Nevin stared for a long, long time at those notes, reading through them. Ayaka had done her best to make them easy for someone who had no grounding in what she or the other nekojin of their clan could do. While her drawings were a bit childish, the actual written notes were of a high quality with a steady hand. He folded the papers up and set them on the table in front of him, drumming his fingertips against them as he thought. Ayaka seemed to be a bit angry with how long he was taking to respond, but he found that he didn't really care about whether or not she got pissy right now. No, responding to her properly was better than responding quickly. He had responses to her, that was for sure,
but the problem was organizing them, when they were things he wasn't even sure of himself. But there were things he did know, things that had already been proven to him that he could rely upon, as well as things that Ayaka had already said herself. He had almost choked when she mentioned thinking that the red mass inside of Eteri was a Forgotten One, but rejected the idea as absurd. He had finally put together what had happened and just why Eteri's 'tentacles' were so eager to be touching him, and it wasn't really a good thing.
Finally he took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. When he opened his eyes to look at her, they were glowing with an inner red light, brightening them up and making them shine with a brilliant ruby red hue. "I never said a Blood Mage was all I am, Ayaka. But I do know that stuff inside of her. I cannot see it the way you can, that is true. But I am well aware of its presence. She's cut herself, and I can feel it scraping against her magic, trying to find a foothold. Somehow, it hasn't, but I could not tell you for how long that is going to be the case. But, I can see when it affects her more - because while I cannot see her soul, I can see her Red String of Fate. The one connecting to me is.... sturdy, at least the one that is from Eteri herself. Even empty, she has enough of a presence to anchor a String. The thing inside of her, well, that is much weaker, and the emotions that run through that connection to me are far darker in nature." He took a deep breath and shook his head before leaning forward, folding his hands together and staring at Ayaka.
"You said before that sometimes the empty ones have managed to grow their own soul. Do you know how that is done?" He had a thought. There were those who claimed that the soul, tied to life as it was, was also tied to blood. And that was not even considering the fact that his powers came from the Great Flow of Crimson, which he was seriously beginning to question as to its nature. But, if he could help Eteri in any way, if he could give her enough to start building her own, personal soul, that could balance out and eventually overcome the remnants inside of her. His magic had already beaten back Pode's infestation inside of himself, swallowing it up and overwhelming it - even if he had not told Eteri what had happened to him in the forest. Or told her what exactly he was. That was.... a conversation that needed to happen, he thought.
