Mc-Hero-Hair might've garnered a laugh from Alex, if he still had a sense of humor. As it is, he simply shrugs. It benefits him if people are open about who and what they are, so he has nothing to complain about.

"Better than where I was," he says dully, and it bubbles up like reflex. Hilarious. Or maybe once it would've been. Like he said, the sense of humor got carved out of him along with most of his humanity. That's the price he pays for being dogged by that thing for every waking second. But that's Jay's fault. He shouldn't have stuck his neck in where it wasn't wanted.

"Turns out being strangled really sucks."