（ he hadn't expected that he would stay, so there is a faint lift to his eyebrows before he too ... sits back down. politeness' sake. because for all those rough edges, he is his mother's son, and she raised him with all the cultural mores of his home. ）

Don't tell the others. I have something of a reputation to uphold.

（ his displays of ... kindness, such as they are, are few and far between. rare, because they have a cost to him, and it is not one so easily borne as all that. it is something long excised, and tearing at the sutures where it once lived in him is unpleasant. ）

I was wondering about our dwindling number of plates. I'm surprised the, ah, 'roomba'? has not accosted you yet.