[This wasn't how she'd wanted to tell him. She'd thought to do it at night, once things were more settled between them, when she was gathered in his arms and all was calm. A confession, whispered against his throat and kept safely between the two of them. Not like this, not while she's so out of control.
For a long minute, she doesn't answer. It isn't out of cruelty, but sheer need: she can't string a full sentence together, not with how hard she's crying.]
T-there was--
[She bites at her bottom lip, trying to pull herself together long enough to get this out. A gaping breath comes first, followed by a deeper one, a slow inhale and exhale, until finally Rosalind is certain her tears have temporarily retreated. She wipes her cheeks, trying stupidly to appear respectable as she pulls back, as though Robert will care about her appearance.
(His arms are around her. His coat is around her. She's kept safe, she's contained, he's here, nothing is going to hurt her while he's here, nothing can ever hurt them so long as they're together--)]
There was a creature. There's so many strange ones here-- supernatural ones, ones we'd dismiss as fairy tale nonsense. I've been studying them, I was just outside our apartment, and one of them . . . it was hanging about the edges of the forest. It saw me and attacked.
[She's never spoken of this, not in detail. She'd admitted it to Fugo in one sentence, hastily offered, and even then only to explain the presence of Punnett. Strider doesn't know. Kurama had been there, and wonderful man that he is, he'd offered an explanation to Urameshi, saving her the trouble.
She's never had to tell someone, not in detail. She wavers and hesitates, uncertain as to how to tell the tale, her voice shaking the entire time.]
A wendigo, it was called. It-- it possessed me. It took over my mind, my b-body, just like that, it was--
[She laughs damply, a helpless little thing that isn't amused in the slightest.]
Rather like being caught by Fink's vigors, wasn't it? Except what it wanted was-- it was so hungry, it was always hungry, it wanted to eat. It wanted to eat everyone it could, and use me to get close enough to people in order to do so. So it took control over me, it--
[Her mouth trembles again, and Rosalind blinks hard, glancing away to try and hold out just a little longer.]
I just watched. I watched, I had to watch, I couldn't do anything, and god, it-- it talked to me, it told me just what it was going to do, how it was going to eat them all, how I was, and then in the end how it would kill me too, and I couldn't-- I tried. I fought it, I did, Robert, you must understand, I-- I c-couldn't-- I couldn't do anything, I had to just watch--
[She's trembling in his arms. It's all she can do to keep her teeth from chattering, and with a little shudder she presses in closer, as if that might somehow help.]
no subject
For a long minute, she doesn't answer. It isn't out of cruelty, but sheer need: she can't string a full sentence together, not with how hard she's crying.]
T-there was--
[She bites at her bottom lip, trying to pull herself together long enough to get this out. A gaping breath comes first, followed by a deeper one, a slow inhale and exhale, until finally Rosalind is certain her tears have temporarily retreated. She wipes her cheeks, trying stupidly to appear respectable as she pulls back, as though Robert will care about her appearance.
(His arms are around her. His coat is around her. She's kept safe, she's contained, he's here, nothing is going to hurt her while he's here, nothing can ever hurt them so long as they're together--)]
There was a creature. There's so many strange ones here-- supernatural ones, ones we'd dismiss as fairy tale nonsense. I've been studying them, I was just outside our apartment, and one of them . . . it was hanging about the edges of the forest. It saw me and attacked.
[She's never spoken of this, not in detail. She'd admitted it to Fugo in one sentence, hastily offered, and even then only to explain the presence of Punnett. Strider doesn't know. Kurama had been there, and wonderful man that he is, he'd offered an explanation to Urameshi, saving her the trouble.
She's never had to tell someone, not in detail. She wavers and hesitates, uncertain as to how to tell the tale, her voice shaking the entire time.]
A wendigo, it was called. It-- it possessed me. It took over my mind, my b-body, just like that, it was--
[She laughs damply, a helpless little thing that isn't amused in the slightest.]
Rather like being caught by Fink's vigors, wasn't it? Except what it wanted was-- it was so hungry, it was always hungry, it wanted to eat. It wanted to eat everyone it could, and use me to get close enough to people in order to do so. So it took control over me, it--
[Her mouth trembles again, and Rosalind blinks hard, glancing away to try and hold out just a little longer.]
I just watched. I watched, I had to watch, I couldn't do anything, and god, it-- it talked to me, it told me just what it was going to do, how it was going to eat them all, how I was, and then in the end how it would kill me too, and I couldn't-- I tried. I fought it, I did, Robert, you must understand, I-- I c-couldn't-- I couldn't do anything, I had to just watch--
[She's trembling in his arms. It's all she can do to keep her teeth from chattering, and with a little shudder she presses in closer, as if that might somehow help.]