my heart's on fire—anditsdefinitelynotbecauseofyou

He was staring at the illusion of the mechanism in his chest, bewildered. How'd you... do that? He murmured, reaching out to try to touch the hologram; though obviously his hand fazed right through it. He withdrew his hand sharply, as if he'd been burned, as she started to speak again. She looked at him with such horror in her eyes, when she truly saw him.

Anger washed over him with an intensity that he'd never felt before. But he wasn't angry; so whose anger...? If he focused, he could almost seem the shimmer of a violently colored aura glimmering around the woman in question, whose anger came through her tone and voice as if that was all she knew. He knew better, though. He's heard her laugh, seen her smile, heard her whisper sweet promises to the wind. But right now, she was angry.

His gaze lingered on the 'gram, and then he focused on her. Seven. She'd asked a question; that was the answer. A handful of their ten years separate had been spent recuperating. But as soon as he had been able, he'd been trailing after her like a shadow she couldn't shake.

She'd asked another question, though. And that one made him shift nervously in his seat. Afraid you'd look at me like that. He murmured sourly to himself, quiet enough that she might not hear him. That's not the only reason, he chided himself mentally. And he tapped the metal plating of his chest. It limits me.

His nail scraped across the metal, and he murmured, Didn't want to show myself in case I die. No point in mourning me twice. And it was a real possibility given the nature of the tech, the dwarves had been clear with him on that. They didn't know how long it'd work, when it'd stop, or how long they could keep fixing it.

You heard 'em. Borrowed time. Tick. Tock. He gestured to the diagram, as if that explained it all.