[ The mention of the scar earns no response from him, but the mention of what Lisa would have thought of it makes the air of the room grow heavy, almost crushing. Through the corner of his eye, he sees the Belmont put an arm in front of the Speaker as his claws scrape into the table. ]

She would understand that you needed to learn. [ He growls. ] That you needed to understand what the people you keep me from protecting you from would do to you. That you needed to feel some fragment of the injustice done to her before you had any right to speak in their defense!

[ And, quick as it came, the actual weight of the air is gone. His hands are hands once again, not clawed. ]

I have failed you to have coddled you so. It shames me that you could not bear such a thing alone.