[ Neither of them are into this, but here they are anyway, because it turns out he's just as messed up as she is. The guilt and relief that tinges his thoughts with every step they take away from town and the people they're all too visibly connected to could be her own; she doesn't want to have a drink with him, but it's not the last thing she wants to do, so here she is, leading him down the path to the cabin she still keeps even though she's made a home with Tommy in Lakeside. It's like having a safe house, a just in case plan B. She keeps the cabin stocked with food and fuel even when she doesn't expect to be there, and she doesn't think too hard about why.

(She knows why. Everything has an end date. Just because she hasn't found the straw that will break Thomas' back yet doesn't mean she won't. Just because Edward and Kate and Irving are letting her stay with them now doesn't mean they will when the next storm comes. She's just keeping her options open; she's being smart.)

She glances over at his question and the flick of his hand, before glancing down at the threads that come spilling out of the coat pockets where she's tucked her own hands, fingers fisted like that might make some kind of difference to the gold-white-black-red web of them. ]

Not that I've seen. I think we're stuck with them.

[ Hopefully not forever. She can barely deal with her own emotions, let along the ones she gets from Irving and Kate and all the others, and Edward--

Whose name echoes in the thoughts that spiral down that black thread between her and Konstantin. The look she shoots his way is sharp and defensive; she bristles even as she knows there's no way around it. She can't cut Little out of her thoughts, and she can't keep this guy from hearing them; all she can do is wriggle like a wasp that's been pinned, unable to sting. ]

You say a word about any of this to anyone else and you and I are going to have a problem. Got it?