Yet another fucking reason Brand hates this is that it makes dealing with people even worse. He's ready to pull the fire alarm (for tactical reasons, and he's only done it once) because there are too many people at the coffee shop on his best days. Rune's been a clingy bastard since infancy and Brand loves him more than anything, but the two of them would still commit acts of violence if they had to be in the same room all the time.

But when the white noise of Rune's existence vanishes into an all-devouring void, Brand is torn between holing up in a defensible position and latching onto the nearest remotely tolerable person because, fuck, he's more alone than he should be allowed to be.

Fuck, Dan asked him a question and he's just been staring into space.

"No, that's not going to help," he says. It occurs to him, dimly, that Dan must know that Rune's not here if he's talking about Brand needing 'relief'. "There's a...hole...where Rune should be. It's distracting."

Ugh, fuck words, that doesn't even begin to describe the problem.