He had curled a bit over the mug for warmth and to enjoy the steam coming off of it while Dallon talked, and he glanced up at Dallon's question. "Yeah," he said, swiftly swallowing a little more coffee before continuing. "It's what I've always wanted to do, and the war gave me a chance to do it." He considered how that sounded and hastily added, "Not that I was happy to see the war come. No one was. But it did mean I had a chance to get in and prove my worth and help people. Which is the real point of the thing."
He was rambling, and felt color rising to his cheeks again, and so dove in to sip at his coffee some more, hoping in this way to hide it. "What was the war like for you?" he asked, anxious to get the conversational pressure off his own shoulders. Talking about the past was not his favorite thing. He had to be so careful about what he said, so conscious of editing things out.