Malcolm had expected her to push at him, to point out that he clearly wasn't all right, but what she actually asked him took him by surprise.
"What?" he asked, looking at his own hands quickly as if he'd forgotten that there was anything amiss- and truthfully, he had forgotten. There were bigger things on his mind, really.
"Oh, right. Nothing- I took an instant dislike to a tree and decided to cause it some physical pain," he half-joked. "Plan backfired a bit," he shrugged, forcing a slight smile. Because that was all he ever did- covered everything up with jokes and banter. He really was bloody useless- he didn't know how he'd got this far without ever learning how to be emotionally open. Mind you, perhaps that was exactly how he had survived.