[ The answer is yes. Out of curiosity, out of amusement, out of general enjoyment of Gil's company, and, yes, because there is not particularly anything else to do.
The real question is how evasive Rau's next answer will be. It would be easy to pull away completely, and start on a winding denial of having dodged the original inquiry; it would be equally easy to simply point to the circumstances given that Gil has, very functionally, a captive audience. But both would only delay the inevitable, and they're a little too petty. On the other hand, it would be very strange to simply say yes -- life needs to struggle more than that, Rau needs to struggle more than that. ]
I'm here, [ he offers mildly, and nothing in his inflection suggests that he considers it anything less than a completely responsive answer... even though he's still being slightly difficult for the sake of being difficult. He's human, after all. ]
no subject
The real question is how evasive Rau's next answer will be. It would be easy to pull away completely, and start on a winding denial of having dodged the original inquiry; it would be equally easy to simply point to the circumstances given that Gil has, very functionally, a captive audience. But both would only delay the inevitable, and they're a little too petty. On the other hand, it would be very strange to simply say yes -- life needs to struggle more than that, Rau needs to struggle more than that. ]
I'm here, [ he offers mildly, and nothing in his inflection suggests that he considers it anything less than a completely responsive answer... even though he's still being slightly difficult for the sake of being difficult. He's human, after all. ]