[Taning's not exactly dense, man. He gets the feeling that no one except Brig and, oddly enough, Yulia, truly truly gets that. Goofy, yes; dense, no.

You can't afford the luxury of being dense on a battlefield.

So he gets that you don't particularly want to talk to him. Piecing things together from what he observed, it also seems like you don't have this problem with certain people. So he'll back off. He'll know, for one reason or another, that he's not someone you want to talk to right now.

Careful, though, Larue. This one has feelings, too. And you don't know this tell, not yet, not when you almost never see it and would probably, without context, construe it differently, but when he logics at you instead of for you, he's beginning to be upset.]

Right. One of the toughest guys I know, just happening to wake up feeling more tired. I'd say you were sick, but you don't look sick, and I can tell. Soldiers can. So you're upset about something. Whatever that is, [He raises his hands in surrender.] I won't ask about it. Just know that I'm around to talk to, if you want.

[He pats you on the shoulder, like nothing is wrong. Which is true enough. Nothing is wrong. Yet.]