Re: [Reaction]
Patience is a virtue, or so they say, but then fortune also favors the bold. [He wasn't sure whether to be bold or not. The ring meant something, though the meaning evaded him, an elusive shadow flickering in the darker regions of his mind. He wouldn’t miss it as a symbol, but the weight on his hand, steadying it when he faltered. Maybe it was as cursed as he was and he didn't wish ill on a man so generous in knowledge.] Some time. [Not right that moment, not when his hand and heart still needed guidance along the veiled paths.]
There's strength in knowing your true self. [He had met too many humans looking for company in all the wrong places, blindly drowning in the urge not to be alone. Strangers turning into dust, chasing shadows for a lifetime. Being alone didn’t equal loneliness. He had learned a long time ago. If the seer had a small pack to walk a bit of the way with him, be it dysfunctional and non-traditional, all the better.] As long as it doesn't get boring.
I'll try and make sure I come for you. [Of corpse, he didn't have the pull he used to have with the company. The new management wasn't the most fond of him, no more protégé to the higher ups.] And if I can't, we try to be rather accurate with our collecting. [He could vouch for that, their numbers were excellent. Everything digitalized and standardized, algorithms tweaked hourly.] I'm not much of a talker, I think. But it’s easy, with you. [Which probably was a compliment. Hidden there. Aiden’s voice still the same, rather monotone gravel.]
[He watched the man take a call on his black mirror device, the tiny things still foreign to him. The change of the man’s posture from eternal slouch to somewhat more alert did not go unnoticed. Trouble maybe, or just a minor inconvenience, it was hard to tell.] Yes. [He had been to Vade. He watched the man head for the door and reached for his own coat, a piece of fabric better not idly left behind. 'Don't be a stranger', it was puzzling, for that was essentially all they were to each other, still…. still he felt a connection.] I'll be around. [As ominous as that sounded. He collected the coat and shrugged it on. He'd see himself out.]