...So the guy Neil's pretending to defend is a rambler. The most dangerous kind, he is sorry to find. This is a one that's running on pure nervous energy, and nerves can take a person, well, anywhere. Usually down. Neil stares, eyebrows rising higher and higher as the young man spirals downward, creating the (not-so-beautiful) disaster he anticipated from before.

It's fucking tragic, circumstances aside. The guy "thought" Neil would be taller? What the hell did that even mean--

Without a glance at Alex, Neil raises his hand and wiggles a finger at the actual question, as if to silence the rambler from continuing. "It is none of your business," he says, tone neutral. "And yeah, I'm the guy they call the Lone Wanderer."