Second nature. You're used to being obeyed, no matter what. It's... it's all right, Shen. I definitely didn'tsay much you wanted to hear at the time...

[He's avoiding the real issue, of course. That issue being the reason for their scuffle in the first place. Ever since Shen had made a point of it, Ran's name had become punctuated with a contextless, confusing, but meaningful question-mark in his mind. He was merely planning on avoiding the introspection until AFTER the city wasn't a revolving door of eldrich monstrosity.]