CH766 Thera's Perspective

Thera knew she wasn’t the best with children. It was something she’d improved on drastically since she’d started working at different hospitals and clinics but the concern about it still lingered and now here she was, having just taken in a child like no other.

She couldn’t help it though, hearing her aunt talk like that hadn’t given her a choice. The indifferent, dismissive attitude she’d shown her own child just because it wasn’t good enough in her eyes brought back too many memories from her own youth of people knowing what she was and her inability to live up to whatever potential they thought she should hold. It was as disgusting as it was maddening and all of it tied together to force her to figure out how to deal with the situation from there.

How did one look after a juvenile great spirit, something that had never once existed before, with no warning to work off of? A being with the sort of power and skill that could not only wipe out armies but single-handedly manage an invasion point? Just thinking about it was leaving her light-headed but she forced herself to change her way of thinking. It didn’t matter how much or little power it might have held, she wasn’t interacting with a great spirit right then, she was dealing with a child and by all accounts intended to treat it as such.

Crouching down in front of it where it sat, she did her best to wear a comforting smile as she began talking, mentally screaming at the fact that the back and forth between her and her aunt had happened right in front of it and some of her own lack of restraint when talking to their mother.

“Hello sweetheart, I don’t know how much you know about me but I’m the daughter of the great earth spirit which means the two of us are cousins. My name is Thera, can you tell me yours?”

The fact that her aunt hadn’t even seen fit to mention what her child was called was a whole new reason to try and hide the anger she was feeling inside, with it only becoming tougher with the answer she got.

Staying quiet at first, seeming more hesitant than anything else, it eventually spoke, even if the young soul spirit seemed withdrawn into itself.

“I don’t have a name.”

“Pardon?” Thera asked, feeling the smile she wore take an uncomfortable edge that she tried to suppress.

“Spirits don’t need names, they’re used for mortals.”

It sounded more like it was repeating something it had been told more than anything else and while that may have genuinely been true for any typical spirit, she couldn’t help but question if it really was in that case here. Vividus had said the spirit in front of her was unusual due to the system effect that created it, who it was reflected in its form and by all accounts, its form was that of an incubus child, something that very much needed to be named.

Still, her disgust at the young spirit’s mother was nothing new, even if it was growing to previously unfelt proportions and she tried to keep that to herself while explaining as gently as she could.

“Well, maybe that's typically true but names can be nice to have and I happen to be a mortal, so is there anything you’d like me to call you by?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“In that case, would it be okay if I think of something?”

“If you want.”

“Alright then, let’s see…”

Oh gods above, how do you pick a child's name?

It was something she never expected to have to do, to have it so suddenly dropped in her lap left her thoughts filled with plenty of not-very-good ideas.

“Alright, well first, would you say you consider yourself male?”

Spirits had no gender but for the sake of convenience they let themselves fall into different categories that mortals would use to describe themselves and given the one before her appeared by all accounts to hold the form of an incubus it felt like a reasonable assumption but she wanted to be sure. If the young spirit’s mind matched the body it had then it was likely it wasn’t consciously choosing to look like that, with that assumption feeling all the more likely since if Vividus wasn’t willing to give them a name, she almost certainly wasn’t going to tell them to take on the form of a mortal instead of existing as a dense point of mana. 

Of course, it could have easily viewed itself as female or something lacking in gender altogether, or even one of the less common options that existed in the world where reproduction was split between three or more individuals instead of two, Thera just wanted to try and get anything she could to narrow down what she might call it and after seeming to take a second to think about it, the spirit answered her.

“Spirits aren’t gendered.”

“And that’s fine, but we’re talking about you. How do you feel?”

“...I feel male,” He shrugged, hesitance at his answer coming across as he spoke, even if he couldn’t see the point of the question while she nodded.

“I see, alright then, how about… Hmm, how do you feel about the name… Mora?” She eventually asked, settling on a slightly less common incubus name she liked while he seemed to think it over for a second before nodding.

“I guess that’s fine,” He told her before a small twitch gave something away. “The system’s acknowledged it too.”

…I should have definitely given it more thought.

It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d get a system notification for it, making it official in a way that she was sure most people experienced but no one remembered. Names were reflected in one's status, why wouldn’t there be a notification for getting one? The only reason she’d never considered it before was because she’d never heard it talked about and that had to just be a result of the majority of people getting theirs when they were born. Now though, knowing that what she’d bestowed with so little thought was being treated officially by the system, made her mind flash to all sorts of other options before she quieted it down.

It didn’t matter, even if she gave it some extra thought, Mora was a perfectly fine name and any doubt came from the fact she hadn’t been prepared for something like that, it was nothing to worry about compared to the fact that she’d just taken in a child.

Which did leave the issue of where to go from there. Almost reflexively she went to ask if he was hungry or needed a drink but stopped first, knowing the idea was stupid. What did a spirit need for food or water? All she was doing was letting herself get lost in the question of what she was meant to do and her thoughts refused to stay in order.

“Um, for now, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself then, Mora?” She asked him. “Is there anything you’d like to do or anything that might make you feel more comfortable?”

“No.”

How much he could have learned to enjoy in the months since he’d been born may have been slim but to have no answer at all made her question just what her aunt could have possibly been doing with that child the entire time, but she didn’t doubt it, instead looking around the house.

“In that case, why don’t I teach you a game to pass the time for now and if there’s anything you want to ask me we can talk while we play, alright?”

“If you want.”

Not a drop of enthusiasm in his voice and still seeming deeply withdrawn, Thera tried to keep looking positive and friendly for the sake of the child she’d been left with while she taught him one of the simpler card games she knew, all the while trying and failing to pull some greater conversation from him and desperately hoping Ben would be home soon for whatever help she could get.