[ If someone asked Claude, he'd answer in a heartbeat that he'd made the right decision, he decides now in yet another round of this same debate with himself. It has to be; sparing her from knowing what all happened at Gronder still seems like a kindness. That doesn't change that it's waiting there for her, of course, when they return from Abraxas or however that process works.
He's just turned his gaze back to Claire again when she tells him Hilda has an idea of what's coming. There's just enough time for him to arch an eyebrow curiously and begin to wonder how that's possible when she finishes that thought with something he doesn't expect at all. It's only from years of practice of controlling his expressions to let nothing slip by that saves him from outwardly reacting now when it feels like the ground tilts beneath him from sheer shock.
There's more Claire tells him - important details that he's trying to force himself to absorb as his mind spins. The pain in her voice, however: that seeps through every word into his consciousness. Such a thing needs no explanation when it can be felt that viscerally. ]
Gone? I don't-- [ Wherever that thought was going seems to have no destination when he doesn't have a way to finish it, not even when the obvious conclusion is to say Hilda is alive in his time. He might have if it wasn't for the rest of what Claire's said hits him while he's still mentally floundering. ] Was being apart from him for so long also part of your time traveling?
[ That's something else he can't wrap his mind around - that sense of loss which must have affected her deeply even if he doesn't mean to pry into something so clearly hurtful past the basic understanding. Somehow that's easier to focus on than there being some time where he'd have to exist without Hilda. ]
no subject
He's just turned his gaze back to Claire again when she tells him Hilda has an idea of what's coming. There's just enough time for him to arch an eyebrow curiously and begin to wonder how that's possible when she finishes that thought with something he doesn't expect at all. It's only from years of practice of controlling his expressions to let nothing slip by that saves him from outwardly reacting now when it feels like the ground tilts beneath him from sheer shock.
There's more Claire tells him - important details that he's trying to force himself to absorb as his mind spins. The pain in her voice, however: that seeps through every word into his consciousness. Such a thing needs no explanation when it can be felt that viscerally. ]
Gone? I don't-- [ Wherever that thought was going seems to have no destination when he doesn't have a way to finish it, not even when the obvious conclusion is to say Hilda is alive in his time. He might have if it wasn't for the rest of what Claire's said hits him while he's still mentally floundering. ] Was being apart from him for so long also part of your time traveling?
[ That's something else he can't wrap his mind around - that sense of loss which must have affected her deeply even if he doesn't mean to pry into something so clearly hurtful past the basic understanding. Somehow that's easier to focus on than there being some time where he'd have to exist without Hilda. ]