avi realised her reaction has been a bit out of proportion, so she gently put a hand on mae’s arm, “it’s okay. just.. tell me what you want me to know. no more no less.” she tried to sound encouraging, like her mom doing a reading for a shy customer. she wasn’t sure if it was working, but she hoped so.
“i mean you could argue that hades is… not dead but with the dead.” avi mumbled, not trying to talk over mae but just trying to lighten the mood. she felt bad for mae, seeing her like this. it wasn’t something avi was used to. mae had always been the more… not necessarily more mature but then also avi couldn’t think of a more fitting word. and now hearing her best friend talk about all that had happened to her.. avi wished she could just engulf her into a big hug. and on any other occasion she would have. but right now she felt like maybe she needed to let mae talk.
“that’s a pretty horrific way to live.” avi spoke softly. she’d grown up in what was probably the opposite of the environment that mae grew up in. she could hardly imagine what that was like. after mae was seemingly done talking, avi thought for a few moments again. however, it wasn’t the shocked realisation kind of thinking. she was trying to come up with something useful to say. something that didn’t make it seem like she was just some naive kid. she bit her lip, then looked up at mae’s face, who’s gaze was focused on the street opposite of them. it was like she was seeing a new person, but also it was just her best friend still. “i’m sorry that that happened to you.” she finally said. “i think you deserved better than that. and i hope camp has given you a real home.” she sighed deeply, fidgeting with one of the three mood rings she was currently wearing (they were all different shades, one black, one olive green, one something between yellow and orange). “what will happen when she reports you? you won’t have to leave, right?”
mae was quiet and calm when she had first arrived at the camp, and she’s still the same, only slightly different lately as she made more friends and was more open. but in this moment, it felt like she was back to being herself from ten months ago. it felt like her closed off self had just given up a big part of herself and gave away a very treasured secret, which wasn’t a very big secret to begin with. she just never liked to mention it.
“why’re you apologizing? nothing is your fault.” she chuckled humorlessly, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around her knees tightly, his chin rested on them. “it has, i just... never saw the point of mentioning any of that depressing shit, you know? especially not when you were telling me about your family and things like that. i didn’t want to sound like sad poor girl.” she shrugged, looking at the ground.
“i don’t know.” she answered truthfully. “i doubt she can find the camp, but if she did catch me, then i guess, yeah. i’m still seventeen. we can leave the system at eighteen but keep contact, and leave completely at twenty-one.” mae explained what she knew. “she was a mean bitch, anyway. i hated her and never understood why she was looking after foster kids.”