[He doesn't cling to Trip's hand, releasing it when the boy tugs on it. His smile fades, though, at the boy's frustration. He isn't offended by it. He might have been when he was younger, but it's been a long time since his pride was so easily hurt.]

Dio is extremely charismatic. Most of his followers followed him willingly, not because they were all entirely soulless, but because he inspired such devotion.

[He doesn't mention that Trip is still a child; that thirteen is a child by nearly anyone's point of view.]

I was twenty-two. My friend was seventeen. But some of his followers were far older than that. Being tricked like that . . . it isn't a matter of intelligence or canniness. He's a power unto himself. It's why he's so dangerous. Not just because of what he can do, but how smooth he is while he does it. Does that make sense?