Alone. Dosed with that sense of affection and calm, the word catches them raw. Still they don't flinch away from the connection, their fingers tightening in response: they want what she says to be true, rather than the anxiety and isolation they had resolutely tried to ignore, vivid now with the reminder. That darker emotion, aching loneliness and bewilderment, bleeds into the pleasant accord between them.

"Sorry." They're not embarrassed, exactly—Not a lot, and not about the emotions themselves. They're not managing to be the calm one at all, not when her reaction is so overwhelming—so welcome. Why did Sniper have to keep running into weirdos like this? Nevermind so much had felt so easy and understandable between them, including fascination with the bond itself (nevermind, too, that they started nosing into OA's business, greedy for this exact sort of strangeness, which is why they had started nosing into Jehovah's.).