I think there's some kind of selfish motive. Not 100%, but at least a little.
This idea is sinister, but maybe it's to make people trust them more, while also exposing their weakness to them. Look, I'm nice, I'll help you. Helping people means that they have to be vulnerable but that vulnerability doesn't have to be a one-way street. Doe could use what they learn against anyone they help if they wanted to. I think knowing they could do this would have to be kind of comforting for Doe, if not something they ever actually exploit to mess with people for their own benefit.
Or maybe they're doing it just to get on Camille's good side? Or even to get her to open up to them for the same reason as above. Look Camille, I'm helpful, I'm useful, please like me, please help me sort out my shit. Look how nice I am, maybe you can open up to me as well? Your deepest fears are safe with me, promise :^)
Another idea I had is that they're just doing it in an attempt to jog their own memory? I feel like Doe suspects something Messed Up might have happened to them, so maybe guiding other people through the mental fallout of their own trauma could be a.... demo of sorts? They're looking at what has messed up other people to try and figure out if/how/why they are messed up as well.
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What's Ryn's mother up to these days? How does Ryn think of her, and how does she think of him? ...If they even think about each other at all ever, that is...?
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100% on the money with Ryn’s feelings. Hates her, resents her, sees the worst of himself in her and is disgusted. Definitely still hung up & traumatized as hell. Definitely tries downplay it with questionable outcomes. She still feels horrible about all this. Any resentment she has toward Ryn is massively outweighed by the guilt of failing him. She actually genuinely wants to reconnect and try & make it up somehow. That’s never gonna happen-- Ryn wouldn’t have one word of it. He doesn’t know or care what she’s up to and he wants to keep it that way forever.
Your boring guess is closest to the mark; she’s on parole rn after a long sentence, and is alive and, uh, well-ish. Clean for now but still unstable as hell. But I like the cool and awesome guess better >:o Ryn’s type of condition is pretty much understood as not being a hereditary thing tho, so mage-demon-scientists wouldn’t have too much use for her, un/fortunately. Falling in with weird magic dudes really would be a step up :’)