[Many of his explanations, suggestions, comments, and general statements are inherently ridiculous. And yet he keeps making them. Constantly. It's kind of his calling card.]

Curious about what? What makes them tick? Why they're so aggro? [Peter shrugs a tired, lazy shrug.] Earth had its dark ages, too. In my world, some places still haven't moved on from them.

[He's...seen a lot. And he's a worldly guy, he knows how the world outside New York works, too.]

They seem human. Ish. And even if the magic is what's putting some kind of mind whammy on everyone, they still have enough free will that they could fight it.

[He slides up his sleeve - and the sleeve of some kind of red and blue shirt underneath - to show his gem, a dark sapphire, set in a metal armband. He'd chosen to have it set in an armband instead of a ring because that would make it harder to snatch off him. Sure, these things seem to be re-callable, but he's not leaving it to chance.]

[His wrist is also sporting a battered, thick, segmented band, too, red with a blue prong that extends towards his palm. He doesn't explain what it is.]

I got one of the relatively dark ones and the only thing it made me want to murder was a sandwich.

[A pause, and he speaks to her like a murderer speaking to the only eyewitness to their crime.]

Tell no one what you saw today. It had it coming.