Ben doesn't really care, but he asks as a smokescreen, to keep Cole from focusing on him for a moment while he pulls himself together. His voice is shaky and hoarse, his body trembling from head to foot. Ben keeps wiping blood and dust from the shield's visor as he tries to wrestle down the nausea and the terror, make it as quiet and small as he can. Normally, on missions, after he used his powers, he would just go quiet. Barely talk - or not talk at all - for a few hours, sometimes even a day or two. The others probably knew he wasn't alright, but they could only guess at what was going on inside, underneath the blank face and the silence.
But Cole can't benefit from that kind of shielding, and so Ben has to be okay faster than he's ever needed to, and he's so out of practice at it. He turns so he can't see that snipped bit of tentacle writhing, more and more slowly, on the ground. They don't have much time to waste.
no subject
Ben doesn't really care, but he asks as a smokescreen, to keep Cole from focusing on him for a moment while he pulls himself together. His voice is shaky and hoarse, his body trembling from head to foot. Ben keeps wiping blood and dust from the shield's visor as he tries to wrestle down the nausea and the terror, make it as quiet and small as he can. Normally, on missions, after he used his powers, he would just go quiet. Barely talk - or not talk at all - for a few hours, sometimes even a day or two. The others probably knew he wasn't alright, but they could only guess at what was going on inside, underneath the blank face and the silence.
But Cole can't benefit from that kind of shielding, and so Ben has to be okay faster than he's ever needed to, and he's so out of practice at it. He turns so he can't see that snipped bit of tentacle writhing, more and more slowly, on the ground. They don't have much time to waste.
"Which way?"