When the local necromancer bard is, generally speaking, usually soft and warm. When not also stepping up and manipulating the dead to protect what he cares about: people, more than anything else.

He pats her back in a way he thinks is reassuring, since his childhood self had perceived it that way when shijie had comforted him all those years ago.

"It's a good hug." Bad ones, he thinks, involve more stabbing. "If you want more practise anyway, I can always use some."

Sizhui can't (and no longer is) the only one testing his deficiency in hugging.