"I wasn't. I figured it was actually jealousy over our stunning good looks." There is absolutely no seriousness there. He can figure out why. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. But humanity isn't the only species out there with that kind of history. Maybe things like appearance differences, but differences in general. The Unification Wars, for example.

At length, he lets her hand go. If only to pick their way through a rocky patch in the interim. His feet are toughening up, he's noticed. Finding a boot he can work with is no easy task in this world - so more often than not, he's gone with leather wraps, leaving his toe talons free.

"Makes sense. You got that attitude from somewhere - " He's hilarious. "No, we just got the Cerberus backtalk." A beat and he shakes his head. "Which wasn't your fault in the least, but. I know what you're getting at. Happened plenty from other angles, before I even met you, too. Not the... skin thing. Other things." And if you didn't learn to shrug it off, eventually, you'd lose your mind.