"Six months? Well, that's even longer than I thought. I've been very busy," Damon said in a rather cavalier manner, turning slightly to move away from Ryan. The narrowed eyes, the thinned lips - Damon could see he was indeed in a<em>very</em>bad mood, and so he walked over to the windows Ryan had been gazing out of a moment ago, looking out into the garden himself now.<br/><br/>"The garden looks nice," he commented, his lips pursing in a thoughtful manner as he attempted to make casual small-talk, if only to partially defuse Ryan's volatile mood. "There are a few new rose bushes since the time I was here last, I think."<br/><br/>After that he went silent for a moment, still holding his cloak draped over his arm, his hand fidgeting with a silver and sapphire button on his cuff.<br/><br/>"You seem stressed, Ryan. You really should relax more," he said, giving Ryan a sidelong glance and a very faint smirk. He contemplated offering to 'help' with that, but - no. Ryan seemed angry enough as it was. His glib remarks didn't seem to be helping.<br/><br/>"It's good to see you again," Damon said, his voice low again, his eyes going back out the window. His comment finally seemed sincere, but he didn't even look at Ryan while saying so.