Astrid's head shot up, fresh horror dawning.
"Everyone? You mean...Mother, too?"
"Of course your mother, too." Mika said, nodding gravely. "She's part of this family. She should be aware of the...creative uses her daughter is finding for their solitude."
"NO!"
Astrid scrambled onto her knees, clutching at his shirt, her earlier pride utterly vanished.
"Mika, you can't! Not Mama! I'll die! I'll throw myself from the highest building! If Mama ever found out I did this...that I have a sex pillow of you...I could never look her in the eye again!"
"Please, no, no, no, you can't tell her!"
Mika gently pried her fingers from his shirt. His gaze was steady, pitiful, and firm as he said,
"She needs to know, Astrid. This loneliness...it's driven you to a new low. Your other sisters, at least, keep their...hobbies...private. But you?"
"You've created a companion out of it. You've crossed a line from lonely into something truly desolate."
