"A lot of people aren't half that helpful!"

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve only ever met you, and I don't think you’re representative of the average person, unless most people are intensely attractive and heroic men willing to risk their life for the greater good.”

"Aw." He does not says 'shucks' even though he kind of wants to. He's not actually old fashioned, even if he likes dumb old films. "I guess I'm by definition not too average."

“I know this fact and appreciate it... do you want to go out for a date, some time?”

He seems a bit taken aback. Perhaps surprised. "Uh. You remember what dates are?" he asks, kind of awkwardly.

“- I only have the concept, not any associated experiences, but I think that I’m getting better at distinguishing between real concepts and fake concepts - they’re the thing where you do something with someone because you’re interested in them romantically. Why do you look like I just stabbed a cat.”

"...Uh. I'm not gay - I like girls. And most people out here kind of aren't - super forward about it?"

“I’m confused.”

"Uh. You're a guy, and I'm a guy, and guys who like guys are gay. I like girls, so I can't like guys. Gay guys don't tend to - be very forward about being romantically interested in guys out here."

“I’m about as confident in ‘people who like both genders exist’ as I am in ‘thunderstorms exist’ and ‘rabbits exist’. Is this a - gay relationships are stigmatized, gay men are held to higher standards of indirection because they’re an upper class and romantic indirection is considered high status, gay men are expected to proposition people by wearing bunny costumes and slapping them with a stuffed bear but are generally ordinary joes...?”

"Uh. They're stigmatized. Not. Everywhere? But here."

'People can like both genders' is somewhat of an uncomfortable revelation. It pokes at his brain. He doesn't like things poking his brain, his brain's inside a bone case for a reason.

“That explains why you’d think bisexuals are nonexistent, then, if they’re incentivized to pretend they only experience opposite-sex attraction... sorry for stepping on a taboo.”

"Uh. It's cool, man."

Jamie is skeptical of this assertion. 

“I assume you want to drive? - and what happens after we reach civilization, by the way, is there some sort of acculturation program for new weapons, do we stay in touch, where am I going to be staying...?”

"Yeah I'd like to drive. There's - here doesn't have any good programs, the city might though? I'd like to stay in touch - I actually have zero responsibilities and feel kinda, uh, like - you're someone who could use help, and I was kinda involved in you being a person who could maybe use help? Not sure that makes sense, but... You can stay with me, or I suppose if you're going somewhere more city-ish I can help figure out housing. This country is not very good at having free housing though. At all. My friend Blair complains about it a lot."

“I’ll stay with you.”

"Okay. I've got my own place, luckily there's a spare bedroom - it's not a super nice place, but it keeps out the rain technically."

Is this an appropriate moment to actually get in the car? Jamie thinks this an appropriate moment to actually get in the car.

“I appreciate not being technically rained on! I would either get wet, or I would rust. It’d be inconvenient.”

"I've never heard of a weapon rusting! That'd be really inconvenient, though," he says, also getting in the car and getting situated.

“I know! We’d end up giving monsters tetanus, and then they’d sue. We’d be paying liability settlements for years.”

He starts laughing so hard he has to pause in starting the car.

Jamie keeps a straight face, at first, but he can’t keep himself from snorting a bit, and then laughing just as enthusiastically.

He calms down, after a little while, but keeps on smiling like his teeth are paintings on exhibit and he has an art critic to impress.

He grins back and starts up the car. It sputters, coughs, and then groans to life, while he sighs at it fondly. "Blair keeps wanting to fix this up, maybe I should let them..."

“I wouldn’t know enough to say - what’s Blair like?”

"Uh. Drunk half the time, kind of fighty, but wicked smart. If we were a superhero team they'd be the reluctant anti-hero. Repairs old cars and motorbikes, like, really old, as a hobby. Thinks it's really important people use 'they' pronouns for them even though that's kinda dumb."