[L's attempts at levity are like a balloon drifting loose. It might find and delight a child, or choke and kill an endangered animal.

He senses that the attempt has perhaps the opposite intended effect. Is it because everything, even his jokes, has that undercurrent of tragedy, a life not lived in a completely different way?

He follows suit, reaching for the other cup. He reaches into his backpack for sugar cubes, which he carries with him everywhere for occasions like these, because no one ever gives him tea that's sweet enough.

He drops them in until it's too many to be anything but disgusting, and then he drops more.]

Several reasons... some are easier to explain than others. Some are more selfish than others.

[With each reason, he drops another sugar cube into his tea.]

I'm involved, and it rankles me to leave something unfinished. [Plunk.]

I don't think your grandeur is a delusion, or that this is folly. [Plunk.]

I'm not really a person, at least... not in relation to other people. But if someone like that can do something that's really needed, it can feel like being a person for a little while. That's my selfish reason.

[He sips the tea, more paste than liquid at this point.]