"Someone like... Lily probably wouldn't know," says Kerron. "It wouldn't come up with her - if Elspeth tried to communicate everything in her head constantly regardless of its relevance she'd wind up killing unprotected humans, she doesn't just randomly share absolutely everything. But I'd know, the Imperial Alpha - Jacob - would know, Mum and Harley would know, people close to them like me or Dad or Harley's wolf would probably hear it, Her Majesty would know. So - given that if you don't want me to tell Elspeth I don't have to. She gets that there's reasons to not tell her things."

"I don't actually know if I care," he says contemplatively.

"Well - up to you."

He shrugs. He pets his poof. He has a vague flicker of actually wanting to pet his poof. It doesn't stay.

"Are you okay?" asks Kerron helplessly.

"What does that even mean?"

"I... don't have a comprehensive definition. You're doing this not-wanting-anything thing except for a flicker about petting your critter and I've never seen it before. I don't know if it means you're hurting or you're shut down or I should leave or I should hug you or what."

"What difference does it make to you?"

"I don't want to make anything worse? I don't know if I'm qualified to make anything better but I hold myself to a firm standard of not making things worse."

"I don't think you could make it worse if you tried," he says. He doesn't necessarily believe it, but then, that isn't always a factor when Jokers say things.

"Well - I'm not as sure. Anyway, maybe I'm more qualified than I think I am, except it's beyond me how."

"I don't get why people keep acting like they care, anyway."

"Why, though?"

"Because you're a kid who had some lousy shit happen and that sucks and most people are not totally void of empathy?"

"I don't get it," he says. "It doesn't make any sense. It sucks for me but it doesn't suck for you, you don't have to care, why would you?"

"Well - I guess I might regret asking this, but if against all probability I - I don't know - tripped and wound up accidentally biting off half of my hand and for some reason didn't have any coins on me and had to wait for it to heal the long way and was thoroughly unhappy about that? Would you care?"

"I was going to say what if I picked a fight with the Princess and the Imperial Alpha decided to rip my arm off but that's less likely on a couple levels. Anyway, if it was that it'd be me doing something stupid, which makes it different. You didn't do anything to deserve it."

"He rips people's arms off?"

"No, that is one of the ways in which this is unlikely."

Felicity giggles.

"Anyhow, most people care when lousy things happen to other people and this comes to their attention. And the ones who don't aren't too popular with the rest of us, by and large."

"Well, not if they can't fake it," he says. "But almost everybody can fake it."

"Okay," concedes Kerron, "people who don't care and don't fake it effectively aren't very popular, but there's enough non-fakers for it to be the standard thing, yeah?"