[For a few seconds, he takes Hannibal's hand, lets his heartbeat resonate through the conch shell of Hannibal's current being, patterned and lovely as a pale pink Fibonacci spiral, brittle and empty and scoured clean.]
I'm sorry.
[Soft, sincere, for the shell and no one else; because he is Dillon's creature, because Dillon has always owed his creatures better than he could give them. Because he feels, even if he doesn't have a human's true complexity or independence. Because Dillon made him apologize, and it - fits.]
spam
I'm sorry.
[Soft, sincere, for the shell and no one else; because he is Dillon's creature, because Dillon has always owed his creatures better than he could give them. Because he feels, even if he doesn't have a human's true complexity or independence. Because Dillon made him apologize, and it - fits.]
I'd have made you better if I knew how.