I-- I'm sorry to have brought it up. You're lucky to be alive. [It's not like he hasn't seen some bad scars from veterans from the capital, but something like that should be fatal, right? His med student buddy would probably know, but he wasn't in hell...]

...eh, so, what do you do back in the real world? I bet nothing like this. [He gestures at the ruined street around them, though not too expansively. Just gonna,,, keep acting casual as they sidle along and hope nobody notices,,]