[Stacia shoos some elves out of the kitchen while Branch works through his thoughts, but they hop-to without her needing to raise her voice at them. She hums thoughtfully in acknowledgement when he does speak up.]

Yeah, people who do the right thing even when there's consequences for it are good people. I'm glad you at least had Bridget. I'm sorry that she's as close as you ever had to someone who could protect you; that's a scary way to live.

[Admittedly, all the big strong scary Garou in the world couldn't protect someone from the Apocalypse, but that's more abstract than "giant who wants to eat you". It's not the same thing. So: sympathy, not empathy.]

Is there anything you like to eat when you're feeling down? If you're not feeling cookies, you can sit on a high shelf out of my reach and I can try to make something.