"Because that sounds awful, and - I think I kind of get it, and, just, here I was thinking I had it bad..."

"I—I still can't let you go," he says, sounding agitated. "You'd tell someone—you would, and they'd find me, and I wouldn't—be safe—everyone would know—"

"Man, forget about letting me go, okay, we've got time to figure that part out, I guarantee you nobody's even noticed I went anywhere yet," he says. "Do you want a hug? Because if you let me out of this chair, I will give you a hug, and I will not try to run away, and even if I did you are a terrifyingly skilled bloodbender and could stop me anyway."

Dao rubs his stiff arms, and... hesitates. "Is it okay if I turn around?"

A pause. Then, quietly, "Yes."

"Okay," he says. Slowly, trying not to make sudden movements, he gets out of the chair and turns around to look behind it.

The bloodbender is crouched on the floor in the chair's shadow, shivering, not looking up.

Dao steps around the chair and sits on the floor next to it, and holds out his arms.

For someone almost as tall as Dao, the bloodbender can make himself astonishingly tiny. He leans into Dao's lap and curls up into a little shivering ball of person.

Dao hugs him, and murmurs soothing meaningless syllables, and feels very very strange about this turn his life has taken. But. This guy clearly needed a hug. He needs like an entire lifetime of hugs. Dao appreciates the value of hugs on a very deep level. He can hug the terrified serial killer.

The terrified serial killer is now crying on him.

That's, yeah, that is not a huge surprise.

He may be a while.

That's... mostly fine. But Dao feels kind of dizzy and sleepy, and isn't sure how long he can avoid falling asleep.

Before that can come to pass, he uncurls and moves away.

Dao lets go immediately.

"...I want to trust you," he says, very very quietly. "I want to. If... will you promise you won't try to run away, or tell anyone you're here, or anything?"

"Yes, sure, of course," says Dao. "I promise."

"How do I know you aren't just saying that?" he says helplessly.

"Honestly, right now, as long as I'm pretty sure you're not going to kill me in the next like couple of days, which I am, I want to be here more than I want to be running away. I want to actually help you, I don't want to get you arrested. You don't - I, like - if I was the one who was going around ripping people's bones out and you were the one who was - talking to me about it, I'd rather you actually talked to me and didn't run off and call the cops, you know?"

"Okay," says Dao. "So. Um. If I'm not going to be tied to a chair the entire time I'm here, can I like - have breakfast, and maybe a nap somewhere with less," he gestures at the sculpture looming over them, "giant bone spider?"

He smiles a tiny barely-there flicker of a smile. "Yes. Okay."

Dao climbs to his feet, leaning on the chair. This makes him feel even dizzier, and when he lets go of the chair he sways a little and almost falls over.