As needles, they mostly failed to prick. Zephyr shrugged. "Kind of sucks," he said, and, "Hey, less than ideal doesn't mean impossible. I know I'm being really sickeningly optimistic here, but sometimes... sometimes the people who don't know how to stop hoping are right, y'know?"

This was a level of conversation he could cope with. Prickly, but entertaining enough. At least until someone hit a sore spot. Zephyr wondered how far off that was from happening.

He was a little less convinced about Devin, but for the moment he let it be. "That's charitable of you. Probably works better in the long run."