"Believe me. I know weird." Maybe a slightly different flavor, Arthur's world has magic but it's in the corners of existence. A handful of the fringe practice it, and it's not terribly impressive from what he's seen. But still. The weird and the horrible are things he's, unfortunately, used to.

And then he realizes what Nero thinks.

"Oh, oh no! God, I don't think you're going to hurt me. When people want to hurt me, they make it very clear very quickly. No, you see, usually, where I come from, when people are covered in flames and their bodies do strange terrible things they shouldn't...that causes pain and distress to the individual. I thought you were going to burn to death right in front of me!"

He does take in what he's told. That Nero does not naturally have a tail, as he'd assumed. You can't just ask someone if they've always had a tail. Though now he wonders about...the rest of it. A little anyway. What if he does wake up with wings or on fire or something else? He's not sure how he'd handle that...

But he'd actually been concerned. Arthur's concept of 'friendship' is a bit shoddy, coming from a place where no one can actually make any sort of real connection with anyone else, yes, but he does have an awareness. He's read books. He'd had friends when he was a child. And by those loosely remembered parameters, Nero is his friend. He's not so self absorbed as to entirely ignore the potential distress of someone he considers a friend.

Especially as he only has the one.

"I do worry about other people sometimes."