Her response is unexpected, and it carries a whip-crack sting with it as the words lands.
It is not so far removed from the minor fracturing of a bone. A small injury, relatively speaking. Something he'll carry along with him, as he moves forward. Something that might pain him, if he sets his weight wrong.
But there is nothing from him for a few moments. His fingers move over the seam in her sleeve. The quiet stretches as he orders his thoughts, waiting for the initial flinch away from this thing to pass.
"You're exaggerating my ability," is mild too. Not the point Ellis finds important, but isn't capable of simply letting it pass on his way to the more relevant response: "But you won't have to trouble yourself with that, with finding an alternate. I'll manage."
No hesitation over it: Ellis doesn't want an alternate.
no subject
It is not so far removed from the minor fracturing of a bone. A small injury, relatively speaking. Something he'll carry along with him, as he moves forward. Something that might pain him, if he sets his weight wrong.
But there is nothing from him for a few moments. His fingers move over the seam in her sleeve. The quiet stretches as he orders his thoughts, waiting for the initial flinch away from this thing to pass.
"You're exaggerating my ability," is mild too. Not the point Ellis finds important, but isn't capable of simply letting it pass on his way to the more relevant response: "But you won't have to trouble yourself with that, with finding an alternate. I'll manage."
No hesitation over it: Ellis doesn't want an alternate.