[ Stephen lets the illusion drop into a mist of sparks that mingle with the fire and disperse, attention caught on Jim's description now. He nods, brows drawn slightly together with concern for a world he'll most likely never visit. ]
Brute force puncture or inexperienced incision both run the risk of infection. [ If they're working within the bounds of the metaphor, it makes sense: doesn't matter if it's things within breaking out, or things without making clumsy attempts to get in, the result would be the same. It's not a surprise, but it is troubling to think on. ] Were there many?
[More and more every year, it feels like. And now Russia; if it's an infection, it's spreading and Jim's useless against it. They close one and another two come to bite him in the ass. ]
My kid, she's the only one I've seen that's ever been able to close them. But it takes so much out of her. She's just a kid. Maybe magic would be easier - whatever they are it's. Science, I guess. Physics. Beyond me, that's for sure.
[ A tightening of his expression. Frustrating, to hear this and not be able to help. But that feeling must be amplified by unimaginable degrees when you're a father watching your kid, unable to help her.
Abruptly, he notes a parallel. ]
There's a kid back home. She turned up in my world one day needing help, chased by something from another dimension. She opens portals, clean across the multiverse, and it's got her in some pretty serious shit.
[ America taught him plenty in a very short stretch of time. Stephen's briefly faraway gaze ticks back to settle on Jim's. Steady. ]
Can't protect them from who they are, or be that person for them. But I'll bet your kid has one hell of a home to come back to.
I hope so. I didn't think I'd get a second chance, I guess - I wasn't ready. I wasn't easy to live with.
[Overbearing, overprotective, too much of everything for a kid who had only ever lived in a lab. He laughs, though. Adds: ] Then she turned fourteen - I definitely wasn't ready for that.
[ And then he's laughing too, letting go of sharper subjects to ease into goading Jim into expanding on the horrors of parenting a teen girl while they finish their wine and their food. ]
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Brute force puncture or inexperienced incision both run the risk of infection. [ If they're working within the bounds of the metaphor, it makes sense: doesn't matter if it's things within breaking out, or things without making clumsy attempts to get in, the result would be the same. It's not a surprise, but it is troubling to think on. ] Were there many?
no subject
[More and more every year, it feels like. And now Russia; if it's an infection, it's spreading and Jim's useless against it. They close one and another two come to bite him in the ass. ]
My kid, she's the only one I've seen that's ever been able to close them. But it takes so much out of her. She's just a kid. Maybe magic would be easier - whatever they are it's. Science, I guess. Physics. Beyond me, that's for sure.
no subject
Abruptly, he notes a parallel. ]
There's a kid back home. She turned up in my world one day needing help, chased by something from another dimension. She opens portals, clean across the multiverse, and it's got her in some pretty serious shit.
[ America taught him plenty in a very short stretch of time. Stephen's briefly faraway gaze ticks back to settle on Jim's. Steady. ]
Can't protect them from who they are, or be that person for them. But I'll bet your kid has one hell of a home to come back to.
no subject
[Overbearing, overprotective, too much of everything for a kid who had only ever lived in a lab. He laughs, though. Adds: ] Then she turned fourteen - I definitely wasn't ready for that.
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