[ Riz nods along, not bothering to mention his own paternal situation; the angel revelation aside, he knows that the whole dead dad origin story is kind of a bummer. He's learned not to mention it. It makes things awkward, or people try to give him their condolences, or they want to know how it happened, and -- well, it's easier just not to talk about it, even if Krouse is sharing a little more about himself.

Opting out is better than what most can hope for anyway, Riz thinks privately, considering the amount of truly dreadful parents he's encountered by now. Sometimes it really is better just to not have anyone else in your life. So with the true confidence of a child raised by a single parent, he just nods and says, ] One good parent's all anyone really needs.

[ Everyone always tells him how much he looks like Pok, how similar he is to him, how much he's his father's son. That's all true, and he's proud of it, but deep down? He knows he's a lot more like his Mom than anyone else, the two of them practically a single organism working in perfect tandem. ]

I wasn't really an easy kid to raise either, [ he offers with a laugh, ] but it's the same here. My mom's nosy too. She's a Detective, actually, so we've both made it our jobs.

[ Not for much longer, if she has her way, but finding out more about that is just going to have to wait. ]

So I guess you moved to a different city once you graduated high school, huh? You must have missed her a lot.

[ That's going to be him, soon. He's kind of dreading it. ]