Week 60, Directly After The Mission: Distracted

Silvia stopped walking, her gaze focusing on the other Agent as she spotted the lie. "Hugo...there's more than that, isn't there?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, just curious. "Did you meet someone who said they knew me or something? Because I mean, I haven't heard from anyone or anything, but by the sound of it things got kind of chaotic, so that might...that could happen?" There was a note of hopefulness in her voice, though she knew it was something of a faint hope.

Hugo turned around in a mild state of panic, putting his arms up in a placatory manner. He even took a step toward the stopped agent, looking increasingly concerned. "No no, no. God. Nothing like that. I'm just meeting some ronin. Some.. er.. high-up ronin. I just, I was just... Wanted to.. know?" The last bit came out a little squeaky, and he cleared his throat softly as he hand went back to Una's holster, fingertips brushing against the handle of his gun.

This time Silvia took a step backwards and her expression began to shift into confusion. "Hugo, what are you...why are you...are you trying to hide something? Because I mean, if you don't want to tell me something you just...you just have to say. There's no need to...to lie. Why...why did you want to know about...about the tsunami?" She was trying hard to stop her voice from being accusatory, but it was beginning to shift that way, despite her best efforts.

At this point Hugo stopped talking and put his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose before he started talking, other hand out and flapping at the air in front of him in a vaguely calming manner. "Because, damnit.. I don't want you to get hurt any more." There was a tiny hint of anger beyond the annoyance in his voice. He sighed and let his hand drop, face relaxing. "I know a bunch of ronin and they.. are pretty open about everything that happened. Kind of. To me. Sort of. I mean, a lot of people fled and I just thought.. maybe.." Hugo's face fell, and he gave Silvia an almost.. hurt look. "But I don't want you to get hopeful or happy because you'd have to be sad all over again and I was just.." His voice dropped a lot. "I was just gonna.. gonna ask."

Silvia sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, her expression clearing. When she opened her eyes again and spoke, her voice was level again, and quite gentle.

"Hugo...I...I can take it. Believe it or not. It's not going to be any worse. I'm...I'm really glad you care enough to ask. Don't get me wrong. But...I'm not expecting anything. If I was...I'd have tried to find out myself. So I'm not going to get my hopes up. Not...about this. And even if I did..." She hesitated for a moment, then ploughed on. "I'm a big girl. I'm...I'm older than I look now, and I know it doesn't always come across that way, but I have dealt with stuff before. This is just...bigger. You don't need to worry about things like that hurting me. Really. It...it's a lot more worrying when you hide stuff from me. You...you had me scared for a moment there. Better to just...be honest. Especially about this kind of stuff." She exhaled, slowly. "I know you only meant the best but...I get nervous when people lie to me. Especially you."

Despite Silvia's gentle tone, Hugo felt.. suitably chastised. He shook his head, still not exactly making eye contact. Licking his lips nervously, he mumbled, "It's not how old you are, or if you can take it, I just.. don't want you to be sad any more." He half turned to keep walking and added, "And I wasn't gonna lie I was just.. not going to tell you unless I.. found something out."

Silvia took a couple of steps forward and took hold of Hugo's arm, stopping him from turning completely. "Look, it's okay. I just...you just had me worried for a moment, that's all. You could have just said you didn't want to tell me, you didn't have to try and cover it up. I...I trust you. So it...scares me when you do something like that." She sighed, and then managed a smile. "But...it's fine. Panic over. And...thank you. For...doing something like that for me."

Hugo nodded, resting his hand on Silvia's for a second. He cheered up visibly by her words and contact, though he looked a little sulky as he was thanked. "I didn't do anything yet. And I'm.. glad you trust me. Though I can't think of why I'd need to not talk about something with you. Because I still want to talk about it even when I.. don't want to talk about it. Er."

He kept walking, becoming less graceful by the moment.

Silvia stood for a second with a look of confusion on her face, then shook her head and followed Hugo. Everything seemed to have turned out...okay, at least.