She turned toward the hallway leading to her room, arms around herself, walking quickly, finally breaking into a run. She almost collided with Mark. He caught her arm as she was about to fall. "Easy, (nope, I'm not saying who she is), no need to run." He looked at her more closely. "You okay?" "No.... Yes!" A simple question, really. One would expect the answer to be equally simple. He held her arms. "You sure?" "Yes, of course I am. Why do you ask?" "You look upset." "I'm fine." He was holding her too tight, for control rather than support. "Something happened. Just now." "I'm fine. Nothing happened." Got that, oh G-Force Commander and man who's out of my life? Nothing. "Now let me go." "Then why were you running?" His eyes narrowed. "Weren't you out with (name withheld) tonight?" +++++ question is: would his eyes narrow, or go wide as he realizes that she's been out with name-withheld, and name-withheld's probably done something he shouldn't have?

It would depend on his relationship with and knowledge of "her" personality. If he's wide eyed, he's leapt to his own conclusion about what's happened. If his eyes are narrowed, he's still looking for information. From this segment of story, and with my lack of knowledge of the "name withheld" characters, either could be the case. It seems a little early for him to be jumping to his own conclusions though.

blargh - frigging useless wireless network....

I don't like wireless networks... this is just so unreliable.

Oh, gee, thanks. Replacing one tough quesiton with another. He has lept to his own conclusions, and wants her to verify them. He really wants his own conclusions to be right, but knows exactly what will happen (toasted Eagle) if he acts on them and he's wrong. Hmmm, widen and narrow. Thanks!

narrow indicates suspicion or interrogation, wide would be surprise and understanding. so like Meridian says, he could do both. he narrows his eyes as he's thinking through what is going on, and then they widen as he puts it together. or he widens them as understanding occurs and then narrows in suspicion of conclusion. the last sentence will read differently if his eyes are wide or narrow at that junction. one interpretation will read as (honest) surprise, the other as interrogation.

I'm thinking he's curious (neutral), then thinks of something (widens in surprise and understanding), then narrows as he interrogates her to confirm his suspicions. Poor boy can't actually act unless his suspicions are confirmed, and he wants to act. We'll see if it still works that way in a week or two, but that's my fav for now. Many thanks!

What story fic is this of your cricketbeautiful? i would like to read what you have come up with on this one. it sounds like it could be interesting

It's my epic. Got a ton of work to do before ready for posting. Things in the second half keep changing things in the first half. Makes note to get some of the shorter stuff ready to post, once the house work has slowed down.

thanks for the update I will be watching for them