«You used to tell us stories, sometimes — do you remember?»
[ Wistful.
Distant.
Distracted? Perhaps; the sort of distracted that says that this, actually, is the distraction — this conversation — away from some other unpleasantness before him. ]
«You'd sing, sometimes, as well, but I dare say that would come across rather more strangely, under the... circumstances.»
[ There's an itch, under his words; an ache; the awful sensation of bones deforming, melting away — and this isn't the first time, in recent months, that John has felt a tail multiply the number of his caudal vertebrae, now, is it?
(It's not the first time he's felt ribs grow into place, either, is it —) ]
«Tell me a story?»
[ (He is very nearly begging, judging by his sudden volume and breathless tone.) ]
no subject
[ Wistful.
Distant.
Distracted? Perhaps; the sort of distracted that says that this, actually, is the distraction — this conversation — away from some other unpleasantness before him. ]
«You'd sing, sometimes, as well, but I dare say that would come across rather more strangely, under the... circumstances.»
[ There's an itch, under his words; an ache; the awful sensation of bones deforming, melting away — and this isn't the first time, in recent months, that John has felt a tail multiply the number of his caudal vertebrae, now, is it?
(It's not the first time he's felt ribs grow into place, either, is it —) ]
«Tell me a story?»
[ (He is very nearly begging, judging by his sudden volume and breathless tone.) ]