Re: Diner: Seven & Marta
If she'd been asked by anyone, she would have claimed easily that she was looking... better. Even just her short time working for Derek at the oxygen and light bar had begun to ease some of her sharp edges. It was a more sedate pace than Dahl's gym had been, and it was lightyears away from working at the motel, where every moment had been a nightmare of tension and fear.
It was that tension that still lingered over her shoulders like a too-small coat, that fear that Seven saw. It was the anticipation of someone slipping up behind her, reaching out to grab her, memories and flashbacks with no cushioning cotton of pills to fog it over.
But she was... better.
Between them, when it had just been the two of them in a room, it had never been about the money for her. At those times, it was only her and him, and whatever else they brought into the moment. It was only when she was alone, thinking thoughts about herself, about her mom, about the similarities between them, that she started to think about the money that he had and she didn't. That was when she had blamed herself for stepping away from that shared one-room squat of an apartment with its never-ending train of residents and into Seven's home. And things had only shifted and twisted for her since then. It all led to the present moment, where the concern over the cost of a meal slipped into her mind.
And so she appreciated his casual effort. It made her eyes warm and her mouth curve into a soft, sweet smile. And she nodded. "I'd like that a lot. Breakfast for dinner." And then, with the slightest hint of mischief, "but only if we get extra bacon on the side."