[ Riz catches that look and, perhaps inaccurately, thinks to himself: Krouse must miss his Mom. It would make Riz feel better about it. He misses his Mom terribly, an ache coming to roost in the hollow of his chest as he keeps inexplicably checking his crystal as though something will suddenly start working, and he can talk to her. But nobody else here seems to be saying anything of the kind, so the thought just makes him feel juvenile. He does what he'd want someone to do to him, though: he doesn't mention it.

It makes him feel a little better, too, to be recognized in that brief moment. He adores Fabian and Adaine to bits, but both of them grew up richer than god, and aren't as immediately understanding of these things. ]

Cable's expensive, [ he echoes, expression wry. ] We mainly just had Raven Reyes reruns -- uh, just this daytime cooking show, hosted by this Aarakocra lady. It was mainly aspirational.

[ Is that just Fantasy Rachel Ray? Of course it is. And just like in many other worlds, Riz and his mother often parked themselves in front of the crystal to watch and criticize it over a lukewarm frozen dinner. ]

...but we can listen to the podcasts. I'm in the middle of this really interesting one about the way they use arcanotech to deal with waste in Frostheim? It's this whole thing. [ It is deeply, deeply boring. Riz loves it. ] Have you got any of yours still loaded up on your -- whatever you'd call your crystal? I assume you've got one.