( he sighs to himself. yeah, it's kind of hard exposing yourself (no pun intended) in front of a stranger. but epel isn't from here and isn't likely to use this knowledge to hurt sett--- especially when he could easily just beat the boy down right here and make sure he couldn't. not that he wants to; epel isn't one of those lowlifes or those scumbags looking for a quick buck only to lose all their teeth and maybe a limb in the process... )

Listen. voice soft, ( a little strained from having to be so patient. ) I lost my pops in a ring like this. My mama? She doesn't know I run this entire thing myself. What I'm sayin' is that if you're gonna resort to beatin' every man from here to wherever you live, you might run into someone bigger and badder than you are.

( not that anyone could rival sett. he's the boss for a reason! )

And no. I didn't give up on you. If you wanna get stronger, I can't just let you go that easily. It's gonna have to come in time, and even slower if you're dedicated to other things.

( another flex, that space between his pecs tightening as he leans back in. sett took a lot of beatings as 'the beast-boy bastard'. )

You gotta prove to me that your heart will be in this one hundred percent. Means you'll need to spend a lot of time here, and I'm not gonna expose you to the dumbasses that come in here and get killed. Okay?