[ Reynir's eyes drop, but he can feel Onni's gaze on him still. He has experienced this before, from Onni - that concern, all stubborn and quiet and caring. He thinks that, even if the potential for this was always in Onni, it is a tone he had mastered raising Lalli and Tuuri. It's... nice. Different than the ways he's used to being cared about, either by his family or his friends back home. His usual little defenses all leave him.

He reaches up, fingers almost brushing those horns before his hand stops in midair and he curls his fingers into his palm, dropping his arm. ]

...I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a part of it, but mostly-

[ He exhales, makes himself look up. I won't let you go feral. He knows it's only logical that Onni would help him like this and look out for him. It's pragmatic. But at the same time, it's reassuring, to hear that, from Onni. Onni, who has surpassed such odds to help save Reynir before. ]

I know we talked about it and you're getting used to seeing Monsters here, but at the same time. Knowing it's gonna happen and seeing me like this aren't the same. I didn't-

[ The truth, the kernel of it that had been buried deep, enough that Reynir himself hadn't fully acknowledged it, spills out: ]

I didn't want the reality of it to gross you out or make you... scared of me, or whatever.