His microexpression gave her a slight sense of pride, her heart practically leaping at the sight. She was approaching this like a completely new interaction, attempting not to make assumptions. For all that she knew him, they both had been through so much that she knew James had changed, and he probably knew the same of her. Their circumstances had changed from their last physical meeting. And yet, there were still too many variables that were considered unknown.
She moved slightly closer when he finally acknowledged her, the sense of wariness behind his eyes not surprising. She had a similar one in her own, which she wouldn’t attempt to hide from him. She’d never say it aloud where anyone could overhear her and use the information again her, but there was a time when she could have sworn he knew her better than she did herself. Memories were precious things, and having been the victim of a form of modification that wasn’t as severe as what he dealt with made her want to proceed with caution.
The silence between them wasn’t as comfortable as one might believe. It was filled with unasked questions, and unvoiced concerns. Small talk was the type of thing normal people indulged in. Neither of them had been normal even before they became who they were currently, which was why she was falling back into old habits from the earliest days of her training. There were so many ways this could go wrong, none of which she wanted to deal with. The only way she could be certain was by treading carefully, and letting him fill in certain blanks.
Currently unsure if he would answer, she stood her ground. She thought over their other conversations, ones held over the network, and wouldn’t regret seeking him out for a face to face chat. It was long overdue, though she couldn’t exactly say that to him. “Ah,” she said. “That makes sense, and I can’t think of anyone who would feel otherwise.” Not anyone aware of what he had been through even just within the more recent past, let alone what he dealt with a long time ago without a choice.
Those days weren’t a topic she wanted to discuss without having more of an idea of what he remembered; they both had their own distinct version of the events. And she would never claim to understand the full scope of how all that affected him or how he dealt with it, as his methods were most assuredly different from her own for reconciling her past.