week 4 - mary - sunday, post-execution

[completelycrazy]

[Newt makes himself scarce after the execution. He ducked out as soon as it was over, and it's not until a few hours later that he turns up again. He's hiding in the comic shop, sitting on the floor in one of the more out-of-the-way aisles, turning his tape recorder over in his hands. Well, in one hand. His left hand can't seem to grip it quite right, and his palm is wrapped tightly in black fabric. He's looking a little pale, too.

Hm! Weird!]

Comments

[withsadness]

But he's your best friend, isn't he?

[She sees things the way she sees them okay.]

I'm sure he'd be willing to listen to anything and accept it if you admitted you were wrong!

[completelycrazy]

[Oh. Ouch.]

Um... It's really complicated. We're colleagues, not... Not friends. But I spend more time with him than anyone else. Our work is kind of, um, the only thing we have anymore.

[He gives her a one-shouldered shrug.] I don't think there's a word for what we are. And, uh, I don't think he would forgive me for this, even if I admit it was wrong ten times over.

[withsadness]

How come?

[It's Newt. She can't imagine him doing anything all that bad. He's always been so nice! He draws tattoos for her!]

[completelycrazy]

I, um... [He's not sure how to put this.]

I don't think I've told you much about the place me and Hermann are from. [He's avoided talking about it with pretty much everyone, so if he's mentioned it, he's forgotten.]

A few years ago, these massive monsters started coming up out of the ocean. There was this, um, portal? We call it the Breach. The aliens were coming up through that. From another universe. It's the monsters I have on my arms. [He shrugs a little to indicate, but she's seen them. He doesn't roll up his sleeves.]

If we don't stop them soon, they're going to wipe out our planet. They've already killed, like, millions of people. They can destroy entire cities in a few hours. And they keep popping up faster and faster and when me and Hermann died, they were, like... [He frowns, trying to remember.] Well, suffice to say we're in the eleventh hour back home. We died doing something that would tell us how to close the Breach, and we're the only people in the world that have or can get that information. It's really, really important that we, um.

[Get a second chance at life? No, not really. As much as he wants that to be true.]

We needed to get that information back to the people at home, you know? Otherwise, everyone dies with us. Like... Everyone.

[withsadness]

[Mary shakes her head in affirmation to the fact that she doesn't know anything about where he's from. She listens, patiently, and...well, if what he's implying hits home, it's a little hard to say. But her stance does become...cautious.]

That sounds really scary.

[She watches his face.]

Right, that sounds really important. But you can't do that from here...can you?

[completelycrazy]

[He nods. He doesn't notice her tensing up. He's preoccupied with his own self pity.]

Yeah, it is. It's both of those things. And... You're not supposed to be able to, I don't think, but Hermann and I made a deal with Max. I, um, well... Hermann thought we were doing it to send the message back home, you know? To make sure Pentecost would know, in case we don't get back...

[He picks at his bracelet. He's not sure why he's telling her this.]

But... I changed my mind. I told Max that I wanted something to help us here instead. Something to help us win the game so we can just, um, go home and tell him ourselves.

[withsadness]

What was the deal?

[A natural followup question...and yet, she turns the palette knife over in her hands, growing more and more agitated.]

[completelycrazy]

Oh, um.

[Shit. Why is this her takeaway?]

It's... not important. My point is that, um, I made a mistake. And... I guess I'm scared that, if Hermann finds out, he's not going to like me very much anymore.

[That's putting it lightly.]

[withsadness]

It's not important or you just don't want to tell me?

[She closes her eyes.]

Miki said she made a deal with Max, too. That was why she killed Jonas.

[Her breathing changes, and she feels like she can barely get the words out.]

I can...I can keep your mistake from Hermann if you're afraid of what would happen if he finds out.

[completelycrazy]

...I, well... Maybe a little of both, I guess.

[It's not important anymore. It's done with. They accomplished nothing, and he'll just have to live with that.

Maybe if he ignores the comment about Miki, she'll forget about it?]

...Thanks. I'll, um, tell him eventually, probably, I just... It's complicated, Mary. Like, really complicated.

[withsadness]

[A little bit of both definitely means that he doesn't want to tell her. Mary hesitates, but the longer the silence stretches, the more uncomfortable she feels. And he probably feels it, too.]

Don't they say that the longer you keep something a secret, or the longer that you lie about something, the harder and the worse it gets to admit the truth?

[completelycrazy]

[He does feel it. His heart is pounding. He shouldn't have said anything. Mary has already figured this out. She knows what he did. She knows that he lied to her about it.

So he should just admit it, right? He's admitted it to other people already. More will likely find out before the game ends. One way or another, Mary will probably find out eventually. It would best if it came from him.

Well, that's not true. It would be best if it came from Hermann, but he's not here, and he was against telling Mary in the first place. God. This is just one more reason for Hermann to be upset with him, isn't it? But he's already screwed this up. There's no going back now.]

I... I'm sorry I lied to you, it's just, um. If this gets out, you know? Hermann and I could be in real trouble. You have to understand that. We thought... We thought we were helping.

[He clears his throat. May as well start at the beginning.]

Max gave me a clue last week. He, um, he told me that Jacopo was a Reaper. We're supposed to kill them all to win, you know? After the trial, I guess maybe that's not really the case, but... I didn't know. I asked Max, okay? I asked him to make sure we were doing the right thing, and he said that, yeah, all Reapers pose a threat to the Players, so...

[He shrugs.]

But we didn't torture him, okay? The trial got a lot of details wrong, and that was one of them. He didn't suffer, I promise.