' wouldn't be having this conversation. Simply though your mother knew what she wanted at the moment. And consequences be damned she got it." The woman chuckled bemused for a moment. "Hence you."
"W-well..." She sniffled now pushing the remaining tears back as she contemplated the woman's words. She had always harbor an ill will toward spirit for running her mother off. She felt like his lecherous habits were what broke their family. In essence it was still true but then again she hadn't seen it in this light. When she though back on it spirit wasn't all that old when she was born. They were practically kids themselves.
"Now don't get me wrong it doesn't excuse his behavior today. But still. Not everyone knew what they were like back then. I think stein even had a few skeptical moments. And your dad made him famous. That stated your current situation... Hardly anything to be identical I'm sure, but there are some uncanny similarities I shouldn't have to point out. These are issues yes, you're young, so is he, don't expect him not to look at another woman. It's impossible. Every guy looks. Don't hold him to your dads standards though. Not every guys a lech." Violet locks were pushed aside with a lazy hand as she leaned on one of her elbows. "Now the other side of this coin isn't him but you. No don't let him walk on you. You're not a door mat you're a woman. However there's no point in having a pet if you don't play with them a little" there was a viscous sort of smirk to her,
"P-pet?" The girls eyes were saucers "I-I don't think I-" again cut short.
"Trust me wether that's how you think of him or not that's exactly what a boyfriend is. A pet boy. You pat his head feed him and make cute little noises and he's happy as a lark. And when you pet other boys he gets jealous. However if you let some other girl pet him more than you do... Well I hate to say it but that's kinda why your mom an dad split. She got tired of trying to keep up with him. It would've been easy enough yeah but she's a little more like you than you'd like to know I'm sure. Stubborn is all I can say."
"B-but mama" she hesitated for a moment feeling the need to defend her mothers virtue.
"Hold on. Don't get all twisted. It's not that your mother never made an attempt. It that her pride was simply bigger than your dads philandering. She tired to a degree yes, even he can't hide that one. But it's that conservative nature both of you share that forced her to pick her own pride over spirit. Which in her case is a bit of a win loss. Yes she's all the better for not letting him ruin her self image. But in the end it just showed that they weren't completely committed on either end. Love is love no matter how temporary but it takes some effort from both parties to keep the fire lit. Spirit was putting in minimal effort and your mom got tired and stopped trying. Hence the divorce."
"I-I know that I just... It's hard to look at it that way." She sighed.
"I know sweetie. Now first things first. Don't go making the assumption that your gonna wind up like them. Second. How badly do you want this guy?" There was a mischievous kind of gleam to her eyes that even shook makas bravery for a moment.