It's an odd combination of both, which leaves Kieran caught in an unsettling dichotomy of not knowing if he should feel slighted or if he received exactly what he deserved.

Getting thrown around from place to place had a tendency to hit you right in the self-worth.

That said, reliving those horrific moments when the O'Driscolls had taken his eyes––Anchor had a nasty habit of dredging up trauma––also brought with it some serious questions. Questions that, upon receiving validation from friends here who legitimately cared about him without a need for him to swear his allegiance or prove his worth. Not that he didn't try to do exactly that––old habits die hard, if they die at all––but having even that tiny bit of support had been enough to almost completely rock Kieran's worldview into, perhaps ironically, something a little more stable.

Unfortunately, stability is transient on the best of days for the local nervous cowboy. This moment, in all of its awkwardly absurd glory, is enough to push Kieran right back into the land of paralysis-inducing uncertainty.

"I-I-I-I..." he begins.

Then he pauses.

Finally, with a forced crooked grin and a furrowed brow, Kieran just manages to pull together an actual response, voice cracking.

"P-Probably, yeah! I-If ya wound up here, I-I mean..."

Cue an instinctive cringe––the kind that wordlessly begs for Arthur not to hurt him for that.