Just before the Aerie happened, I went to check on new arrivals. The first one I met, he was just curled up sitting on the floor, and the first thing he asked was when he could leave.

[And that had been it; he couldn't ignore everything in that kid's posture, his tone, his expression. And since Lance and Ren had discussed the idea of accompanying new arrivals on walks out of the safehouse, as kind of an inbetween solution, and Lance had thought that it would be completely fine. Not only that, but it would actually have been compromising and being 'reasonable'.]

I told him the risks, and that it was his choice if he wanted to take them, but that I'd be willing to stay with him if he wanted to just take a walk or get something from a food truck or whatever. It wasn't something completely ridiculous.

[And it's so incredibly frustrating that it seems to have been considered to be.]

But I couldn't open the door, when I tried. I had to go listen to Gaby lecture me in order to get my access back so I could even leave, because apparently it's not just new arrivals who are subject to being locked in if someone else decides that's what appropriate.