[ (He wonders, sometimes, if simple concern is this difficult for everyone else.) ]
[ Intellectually her response -- the utter lack of it -- isn't surprising. He's felt the way she looks a hundred times in his ultracompressed twenty-odd years. Wrung out, detached, verging on zombie-like. An automatic effect of brain chemistry, a defense mechanism against too many blows dished out at once. But what's surprising is his own disquiet -- at her monotone, her expression, the Doll-like nothingness of it. Numb suspension. She's never seemed numb in his presence before. Volatile, kittenish, goofy, brash -- but never numb. ]
[ He doesn't like it. It's too much like looking at Pai's face, superimposed. (Or maybe just his own?) He keeps his tone low and calm. ] Making sure you don't pitch yourself off the roof. [ It's inherently sarcastic. A knee-jerk deflection. But the interest is absolutely sincere. ]
⊕ march 15th, late evening
[ Intellectually her response -- the utter lack of it -- isn't surprising. He's felt the way she looks a hundred times in his ultracompressed twenty-odd years. Wrung out, detached, verging on zombie-like. An automatic effect of brain chemistry, a defense mechanism against too many blows dished out at once. But what's surprising is his own disquiet -- at her monotone, her expression, the Doll-like nothingness of it. Numb suspension. She's never seemed numb in his presence before. Volatile, kittenish, goofy, brash -- but never numb. ]
[ He doesn't like it. It's too much like looking at Pai's face, superimposed. (Or maybe just his own?) He keeps his tone low and calm. ] Making sure you don't pitch yourself off the roof. [ It's inherently sarcastic. A knee-jerk deflection. But the interest is absolutely sincere. ]