[He laughs now, the room's air reduced to a slightly nauseating pull at the back of his mind. He's had a talk like this recently, about the state of being human and what makes it special. It helps him. Reminds him he can still fight.]

Of course - give a reasoning being mortality, leave him to carve out his own niche in the world with only the directive to take care of it, and the capacity for language to express himself, and what can you get but unrelenting passion?