He notes that surprise, when Sam mentions learning how to ground yourself in reality. Start with that one, then, the one that Kurloz apparently either didn't expect Sam to have trouble with, or didn't expect there to be strategies to help with it. He's getting ready to explain it a little more, but then Kurloz starts talking, and Sam... all right, he kind of shorts out a little.
This is absolutely not what he'd been expecting. He stares for a moment, as his brain tries to catch up with the initial jump from 'let's do some counseling strategies together' to 'romance.' Once it does, once he gets over the romance part and gets to the gist of what Kurloz is saying - well, honestly, Sam can't blame him. He kind of is cutting things a little closer here.
"Is this you giving me the troll equivalent of 'it's not you, it's me?'" he asks, only partly teasing. Then he makes a face at himself. "Nah, don't answer that. Look, I-"
He cuts off, running a hand over his jaw as he tries to get his thoughts in order enough to give voice to them. "I admit that I haven't been doing as well as I should here, with not blurring the lines. You're not supposed to try to be a counselor to your friends, but here I am. It's never been a problem before here, you know, it wasn't like I even had all that many for it to be an issue, but-"
And another cut off. But he does here, and this is the only way he knows how to help them. And they sure as hell aren't going to be able to get it through the Capitol. "What I'm trying to say is, I gotta be careful, too. And I don't want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. So if you don't want to go there, I'm okay with that. If you want to give it a shot, and just... tell me if I'm doing something that'd complicate things for you, I'm okay with that, too."
no subject
This is absolutely not what he'd been expecting. He stares for a moment, as his brain tries to catch up with the initial jump from 'let's do some counseling strategies together' to 'romance.' Once it does, once he gets over the romance part and gets to the gist of what Kurloz is saying - well, honestly, Sam can't blame him. He kind of is cutting things a little closer here.
"Is this you giving me the troll equivalent of 'it's not you, it's me?'" he asks, only partly teasing. Then he makes a face at himself. "Nah, don't answer that. Look, I-"
He cuts off, running a hand over his jaw as he tries to get his thoughts in order enough to give voice to them. "I admit that I haven't been doing as well as I should here, with not blurring the lines. You're not supposed to try to be a counselor to your friends, but here I am. It's never been a problem before here, you know, it wasn't like I even had all that many for it to be an issue, but-"
And another cut off. But he does here, and this is the only way he knows how to help them. And they sure as hell aren't going to be able to get it through the Capitol. "What I'm trying to say is, I gotta be careful, too. And I don't want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. So if you don't want to go there, I'm okay with that. If you want to give it a shot, and just... tell me if I'm doing something that'd complicate things for you, I'm okay with that, too."