Running from the Feds - Phantom Troupe x OC

gotta split up

I dont' know which was colder, the frozen food aisle or Machi's vibes. She didn't say anything so I looked around for a conversation starter. I spotted a frozen ice cream dessert thing and poked her. "Look, it says Machi!"

"That says mochi," said Machi.

Well, I tried.

"Oh hey, it's vegan mochi!" she said, her expression duddenly lighting up a little bit.

"We should take some for the road," I said, grabbing s few boxes and putting them into my basket.

"Shizuku has it covered, we're only pretending to shop and make sure everything goes smoothy," said Machi.

"I know but won't it take a while to get it out of her vaccum? I wanted to take some for the road."

"And eat in the car? We just got it cleaned. Have some repect for the troupe's utilities."

"Your saying that like I'm not even a member, just some.. some pest! What is your problem, why don't you trust me?!"

Machi looked away all pissed off.

"Look I din't ask for this okay? I didn't want to kill that guy. I didnt want to go to jail or get on death row or be a member of a crime syndicate. I didn;t want to lose my phone, my hopes of re-assimilation into society, and my Subaru. This is just as hard for you as it is for you as it is for as it is for me! And your unfounded distrust just makes it even more miserabe! Yeah this wasnt my first choice, but Im not some low life traiter thats gonna betray the people that rescued my life."

An old lady rolled up to us with her cart. "Excuse me ma'am, do you know where I can find the Thai... Vegetable.. Gyoza, I believe it's called? I just bought them for the first time last week and they were so delicious! My granddaughter Hermelinda just couldn't get enough of them. She ate the whole bag in one night and has been craving them ever since! I just can't seem to remeber where I found them, though."

"Um we don't work here," I said. Turning back to machi I continued my soliloquey. " The phantom troupe has been thre for me more than my alcoholic mom ever has and i wouldnt trade them for the word. Shalnar broyght me here. Chrollo gtold me some powerful words of wisdom. Shizuku helped me look for raisins. These are the peope that mean most to me and if you dont see that well, I dont know what to tell ya."

Machi's gaze traled to the ground. "Your...just like me."

"Charged with manslaughter?"

"No, unlike you I can drive. But I didn't have mucha of a choice to join to troupe. My mom threw me in a landfill when i was a baby and i was on my own until I met the pople that would form the original spiders. We didnt have much but we had each other, and that was enough. And about not trusting you... I'm sorry. The spiders have lost so many members, it's hard for me to warm up to anyone new out of fear they might betray us or die. Out of the original troupe, only me, Crollo, Feitain, Nobunanga and Franklin are left."

"Damn that sucks," I said.

"A while ago I thought i would finally be able to open up again when Pakunoda and I started dating, but she ended up getting killed because an ex-member gave our info to our emenies. I know it isnt an excuse but I figured you deserved to know. So please forgive me, I shouldn't let my past experiences cloud my opinion of someone I never met."

"It's ok, I'm just relived you dont actually hate me," I said.

Just then we heard clunking footsteps and our heads swiveled to see Peter from ealier. Chrollo must have escaped him somehow. "How's it going, ladies? Looks like a mighty interesting conversation you're having! Mind if I join in? You see, my boss didn't give me anything to do today besides talk to customers, nut lucky for me that's my favorite part of meing a trader Joe's employee!"

Machi and I looked at each other. "Run," she said, and we split up. Peter couldn't catch both of us if we split up.