Rob chuckled softly at Toby's excitement, and he happily let him lick at his hands. Just petting at him was helping to soothe him, to ground him. It all felt starkly real. He almost dared to let himself believe it.
He listened as she spoke, her words sounding strange and alien to him. Toby practically jumped into his lap, and he gave him a bit of a cuddle as he thought about what she was saying. Could he have made that up? Probably not. "What happened to the island? A lot of islanders just showed up here like they did there?" he asked. He didn't know anything about space. It would probably take him some time to really accept what she was saying to him.
She said he looked like a soldier, and he was surprised to find that he still felt the sting of shame on it, that he'd given in after all. "Aye, lass. I am that," he said softly, looking at the dog rather than directly at her at this admission.