[ As the man approaches, obvious suddenly that this is who he was writing to online just by the way he first speaks to him, Alberto's crackpot theory starts crumbling... He gives Bruno the once-over, twice-over, with a surprised yet skeptical eye — before almost practically deflating. His comment about Mirabel's coat goes completely ignored. He pushes himself off the wall, opening his frame as his face falls, standing about eye-level with the man — Alberto being tall for his age, and Bruno being short for his. The kid gesticulates expressively as he speaks, waving his arms in the air at him, a bit accusatorially, but ostensibly far friendlier than he'd been online, his voice dripping with over-exaggerated relief. ]

Ehiii! So this is you? You're a real person! But, pfft— real real! I thought I was gonna have to fight my Bruno, like— like the Bruno in my head came to life after my crazy island and this was the next challenge, I dunno! Maybe saying "Silenzio, Bruno!" wasn't enough here or something — liiike this place created a Super Bruno I had to beat! I-I dunno what I thought— but, man, I was ready to fight you, heh…! But you're not some crazy real-life-Bruno, you're just— some guy! ...Phew...!

[ He mutters the last line of relief under his breath, letting out a full-body sigh. He didn’t want to fight him, it seems, but he was damn near close, anyway. So while something can be said for this kid’s increasingly mystifying bravery, uh— This was... n-not the reaction Bruno was expecting, surely? Whaaat the fuck is this kid talking about, though, um...? Curiouser and curiouser — or, rather, more and more bewildering and inexplicably worrisome...?! Yettt, somehow clearly not meant to be insulting whatsoever, an entirely different tone than he'd taken over text. Wh-What is happening...? ]