Congrats you're adopted now (Ken catchall)

[inaudibly]

Comments

[inaudibly]

[Nic stares at Ken for a long moment. Probably the right thing to do is to just play along and say something.... reassuring??? But.]

Someone your age ain't got "old" memories.
[Nic????]

It's normal to be affected by something like that at any age, I think.

[hamaoned]

[ normally he'd find someone pointing out his age to him insulting, irritating, but instead he smiles weakly and finds his hand unable to write anything for a while. his entire body is sagging just a bit as he tries to respond. ]

Most people don't even know what it's like. But you understand, don't you?

[ of course ken is talking about something beyond what was shown in his memory. it takes two kinds of people to handle this information as they are. ]

[inaudibly]

[He's not completely sure what Ken's referring to, mostly because he can think of several options. that said, he does understand feeling ready to face your death. Ready to kill someone else out of revenge, anger. And that hollow regret you feel after nothing really turns out the way you'd thought. It's hard to face as an adult. It's even harder to face as a kid.

So he just nods. Yeah, he does. Gives Ken's shoulder a rough, almost jostling pat.]

You better learn from it better than I did.
[Ken's a smart kid. He'll surely turn out a far better person than Nic did.]

[hamaoned]

[ aaand it's because of that exact fact is why ken was sure that nic probably understood him. the fact that he has options though is kind of concerning. actually both of them are concerning in ways... he smiles at the pat even if it is a bit rough.

makes him feel tough. ]

You could re-learn it better.

[ um. ]

I hear that's always an option for anyone who wants it bad enough.

[inaudibly]

[Hm. Well, he doesn't really have a lot of time left. But there's no reason to say that to Ken. Might as well humor him. So he laughs.]

I suppose I could. They say it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks, though.

[hamaoned]

[ dislike!!!!!

and here, have a breath of ken being a kid. ]

Good thing that you're not a dog, right?

You're Nicholas.

[inaudibly]

[Ah. Cute. Nic laughs softly, and reaches out to muss Ken's hair up.]

Guess if you say that I don't have an excuse.

[hamaoned]

[ normally he hates that sort of thing, but he'll let nic do it. only because it seems to fit. ]

Nope.

I like adults who don't try to find excuses not to do things.