"Vika," and she actually manages to sound more patient now, "you perceived him as a threat off of a single instance that happened within his world's framework, not yours. Why would you just assume that he could and would do the same thing to you? Wait for evidence of hostility before going off, and you won't face nearly as much blowback. Trust me," she sighs. "Besides, he's a wet noodle. A little less so than your wet noodle, but a noodle all the same. And I think he does harbor his own regrets that you are certainly not helping by repeatedly calling him such an ugly thing.

"As for me, I know a lot more about that justification than you think. My world hates me just for being exactly who I am. It murders the people that matter to me the most. You said that we're on the same level here, and you're right about that, at least in this aspect. But César has done nothing to you. Let him prove that he's a threat to you personally on more than a conceptual level, then you can do whatever you like."