[ Reynir is, fortunately or unfortunately, blithely unaware of just how much this means to Carlisle. He's gotten a sense that he's a lonely guy, sure. It would be hard to miss that. He recoils from anybody touching him, he asks a lot more questions about other people than he wants to answer about himself. He talks about being cursed and that meaning he had to stay close to home. He's devout, but Reynir hasn't heard him talk about any individuals from his own world with fondness.

So he gets that Carlisle isn't really the life of the party. But he doesn't understand how overdue it is or how few friends Carlisle has ever had. He just gives a little shrug, smiling in a lopsided way. ]

Yeah. We are.

[ Like it's simple to say the words, natural to want to have that kind of relationship with Carlisle. And as far as Reynir's concerned, it really is.

But he realizes now it's not something they'd talked about, so he gives Carlisle an out, just in case: ]

I mean, as long as that's okay with you. I know sometimes I get on people's nerves. But I would really like to be friends.