Dean hunkered down into his scarf as they meandered. "I mean it," he laughed, but quieted a little at the thoughtful look on Dempsey's face. He took another drag of the cigarette to give them both a minute. He wasn't exactly sure what it was Dempsey meant by that, but let him have the moment to elaborate. When he didn't Dean cast a look over at him, eyebrow raised.

"You had options, at least." He reasoned. "I didn't have much of a choice, it was a ministry career or be cut off." It was a good thing his penchant for languages allowed for a good position in the ministry. He didn't love working on legal documents all of the time, or that he was often stuck in long, boring meetings, volleying the information back and forth, but he did love the skill of speaking in different languages, so he could think of worse things. He wasn't built to be an academic, doing long translations either. At least his career let him travel and he was social enough that he was good at schmoozing with foreign diplomats and the like.

Glancing over his shoulder, they had made it far enough away from the house itself, a little around a corner, that he felt comfortable enough to reach out and brush his fingers against Dempsey's just briefly. "And I really do mean it, they're delightful." A little scary in some ways and strong in others, but nothing had put Dean off yet.