OMG. I have never heard anyone else talk about these before, but I personally call them hooks! Sometimes I seem like I'm rambling or digressing from the topic, but it's only because I want to leave the maximum number of hooks for people to potentially respond to, and then if I see that they can pick up hooks on their own I tone it down a bit.

They're usually mildly juicy or opinionated statements that segue a little into another topic to keep the conversation moving. Like if someone goes, "What are your favorite places in town to eat at?" I'd be like, "There's this restaurant around the corner from my place that serves the most amazing boudin blanc sausage. Blah blah, sausage details." And here's the hook: "I'm not much of a foodie, to be honest, but I love these sausages because they don't have to be fancy to be amazing. I feel like there's a lot of amazing food you can get for cheap in this city if you just know the right places." There were three potential hooks one could follow up on in that--I volunteered a bit of information about myself, I stated a mild generalized opinion, and I offered information that the other party might be interested in. It invites someone to give a response, either to agree and tell you about their own opinions and feelings, or disagree and tell you about why, or ask a question for more information.

Anyways, I love hooks and thinking about the science of conversation, haha.

This was really, really moving. Thank you.

I really like how you did Hanna's body language there. Kinda closed-off.

Maybe it's Hanna?