"I'm all human, totally ordinary," we're not counting dragon stuff, "but I have friends who aren't."

Strictly speaking, there's only one dragon on Popp's world that does this kind of selecting, but he wouldn't be surprised if she was involved in all of this dragon selection also. Maybe she's pen pals with one of the dragon gods over here, it is a mystery and he's not a theologian.

Unethical is such a dispassionate but damning way to describe your parents, though! Even Popp wouldn't say that about his dad... He has no idea how to respond to that aside from a reflexive "Yikes, that's bad," that hangs in the silence for a bit. How do you support someone who has evil parents and doesn't like it? Both parents! They just met would it be weird to offer to fight his dad? It would be super weird and he's not saying it. To displace his feelings, he aggressively eats his toasted bun, which is banana, subtly different from the earlier plantain, and just a little too hot to eat with dignity.

The pond and pond alternatives are a much safer topic.

"I can do ice, but, my best fire is a step above my best ice."