Sage chuckled softly and shrugged. "I hated Liz at first," he noted with a laugh. "I didn't like sharing anything with her." He shook his head in amusement and shrugged. "I had to grow up though. Couldn't stay like that forever." He rolled over onto his back, though still pressed up against Anya and looked over at her happily. "Kids are nicer than adults, I'm finding," he admitted. "Wherever you live. Sure, they can be little brats sometimes but you can't hate them all." He wrinkled his nose slightly, thinking. "Kinds up here are a bit different, but really they're just more innocent. They act like jerks sometimes but they don't know any better. When a kid in the slums acts like a jerk, he's probably going to try and kill you. Or have a parent try to kill you," he mused. Then he looked over when Charlotte burst into the room again, a bright smile on her face. She plopped down next to Sage and set a plate of food down on his chest. "I'm not leaving until I see you eat something," she announced, crossing her arms and staring down at Sage. He giggled at the girl's pouty face before nibbling at fruit slices he figured would be easy on his stomach. Once the younger girl was satisfied he was eating, she curled up against his side happily and soon fell asleep. He subconsciously wrapped an arm around the girl, wanting to keep her safe and warm every moment of her life.

Anya did have to disagree a little with the whole kids were nicer than adults... but then again, she didn't have any adults she knew that had tried to kill her. And all the kids she knew weren't exactly friendly with her. Well, Lizzie had been sweet, but that was because her brother had a friend. Charlotte wasn't the worst of the little bunch of kids up here, so she was... bearable. Or, she was becoming bearable. She watched as the girl burst in and forced him to eat before sending herself to sleep at his side. All Anya could only grin as Sage wrapped his arms around the girl. "I reckon you're just good with them, you know," the girl hummed lightly before pressing a light kiss to his cheek, careful to keep her voice down so that she wouldn't wake the younger girl. "It's a shame you'll never have any kids of your own. I'd bet you'd be a good dad," the girl hummed in thought. She did think that too... she knew it was never in the boy's future, not if he wasn't living past twenty, but it was the truth.

Once the younger girl was asleep, Sage set the plate of food off to the side. He'd eaten a few bits of fruit, and that was all he wanted to risk for now. Besides, his stomach was still rolling already, so he didn't want to eat any more as of right then. He might nibble on something else later in the day. He was, admittedly, tired too...he'd been up for quite some time now, talking and thinking and whatnot. He chuckled slightly at Anya's comment about having kids. Technically, he could be a father now and just not know. But, he decided not to mention that fact to Anya, and instead tried to keep the topic light. Or lightish. "Well, I wouldn't want to bring anyone else into the slums," he murmured. "Even if I live long enough because of some miracle, I doubt I'd want to," he admitted.

The girl shook her head a little and gave a type of pout. "It's sad you have to think that way," she murmured before stealing a couple slices of his fruit. Really, if he ever did have kids, he wouldn't exactly live long enough to see them grow up. She hated to think like that about him, but it was true enough... he'd mentioned multiple times that he wasn't likely to live past twenty five, so that was maybe... eight years, give or take. That was how long he had left, and that was without any other complications like murder. In truth, he probably had a kid somewhere because of his work, which he probably didn't have a clue about. "I suppose you'd be better off walking around the slums and making yourself a little gang of street kids," she teased quietly. She kind of could see that happening, though. Sage going around and turning into a brotherly figure to a bunch if kids that needed him. Well, it'd be amusing to see.

Sage shrugged, knowing to Anya it was probably foreign to not realize how crazy it was though, he laughed slightly at the girls joke about the little gang of street kids. "No one would be crazy enough to mess with that," he chuckled, though he knew that wasn't necessarily true. Kids were killed just as much as adults were. Well, maybe not, because there were way more older people than young kids down there, but whatever. Anyone can die and anyone can kill.

Anya hummed and gave a nod, a small chuckle escaping her as she imagined Sage walking about with a little gang of children. It was a stupid little joke, she knew that, but it was amusing to the girl nonetheless. "Hmm, you'd be scary," she added with a light chuckle before curling an arm around his shoulders. It was mostly a way to veer away from the slightly more dim subject. She'd brought the whole kid thing up, she knew that, but she did want to touch on it. Sage didn't really have anything he was looking forwards to, nothing to work towards than surviving. He'd lost the need to survive when he'd lost Lizzie, so Anya did want to find out what he was planning on doing when he went back out again. Was he just going to work until he dropped dead? Seemed that way.

Sage chuckled. "He who controls the children controls them all," he joked, leaning into Anya and resting his head kind of on her shoulder. In all reality, he had no idea what he was going to do once he got back home. He'd have to work...his father would be much worse if he didn't. He also supposed he'd have to spend more time with the man. In the past Liz had been the go between, so sage didn't have to hand the money to his father himself or go to their little shack to talk to him. Their father stayed home with Lizzie often, he had liked the girl, so without her he seemed like he had more time. Would he spend that time chasing sage around? He didn't know. He hoped not...at that point it was go hide in the woods until he starved or something. until then, it was work, work, work...make his dad as happy as possible.

Anya nodded slightly and patted his arm gently. "Is that a line from some book?" She questioned absent-mindedly before squeezing him playfully. Her head tilted to rest on his, her hand on his arm running up and down gently. "Sage, what are you gonna do when you leave? You can't work forever, not there," she murmured quietly. She knew it sounded a little... overprotective, maybe a bit controlling, but she didn't mean it that way. She really didn't mind his job, it didn't bother her as long as it was helping Sage live, but he didn't exactly enjoy his job. Anya just didn't want him doing something he hated for the little time he had left. That wasn't a way for anyone to go out.

He chuckled and shrugged a bit at Anyas first comment. "Maybe a bit of it," he admitted. Then he sighed. "I dunno. Work I guess. Keep dad as happy as possible." He shrugged slightly, brows furrowing slightly as he thought. "That or try to hide in the woods and most likely starve to death in about a month," he admitted. There wasn't much to do...not really, not for him. "Might as well try to be somewhat useful," he muttered. "Though, that'll probably be when I die. At least the rats won't starve." It was a bit of a grumble...getting eaten by the gross little carnivores wasn't exactly wonderful to think about, but it was just something he'd accepted by then...there was really no way out of it, except for water, and then he'd be fish food. So he'd take the rats. At least they hunted. Fish just...swam.

Anya furrowed her brows a little... Sage, being rat food? No, he was so much better than that. The thought of him being eaten away by the nasty little animals wasn't something she particularly wanted to picture. "I can't wrap my head around why you still want to go... I know you don't belong here, but we could set you up somewhere nice. There's a nicer little village not too far away from yours, and I'm sure that we can find you a place without leaks." She cocked her head at him, a slight sigh escaping her. Sage was one of the few genuinely good people she knew... sure, he had done bad things, but that was so he could live. Keep Lizzie alive and his father at bay. He was the last person she thought should go that way. "And you can always come back. There's space for you here, too..." she trailed off, knowing that the boy wouldn't be at all likely to come back to this place. He'd already mentioned that he didn't feel... welcomed at all, but if he needed somewhere to get his strength back, to get away from his father, then Anya at least would help set him up again.