[ Off. Another word to say that what he'd been under ReSculpt's influence hadn't been quite right. He doesn't smile, exactly, but his lips twist as if in an attempt.
His hand skitters, briefly, out to his knee β in search of an anchor, a mooring touch β then retracts. ]
But I wasβ it was me. [ His gaze falls. Could shame trigger immolation, he would be in flames. ] I'mβ what I was. I'm capable of that. I am that. Peel back enough skin, and thereβ there that ugliness would be.
[ His fingers, in his lap, twist at the sunstone ring still set on his hand, a token he now feels profoundly unworthy of. Perhaps if he had some other idea of where freedom and revenge might lead, he'd feel otherwise, but nowβ it's as though he's staring into a void. Even where once he might have played at pettiness, turned to meanness to drive Gale away, he can only find the strength for this terrible kind of honesty. He'd taught him how to see his own reflection, and what stares back at him isβ
no subject
His hand skitters, briefly, out to his knee β in search of an anchor, a mooring touch β then retracts. ]
But I wasβ it was me. [ His gaze falls. Could shame trigger immolation, he would be in flames. ] I'mβ what I was. I'm capable of that. I am that. Peel back enough skin, and thereβ there that ugliness would be.
[ His fingers, in his lap, twist at the sunstone ring still set on his hand, a token he now feels profoundly unworthy of. Perhaps if he had some other idea of where freedom and revenge might lead, he'd feel otherwise, but nowβ it's as though he's staring into a void. Even where once he might have played at pettiness, turned to meanness to drive Gale away, he can only find the strength for this terrible kind of honesty. He'd taught him how to see his own reflection, and what stares back at him isβ
His lip wobbles. ]
You deserve someone beautiful.