[The silence drags on a few moments at a time, and then she apologizes.
And Henry... keeps sweeping, his back turned to her, piling the crumbs into the center of the kitchen so that they might be easily swept into a dustpan for later.]
I think...
[He starts, and the ugly part of him that wants to cling to being petty, to feeling self-satisifed that she apologized first, wants so desperately to rear its head. The rest, however, comes soon after, flowing in like a steady river -- time has given both of their prides to become less swollen, which is more poignant now that they're not being accosted by a hungry lizard.]
...that wires were crossed. I meant it when I said I didn't ever have to ask for permission, you know. The freedom to get into someone's mind was always mine; and it was probably the only freedom I was ever afforded until even that was taken away from me in the lab.
[He turns and looks at her finally, mildly.]
So I was hasty. You're strange and powerful, Amelia, with magic I can't hope to understand. Of course I want to know more, and how that came to be. And I wanted to know it immediately.
[But there is something tenuous between them, and it's shaped like trust, something that had to forcibly grow to make this arrangement work -- and something Henry's never been given before, and he doesn't know what to do with until he breaks it. He supposes that's exactly what happened. And that doesn't work to either's benefit.
For all the things he lacks, he can at least see this clearly.]
But I should have just asked. I admit to that. So I'm sorry, too.
no subject
And Henry... keeps sweeping, his back turned to her, piling the crumbs into the center of the kitchen so that they might be easily swept into a dustpan for later.]
I think...
[He starts, and the ugly part of him that wants to cling to being petty, to feeling self-satisifed that she apologized first, wants so desperately to rear its head. The rest, however, comes soon after, flowing in like a steady river -- time has given both of their prides to become less swollen, which is more poignant now that they're not being accosted by a hungry lizard.]
...that wires were crossed. I meant it when I said I didn't ever have to ask for permission, you know. The freedom to get into someone's mind was always mine; and it was probably the only freedom I was ever afforded until even that was taken away from me in the lab.
[He turns and looks at her finally, mildly.]
So I was hasty. You're strange and powerful, Amelia, with magic I can't hope to understand. Of course I want to know more, and how that came to be. And I wanted to know it immediately.
[But there is something tenuous between them, and it's shaped like trust, something that had to forcibly grow to make this arrangement work -- and something Henry's never been given before, and he doesn't know what to do with until he breaks it. He supposes that's exactly what happened. And that doesn't work to either's benefit.
For all the things he lacks, he can at least see this clearly.]
But I should have just asked. I admit to that. So I'm sorry, too.