Heartwarming / Stand Still, Stay Silent

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This is how you say "Welcome back" in Danish

Adventure I

• Despite being set up as an impatient, insensitive, and self-centered person, Emil shows quite early on that there's a side to him that's more patient and sensitive than anyone else in the cast. When his young cousins harass Lalli, Emil is the first to notice he doesn't like it, and tells them to leave him alone. When Lalli — nearly a perfect stranger at the time — eats all the meat off Emil's sandwich while he's distracted by a conversation with Tuuri, he neither complains nor gets upset, but simply goes back to the kitchen to get more of that meat for Lalli, because he knows Lalli doesn't like any of the other food so far. When Lalli is upset or in a Deep Sleep, Emil shows more concern than anyone else. When Lalli vents his frustration by throwing a steaming hot bowl of soup in Emil's face, he doesn't get angry at all, but simply takes the hint and gives Lalli some space — while still spending time near him whenever he can, so that he doesn't feel ignored or isolated. He never stops being there for Lalli or trying to connect with him, whether Lalli returns the favor or not.
• Though it may sometimes look like he does not like Emil all too much, here Lalli makes it pretty clear he does consider the other one a friend, or at least would like to think of it as such.
  • In the same vein, look at who is waking him up in this scene, which turned out to actually be part of a dream a few pages later.
• Emil's protectiveness of Lalli overall, in spite of the fact that Lalli has by far the more practical experience of the two. If confronted with even a mid-sized troll or beast when he's by himself, Lovable Coward Emil's default reaction seems to be to randomly flail whatever weapon he's holding while running away and screaming for Sigrun to save him. On the Dalahästen, though, when the train is being attacked by a giant he uses his own body as a shield between the arm and Lalli, not moving once even though he's obviously terrified out of his mind. And once in the Silent World, Sigrun has to physically restrain him from rushing headlong into a troll nest when he thinks Lalli is in danger. Twice.
• Sigrun cares enough to not only notice Reynir's fear of infection, she asks Mikkel to reassure him. Keep in mind that this is going on while she's getting roughly half a dozen painful-looking gashes stitched up, yet she's still looking out for the wellbeing of everyone on her team - even the one she considers a burden.
• A bunch of debris including a large piece of glass accidentally become a small greenhouse for a single flower. Emil notices and it makes him smile. This happens in the middle of him and Lalli scavenging for camping supplies due to the tank breaking down for good, and a few in-universe days of the crew's overall situation and morale visibly degrading before that.
• After Chapter 16 ends with Emil and Lalli adrift on an ice floe, the cover of Chapter 17 shows Emil entering an abandonned house carrying Lalli, a very reassuring sign for the following chapter.
• Considering her initial reaction to having to keep him around, early Chapter 17 reaching a point where Sigrun is telling Mikkel to listen to Reynir about something points to her regard for him having gotten much better.
• "I don't mind you being here, at least it makes this tedious dream a bit different."
• Emil gives Lalli a few pointers on how to be more polite, and Lalli promptly uses them to correct some of his previous rudeness towards Emil.
• Lalli covers Emil with his coat.
• The circumstances of the end of Chapter 19 put a true smile on Reynir's face for the first time in more than a year's worth of pages.
• Emil and Lalli developed a strategy to keep Emil's mind off any interaction with trolls. It boils down to Lalli telling him about his childhood, something he was extremely reluctant to do earlier in the story.
• After the Comforting Comforter episode at the end of Chapter 18, the "Lalli returning Emil's gestures" series continues with Lalli returning the friendly punch Emil gave him while too enthusiastic to remember he's not a big fan of that particular display of friendship.
• The big hug Mikkel gives Emil and Lalli upon their return.
• Reynír's brother is part of the crew on the ship that comes to pick up the team, and he's clearly pretty psyched to see his little brother. He even appears to give a thumbs up.
• The bonus comic for the fourth book shows that the tank became the new home of a family of foxes.

Adventure II

• Sigrun uses her paycheck to go have a meal in an expensive restaurant, and invites Mikkel to come along. Only Mikkel.
• When Emil decides that he'd rather look at nearby shops than silently sit on the carriage station bench with the Hotakainens, Lalli tags along and has such a good time that he's seen with his happiest expression so far.
• Kitty interacts with another cat while in daycare.
• Sigrun is ready to get her father to create a job opening for Mikkel if it can get him to come to Norway with her.
• Reynir's mother waiting on Emil and Lalli after they get drenched during their improvised hike.
• All three of Reynir and Bjarni's siblings show up for a vacation at home at the same time.
• Once the You No Take Candle in Lalli's letter for Emil is parsed through, it becomes apparent that two out of the four sentences are dedicated to saying he liked knowing Emil and wishing him well.
• The Silent World portion of Adventure II gets started because the rest of the expedition crew decides to help Lalli on what he intended to be a solo mission to track down Onni. There's not even a debate on it, or any attempt to talk Lalli out of it - one of theirs is going off on a dangerous mission, so of course they're all going with him.
• When Sigrun asks Mikkel why he cares so much about helping Lalli on his quest, his first reason is simply that he made a promise to make sure Lalli didn't end up on his own.
• Reynir's sister seems to have been fine with Reynir's whole plan of leaving Iceland with the others after telling their parents he was simply going to Reykjavik, and keeping the note to their parents explaining his actual travel plans for him. Mikkel, meanwhile, decides to call Reynir on not telling his parents the truth only once their boat has departed.
• Getting another glimpse of the Hotakainen's hometown pre-outbreak after seeing its destroyed present incarnation.
• Lalli forgoes fast-forwarding the flash-back dream to the point where most of his (mostly deceased in the present day) family members will come back from the harvest to look around the still-standing version of his village. Emil and Reynir exchange a Meaningful Look and both promptly decide they would really like to get a guided tour of the village. Please.
  • The entire dream sequence is really nice, until it takes a turn for the dark. It's essentially just Reynir, Lalli and Emil hanging out as friends.
• The very first panel showing Tuulikki in the flesh is of her giving a big hug to Lalli and calling him an Affectionate Nickname. Amazingly Embarrassing Parents can practice their magic in front of your friends even in dreams! *sniff*
• When the troll the crew is running away from turns out to not be moving that fast, Lalli is late to notice due to being too focused on dragging Reynir away from the troll.
• Sigrun, being stuck on babysitter duty, idly wishes that Reynir knew Norwegian so they could communicate easier. She then plays a game of rock-paper-scissors with him to pass the time.
• Given the Affectionate Nickname status of the word "stupid" in the Hotakainen family, it's sweet to see Tuuri giving it to Reynir upon their reunion.
• Onni is seen giving Kitty belly scratches.
• The Kade stopping to help the Mother Bear get her revenge against Surma. The fact it leaves immediately afterwards implies this was actually an act of kindness on the Kade's part.
• The Bear Family has reincarnated as a trio of uninfected siblings, thanks to Lalli's skull thing.

Epilogue

• Emil's finnish skill has reached the point where he can fluently converse with Lalli.