The girl rolled her eyes when he started to list things he couldn't control. She gave his arm a bit of a squeeze and shook her head. "No, don't say that... you can't control what happens or what happens, to other people, you know," she hummed lightly before giving him a pout. "You can't control your sleep patterns, either." She glanced out the window before sighing and looking back towards him. "All I can do," she repeated with a scoff. "Sage, you do realise that's a lot, right? More than anything I can do," she told him with a small chuckle. "And I can list more things that are good about you, but it might take too long."

Sage snorted when the girl started trying to make him feel better about himself. "I should have those things figured out by now," he huffed. Then he shook his head slightly. "I can do what I had to do to survive. That's hardly amazing. It's just what needed to happen." He cocked his head slightly at the girl's last comment before chuckling. "Too long," he snorted. "If you can go on for five minutes I'll be so surprised my soul might leave my body." He was exaggerating a bit, yes, but he certainly didn't think he had enough amazing qualities for the girl to list them for more than like...twenty seconds, at the most.

The girl gave him a bit of an empty smile and sat back from the boy with a bit small huff. "It is amazing," she told him gently. "And you're amazing, you know. I know you don't think it, but you really are," she chirped lightly before pulling her legs up onto the couch and crossing them over as she got comfortable. "I mean it when I say I have a lot of good things to say about you." She looked thoughtful for a moment before biting the inside of her cheeks. "Like how brave you are. Not just because you've had a rough past, nor because you've lost people, but because you've worked so hard to look after people... you're much braver than I am. Can I just remind you that you came back out to the slums to stay with a bunch of people you barely know? And I think that was incredibly brave of you, I really do," she told him with a bit of a smile. "Coming up to the castle after so long was brave of you, too." She hummed lightly. "I'd be dead if I'd gone through what you had," she then added quietly.

Sage could feel a blush creeping onto his face the more the girl talked about...well, him. He shook his head slowly, making a kind of astonished noise. "I came with you because the doctor thinks I can't manage on my own. That's not brave," he protested. "And I know you...that's enough for me." Then he chuckled slightly. "And Luther carried my unconscious body back to the castle. I didn't have much of a say about that," he chuckled in a rather amused tone of voice. He cocked his head slightly at the girl's last remark and shrugged slightly. "Sometimes death is better than continuing to live," he hummed, dropping his gaze slightly.

The girl shook his head when he said that, clearly not buying it... "No, you don't know that... you don't know what happens when you die... it could be so, so much worse," she murmured quietly before looking back over to him. "It was brave, in a way. You weren't scared to meet anyone here... and you've even tried with little Xander... that makes you kind, too," she hummed, a bit of a smile at the thought. The child was shy, but Sage had made an effort to talk to him a little bit. She then reached a hand out to his shoulder. "And I think it's insanely brave that you're still... well, here. Alive. I know you said you didn't want to be, but you are, and I think that's really amazing," she told him before pulling her hand back and crossing her arms over and resting against the couch.

Sage chuckled slightly and shrugged. "If there's one thing I don't care about, it's what people think of me," he hummed. "I grew up the lowest possible rank out there...I'm used to people treating me like trash. I just followed the person I knew I could trust," he hummed. "And I suppose that made me kind...I don't want to treat people the way I was treated," he admitted. He leaned back against the couch with a sigh and looked over at the girl, cocking his head slightly. "How is wanting to die brave?" He truly did want to understand...his whole life, he'd heard the opposite of what this girl, and Anya, told him. He wanted to believe them, he did, but he just couldn't. "The only reason I'm not dead is because I'd feel bad about leaving people behind," he admitted.

The girl gave a bit of a smile to him. "I suppose it's brave because you're still here. You could go and get yourself killed whenever you felt like it. But you haven't.. you're still here. Even if it's just because there are people you don't want to leave behind, you're here, aren't you?" She asked with a cocked head. "I don't know how to explain it, but it is... brave." She hummed after a moment or so. "I think you're just a kind person. Stubborn, and sometimes annoying, but you're genuinely a good human," she told him with a bit of a chuckle.

Sage sighed and looked away, a hum coming from his throat. It was a sort of thoughtful one, but thoughtful in the way that meant he was trying to understand it all. "I suppose so," he admitted softly. He chuckled slightly at her last comment, shrugging lightly. "You haven't seen how stubborn I can get," he hummed, a playful light forming in his eyes. He studied the girl for a moment, head cocked slightly. "You know...you're the only person to ever say that," he told the girl. It was true...Anya had complimented him all the time, but she only saw the worst in this particular topic. She thought she could make him happier...but it didn't work like that, and she didn't understand so much. Mari though ...she seemed more down to earth, in a way. And he had to admit, being around someone who could find the good in anything...was nice.

The girl rolled her eyes again at him and chuckled lightly. "I can't wait to meet Mr Stubborn Sage," she hummed softly. She had to say she was honestly a little surprised that no one else had put it the way she had... it was obviously no good yelling at him about it.. it wouldn't make him feel any better, not at all. He didn't need to be shouted at... and, well, she didn't know what he needed, but it certainly wasn't being shouted at for being depressed. "Well... it's true," she told him after a moment and gave a small smile to the boy. "And I could go on with all the good things about you for hours. And the bad bits, too, but mostly good," she noted with a bit of a chuckle. "I really do think you're an amazing person, Sage... you deserve so much more than what life has given you," she told him as she stood up and wandered over to the little kitchen area and started to cut s loaf of bread up to make up some finger sandwiches for when Xander got home.

Sage chuckled slightly at the girl's comment, humming softly. "I'm sure you'll find him sooner or later," he told the girl in a rather amused manner. He didn't respond to her other comments...she'd left by the time he'd thought that he maybe should respond. The way she'd worded her last comment had just...shocked him, he supposed. In a good way, but he had a lot to ponder all of a sudden, a lot of it about the girl. He felt the cat come up beside him, and he picked her up, holding her close to his chest as he stared blankly at the wall opposite him, his head spinning a million miles and hour. Anya had said he was a good person, but this was a whole other level. Mari was different than Anya. At first, they'd seemed a lot alike...but not really anymore. Now they seemed like two very different people. Because they were. They were both kind, but in different ways. They were both cheerful at times, but one was significantly more cheerful than the other, despite how much worse her life had been. The more he thought about it, the more his little romance with Anya seemed...surreal. More like a dream, really. She was too far out of his league...not because of class, but because of how different their life styles were. She was always pushing him to get better, to try and make him be happy...and it didn't really work, and it probably wasn't ever going to. But with Mari, he didn't have to worry about showing it as much. She understood it a bit better than Anya, and she understood how to treat it. He looked down at the cat after a moment with a sigh. "What do you think," he asked the cat softly. "Would I ever be able to live someone like that? Would Mari ever want me? Or am I way too far out of my league again?" His eyes drifted to the kitchen, where the girl was making lunch and hugged the cat tighter. "What if it ends with me getting hurt again," he whispered, burying his face in the cats soft fur. What was he thinking? Why was he willing to try that again? With his luck, she'd just never speak to him again. No, he couldn't learn to love someone else like that. Could he? Or was he just too much of a coward to try? No, not a coward...he was just so tired of getting himself hurt. It was all his fault...and it was easier not to love at all than to have his love thrown back at his face.