"Stopping him from, for example, running inside would be trivial. The damage it would do if I attacked him, on the other hand...." Again, he spreads his hand.

"From what I see, the distortion is centred on feelings of—of unwantedness. He feels like an outsider, and he believes he deserves to be. That his true self is repellent. He tried so hard to make me see that, you know. To make me give up on him. Told me terrible things."

He stares miserably at the filtering coffee. "I'll never give up on him. I just don't know if I can make him believe me."