Sage chuckled and shrugged. "I suppose you're pretty sweet too," he hummed in a pretend thoughtful manner. In all honesty, Mari was probably the sweetest person he knew...Anya was sweet of course, but in a slightly different way, and there were so many things she just didn't understand. It wasn't her fault...they had just led incredibly different lives. He chuckled slightly and shrugged at her next comment grinning up at the girl. "Well I'm not your normal guy," he chuckled. "So you might have to deal with unusual conversations." He knew the girl didn't mind, though. He nodded, a small smile forming on his face. "He's nice. I am glad he decided to take me under his wing a bit," he hummed in a fond manner.

Mari smiled lightly to the boy and rested her chin on his head. "Thought so," she hummed with a bit of a chuckle. She then rolled her eyes at him with another small laugh. "Oh, you are anything but normal. I don't think it's a bad thing, though," she hummed lightly before sighing and sitting up again so that she wasn't leaning on him. "I've already dealt with my fair share of unusual conversations from you," she giggled before flopping back onto the ground they were sitting on. "He's a good man," she hummed lightly. "And you're good for him as much as he's good for you," she added quietly.

Sage chuckled lightly and shrugged. It could be a bad thing, to some people...but not to Mari. She seemed to be much more accepting of how his brain worked. A bit more understanding about everything going on. It was nice, really. Anya supported him too, of course, but she took it upon herself to make him happy, and when he wasn't, she got upset about it. Mari was a little different. Both girls were wonderful, but looking at it, Mari was definitely better for a long term relationship. That was, if the girl felt the same way about it all. He flopped down next to the girl with a grin, lacing his fingers together and resting them on his stomach. "I hope so," he hummed. "I definitely don't want to make him regret the decision." He had to admit that was a slight worry...he knew it would probably never happen, but he couldn't help it. He was so used to people being flighty that it was always in the back of his mind. Like how now he was worrying over whether Mari had really wanted to date him, or if she was just doing this to appease him.

The girl rolled onto her side when the boy flopped down next to her, flashing another friendly smile as she rested her head on her hand. "Please, that man thinks the world of you! Note that he stayed up all night the other day just to make sure you were okay. Nothing you can do would make him regret his decision," she told the boy, and she knew it was true, too... the doctor really did love the Sage, even if he wouldn't say it. Though, she did know the boy wasn't exactly used to people wanting to stay around... but she could try and get him to believe that they did. People did want to be around him, and they wanted to stay. She reached out to mess with his hair a little before giving another little smile. "Tell me what you're thinking," she eventually hummed, really quite curious as to what was going through his head as of then.

Sage hummed thoughtfully and nodded with a slight sigh. "I know...but my instinct tells me not to believe my heart," he hummed quietly. "Believing my heart is what's gotten me into trouble before." He looked over at the girl, leaning his head into her hand slightly when she started playing with his hair, and chuckled. "There's always a lot going on in there," he joked, though it was true. Then he shrugged slightly. "I dunno...you're pretty, I like the doctor, and you, and Amber, and I wonder what she's doing right now, and I wonder what you're thinking, and I wonder if I'm doing this right or if I'm doing the right thing, and I wonder what the sunsets gonna look like, and when it's gonna get warmer, and what chaos and mystery and snowball and the doctor and Anya and Att are all doing, and if they're comfortable and happy, and probably a bunch of other things I haven't listed," he listed off, in an admittedly amused manner. The girl had asked what he was thinking....well, he was thinking a lot. So she'd gotten a list of things.

Mari gave a bit of a cocked head at his first comments but eventually shook her head. "I think you've been through so much... and the instincts that are telling you not to trust your heart are just telling you what to do based on experience. It'll be like that for a while... but the more things your heart tells you are right, the more your instincts will start to believe it... does that make sense?" The girl asked with a cocked head. She just meant he'd get better with believing in himself as time went on... the more people he had supporting him, then the quicker, she supposed. She then kind of stared at him as he listed everything that he was thinking right then, and honestly, she was a little bit lost before a slight chuckle escaped her... he was right, that was definitely a lot. She thought about where to start for a moment before pulling the hand in his hair back with a soft smile. "Well, the doctor and Amber are probably together right now... she's probably found her way out of the pen and into his lap, and I bet she's asleep right now, purring her head off. The doctor is probably thrilled with it, even if he would refuse to admit it," she mused lightly, shaking her head again. "And the horses will be in their fields... Chaos will be under that tree, grazing happily, and the other two will be munching happily in their warm stable. Att will be running around somewhere, and the princess is probably chasing him around that manner of theirs," she hummed with a bit of a chuckle at the imagination. She hoped for the sake of Sage that everyone he had mentioned was happy as of then... comfortable and safe. She then gave him a gentle smile. "And you're doing everything right... this is perfect... you're perfect, alright?" She reassured the boy gently before rolling onto her back again. "And you think I'm pretty?" She asked with an almost childish giggle as a light blush pinched her cheeks... she wasn't exactly used to hearing it, but it made her feel light and warm and fuzzy in a way she couldn't quite explain... but it was a good feeling, and she knew that much.

Sage hummed slightly and then nodded. "I suppose so," he hummed. "I hope you're right. Fighting with myself all the time is exhausting," he groaned slightly before looking over at the girl as she imagined what everyone else was doing. He chuckled slightly and nodded happily. "I certainly hope so. Though, for Anyas sake, maybe not the running around part," he joked lightly. He cocked his head slightly when the girl said he was doing everything right, and couldn't hide the shocked expression on his face when she said he was perfect. He certainly didn't think that...he thought he was pretty much just a heap of troubles and problems. He needed to get himself fixed, but that seemed impossible. He chuckled slightly, and rather sheepishly, at the girl's last comment, a blush finding it's way to his cheeks. "I'm sure I'm not the only person to ever tell you that," he hummed. "Anyone can agree you're pretty, even if they don't like you." He blushed slightly deeper when he added, 'and I'm a bit biased," with a sheepish chuckle ....almost a shy one.

Mari nodded to the boy... she supposed you could see it, the exhaustion that fighting with himself caused. She really did think he'd get better with time... with everyone around him. They didn't need to make him happy, happiness was a fleeting feeling, what they needed to do was tackle his problems and actually fix them, but that could take a long time and they both knew it. She smiled at his shocked expression, but she did hope he knew she meant it. He did have problems, but he was trying to fix them... and he was still trying for other people. And, in her eyes, he really was perfect. He could very easily blame everyone else for things that went wrong, but he wasn't. But he was letting people help him, and that was brave. She giggled at his little blush before shaking her head. "No... I've heard it once or twice but it means more coming from someone I like," she hummed lightly. She couldn't help the blush that deepened back on her face at his shy chuckle. "A bit biased," she repeated with a soft chuckle, though was very clearly a bit... flustered. It did mean more coming from somebody she actually liked, but it meant even more coming from Sage... and she wasn't quite sure why.

Sage chuckled slightly and nodded with a shrug. He could see that...any stranger could call him pretty and he'd blow them off with a snort. If it was someone he knew and liked, like Mari, he tried to look at their way of thinking. He still normally didn't really agree with them, but he did believe that they thought what they'd said, even if he didn't understand why they though the way they did. "Well, you're pretty, so you may as well get used to me saying it," he hummed. He chuckled slightly the girls flustered time, though he was blushing much harder than she, so he couldn't really tease. Well, he could...but he'd get teased back, and if he got much more flustered he might have to go hide in a corner somewhere. It was an exaggeration, and he knew that, but he let the girls blush slide for now.

The girl grinned at the boys comment, and couldn't help but feel light. Everything he'd said just seemed... fresh, she supposed. She'd been called pretty before... in the taverns and on the streets, but it wasn't genuine. It was because they wanted something, and it wasn't something she'd give up easily. Sage meant it, though... and he wasn't trying to get anything from her. It was nice, and she did like hearing it from him. She chuckled lightly, though it was almost like a shy giggle. "I don't think I can get used to it," she hummed lightly before rolling back onto her side with a grin. "Say it again, I liked it from you," she hummed with a sheepish laugh.