[Thoughts of reiterating what he meant, trying to explain himself better, fall aside as Oscar continues speaking in his soft, matter-of-fact tone. Paul is silently attentive, his eyes fixed to Oscar's face as if held there by magnetic force. When he speaks of being tortured, losing his leg, Paul winces faintly, troubled by guilt he doesn't know how to name.
He knows about holding things at a distance. The necessity of doing so, if a person wants to survive. If some things are allowed to sink their teeth into a soul, they'll never let it go, or so Paul has every reason to believe. The past is a poison to sip lightly, lest it overtake you.
He understands. After all - there's a reason he said things and not people.]
...I wasn't able to sleep through the night for months, after I came here. [Now he looks away, fixates on the tiny bud of a still-closed flower.] I don't understand exactly what you went through, but I understand...scars.
[It's not a well-kept secret. It's also nothing so terrible to be ashamed of. Admitting to it still feels like a vulnerability, but he's beginning to learn that's what people need, in moments like these. Show me your throat, I show you mine.]
All power is dangerous. Where I come from, that's something you know, or you don't survive long enough to know anything else. [He lets out a soft, controlled breath.] I know not everywhere is like that. I should have thought about it. I overlooked it, and you paid the price. So maybe you were right about me the first time. I wasn't smart enough to see that danger, was I?
no subject
He knows about holding things at a distance. The necessity of doing so, if a person wants to survive. If some things are allowed to sink their teeth into a soul, they'll never let it go, or so Paul has every reason to believe. The past is a poison to sip lightly, lest it overtake you.
He understands. After all - there's a reason he said things and not people.]
...I wasn't able to sleep through the night for months, after I came here. [Now he looks away, fixates on the tiny bud of a still-closed flower.] I don't understand exactly what you went through, but I understand...scars.
[It's not a well-kept secret. It's also nothing so terrible to be ashamed of. Admitting to it still feels like a vulnerability, but he's beginning to learn that's what people need, in moments like these. Show me your throat, I show you mine.]
All power is dangerous. Where I come from, that's something you know, or you don't survive long enough to know anything else. [He lets out a soft, controlled breath.] I know not everywhere is like that. I should have thought about it. I overlooked it, and you paid the price. So maybe you were right about me the first time. I wasn't smart enough to see that danger, was I?