And you can't pull me down

[musacal]

[ There's a groundhog anxiously pacing around the halls when suddenly everyone appears in the lobby and she's rushing up after all the initial reactions. ]

Wh... What happened?!

[ And where the FUCK is Maya UHHHHH ]


(ooc: y'all can respond to this however you want and make any generic top levels you need!)

Comments

[barberic]

It can wait.

[He isn't bothering to try and get control of his tears. They would fall whether he wanted them to or not. He lifts his free hand and scrubs his cheeks with the heel of his palm, then presses a kiss to her hair.]

You need to rest. Get your strength back up, so you can help us finish this.

[mayavericks]

Okay. Okay, I will.

[She hiccups faintly. How embarrassing.]

You won't be far, will you?

[barberic]

Never.

[She's allowed to be embarrassing. He's going to just sit here with her, and gently finger comb her hair.]

No matter what the pain,
We've come this far.
As long as you remain
I'll be right where you are...

[mayavericks]

[At least her little sniffles die off soon enough. His fingers in her hair bring back memories of a much simpler time between them. The trim he'd given her so many weeks earlier.]

Do you know what Otousan means?

[barberic]

[He's glad he can comfort her in that small way, anyway. He's glad he still has her here, warm and real against him.]

...No, I don't. You told me "san" is a term of respect, I think. Like "Mister."

[Back when she called him, essentially, Mr. Barker. Back when he called her Miss Tendo, before she was his Maya.]

[mayavericks]

You're right. But... when you had Otou --

[Saying it out loud is abruptly embarrassing. She has to swallow, take the time to process her words. These things had come so easily to Farrah, and while she knows she doesn't need to say it for Benjamin to know it, she still thinks it's deserved.]

Father. It's... a term for father.

[barberic]

[He waits for her, as she struggles to explain. But when she finally says it, his breath hitches in his chest.

It's not entirely unexpected. After all, he had called himself her father in the trial. When she had called him that the first time, it had filled him with the same kind of warmth he felt when Farrah first called him 'dad.'

When, years and years ago, Johanna used to stand up in her crib, squealing and shaking the bars in excitement, the minute she saw him come in the door.]

...I'm honored.

[When Johanna was locked in the asylum, he had given up on the idea of rescue, given up all hope. By the time she was rescued, he was too maddened with revenge, too obsessed with the thought of killing the judge to recognize his own daughter when she was in front of him.

He won't make that mistake again. No matter how much he wants to make the Wizard pay for all he's done.]

Thank you. For giving me a new chance to be a father. [He kisses the side of her head again, the arm around her giving a gentle, careful squeeze. Then a thought occurs to him, and he chuckles, the first laugh he's had in...days, for sure. Probably weeks.]

...And to think, Antonio predicted it before any of us knew.

[mayavericks]

Salieri-sensei was a very intelligent man.

[She speaks with a heavy layer of solemnity. Nevertheless, her shoulders shake with a faint bit of laughter. Of course he would have had something to say about all of this.

Still. She misses his words, even as she curls further into Benjamin's embrace.]

What exactly did he say?

[barberic]

Well... He cast us as father and daughter, didn't he?

[He says it with a small smile, his thumb rubbing over her shoulder gently.

It's still hard to think of his friend without feeling a pang of grief. To think of the man he himself was in those first couple of weeks, before he remembered how everything went wrong. But the fun he'd had, performing on that makeshift stage... Well, it's hard to forget that, too.]

[mayavericks]

He did. [She closes her eyes. Things had been simple back then. What she wouldn't give to go back there. What she wouldn't give to have cherished that performance, those moments with her friends.

But then, she already knew what she would give. And now the thought makes her uncomfortable.]

I... Was almost looking forward to seeing him again, you know.

[barberic]

...I can imagine.

[Said softly. Non-judgmentally. Farrah had said much the same thing, after her stunt on Wednesday. And when she'd woken screaming "Dad!" that night, he wasn't sure if she was reaching out for him, or for a ghost.]

But I can't say I'm sorry you were robbed of that chance.