Ernest nodded along, his smile growing a little wider with every clue she seemed to suddenly remember, and then he laughed with her, shaking his head to deny that she was just an idiot. "No, I was being somewhat evasive," he admitted. No outright lies, but he had carefully said journalist and not writer, had only revealed his first name, hadn't name-dropped anyone at all. "I did nearly lose my shit completely at your tattoo, but uh... seemed like bad timing." He grinned a little more, glancing down at the menu for a second as images of absolute filth came quickly to the forefront of his mind.
"No, no, you're thinking of it all wrong," he insisted, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to fake a love of chocolate for more than a couple of bites. "If I don't love chocolate, there's a lot more chocolate for you. You don't want friends who will steal your chocolate, Abi. You need to think strategically about this," he teased, although he did rather want to add that he didn't want to be her friend, but it seemed a little intense for what was just a passing comment.
"I think... eventually you stop trying to wrap your head around it," he admitted it. He was still one of the residents who asked more questions. He wasn't complacent, but he wasn't desperately seeking answers, either. "So, after a while you start accepting that you're not going anywhere. You find your friends, you can build a pretty decent life for yourself," he explained softly. "I wasn't exactly thrilled to be sent home again," he admitted. Oh, it was getting too close to the truth. He didn't know that he could cope with that conversation, with telling Abi he hadn't wanted to leave without absolutely breaking down on her, hugging her close, telling her how he'd missed her and grieved for her.
He cleared his throat a little, and shook his head as if to shake it away again. "I don't know if it's something about the place, or if it's just boredom. Although, the abundance of offspring are mainly the work of two families. And there's an inordinate amount of multiple births among them. It's actually hard to keep track, and a lot of them look identical, or almost identical."