At that there was a flicker of genuine sympathy, something that wasn't always common to see on his face even if it existed more frequently in his heart than most would think.

"That pretty much sucks beyond all previously recorded levels of sucking," he said, giving her a genuinely empathetic look. Not a pitying one, it was to be noted. It definitely reeked more of 'you shouldn't have had to put up with that shit' than 'you poor thing.'

"I'm sorry. Nobody deserves to deal with something like that. So did they just hide it all your life or something or did they try to drag you into it?"

He was curious to know if she'd been raised in it like Karai.