:: action - speech patters why so difficult
[ now he thinks he's done something wrong, something to upset her. there's really no way to tell anyone that the fault they've incurred was to simply exist, to speak with her and allow her insight into who they are as individuals. were will here, he would step in for her, allow her to leave while explaining the situation as best he could in her place. henry would stand there uncertainly. kate would probably leave the room herself, saying this isn't her business. and her old friend... he would want to stay out of the immediate issue, but offer his opinion when no one else was around.
dear god helen misses them.
she pauses after closing the last cabinet, letting her head duck a little and her hand linger. a moment later, she turns to face the captain, leaning slightly back against the counter as she folds her arms over her chest. it's a protective motion, one she uses when she feels vulnerable or possibly concerned over something -- but what? -- though her expression is a mix of emotions.
she doesn't want this man to take the blame for her own shortcomings. he reminds her so much of james at times that it's difficult for her to remember that being close to people doesn't often end well for her. they change, they die, and either way she's left alone. perhaps it's petty of her, but she finds it difficult to allow herself to become close to someone when she knows at the end she'll be the last one standing. ]
You've no reason to apologize.
[ how does she explain without going into details about her life? how does anyone admit that they've lost nearly everyone they ever cared for and that being near them might as well be a death sentence? her former fiance, her lovers, her daughter.
few are the days in which helen magnus has to deal with her tumbling emotions. apparently today has been more up and down than she'd expected. first the long talk with nikola and now this. her mind is scattered after everything that happened the last two days and she'd like it to cooperate so she can find a way to get out of explaining too much. her silence likely isn't helping. that one sentence isn't much of an explanation. ]
When you've lived as long as I have, loss becomes as constant a companion as life.
[ it's more than she's offered anyone in a very long time. decades, perhaps. the words themselves are very telling, speaking of more issues than she really wants to admit, even as it can simultaneously be applied solely to the situation she arrived here from, the one in which she watched someone die because the captors hadn't gotten what they wanted in a timely manner. whichever way captain picard decides to take it, helen turns to make certain everything is in its rightful place. she's accustomed to having these conversations with will, who would needle her until she snapped and used her rank as his boss to get him to shut up. she can't do that here. captain picard isn't beneath her.