Ashton didn't look twice at Valyn. Though the elf's ears were pointier than Expellians', and would be enough to seriously weird some people out, on Nede he had seen nothing but long ears - in fact, on that planet his own short ears (not to mention the dragons protruding from his back) had made him somewhat of a novelty. River, on the other hand, was an odd bird, and how she knew that he was Dias' 'friend' before he said anything was just incredibly weird. He had seen weirder things in his time, but everything around him was new anyway. Would there be an explanation? Did it matter? Ashton had the tendency nowadays to accept everything odd at face value. He had grown so used to new things, he didn't question them as much as he should.

Instead, he focused all of his attention on the injured man sitting next to him. Ashton wasn't sure whether he had ever heard Dias say so much in such a short time, but he sat and listened to the man's low voice, content to hear a remnant of his old life, even if this was not the same man. Dias had the same idea of the place that he had heard from Junior, which confirmed Ashton's fears.

And he was going to be forced to deal with Dias' utter lack of intimacy all over again. Well, first things first. "Dias.." he started. "It's all right, you don't have to remember me. I.." Why was this difficult? "You'll remember me from now on, okay?"

He started on his fabulous-tasting burger. The Food God and Prince of Darkness Yarma would approve, he thought. "So who's your little sister?" he asked Dias, gesturing to the girl at Dias' arm. (He obviously knew about their shared love for 'little sister' figures. How much did he know? How much had Rena told him?)