notbreakable | (no subject)

It's not like Kimmy isn't used to being stared at.

Back in Durnsville, the first few days after her rescue had been awful. Of course, she was thrilled to be free and to find that the whole world hadn't disappeared, but the photographers and journalists that wanted to know every single detail about her life underground had been less... thrilling.

In New York, she'd mostly blended in after her first day or two having been side-eyed. She was eccentric but for the most part anonymous. And she'd loved every bit of it. No one knew she was a "Mole Woman," that she'd spent the better part of her life in a bunker.

In Darrow, sometimes she gets second glances because her attire kind of resembles that of a third grader, at least in color, or because she's holding the city's cutest baby, but that's it. And that's why it's so surprising that during what should be a pretty normal commute to work, people won't stop looking at her. Some point, even. She checks her teeth, her hair. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.

She's confused but relieved by the time she reaches Brian's place, letting herself in with a big exhale as she moves to lean against the closed door.

[For Truth on Your Back plot, Kimmy has the message that she COULD HAVE ESCAPED on her back. Find her anywhere around Darrow the morning of the 21st or at Brian's if you, you know, live there.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Of course not," Michelle says softly, almost as if to herself, shaking her head. Maybe their situations weren't exactly the same, but they're close enough that it's easy to put herself in the same position, to imagine Howard telling her that she could leave, but only if she sent Emmett out first, and she never would have done it. The risk would have been too much. Hell, she'd still believed Howard up until she climbed out of that bunker and realized there were birds chirping, a surefire sign that her life might not have been in immediate danger after all. It's easy to question, to doubt, but less so to take a game, especially when it's someone else's life on the line.

What Emmett did for her, she'll never be able to repay him for.

"I... If it helps, I would have done the same thing," she offers, the circumstances of the conversation itself, the words written on Kimmy's back, making it seem like a good idea. "I mean, Howard, he never even would have let me try, but if I'd been you, I wouldn't have done it, either. You can't take that kind of chance, right?"

"Not with other people," Kimmy agrees. She would have taken that risk herself, absolutely, figured the end of the world was better than being stuck with the reverend for even longer than she had been, but she never would have forgiven herself if Cyndee had been hurt. Or Gretchen, or Donna Maria. "When she found out, she blamed me. Seven more years we spent stuck down there."

"Jesus," Michelle says softly, the amount of time alone difficult to fathom. Howard had told her one year, maybe two, and though she knows now that he never intended to let her go, that he would always have deemed it unsafe in order to keep her there with him, there's a difference between that awareness and actually living it. All things considered, she didn't lose too much of her life. With everything that happened, it's hard to consider herself lucky, but in some ways, she knows she was. "She shouldn't have blamed you for not wanting to risk her life. It's a lot, but... What else could you do?"