--[b][i]villain[/b][/i]

There are things that people seem to hate universally, and one of those things is being woken up by a complete stranger. To his credit, Shasi doesn’t fall from his seat or make any sort of high pitched noise, though he does breathe in harshly. His face flushes from the minor adrenaline imparted from that wake up call and he sits up straight, clutching his staff. Jia Li takes the moment as a chance to escape into the hole in his top and he pitches forward, trying to subtly get her [i]out[/i]. She refuses to exit, and he refuses to embarrass himself further. He sits very still and looks up at the person who woke him.

He knows who this is… vaguely. He didn’t know her name, or he didn’t remember it. He’d spied her a few times, though he tries not to look at anyone more than once. She was simply too noticeable, the way her black hair contrasted against her white skin, and her red lips contrasted even further against that. And the fact that she was noisy, that stuck out in his mind as well.

When he actually bothers to register what she’s saying, he grimaces. A wizard? No, not quite. “What--” he starts, then remembers the promise of having the cursed blanket dropped on him. While he’s certain he could [i]deal[/i] with having to breathe manually, he’d really just--rather not. And hadn’t he wanted something to do?

Though he hadn’t wanted anything to do with a spoilt little girl. He decides to just cut his losses. ‘Character building’, he reminds himself. Character building.

“I’m not a wizard,” he says, eyes narrowed in a way that he hopes is unwelcoming enough for her to perhaps move on (otherwise, he was out of luck). Despite his better interests, he continues. “And I don’t do spells. But since you didn’t actually give me a [i]choice[/i] in the matter,” he didn’t consider a curse a choice, frankly, and his mother always told him to be diplomatic (as if!), “I will be your assistant. But don’t get upset when I can’t actually help you, because you brought it on yourself.”

Well, he assumed she would anyway, she seemed to have that sort of personality, but still, fair warnings. If it would break the monotony and probably not kill him, he didn’t have much to lose other than his dignity--which he didn’t have much left of in the first place.