Avoidance helped settle the emotions. Considerably.

“You are a universe,” he reverentially whispered, and then his game began. A gam…”

“The world isn’t perfect, and some days it wears you down. You can either accept…”

“Now that, my friends, is what we vampires call a good exit.”

“Scout released me, then wiped tears from beneath her eyes. Catharsis, I guessed…”