Chase pauses more at that description, and it clicks a little at last. He can't imagine staying in a small town, even though he'd spent some of his childhood nestled away in sparsely populated regions while his father sought out labs that afforded him more freedom to do his research. Now, he wants things to be fast-paced, he wants things to be larger than life, wants to slip in relatively unnoticed and be allowed to make his own decisions in a region where they'll still be large in impact.

A dense, busy city tends to be the best for that.

"Definitely different," agrees Chase at last, then reaching out to clap a hand on Russell's shoulder. "Tell you what. Let's book a back room at a restaurant sometime. Invite your friends, I'll invite some people from work, we can have a grown-up party. Mingle. Talk about life like the stuffy adults we are."