[ Alberto listens carefully, letting his eyes drift thoughtfully, sadly, to his own legs, copying her at first... It is a sad story, technically, but to Alberto it's bizarrely reading as kind of happy, because her sons had these uncles?! He never had any uncles, no one else stepped up to take care of him after his dad left him... The literal only point he can keep coming to in reaction to this whole saga is that her boys weren't alone. They weren't alone. That's all that sticks out to him. It's wondrous to him that they had either uncle there to help them and protect them and provide for them and love them. He is an anomaly among sea monster culture as much as he'd be among humans or, uh, bird people, but his exposure in the world is so, so limited to the bizarro fantasy island his father created for them... But— he's increasingly certain that his dad probably doesn't speak about him this way now, after he's been gone so long. If his dad missed him after he left... unless he got stuck on the moon or killed or something crazy, which Alberto doesn't like to entertain the thought of... then it's not been enough to drive him back home. Her children weren't alone. That's all he cares about and he doesn't understand why that's not the primary point for her, too. All this guilt instead. He's never known an adult to feel guilty in his life. Granted— he's really only known two adults.
Throwing him just as much for a loop as anything else tonight, though, when she asks for a hug...? All that worry and torn expression fades from his face in an instant, his brows raising as his eyes widen. Adults... can do that...? Like— that's allowed...? She's breaking every mold of what he imagines a parent is supposed to be like and he can't parse whether it's because she's a great parent because she loves her boys so much and uh, maybe his perception of good parenthood is skewed, or if because she's kind of not a parent because she wasn't there for ten years...? But— still was sending messages to them the whole time? It's a lot to process and consider. What's a lot simpler, though, is that she's asking him for a hug. So without a hint of hesitation, he leaps up from his stool and throws his arms around her neck. If she ever asks that again... she'll quickly learn Alberto will probably never say no. ]
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Throwing him just as much for a loop as anything else tonight, though, when she asks for a hug...? All that worry and torn expression fades from his face in an instant, his brows raising as his eyes widen. Adults... can do that...? Like— that's allowed...? She's breaking every mold of what he imagines a parent is supposed to be like and he can't parse whether it's because she's a great parent because she loves her boys so much and uh, maybe his perception of good parenthood is skewed, or if because she's kind of not a parent because she wasn't there for ten years...? But— still was sending messages to them the whole time? It's a lot to process and consider. What's a lot simpler, though, is that she's asking him for a hug. So without a hint of hesitation, he leaps up from his stool and throws his arms around her neck. If she ever asks that again... she'll quickly learn Alberto will probably never say no. ]