( Some five or six feet behind them, Rita has launched herself ten feet into the air with a flap of her wings, snatched a low-gliding bird by the beak, and fully just started eating it like a goblin right there in front of everyone. Good for her, frankly.

But Jack doesn't notice, because he's too preoccupied trying to wrap his head around this conversation as it's unfolding. Navigating delicate social interactions has never been his forte. Sometimes he can manage pretty well, especially these days, but usually it's during times when he's comforting somebody for issues that aren't wrapped up in his own Stuff — with a capital S. Like... monsters, or something. Dead Vanessas. Stuff like that. In other circumstances, he tends to get a little prickly without realizing it, and without intending to. )

But- that's not what was happening. I was trying to hold on, you walked out. That wasn't a price tag, that was you giving something away, like, immediately, five minutes into the conversation.