@dr-lamb || starter call [x]
“…” His silence was, as always, overpowering; somehow managing to communicate more for him than his voice ever had. Breathing heavier- posture slouched- the very image of a man struggling and in an excruciating amount of pain. And yet, he remained recalcitrant; the way he fought to hold his head up in mute defiance was the only way he could say ‘I’m still here. I’m still here for her- and I’m not leaving again.’
While there was a number of things Subject Delta felt when seeing Sofia again (face-to-face, and not via a television monitor or through glass), surprisingly, rage was not one of them. Anger, yes. Horror, even - but the Protector wasn’t filled with the homicidal rage he’d once felt towards anyone who dared so much as touch his bonded Gatherer. Perhaps he was so tired that his own anger decided to rest, too. Or, perhaps Eleanor held an even greater influence over him than he’d thought; his fury quelled by her calming aura.
Whatever the case may have been, Delta waited in a nearly eerily patient manner for Sofia to speak- only giving a quiet groan to announce his presence, though there was no doubt she was already aware of that. He was already expecting another ambush. Let Sofia send her ‘family’, Delta thought; he was here for his own.
“She’s not yours,” she said, and she couldn’t help but wonder for whose benefit she spoke. He knew, he had to know, that she had won. But she was right. The bond between the little sister and the big daddy was not real, it was not natural. It was man made, fabricated from nothing more than habit and chemicals. Love was-- well, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to admit that love might be more than chemicals. But to say otherwise would mean that this monster could feel his heart aching the way that she could. And that was simply unacceptable. “None of it is real,” she continued, her stature tall and proud. “These feelings you think that you have, they’re no different than I might feel for a puppy.. or a toaster. You don’t know what it means to love, to be a parent. All you know is property. And Eleanor,” she concluded, “is mine.”
