That... well. That was something to file away and think about later. Possibly with Valdis to help, since Erskine knew he still didn't know all the details.

He was too caught up in his own anxiety to pay attention to much of the rest of it. He vaguely knew Bakura had moved, had gotten up from the table, but he couldn't have said why. His eyes were still closed tight against the panic, and were still closed when something light fell across his hands.

String?

He'd used to play cat's cradle when he was younger, even before he'd learned about magic and sorcerers. The yarn in the shop hadn't been a toy, but somehow there had always been just enough of a scrap left over to work with. Erskine stared at the string for a long moment without even moving his hands, then finally decided that since it had been offered, it was probably okay to knot the loose ends together. He was halfway through an intricate design, or at least as intricate as he could manage without a partner, before he even realized it.

It was mindless, but that's what he needed. He needed to not think about the possibility of Anton giving up on him. He needed to not think.