His mouth presses firm for a second as a flicker of annoyance visibly passes across his expression.

"What, you think I don't know what someone like Elias is actually capable of? That I haven't already met people like him before? I know he's smarter than me, I know he could Macgyver a death trap for me given five minutes and a ballpoint pen. He doesn't need magic for that."

He throws the paddle, that he's only just remembered he's still holding, onto the table. "And there's only one thing guys like me can do against it. Act dumb. Be the most annoying piece of shit that he's ever come across. Because then he underestimates me twice as hard, and I learn."

He folds his arms, and it feels very defensive. "Elias can only use his spooky psychic periscope with permission if he wants to see a memory, and he only gets that exact memory. But he can plant them whenever he likes. Fortunately, whenever isn't however, because I can't for one second imagine he gave me his whole memory of dying on purpose, and he was exhausted afterwards, like he was gonna keel over the keel."