Leon's eyes noticeably creased at Richard's proposition. That was his brilliant plan? Well, this was why Leon had expressly refused the bat's help. Half the time, he didn't know what he was talking about. First of all, Owen would never win at anything. Regardless of whether his opponent let him or not. The only thing he seemed to have any chance at winning was video games, and there weren't even any of those here. Why should Leon be the one to fall on his sword anyway?

More importantly though, Richard didn't have a proper grasp of the situation. Certainly not enough to be offering unwanted advice. He looked over towards the bat's form. "Let him win? Clearly, you don't even know what he wants."

Leon could quote Owen's exact words at the cliff. Richard's "plan" had never occurred to him, no. It wasn't even option. Leon wasn't going to allow himself to be physically marred by a psychotic human boy. Richard's ignorance was seriously beginning to wear on his nerves.

He exhaled, then chuckled to himself lightly. He expected a much worse reaction, honestly, with how quick Leon was to assume things. Maybe there was still hope - the boy was irritated, but didn't fly away in a huff.

"It's not about what he wants." he explained patiently. "It's about what you want. And your desire is to be left alone, correct? I don't see this conflict fizzling out. Owen's anger is too deeply rooted. While you're stronger than him, I'm sure you wish he wasn't bothering you. Correct?"
He was stating the obvious, he knew that, but hopefully Leon understood that he was trying to make a point.
"That kid, despite all his apathy, has some sort of a moral compass. He's not sadistic. He wants the end of this feud as much as you do, but some sense of wounded pride won't let him accept defeat. Plus, he feels as if he needs to protect Jami from you."
He shrugged, as if not really understanding the motives behind that.
"This is where your chance to show you're really the smarter one rears its head." He took a second of pause to allow Leon to process what he had said so far. And - let's not kid ourselves - for dramatic effect.
"You can either keep being tormented by his attempts to gain an upper hand over you, or let him win... on your terms."
His voice went down a tone. He realized how slim the chances of Leon agreeing were. But, even if it was a futile attempt, at least nobody could tell him he didn't try his best at what was his job.
"You suffer a carefully planned humiliation at his hand. You step away from Jami - since you're tired of her as well, this shouldn't be a problem? He is satisfied and you both live out the rest of your stay here avoiding each other, in relative peace. He might rub it in from time to time, but still, the only thing that takes a hit is your pride. It's all pretend."
Richard sighed deeply. If only...
"But forgive me, it's rather silly of me to propose something like that to you, isn't it? Maybe you're right and I'm not very clever."
He flapped his wings strongly and began to ascend higher than the boy, as if intending to leave.

Leon had begun the process of tuning out Richard's words. He wasn't sure what Richard expected. He'd been at the school, what, a month? He'd just barged in to this "conflict" and thought he'd be able to resolve it without even batting an eye. ((... no pun intended X'D))

Leon only heard a few keywords that Richard had said. Moral compass. Wounded pride. Protect Jami. Then more frustrating ones. Tormented. Suffer. Humiliation. Pride again. What was he saying about pride? Did he really think that from this one encounter he knew everything about Leon? He wanted to scoff. That wasn't what bothered him. He'd already made it clear that he just didn't care here. There was nothing he cared about at Lillegard as to be humiliated by it. Frankly, even if this wasn't true about him, he doubted Owen even had the brain capacity to come up with anything sufficiently humiliating.

Though if Leon wanted to, he could act humiliated. He tried to remember an instance where he'd actually been humiliated, something he could use as reference. Any he came up with, however, related to those names. Not surprising. One didn't get humiliated over something he didn't care about, and that world was the only one he cared about. It was a bad reference either way. Leon didn't get humiliated. He got angry.

The second part of Richard's "plan" had already been attempted. Leon had extended something of an olive branch to Owen, proposed that they do just what Richard had suggested. Under any other circumstances it would have been easy for him to disappear, but he was stuck here on this island. And he'd admit it, the process got boring.

Leon wasn't going to argue with Richard any further though. Evidently, he didn't listen much, considering its what he was paid to do. He'd said he didn't need the bat's help. Multiple times. Besides which, he seemed to be leaving now. There was no way Leon would do or say anything to stop him.

Since was going up, Leon gradually moved down, pulling closer towards the shore. He wanted a fair distance between them so he'd be able to have a good idea of where Richard was. This made would make up for the fact that Richard was fly above him.

He hovered in place for a second, keeping a steady wing beat, then tilted his wings and dove towards the boy again.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything? Or have you misunderstood what I said so severely that you don't even consider it worthy of a rebuttal?"
Hardly professional. He knew. In fact, the whole proposition was just that, but it could have worked, if only he hadn't severely overestimated Leon's capabilities for rational thought. He was going to have to think of another way to tackle this... possibly by working with Owen instead. Owen was pathetic, but at least he didn't have the resolution, charm and intelligence of a mule. He was more of a... pot-bellied Shetland pony. But that was still preferable to what Leon was.
Ah, well. It all would get resolved with time and patience. He was far from giving up yet - just from now on, he'd be more careful with expecting logic out of kids.
Sigh.

Leon lowered his head letting out a frustrated sigh. "No I was hoping if I didn't say anything, you'd just leave."

Leon tilted his wings pulling away from Richard once more. "But since you insist. Owen's an idiot. He doesn't even know how to begin thinking of a way to humiliate me. That's because there's nothing he could do that would actually humiliate me. I could lead him to believe that he's actually humiliated me, but I don't see anything to gain from that either. If you seriously believe we'll be able to go all that long without seeing each other then you're an idiot. In fact, we've already tried that." He looked in Richard's general direction now. "You have some idea of what kind of a person Owen is. He won't be satisfied with humiliating me only once. If I let him think he knows how to humiliate me he'll just keep looking for chances to do that. That would also get annoying."

Leon looked away again. There was a method to the way he worked. Richard was suggesting he go entirely against these methods. Even if something did get to him, he never acted it. He avoided giving anybody that idea that something bothered him. He did it with gold all the time. Even though it was the one thing that could actually cause any permanent damage to him, he acted totally unfazed in its presence. Why would he willing act humiliated by any trivial ideas Owen may come up with? It wasn't a matter of pride. It was a matter of trusting his methods.

He almost let out an 'Ah-ha!', but managed to stop himself on time. Really, there was no room for smugness here.

He beat his wings slowly, following.
"This is where I come in." he said. "I'll put it in simple terms. I give him the idea we come up with beforehand and agree upon. He does it, you put on your best defeated act, he is satisfied. Then I convince him that you're even and he should step back." He smiled darkly. "How I go about doing that is my business."
He already had some ideas.
"It would require a bit of planning, and our strict cooperation - about which I am as enthusiastic as you are, trust me - but I firmly believe it could work."
Well, he gave the student a fair chance. It was all in Leon's hands now. Richard didn't dare allow himself to feel the slightest ray of hope - Leon had proven to be rather thickheaded. If he still refused to even consider that the plan could succeed, well... Richard would only have the pony to work with. And whatever happened would be the mule's own fault.

Leon pretended to think it over for a moment. The gears currently turning in his head nothing to do with Richard's plan, but it could be atested to that.

"First of all, this whole plan of yours relies largely on how you convince him to back off afterwards. If you fail at that, the whole thing is pointless. So no, that's also my business." If Leon was going to agree to this, he wanted to know everything he could about it. He wanted to be able to judge how successful it would be, and he would leave anything on faith. "Second, it isn't at all odd that a guidance counselor would be advising one student on how he could humiliate another?" Not that Leon believed Owen to be intelligent enough to realize this, and he assumed Richard would be subtle in his suggestion anyway. Leon looked back at Richard, waiting for his answer. He'd leave it at that for now.

He shook his head. "You're absolutely right. But you need to understand that what I'm trying to do here is restore the balance between you two. I shall be the only one who knows all details to this little plan - not you, not Owen. If I told either one of you everything, he would have an advantage over the other, and that basically defeats the purpose." He gave Leon a sidelong glance. "I am aware that depending on others goes against everything you believe in, but I'm perfectly capable of handling this. You know Owen isn't terribly bright, don't you? It's not hard to manipulate him."

Richard laughed lightheartedly. "Again, you're correct, and again, you'd simply have to trust me to play it right. I'm sorry I cannot provide you with more explanation than that." It was a lot to ask of Leon, yes. Maybe it was too much. But he seemed to see some sense in what Richard was saying, and maybe - just maybe - he desired peace from Owen's pestering strongly enough to take the risk.

Restore the balance?? Leon wanted to laugh, but he resisted. There was no balance between him and Owen, there never would be. Owen was a human. He was going to die soon. Not Leon.

Despite the offending comment, Leon wasn't going to refuse Richard's offer. Leon had a feeling the bat was going to through with this plan regardless of whether or not Leon agreed to it. Why then, shouldn't he take the route that would lead to him being at least better informed than he would be otherwise?

Really it was a pointless plan though. The idea that they'd "live in relative peace" by merely avoiding each other was naive one. If anything, it would only offer a temporary peace between the two. And as long as Richard refused to assure him otherwise, this was what Leon was going to keep believing. That would be the bat's own fault. Leon wasn't as dumb as Owen. If Richard wanted to have them on the same level, then it was plain to see why Leon wouldn't approve of this plan.

"Fine, but you're going to have to convince me that you'll be able to get him back off afterwards. I'm the one that stands to lose without gaining anything, not Owen." Leon wasn't suggesting that he be told exactly what Richard was going to tell Owen by this. He simply wanted to be sure that he could trust Richard to get the job done.

Leon didn't allow his thoughts to wander further than this, so he could keep a straight face.

At that point, Richard had grown really weary of flying. He could still keep it up for a while, of course, but it was quite tedious. If only Leon was more available on land-
And then it dawned on him. Leon liked rubbing in his superiority. He played his silly tricks with the bat way past the point where it was necessary to establish that yes, he was the better flier. He enjoyed feeding his ego with petty cruelty like this... and that was why he was still up in arms with Owen.

The plan's success depended on whether he was bored of it enough to exchange it for peace. After all, he eventually stopped his aerial self-gratification act...

Richard nodded slowly, half to Leon, half to his own thoughts. "I told you, he is not sadistic. I can tell him it's the right thing to do. I can tell him you're not worth his time anymore. I can tell him that if he wants a rest, he will drop it. I can tell him a lot of things... none of which are particularly untrue."

Yep.

He smiled vaguely. "I'm sure Jami will appreciate the end of this. She needs his support, and he can hardly give it being preoccupied with your tussle..."

((Omg Richard still doesn't get it. He just doesn't understand X'D))

Leon shook his head as Richard misunderstood him once again. He hadn't meant for the bat to simply repeat what he'd just said. It had been a challenge for Richard to prove himself capable of subtly convincing Owen, and he'd clearly just failed. Of course, he knew Owen was an idiot and would likely go through with anything the counselor suggested. That, however, said nothing for Richard's own intelligence, something Leon was severely beginning to lose faith in.

"He can hardly give it regardless of any tussle he's preoccupied with. You said it yourself. He 'isn't terribly bright'." Leon quoted Richard's own words.

((...Are you trying to tell me Leon isn't a) cruel, b) egotistic, and c) shamelessly displaying both qualities? o.O Because I'm not gonna buy it in a million years lol))

What was he disapproving of again, Richard didn't know and neither did he care. Leon's opinion about anything at all was bound to be terribly one-sided and therefore irrelevant. If he was dissatisfied with Richard's answer, well, too bad - he did preemptively warn Leon he wasn't going to tell him everything. It was a vague answer or no answer at all.

There was a cold tone to his voice as he spoke again. "He doesn't need to be 'terribly bright' to help her. But I don't expect you to understand. Either way, I don't think you have the right to decide for Jami, even if you call yourself her friend...or whatever it is that you consider yourself to be."

((Richard still doesn't understand Leon's motives at all and he thinks he does, but he really doesn't X'D))

Leon's eyebrows creased again and his tone quickly became fierce. Why did this guy like to twist his words so much? "I'm not trying to decide anything for her. I don't care who she hangs out with. If anything, Owen's the one trying to dictate that."

"Whatever, that's not what were talking about." Leon made an attempt to change the subject, controlling his voice once more, but there was no denying that a certain amount of anger remained though. "Did you have anything specific in mind or are you wasting my time." He wanted to add on 'again' to the end, but realized this was the first time he and Richard were speaking. It wasn't as though Leon actually had anything planned for the night, but he knew from the beginning he hadn't wanted to speak to anyone. Which meant Richard had already ruined his night.

Leon was unsatisfied with his own response. He wanted to be difficult, yes, but perhaps not that difficult. He still had to show he was somewhat interested in the plan, but knew himself too well think he would, under any circumstances, agree to it completely. Richard must have realized that as well. Some amount of difficulty was needed in order for it to be believable, but now at this point, he didn't need to chase Richard away.

((Mmm. He's just still clinging to the hope there's something more to Leon than the drive to prove how much better than everybody else he is. xP Silly Richard. There's no hope.))

His voice remained icy. "You just said that you don't consider him to be able to help her. And what I'm saying is that it is none of your business. But, fine." He sighed. Arguing with Leon was pointless. He seemed incapable of comprehending that there was always a second layer to the words he said. Leon said things, then got angry when they were interpreted differently than he intended them to, as if expecting people to read his mind. Really, Richard was beginning to doubt that Leon was the smarter of the conflicting boys.

He didn't sound cold anymore, just bored. "Maybe you show an ounce of good will for the first time in your miserable life and offer some ideas? I shan't dare suggest anything, lest you get offended again."

Leon stopped a smirk from crossing his face. Of course Richard didn't know him well enough to know what might have a chance to humiliate him. Leon had the freedom to choose this himself, which meant he actually had a lot of control over how the plan he went. He'd just have to be careful with his wording so Richard would agree to it. That shouldn't be hard though.

Leon appeared to be putting serious thought into this, which was okay since Richard would likely see it as him just trying to come up with a suitable scenario. If he'd actually wanted to go along with Richard's plan, he did know of one thing in particular that would actually humiliate him, but in that case, the ocean wouldn't have been to stop Leon from putting Owen out of his misery. Anyway, it didn't actually have to humiliate him. It only had to be something that Leon could manipulate.

This was something Leon wanted to think about on his own though, not with Richard here. "I'll get back to you when I think of something." Leon's voice was toneless. He wasn't going to comment on the bit about his "miserable life" or being "offended".