[And it's frustrating, somehow, that she can hear that sentence and know exactly what he means, and yet still be completely in the dark as to what it means. It's earning a single new piece in a puzzle without holding enough of them to even yet show its shape. What's made him this way is the birds, and she knows why they frighten him so — he told her once, finally, the night he told her about his mother and the dream she'd —
...Dreams.
They'd all thought the lost days were dreams.
Something scared you. But it wasn't just that I disappeared.
I told you what we can remember from the days we lost probably happened.
And the only difference now is that they didn't lose them this time.
The birds came back to me.
He'd told her he'd had that dream, too.]
In the forest.
[She closes the distance. She has to. Even if what she'd seen was as real as the horrors haunting him right now, even if there's still the nagging thought that this lamb's wool might yet hide a wolf inside. She'll let it happen if she has to. She'll gamble on it.
She's not wrong, and she can't rescue him from his own fears if she's willing to let her own control her.
She draws in, within arm's reach, and risks a touch to his shoulder.]
They can't have you.
[And that's...strange, because she meant to say they can't hurt you, but that one word slips and makes all the difference.]
action;
...Dreams.
They'd all thought the lost days were dreams.
Something scared you. But it wasn't just that I disappeared.
I told you what we can remember from the days we lost probably happened.
And the only difference now is that they didn't lose them this time.
The birds came back to me.
He'd told her he'd had that dream, too.]
In the forest.
[She closes the distance. She has to. Even if what she'd seen was as real as the horrors haunting him right now, even if there's still the nagging thought that this lamb's wool might yet hide a wolf inside. She'll let it happen if she has to. She'll gamble on it.
She's not wrong, and she can't rescue him from his own fears if she's willing to let her own control her.
She draws in, within arm's reach, and risks a touch to his shoulder.]
They can't have you.
[And that's...strange, because she meant to say they can't hurt you, but that one word slips and makes all the difference.]