[Just about the last thing Peter wants to do right now is sit down, but it's definitely what he needs. That, and letting someone else take the lead for a bit, even if it's for something as simple as this.

Well, the sitting down part is simple. He's following a direction, easy peasy. He still hasn't quite wrapped his brain around the rest of it yet, though. The stretch of silence that follows isn't just Peter avoiding the topic, at least. It's Peter finally getting himself to calm down and get his thoughts in order before he tries to run his mouth again. He takes a deep, shaky breath, not quite managing eye contact at first, but he gets there. Lets try this again.]

I-I don't know what that was. I mean, I don't know why it happened here, I'm not sure what caused it yet, and I... I have no idea how you can help, but uh... So, do you remember how I said there was this thing with aliens back home? I- it's way more complicated than just ooo, alien invasion, that's not what it was really. It was mostly just one guy. I mean, he had an army and stuff, but it was mostly this one dude. Shit, there was... I mean, long story short, I guess? He found a way to destroy half the life in my universe, and that was what happened to us.

[He nods towards the exit of the stairwell, falling silent again for a moment while he tries to push that memory back down. He just stopped freaking out, he didn't need to start getting all emotional on top of it.]

We tried to stop him, but uh. Yeah. Didn't quite manage it.

[Don't even get him started on the guilt complex he's developed over this, we'll be here all day.]