Yeah, well, she's been worried about you, the Bull doesn't say. Dorian already knows, and doesn't need to hear it. He needs to hear the edge that would sneak in to the Bull's voice if he did say it even less, that misplaced, twisted up feeling at being the reason Dorian's going through this without being able to even talk to him, while Dorian sits there with nothing but the worst, shittiest memories of his old friend Felix to keep him company while he pushes through it on his own. At least the boss got to be worried.

Not Dorian's fault, the Bull reminds himself, taking a second to stare down at the counter and take a breath. Dorian had to be isolated for a while, and of course the boss is the only one who got to see him while he was. That's just how things shook out. It is what it is. And it's over now anyway, Dorian's here and talking to him. Time to let it go.

"Yeah, people like the coddling thing," he says instead, from personal experience, and tries to use the movement of turning to face Dorian as an excuse to shift more of his weight onto his right leg. He's not supposed to do that a whole lot - be pretty shitty if he messed up the only good one he's got putting too much of his weight on it too often - but his mind's going in enough different directions right now without that constant, low-level bullshit his ankle's sending out making it even easier for him to get crabby, and leaning any harder on the cane than he already is would make that need to lean way too obvious. "Makes them feel better about shit.

"Think sending you out here means she's done feeling guilty, though? Or you think she's just gearing up for something else? You did say she kept you from holing up in the library, right, made you come out here for fresh air."