Dia tried to meet the Merrow’s gaze as he began talking. She was intrigued by his words, especially since the conversation suddenly felt so similar to the one she had shared with Devlin when they had first met. The memories of that day threatened to bring the tears back, but she fought against them. No need to lose control for a reason Jamie couldn’t detect. However, as his story continued, her heart went out to him and when he mentioned the late Phoenix’s name, the tears finally broke free, silently flowing over her cheeks.
Her hand began moving of its own accord, lifting from the table as if to stroke his scar, but she was able to detour it quickly enough that she instead simply imitated his comforting gesture by placing her hand over his on the table. She managed to return his smile with a sad one of her own, even with the tears still slowly carving their way down her face. Once he was finished with his story and she felt in control of her voice, she daintily cleared her throat. “Thank you, Jamie. I really appreciate that. And…I’m - I’m sorry about your parents. I never knew mine, but I couldn’t imagine knowing them and losing them like that. This is hard enough.” A single tear made a path down her cheek, and she reached up to brush it away. She hadn’t wanted to cry in public, and yet here she was, weeping in the middle of the coffee shop. She should have known that would happen; It seemed she couldn’t go very long anymore without crying.
It suddenly occurred to Dia that Jamie had shared a very personal story with her, and she should probably reciprocate. She didn’t know what it was about the blonde, whether it was because he was a fellow water creature or because they both knew the pain of loss, or maybe it was because of what they had gone through at the farmhouse, but Dia wanted to confide in him, to trust him. She took a deep breath before beginning a story, the whole of which she had yet to tell even Alex.
"I didn’t actually know Devlin that long. It was only a month or two, which - for people like us - is more like a second or two. But he had lost family, like you, and it had sent him to a dark place. We had that in common - I was born a different person than I am now,” Dia hoped that Jamie could see in her eyes what she could not communicate verbally in public, “and I did some bad things before I finally…changed. And so we bonded quickly - we had similar interests, and he always treated me like I was some precious thing that needed to be cared for and protected. At the Halloween Parade, we…we found out that he’s-er, was possibly the father of Eva’s baby - they happened before he met me - but that gave me an opportunity to step back from him. To distance myself. And I probably should have, because before I came to Atlanta, I didn’t have the best track record for keeping friends alive. But I didn’t, and that was actually when we finally made our relationship official. Fast forward two weeks, and we were happy - before the camping trip got seriously screwed up…..then we went on that search party for you and Angel and the human. We had barely gotten into the woods, it couldn’t have been ten minutes after we crossed the treeline, when the Mare - though we thought she was that little girl with the awful laugh - appeared with the other hillbilly Mythics. One of them, I’m not sure who, fired a shotgun at me. It would have killed me if Devlin hadn’t gotten in the way…..” Dia’s voice finally trailed away, the tears having returned with a vengeance. She looked down at the coffee cup between her hands, no longer able to form words until she could get herself back under control.
Jamie immediately felt abashed, shrinking back from the onslaught of tears he no doubt caused. "Dia.. I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to make things worse." The boy pressed his lips together into a straight line and gave the Rusalka the saddest eyes that he could fathom without trying before lowering their oceanic depths to the formica table between them.
In an attempt to make it up to her, what he had done by drudging up horrible memories, Jamie told his own story. Maybe it would take her mind off of her own plight and focus on something else for awhile-- even if it caused him pain in the process. That was just how the Merrow was, he preferred to hurt so those he cared about didn't. Instead, Lydia began to tell her side of what happened.
The boy's eyes lifted to the noirette's, meeting their sad glacial depths and nodding in understanding. He knew not all mythics modernized, that some had been different in the past and now were trying to change. He got that, and he held no judgement against her for it. It was only in her nature as what she was.
Bringing his tea to his lips, he choked on the scalding liquid at Lydia's words. "Eva?! Him too? How many bloody fathers are there? Are sirens that much of a bunch of slags?!" He said this loudly-- and quite bitterly as well, drawing eyes to them.