Oh. [He looks thoughtful.] I know what you mean. Until I met my friends, the only people that watched my back in a fight did it just because they were Coven Scouts and I was the Emperor's nephew. [He mutters.] Or so everyone thought.

And technically I was also their boss.

[He shrugs slightly.]

And even then, it wasn't really that uncommon for everyone in the Emperor's Coven to stab each other in the back to gain more of, or avoid losing, Belos' favor. [His voice temporary loses some of its tone.] He wasn't someone you failed.

[His hand makes an abortive gesture towards his face. The side with the scar. Stops. Drops again.]

[It's subtle, but it's a mistake he wouldn't have made in the past. When he'd always been drowning in the shame of hurting his uncle by making him get angry enough to lose control. When he'd carefully insulated Belos from anyone finding out, because he didn't want his Uncle to feel shame over his curse or to show him ingratitude.]

[But he's been talking about some things a little more openly now. And feeling them more openly too. Enough to do things unconsciously when they might have been locked down in the past.]

[He squints and the tone changes again, to the cavalier way someone might talk about annoying workplace politics.]

I honestly kind of lost count of how many times Kikimora tried to kill me. She really wanted a promotion.

[His expression grows more gentle.]

Anyway, my point is I know what it's like. To feel alone. You don't have to feel that way anymore. There are a lot of good people here. And if you ever do feel it anyway, just let me know.

Maybe we could do some kind of...activities? [He has no idea how to talk about leisure. Or offer friendship. Still. It still comes out very stilted.] Humans are crazy. They created a lot of fun stuff to do, and it's weird even by witch standards.

[Therefore, there's a lot of novelty.]