[m]Tonight we drink to youth

Orin Takekuro · 12-06-2011, 11:30 PM

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OOC Epic! 1,000+

It seemed that her question spurred something deep within the Russo man and his reaction didn't look good. First he revealed those eyes that Orin had hardly gotten a glimpse of any time she was around him lately as he pocketed his sunglasses, and then when her question was out in the open his entire expression mutated. He went from his apathetic or sometimes somewhat annoyed look to instant... anger? Fear? No... maybe sadness... She wasn't entirely sure how to read it. Anyone else and she could have made her assumption, but Mars never really showed what he was feeling very well.

Then whatever was percolating inside the man finally bubbled over as he snapped back at her. Now it was her turn for her ears to droop, disappearing into her choppy blond hair, her eyes growing wide with surprise and her jaw slack. His words darted from his maw and cut her deep, lancing into her more harshly than he could possibly know.

She made him this way? That just didn't make any sense, how could she have made him this way? He was always like this, ever since she had known him. Quiet and veiled, hiding the talents and wonders of his person deep beneath a harsh exterior. Hell, he had never even told her about Bartholomew, she only ever found out about Mars's other half after the man waltzed right over to her house wondering where he was! Oh no wait... that's not exactly how Mars meant it... He was always hidden but he had been even more withdrawn since she found him in Crimson Dreams. As he expounded upon his claims, she started to understand why.

And his reasons repulsed her... Or at least, they would have if ever word hadn't been laced with such deep seeded emotion. He couldn't possibly know, couldn't possibly understand what she had been through, and if he had said this without the precursor she would have slapped him then and there. But... he was telling her that he loved her... at least to her “would have” and “did” were the same thing. Did he still? The thought wasn't at the forefront but it was there, somewhere... Was he acting like this because he still cared about her... like that?

Then the shock and flattery of it all wore off and his next words sank in and sliced deep. Her expression shifted that moment from shock to anger. “You don't know what the hell you're talking about!” She shouted, poking a bony white finger at his chest. “I didn't just leave you! I didn't just drop you like trash! I was crazy... I was crazy with fear! I would think if anybody could understand what that was like it would be you. Orin had to disappear and she had to fast, there was nothing I could do about it. Argul threatened my children... I watched him...” she choked on her words, took a deep breath, and started again. “I watched him murder my son.” She spoke slowly, deliberately. “Once I knew what he could do... what he would do... I had to make the right choice for the girls. Maybe it wasn't the best choice, but it was the only thing I could come up with at the time. I listened to him, and I ran. When someone takes you down like you're nothing but a piece of grass and then threatens your newborn children you obey.”

Her hands went to her face, fists balled up at her temples like she was trying to block some beast from getting in. Her eyes clenched shut for a minute, and then she opened them again and dropped her arms.

“I couldn't come back. No one could know me. He would have followed me. Orin had to die because she couldn't protect anybody! Do you know what happens out there? What happens when you can't lift a finger to save your children? The only defenses I have are up here,” she poked a finger at her skull. “But it kept my daughters alive. I don't regret any of it.”

Was she stalling? Was she skirting the subject? This had gone on long enough. “I didn't leave you, Mars. I left the danger and I wasn't smart enough to figure out a way to come back until he was dead. I would have gone looking for you but I couldn't do that to the girls anymore. They ran for the first two months of their lives... After I came back here I couldn't just turn their world upside down again. And you can bet your ass I wasn't going to leave them, either. Think about your puppies. They hold you together, don't they? Could you do that to them? Over and over again? I owe them my life. If not for them I would have been killed by Argul or Luci...”

She took a deep breath and changed the subject abruptly. “I didn't know that you left until after I came back.”

Her voice died and all her fight ran out. She was suddenly so tired. Her eyes dropped and she stared at the floor for a minute, thinking about the last thing he said. “You're not a monster. I've seen monsters and you don't even come close.”

It was so overwhelming... Everything that they both said, everything that she relived. She was forced to face it – she couldn't just walk away from Mars like this. In a way he was right, she had left him, even if she couldn't have done anything about it, and he deserved an explanation. But the story was too much, and knowing her friend hurt like this was too much. Her chest heaved as she tried to suppress a sob. She was like that for a long moment before she moved closer to him, and whether he liked it or not her arms came up to wrap around him. .

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