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"You made the right call, and for that, I'm proud of you," Griselda smiled.
Now, from where he sat, Vin wasn't sure, but the slight tremble in Xenovia's shoulders almost made it seem like… she was crying.
Griselda continued to pat Xenovia on the head for a few moments, before the bluenette wiped her eyes, whispered her thanks to her mentor, and turned around, the same stoic Xenovia as ever, just this time, there was a glimmer of even more light behind her eyes. It… It was a welcome thing to see, honestly.
"Now Vin," Griselda's gaze shifted to the teenage boy, her tone flat, unimpressed. Oh, he fucked up didn't he.
"I believe you were under specific orders to not engage in any physically strenuous activities for at least another week, correct?"
Vin lowered his head in defeat, "...Correct."
"And what did you decide to go and do?"
"...Perform a physically strenuous task," Vin sighed, "But Griselda, I'm fine. And it was important that I did so! Me and Xenovia were the only two people in that food court with any weapons. I didn't engage with the enemy directly, I put up a barrier to separate the danger from the innocents, and then moved to protect myself while I left the fighting to Xenovia."
Griselda simply kept her arms crossed, looking down on Vin as he hopped off the table.
"Look, I'd understand if this was another stray devil or something, but these guys were regular flesh-and-blood humans. Their only weapons were guns that didn't even scratch my crystals; so while you may think that I made the wrong choice here, I refuse to agree. What I did was the most logical thing I could have done in that situation, all while factoring in the tools I had available to me, and my current condition," Vin glanced over at two workers in the distance, lowering the corpse of the security guard they were never able to save into a body bag, "I'll accept any punishment you might give me, because I know for a fact that it would've felt worse to see more innocent people being packed into body bags!"
Vin huffed, his chest heaving from his little monologue. He didn't understand why he felt so strongly about this… Well, he sort of did, seeing someone you knew you could have saved die right before your eyes will do that to you; but his rational side still argued that there was no reason for him to get so incredibly worked up over it. He couldn't have made it in time regardless. He was fast, but not faster than a bullet. If he had acted then, all he would have accomplished was getting more people shot.
Still, the memory of the two security guard's corpses made his blood boil in frustration and anger in a way that nothing had quite ever before. It was frankly unnerving. But ultimately, Vin took a few deep breaths, and the red tint that had begun to seep into his vision receded, bringing proper color back to his world.
Lint, who had remained silent behind Griselda the entire time looked… impressed, actually. Her eyes roving up and down his figure, before a grin split across her face.
"He's got balls talking back to you like that, Griselda," Lint jabbed a thumb in Vin's direction, "I like him."
"I'm not angry at you Vin, I was more so worried about you," Griselda stepped forward, "I… I made a mistake sending you into a mission when you truly weren't ready; I was all too focused on getting you acclimated to the way that things work for us exorcists, that I didn't even stop to think about all the details. I want you to know that I regard every scar left by that thing on your body as a result of my personal failure, not yours."
"You made the right call, and it's that self-sacrificing nature that makes a true hero," Griselda continued, "Not by making a foolish martyr, but by being conscious and considerate of their own limitations, and acting in spite of that. You may not have been able to take down a stray devil, but this event proves that you're just as much an exorcist as the rest of your peers. So, from the bottom of my heart, and the hearts of every innocent man, woman and child in this food court today: thank you, Vin. That fact that you made it out without another injury makes me so relieved and proud at the same time."
…That...That was possibly the most emotion that Vin had ever seen the stoic Griselda to ever express, and if the reactions of Lint and Xenovia were anything to go by, that was the same for them. There was something so… warm and motherly about Griselda, and a piece of Vin's heart ached in a way that rang throughout his entire being.
If Griselda was going to abandon her professional demeanor at that moment… Well, perhaps Vin could afford to let himself embrace this feeling inside of him. Throwing caution to the wind, Vin shut off his rational, scared and lonely brain, and threw his arms around Griselda, hugging the woman tightly, as her own hands came to pat his shoulders and the back of his head.
With his chin tucked over her shoulder, near the crook of her neck; the feeling of warmth and safety washing over him like a soft glow of a fire, Vin could feel the formerly ugly feeling within him blossom into a bittersweet ether. As he smelt the soft, faint scent of lavender in Griselda's hair, and acknowledged the strong, muscled, and protective arms wrapped around him, Vin realized something, from the bottom of his heart and soul, he missed this feeling, he missed it so badly.
It was like the embrace of his mother.
Unable to avoid it any longer, Vin turned his head down, and began to silently weep into his mentor's shoulder. Her hands refusing to let him go, coaxing him through warm, soft pats to simply let everything out. Their hug continued for an amount of time that Vin wasn't exactly sure of, but it probably couldn't have been more than a minute.
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