"I don't remember, but I suppose it must be." Once begun it seems he can't stop touching Erik; he slides his hand down Erik's arm before leaning closer to fully wrap his arms around his chest. He doesn't hesitate to give Erik his full weight; he knows he can handle it.
"Being in that opera was like sleeping nude under a thick blanket, and suddenly having it ripped away. Or being tossed into a cold bath...I could feel every second of terror. If the Kin had turned against us in their thousands, Andrey and I would have been run out of town again, just as we were run out of Rome, Vienna, Madrid...and the Polyhedron would have died in its womb. I couldn't bear the thought. I couldn't even consider it. And then when the first outbreak of Sand Plague began...I think a part of me suspected that Andrey and I had done something terrible, when we sank the Polyhedron's foundation into the Earth. After that, I scarcely did anything but paint and drink."
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"Being in that opera was like sleeping nude under a thick blanket, and suddenly having it ripped away. Or being tossed into a cold bath...I could feel every second of terror. If the Kin had turned against us in their thousands, Andrey and I would have been run out of town again, just as we were run out of Rome, Vienna, Madrid...and the Polyhedron would have died in its womb. I couldn't bear the thought. I couldn't even consider it. And then when the first outbreak of Sand Plague began...I think a part of me suspected that Andrey and I had done something terrible, when we sank the Polyhedron's foundation into the Earth. After that, I scarcely did anything but paint and drink."