[He can't check the recoil in time, but his hand stays where she put it, on skin that feels warm (if too warm) and skin that seems reassuringly human (if blue-hued underneath).
Hemocyanin - he'd picked up the copper base but been put in mind of sea creatures, or aliens: forgoing the self-absorbtion of much of the human race in imagining foreign life forms with the same pathological base. Like early maps placing the maker's country in the centre of the earth. He'd thought of crabs, lobsters, the insects of the ocean, and forgotten her fear of water. The dislike of cold.]
I should get you to the hospital. [He snaps out of the thought and moves, pressing the palms of his hands down to feel their way up around the swollen joint.] This could have a fracture we won't know about.
[action]
[He can't check the recoil in time, but his hand stays where she put it, on skin that feels warm (if too warm) and skin that seems reassuringly human (if blue-hued underneath).
Hemocyanin - he'd picked up the copper base but been put in mind of sea creatures, or aliens: forgoing the self-absorbtion of much of the human race in imagining foreign life forms with the same pathological base. Like early maps placing the maker's country in the centre of the earth. He'd thought of crabs, lobsters, the insects of the ocean, and forgotten her fear of water. The dislike of cold.]
I should get you to the hospital. [He snaps out of the thought and moves, pressing the palms of his hands down to feel their way up around the swollen joint.] This could have a fracture we won't know about.