[ She could insert a joke here. Deflect it to bring him back up from this place they had found themselves in. But she doesn't — reassuring him is more important to her now than some silly joke. ]

That doesn't make you any less of the person I know you are.

[ The words slip out without so much of a second thought. There's conviction in her words, a surety that leaves no room for doubt. For what isn't the first time, it dawns on her that she really knows very little about Sylvain's childhood. There are holes in the fabric of her understanding of him and it's hard not to wonder or press for more details than he might want to share with her. Those things might come with time, or maybe they never would.

Her own self-deprecation attempts to slide a snide comment in. Something along the lines of why would he want to share them with her? There's others here closer to him than her after all. She doesn't let herself get caught in the undertow. ]

Don't you think maybe you've being too hard on yourself, Sylvain? It's only been a couple of weeks. And after everything you went through [ Words fail her for a moment because everything that immediately comes to mind feels like it underscores what he went through. ] no one expects you to be okay yet.