I remember seeing you in the woods. It's hard to keep straight, what happened when in relation to everything else, but it must've been before either of us saw the other one.
[Because you were happy, she thinks briefly. Because I had no reason to even think of doubting your face. Because, because...
She breathes in slow, tipping her head to regard him for a moment as she debates how much more to press. You should always ask questions when there's something you want to know. But she also knows there's a line between helping someone cope by talking about it and hurting them by forcing them to relive it.]
Did you shoot him?
[It's not an unreasonable assumption to make, not when she plays it out in her mind. The gun was there. He's a trained lawman; he's accepted a different set of inevitabilities than her own personal code. And perhaps taking a life on one of the few days in Johto when it would make the most difference would end up crushing him like this. The shock of doing it to someone with his own face...
She doesn't know. Maybe she's wrong. But things could add up that way, and either way, there are cracks beginning to split between them that will never be bridged until he lets her know what happened to render him like this.]
action;
[Because you were happy, she thinks briefly. Because I had no reason to even think of doubting your face. Because, because...
She breathes in slow, tipping her head to regard him for a moment as she debates how much more to press. You should always ask questions when there's something you want to know. But she also knows there's a line between helping someone cope by talking about it and hurting them by forcing them to relive it.]
Did you shoot him?
[It's not an unreasonable assumption to make, not when she plays it out in her mind. The gun was there. He's a trained lawman; he's accepted a different set of inevitabilities than her own personal code. And perhaps taking a life on one of the few days in Johto when it would make the most difference would end up crushing him like this. The shock of doing it to someone with his own face...
She doesn't know. Maybe she's wrong. But things could add up that way, and either way, there are cracks beginning to split between them that will never be bridged until he lets her know what happened to render him like this.]