[soul. what a weird word. she uses it so lightly — but maybe everything to her has a lightness threaded through all the weight. is it her age? they'd had conversations about it: the nature of life and learning to let go, yet another lesson he'd failed time and time again when it came to the practical exam. he's too selfish, too childish maybe, holds things too close to his heart to want them to be pulled away; it always takes too much with it.]
[but there she is again, pressing close. a different time, a different place, a different... different Angela Ziegler. does knowing her once before make opening up to her a second time easier? harder? he doesn't know, it's too soon to tell. all he knows that the chroma feels good, assuaging, and she always has.]
I 'member. [his voice his still rough with the acidity of crying, croaking on his incomplete words, thick slang thickened more by grief.] You, uh. War medic. Nano-tech, shit like that.
[like he's defending himself. like he's trying to offer her proof, verify his honesty that he knows things about her she can't remember telling. he doesn't want to talk about the rest of it — doesn't want to talk about that word: heartbreaking.]
You helped a lotta people back there, too. [where he was. Some that didn't deserve it, he doesn't say.]
i'm COMIN FOR IT 🗡️
[but there she is again, pressing close. a different time, a different place, a different... different Angela Ziegler. does knowing her once before make opening up to her a second time easier? harder? he doesn't know, it's too soon to tell. all he knows that the chroma feels good, assuaging, and she always has.]
I 'member. [his voice his still rough with the acidity of crying, croaking on his incomplete words, thick slang thickened more by grief.] You, uh. War medic. Nano-tech, shit like that.
[like he's defending himself. like he's trying to offer her proof, verify his honesty that he knows things about her she can't remember telling. he doesn't want to talk about the rest of it — doesn't want to talk about that word: heartbreaking.]
You helped a lotta people back there, too. [where he was. Some that didn't deserve it, he doesn't say.]