[ Wow, this sounds familiar. It's actually a little shocking, because he knows they've hedged around the topic this whole time. An elaborate dance as they avoided talking about it openly. A nervousness neither of them could shake out of habit. ]

I understand. Contractors carry... a particular stigma. It's still an oddity not to have an adverse reaction when someone asks about it, here.

[ Because all that echoes through his head when he thinks of what he is, what so many others are: cold, heartless, soulless, monsters (not people, never people). ]

How'd you get through it?

[ He'd gotten broken and then remade, redone. It gets more and more difficult to remember how to react normally. What falls in that category anymore? ]