Oh - that's - surprisingly charming. His smile broadens for a moment of unfiltered pleasure at Melanie's delightfully courteous manner. He bends down a little to take her hand and gives it a shake.
"It's nice to meet you as well," he says. And it really is nice! He never knew children could be so pleasant, and so easy to talk to. Perhaps he's getting better at it1. Straightening back up, he puts his hands behind his back in an unconscious imitation of her posture. He takes a moment to consider her, her unusual claims about herself, the vaguely unsettling sense he gets about her consciousness, and the curiously precise nature of her dream's location. His next question is clear, though he's very much hoping he can ask it without making her burst into tears again.
"Melanie," he says, as gingerly as he knows how, "is this... where you are when you're awake?"
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"It's nice to meet you as well," he says. And it really is nice! He never knew children could be so pleasant, and so easy to talk to. Perhaps he's getting better at it1. Straightening back up, he puts his hands behind his back in an unconscious imitation of her posture. He takes a moment to consider her, her unusual claims about herself, the vaguely unsettling sense he gets about her consciousness, and the curiously precise nature of her dream's location. His next question is clear, though he's very much hoping he can ask it without making her burst into tears again.
"Melanie," he says, as gingerly as he knows how, "is this... where you are when you're awake?"
1 He's not. It's all her.