‘ well i’m not exactly a fan of ownin’ it, y’know.
it’s ... bound to me, or ... something. i don’t know.
i can’t shake it even if i wanted to. ’
‘ believe you me, i’ve tried everything i can to get rid of this fuckin’ thing. nothing short of an atom bomb has a snowball’s chance in hell, and even then ... i think this thing would outlive the cockroach. ’
he wipes his hands off on his pants and then stands taller, firmer, eyeing her with something blended between disappointment and understanding. ash has this reaction to, only just internally, now. he’s so used to the rotten thing it hardly phases him anymore --- for that matter, neither do blood or guts or viscera.
She was being insensitive, wasn’t she? In her defense, it wasn’t like she’d ever been able to talk on this kind of subject with a living person before. Still, an uncomfortable heat started building under her skin.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I could have handled that better. Though it’s reassuring that you aren’t... um... enthusiastically consenting to anchor it.”
Generally speaking no one was, but evil people existed in the world. She’d helped to many of their victims to believe otherwise.
“I’m Shiloh,” she said. “Sorry for... well, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude.”
Did you know, she almost said, you have dead people in your shadow? She kept her mouth shut on that one.