Well, it's a better position for bad news than semi-exhausted in the middle of the room, at least. She'll pet his hair a little, too. 

"Do you have your phone?" 

Mmrrrgghhh.  Oh.  Question.  "No'm.  I...think I left it in my pants pocket."

She hands him her phone, then, open to the International Dungeon Response announcements page. 

"It happened when we were in the dungeon."

He's a little reluctant to unbury his face, but when he does?  "Oh."

"Well.  That explains the crabs.  The uh, extra crabs.  And that stupid bleeding crabs.  Seriously, how do these things come up with these ideas?"  A few beats as he mentally leaves the crab dungeon and he realizes what a confluence means.  "We're going to be busy, aren't we."

She huffs her amusement- and then she sobers. 

"Yes, I think so." 

She cards her fingers through his hair a few more times before speaking again.

"Be careful, please, when I'm not there. And when I am there, but. You know." 

He rolls just enough to give her a sideeye.  "You don't get to make demands like that.  I'll only be careful if you're careful."  He grins up at her, then sobers.  "I know.  Bill came by, earlier...uh, yesterday now.  A few hours ago.  While you were sleeping.  He wanted to...remind me that I won't do anybody any good if I die."

...Maybe she'll start petting him again if he bumps his skull into her fingers.  And then hides his face again.

Her lips twitch just a bit, where he luckily cannot see them, but she does go back to petting him. 

"...I was told that once, too. I will be careful. Hopefully we will have more dungeons together than apart, given our partnership, but there's no guarantee." With the price of teleports going down, they might be halfway across the world from each other if her skills are needed somewhere in particular. 

Hhmhhmmpfffflllee so good.  "Yeah.  I always figured I'd be slotted into different teams, but..." aaahhhhh...  "Um.  You're more specialized, you know?  You were key for the core."

Was she really, though? "I can sense them, if they are surrounded by earth. I wasn't much use in finding it this time." 

Well.  That's a partner being dumb.  I know how to deal with this one.  "You're being silly, Sara."  He pokes her in the side for emphasis.  "What if the crab had been guarding the core, like a crab guarding its...nest of eggs."  Do crabs have nests of eggs?  Whatever.  "We would have fought the boss crab to the death and then had nothing to show for it, we would have had to search the beach with little shovels for the core."

"I suppose... That didn't happen, but I take your point. It's good to eliminate possibilities." 

Poke in the side.  "In the briefing, they thought the crab was guarding the core, not holding it.  And then you, uh." Slight wince.  "Trapped it so I could rip the core out.  AND you destroyed the core, that part's going in my AAR."

She twitches away from the poke!

And then she huffs, "Because you gave it to me. But, eekoshi. I take your meaning. Still, yes, my sensor power means I might get pulled for a dungeon almost anywhere, if they need it specifically." 

Hmm.  Hmmm.  Well, maybe later. 

"Well, if the dungeon is nasty, you know where I am.  And you gave it to me first, I just had to unwrap my present."

He's quiet for a little bit.  "I don't - want you to feel like you're chained to my side.  But I want you to come home from every dungeon.  I can do stupid stuff, like letting a shark bite me, or a crab crush me.  Most people can't."

"I can take more than most, of course. But I'm not in the habit of taking stupid risks anymore. I will be careful." 

Tim readies his poking finger.  "Anymore?"

She wiggles a little bit away!

"Mm. I was... A little reckless, in my first year. It worked out because Evelyn was careful with my deployments, but I could have easily been less lucky."

"Well, now you're good, you don't need to be lucky."  She does get clung to before she can wriggle too far, but he puts his pokin' finger away.  Instead, he scoots that arm under his forehead as a pillow.

"Mhm."

...She's still petting his hair. What if she scritches a little? Experimentally. 

Tim makes happy noises, that's what.  And melts if she keeps it up for longer than a minute.

What amazing results! She will in fact keep it up, having a great fondness for Cute Tim Reactions.

Tim has become a liquid.  He's done.  It's over.  If Sara wants him to do anything else, too bad. 

Good thing she doesn't! All they have to do at this point is sleep and guide off the last of their backlash. Liquidity shouldn't keep him from either of those.

Well, he's pretty tired but the scratches will keep him awake, at least a little.