[ Riz opens his mouth to object - growing up in Elmville had been a soft, peaceful experience, and he feels the instinctual need to defend his home - but then shuts in with a click. People have commented on how violent Riz's life is, but nobody had pointed out that it's his entire world that's violent. He had just assumed that they disapproved of his age, not of his entire world. ]

I don't think it is, [ he says slowly. ] This place is way worse, isn't it?

[ From where his legs are splayed out in front of him, he clicks the heels of his dress shoes together, the sight almost comical against the soft, colourful fabric of his pajamas. ]

...there's enough threats that we have lots of academies and colleges dedicated to averting, like, existentially threatening forces. But that's just being responsible, isn't it? Is that not what it was like in your world's history?

[ He's careful to phrase that delicately. Not the way your world is, but the way your world was. ]