[The greeting dashes any hopes he had that the man before him isn't Anders. Some alternate or double or face twin - he's seen those - but no, this is the man he knew. (Maybe, his mind whispers. Maybe. So many versions.) Not as he last saw him, tanned and filled out with longer hair and his earring and freckles, just barely starting to shake off the horrors of Kirkwall and shoulders lighter without the weight of Justice, no. This is a different Anders- pale, thin, bedraggled like Kirkwall but more. He looks older, more tired, more stressed.]
He's happy.
[It sounds almost funny coming from him, cheerful words in a tone completely lacking it. Garrett blinks and looks away, bending down to retrieve his fallen fish to give himself and Anders a second of privacy from each other's eyes.]
You've no idea how much he's missed you.
[Ox pads over to Anders, thoroughly concerned at the sharp change of energy in the air. The dog noses at him with a soft whuff, trying to coax the man into petting him, letting out a whine that sounds almost questioning. Aroo?]
Ox, leave him alone. The poor man doesn't even know you.
[Obviously not his Anders, then. Is he relieved? He can't tell.]
no subject
He's happy.
[It sounds almost funny coming from him, cheerful words in a tone completely lacking it. Garrett blinks and looks away, bending down to retrieve his fallen fish to give himself and Anders a second of privacy from each other's eyes.]
You've no idea how much he's missed you.
[Ox pads over to Anders, thoroughly concerned at the sharp change of energy in the air. The dog noses at him with a soft whuff, trying to coax the man into petting him, letting out a whine that sounds almost questioning. Aroo?]
Ox, leave him alone. The poor man doesn't even know you.
[Obviously not his Anders, then. Is he relieved? He can't tell.]