[ She knows what he’s asking without directly asking, the wound he’s circling. It’s a habit of his. The sort of thing that bleeds down into the marrow, all bruised and weary because you cannot look at the sun head on without bodying the burn, and some things it hurts to ask directly. It would hardly be the first time. And she knows him—or did, once. How difficult it can be to voice the things you dredge from down deep. Once, she might have helped him.
no subject
[ She knows what he’s asking without directly asking, the wound he’s circling. It’s a habit of his. The sort of thing that bleeds down into the marrow, all bruised and weary because you cannot look at the sun head on without bodying the burn, and some things it hurts to ask directly. It would hardly be the first time. And she knows him—or did, once. How difficult it can be to voice the things you dredge from down deep. Once, she might have helped him.
This time, she’s in no mood to make it easy. ]