"And there's a difference between picking a fight and defending yourself," Wash said to Greg in an undertone, straightening up to face Rose.
"You can't defend him from everything, and you know that," he continued, louder and with an edge of steel. "You won't be there for every fight, and the Nox aren't going to leave any of us alone. Greg needs to be able to defend himself in a fight, and that's what we're trying to teach him. The thing is, he needs self-confidence to do that, and with the way you talk to him I'm surprised he has any left. You're the local magical authority - if you tell him he's incapable, he's going to believe it, and that's a big fucking problem."
He stopped for a moment - if he kept going in that vein, he was going to cause more damage than he already had, and they didn't need that. "Look. Losing someone sucks - I get that. But you have another chance. You need to make the most of it, and repeating the same mistakes is not the way to do that."
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"You can't defend him from everything, and you know that," he continued, louder and with an edge of steel. "You won't be there for every fight, and the Nox aren't going to leave any of us alone. Greg needs to be able to defend himself in a fight, and that's what we're trying to teach him. The thing is, he needs self-confidence to do that, and with the way you talk to him I'm surprised he has any left. You're the local magical authority - if you tell him he's incapable, he's going to believe it, and that's a big fucking problem."
He stopped for a moment - if he kept going in that vein, he was going to cause more damage than he already had, and they didn't need that. "Look. Losing someone sucks - I get that. But you have another chance. You need to make the most of it, and repeating the same mistakes is not the way to do that."