norcal dahlia truther

"But I’m sure you’re all business. You’d have to be. After all, if you let too many of your personal feelings into play in a job like this, the treatment at the hands of your employer might make it hard to walk into work every day." - Tempted By A Sadistic Demon

"I can only imagine what it’s like to have to deal with the constant stares, and the judgment. The wariness. Making it feel like you almost have to perform your innocence. Reassure them through your actions that you’re not secretly feeding on them." - Tempted By A Sadistic Demon

"Oh, nonsense... everything we do is a choice. You don’t have to work for the department, you don’t have to follow their rules… you’re a demon. We exist outside of their human systems, we don’t need their money, we don’t need their services… you do this job because you want to do good. And you want to help people. It’s admirable. Not a feeling I often encounter, as you might imagine. You don’t need this job, they need you… even if they don’t have a great way of showing it. Or even a mediocre way of showing it. But you choose to do it anyway. I can see why you’ve earned their trust." - Tempted By A Sadistic Demon

"So what are you here to talk about? Ooo, temptation served to me on a silver platter. Not here to talk, just here to listen? A dangerous offer to make to someone like me." - Questioning A Sadistic Demon

"I can ask fewer questions, if you like. Rhetorical as many of them might be, I know how frustrating it can be to not have good answers. Especially when they’re good questions. Or at the very least, important ones." - Questioning A Sadistic Demon

"You nearly expended all of your magic, trying to fight them off singlehandedly. You know what would have happened if you’d truly used it all. [sigh] You’re minimizing the severity of your condition. You can barely sit up. Try to rest. I’ll tend to you while your strength returns." - Under A Sadistic Demon's Care

"Has it truly been that long since last you spoke in this way? Is this Department of yours hellbent on stripping you of everything that makes you a Demon? How much else of yourself have you had to abandon to fit in with them? Well, thank you for sharing this true part of yourself with me. I imagine it’s not an easy step to take against so many years of pressure to do the contrary." - Under A Sadistic Demon's Care

"Oh how delightfully terse. I don’t think you’ve ever snapped at me before, my Warden. Exhaustion and frustration must be wearing away at that composed exterior you so love to present to the human world. Dare I hope to start to see what lies beneath? What truths you usually cloak beneath the guise of a calm counselor? More sarcasm. I love it. Be careful there, Warden dear. Your sadism is starting to show. No, it’s more than that. Frustration might be the cause, but your intent is undeniable. And one I am very familiar with. You wanted the words to bite. To hurt. You wanted to see me flinch. It’ll take more than that, I’m afraid. But I sincerely invite you to try. I’d love to see it." - Getting Closer To A Sadistic Demon

"No, darling. Not because I want to be hurt. Because I want to see you. Not that name badge you wear. Not that façade you drape yourself in. Let me ask you a question—counseling, rehabilitation. These acts rely fundamentally on truth. On honesty. You can’t fix a problem without being open about what it actually is. You ask for honesty from those you try to help. Vulnerability. Truth. While offering none of your own. Mmm. Professional distance only gets you so far, my Warden. You ask for more than you give. Why should I open myself up to a wall?" - Getting Closer To A Sadistic Demon

"You try so hard to fit in amongst them, taking on their traits, sacrificing your own, and yet you refuse to embody that most core of their values—openness. Honesty in expression. I don’t blame you. The mask is no doubt comfortable after all these years. But I think you’ve grown so used to its appearance staring back at you in the mirror that now you’re scared at what you might find if you shed it. My point… is an offer, my darling. Let me be the one to stand behind you, my warmth at your back, my fingers deftly, slowly, untying the knot that holds this proverbial mask over your face. Consider a human sentiment—a problem shared, is a problem cut in half. You may find what lies beneath the mask to be less frightening if there’s someone to stand beside you as you remove it. Someone without judgment." - Getting Closer To A Sadistic Demon

"But if you are to believe just one thing about who I am—believe this: I will not judge you for what you are. Just as I do not judge you for what you have tried to fashion yourself as. Or what you have lost in pursuit of that. You say you want to help me. I believe you. But trust has to go both ways. Your good intentions alone aren’t enough. If you want more of me, I need more of you in return. Ah—that’s untrue, and you know it is. There is more to you. So much more. You are not a title. A job. A purpose. You are an individual. You didn’t awaken one day in these circumstances, the path of your life led you here, and I want to know that path." - Getting Closer To A Sadistic Demon

"I wonder… what do you hope to achieve by pretending to still be asleep? I know you’re awake, Warden. You can open your eyes now. [laugh] It’s easy to tell. You have an admirable command of this physical form you take here on Elegy, but it’s not infallible." - Taking A Chance With A Sadistic Demon

"I can’t stay here. I’m leaving, my Warden. That distresses you. How interesting. Call it what you want, darling. But I’ve been sensing emotions long enough to know their true names. “Distress” is apt enough. Plenty of nuance there to hide behind if the thought of that causes a bit too much self-reflection. Perhaps it’s just distress at the thought of losing sight of a wanted criminal that was supposed to be under your care. Distress at the thought of failing in your moral responsibility to put me back behind bars. Surely that’s all it is, right?" - Taking A Chance With A Sadistic Demon

"Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just… that’s not the argument one might have expected you to open with, that’s all. You have a “job to get back to”? It’s a delightfully non-judgmental reason to give for refusing the offer, considering I’m an alleged criminal. One might’ve expected you to refute me based on moral grounds. Instead it’s a question of… employment. Do you mean to imply that only the Department’s woeful PTO policy stands between you and me? How deliciously banal. Don’t mistake me, darling. I know there’s far more to your reservations than that." - Taking A Chance With A Sadistic Demon

"I assumed you would want some time to let our latest meal settle a bit before we leapt back onto “the road” for lack of a better term. I’ve seen how it still gives you difficulty. Despite your efforts to hide that difficulty from me." - Learning a Sadism Demon's Past

"You are strong, but I am stronger. And I have far more experience in conflict than you do. If I say to get behind me, get behind me. If I tell you to run, you run. I will do all that I can to protect you. Always. But I can only do that if you allow me. If you cooperate. Understood? Good. Frustration. Do you feel that I underestimate you? Hmm. I hear you, Darling. I understand how you feel, and you have every right to it, I won’t try to take that sense of injustice from you. But I would ask that you consider this: I ask that you defer to my judgment on this matter not because I undervalue your abilities, but because I value you. In totality. I have experienced combat and loss on scales beyond words. I have spent millennia knowing and losing people. Perhaps that should have jaded me. And perhaps in some ways, it has. But in others, it has galvanized me. I know what matters and what doesn’t. You matter. To me. And I will not see you lost." - Deferred Judgement

"Hush says you were with me when I died. That we were… something to one another. Tell what we were. Remind me. What were you to me? You are withholding information. I am… I am… shattered. Blurred. I am… scared. I… I am not accustomed to this feeling. I need it to stop. I need to know what I’ve lost. I need… please. I don’t know who else can help. What were we? “Complicated” can mean many things. I imagine this must be difficult for you as well. But… please." - Your Sadistic Demon Has Lost His Memory

"I… These are terms of endearment. Words of… Yet you call it complicated. And you struggle to meet my gaze now. Were such expressions typical between us? Intriguing. If you’ll excuse my candor, I don’t know that I understand your trepidation. I… valued you. Put your safety above the completion of my task, whatever that was. Called you dearest. Darling. I realize I lack context, but at least some aspect of what we were seems… apparent. What about this was complex? Did I… Was I… harmful? Is that where your fear comes from? But I never harmed you? Intriguing again. I… Perhaps it is enough to simply know that it was… complicated, for now. I… I can live within those constraints for the time being. This is clearly difficult for you, I do not wish to cause you any further stress." - Your Sadistic Demon Has Lost His Memory

"That version of me. The one you knew. You stayed with me. You were with me in the end. You said I didn’t harm you, but I clearly did much harm to others, to many. Some of it deserved. Most of it, not. What was it that kept you by my side, if it wasn’t a threat of harm? I apologize. I didn’t mean to overstep. This clearly is… complex. Perhaps I shouldn’t push. I don’t wish to cause you distress." - What Was and What Is

"Inchoate. Whatever part of me existed that made you stay… that’s still in me. The potential for it. The remnants of it. Like a whisper, breathed across my soul. But whatever part of me gave you pause… whatever part of me you feared. That’s still in me, too. If I could ask a favor of you, as perhaps the person who best knows both of those sides of “Vega”. Tell me if the wrong one starts to win, hmm?" - What Was and What Is

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And also I think it is important to note that during the entirely of Warden's time with Vega, they are constantly asking him questions, inquiring, giving suggestions, and the like. And yet, whenever they are asked, the pull back, or get so emotional that Vega chooses to pull back himself. AND looking over all of these and other lines, Warden is actually pretty self destructive. Not just in terms of keeping all their emotions inside and simmering, but actively risking their own life and being frustrated when Vega does not permit them to. It's... sad.

And often how Vega gets through to them is my reading their emotions, or assuming and trying to poke at that which they won't say.