[ He was. He hasn't been talking to her all this time, but it had been twenty years. For all the insults and abuse, all the ways that his self-esteem was crushed and he never met his mother's insane expectations... he was still the favored son. The favored son who was a resounding failure, but he still was the favored one. And he hated it. He wanted nothing to do with her. But he was facebook friends with more people from their past, more extended family members than Nariko. And...

And this was the fact he wouldn't tell her, because it just... has no place here. But while their mother's death was all this, it wasn't exactly unexpected either. It was six years ago when Nathan had first discovered that their mother's health was failing, and it was because of that they tried (and for the most part failed) to reconnect. They really didn't talk about much more than the weather or him trying to get her to go to the hospital or a home. But that had been part of his lot in life all this time.

And so he allows himself to look pained, conflicted for a moment there when she says it's not fine. Because ... it's not. But he shakes his head and fidgets, trying to ignore the wave of self-disgust he feels in that moment for a variety of reasons. Instead having his eyes zero in on that fine, and her body language. What is he... doing. ] They're all expecting me to come conduct the last performance of the tour on New Years Eve. So hopefully Hell doesn't come with a two week extension.

[ . . . But. That gently push. He shifts from one leg to the other and- ] After that, though-