Dao blushes. "Um. I'm sorry. I was just - thinking about animal trivia. So when you said something and I didn't know what to say, it, um - I'll just go away now."

He puts away his knife and his little half-carved pendant of a coiled-up ferretsnake and—tries to get up. It's less successful than he was expecting. He tries again. Maybe his clothes got caught on the bench; he twists around to check.