"It boils down to luck, in the end." He admits, because it makes him feel better to do so. He doesn't want to invalidate Karkat, but the truth of it is that there isn't much he could have done to prevent what happened. "Some guy had a grudge against a Mentor who likes me. He took Feferi and I offered him swapsies, got kind of mad when he figured out I was trying to buy time for a clone to show up so he knifed me." He can explain it in almost a detached manner now. There's lingering bitterness, but it feels more like he's summing up a TV show he's particularly invested in. "Guess it counted as heroic, but you never know."

He gives his shoulders a heavy shrug, addressing what Karkat goes on to say. "You aren't dumb and you aren't useless, nobody has a grudge against you and you had supplies. The odds were a little in your favour- once Feferi found you anyway." He wouldn't exactly call getting injured good favour, after all. "How was it? Your first real Arena."