The smile he sends her way crafts itself from something sympathetic and something further inquiring alike, a slight nod inclusive. Resilient is a word he often associates with the way people prove time and again in this City that they can recover from a myriad of difficulties they would otherwise not even conceive of much less encounter in their origin-worlds. He appreciates that fine balance of honesty and perseverance but it seems almost condescending to say as much, so he doesn't.

His smile stays however, a little soft at the corners. "If that's what people want to believe, I think it's quite true," he pauses, "I believe it, in any case." He hesitates, aware that this might be overstepping, but then he very much expects that the option to not answer his questions is self-evident to someone like the woman beside him, someone practical. "I had just been asking Susan whether she would...choose to remember this place, or forget given the choice," a preamble really. "I don't think I could ever decide to forget, myself. There are too many things worth committing to memory in spite of the difficulties." Here he cants a gaze over at her, steady. "What do you think?"