[It's an astute question, if not precisely what OA had meant. The least she can do is answer honestly.]

I knew someone once who... we used to wonder if there was a perfect world, a perfect dimension. One where we fit, one without violence or cruelty, where life wouldn't be easy but would at least hurt in ways that meant something. This isn't it.

[There's all of that and more. It isn't the most helpful answer, perhaps -- certainly it's lacking in specificity. The particulars are, unfortunately, always changing.]

But mostly I just meant... you're in a new world, a new place with new rules, somewhere you never asked or expected to be, among strangers. Fear isn't wrong. It's... there's no taking it gently. I can't tell you not to be affected by that; that would be callous.

[OA tucks her hands into her pockets and gives a nod up the street in the direction she'd been heading. This will be an easier conversation to have when married with something tangible, like a good meal. Food helps cure a lot of ills.]

Come on. You don't have to get on top of it all at once, either.