[he isn't a victim, but he went through something horrible. wanda also hates being pitied, seen as a victim when the circumstances didn't let her become anything but. it's an ugly label to have.

reaching behind her for the plate with the mandelbrot, she hands another one to erik.]

You don't know this, but I know a lot about loss and being stuck in the middle of a war. [it wasn't the war that defined erik's life, and the ones of million others, but it's the one that changed hers forever.] I am sorry to know of someone else who also went through something like that.

[—but, they are survivors, aren't they? besides, she doesn't think anyone would say they lived in poland if they were in a camp.]

Was it better for you in Poland?

[minefield after minefield. oh well.]