[There's a soft hum from him, and it's one of understanding even though what Souji really needs to hear is the reaffirmation that he does have worth outside of battle, that his home will be his home no matter what changes about him because he is, at his core, an important person.
But he doesn't have the words necessary to say things like that, nor does he have the emotional aptitude to even realize that he should be saying that. His thoughts are too similar even here, after all; when the war he's fighting in is over, everyone will go their own ways regardless of how strong their bonds are, because that's the only thing really keeping them together. (He also doesn't realize that he's just as wrong about this as Souji is about his own self-worth assumptions.)
Still, quietly and after a hefty pause:] It must hurt a lot. [Which is incredibly vague, but he'll reach forward again (because Souji's assumption was right, of course) and rest the tips of his fingers against his chest, right over his heart. A second later he traces a path around the shape of human lungs, coming to a stop at the dip between his collar bones.
"Your sickness must hurt you, if you don't think you have any other way of being useful."
He always understood that it was a great burden to Souji, of course, but this takes it out of the books he'd read impassively and makes it hard to bear.
And then there's that question, and Kashuu glances away briefly like he's preemptively ashamed.] Mm... Serving you was the most exciting part back then. Nothing else is really worth talking about since it was just a lot of waiting. Lots and lots - I waited longer than my smith lived, see? But I didn't leave the river until you were there. Not for anything that mattered, anyway.
tapes them together, fixed
But he doesn't have the words necessary to say things like that, nor does he have the emotional aptitude to even realize that he should be saying that. His thoughts are too similar even here, after all; when the war he's fighting in is over, everyone will go their own ways regardless of how strong their bonds are, because that's the only thing really keeping them together. (He also doesn't realize that he's just as wrong about this as Souji is about his own self-worth assumptions.)
Still, quietly and after a hefty pause:] It must hurt a lot. [Which is incredibly vague, but he'll reach forward again (because Souji's assumption was right, of course) and rest the tips of his fingers against his chest, right over his heart. A second later he traces a path around the shape of human lungs, coming to a stop at the dip between his collar bones.
"Your sickness must hurt you, if you don't think you have any other way of being useful."
He always understood that it was a great burden to Souji, of course, but this takes it out of the books he'd read impassively and makes it hard to bear.
And then there's that question, and Kashuu glances away briefly like he's preemptively ashamed.] Mm... Serving you was the most exciting part back then. Nothing else is really worth talking about since it was just a lot of waiting. Lots and lots - I waited longer than my smith lived, see? But I didn't leave the river until you were there. Not for anything that mattered, anyway.