What she doesn't know, what she can't know, is how much this is just the way Joel is. This isn't the Capitol's doing, no, his world ripped away most of the veneer of polite civilization a long time ago.

The fact that he's even addressing her now instead of just ignoring her and walking away is mostly due to Ellie's influence, and insistence.

"You wanna get to know the people here, might wanna watch arena footage, or go down to the training center," he points out bluntly. "You'll learn more."