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Too many people too see, so many apologies to make. He felt bad for leaving people behind but he had to keep moving, one person at a time he had to keep going.

He slid into the Cafe almost hidden, simply from the way he was acting. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, bent at the elbow. His hair fell in waves before his face and he glanced from under it with a tired sort of glazed stare that suited well the dim gazes that peered listlessly over tea and coffee cups waiting for the energy to percolate through their tired brains. The whole city felt weary at times like this.

He slid into the chair across from Matthew, his shoulders rounded forward and folded his arms loosely on the edge of the table, looking up at him before arching an eyebrow. This was not the face he expected, anger he expected, disappointment... even demanding. But not the look like the boy had drowned in despair. A frailty like a cracked cup, threatening to splinter to pieces if it were so much as touched and spill whatever contents it so tentatively held.

"...Are you alright?" He asked cautiously.

"Concussed... as well as to be expected, I asked... too much, I should have asked a Lieutenant, or found an actor and drawn him in for this..." He shook his head scowling down at the table top for a moment, lost in his own guilt for a fraction of a second before glancing up.

"I'm sorry, I should have held off the event till you were healed. I was over eager." He said solemnly. It didn't sound like he was ready to ladle on the guilt. "When I failed to see the senshi of Echos with them, I made the foolish assumption that your attack would still be viable, that it would still help. I should never assume."

He had not said the words, but it sounded very much like he was dancing around them, flirting with the two words he hated saying, particularly in regards to 'work'.

He leaned back in his chair, the small squeak of the joints as he considered the words. He weighed them each one by one, tasting them, measuring them and then setting them in order in his mind before he started rolling over his reply. Start and then stop, analyze, consider...how honest should he be and how reassuring.

"...No..." he finally said. "no, I can't hold you to remember information that I hold, that would be ridiculous. You made a snap decision, fundamentally we made the same one, we elected not to let our team member fall into the hands of the enemy. You made the right choice... I, I am the one who didn't trust Ilmenite to extract himself, I didn't think of another way to retrieve him. You didn't fail. You did the best that you could with what you were given, you played the hand granted you as best you could."

He folded his arms to ward away arguments, he wanted none of this... no excuses, no wallowing. Not from his men, his team....his people. In turn, he needed to not let them see him do it either, it was a lesson learned.

"Birhan..." He said lowering his voice, that sort of quiet smooth tone that meant pure business, but was also, for some, just a little seductive. It drew you in, trustworthy if dark, honest if twisted.

"Birhan copied your attack, I hadn't known before what she did." He nodded thoughtful. "If you could write down anything you remember of what she said, I would appreciate that enormously." He tapped his fingers with a renewed energy.

"... Kallichore..." He added after a moment, rolling her name out carefully.
"Though she's gotten stronger since I first met her, last time I saw her she was still wet behind the ears, not tied to anything." He shook his head, lost in thought at the idea that he had met her before the Blood Moon Court sunk in its claws.

That earned a small laugh. "No... I don't think it's defective, I assume it's the nature of her..." he waved a hand thoughtful. "...affinity." he finished for lack of a better word.

"There is one other who does something similar, also of the Blood Moon Court but she was not there that I saw, if she was she might have moved off in the fray. She's more than colorful enough to notice on her own accord."

He shifted in the chair again, the feet scraping against the tiles and then paused, twisting the chair to give a sharp squeak to draw the waitresses attention. Eye contact, her downfall. He ordered a warm chai of his own before turning back to Daniel.

"Was...there something more?" He pressed, watching the hesitant darting gaze of the young man before him.

He nodded quietly, let it go. Sometimes that was the only thing to do... to let it go, if he needed to talk, if he needed to ask he might later. Zac at least realized he might not even be the person that the young man needed to go to.

He fingered the chai that was set down before them and then raised it quietly. "To next time." He said earnestly. Though quietly... he hoped there would be one. He hoped he would still be trusted, he had to believe he could be.

“That would probably be amusing, at least she should know it’s risky to lob things at my head out of uniform as well as in.” He looked thoughtful about the idea. “Are you worried about any consequences of visiting her at work?” He lifted a curious eyebrow and tilted his head to one side as he waited for an answer.