It really didn't take very long at all for Gabriel to grasp what Vivi was actually doing. As unfamiliar as he was with the idea of someone attempting to comfort him, he knew what it was like to give it. Questions asked not for the sake of obtaining any answers, but for the sake of the person giving them. In the wake of that realization, it had him quietly wondering what soothed him more: the memories the questions brought to mind, or the fact that the boy felt compelled to offer this comfort at all. "Beyond any dream you could imagine."

Either way, it felt so strangely bittersweet.

The answers to the other questions would not be nearly so pleasant, this he knew. It felt as if answering them properly would defeat the entire purpose of asking them to begin with. "I had a place for myself, of course." And that wasn't a lie, he could be happy with that. "And it was one that I was proud to have been given." He was fine. See? It was working, he promises. One might almost imagine there was a smile in that tone as he spoke, the sentiment was genuine after all.

"... Thank you." For this.