I think I've had enough people tell me I oughta be a part of something to know not to spew it at anyone else. [He drawls the words, looking down at her hand and staring past it at the same time.] And I'm old and cynical and jaded. I know when there's a princess in a castle, there's about twenty reasons why she's in that castle and when you try to suss out the why, you end up short a princess. I know that people don't always want to be involved in the things they get involved in and the best anyone can do is make sure they don't get hurt.

[He steps a bit closer.] And I know that there's still a long, long way to go and things are gonna get a lot worse. And Fluffy's star-crossed lover act may be really tragic, but that's his damage. Not yours. Your damage is a bunch of fuckheads with a vendetta against Shadowkind who've got their greasy mitts on an artifact I've been tracking for decades. There's a lot of coincidences involved in all this. And I'd like to think it means something. That maybe there's a reason everyone came together like this. [He leans in just a bit closer] And whatever ending that you get out of this, it'll be yours. And that's worth it. It's all I've ever wanted for myself.