It wasn't the violence that surprised him. To be honest, he had seen worse. That didn't make it not terrible to watch.
What did make it awful to watch was two things: one was the fear in the memory, the fear of someone cornered; not even a defensive weapon at hand; the fear of being hunted, and caught. The pain was almost a relief--something he could understand, something he could process. But the rest of it....?
And the other thing that made it awful to watch was Lydia's reaction, because he saw the fear was not just in the past, and that the last thing she wanted was to have him see either.
For a long moment, he said nothing, staring deep into the water, until the ripples from her striking the water had smoothed out. He had hoped, in the interim, the right words would come, but none came, so after a long moment, he just reached out a hand, across the water, hoping she would take it, and maybe let him pull her across and against his side.
brace yourself bc next tag from me...but first this
What did make it awful to watch was two things: one was the fear in the memory, the fear of someone cornered; not even a defensive weapon at hand; the fear of being hunted, and caught. The pain was almost a relief--something he could understand, something he could process. But the rest of it....?
And the other thing that made it awful to watch was Lydia's reaction, because he saw the fear was not just in the past, and that the last thing she wanted was to have him see either.
For a long moment, he said nothing, staring deep into the water, until the ripples from her striking the water had smoothed out. He had hoped, in the interim, the right words would come, but none came, so after a long moment, he just reached out a hand, across the water, hoping she would take it, and maybe let him pull her across and against his side.