[ He wouldn't mind having her stay the entire night. If anything, he'd welcome it. He feels her attention like thick shimmery drops of some blue syrup -- slipping into the cracks of his psyche, making ragged things ... not whole, but less sharp-edged. It reminds him of the snatches of lulls in the war, when the gunfire and mines would settle into a vibrating silence, when Pai would awaken soft-eyed and calm from her Remuneration, and they'd spent night after night looking up at the false stars together, sharpening each other's blades, scarfing rations, arguing, playing hearts for a penny a point. For a whole half-decade of war, you were my lifeline. You were the reason I stayed sane. ]
[ He doesn't say that. But his smile grows a little -- faraway and fond. ]
no subject
[ He doesn't say that. But his smile grows a little -- faraway and fond. ]
Truth.