It was actually a frighteningly accurate analogy of how he felt. Too much had been thrown at him too quickly for him to deal with it and he'd just popped a few too many springs and gears inside to keep at it. It wasn't that he was about to crumble it was that he already had.

There was a halfhearted surge of anger, but he was too hollow for it to last long enough to actually achieve anything.

"You don't get it." He said quietly, "Not yet, you haven't been here long enough to understand what places like this'll do to you. One day someone from Gaia'll come along and they'll look at you like you're a stranger or something, you'll have changed so damn much that you aren't who they remember you as anymore."

He swallowed, pressing his lips together in a scowl at the ceiling.

"Seeing you all... drove that all home. I'm not you anymore, and I don't think I can ever be that person again no matter how hard anyone wants it to happen or expects it of me. I just... I can't stand it but I can't just avoid everyone either."