Ivan's smile falters for a moment; he is trying to cultivate it into a permanent thing at least around strangers or near-strangers, because people tend to be nicer when you smile, but emotions still overrun it fairly easily. I would allow that if he thought himself to be strong, but as it is he always hopes that it will stop eventually.

The thing is, his father wasn't with him for the past six years, so for all his life safe for the last couple of hours. He didn't even know him. And he's still not sure what to think of him. Yet, he nods, watching with slight confusion at the show that the man puts up. "I'll stay with my father now, I was told. Your name is unusual." He could probably have said it more elegantly, but the words wouldn't quite come.