Her face tightened with disbelief, body rigid with indignation and the pressure of his furious gaze.
"I hurt you?" Max nearly cried. "It's not like I dragged him off to some room afterwards!"
She stopped, then; sucked in a breath and decided to take a minute to think. Albedo was hurt. If she were to place her own feelings aside for just a second then she could see it, but it was seeing that caused her eyes to widen slightly and her lips to part. Because there it was: recognition in the misplaced jealousy, a dangerous thing with no direction, irrational and too much for him to handle in any healthy way because his mind had already been compromised.
Shaking her head, Max raked a hand through her hair and shifted uncertainly.
"He's not one of my flock." If nothing else, she had to establish at least that much. "And it's not his fault he thinks that way, he was made to-"
No, that wasn't right. Leave Dylan out of it. Protect him, if only because his naivety pulled some small feeling of obligation from her. What did Albedo expect to do, anyway? They were worlds away.
"Look, I'm not trying to hurt you. It wasn't my decision." Barring that, however… "What'll you do, kill anyone who tries to get close to me like that?"
If that were the case--and it was something Max could hardly contemplate--then she didn't know what to do. He was too precious to leave, as well as too dangerous, and she was too free to be contained. An uneasy feeling began to settle in her, so complicated that her mild recoiled at the idea of having to sort through it.
no subject
"I hurt you?" Max nearly cried. "It's not like I dragged him off to some room afterwards!"
She stopped, then; sucked in a breath and decided to take a minute to think. Albedo was hurt. If she were to place her own feelings aside for just a second then she could see it, but it was seeing that caused her eyes to widen slightly and her lips to part. Because there it was: recognition in the misplaced jealousy, a dangerous thing with no direction, irrational and too much for him to handle in any healthy way because his mind had already been compromised.
Shaking her head, Max raked a hand through her hair and shifted uncertainly.
"He's not one of my flock." If nothing else, she had to establish at least that much. "And it's not his fault he thinks that way, he was made to-"
No, that wasn't right. Leave Dylan out of it. Protect him, if only because his naivety pulled some small feeling of obligation from her. What did Albedo expect to do, anyway? They were worlds away.
"Look, I'm not trying to hurt you. It wasn't my decision." Barring that, however… "What'll you do, kill anyone who tries to get close to me like that?"
If that were the case--and it was something Max could hardly contemplate--then she didn't know what to do. He was too precious to leave, as well as too dangerous, and she was too free to be contained. An uneasy feeling began to settle in her, so complicated that her mild recoiled at the idea of having to sort through it.