[ Sometimes, in the field, Carver can feel his thoughts just slip away. The self fades into the background, leaving nothing but the orders and the objective. He never liked it afterward but he knows it's saved his life before. How a person can become a ghost in their own skin in order to finish an engagement.
It's like that now, a little. He has to focus on Harold's words to make sure he's not missing anything, isn't getting the words garbled through the rotten-fruit softness of the moment. But he's not really there, Carver thinks. He wonders if he's dead and his body just hasn't realized yet.
That happens, sometimes. When somebody takes a wound and they just stand there, calm and a little confused before they just drop.
Harold asks a question. Assessing whether Carver's listening, probably. ]
Yes, [ Carver agrees, and recites the words and their definitions back. This is a test, after all. You have to get it right or there'll be consequences. And Harold might not like rank or the few times that Carver's called him sir, but he slots almost neatly into the void that Pope and Leah left in the world. Someone must take that role. It might as well be someone like Harold Finch, who believes in people even when they must, inevitably, disappoint him. ]
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It's like that now, a little. He has to focus on Harold's words to make sure he's not missing anything, isn't getting the words garbled through the rotten-fruit softness of the moment. But he's not really there, Carver thinks. He wonders if he's dead and his body just hasn't realized yet.
That happens, sometimes. When somebody takes a wound and they just stand there, calm and a little confused before they just drop.
Harold asks a question. Assessing whether Carver's listening, probably. ]
Yes, [ Carver agrees, and recites the words and their definitions back. This is a test, after all. You have to get it right or there'll be consequences. And Harold might not like rank or the few times that Carver's called him sir, but he slots almost neatly into the void that Pope and Leah left in the world. Someone must take that role. It might as well be someone like Harold Finch, who believes in people even when they must, inevitably, disappoint him. ]