[He opens his eyes to look at her at that - actually look at her, without his gaze immediately darting away or shifting around or being completely unable to focus, and even if he still looks a little dead behind the eyes at the very least he seems to actually be seeing what he's looking at for the first time in quite a while.]

...Have you ever heard of kintsukuroi...?

[He doesn't think she has; it takes him a moment to find words, to express what he means to say, and in that brief moment he almost second-guesses himself.

Almost.]

It's a Japanese art...mending things like pottery and ceramics. The repairs are done with gold lacquer, not clear...the idea is that even if something has suffered damage, it has a history and it's more beautiful as a result.

...I don't...know if we're broken or not. But it...maybe it's like that. Not how we're supposed to be, maybe, but...better for it anyway.