OOC here! :: Word Count → 430
Her explanation made him pause in his fingering, looking at her curiously. After a moment, however, he began again, soon losing himself in thought. He did not play, but went through the practice motions he'd learned long ago, simply moving his pads across the neck and resting his hand against the strings over the sound hole. As she explained what she would have to do in order to make them 'family', he felt a frown cross his face. What she described didn't seem like a process you would go through with a complete stranger, and that was what they were; though his name meant little to him, he'd learned enough about different cultures to realize what a giant step she would be taking, simply because he'd expressed his loneliness.
It was heartwarming, but at the same time he shook his head, lifting a hand to place it gently on her knee. "This thing you wish to do," He said, trying to decide how best to word what he wanted to say, "It seems...much. We are strangers, have only just met." He looked at her frankly, a small frown pulling at his maw. "I imagine you do not need such hefty weight on your shoulders. I am wanderer, it is only natural that I get lonely." He explained as delicately as he could. "Perhaps, on next meeting, when we more easily refer each other as friend, we do this thing. But now," He shrugged, lifting his hand to throw it in the air and indicate just how flighty everything was at the moment, "We not knowing when see each other again. I am possibly not returning, and you are living here. It is not...sensible." He paused, and then looked at her, a smile crossing his face to soften his refusal. "But I am appreciative, yes? You have kind heart."
It was a rare moment of forethought on his part, and perhaps some empathy as well; he could see how important it would be to mark each other as family in some way, but after only a single meeting, no matter how meaningful it was, they couldn't really know each other. He didn't want the thought that she had some family out there--some member of her caravan, to put it in terms he understood better--wandering who-knew-where, and with the ability to call on her from wherever he was, no matter how far that might be. It was like a debt, one he wasn't ready to put her in, no matter how much he might like her.
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