(no subject)

[notbreakable]

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.]

Comments

[fatesdesign]

When Rapunzel sees Kimmy pass by her, she goes to raise a hand in greeting but the words on her back make Rapunzel take pause. It's an odd thing to see, and Rapunzel shakes her head a bit and runs after her.

"Kimmy, wait up!" She calls out, holding her hair up and sharing a baffled look with Pascal as she jogs over. "Um, what's up?"

[notbreakable]

"Huh?" Kimmy asks, glancing over at Rapunzel and Pascal. She's pretty desperate to get indoors or at least away from the people who seem to be watching her for no good reason. They're making her stomach hurt. "Oh, just headed to work!"

[fatesdesign]

"Okay," Rapunzel says, drawing out the word and frowning in confusion. She looks around and then leans in closer, tucking her hair behind her ears. "What's with the words on your back?"

[notbreakable]

Kimmy used to be able to spin fast enough to catch a glimpse of her reflection without a mirror, but she can't contort herself well enough to see her back. To see whatever words Rapunzel is talking about. "Did someone stick something there?"

[fatesdesign]

"Um, no. It's like, on you." She blinks and bites her lip before reaching out as if she was going to touch Kimmy and dropping her hand instead. "It says could have escaped."

She looks around and leans in, lowering her voice. "Does that have anything to do with what you told me?"

[notbreakable]

"...what in the ham sandwich?" Kimmy mutters under her breath, trying even harder to see the message on her back without really responding to Rapunzel. She has no reason to believe she'd lie, though, and how else would she know the secret Kimmy's tried to keep even from herself? "Why would someone do that?"

[fatesdesign]

"Because Darrow can be quite cruel sometimes, I've learned." Rapunzel frowns at Kimmy's reaction, and then her wide green eyes widen in alarm. "Oh no, do I have something too?"

She tries to crane her neck around to see, but she can't make anything out. Pascal, however, looks down at Rapunzel's back and goes red with outrage. Rapunzel blinks and turns around to show Kimmy her back. "What does mine say?"


[OOC: Hers says 'raised in captivity'.]

[notbreakable]

Kimmy's trying to think of how to brush off what it says on her own back when she sees Rapunzel's, stomach churning instantly. Of course she knows about Rapunzel's past. That doesn't mean that everyone else in the whole goshdarn city should. "It... yours says you were raised in captivity?"

[fatesdesign]

Rapunzel is so worried that her back will say something about her magic that the actual words bring her something of a strange sort of relief. It's not like she wants everyone knowing this about her either, but given the choice between that and her magic, she would have picked this.

She would have preferred to give the choice of nothing at all, but Darrow doesn't seem very concerned with what she wants.

"Oh," she says quietly, turning back around with a definite self-conscious slump to her shoulders. "Well, you knew about mine. Do you want to talk about yours?"

[notbreakable]

"It doesn't matter if I already know," Kimmy says firmly. She definitely doesn't want to talk about hers, though it feels inevitable. At least she knows she can trust Rapunzel. "Nobody should have to share something they want to. Especially if it wasn't even their fault."

[fatesdesign]

"No, I definitely agree," Rapunzel says, biting her lip and letting her hair fall down her back in case that might help cover the words. "This isn't fair at all, and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

[notbreakable]

Knowing Rapunzel had been kept captive so long, too, though, makes Kimmy feels like she has to let her know. "I wanted to," she says, almost out of nowhere. "Escape. More than anything."

[fatesdesign]

"Of course you did," Rapunzel says gently, reaching out to rest her hand on her friend's arm. They're kind of out in the open and Rapunzel moves in closer, looking concerned. "Do you want to go somewhere more private and talk?"

[notbreakable]

Kimmy's nodding before she's saying "yeah, please," as she tries to figure out how to put into words what had happened that day with the rat and the reverend and why Cyndee had been so mad at her. "I don't want to be outside right now."

Something she never imagined herself saying.

[fatesdesign]

"Sure, of course," Rapunzel tells her, keeping close as she leads her down the street. "Where do you want to go? My place is close. I could make us some tea and we could talk?"

She really wouldn't mind going someplace private, especially with these words on her back. "How's that sound?"

[notbreakable]

"That sounds good," Kimmy says, in spite of the way that her stomach keeps turning uncomfortably. She trusts Rapunzel. She's one of the few people in the whole world who know what she's been through. At least a little. "I'm sorry," she adds. "For... your message, too.”

[fatesdesign]

"Oh, thank you," Rapunzel says quietly, giving her a small smile. She doesn't say much as she leads Kimmy to Ocean View and up to her apartment, unlocking the door and letting her in. "Okay, tea. And cookies. I have some cookies."

She pats Kimmy's arm before gathering her hair up and pointing towards the living room. "Sit down. I'll be right there."

[notbreakable]

Kimmy's spent a good part of her life waiting, a few extra seconds while Rapunzel gets tea and snacks certainly won't kill her.

Though the brief absence while she's in the kitchen makes Kimmy panic more than it might usually, the mood of the day working against her. "What kind of cookies?" she calls out, to break the silence.

[fatesdesign]

Rapunzel fills her kettle with hands that are trembling slightly, and then sets it on the stove to boil while she reaches into the cupboard to grab the tea. Kimmy's voice nearly makes her jump, and a packet of peppermint tea falls to the floor.

"Oh, um--" She pauses to grab the tea, and then pulls a plastic bin of homemade cookies into her hands before carrying them into the living room. "I made a few different kinds. I really like to bake. Anyway, um-- there's chocolate chip. And chocolate chocolate chip. Also peanut butter chocolate--" She laughs softly and pulls off the lid, offering the tub to Kimmy. "I guess I really like chocolate."

[notbreakable]

"Who doesn't love chocolate?" Kimmy says, grabbing for whichever. They all sound amazing. "I mean, I guess there are probably people who don't," she muses, relieved to not be talking about kidnapping or bunkers or captivity in general, for a moment. "But I don't think I've met any."