[Mostly, Basil keeps steady. He can be a good listener, he likes to think, and the ring is clearly very important to the boy. Its story isn’t happy....
[Basil frowns. Family death. A killed brother. The “retrieval” can’t have been pretty, metallic through—
[He kills the thought.] I– I’m sorry.... You’ve had to give up so much....
But… a-at least it’s back to you, where it belongs…? [The smile doesn’t quite make it. Basil looks away. Please fall, ring....]
delicious spoilers (on which note, implicit spoils for Basil’s canon here)
[Mostly, Basil keeps steady. He can be a good listener, he likes to think, and the ring is clearly very important to the boy. Its story isn’t happy....
[Basil frowns. Family death. A killed brother. The “retrieval” can’t have been pretty, metallic through—
[He kills the thought.] I– I’m sorry.... You’ve had to give up so much....
But… a-at least it’s back to you, where it belongs…? [The smile doesn’t quite make it. Basil looks away. Please fall, ring....]