His brows twitch down at her Ha! But it stays a ha, and doesn’t rise to real laughter, rendering him safe from truly catastrophic burn trauma. Instead he is left to frown resentfully at her feet, the fuzzy lines around his mouth carved in stark against the lesser sting of a scoff.

"It’s different when it’s a friend who decides, and not fate."

He kicks up a brow at her, unsure he deserves the designation.

"A friend or any mortal with power in -- " how should he put this, he sits back up out of his slouch towards her while he fumbles, "an equation."

Yes that was definitely the right choice.