to a man who spends his entire life trying to blend into the background, being asked to lay himself bare like this leaves him feeling exposed, pages of his book threatening to fall wide open. ‘every part might not be entirely possible,’ he answers after a quiet moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. he takes another moment to look down at the floorboards, tracing the wood grain as he tries to calculate how to even begin summarizing a life that feels far too messy, too fragile, too heavy to burden someone else with. when he finally gathers the courage to look up at elsbeth, he doesn’t quite meet her eyes. ‘it’s not a very exciting story. it’s mostly . . . a lot of broken things i tried too hard to fix and an awful lot of time spent worrying about making mistakes, and making them, anyway,’ he isn’t telling the full truth, that much is clear, but she doesn’t really know what she’s asking him for, does she? taking a breath, he rests his hands on his hips to keep from biting his nails. ‘i wouldn’t even know where to start,' @mindfcked.