"Hey." He shifts the back back into his grasp. "Yeah, everything's fine, I, um..."

The sentence loses steam, and trails off entirely, when he spots the hulking what-the-fuck-is-that behind Dejah. The thing's stock-still, eying him and Dejah by turns like a dog trying to suss out threat or friend.

Is he supposed to be making eye contact with it? Shit, is this one of those animals that thinks eye contact is a challenge? (That was something animals used to think, right?)