Her expression is an encouraging one - if someone was going to reject what was said, they likely wouldn't spend time considering it first. In his experience, anyway, considering most people who disagreed with him had no shortage of eagerness to do that immediately and almost right in the same instant when the words leave his mouth.
What it leads to this time is Abby opening up in return with far more detail than before, and Claude crosses both his arms to let them rest overtop his knees while he listens. Even with some of the details almost certainly missing still, much as they're Abby's to decide whether to share or not share at all, it does bring some more of what's bothering her into focus for him. He nods slightly at the moments needing it to encourage her to keep going, but is otherwise silent until it's his turn.
"I get it. It can be easy to want to let those negative voices in, isn't it? I know my friends who've struggled with that because when you hear it for years, sometimes it wants to sink in as fact even if it isn't. You do deserve good things, happiness, to find people who value you for who you are rather than an impression made - and anything and everything else that falls in between all of those."
If they were sitting closer, Claude might've nudged her with an elbow just to underscore that or maybe impart some additional sincerity to that. As it is, he'll have to go with his other plan of adding more to that to make it so. "It doesn't mean all of that can't still hurt you, too, even if you're not at home. There are some things I still feel and hold close even though it's been years since they happened, and to narrow it down further it was some of those that kept me from reaching out to anyone after convincing myself it wasn't worth it. I didn't like being hurt the times I'd tried, not that anyone does, but with some of that hurt came lessons. What I didn't want to repeat, what I didn't want out of reaching out to someone, and what I did - maybe some of which might apply to here since neither of us can change our pasts."
no subject
What it leads to this time is Abby opening up in return with far more detail than before, and Claude crosses both his arms to let them rest overtop his knees while he listens. Even with some of the details almost certainly missing still, much as they're Abby's to decide whether to share or not share at all, it does bring some more of what's bothering her into focus for him. He nods slightly at the moments needing it to encourage her to keep going, but is otherwise silent until it's his turn.
"I get it. It can be easy to want to let those negative voices in, isn't it? I know my friends who've struggled with that because when you hear it for years, sometimes it wants to sink in as fact even if it isn't. You do deserve good things, happiness, to find people who value you for who you are rather than an impression made - and anything and everything else that falls in between all of those."
If they were sitting closer, Claude might've nudged her with an elbow just to underscore that or maybe impart some additional sincerity to that. As it is, he'll have to go with his other plan of adding more to that to make it so. "It doesn't mean all of that can't still hurt you, too, even if you're not at home. There are some things I still feel and hold close even though it's been years since they happened, and to narrow it down further it was some of those that kept me from reaching out to anyone after convincing myself it wasn't worth it. I didn't like being hurt the times I'd tried, not that anyone does, but with some of that hurt came lessons. What I didn't want to repeat, what I didn't want out of reaching out to someone, and what I did - maybe some of which might apply to here since neither of us can change our pasts."