[ --Wait what. Severus looks back up at her, slightly puzzled. ]
... Yes. [ That word almost-but-not-quite goes up at the end. It takes him a moment to formulate what to say, and when he does it's a little stilted, because he isn't used to articulating things of this nature. ] Whatever's gone on to make you so guarded about, clearly it's not insignificant and I won't dismiss it. But as yourself, to me, it's fine.
[ There's a list a mile long and twice as wide but Claire doesn't expand upon it. Instead, she picks up the pencil again and taps the eraser on the tabletop. She'd like to warn him otherwise, but all she can gather up the conviction to say is: ]
Okay.
[ She knows she's being awkward, and she has to try very hard not to just openly stare at him, but she hopes the amount of gratitude she begins to feel is at least able to be absorbed by some kind of osmosis. ]
[ Where her irritation was normal, her gratitude makes him slightly uncomfortable. What is there to be grateful about? 'Not being terrified' is a pretty small thing, and honestly the least he could be doing.
The regard people have for him here is ill-deserved, and he knows it. If she knew him for what he really is, she'd hate him, and it has nothing to do with abilities or genetics. He looks away from her gaze after a short nod.
[ Being terrified isn't something that she's experienced so much from other people as she has from herself. Claire can still remember what it was like to figure out what she could do initially, from the first cloying breath she tried to take, feeling like she was drowning in her discovery. Zach had been freaked out in his own way. Gretchen, eventually, even if for other reasons. Alex. West. It never mattered if there was a level of abject horror; there was always some kind of response she wasn't looking for but anticipated getting. She doesn't want to set him apart from the rest - that's asking a lot - but she can't help but appreciate his response.
It's fine. It's rarely been fine. ]
How's the sandwich?
[ Maybe she would hate him, if she knew. It would definitely mean reevaluating a lot of her own convictions. But that's neither here nor there. She doesn't know. What she knows is they're here, now. ]
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... Yes. [ That word almost-but-not-quite goes up at the end. It takes him a moment to formulate what to say, and when he does it's a little stilted, because he isn't used to articulating things of this nature. ] Whatever's gone on to make you so guarded about, clearly it's not insignificant and I won't dismiss it. But as yourself, to me, it's fine.
no subject
Okay.
[ She knows she's being awkward, and she has to try very hard not to just openly stare at him, but she hopes the amount of gratitude she begins to feel is at least able to be absorbed by some kind of osmosis. ]
no subject
The regard people have for him here is ill-deserved, and he knows it. If she knew him for what he really is, she'd hate him, and it has nothing to do with abilities or genetics. He looks away from her gaze after a short nod.
Okay. ]
no subject
It's fine. It's rarely been fine. ]
How's the sandwich?
[ Maybe she would hate him, if she knew. It would definitely mean reevaluating a lot of her own convictions. But that's neither here nor there. She doesn't know. What she knows is they're here, now. ]
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[ Dude. ]
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[ From the half still resting on the paper, Claire steals a little torn square of sandwich and eats it. ]