Jory was looking at Zel strangely as he got back to his feet. It didn't make sense to him, winning. Zel was so much larger than him, he should be stronger, faster, and he had practice. It must have been a fluke.
"Um." He frowned, thoughtfully. "I guess. I mean I won't say no to a free meal if you're insisting, and it could be fun." The demon was an interesting boil, and he was Zaire's friend. Jory really wanted them all to get along. So even if he dind't think he deserved it, not really, he'd let Zel by him a lunch some time, and maybe Zaire could go with them.
He flushed at the compliment, and baby blues went wide before dropping away. "I've never...done this before." His ears drooped a little. "Except once, kind of. I got caught in some of that weird fog that's around campus, and it took me somewhere else. There was someone there, a hunter." He didn't look up, he didn't like this story. "I couldn't defend myself. He hurt me pretty bad. If Zaire hadn't found me..."
Thin shoulders had crept up in a hunch, and he was rubbing at one arm with the opposite hand, but all of a sudden he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. As the air left him the tension left with it, and he tipped his head to look up again. "We don't want anything like that to happen again, so Zaire's helping me get stronger."
