He folds his arms around her and holds her close, stroking his fingerless-gloved hand over her fiber-optic hair. The hug seems to do them both a world of good, fully grounding Norman and pulling him the rest of the way out of that angry, jittery, defensive mode.
"She hurts?" Norman blinks, surprised. This empathy is news to him, and he wonders if Reira has always had it or, like Peter, it's a power that's returned to her here.
"Anything I can do to help?"
Some of the others mutter things like 'yeah, you can go do your job' and start to try making their way back to the battle zone. Norman winces.
"For what it's worth, Reira, you've convinced me. I - I don't know what came over me. Well. Maybe I do. Otto and Bruno are so happy here, and I - I just - I want them to stay happy. And protecting Elias ... he made all that possible. I thought if I protected him ..."
He breathes in slowly, then shakes his head. "But I could have done that without making weapons. That was unnecessary. That was when I went too far."
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ninetydegrees
(no subject)
29/10/22 23:01 (UTC)"She hurts?" Norman blinks, surprised. This empathy is news to him, and he wonders if Reira has always had it or, like Peter, it's a power that's returned to her here.
"Anything I can do to help?"
Some of the others mutter things like 'yeah, you can go do your job' and start to try making their way back to the battle zone. Norman winces.
"For what it's worth, Reira, you've convinced me. I - I don't know what came over me. Well. Maybe I do. Otto and Bruno are so happy here, and I - I just - I want them to stay happy. And protecting Elias ... he made all that possible. I thought if I protected him ..."
He breathes in slowly, then shakes his head. "But I could have done that without making weapons. That was unnecessary. That was when I went too far."