The shrug doesn't comfort, but it's fair. Up close, he is still so strange and familiar. Tired and cold, while she flittered around him with such energy. Yet, by his veins and his breathing, she had to believe he was alive. Something made, but much different than her loathed mannequins who kicked and bruised and gathered en masse around her candles.
And if reason is useless, why not go down the path of curiosity. Glacial eyes switch between his stance and the sudden grasp at his helm. Was it in pain? Her hands hover to help, not knowing how not to make it worse. She looks for a smooth side of the rust and lays her bare hand on it, then at the risk of being cut, does the same for the other side to try and hold him in place.
Was it her fault?