Ciaran was glad the question had the effect that it did. It seemed to be grounding, to remind the other man of exactly his reasons through being asked to explain it to another.
The answer was the one he expected. The added detail to his explanation felt like a strange sort of privilege to hear. He gave him a nod of understanding.
"Fourteen years? Wow," he nodded, genuinely impressed by the other man's tenacity. Ironic, considering the sip of whisky that punctuated his sentence. He was even more impressed when he heard about the AA. That was interesting - that they could be in such a ridiculous situation, but people still fond comfort in the same things that had kept them sane back home. It made sense, though.
"My parents were alcoholics," he added casually, with none of the pain of it actually in his tone. "Never in the right place or time, though," he added, and then took another sip to just mask anything residual that might remain about that particular point. "That's good, though - that you were able to set something up here. That you know what works for you, and maybe it'll help someone else out along the way," he said, with an almost annoying amount of sincerity.