"Trust is a thing those with nothing to lose can afford." Darius sighed, not considering how trusting he'd been to his models and to his lawyer, but then that was for money. Something he had little knowledge in its value. "How could I ever be ready for it? I am perfectly fine in a presence and speaking with some people. But then when it comes down to it, to a closeness. I feel like I'm stepping into a strange land, and everything is off and wrong. I get more nervous and fear any moment things will go wrong, and when they don't I'm more afraid and confused."

He gripped the tea cup at last and drank the last few drops before letting it drop with an unceremonious clatter. "I like when I know why someone wants to be around me. Jokes? My money? I don't like it, but at least I know why I'm there. There was a priest in town who once wanted to prove to me that the poor were good people. I think it was so I'd donate to the church." He started to brush out unseen wrinkles on his sleeve. " I followed him through the poorest places in town and I wasn't convinced. I learned that the poor can be nice and generous to someone they believed could save their souls or who would donate the little he had to help them out. No one is nice for free. I still am convinced of that. So closeness feels .. like a trap."