The short answer: familiarity breeds contempt. Without the stopgap measure preventing them from killing each other outright, only a handful of them would be left by now. How like a family.

"It's not about if it's easy," and here comes the start of a well-rehearsed pep talk that she has shoved down her throat and that of too many others. It goes on like this: that it's not about anything being easy or hard, but about choosing a path and sticking to it. No matter what. Still she makes it sound so easy, as if believing it would make it so. And she is so gentle with him, as if play pretend would make things real.

"Does it bother you? All this mingling in your head? Some people take it better than others."