[He looks down at how closely Cass is clenching her hands together, and something changes in his demeanor as he scoots his chair closer to the table and leans forward a little, elbows resting on the table, voice finally more gentle than it is polite.]

A lot of the people my age around here are used to taking care of themselves. For some of them, this place is better. But if your kids get brought here too, it's not the end of the world, I promise.

[For some of them, it's a second chance, an opportunity to have a fresh start in a place that's kinder, gentler than the one they're from. That doesn't seem to be the case for this woman's boys, thank god, but it's still a reality for so many here.]

They give you that big spiel when you come in, but they don't really mean it like that. We're not forced to fight in any wars, or to go and be a hero, or anything. Most of us don't, and the ones who do are mostly the people who did it in their own world too.

[This is the sort of lying he's the most used to, this dancing around the subject of whether or not he does it, implying that he's as ordinary as ordinary comes all the while.]

Things'll be different, but you can still have a normal life, for as long as you're here.