"Yeah? He's a friend o' mine, too," Tal said proudly, before deflating slightly as he added a hesitant. "I think. Pretty sure at least." Which was to say that the courier wanted to be friends with Ronin, but he wasn't sure if the Super Nova considered him one in return, or if he was genuinely just that nice. He did his best to bury the sudden spike of social anxiety in a flurry of activity as he looked diligently at the instructions while he assembled some more parts.
"Mmmm... yeah, I think so. The observatory place looked kinda fucky th'last time I flew over it, but maybe they're renovatin' it?" Talk of the city was definitely safer and Tal cautiously emerged from his shell again to answer Liam's question. "I dunno much about th'Dragoons, but Soh - I mean, Sohalia, the new Heart - is a friend o' mine. The city's in good hands with her." He warmed up further talking about Sohalia, gesturing with the length of metal in his hand and oblivious to how close he came to losing it as Boreal opened her mouth to chomp on it. She only barely missed it as he swung his arm back in order to slot the piece into the frame, her jaws closing on air. She shook her broad head and then snorted her opinion of the activity, which involved far too little fussing of perfectly lovely nearby dragons.
A look of hunger and understanding flashed across the courier's face at Liam's final words, a yearning that went straight to his heart, and he quickly ducked his head as he pretended to focus on assembling his own lantern, fiddling with the pieces in his fingers as he cleared his throat. "Um. Yeah. I c'n... prob'ly get that," he muttered gruffly. "Doesn't sound so bad, bein' a Dragoon. So uh... can I ask why you left?" He snuck a glance back at his 'host,' nibbling his lip thoughtfully. "I mean, y'seem kinda young for retirement." Never mind that five years ago he would have accepted the explanation without blinking. Now that he was in his mid-twenties, the thirties didn't seem quite so decrepit anymore, and he figured Liam wasn't that much older than him. His phrasing wasn't the most tactful, but he didn't seem immediately aware of how rude he was being.
"Mmmm... yeah, I think so. The observatory place looked kinda fucky th'last time I flew over it, but maybe they're renovatin' it?" Talk of the city was definitely safer and Tal cautiously emerged from his shell again to answer Liam's question. "I dunno much about th'Dragoons, but Soh - I mean, Sohalia, the new Heart - is a friend o' mine. The city's in good hands with her." He warmed up further talking about Sohalia, gesturing with the length of metal in his hand and oblivious to how close he came to losing it as Boreal opened her mouth to chomp on it. She only barely missed it as he swung his arm back in order to slot the piece into the frame, her jaws closing on air. She shook her broad head and then snorted her opinion of the activity, which involved far too little fussing of perfectly lovely nearby dragons.
A look of hunger and understanding flashed across the courier's face at Liam's final words, a yearning that went straight to his heart, and he quickly ducked his head as he pretended to focus on assembling his own lantern, fiddling with the pieces in his fingers as he cleared his throat. "Um. Yeah. I c'n... prob'ly get that," he muttered gruffly. "Doesn't sound so bad, bein' a Dragoon. So uh... can I ask why you left?" He snuck a glance back at his 'host,' nibbling his lip thoughtfully. "I mean, y'seem kinda young for retirement." Never mind that five years ago he would have accepted the explanation without blinking. Now that he was in his mid-twenties, the thirties didn't seem quite so decrepit anymore, and he figured Liam wasn't that much older than him. His phrasing wasn't the most tactful, but he didn't seem immediately aware of how rude he was being.
