His immediate response to her question post-monologue was hesitation and that was quite uncharacteristic of him. It seemed like he was giving what he was going to say next a great deal of thought, almost as if it was important or significant to him in some way. It was a relatively substantial stretch of time, which in reality only spanned a few dozen seconds, before words were finally spoken from his side. "I would like to hear what your spontaneous questions are. But before you go ahead with that, I do have a sixth question. More of a request, but that's only if you want to get hung up on technicalities." Ever the rebel, he was breaking the rules of this little exercise like he'd broken so many other things, although this was surely a harmless infraction when put alongside the others.
"Could you do that again?" It was obvious what he meant from the way he was looking at her, and the way he'd reacted to the small gesture of her reaching out. But the way he'd asked revealed that he felt a sense of shame about this. There could have been multiple reasons for it, the simplest of which was the fact that her people were by all accounts considered freaks by his own people. So to ask for a repeat, even if only restrained to a small gesture of affection, might have felt like quite the betrayal of long established prejudice.
Or, it could have simply been the fact that he was asking for it, because that alone revealed more about him than any of the five questions might have. To want affection was one thing, and it was even natural, but to ask for it was another. Especially to people who had been deprived of it in significant ways and early on. To that sort of person, it would seem like an almost insurmountable thing to do, and almost inappropriate. And that was a potent blend of insecurity to have.
