[ Byerly, so accustomed to recognizing and manipulating others' feelings when the work calls for it, really is at a loss when it comes to real feelings. He's sitting up in bed now, back slightly hunched. It's all - so difficult, because - it's Bastien, he thinks, who allows him to be with her. She's so bloody dangerous and intense that Bastien's ease provides an opportunity to settle back down again. And her attentions are divided, he knows - she was the first one with divided attentions - and so having Bastien makes him feel like there's someone who won't wander away from him. And -
Well, it was like in that dream, wasn't it? When it was the two of them, when Bastien was an indifferent outsider, they tore at each other. He was careless and miserable; she was spiteful; they drove each other on to greater and greater cruelty. If Bastien had been present and kind as he is in truth, then there'd have been none of that. He'd have defused everything between them.
And it was like in the other dream, as well: she'd always return to the north, and leave him behind. ]
no subject
Well, it was like in that dream, wasn't it? When it was the two of them, when Bastien was an indifferent outsider, they tore at each other. He was careless and miserable; she was spiteful; they drove each other on to greater and greater cruelty. If Bastien had been present and kind as he is in truth, then there'd have been none of that. He'd have defused everything between them.
And it was like in the other dream, as well: she'd always return to the north, and leave him behind. ]
Do I not pay you enough attention?