“I understand.” He nods solemnly. That was so beautiful. Although he doesn’t know anything about forbidden knowledge, binding elementals, or binding dead people—the rest he understands completely, or believes he does. It sounds romantic. Noble. That annoying incident with the magic and the spilled beer is entirely forgiven and forgotten.

“Thank you,” he says. He's already had something to eat: Doritos. That chips don’t count as an actual meal never occurs to him. He still needs to find a motel for the evening though, and having a little extra money couldn’t hurt.

“Hey,” he says, making eye contact one more time before Felix is able to run off. It’s a little too intense, and he is almost overly sincere when he tells him, “Good luck on the research, dude. I hope you can figure it out.”