Hermann & Cassandra
Refer back to that whole not socializing thing; he was, however, far from being rude. Disgruntled, potentially. Rude, no. "No, don't mind at all," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "And... thank you."
If she could offer, he could be polite and accept. Vanessa would be proud of him.
"What do you make of all this?" he asked curiously, attempting something like polite conversation. "The cruise, I mean. I finally realized that I simply have to stop trying to make sense of it, which isn't exactly something I'm used to doing." No, no it wasn't. Not in the least. His career had been largely predicated on making sense of things.