[He shakes his head, aggressively, because some well-intended slappage is the last thing he needs right now.
This, says a thought, with such sudden clarity that it's like an icicle between his ribs, is pathetic.
He's- He's supposed to be a fucking adult, he's a goddamn investigator, and one bad memory is suddenly sending him spiralling into panic? After all the shit he actually survived? In fucking public, curled up like a child so someone who barely sounds out of his teens can save him?
He pulls a thin breath in and forces his mouth shut, clamping his jaw against the desperate-terror-he's-dying-gotta-run-gotta-hide panic, and forces himself to let it out slowly through his nose.
And once more, for good measure. Which lets him get enough of a lung full of air to reply, thin and quiet.]
I'm- I-I'm fine... I just- I panicked. The-- [He gestures vaguely towards the sky.] Th- the noise, startled me.
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This, says a thought, with such sudden clarity that it's like an icicle between his ribs, is pathetic.
He's- He's supposed to be a fucking adult, he's a goddamn investigator, and one bad memory is suddenly sending him spiralling into panic? After all the shit he actually survived? In fucking public, curled up like a child so someone who barely sounds out of his teens can save him?
He pulls a thin breath in and forces his mouth shut, clamping his jaw against the desperate-terror-he's-dying-gotta-run-gotta-hide panic, and forces himself to let it out slowly through his nose.
And once more, for good measure. Which lets him get enough of a lung full of air to reply, thin and quiet.]
I'm- I-I'm fine... I just- I panicked. The-- [He gestures vaguely towards the sky.] Th- the noise, startled me.