"People should really learn not to mess with what's mine," he says.

"It's not like I damaged her!"

"Yeah?"

He uses the inverted pain spell this time, deadening all his senses instead of whiting them out, and picks Jurevi up and carries him off to an out-of-the way room where they can discuss the definition of damage in more detail.

...Well.

The fifteen and sixteen year olds...observe that this is a thing.

Several of them quietly resolve to gossip about this with their other peers at the first opportunity.

When he's done making his point to Jurevi he leaves him on the floor of that out-of-the-way room and goes back to his own room to see how his Anaseverina is doing.

She is sitting on his bed hugging a pillow and looking at her lap. When he comes in she looks up at him, looks almost like she's about to ask something, and then drops her gaze again.

"...hm?"

"...Can I have a hug?"

"...yeah, sure."

He goes over and sits next to her and hugs her and pets her hair.

She curls up into him and starts crying.

He - keeps hugging her. And petting her hair. It seems the thing to do.

"The other girls said it could hurt, but they didn't--I've been hurt, I get punished a lot--why am I more upset by this than the time they broke my leg--"

"Don't know," he says. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh. I feel all--mixed up inside. I don't--I don't want to go out there again, but I have to--I have a lesson day after tomorrow--"

Hug. Pet pet.

"Anybody messes with you I will make them regret it."

"I know but I knew that too before and--"

"Yeah."

More hug.

"And I'm scared that you'll want me and I'll want to say no and--I don't--I'm not scared of you, I don't want to start being scared of you."

"I haven't decided if I want you yet," he says. "But I like that you're not scared of me. I want to keep that more than I'd want to do things that scared you."

"...Okay. Thank you."

Hug. Pet pet.

Hug.

Eventually, around dinnertime, her stomach starts making rumbling noises. She looks conflicted.

"Pretty sure you'll be safe if you go to dinner with me," he says.

Nod.

So they can go to dinner.

Does anyone else feel like messing with his things today?