Dirk's own expression shifts even more towards consternation, though his brows lift in something that suggests surprise before finally knitting again.

For a reasonably direct explanation, the payload it delivers is as massive as it is unmanageable--bordering on incogitable. The objections that rise in him are as much reflex as they are deliberated.

"That's... not how that works." Dirk asserts at last, his shoulders squaring with conviction.

It's not even that he dislikes Hythlodaeus. Not really. Even placed as oppositionally as Emet necessitated they be, the level of frustration or resentment that Hythlodaeus evoked in him was never that much stronger than what was, ultimately, stone cold incomprehension. There are times that, yes, he even likes the guy.

But right now? He's just fucking wrong.

"People aren't architectural concepts. It's not unstable. It's--that's just normal. It's stronger."