We’re different people now, we don’t have to dwell on what we did as kids. Right.
Okay, so he was right, he thinks? He was so desperate to find Cesare again he’s moving too fast- if that wasn’t confirmation just now that the other man had moved on (or, at least, wanted Makani to,) it was at least a calm down, we haven’t all been lonely and isolated from a thousand years.
He doesn’t let go of his arm, but Makani emotionally pulls himself back- his voice even getting deeper and raspier again, less like that old version of himself. He nods, continuing,
“Yeah, it has been awhile, hasn’t it? We’re different people now. Well…” he smirks a little in Cesare’s direction, “maybe not all of us. You’re still the same.”
“Although, you have a cool business now, and friends, and even arch-enemies, that’s cool. A well rounded guy has to have-“
He pauses walking, forgetting for a second to put that wall back up when he spots the pier, blinking at the lights and quietly whispering woah.
Boats, food trucks, vendors- something called adult face paint? (Was the paint different?) There were lights, and smells, and music, and Cesare was right, there were people, but not too many.
He doesn’t know how seeing the water and boats makes him feel. It makes a rock form in his chest- he hadn’t been back to Venice, or any town that really looked too much like it, for some time. And if he was, he stayed away from the areas that felt too…familiar.
And yet, he was enchanted, because he never allowed himself to go out and do stuff like this, interact with people. He unconsciously grips Cesare’s arm tighter, both out of anxiety and excitement, forgetting for a moment he was trying to pull himself back. He doesn’t like you like that anymore, calm down. Make yourself less…this.
“What do um…what do we do? Here?” He blinks and turns again. “…whatever we want?”