"Ah- I- as you say?" He's not sure he believes that, but he doesn't know what else to say.

"I know it's hard sometimes to believe that things can be better. But that's what I'm trying to do. And not making you do things is part of that, and letting you choose what you want is too."

"You can stay if you want. You can go back if you want. You can go to the protectorate if you want. You can run away and be by yourself if you want. You can do something else if you want."

"I'm not going to make you do anything."

He sinks down onto the mattress and nods tiredly, picking at the crisps.

She scoots a little further away when he gets onto the mattress.

Tap tap tap tap tap - "How about I go sit by the door and let you rest a while."

"I- I wouldn't want to- it's fine, I'm fine, you shouldn't-"

"I don't mind, I promise."

"Ah- if you're- Sure?" (Because he can't deny that he's not sure how to rest with her this close.)

She nods, and carefully avoids touching him as she gets the flashlight from the end of the bed. She shows him the switch on the side of it and leaves it lit, sitting on its end on the pallet next to the box where it'll light the space a bit without getting in his eyes. That done, she goes to leave, pausing before she goes more than a couple steps to say one last thing - "If you need anything, just talk, I'll hear you." - and then she does leave.

-He half goes to answer her, then stops, and instead curls up to try and get some rest. Sleep doesn't come easily, but he does doze.

The water is a bit noisy, and there's the occasional bug, but nothing else bothers him all night.

He's slept through worse.

He doesn't sleep for long, jerks awake, half-panicked, before remembering the events of the night. He breathes, trying to steady himself.

After a minute, Rescue comes up the pipe; she stops well back, not crowding him at all. "It's safe for now and it's pretty tonight, if you want to come out."

He startles a little, thinks, and then nods. "I- yes. Please?"

"Mmhmm." She steps forward a bit, to be more visible, tapping at the phone again.

"You don't need my permission."

"Oh- I- Ah-" He stops, shrugs a little. "I just- habit?"

"Yeah," she speaks, and then heads back down the pipe, slow enough that he won't have trouble staying in the light of the phone.

He follows after her quickly enough, although he still leaves a a fair amount of space between the two of them.

When they get to the mouth of the pipe, she walks clear of it, giving him space to get out without getting too close to her, and then circles back to pat the top of the pipe mouth indicatively; it's relatively clean up there, a good place to sit. She herself picks a nearby tree to lean on, for lack of a second good spot; she doesn't seem to be watching him, instead looking at the sky - it's a clear night, with some stars visible even this close to the city proper.

After a pause, he scrambles up on top of the pipe, and curls his knees up to his chest to stare at the sky.

Good.

(It's late spring, but it's still the middle of the night, and a little windy; he'll start shivering eventually, in the thin clothes from the compound.)

He does, sooner rather than later, but-

But it's peaceful out here. And he's never really had a chance to do this. (And he's used to being cold anyway.) He curls tighter and tries to stop the shivers.

Rescue looks over immediately when the shivering starts.

"I'm going to go get you a blanket, okay?"

"Oh- ah- you don't- have to?"

"Yeah," she taps, and ducks into the pipe anyway.

-He's not sure what do do with that, but stays where he is, waiting.