[ In a way, Claire has a feeling that she knows what it is long before he even removes the bandage, maybe before she even asked him about it in the first place. Of course she could have no ideas of the specifics, any of the details surrounding it, what it might look like and how cold it would feel to actually see what was beneath the bandage, but, looking at it, Claire acknowledges it with a certain level of satisfied expectation. There was always going to be something underneath that wasn't pleasant and probably had a lot to do with the things that he's told her. Seeing it outlined and colored so plainly makes it that much more real. ]
It looks like it hurt. It looks like someone branded you.
[ Obviously she's aware that it's much more than that, but her frame of reference still relies on what she's seen in person, and feels like it's an apt comparison. Maybe no one pressed a hot poker into him, but she can imagine that it was just as painful on any number of levels. You don't belong to anyone, she thinks she wants to say, but even in her head it sounds stupid and naive. A million other questions fly through her mind too quickly for her to catch on to just one of them. Instead, she presses her thumb into the open maw of the skull, tentative, like it might burn him. ]
no subject
It looks like it hurt. It looks like someone branded you.
[ Obviously she's aware that it's much more than that, but her frame of reference still relies on what she's seen in person, and feels like it's an apt comparison. Maybe no one pressed a hot poker into him, but she can imagine that it was just as painful on any number of levels. You don't belong to anyone, she thinks she wants to say, but even in her head it sounds stupid and naive. A million other questions fly through her mind too quickly for her to catch on to just one of them. Instead, she presses her thumb into the open maw of the skull, tentative, like it might burn him. ]
Does it hurt now?