For a long moment, it's as if Norman has shut down - he stares straight ahead at his knees, hands still in his hair, his breathing shallow as he drowns in his own thoughts. He had come to Otto for some kind of help, some reassurance, some ... he wasn't sure. He had just known Otto was safe, as safe as he himself wasn't. He feels as though he could vibrate out of his own skin, and in that moment, he wants to - not necessarily to die, just to escape. To stop being who he is, to shake off everything he doesn't like and leave only the clean parts worth saving - what few he feels are left to him in the moment.

Otto's hand falling on his shoulder is hardly any sort of benediction or shield, but that single soft pressure releases a thought, simple, clear, and true as a vending machine. Even before it leaves Norman's mouth, soft and sad and hollow, he knows it's the heart of this.

"I saw who I was, in him. I saw all that madness. All that anger and pain. And I didn't want it to live anymore."