"Dunno. You took off on yer own, and keep lookin' at me like a parched man who's seen a water canteen. Plus, you didn't even think of tellin' stories to pass the time.

"'s alright if you have been, I mean. Well, not alright-alright, just... I was curious."

None of it is, actually judgmental. Back then, he berated them on account of the smaller kids, the ones that also had it bad. Now? It's just the two of them. He just wants to know him, to know about him, rather than try to get him to be in a different way than he is.