They make no move to close the distance he sets, red irises glancing towards the twitching fingers. It's better than looking into his own. They remember his fear of them - that doesn't go away that easily. Even if he's not a puppet and therefore not able to be so controlled anymore, that doesn't change what they did when they could.
He speaks, and they look up, eyes suddenly knife-sharp. He's. Apologizing. To them. For what they did. Their smile takes on more of a plastic cast, ends far enough up their face to hurt on both sides. Internally, they bite down hard on a surge of sick anger, very slowly and with deliberate care taking out their hands from behind them to sink their nails into the ragged stitching and unpick further as they stare at him. They'll need to fix them soon.
Once they feel able to keep their voice level in turn, they too speak.
"You are still trying to escape, it seems."
Do something, man. Don't leave it hanging over their head like this. Don't wrap things up in false, meaningless apology. There are consequences, and there are punishments for children who do bad things.
minor cw past child abuse
He speaks, and they look up, eyes suddenly knife-sharp. He's. Apologizing. To them. For what they did. Their smile takes on more of a plastic cast, ends far enough up their face to hurt on both sides. Internally, they bite down hard on a surge of sick anger, very slowly and with deliberate care taking out their hands from behind them to sink their nails into the ragged stitching and unpick further as they stare at him. They'll need to fix them soon.
Once they feel able to keep their voice level in turn, they too speak.
"You are still trying to escape, it seems."
Do something, man. Don't leave it hanging over their head like this. Don't wrap things up in false, meaningless apology. There are consequences, and there are punishments for children who do bad things.