I Saw This Painted on a Bridge [Open-ish, Active]

[machitobaye]

Characters: Anna Marshall, Machi Tobaye
Setting: Blue Kitchen
Time: Night 006, early
Summary: Machi cannot hide forever.
Warnings: General gross, possible sap.

Comments

[machitobaye]

Machi had not noticed her approach, his attention more on his stomach and the difficulty of getting something to eat. There were a great deal of noises in the house at night--monsters moving, constant construction, the distant sounds of combat--and even Machi's hearing wasn't fantastic enough to distinguish one woman's footsteps from the rest of the noises. And with the terrible gnawing hunger clawing at him him, the crawling weight of the bug adding the painful privation, he didn't realise she was there until he saw a flash of something out of the corner of his eyes. For a second, he almost didn't notice even that--small things were starting to get filtered out and his head was hazy, but--his brain filled in the rest and he looked again, getting a better glimpse of her.

He froze. Then, slowly, he turned his head to look at her, holding his breath, afraid to see what he already knew he'd see. If time was capable of stopping for any specific thing, it certainly felt like it had stopped now, or at least slowed, suspending him, trapping him in a situation he couldn't escape, a situation he couldn't speed up or get away from. Machi stared back at her, wide-eyed, unable to bolt or even move, hideously self-aware, aware of his own monstrousness--she'd already obviously seen him anyway, and there was no way to get out of here without passing her... over her, by her, even the basement stairs were too close. He waited, waited for her reaction, afraid she'd do... something, anything, he didn't know what.

He couldn't do anything now but wait for her to...

[magicmelodic]

For a moment, their eyes met silently--the same pale blue she remembered them being, the same terror as when.... She trailed off on that thought uneasily, not liking the implications of the comparison. His face, his eyes were still the same, in spite of the bandages wrapped around his head, in spite of the grime and grease that caked him, in spite of the soiled clothes and terrifying, monstrous limbs that were so easy to recognize. He was still there, her little boy was still there, Machi was still just Machi at the heart of things, in spite of it all....

She almost wanted to yell at him. To demand to know where he had been for so long--didn't he know she'd been worried sick?--, why he hadn't gotten help.... She didn't have the voice to do it though, and she surmised her hands would shake too much to allow her to write just yet. The tears came unbidden, and Anna had crossed the kitchen faster than she realized she could, dropping heavily onto her knees before him without realizing the ache of impact. She didn't wait for a response or reaction, or to try and ask permission; she just threw her arms around him, pulling Machi close without even thinking of how filthy her clothes would get. They could be washed, or discarded--he couldn't be. Never.

[machitobaye]

The stare seemed to last forever. He was frozen, waiting, afraid.

Then time sped up.

Machi almost flinched away when she came towards him, almost ran--or fell--but he didn't have time, she crossed the kitchen before he had time to react, suddenly Anna was on her knees, her arms around him, crying, hugging him, pulling him closer before he even understood what was going on--he was too stricken, too shocked to do anything but stand there uncomprehendingly, numbly, halfway between crying and fear, his eyes still wide with surprise and confusion. Then his brain caught up with the events--only halfway, but enough--and tears started to form, running down his face, his features creasing and he gritted his teeth painfully--he didn't know when that began, didn't even know that he knew he was doing it. He was shaking, physically trembling, but he tried to push her away, get her off him--she shouldn't do that, should touch him, shouldn't be near him, shouldn't--no!--he didn't have the strength, though, and tried instead to pull away, to squirm out of her grasp before collapsing forward, just a little. unable to stand after trying to use his joints as leverage that didn't exist, and burying his head in her shoulder, crying on her in return.