( My kids; Ian doesn't outright wince, but there's enough of a change to his features that the answer is obvious. A little pinched, a little sad, and it's followed by a slow, small shake of his head. )
I'm sorry.
( The 'I' catches a little, not quite a stutter so much as a false start hung up around a scratchy throat. )
You're the first one from home to show up in like a year.
( He'd have appreciated any barnacle, and he'd have stepped up to take care of them — despite having a fear of commitment so large he could trip into it and fall a hundred meters. Loyalty > his tendency to bail out of all deep attachments, it's just that the latter makes it so the former is rarely a problem.
Kind of hard to survive with somebody for eighteen months without developing it, though. )
no subject
I'm sorry.
( The 'I' catches a little, not quite a stutter so much as a false start hung up around a scratchy throat. )
You're the first one from home to show up in like a year.
( He'd have appreciated any barnacle, and he'd have stepped up to take care of them — despite having a fear of commitment so large he could trip into it and fall a hundred meters. Loyalty > his tendency to bail out of all deep attachments, it's just that the latter makes it so the former is rarely a problem.
Kind of hard to survive with somebody for eighteen months without developing it, though. )