There it was. Not a need to appease others or a desire to change for them, but a personal connection to what Oliver wanted. Something for him and him alone, dependent on no one else. Jigano nodded in satisfaction, smiling as he offered more tea. ”Then I will indeed help as much as I can,” he offered warmly. And as soon as the timey-wimey was caught up, he’d explain more.
The apology was met with a grave nod of acceptance followed by a wry smile. ”And I’m sorry for talking down to you. It’s a bad habit of mine that I keep trying to break… without much success,” he admitted with a grimace. ”But thank you for being patient with all my questions.”
Oliver was hard on himself, something he had in common with many on in the Hollowed Grounds, Jigano thought wryly. Including himself. ”You’ve been here, what? Less than two seasons?” he asked, adding a sugar cube to his cup. ”And you’re… maybe twenty-one? Early twenties? I’ll bet that most of those you’ve met have been older and had skills and jobs from their old worlds that they could bring here, and those worlds are so different. Sunjata’s world and Deimos’s world and my world… we can’t even compare between each other, much less with someone who arrived so close to LongNight. But even so, we all had to learn about Caido and what we’d gained and lost by coming here,” he reassured the younger man. ”And it took time to become what we are and get to this point. Almost a year and a half for Deimos and I, in fact, and Remi, too. With LongNight past, you have time to learn, and I’ll make a bet with you that in half a year no one will remember any mistakes you’ve made now.” He grinned at the blond, arching a brow challengingly to see if Oliver would take that bet.
The apology was met with a grave nod of acceptance followed by a wry smile. ”And I’m sorry for talking down to you. It’s a bad habit of mine that I keep trying to break… without much success,” he admitted with a grimace. ”But thank you for being patient with all my questions.”
Oliver was hard on himself, something he had in common with many on in the Hollowed Grounds, Jigano thought wryly. Including himself. ”You’ve been here, what? Less than two seasons?” he asked, adding a sugar cube to his cup. ”And you’re… maybe twenty-one? Early twenties? I’ll bet that most of those you’ve met have been older and had skills and jobs from their old worlds that they could bring here, and those worlds are so different. Sunjata’s world and Deimos’s world and my world… we can’t even compare between each other, much less with someone who arrived so close to LongNight. But even so, we all had to learn about Caido and what we’d gained and lost by coming here,” he reassured the younger man. ”And it took time to become what we are and get to this point. Almost a year and a half for Deimos and I, in fact, and Remi, too. With LongNight past, you have time to learn, and I’ll make a bet with you that in half a year no one will remember any mistakes you’ve made now.” He grinned at the blond, arching a brow challengingly to see if Oliver would take that bet.
