[If Elizabeth's emotions are running high, Gai's are off the charts, and it terrifies him. The fact that he's feeling what he's pretty sure he is, much less this intensely, is brand new and terrifying and it makes him feel exposed and vulnerable, two things he's always hated. He's spent so many years perfecting the art of being able to switch off his emotions when needed that the fact that he can't do so right now is making him feel... cornered, almost.

He's not sure whether he's scared of himself, scared of her, or scared of this, whatever this is. Respect, fear, hatred, admiration... those are all responses he understands. Those are the things people usually feel towards him, and he's learned to expect those. But this is something completely new, something he's never experienced before, and thus his logical mind is working overtime trying to figure out just how to process what he's feeling right now.

The break in the kiss is both a relief and a fresh source of uncertainty. Oh god, he'd kissed her, hadn't he? But she hadn't pushed him away, had kissed BACK, so at least he hadn't done something horribly wrong... yet. He allows himself a moment to collect his thoughts before he responds to her.]

I've been fighting on battlefields since I was seven years old. I grew up as a soldier-- I'd killed more people than I could even count by the time I was ten. I can kill a grown man with my bare hands, I know how to use dozens of different firearms, and I can sneak up behind you and knife you in the back before you even know I'm there.

[Now he pulls away just enough to look down at her.]

Someone I know back in my world had the ability to reach into a person and draw out their heart as a physical object. That object represents that person's personality, for better or for worse, and there was no way to fake it or influence it to be what you want.

[He pauses.]

Mine was a rifle.