Someone in pain? Who did she think she was? Kai didn't buy that. Anyone who couldn't ignore someone in pain was either lying or wouldn't last long before burning out. There were too many people with too many problems. "Give me a break. Trust me, you don't want to be friends with a guy like me." It wasn't self-depreciating, it was the truth. He wasn't a friendly kind of guy.

(Though he'd had friends. He was even okay with thinking of them as friends. Funny how it hadn't really sunk in how important they were to him until now, when they were either dead or podded.)

"It'd be smarter for you to grow some callouses. Save you trouble."