Tear was right. They no longer needed to live in fear of the stasis, and could only be blamed for their own actions. None of this would have come to be had he just been more careful in his steps, and yet so far he'd acted like the responsibility wasn't his.

“And I won't allow myself to be so careless again,” he uttered quietly, as if not to disturb the flow of the healing magic she so graciously shared with him. That alone made him regret his defensiveness from moments earlier, but then she decided to change the subject.

“... I've been wondering for a while, too.” Dropping his gaze to their joined hands, he finally stopped to consider the changes, concealed underneath the layers of blood and dirt, but visible all the same. The strange sensation of being in control of a body that wasn’t quite his own, slowed down responses… it made sense why he wasn’t able to perform to the best of his abilities.

“It threw me off a little, at first, but then I thought—” the sheer ridiculousness of the situation brought a weak smile to his lips, “—whether it’s months or years, does anything change if we haven’t lived through them?” The only difference lay in how they could be perceived by others, which even before was hardly an issue.

Nonetheless, that was only his side of the story. "... Does that bother you?"