031 ☣ she has a lot of true colors

[fridgetothefire]

[Video, Public]

[The feed is at a slightly awkward angle, held one-handed. It's Anya and Two-Face. She's behind him, her chin on his shoulder on the scarred side, her other arm wrapped around him and holding a slim black knife at his throat. The knife and her hand are already thoroughly bloody, though his neck is - thus far - unscathed. Two-Face looks furious and strained. Anya looks fierce but cold and calm, almost serene.]

Two-Face is losing a lot of blood. Someone should come help him to the infirmary. We're in the library, historical nonfiction, MA to MC.

Comments

[fridgetothefire]

[She hasn't rejected violence as a solution - obviously - and she'd kill or worse to defend her friends in a heartbeat, has promised to mutilate Two-Face further if he gives her any more trouble. But not after the fact, not when it wouldn't stop anything. She forgives people only selectively, only if they feel guilty enough to make the crime its own punishment. But if not that, then the scales of pain don't ever balance; trying trips some Heisenberg Suffering Catch-22, unbalancing somewhere else. She isn't responsible for making them balance, she doesn't need it, sharp and burning in her chest like she used to, like a choking girl needs air.]

No. I'm not offended.

[She's definitely, totally, absolutely not crying. Oh, oops, that's salt, yes she is.]

[wedonot]

[... Those are tears, and it's probably bad that his first reaction is oh god, clearly I have fucked up here, but.

There it is.]

Are you alright?

[fridgetothefire]

[She sniffs and nods rapidly, smiling through it, not like she's forcing herself, but like maybe she can't not.]

Yeah. I'm - yeah. I'm just. Glad.

[wedonot]

[That gets a sort of nervous smile and laugh out of him, because he wasn't really expecting this sort of a reaction from her. Their relationship has been interesting - complicated, but not always in a bad way, and honestly, Charles has spent most of it thinking that his affection and concern for her went largely not reciprocated.

Apparently, that wasn't necessarily true.]

Would you mind terribly if I gave you a hug?

[fridgetothefire]

[She doesn't always like him. (She doesn't always dislike him, either). But somewhere along the way started to trust him, in specific but crucial ways, and she very badly wants his respect.]

Yeah, that would be. You could do that.

[wedonot]

[Charles sets aside his tea and gets up to do just that. It's affectionate, and more than a little paternal (... maternal, let's be honest here), and if you'd told him this was how things were going to go back when he'd first found out why she was here, he probably wouldn't have believed it.]

[fridgetothefire]

[She folds right into his arms, presses her damp face into his cardigan, and holds on tight.]

You gave me hope, you know. Sometimes when I felt like I could calculate everyone grinding down to armegeddon with no way out. Your world, mine, anywhere. And I didn't even believe you, but you believed it, and sometimes that was enough to hold on to. That somebody else could imagine balance.

[wedonot]

[For someone who has often been told that he's a naive idiot who doesn't understand how the world works, and has struggled with the idea of hope and optimism and a stable, better future himself thanks to what the Barge has put him through, that is really, really good to hear.

Don't make him cry too, Anya.]

I'm glad I could help.

[fridgetothefire]

Anyway, it just. Means a lot.

[That he's proud, in particular. He's the parent with high standards, sort of, at least in the realm she has the most trouble with, the one whose approval, if not care, she has always been least sure of out of her patchwork clan.]

Thank you.

[wedonot]

You're very welcome. Thank you for saying that.

[He isn't as desperately unhappy and miserable as he has been in his time here, but it's still been difficult at times, and hearing that sort of thing, especially from her, is really pretty fantastic.]