The breath she draws in at his admission of hallucinations is sharp and quiet. All at once, she wants to ask him what he’s seeing and avoid the question entirely. It does contextualize why everything feels so wrong; if there’s no answer to ‘why is this going wrong’ then it’s little wonder that Togusa is adrift.
That tone from him, however, is an entirely different story. Hearing Togusa cut his own feeling off so starkly nearly disorients her. For a moment, because he’s admitted that he can’t see her face, Mariko just stares at him in bewilderment. He sounds like she used to - when she first realized the hurt was never going to go away. That echo seeds a familiar rage in her and it’s so much clearer without the fear for his life to muffle it.
He’s supposed to be the one that’s okay in the end. Togusa hurts and gets horrified and digs to fix it. He’s not supposed to accept it, not even a little.
A hard huff comes out instead of ‘Shut up’ or ‘Stop it’. No instead, she starts counting how many fingernails she’s going to take of Vanderweele when they catch him.
But Togusa is still confessing and she can’t help but really watch him. It feels like reading too much but he’s always been one of those really engaged listeners- it’s been one the reasons why lying to him directly almost never flew. Not the method for Togusa is information suppression and non-answers so he knows that she will not be talking to him about ...whatever subject.
If not for the first admission, she would have assumed that it was her eyes - that she’s too close to the Major and by proxy, his Other. He can’t quite handle whatever he’s seeing so he takes any opportunity to look away from her and drags his gaze back to her when he knows he should. It’s a good ruse, though - she’s probably one of the only folks who can see it on him so plainly.
It’s bleeding into his body language, as he drags everything in himself back to this conversation that he very clearly doesn’t want to have.
“How about you tell me what you’re sitting on and I can decide how mad I am at you, Hitori.”
Even on her best days, she’s never been able to master the right tone for irritated joking and for that moment - she sounds like herself. But the rest of her body language gives away her frustration; her tension flickers on and off like a light switch. She stills, forcing her usual stance and stiffening up when she thinks he isn’t looking. But even at their worst, he’s still him and she’s pretty sure she still herself so Mariko can’t help the way the truth tumbles out of her mouth.
“I could be ready to knock you out; but you’re the only person I...”
Re: 2/10 - Action [Togusa's Office]
That tone from him, however, is an entirely different story. Hearing Togusa cut his own feeling off so starkly nearly disorients her. For a moment, because he’s admitted that he can’t see her face, Mariko just stares at him in bewilderment. He sounds like she used to - when she first realized the hurt was never going to go away. That echo seeds a familiar rage in her and it’s so much clearer without the fear for his life to muffle it.
He’s supposed to be the one that’s okay in the end. Togusa hurts and gets horrified and digs to fix it. He’s not supposed to accept it, not even a little.
A hard huff comes out instead of ‘Shut up’ or ‘Stop it’. No instead, she starts counting how many fingernails she’s going to take of Vanderweele when they catch him.
But Togusa is still confessing and she can’t help but really watch him. It feels like reading too much but he’s always been one of those really engaged listeners- it’s been one the reasons why lying to him directly almost never flew. Not the method for Togusa is information suppression and non-answers so he knows that she will not be talking to him about ...whatever subject.
If not for the first admission, she would have assumed that it was her eyes - that she’s too close to the Major and by proxy, his Other. He can’t quite handle whatever he’s seeing so he takes any opportunity to look away from her and drags his gaze back to her when he knows he should. It’s a good ruse, though - she’s probably one of the only folks who can see it on him so plainly.
It’s bleeding into his body language, as he drags everything in himself back to this conversation that he very clearly doesn’t want to have.
“How about you tell me what you’re sitting on and I can decide how mad I am at you, Hitori.”
Even on her best days, she’s never been able to master the right tone for irritated joking and for that moment - she sounds like herself. But the rest of her body language gives away her frustration; her tension flickers on and off like a light switch. She stills, forcing her usual stance and stiffening up when she thinks he isn’t looking. But even at their worst, he’s still him and she’s pretty sure she still herself so Mariko can’t help the way the truth tumbles out of her mouth.
“I could be ready to knock you out; but you’re the only person I...”
And classic Mariko, it’s too much.