Anders stills at the touch. No matter how far he gets from his year of solitary, simple physical contact still means the world to him.

"They can use any help you'll give," he says after taking the moment to let the touch simply be. "I can use it too. They've little left save their pride, and some of them have lost even that, but they deserve it with how hard they work to stay alive. Patchwork, warmth, a dog nuzzling them or a cat headbutting them, it all makes a difference. But through it all, they deserve and need respect. They need to be seen as people, because so many treat them like they're not."