"They're not cruel." They're violent, but Cole understands that a lot of things are violent because they're lost or confused or hurt and simply lashing out wildly to try and make something make sense, to feel some semblance of control when nothing is right. "You have to understand that other things feel and think to be cruel and I don't know if they know that. Wanting to make something suffer is cruelty. But things lash out for lots of reasons. Most of those reasons are because they're suffering in some way."

He sits there, listening and picking through the thoughts and feelings, lips moving but the words not quite vocalised, Ben's words reflected back soundlessly. Cole felt the same, like he was a monster for a power he never asked for and never wanted, that ripped out of him when things became too much.

"I can teleport and be impossible to sense. You won't hurt me. I don't think they would either." He tries to move his hand in again, because if he can get close, maybe he can sense them, read them clearer without the Red Shift raging around him. "Hello. We met before."