Broken Boulder the sweet far thing

A snicker escapes him, only because he's incompetent and unable to keep check of all the fine muscles in his throat. Characters. Taylor wants to grab Ico by his thin shoulders and shake him and laugh for being so goddamn intellectual. That was it! Everyone was a character. Not one of his finest eureka moments.
In a blink, he turns calm and intense, and he fixes Ico with a questioning look. Not a stare— he's careful of all that. What was it? Blinking every few seconds? Looking away for a bit, then looking back again? It was so much work. How did other people do this so easily? You can come with me back there, if you want. This is the second offering he's made, but it carries more weight than the half-eaten weasel. Even Taylor knows that.
You don't have to stay either, he says with a toothsome grin, Just long enough to meet some characters. Maybe put them in your stories for the future. 
Characters. He's really struck gold with Ico. If they were humans, he'd be giving him a big pat on the back, ruffling his hair.