[That, Abbacchio thinks, is one of those things they all want to hear. He can't deny hearing that sends a twinge of relief through him. It does. That's fine, that doesn't negate or turn over anything he's been saying. But they're not done yet - "here" is a start, not a marker of some finality to this discussion. Which "here" is it--physically? Right now, because someone's insisted, but maybe not later? Bruno was there still the first time he died but he came back wrong, and what else is he not sharing for the sake of forcing them all to move on?]

I don't believe you. Why don't I believe you?

[The words, the literal words make perfect sense. Separately, believing Buccellati knows what he's talking about and knowing things aren't what they used to be are perfectly fine facts, but put together something catches at the back of his mind and won't let go. Abbacchio doesn't want to say he understands the same nebulous feeling of being-dead-but-not-anymore because he doesn't, not in precisely the same way.

But Bruno Buccellati is just a man, and man isn't meant to leave things unacknowledged, leave greater things unsaid. Abbacchio looks at him and wonders when Bruno the man eclipsed Buccellati the leader, the linchpin, the operative. If those can coexist still with nothing the same as before.

Strong-arming him into this conversation isn't kind to either. With Passione as shaken up as it is now, Abbacchio has the abrupt thought that if left for too long, something's going to break without room to restructure itself. That one he can even say he understands. Whatever fractures can't be Bruno, for all of their sake.]

You know I want to believe you. That's a given. But I'm not out here for me, so which one of us are you trying to convince?