“Hope-hopefully that me-means she’ll be-be out of-of it early as-as well,” Harry says with a small nod, “Or-or I hope s-so, for your sake.“
When he speaks again, Harry nods, his mouth open slightly, “W-well, that’s qu-quite remarkable. How-how old w-were you when y-you moved here? I-I’m sorry, if th-this ann-annoys you, I-I can cert-certainly shut up,” he says, grinning again.
“I-I’ve bee-been trying f-for th-the past ten or-or twenty y-years, I-I don’t think I’m capable,” he says with a grin before he shakes his head, “May-maybe they are, b-but not let-letting them me-meet new people is-is just g-gonna keep th-them that way,” he says, shrugging a shoulder.
At the question, he laughs again, “I-I suppose we-we do. I’m a-a bit of a-a sucker, really. We-we’ve got t-two dogs, a-a cat, a par-parrot, and an-an iguana,” he says, looking up as he lists them, “Th-they were all abandoned. I-I don’t know how-how I c-could have s-said no. I-I mean, I am a-a very weak m-man, what c-can I s-say?”
“yeah, yeah. keep your fingers crossed, bud. knowin’ my luck i’ll be embarrassin’ her ‘til she’s my age,” raff replies with a little laugh, wrinkling his nose a little bit. the idea of his daughter being his age is mildly horrifying so he pushes it aside. yeah, no thanks.
“uh... like ten, or so? nearly eleven?” raff says, shrugging a bit. “eons ago, basically. it’s not annoying - i get tons of questions about it when i mention it. if i bring it up i’ve gotta answer the questions, y’know?”
“you always have the harshest view of yourself,” raff replies with a shrug. “you pick out the problems that no one else sees, ones that you wouldn’t pick out if it were someone else in the same situation. you seem plenty capable to me - i mean, i’m just a tattooed dude in a park so maybe i’m not the best judge. and you could secretly be a hoarder, but uh. you seem like a good, capable dude.”
he laughs a little. “yeah, probably not. i guess they’ll at least have some juicy things to tell their therapists in a couple’a years, though.”
raff’s smile grows, all teeth and crinkly eyes as the man speaks on his pets. bless. raff is, like most sane people, a sucker for any cute animal. they’re his kryptonite - cute animals and cute babies. he’s a total sucker.
“that’s cool! really selfless, and shit. pets are the best,” he says with a nod. “me and areum have a dog and a snake at home. she has two frogs at her mom’s, too,” he continues. “she’s uh... a special kid.”
