Chapter 5 – Grieving
How bad was Raizel that he chose, or was forced, to sleep in the middle of the day?
Back at the island
Frankenstein immediately took Raizel to the lab, having asked them to look after Astraea. Swallowing down a hamper of questions they followed the long departed child to the living area. She wasn't in any of the public spaces. The eventually located her it what was clearly her personal room. The feeling of sadness that blanketed the place was now obvious without the mystery of Astraea distracting their minds.
It was a painful sight, their little star curled up on her bed griping the teddy Takeo won like she would fall apart. Silently, crying. There was an awkward moment before Regis admitted complete ignorance in dealing with the matter and excused himself. Seira and Takeo took point as M-21 and Tao arranged themselves on the other furniture in the room. Seira was patting her shoulder while Takeo had taken a desk chair to sit on right by her head. "You know what's happening to your Papa, don't you?" A nod into the bear, "we came to say goodbye he means a lot to us. Would you like to talk about it? We will listen." She turned to face them all, after a long look Astraea nodded.
She repositioned herself on Seira's lap and faced them all, still clutching the bear. "Papa told me you could know, but that didn't mean you would want to." She took a deep shuddering breath. "You should know I'm three. Papa and Father shouldn't have been capable of creating me because they are very different beings. I asked Papa about it once, he told me a lot not everything, and he didn't have the right words to explain. It was only this last half year that Papa showed signs of dying. He was dying for longer they told me! Papa shouldn't have to sleep but he sleeps every night like a human 'cause father told him it would help him live and it does, Papa has out lived fathers guesses." Her tone changed so much through that speech but it didn't seem to be over.
"Father is great he does everything for me, but I like Papa to. He makes me feel loved, good and important because I am here there is nothing for him to fear, worry lots but never fear. He sends his love to me whenever I'm nearby. I can teach him things in ways Father cannot, Papa doesn't have nightmares so I can join him in bed when I wake up too early. Father says when people die they are forced to leave and never come back. I don't want Papa to go away forever! ... I'm not permitted to stay at any school for more than a week or two until my soul has grown as big as a human adults. I only get to go to school at all because Papa demanded I get to spend time with beings my age. I, I just don't know what to do." Having finished, she finally let go of the bear and grabbed Seira instead, she was crying out loud now.
"Hey, do you want to go see your parents? They will definitely let you watch," refusal. "We'll stay with you then, Regis go get us water would you?" The noble had left the room to wait in the hall so he should understand the request.
Astraea stopped crying before the water arrived, she looked at them and asked if they would do a puzzle with her. Everyone accepted so they moved to the nursery, it should really be called a play room. When someone mentioned it to Astraea she stared. The time for questions was later.
I'm going to give the characters some Assumed knowledge soon so keep an eye on these notes when they appear. It where I will be telling you these things. So...
Nobles are never babies they are formed with a late toddler/young child body. They have a rapid mental growth spurt, then grow their souls however that's done. They do not become aware of how to shape shift until about 30yrs old. Since Astraea is Frankenstein's daughter I made her smarter than normal for such a young noble and gave her some extra human desires. If her soul is aged to a human adults when she hits 30, Frankenstein was planning to let her go to school all in one place because she could then 'age' like a human. This would still be far to young for a Noble family to leave their child in the hands of strangers, but Astraea is part human and needs more company then her parents can provide. Raizel noticed this and told Frankenstein to send her to school now, so she wouldn't be as lonely.