It does occur to Dan that he should probably play with the dog more often than he does, while he watches the eagerness with which Oscar brings the ball back to Coraline each time. He might look half made of metal, but he was still entirely dog.

"Sure, paint. On the metal. My old dog used t' belong to a gang."

He pauses while the ball gets thrown again, and pulls a face at her question. It would have been stupid to think she wasn't going to ask. "... Eh. Not exactly. After the War two hundred years ago, I guess people got real hungry real quick. An'.. cats were easy t' catch."

Dan scratches the back of his neck. He can't even say he's not speaking from experience.