[Paul holds his hands up in a sign that's just as intelligible as Falco's, though less as words and more as a concept: he isn't going to do anything, staying still and calm in the face of Falco's frightened retreat, even if his heart hammers unseen and his gut tightens in dismay. He winces when Falco cracks his head on the stone above, the cavern trembling with his passage, but he remains unmoved.

It's only when Falco is at rest and his signs have been deciphered that Paul reaches to his wrist and taps his shield into life, a blue humming caul that fades into an iridescent soap bubble shimmer under the bioluminescent glow around them.]

You won't be able to hurt me. I have my shield, and I'm fast. You know that.

[He gestures at the tunnels too small for Falco to enter, his exit strategy. He also trusts that Falco wouldn't hurt him, if he had any chance of stopping himself, but that isn't an argument he can make after having seen the circumstances of Falco becoming one.]

May I come over there, or do you want me to stay on this side?