It does hurt. It hurts more than it should, and nothing he can say seems to be making it any better. There's only so far those huge feet of his can be shoved into his mouth before something breaks.

"I'm glad to see you," he blurts out, at a loss for anything else to say. Like the words are somehow going to fix everything.

There's that time gap, though. And suddenly it feels more physical than anything else.

"I mean... I'm the same bot I was. I didn't... I haven't had time to be anything else. I'm not trying to brush you off, Pax, I'm... I'm trying to figure things out."