The girl was, admittedly, a little taken back by his snapping at her... she had to clench her jaw a little so as not to get him to step down a little... she wanted him to be able to talk to her, and she knew he might get a little... upset about it, especially considering what he'd been through. She did pull her hand back a little and continued to scrub at the table before she started to talk. "I don't know," she murmured quietly, not wanting to say anything that would... set him off. She knew what she'd said wasn't overly... thought through, but she wasn't sure what he'd say... it just wasn't him getting snappy with her. "Have you..." she trailed off again before giving up. Whatever she said would hurt him, so it was easier to just be quiet, at least for the time being. If he needed to just talk at her, tell her what she'd said was stupid or thoughtless, then she could just sit there at take it if it made him feel better. Or, she'd try and sit there and take it.

Sage did feel bad for snapping, and he watched the girl go back to scrubbing, failing to form an actual sentence. He sighed and looked back down at his hands, slowly scrubbing again, though absentmindedly. "Sorry," he murmured. "I shouldn't have snapped...it has nothing to do with you." Here it was again...he'd just end up hurting anyone who was friends with him, or tried to be friends with him. He certainly wouldn't blame the girl if she just up and walked away and never spoke to him again. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat as he thought about his actions. He'd warned himself not to get close to the girl, but he had, and now he'd screwed up. In what, two days? Every day, his father's words came back to him, and he couldn't help but believe them more and more each time. He wasn't enough, he wasn't worthy to have friends or anything good, and that would never change because he was stuck. Useless, stupid, whatever else was running through his head. He didn't even care to stop the dark thoughts running through his head, and his eyes darkened as he scrubbed the table. But it was without thinking...he was scrubbing, but scrubbing the same spot over and over again, even though it was clean. He was just sort of zoning, lost in his own head. Which was dangerous, but he didn't really feel like he should ignore it...maybe if he thought about it enough, he'd be able to keep himself from screwing up. As in, keep himself in the barn or in the ward....no, just the ward. Horses could be killed or hurt as easily as people. He should just sit in a corner and watch life go by. He could always stop eating...it wouldn't take long if he did that. He didn't eat enough anyway.

The girl shook her head a little and gave a bit of a sigh after a moment or so. "No apologies, remember?" She told him and tried another smile... it wasn't very genuine but she was trying. She didn't know much about his past... but she knew that it hurt him, and she didn't want to make him feel worse about anything. "I just wanted to understand, is all," she hummed quietly. He'd snapped at her... but he was telling her how much he'd been through, and how much it affected him. He was bound to get a little snippy with it all, so she didn't want to let it get to her. He wasn't upset with her, and that was what she had to tell herself. She watched him scrub away at the same spot, then felt a wave of almost panic run through her when she saw his eyes darken before eventually taking the rag off him so that he wasn't just working himself too much. "Don't worry, alright? I said I was here to listen and if you need to get a bit angry with someone and let it all out.. well, I'm here for that, too." She assured him quietly, trying to be a little bit more upbeat... though it wasn't working too well.

He nodded and hummed out an "I know," to the girl before starting to apologize for apologizing, but he bit his lower lip and stopped halfway through the word. He half jumped when she took the rag, again, much to his embarrassment. He cocked his head at the girl, wondering why she'd done that. It wasn't like cleaning was triggering flashbacks or anything.. he could help, if she wanted him to. "If you want me to leave just say so," he sighed after a moment. "I'd understand." He would too...even if it hurt.

The girl shook her head slightly as she pit the rags back in the bucket and dusted her hands off. "I don't mind. Stay it you'd like it," she murmured to the boy in a gentle manner... she'd only taken the rag from him because she didn't know how his head worked... she didn't know what it meant when he zoned out like that, if it meant something nasty was going through his head or... what. She didn't want him to hurt. "I'd like it if you stayed though. It gets awfully lonely running around and doing the doctors jobs by myself," she hoped he'd stay with her a little longer... let him know she didn't mind if he got a little bit upset with her. The tavern she'd worked in wasn't nice by any means... the customers were rough and the hours were long, but it hadn't affected her the way it had him... he'd worked somewhere where the caliber of people were so much more and had less... about other people. If she yelled loud enough then they'd stop - but that wouldn't have been the case with Sage.

Sage felt his shoulders relax when the girl asked him to stay. Good...it meant she wasn't too upset. But he'd just have to be careful about it. After all, he could very easily say something or do something that pushed the girl over the edge. He didn't mean to, really, but sometimes if he had a bad memory, or a flashback, or she startled him....he thought back to Luther, about that time in the garden. He'd thrown that knife, and the only reason Luther's head hadn't been split in two was because he just so happened to be carrying a basket. What if he hurt Mari? Or someone else, like Att? Oh, he'd never forgive himself. The thought made his stomach churn, but he swallowed the bile that rose in his throat and tried to cover it all up from his face. He didn't want to scare the girl off ....though she'd see him freak out at some point, especially if she was helping the doctor.

The girl smiled softly when he seemed to relax. She didn't want him to be tense around her... always worrying about what she'd think. He said he'd done some awful things... and she believed him, but she just didn't care. She knew what it was like out there, and, well, she wasn't one to judge. She didn't have the right to. "I'm always here if you need anything, ok? And the doctor. I'm staying here tonight, so if you feel like anything isn't quite right just come and wake me up if you need someone to yell at," she told him before wandering over and gently patting his chest in a friendly manner. "Let's go and see if the doctor has any more chores for us and then we can go and get some food for dinner... the kitchen hasn't been restocked so I need to go out into the village and pick up some meat and veggies... and might as well grab some cheese. There's plenty of barley and flour, and we have enough milk to last a few days... you can come along if you like," she murmured in a more upbeat tone.

Sage blinked at the girl, surprise evident on his face when she commented on all of this. It seemed odd for someone to just...accept that he'd done terrible things and be completely fine with it. And...well, Anya had said she was there for him, but to say he could seek her out and just rant to her, and she'd be there to help was...well, the whole next level really. Of course, Anya would talk about it with him too, he knew, he had nothing against the girl. Eventually though, he gave the girl a smile and nod, more than happy to go shopping with her later, and do help out with something until then. "Why not," he hummed in a much more upbeat town, his eyes clearing the more he thought about having some fun. In all honesty, he should grab a few outfits rather than continuing to take them from the servants or...well, Luther had given him some. It might be nice to take some of Luther's old clothes and redo them a bit so they'd fit him. It would be nice... something to remember his friend by. He'd talk to Anya about it, the next time he saw her. Or he could write a letter to her...if the girl could read his handwriting. "Hey, Mari? If I were to want to write a letter to Anya and Att...would you mind actually writing it for me? I, uh, never really went to school...never had the money," he asked, his face reddening a bit at the last part as he walked next to the girl.

The girl gave a bit of a smile when he asked her to write a letter and nodded with a small smile. She could definitely write something to them as Sage said it... her writing wasn't exactly perfect, but it was at least readable. "Of course! I'm happy to write, as long as you can sign it off. I'm sure they'd like a little bit of you," she told him brightly. They got to the doctor in a few moments and poked her head around the corner to grin at him. "All done," she hummed brightly. "Is there anything else you'd like doing? Preferably nothing too taxing," she hummed and the doctor pointed her towards some dirty tubes he wanted to be cleaned out. She wrinkled her nose but nodded and beckoned Sage over to them. She briefly showed him how to clean one out before getting the rest of them done. It shouldn't take too long... or she didn't think so.

Sage nodded and gave the girl a thankful grin I'm response to her comment. He could sigh, that was fine....really, he could write the whole thing himself, Anya just might not be able to read it at all, and that wasn't very effective, he wouldn't think. Once the doctor showed them what to do next, Sage followed Mari over and picked up a tube. They were done within about fifteen minutes, which wasn't too much

"We're shopping now," he hummed I'm question. "Or should we go ask for more chores," he chuckled, rather amused at the thought of having hour more work to do.