[ dick looks surprised, for a second. it's quite the speech, and it's-- maybe unexpected. maybe it's just that he's tired. maybe he was trying to be sad with fishes? wow? ]

... Junpei, Escha and I were pooling our resources. That was part of it. Between all three of us, we could cover a lot more ground when it came to talking to people and finding information, as well as analyzing it. [ he starts with that, and the were is-- fun and new, he's not gonna concentrate on it. honestly, all things considered-- talking shop is a lot more useful to him than anything else anyone else has tried. and then, after a second: ] Taako, you have a role, don't you?

[ it's phrased like a question, but he sounds. pretty fuckin sure ]