Week 2, Post-Trial: Newt

[withsadness]

[So, uh, that sure was a spectacular way to end a trial. She would've run off basically immediately after her dismissal by Newt, and following that, made herself generally scarce. Ultimately, though, she ends up at the same place she'd ended up the night before, hiding in the ashen ruin that she's been mourning over. Her new blue dress is getting horribly messy, but she doesn't care. All Mary wants, in that moment, is to fade into the ground.]

Comments

[withsadness]

[Mary doesn't stop smiling, but her lips to press together so it thins out--like she's trying to keep something trapped inside of her, consciously or unconsciously.]

I guess I'm just used to being treated like the scariest thing in the world...

[The shaking starts to ease, little by little, her tension starting to drain.]

I'm glad you don't think of me that way, too. You're really amazing, Newt. Do you know that? That you're amazing? I'd be really sad if I'd never met you.

[completelycrazy]

[That is legitimately the first time anyone has ever said something like that about him outside of his family. He blinks, not sure how to respond.]

Th-thanks, Mary... I'd be really sad if I'd never met you, too. I don't, um, I mean, I've never really had a friend like you before. [...] And I'm not talking about you not being human. That doesn't matter to me.

[He's not sure that she'll believe him. He knows he's bad at this, and on top of her entry fee, the odds are really stacked against them. So he sits up again and gently pulls her into a hug. He presses his nose into her shoulder and squeezes her tightly, hoping that maybe she'll be able to feel some fraction of the intense affection he feels for her in this moment.]