[Closer and closer, he ravels twine while he unravels his own tingled thoughts. Soft voices stay behind him, ushering him like a shroud — 'it's her, it's her!' — 'Look, don't you see her?'; he doesn't look at anything but the thread until he finally reaches the hand that its attached to. His gaze is full of bafflement as it catches hers.]
... You.
[And just like that, with one uttered word, his plans are bashed in the skull by the proverbial hammer she's wielding in this moment. He was never supposed to see her again. And now she's here — a more fitting person than him, to save a universe, but someone who should not be here regardless.
If she looks hard enough, she'll see the rough swallow from a thinner throat, a glint of panic in his eye. And if she looks even harder, she'll see that beneath the scarf and heavy leather jacket, he's a little more gaunt than she's last seen him. The skin across the back of his hand appears thinner over tendon and bone as he reaches out to grasp her wrist. To confirm her existence. He's always been a sturdy figure even during the roughest months in the wastelands... but there's something lacking.
Perhaps she can sense it in his expression, in his stature:
It has been longer for him than for her, since their meeting.]
no subject
... You.
[And just like that, with one uttered word, his plans are bashed in the skull by the proverbial hammer she's wielding in this moment. He was never supposed to see her again. And now she's here — a more fitting person than him, to save a universe, but someone who should not be here regardless.
If she looks hard enough, she'll see the rough swallow from a thinner throat, a glint of panic in his eye. And if she looks even harder, she'll see that beneath the scarf and heavy leather jacket, he's a little more gaunt than she's last seen him. The skin across the back of his hand appears thinner over tendon and bone as he reaches out to grasp her wrist. To confirm her existence. He's always been a sturdy figure even during the roughest months in the wastelands... but there's something lacking.
Perhaps she can sense it in his expression, in his stature:
It has been longer for him than for her, since their meeting.]
When?
[When did you show up here? How long?]