[The softness surprises Bruno. Not that he thinks Polnareff is incapable of being soft, but it's the first time he's really seen it before. At least like this where there feels like complete (albeit unfortunate) understanding. In some ways, it feels familiar and warm, but in some ways it feels alien and uncomfortable. The two sensations sit side-by-side one another and don't vie with one another for Bruno's absolute attention, giving him at least a small moment to acknowledge them both in turn, his grip in his lap relaxing.]
[He knows why it feels uncomfortable because it always is when he feels like he's being seen. It doesn't matter if he's the one pulling back the curtain or not, it always happens where he doesn't exactly feel ready to crawl out of his own skin, but he wants to fidget and move away despite never doing either. As to the other... Well, it's not often that Bruno feels this way with another person, where they simply seem to understand whether it's because he let them or they figured it out first. But it's because it's rare that he's so attentive to it that it feels remembered as something would be if it were familiar. Like remembering the melody of a favorite song or the way the sky looks when the sun's beginning to dip below the horizon created by the ocean.]
I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. [He holds his hand out for the pencil.] You still came back.
[Truthfully, Bruno doesn't know if he should have said that because talking about lost friends is one thing and family is another, but he felt it needed saying. Maybe Polnareff and Bruno don't survive in the same way, but Polnareff is still here and maybe even in ways that Bruno isn't even now.]
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[He knows why it feels uncomfortable because it always is when he feels like he's being seen. It doesn't matter if he's the one pulling back the curtain or not, it always happens where he doesn't exactly feel ready to crawl out of his own skin, but he wants to fidget and move away despite never doing either. As to the other... Well, it's not often that Bruno feels this way with another person, where they simply seem to understand whether it's because he let them or they figured it out first. But it's because it's rare that he's so attentive to it that it feels remembered as something would be if it were familiar. Like remembering the melody of a favorite song or the way the sky looks when the sun's beginning to dip below the horizon created by the ocean.]
I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. [He holds his hand out for the pencil.] You still came back.
[Truthfully, Bruno doesn't know if he should have said that because talking about lost friends is one thing and family is another, but he felt it needed saying. Maybe Polnareff and Bruno don't survive in the same way, but Polnareff is still here and maybe even in ways that Bruno isn't even now.]