Her fingers tightened on the recorder in her hand.
"So I came to hear your side of the story."
For a moment, only silence.
Then Thragg's eyes narrowed with something dangerously close to curiosity.
Aly stood firm before the colossal throne, though every instinct in her body screamed to retreat. The air felt too heavy thereโsuffocating under Thragg's presence.
She swallowed hard before answering, raising her chin in an attempt to hide her fear.
+
แ
@ALIPENNYWORTH
Thragg remained on his throne, leaning forward until his elbows rested on his knees. His fingers steepled together as he fixed the reporter with an intense stare.
โ You are either very foolish or very brave, human. Why have you come to this place? โ
แ แ
"Because no one else would come."
Her voice came out lower than she intended, but she didn't waver.
"Everyone talks about you as a monsterโฆ a conquerorโฆ a god among the Viltrumites. But I'm a journalist. My job is to look truth in the eyeโฆ even when it might kill me."
+
Aly chuckled softly, still blushing slightly.
โYou do seem intimidating,โ
she admitted, looking at the mask.
โBut after talking to youโฆ that kind of stops working.โ
โYou canโt just say things like that to a journalist and expect her to continue functioning normally.โ
She pressed the notepad against her hot face for a moment before glancing at it again, clearly embarrassed.
โThat mask is making you too confident.โ
Aly froze for a split second.
Good thing I used it today.
Her brain took too long to process thatโand unfortunately, her face processed it first.
โYouโโ
she began, failing miserably to appear composed as she looked away with a nervous laugh.
+
Aly tried to answer immediately.
She tried.
But his muffled laughter ended any chance of that.
She looked away for a second, clearly blushing again before finally admitting, in a defeated murmur:
"...Unfortunately, yes."
Aly felt her face heat up again at the sound of her own name in his voice.
Great. She definitely needed to learn how to act normally around superheroes.
โCompromising?โ
she repeated with a small, nervous laugh.
+
Then her eyes drifted for a moment to his more relaxed postureโhands on his hips, voice soft, almost comfortable near her now.
This made something strange stir in her chest.
โYeahโฆ nice to meet you too,โ Aly replied more quietly this time.
+