[There's a moment where he feels sort of embarrassed for the slip up. While his mutation had developed when he was younger, and he'd spent the better part of his life learning how to control it, he still wasn't used to it in many ways that Arkady was, simply in that he'd had no one to "talk" to until recently, and the only person who had been comfortable with him just wandering in and out when he wanted to was Erik.

And while he was usually good at filtering back his own feelings and keeping them locked safely behind mental barriers, he generally felt like the Barge was wearing his defenses down, and he was tired and wanted to go home.

So he nods, signalling that he understands and she should continue. He's not really sure if he's ready for it, but he hasn't really felt ready for anything since a young woman with a mutated MCR1 gene approached him in a bar in Oxford, so there's no use going back now.]