DMZ purchase; watching Schacht
Hal’s posture subtly but warmly inclined ever so slightly toward his tiny older brother, who resembles him the way creatures of the same Order but not the same Family might resemble one another
Context
The fraternal-paternal border the plan flagged. Watching Schacht at the fence, Mario's head "bowed under the weight of the head-mount rig," Hal leans "subtly but warmly" toward his tiny, deformed older brother — a protective inclination that reads more parental than sibling, Hal in the caretaker's posture the father (150) and the whole family keep taking toward Mario. It sits on the edge of this theme: strictly it's brother-to-brother, but the warmth is of a piece with the surrogate- parenting Mario draws from everyone, the son the father could love standing in for a father the others couldn't reach. Texture, and assembly may judge it belongs to a siblings theme instead.