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It was a pretty simple matter, all things considered, for Jason to get an early release note from his mom. A simple something something doctor's appointment. Normally there's be a bit more resistance, or at least more aggressive bargaining from her on this sort of thing. But at the phrase mental health day, she'd just given him a tired smile and a you and me both, kid.

Her job, with it's better pay and big opportunities, didn't seem to be doing much for her. Maybe he could swing by the house later and do the dishes for her, maybe clean the floor or something. He could fit in a few little chores before the dorms got locked down.

But for now he had other business to attend to. A big stupid apology for his big stupid feet involving a big stupid gift bag. Needless to say, loitering in front of Meadowview waiting for Tilly to answer his text made him feel like an idiot, which could also be considered a penance of sorts for messing up her leg.

"I'm just here to give you an apology and also," Jason held the giant gift bag out to her, "...bring you a get well gift." Inside was one of those Squishyfellows. He had it on good authority that they were the best thing ever. So when he saw one at the store earlier, a blue unicorn one with soft, rainbow bangs not unlike hers, it seemed a safe bet.

Infinitely better than something like flowers or chocolates, which could be misunderstood. Even if she hated it, she could just turn it around and just have a very squishy pillow or something.

"How's it healing?"

There was a bit of satisfaction in seeing that Tilly liked it, abd relief that she accepted it for what it was. It's pretty much exactly how Jason had wanted this to go. It was enough to have him smiling back at her, more and more confident in her as an ally.

Right up until grimaced at the die in her hand. "Yeah, that's the one." He pulled out his own for comparison. "It messed me up for a couple days. I think I..."

He turned his face away, suddenly interested in the school architecture, but the back of his neck had a telltale flush. "It was like I was some kind of vampire..."

Slowly he began to nod, "Mine were a bunch of small bats. They showed up in several squares, first just noisy, then swooping, and in the last area with them they were biting. Maybe whatever or whoever made them and your giant bat are related?"

Interest in the topic allowed the embarrassment to fade and he was able to look Tilly in the eyes again. "When you get your ring, there's upgrades the magic cats can make to it. One of them lets you looks at a database full of enemies and another full of allies you can contact? But I think there might be a lot of senshi magic attacks similar to what was in that game. Mostly messing with your head, or temporarily painful, only sometimes leaving real damage too. Especially if they're a higher rank."

Considering her offer, Jason nodded, "Yeah, let me walk you home and we can talk about it. I can't uh, stay long, I need to do some stuff around the house before I go back to Hillworth." Another small grimace for the school. "Can I carry your bag for you?"

While they walked, Jason went silent and troubled for a little while. FInally he just came out with it all, "It was....it's not just because of that. Anyway, there was a lot of blood, even if it turned out not that bad, if I see a friend bleeding that much I'll still feel bad, alright? But this was..."

His face scrunched. "My head was really messed up from those bat bites. I um, I wanted to beat people up. I wanted you to get hurt. And I don't think," he sighed, "I don't think that voice was real at all, I don't think I had a choice in wanting. But I did have enough control that I could've just not called you out for a spar while I was like that."

But instead he'd indulged that feeling, spurred on by embarrassment of himself and frustration over his brother. "I don't think you're weak, and I'm trying not to hesitate or get weird about fighting you, but there's fifteen years of never thinking I would ever, possibly hit a girl. I'm trying, and I keep overdoing it to try and compensate."

It was embarrassing to admit, but it was about her, it was effecting her, so Tilly should know what's going on.

"I won't hold back," he reassured her. "I'll keep trying and messing up probably until it's not a problem anymore, but I won't be holding back. And I'm glad you forgive me, but when I apologize, it's because I did something wrong not because I want to exchange that for forgiveness." Still, he was really glad she forgave him, though she hadn't seem to particularly blame him the first place. "We should probably be clear on that because I have a feeling I'm gonna be apologizing a lot in the future, too."

Teleporting leaves huh? And Tilly cursing while he tried not to give her a scandalized little look. "I should probably look around and try out some of these patches of muckery. And do the dice game again. Get used to strange things hitting me when it's not in the form of another person attacking me."

Speaking of training, he brought up something he'd been considering, "My brother and my cousin, they're Lysithea pages too. But they're kind of....unmotivated when it comes to training. I thought we could all just join a sport and get better that way, but the resistance has been pretty loud and I think made things worse, really. But I saw this...like, what do you think?"

He pulled out a flyer that read, in bright flaming allcaps:

"I looked him up, he's like a local celebrity of some sort? A retired wrestler who's been on community service for over a decade, after he did a bunch of outrageous stuff. He's got bad anger management and there's a trail of property damage so long it became a meme," he explained in a reassuring voice. "I think, he's the last person who would be asked to be an undercover anything."

Of course there was the whole, then they must know people would think that so that's actually what it is, wheel of logic, but that sort of thinking was the type that never ended. "But...yeah, it'd be good to have you as backup to try it out. They have long sessions available for Saturdays if people can't make it for the three days during the week." He was sure he could convince his mom, especially when she'd been so easy about things today. Lucas would be an entirely different situation, and he'd probably need his back up for convincing Lena.

"You are?" Jason gave her an impressed and maybe overly grateful look. "Then I can leave the convincing to you." He seemed a lot more worried about that aspect than the potential of a trap for wimpy pages. He wasn't bad at convincing people himself, but people in this case didn't consist of his brother or cousin.

He gaze a relieved sigh, followed by a low laugh, "Thank goodness I went to you first."

As they walked, he took note of the street signs. It wouldn't be too far a walk from his own neighborhood.

"You want to make it a bet? If it's a weird undercover thing or not?"