Lloyd seems to have an unintentional habit of startling her, she’s found- first in the training hall with his sudden question, and now... also in the training hall when she’d thought she was alone and took off her too-thick overshirt while practicing with her new Blessed Lance. It was late enough that she hadn’t expected anyone, though, she should have known better with how many strange people frequented the monastery. She quickly pops over to the side of the room to pull her shirt on to be less... well, indecent before she answers. Her voice is quiet, and it lacks it’s usual warmth.
“Ah, Lloyd- I pray your night has been good, besides... seeing that,” she says, looking straight at the training dummy she’d been working with rather than at him. “And, uhm, as for who did this... Well, you can tell it was a while ago, I’m sure, since it’s just a lot of scarring now.” She spins her lance around, but it’s obviously just to have something to do with her hands.
tw: abuse (details vague)
She doesn’t talk about them often- hell, she’d barely even told Edelgard about them, the crawling roots and branches reaching across her back, the mass of mangled flesh in the middle of it all, but... This was Nino’s brother. Nino trusted this man with her life, and leaving the question suspended eternally in the unknown would only raise more concerns, she knew. So she decided to trust him.
“...My stepfather gave them to me,” she answers, lance jabbing into the side of the training dummy as she mentioned her relation to him. “When I was little- I don’t remember it anymore, not really. My maman said the first time I had taken a hit he was aiming for her.” A slash at the dummy- cleaner than the last. “He did it a few more times in the same spot after that- letting out anger, or punishing me for little things. I... I was happy to take it, if it kept him away from my little brother more.” A deep stab into the dummy’s ‘stomach’ made her pause, working the lance out before continuing to speak. “Before you get too angry, there’s no need, really.” A jab into the dummy’s ‘neck.’ “My mother and I ran away from him 13 years ago. Someone murdered him a few years later.” She breathes out, arms slackening some- the dummy was almost unrecognizable.
“...It’s been a long time. But he can’t hurt me or anyone else anymore, and that’s... That’s really what makes it feel ok, now. That and the time passed, of course. My memories have been getting fuzzier and fuzzier of what it felt like, what happened to me in that house.” She smiles to herself- a small, bittersweet smile, but a smile nonetheless- before looking at Lloyd again. Her smile drops. “Oh, goodness, I’m sorry, that was... very dour. I’m sorry if my going on was insensitive or just too sad. I’m- I’d be happy to talk about other things, if you’d like.” She gives a consoling smile now. “Just let me know.”